Michael Hodgson

The two-tone green looks very nice, but I would have preferred the early version, with green ends.

They're buried away somewhere and anyway it's difficult to decipher from a register what each code means.

That's why they should be regulated. Paypal accepts deposits from the public and offers a money transmission service (one definition of a bank). They have a banking licence, or at least in Europe they do - the USA has some rather unsatisfactory ideas about banking regulation and consumer protection, which is how paypal in its early days got away with operating without a licence. Ebay don't have a banking license and no doubt would argue that they don't need one as they are only an auction house, but the public is still exposed to financial risk in the event of disputes and short of going to court there is not a lot the public can do if they are ripped off by a big corporation. The Aussies are standing up to Facebook and similar multinationals on some aspects of intellectual property rights, and I say good luck to them. We could with some of that in this country too. And before Brexit I could thank the EU for taking on people like Microsoft for some of their business practices, albeit too little and too late. Whilst the UK on its own could in theory do the same, one small country doesn't have the leverage of the EU.

Thought it looked familiar. We upgraded to something like that - I have punched paper tape manually hole by hole. I can't remember the character codes for paper tape any more but I could probably still manage many of the Hollerith punch card equivalents.. I even used one of those in the late 1960s to print train tickets for a fully signalled O gauge railway that was worked by Staff & Ticket - and instead of the roll of paper I fed in punch cards individually and printed the tickets on the back of the card!

Well at least Superwoman1980 managed to take the lens cap off before she pressed the shutter button.

It doesn't say whether or not puss is included in that auction

When I was in the USA I bought a very-short carriage which used a 6-wheel bogie as its chassis. It has a veranda at the end - the sort that presidents used to use in the days when they made their "whistle-stop" political speeches. I wonder if anyone does a 3D print of Abe Lincoln or Donald Trump in HO?

I anticipate a whole new thread opening up about carriage rooves of ebay. It would of course make business sense to market them as spares

I have a few train registers from Bowesfield (much more recent than NER days of course). That area certainly used a lot of special bell codes for train routing.

I thought it was the drivers who were spaced out ?

And quite right too!

Is that a teletype beside the tape drive, or is it a paper tape punch ?

Complete with a universal adjustment implement.

Thanks, that all makes sense. Useful photos. I suppose the posh compartment was important politically to ensure continued funding, give them an idea of what the future could be.

Nobody notices if the ends are black!

Well he wouldn't be much of an inspector if he couldn't even open a bottle of beer!

.. and open another can of worms ! - position of cranks, compensators, how /where to cross the track Good luck

96.9 feedback might be another clue

Trouble with that in most liveries is the number's usually on the front as well, so it looks wrong in a three quarters view

I have some Ratio MR coaches which I painted S&DJR blue on one side and MR livery on the other, so when they've gone round a reverse loop I've got another rake for free! ... wonder whether Hattons will oblige by doing the same with these ? I can't really do the same with a 4F

Last I heard Biden had declared Texas in a state of emergency because of snow. All seems to have gone in that clip.

Correct. Easier to understand if you imagine how it would be if the middle line from left isn't there and the slip were only a point giving access to the top or middle platform . Which end would the tie bar be ? Putting the slip back then superimposes a second point with its toe at the opposite end. I am assuming that off screen to the lower left you have a point leading to the slip and the track at the bottom, so it acts as a crossover. If the control system you're using enables you to do so, I would work the crossover as a single device, so that the crossover is always either set or not set. The other end of the double slip is then a simple point which decides whether to go into the top or the middle line from whichever of the two lines at the left is leading to it.

I've got a hearing aid but I'm not really using it at present as I find I can't cope with expecting my lugs to support that, a face mask and a pair of steamed-up specs.

You have been busy again Paul! As usual it causes the uninitiated to raise a few questions. Why were the windows for the VIP compartment different ? Was it always the end with the windows that got coupled to the POP train so that it could be observed? Very impressive instrumentation panel - but how would that be painted? Mostly grey with white dials ? The device on the right looks like an old-fashioned reel to reel tape drive - I handled a few of them in my time for mainframe backups, data sorting in the days before disks were cheap (showing my age here!), works payrolls etc.

Brilliant bit of improvisation there!