AyJay

My father told me that I’ll find no answers in the bottom of a bottle! Well after seeing that, I’ll need one for therapy, possibly two.

Nearly 3am and yet another sleepless night. So I came down and am listening to one of my favourite artists, Joni Mitchell. I first came to hear of Joni in '71, the album 'Blue', which still stands as one of my top 20 favourite albums. Saw her perform in '74 at Wembley with CSN&Y. A very hot day, were you there? Stayed up last week to catch Joni at this years Grammy awards, wonderful yet very sad to see that age catches all of us. With that in mind, I'd like to share this link from her 'Miles of Aisles' album, a track which I have always thought very sweet, but which recently has taken on a deeper meaning, 'The Circle Game'.

We have call screening enabled on the landline, my mobile is set not to ring for unknown numbers. And if anyone knocks at the door and I don’t recognise/don’t like the look of them, then I don’t care if they see me looking out the window at them. That door stays locked!

I may have just found my station. The next step is to get cutting cereal boxes and make a mock-up.

I made a purchase of something last year from Squires, interchangable lenses, adjustable LED light powered by 2 x AAA batteries. Does just the job! I find it better to take my glasses off first though, even though it does not interfere with them. However, I have found the big game-changer when using any form of magnification for detailed work, is to also have plenty of light, for which I purchased two desk lamps and positioned one on each side of my work.

I must confess to being deeply unsettled over this and I hope that I am completely wrong about where my thoughts are going. My dad got me started with my first train set when I must have been about 6 or 7. Sitting in an oval of track that weaved its way between furniture, would keep me entertained all Sunday afternoon. We didn't have a car, so it was buses and trains for us. Sure, it went quiet for about 20 years when I discovered girls, then work, studies and finally marriage. But the seed had been sown and sprouted back to life. My Son is only interested in Lego and Warhammer. The 5 great-nieces/nephews are all 100% hooked on football. The two under-5's grandchildren delight in throwing toy cars. My offer to buy them a Playtrains set was politely declined. Visits to the Warley Exhibition at the NEC and the London Exhibition at Alexandra Palace have been my best opportunity for ideas gathering and purchases. Yet the NEC will now be a thing of the past. There used to be a model shop a short bus ride away; the nearest for me is now a 50 mile drive away. When my Dad took me to the exhibitions in Ilford and Westminster Central Hall, they were full of other kids and their Dad's. Now I see mostly old men, which is what I now am. Will this wonderful, creative, imaginative hobby still be alive and thriving in 30 years time? I sincerely hope so, I doubt if I will be. Last year, the Wife and I wrote our wills. I told her, "If anyone in the wider circle of family wants this lot, they can have it. If not, just approach a trader in the magazine." Anything other than a house clearance man chucking it all in a skip. Deeply depressed now. I do so hope I'm wrong and will continue to promote my interest to my connections on FaceAche.

My mistake Nick. The other two are too long. Adisham is rendered and painted all white. Of course, I could just overlook this and do it red brick anyway. Also, when I look at my print for Much Wenlock, I can see that there is a passenger entrance on the platform side where the waiting room is; but on the roadside, the only entrance is for the stationmasters residence. Where I would expect an entrance, it's all windows?

Bingo! A further search on the internet revealed a website 'archive.org' that has a copy of the John Minnis book. Logging in, I was able to check out the book and it does indeed have the end views of Wateringbury. So I took copies of the pages I needed, attached. What is missing is a plan view. So my next step will be to dig out my printer and look into how I get them working together. Assuming I can get printouts, I will then look them over closely and see If I can produce a plan view from what the four side views tell me.

Thanks for all that Nick. It had never occurred to me to print out the views and paste them onto a mock-up, a bit better than cereal-box grey. I just need to persuade my old printer to talk to my new laptop (Oh the trials of keeping ones technology up-to-date!) I have taken another look at the drawings you posted me and after measuring how much space that I have to play with, I think that Adisham, Groombridge and Hellingly will be too big (long) for the available space without serious reworking. Pewsey is pretty, but I really wanted something a bit bigger and more imposing. So that leaves Lingfield to add to the short list. Coming back to Wateringbury.... It's a bit worrying that I only have the front and rear views as drawings; does that mean that there were no end-view drawings available? I have been searching around for the John Minnis book, South East & Chatham Railway; Amazon has a copy, but at a much higher price than I am willing to pay. There is no sign of it in Oxfordshire Libraries or the Oxfam website. I'm reluctant to go for the copy found on ebay, in case the book does not have the views I lack.

Well the mystery deepens, Rovex. Yes, the photocopies are 2mm scale, but I have never owned that book. I suppose it is possible that more than one book contains the same drawings. I’ll add this one to my wanted list. Thank you

Good morning all, well that's Christmas out of the way; now I need to deal with the feeling of being overstuffed! Peter. Good and valid question. But I have come to the conclusion that my choices are based on how something triggers my sense of aesthetic appeal, and not geographical location. It is a fantasy layout after all. Nick. Thank you, yes I have just seen your PM's. I did a search around and discovered that my copy of the Vivien Thompson book was saved from the charity shop clearout that I did some time back, so I do have the drawings for Wokingham. I do also have photocopies of drawings for Much Wenlock and Wateringbury, both of them I am drawn to and I think I may choose one of them. However, the problem is that I don't know which books they came from and I don't think that the photocopies are 1:1 scale. So can you indicate which is which please? I'm banned from doing anything creative (i.e. messy) in the house now, freshly redecorated and new carpets throughout. So any work will have to wait until the spring, when I can get back to surviving more than 5min's at a go in my shed. My first stage in making a model is normally to do a quick mock-up out of cereal-box cardboard, just to see what it looks like. Other plans for 2024 include volunteering at Pendon and finding a model club to join, although being in my first year of retirement, I have been kept busy with house projects so far and I know that there is a long list of other tasks waiting for me. So 'me time' may be in short supply.

Hello Nick. Thank you for going to the trouble of writing a thorough and well thought out response. It is appreciated. It must be frustrating for anyone wanting to help, when I cannot pin down what I want. Believe me, It is frustrating for me also that a constant in my life is a complete paralysing inability to make up my mind about almost anything. My layout is intentionally fictitious and not meant to represent anywhere in particular. All of my locomotives are steam and they all bear the BR totem. Each of the big 4 are represented, GWR and LMS are predominant, and chosen because I just like the look of them, nothing more. The buildings are all red brick, with one exception. The Castle is Etal Castle in Northumberland. The Church is a building that is near my home. The Pub (not the one in the picture) is my own creation but inspired by a certain popular TV soap opera. One of the shop fronts is a bicycle shop that I used to frequent in Walthamstow. As for the desired station, I like the style of the Metcalfe model and am looking for something loosely similar. I only want to replace it with a scratch build so that it blends better with an adjacent scene that is all scratch built. It needs to not overwhelm the available space, so that puts it at about 75ft to 100ft in length. Modelling a real building is easier than making one up, but I am willing to make minor changes to fit in. I shall probably end up doing either: Much Wenlock, because I have good drawings, although that’s not red brick. Wokingham, if I can find drawings. Or I also really like Wateringbury, but I only have drawings of the front and rear so will have to search for end views (it also pushes the size budget a bit). Of those suggested, I particularly like Heathfield, but lack drawings and the Google Earth views are limited. Thank you also for your comments about the books. All I had to go by was the write-up’s of each on the Library website. None of them are in my local, so I have requested a few of them. However, I shall make a note of your suggestions and look out for them.

Well this is beginning to look encouraging... I logged onto the website for my local library, did a search for 'Railway Stations' and came up with numerous hits. Various books by authors: Gordon Biddle, Kenneth Hoole, Steven Parissian, Allan Jackson, VR Anderson. A couple of them indicating plans etc for modellers: Chris Leigh: GWR Country Stations. GWR Country Stations 2 R.H. Clark: A historical survey of selected G. W. Stations. Also there is Ian Lamb: Modelling Railway Stations, a practical guide. None of them available at my local, but all within the region, so a visit is on the cards. I also found an entry for this: Kate Moore. Felix the Railway Cat. I cannot let this opportunity pass.

Thank you Kevin! I absolutely love that video clip. Now that's what I call a train set. 😄

I love hearing carols, eating the pudding (and mince pies) and watching decent films. Also being with the one I love and unscrewing the Glenfiddich cap. Hate the overcommercialisation of a blessed event, the crowds and the tat. Would love to see ‘that’ scene from ‘The Wrong Trousers’ again. Wherever you are, your circumstances or your faith view, I wish you all a very Happy (and trouble free) Christmas and New Year. I’ll scream if I hear ‘Felice Navidad’ yet again.

Not sure how to proceed, I just typed 'Kent railway stations' into my browser and looked at the images that came up. Repeated for Surrey, Sussex and 'Great Western'. This soon gave me a long list of interesting looking stations which all looked very similar in style. However, when I then looked at them again in Google Earth, I found that in all cases, there was only a view where the camera car went, which was limited. However, those that I particularly liked were: Portishead, Hampton Loade, Godalming, Eynsford Kent, Groombridge, Heathfield Sussex and Battle. I think, ultimately, it will come down to finding schematic drawings that will give me the shape and dimensions. For that, I have no idea where to look. After that, choosing to try to model correctly or change something to fit, is a secondary question. But since every other building on my layout is in red brick, I guess the station has to be also.

Well I have had some success in that after some rooting around, I unearthed some photocopies of pages from a book giving the stations I was looking for. The good news is that they are scale drawings of each of the 4 views. They are Much Wenlock in Shropshire, now a private residence, and Wateringbury in Kent, still an active station. And both have views on Google Earth. It was Much Wenlock that I originally made in Plaster of Paris and I think it would fit the required space. The bad news is that having seen it in it's current form, I don't think I want to model it now. I have also taken a look at Wateringbury photographs and although it also looks suitably elegant for my tastes, I don't fancy the gothic style arched doorways and the window glazing. I did also try searching for 'Railway Stations', adding in 'disused' and 'heritage'. The result was a bit too broad and I soon got bored with looking; a case of 'can't see the wood for the trees'. Ah well, I guess it's back to searching again. (Here's the Google Earth images for Wateringbury and Much Wenlock) https://earth.google.com/web/search/Wateringbury+station/@51.24983953,0.42248229,15.247761a,0d,90y,163.79798151h,99.23081t,0r/data=CigiJgokCQp7t3H5TEpAETjSU6hpTEpAGWbsnk9cbATAIdTdWfqdewTAIhoKFi1aVzRuYXZjZUIwQ29hbzFST1pGb1EQAg https://earth.google.com/web/search/Station+House,+Station+Road,+Much+Wenlock/@52.59944546,-2.55708471,160.73228455a,0d,60y,150.9703171h,89.43492091t,0r/data=CpQBGmoSZAolMHg0ODcwNzk4NGE1ZDhjOTQ3OjB4NmQ2NzIxZjNlOTI0NjU0NxlEzNvHwExKQCGlhcsqbHYEwCopU3RhdGlvbiBIb3VzZSwgU3RhdGlvbiBSb2FkLCBNdWNoIFdlbmxvY2sYASABIiYKJAm6YTwyCU1KQBHPgMoC70tKQBlW5Z36cm8EwCFArV12zogEwCIaChYzbFB1Z2p3UXE2djl4cTRjb2VpM3dBEAI

Hello Steven, In experimenting with this, I tried all the permutations of audio settings. Although right now it's set to: Host = MME Recording device = Microsoft Sound Mapper (input) Channels = 2 (stereo) Default sample format = 32-bit (float) I really don't think its anything to do with what app I am using to capture the audio, for whether I use Audacity of SpinItAgain, the result is the same. I don't think the sound grabber works the other way, it's an analogue (RSA) to digital (USB) device.

Thanks for that Bob. I have just taken another look at this. Firstly, I took my music hard drive and plugged it into the USB port of my laptop to play a selection of music. Its all stereo! The sound of the racing car at the end of Simon & Garfunkels 'Baby Driver' is very clear at showing that there is nothing at fault with the laptop handling stereo from USB to loudspeaker. Swapping the RSA plugs around at the input to the USB grabber, proves that I am getting clear Left and Right channels coming out of the amplifier. That leaves just the grabber. Their user info on the Audacity help section does not give anything in the way of a contact point back to the company that produced it. This seems to be a growing trend with companies now; they do not want customers contacting them. Ditto with regards the paperwork with the packaging the grabber came in. The Audacity user forum has so far been no help at all. One respondant did give me a link to something on Youtube that covered the advanced properties of recording devices and how to select a stereo input. It was already set to this. I suppose I just could search around for another grabber to purchase, but if their manufacturers are not going to provide contact details or help, then how many do I have to buy before I find one that works? Very frustrating.

It’s a USB Audio Grabber by DriverGenius, model AV202-B. ”digitises analogue audio signals…. The product can be connected to a record player or cassette tape recorder.” It has 2 RCA connectors, also a 3.5mm 3 connector jack, on one side and a USB-A on the other. Initially, I did use Audacity to digitise int one long file, which I then imported into SpinItAgain to split into tracks and add metadata. However, I realised that this was an unnecessary step. Besides, Audacity is targeted towards mixing individual channels, aka a mixing desk; it is not ideally tailored for what I want. Besides, the issue is that the right channel is not being picked up and the left is being split into both left and right.

Hi Bob. Are you sure your recordings are stereo, not mono coming out of both speakers? My tests have been the left channel coming out both speakers.

Good morning all. I have just noticed that there is a discussion thread on the subject of Windows 11. Well this is not about the challenges of installing Windows 11, or perhaps it is? But seeing as how there is a wealth of such knowledge here, I thought that I'd share my computer problem in the hope that someone might know what the answer is. I'm not of an I.T. background and what is going on inside this grey slab leaves me totally bemused. I have a large vinyl collection and enjoy listening to music through my stereo system. It used to be tape recorders, but then I got a computer and realised that I could capture music on that, by plugging the RSA line output of the amplifier into the stereo line jack of my Windows XP installed P.C. The installation of a digitising tool by Acoustica completed the process and I could then burn the resulting files onto compact disc in WAV, WMA, or MP3 format. When I later purchased an NP30 network device by Cambridge Audio to listen to Classic FM from the internet, I realised that it could accept sound files via its USB socket. So now all my music is saved on one external hard drive. Now onto the computer problem. I still have that P.C. but it languishes redundant in the loft (its also too cumbersome to be seen in the lounge) and I am now in my 2nd year of owning a nice sleek looking Dell Inspiron 15 that can sit anywhere. It came with Windows 11 by the way. However, when I tried to connect it to my amplifier, I realised that it won't do this one task for me. I installed my Acoustica digital package (Spin-it-Again) onto the laptop and started experimenting. The only mini-jack socket that it has is for the headphones and the microphone input is mono only! So I purchased an RSA to USB adapter lead and tried that. No go! Looks like the USB (A and C variants) sockets will not accept analogue. So I travelled the Amazon for an answer and came back with a USB Audio Capture device that promises to "Digitize Analogue Audio Files to PC". "Supports Windows 10/8/7, Mac OS 10.7 and above" it says. No mention of Windows 11 though. The user instructions prompted me to install something called 'Audacity', which appears to be a software package tailored towards creating recordings on mixing desks. Well I don't think I want that bit, but nice to know. I was now able to capture and digitise analogue music. But it didn't sound right. I realised that only the left analogue channel was being captured. I did try swapping the connections around, but no joy, the right was not touched. The tech help desk an my local PC World, where the laptop came from? No idea. The tech help section on the Dell website? Can't ask them because my free 1-year tech help access is expired. All the Dell website did was point me towards their user forum. I'd have better chance of getting a reply to a message in a bottle thrown into the sea. I also tried my local branch of Richer Sounds via an e-mail exchange with their branch manager. Using computers to capture audio was clearly an alien concept to the man. The Windows website did give some clue, said something about Windows 11 not being mature enough to support stereo audio yet, but would in a future release. "Suitably vague" I thought. I did manage to speak to a tech person at Windows. He demonstrated by playing stereo sounds from Youtube, that Windows and the laptop will handle stereo originating from that source. So it's not a Windows problem. So, dear colleagues and friends I have yet to make, can anyone please shed any light on my problem of how to get my Dell laptop listening in stereo coming from outside? Will I never be able to capture radio concerts again? Will this stack of Fairport Convention albums have to stay off the hard drive? Or do I have to explain to my other half, why an unsightly and ancient PC has to sit in the lounge? Thank you.

I have just placed my vote 😀 I chose: Ivor the Engine, because I remember watching it as a small child. But it’s got to have ‘Jones the Steam’ and it must make the right ‘chuff-chuff’ sound. Locomotion. I would want to model that painting of it hauling a load with horses etc running alongside. Trevithicks engine. I once made a motorised plastic kit of this as a child. Was it Airfix?

I was still hovering around, so had to pop in. Have you all noticed, if you watch ITV, that it is never long before there's a competition. One of the 'ring this number and leave your details, calls are charged at £2 a pop' variety. I get very suspicious of this and question what is going on. Have you noticed that its always "BK88, PO box xxxxx Leeds" or somesuch. Why is some anonymous organisation giving away massive sums of money? Why do they not name themselves? Well not only are they getting a healthy revenue stream from people ringing/texting them, I'm guessing that they are a marketing company 'harvesting' peoples contact details to sell on to marketers of stuff. So those hopeful punters are then endlessly bombarded with targeted marketing for stuff they don't want. No thanks!

Hi all. For a previous layout many years back, I did find some drawings and photos of a station similar to what Nearholmer had posted (thanks for the reminder, I may see if I can find them). Having at that time acquired a moulding kit from some company called 'Linka' or somesuch, I made it out of Plaster-of-Paris tiles. I thought that it looked jolly good and the texture made it look like real stone. However, years later, I realised that it looked terrible, so I binned it. Might be worth considering it for a card model though. Whatever I do, an important consideration is that the size is well proportioned for the site. For anyone interested, I have posted a recent picture, you'll see what I mean by proportioned. I will then have to take another look at the 'Red Lion' hotel, although I'll probably leave the terrace of houses and the shop as they are. Might trawl round the charity shops tomorrow, never know what books I might find.