Hobby

I suspect it was an urban myth, the "harlequin" Polo was simply a marketing opportunity, copied by several other manufacturers since...

Rather a long gap, holidays, retirement and exhibitions getting in the way! I wasn't especially comfortable with the original plan, the idea was fine, early 70s preservation with British and German stock and a bit of BR but it just didn't feel right. So after some thought I've decided on this track plan, half a double track circuit with centre platform station kept from the old plan but more conventional storage lines which will hold a complete train (in my case a Pacific and three coaches), kick back for storing the railcar and small engine shed. the single line bit with have the "imprint" of a second track so if i do want to go to a double track all round I can. A bit of a "train set" type layout but I hope with scenics, etc., it will look less so, sort of middle station on a preserved line which is also their main station, hence the sidings and loco shed...

And their Control, to be fair it just simplifies saying "no trains running either way because it's a single line" but also covers "no trains running either way on either line" for sections with multiple tracks! ;)

"Standard" NR "speak", you can't blame the journalist for that one!

Surely engine costs will have to be included in the cost cap, otherwise Mercedes and the others would all have a separate engine "manufacturer" to get round it.

For the DCC'ers amongst us someone has fitted a Zimo sound chip and stay alive in an 08 under the bonnet (nothing in the cab), details on FB: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1191289451730160/?hoisted_section_header_type=recently_seen&multi_permalinks=1335820497277054

It was, though the engine could even have been the 1300!

Mine was as well.

Yes, good result, but, as a City fan, I can tell you that you'll soon be getting the "tainted oil money" knockers along to knock your achievements, usually from "supporters" of the big four teams (and certain "big" European clubs) who are getting knocked off their perches since you and us and some other teams got some money to compete on the same terms as they have for the past few decades! Then you'll be "investigated" to see if they can get you on any "rule breaking", the principle being that it's OK to spend oodles of cash as long as you are part of their clique...

https://www.hobbytrax.co.uk/collections/kits-and-modules/products/dc-analogue-stay-alive Same way as it does for a point motor perhaps?

Then of course there's the Arnold Kof in TT!

And, of course, the much better running (by the standards of the day!) Fleischmann N scale 0-4-0T!

The Japanese also make a another 0-4-0 chassis even smaller!

So no interlock to prevent it? I'd have thought that would be mandatory, at least over a certain speed (I appreciate there may be a need for slow speed manoeuvring with it up)...

Yes I saw that, I've just tested mine over a 6ft length including an R2 and R3 reverse curve and a Hornby dead frog point. No issues and was getting smoother by the run, the Arnold Kof ran smoothly through the point as well. As Roy said it's well detailed, other noticeable differences between N and TT ones is tge half open cab window and roof vent on the TT version. As I don't do DCC his comments on internals don't affect me. I suspect the weight is down to Farish using a metal body and Hornby plastic.

Depends what you are used to!

That's very cheap if it's rust free and could get an MOT at minimal cost, the Metros are going up in price at the moment.

Had a Toyota Yaris self charging hybrid as a hire car last week in Slovakia. Over 1200 miles of driving, city, motorway and side roads, probably about 1/4 and the second two an even spilt it averaged just under 60mpg, so not too bad. The EV only mode went off at less than 40kph, even on flat ground, so unless I was stuck in slow moving traffic it wasn't much use, the engine was an ordinary 1.5l petrol and was woefully underpowered, you'd have thought that with all those small sub one litre turbos they make they could do something better than that. On hills (many of them!) and on motorways it was often found lacking in power and a great deal of noise as well if you booted it. Overall it didn't seem to give any significant gain over the more economical diesel they used to make except for the "green" credential. The car itself? Was OK, the bodywork was very "tinny", rattling when pushed, inside the drivers seat wasn't very good, slightly off centre I think, it had ACC which was good, and a heads up display which took some getting used to, a rev counter would have been handy, though I suspect if I knew what the "ecometer" meant that may have been satisfactory. Overall? 6/10.

Really? After the amount of money they've already spent on it they'd chuck it all in because one person has left?!! Amazing!! 🙄 If you cared to look at the future plans for locos and stock which will be already in planning, development and production phases it is pretty clear that they are committed to it and I doubt the investors who put the money in to finance it would be all that happy if they quit because one person has left. Succession planning springs to mind...

I go away for a week and the knockers re-appear! I do wonder if some people think that if they say it enough times it'll actually happen, like the kiddies fairy tale books used to say, hence the TT120 is dead comments from some a few pages ago! Anyhow, like many others, my email about the 08 has come through and I managed to pick up some old green BTTB coaches in a secondhand shop in Bratislava for the BTTB steamer I'd got a while ago, so things are moving on positively!

Just back from a week in Slovakia, drunk many of the usual brews but also found a couple of home brew/microbreweries, one in Poprad where the beer was nice but far too strong for a session and one in Bratislava where I ate too much at the restaurant they recommended we went to for Slovak food and so only managed a couple of small beers when we went back!

The loadspace is key for us, "crossovers" or whatever they want to call the sub section of suvs are none starters for us because of their height. Estates are big sellers on the continent, it'll be interesting to see if anyone else decides to make them.

Max will just get up to third, punt off second place man enough to cause a safety car and get up right behind Perez for the restart...

There was always the Avon Acclaim Turbo, a most unlikely conversion for such a car... https://www.aronline.co.uk/cars/triumph/acclaim/avon/

Yes, both they and the Concerto do, though the Concerto's is a Rover plate.