5BarVT

Ditto Swansea and Ilfracombe, Bargoed and Aberbargoed etc etc! Paul.

Good job I didn’t stay over an extra day to call in on the way back home! Paul.

Ah, yes. Been past the RPSI site at Whitehead a few times. Until they rerouted the Stranraer ferry to Belfast. Paul.

LTNS, good to see you back. Paul.

Good base to start on! What scale, gauge, era etc? Paul.

I’d be happy to test on a board as short as that. With a safety guard across each end! Paul.

Isn’t that good enough to get into Europe? Paul.

I wondered whether your username had significance . . . :-) Paul.

No, at least two days in every year when it doesn’t. Paul.

I see you like living dangerously. :-) Paul.

Yes - I found that two sleeper bays out from the tie bar gave the right operation. Paul.

2 BRICKS And underneath are the remaining mainline cross board connections. Soldered, droppered and glued. Just the slitting disc when all dried. So where next? The boring answer is the four remaining cross board tracks so that I only have to upend it once more. Two are easy, two require sorting the cork layers on the board to the right. It is being rebuilt from HT Mk4 <Grump On> Rebuilt, not upcycled. <Grump Off> so the cork isn’t in quite the right places. Or I could continue the main lines down to the left to join up with where I got to on the way up. That would allow some proper running for the first time - the crossovers on this board are the only way to get between up and down lines this side of the FY. That plus one over to the RH board plus temporary track on there gives the opportunity to run the 1970 timetable(#). I think I can guess what the answer will be. # Rather boring, two units, only one of which appeared in the station at any one time. Paul.

Hi Paul, Assuming your points on the continuous run are dcc operated, iTrain will set them for you. If not, I would recommend that they are so that you have the security of it getting it right. Paul.

This was my home made 1990s solution: Flat crank desoldered, slit cut in end of operating rod, spring steel wired soldered in. And in position. Not completely hidden, but better than before! Paul.

There is a MERG pocket money project that does what you want: https://www.merg.org.uk/download/chapter/27 Part 17 describes a signal timer operated from a LDR sensor. You could keep the sensor or replace it with your switch, and use the output to drive the traintech device instead of signal LEDs. Paul.

“Welcome to Manchester where the local time is 0806.” I had flightradar set to MAN from my daughter flying back from NZ via a stopover in Singapore last month and was about to turn it off when I saw SQ52 centre screen. Will have been just as it hit the deck. (Making the big assumption that you flew direct!) Paul.

But if you go down this route, rather than these 222 connectors I suggest you use 221. 221 are flat bottom so are easier to stick down. Guess how I know! Paul.

FLOW SOLDERING The two remaining cross board tracks (front and rear) are loose laid ready for action tomorrow. The (allegedly) easier track mentioned earlier is now fixed. Thanks to all those who made suggestions. The three screws which clashed with fishplates were screwed in slightly further, fishplates tinned and soldered down with rail in place, then solder flowed in from the outer end, slowly so that it didn’t flow down as far as the point. I think! I won’t really find out until this layout is scrapped, which hopefully is a long time away. Paul.

He was well behaved when I last saw him at an exhibition, but then I didn't stay late.

As soon as I saw the photo I was going to add a similar comment, then I read yours. Do I spy H&M point motor cranks? Presumably with their motors below. Paul.

And to add one further fact. I looked TC Bronze and it is sufficiently limited that it can’t do what I suggested. At the least it needs more feedback sections as it must have separate detection for brake and stop. It can’t do what I would need for the push buttons and switches. So the TC route would need to be minimum Silver which has a cost impact making it similar to or more than the top of the range iTrain. (Haven’t done the detail sums as one is priced in € to other in $.) Paul.

I do! And in blue, they didn’t get TOPS numbers so you can mix and match right up to their demise. Paul.

Inertia? . . . Yes they are expensive if you buy e.g. Neutrik. I use unbranded 4 way (good for 1A I think) bought in bulk (10+ for discount) from ESR. Probably not as long lasting as some, but once the layout is more or less complete below ground there shouldn’t be to much unplugging. So I use 0.1” connectors for low current accessories - at the time because I was doing everything on stripboard. Now that I have found PCB design and fab easy I would probably go for RJ connectors. DCC IO connectors are 0.15” (and that was “fun” when I was using stripboard). So for board to board power (2DCC, 2DC) I wanted a polarised connector that wasn’t either of the other two. These compared favourably for cost and size with most other offerings. Now I have standardised that’s when inertia kicks in! Paul.

In a word: No! I’ll take a look. Paul.

See Hills of the North and other threads where Graham (LNER4479) has been doing tracklaying for photos of his ‘scale’ track centres. I think he does point curving too. Paul.