Michael Hodgson

Beer doesn't have a "use by" date, only a "best before" date, so it's safe to drink old beer...it doesn't taste as good if it's gone flat though. I believe kegs began to replace barrels just before WW2

What a hideous livery !

Brilliant work, I hope I will be able to see this for real when all this Covid stuff is behind us. As to chocolate advertising that's a very good question. If I were one of the Cadbury family I might think it good business to push my own brand even more strongly in "enemy territory", and the railway company would no doubt be only too happy to receive more advertising revenue. However Cadbury, Rowntree and Fry were all members of the Society of Friends (Quakers), so perhaps there was some sort of understanding?

It could be faulty wiring, or it could just be a conductive foreign body on the track. I assume you've already done the obvious and searched to see whether you've left a screwdriver or a track pin across the rails. I would look particularly carefully at the slip and three way points as they tend to be more troublesome. And look at those rail gaps that you have got - make sure they are indeed still gaps. But even the wiring is OK and it had all worked, you would have trouble with this layout from time to time locating faults such as short caused by say a small piece of metal dropped somewhere on the track anyway. With that large a layout you need to be able to narrow down the problem, which is why people divide layouts into power districts. OK, so I wouldn't have have started from here, if it is indeed a wiring issue how to sort out the problem now? Try setting your points to the main line. So no routes into sidings, all loops set with both entry and exit to the same line, no crossovers between lines set. If thats still a problem you've probably got a pair of feeds transposed on one or more of your main lines I would consider inserting on-off switches (preferably double pole) into the feeds so that I could isolate them in future as well as now (like a DC layout, but the switches don't need to be centralised on a panel). if they're all turned off, you should be able to turn on one at a time till you find a pair of switches that cause a short when turned on.

Have you ever tried to speak to paypal? There's a web site called papyal.pissedconsumer.com - of course that might just be for Americans who order their bourbon online? https://paypal.pissedconsumer.com/customer-service.html

Sorry to hear about your beagle. We had to have Max put down several years ago and we've had to have our 20 year old tabby put down just before this second lockdown, and we now have other dogs and cats, You will still miss him in years to come. If you do get another dog, no matter how good he may be, he won't be the one you have lost. The same as you can't replace a human member of the family.

It can also tell you if somebody's been nicking coal from your fuel stockpile

It would have come in a shipping container. HM Customs/ can't search more than the odd one and even then, they're more likely looking for drugs etc. Trading Standards only look at things on their own patch. Even if you buy something in the UK, you can't be sure it will be legal. Ebay don't look at things that get advertised or do any quality control. Even if you do complain, nothing much will be change - perhaps a listing might get taken down, but another one will soon pop up under another name.

The rules I have seen about this subject tended to say it was only allowed where authorised (this would be where you couldn't really do it any other way) and then only by experienced men. Quite how the men were supposed to gain this experience if they weren't allowed to do it was never explained. I think of tow-roping as practice found more in the North of Scotland rather than being common in England. I have done tow-roping in O gauge! Its easier than trying to model horse shunting.

from Kings Cross to Edinbirgh?

Oooh! Yes please!

If you can get away with wallpapering a backscene onto the wall above it, can you get away with the same below it? Low relief supporting piers standing on the radiator perhaps? Just out curiosity if it isn't necessary as an entrance to the room, why is it there at all? Have you anything in front of the wooden baseboards - if not, why does this bit of baseboard need be any different? I think on balance I would go for a short wooden baseboard this side of it running parallel, scenicked with something like a road or canal or even just a few bushes, and perhaps a railway fence on top?

Are you talking about the model or the one in the NRM?

Got to have one ... but which one? I like all the liveries - it's a toss-up between the LNW lined black and the LMS Crimson, probably the latter ... but I like the idea of double-heading with Hardwicke AND Lucknow!

Yes, they were handy those trains - if I joined the lads for a few jars after work and missed the last train there was always a Mk. 1 on one of those services at 1, 2 or even 3 o'clock in the morning.

If you run it off AC you don't need worry about the polarity - it will only be on half of the time but the human doesn't notice that, it will just appear a bit dimmer than it does on the same voltage DC. The resistor is important to limit the current.

Isn't that what the photo shows?

Yes, you want a separate resistor for each LED. It will only light up if you have the correct polarity, so are you sure you connected the black lead to the -ve of your power supply? Failing that, I agree with Pete's suggestion that it could have been wired with the colours the wrong way round. If it wont work at all no m,atter which lead you connect as the negative, could you have inadvertently shorted out the resistor momentarily, thus applying 12v directly to the LED and burned it out?

When I saw the title of this thread I thought it was going to be about the statue of an old Bristolian ending up in the harbour.

I think the lottery is whether certain other manufacturers ever get round to delivering products they've announced. Credit where it's due - no gripes against Accurascale on that front. I'm always wary about payment in advance especially to sole traders/smaller companies, but crowd funding does have its place.

High time somebody called out the breakdown gang to remove it and then maybe the draughtsmen will go back to work!

I believe they were originally callled "Standard" or "Restriction C1" stock, although as the latter is a loading gauge it probably includes a few vehicles other than Mark I. I think Mk1 doesn't strictly include vehicles not built on the standard 63' or 57' chassis, even though things such as horse boxes, CCTs, the double deck car carriers etc are described in Parkin's book.

On seeing the damage, and assuming you need to pass over them in the facing direction, my first concern would be to make sure the blades move fully over, to avoid derailments. Probably some mangled plastic under the tie bar which might be difficult to clear. Moving the points would be a secondary consideration, and I would suggest that you consider a different linkage as the way of operating those points - ie use a linkage to the little bit of plastic at the tie bar ends.

Yeah, fitting those motors from below is a pain in the backside, and the operating rod is difficult to cut. I don't use a drill, I use a Xuron cutter intended for cutting rails. Not sure I know what to do to fix your damage, but is it possible to fit a very short length of brass tube over the rod to fill in the hole? I've got a point one of whose switch blades has come adrift from the tie bar. In theory all I have to do is replace the pivot, but I doubt I can do that even if I remove the point from the baseboard, which will of course also mean refitting the point motor. As for the over-centre spring, some people remove them anyway (more especially if they are using other types of point motor). If you are unable to repair these points, it sounds as though they might still be usable provided they can be used somewhere that they are only ever approached in the trailing direction, although of course there is no such position on many layouts.

As the gallant Captain was given a gong, shouldn't Great Western cast new nameplates for it to include his knighthood? It would be a cue for another limited edition. They made him an honorary Colonel too.