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I was ‘taught’ how to do that with the untinned bit of a soldering iron. I have more respect for my tools now! Although, if I’m soldering the wire (pvc) I tend to strip slightly short knowing that the heat will cause the insulation to retreat along the wire. Paul.

You’re in esteemed company there Keith. I think it was CJF, but it could have been Peter Denny, more years ago than I care to admit, commented that they had had an under stairs layout where the FY stuck out through the door for operating sessions thus all stock had to be run onto the scenic at the end. Their suggestion was to do it the opposite way round with FY under the stairs giving a more realistic feel. Paul.

I use these. https://www.esr.co.uk/shop/contents/en-uk/p33227_Perel_HTSTRIP5_Self_Adjusting_Wire_stripper___cutter_0.2-6mm².html The tension/pressure is adjustable by the knurled steel wheel and by turning it well down I can strip Cat 5 flex cable insulation which is fairly thin. Paul.

Most recommended from me. Even if just a frame to which you attach risers for trackbed support. Paul.

Quite agree. D(a)fT know they provided sufficient seats - the passengers just chose to travel at the wrong time or in the wrong direction. Paul.

Clearly had a very rough shunt at some point. Planks repaired but frame left as was. Paul.

See what happens when you cheat and read the last chapter first. :-) Still plenty of good reading left in between. Paul.

Thanks to both. I’ve had a look as the LibreCAD website and it looks like it does what I need and some things more easily that the iPad drawing program I’m using at the moment. I’ll have to become better acquaintedd with my laptop than I have been of late! Paul.

First posting in this particular forum as it’s an area that I have only become interested in within the past two years having gained access to a laser cutter. A very similar request to John Besley’s topic “CAD Software” which I have read with interest. I’ve started a separate topic so as not to cause confusion between packages that do or don’t work on iPad and or PC. I started with Inkscape on the laptop, but I haven’t found it intuitive to use. It is still part of my process but only for converting SVG to DXF and deleting unwanted layers before importing to Lasercut 5.3 in the club workshop. I found Vectornator for use on the iPad and that has become my preferred way of working. Vectornator was primarily an image manipulation tool aimed at producing screen designs. It has become Linearity Curve with lots of extra moving image add ons that I will never use but is also becoming a paid app at £60 + tax per year. Probably good value if you are using it as designed, but not when you’re using only 10% of the features. There is a free version but it is limited to 3 files. Examples of things I have designed are: Signalbox diagram - I can keep this as one of my 3 free files. Wiring diagrams. Even though I can ‘cheat’ by putting pages on different layers there will be far more than can reasonably be kept in one file. Laser cutter designs. So what would people recommend for doing these type of laser cutter designs and wiring diagrams that 1. Runs on an iPad 2. Is not an annual subscription (preferably free). 3. Is intuitive to learn in the early stages 4. Has the capability of precise positioning. 5. Preferably can import what I’ve done already in SVG. Thanks, Paul.

When I was a teenager I knew someone who worked in the parcels depot at Nottingham London Rd. He ended up in Toton as a shunter as reorgs etc closed down the parcels operation. He used to moan to me about “management”. Not sure whether he realised that I counted as “management” in his definition. His comment was that whenever a new graduate type was put in charge, they worked to the book for a day or two (as instructed), and once it was realised that the job wasn’t getting done, were allowed to go back to their ways that worked. Paul.

No, ‘cos the job was done. Until something went wrong. Paul.

Do you need to worry? That’s two of us had near misses, we might get closer next time. “Only two wires” comes with a penalty - DCC: DC made Complicated! Paul.

Use Traincontroller as it matches the speeds internally and controls them separately. (You didn’t specify “cheaply “ in your question!) Being (a bit) more serious, although the normal ‘recommendation’ is to maximise the number of speed steps available to give ‘finer’ control, 1m.p.h. accuracy seems fine, particularly at higher speeds. Some go for exponential speed curves to give closer control at lower speeds but your premise requires a straight line speed table. Thinking out loud, might 1 mph steps be a bit coarse at shunting speeds? Sadly, if the answer is Yes it blows the whole concept out of the water. An early test might be appropriate. Returning to consists, if the actual speeds of two locos are different at particular speeds below 64mph, then adjusting the speed table of the errant loco is the solution. Deciding which is the errant loco might be the trickier part. Again, testing with a wide range of locos will indicate if this is a systemic problem (not the desired answer) or limited to individual ‘problem’ locos. Testing does not need to be limited to locos that are planned to be consisted. Paul.

Only 3 of the 4? Presumably plenty of time available so Draw was discounted. Paul.

Hi Philou, Although not GWR/LNWR, the RAIB report R01/2010 for a bridge collapse near Stewarton G&SW shows construction details for a skew centre girder bridge and shows details of what went on below ballast level. Link here https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a7f5fe7e5274a2e87db5784/100203_R022010_Stewarton.pdf From fig 7 p16 it looks like there was no ‘deck’ as such when the rials were laid on baulks. A timber deck was added when the bridge was ballasted. It may be that there was a light timber deck sufficient to support foot traffic before the bridge was ballasted. King Edward bridge across the Tyne seems to have some sort of infill to,prevent stuff dropping through. Paul.

Was that in addition to the BYOA (Bring Your Own Aussie)? :-) Paul.

I’m not a structural engineer or a bridge designer, but my gut feeling is that if there were a central girder it would have been two separate bridge decks, one each side. Paul.

If you have to ask “How much?” you can’t afford it! Paul.

Which takes me back to my short period as a SME (signal maintenance engineer) and the newly replaced switch diamonds at Greenhill Junction. They had been installed with the “gauge” measured across the elbow joints (i.e. not perpendicular to either set of running edges). The result was that whenever a train ran through there was a creaking groaning sound as each wheelset passed through the elbows. The PWME did what he could but needed a complete relay to sort it properly. They aren’t there any more, but it was probably 25-30 years before they went. Paul. P.S. My techs reckoned it was about 10mm narrow to gauge at the critical point and the tolerance they had available for adjustment was only 8mm . . . !

1524mm to proper proper engineers... Which makes me a proper-ish proper engineer as the dimension on the plan is 1520mm. And any more significant figures than 3 would be a false claim to accuracy! Paul.

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And while you're waiting, don’t forget to keep up to date with what the rest of us are, or are not, doing. Sez he who hasn’t posted on his own topic since New Years Day! Paul.

Fallen into the same trap of having nothing moving for too long. I recognise those trees! Wouldn’t care to say how many times I’ve viewed them over thirty years. Interested to see curvy Kadees. I’ve managed to keep most of mine on straight to do what I need (I hope). I do have some to add on 5’ radius curves when I get further on. Paul.

Must use the same software as the UK Rail seat reservation system. Paul.

It’s the getting back that’s a little difficult. Paul.