rogerzilla

I bought a DCC fitted Bachmann L&YR tank a couple of years ago but I only use DC for OO, so I fitted a blanking plug and it ran in the opposite direction to all other locos. Yes, the simpler DCC interfaces are subject to Murphy's Law and you can fit them the wrong way round!

Yes, most annoying that Rapido put Satan's snot on the class 28 as apparently it slipped too much when they tried a sample without them. Ironically, the prototype was known for its impressive tractive effort (and unreliability, and windows that fell out, and smoke, and burning down Barrow shed).

Anyone else use this on bogie pivots and pinpoint axles? It can turn a coach that drags into one that almost runs for ever. I take the axles out, put a tiny amount into the holes, and refit the axles. Works well on "N" gauge, where coaches can easily be draggy due to the low weight.

The more I hear DCC sound at exhibitions, the less I want it. You can't get anything other than a tinny sound from a model loco. It could be argued that sound "scales" and would become tinnier, but that just reinforces the fact that it's a model. N gauge sound is particularly weak.

Don't they include them in the box? They usually do for their Pacific locos with the same rear truck, although few people can use them except for display purposes

I don't think typical model railway curves permit any kind of sliding axle like the prototype had, since the truck is outside-framed. R2 on OO is a 36.5 yard curve, and the tightest curve the new build P2 will negotiate is 125 yards - dead slow. So you need flangeless wheels (wrong) or a swivelling pony truck (also wrong).

To be fair to Hornby, a swivelling rear axle would be just as wrong as flangeless wheels. A Cartazzi axle has sideways movement (and self-centres using the loco weight), but it doesn't swivel. The average model coach or loco bogie doesn't work like a real bogie, either.

"Lake" is a general term for a type of pigmented paint. Crimson is hardly the word I'd use for such a dark colour, although there is indeed something slightly pinkish about it.

I was just starting work in the Birmingham area back in 1990 and remember the "Tamworth Triangle" series of deaths which finally gave central locking the push it needed. Prior to that, doors were left unlocked for safety reasons (locked doors had led to additional deaths in train fires) and the technology for central locking wasn't there anyway. Interestingly, alcohol was considered to be a factor in the Tamworth Triangle accidents, as it was the right kind of distance from Euston for passengers to become comfortably inebriated. I don't know how boozy WCR excursions are.

I thought ELF/ULF had fallen out of use now?

I finally twigged on Friday why Swindon has a Frobisher Drive intersecting Raleigh Avenue. Who says railway modelling is a waste of time?

We go to Zell am See most years. I'm always pleasantly surprised by the number of loco-hauled trains. We took the train to Salzburg last year and saw all sorts of interesting locos on the way, including something a bit like an overgrown BR class 17. I like the older 1144 locos with the portholes in the side.

Prestwins in N gauge would be successful, I think. No-one has ever made them RTR and they're a distinctive prototype - much more interesting than your average tank wagon.

Apparently Il Duce made the trains run on time by cancelling loads and massively slackening the timetable, something still going on in the UK today! The problem with a mainly volunteer workforce is that people can just walk out at any time if they feel hard done by. It's rather more difficult than motivating paid employees, who will take a lot of grief before they look for a different job, because they need the money. So you can't just get someone into a railway who used to run a department in a typical plc, and expect them to get the same results out of a volunteer workforce.

Since we've found the level, the story of U-1206, no doubt embellished through the decades, is always good for a laugh https://navalhistoria.com/u-1206/

Oh dear. Someone's going to be invited for tea and biscuits with the guv'nor.

Looks like a fairly benign one. Has anyone seen Big Jim today?

S*m's Tr*ins has recently reviewed the Small England. I thought it looked pretty good but nothing with traction tyres pleases him much.

Yes, sometimes also called "founder-director" syndrome in the charity world.

Our blue-chip firm has gone from a "leader" chief executive to a very old-school "manager" chief executive. You can almost smell the despair. Fortunately, after more than three decades, tomorrow is my last day. This time next year I intend to be doing something on the SVR, even if it's just gardening.

My SO worked in the charity sector for years. It is full of petty politics and quite appalling "leaders", especially those who founded the charity and run it as their personal fiefdom. She later moved to a football charity, which was doubly bad - it was pointed out above how corrupt and money-grabbing football club owners can be!

Agreed on the paucity of retail and catering options. SVR does really well at this, with three fairly large shops and some sort of catering at every station except Eardington (since it's rare anything stops there!). You really need this stuff if you're going to let people come back and not pay again for a ticket.

It's free to sit and watch the goths in Whitby, should you be there on one of the right weekends! https://www.yorkshirecoastalcottages.com/blog/whitby-goth-weekend/ They're the only people who bought Hornby's steampunk range.

I believe the new General Manager is the former marketing lady featured in the TV programme. Without getting personal, I remember there was an example of a bizarre free ticket strategy in the programme, being her idea, which almost went horribly wrong. Edit: series 1, episode 2, teachers go free

I just looked up the ticket pricing strategy. That's moronic. How many visitors will be there on holiday for a week and only want one day on the railway? They won't come, but the locals will buy a ticket and ride ten times, generating no revenue. Did they do a survey first, or any basic modelling? SVR was giving free return trips last year but the maximum risk they took was one non-paying visit per full price ticket sold, and the free trip couldn't be used for galas.