davefromacrossthepond

Don't Stop Til You Get Enough - Michael Jackson

An interesting event indeed. It is fantastic seeing the progression of what used to be called Life Like. Perhaps there will be some synergies to be had with this new relationship. Interesting that Walthers is keeping the HO line. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Don't cheer yet. I heard there's some serious studying going on so that Hornby's next GWR steam engine can be a national security threat. Of course since they are manufactured in China.....

Could there be a "deep state" at work within Hornby? If so . . . sad.

Jump - Van Halen

Turning Japanese - The Vapors

I'm too scared to laugh at that last one. If I did, I'm afraid the next thing we'd hear is Dave falling down the stairs!

I'm guessing that Hattons took a "better safe than sorry" view.

Take Me to the River - Talking Heads

This is an interesting thought. It is my understanding that in actuality neither Bachmann nor Hornby make their own models, the work is contracted out. If individual retailers, be it Hattons, Rails, Kernow etc, start dealing with the factories directly, can they undercut B and H as they are cutting out a middleman? It seems that Hattons two recent locomotives have impressed many. Is this a threat to the likes of Bachmann and Hornby? Moreover, would smaller retailers who don't have the resources to deal directly with the factory be able to retail "Hattons" models and still remain profitable? Interesting thoughts to ponder.

Simon, Over the past too many years than I care to count, I've started numerous layouts. Each got to various stages before they had to be dismembered for many reasons. This competition has gotten me committed to getting to what I would consider a psuedo-completed point. Without the "competition" I'm not sure I would have gotten the kick in the pants to start this.

Jerry, If you are looking for a siding to unload tankers, you may want to try either Walters Interstate Oil or Walthers McGraw Oil For planning purposes, I believe walthers.com has "footprint" diagrams for many of their kits. Dave

Dancing in the Street - many including David Bowie and Mick Jagger/Martha and the Vandellas/Van Halen etc etc etc Edited to apologize...I didn't see this a couple of posts up.

Not to change focus, but a 1950s era layout set in an urban industrial setting would allow small switchers (SWs or NWs) from Class 1 railroads switching 40 foot cars on small radius track. Walthers, City Classics or DPM could provide structures.

Mick, Wait, that's what happened to me when I thought it might be fun to do a small British layout. lol Dave

Jerry, Who makes the best locomotives? That is such the loaded question lol. If you think asking "Brexit - pro or con?" starts arguments, go to a US forum and ask which manufacturer of US locomotives is best lol. The calculus not only depends on make, but also vintage. Broadway Limited, Bachmann, Atlas, Athearn, Walthers (Proto 1000 and Proto 2000) all have their own fans and detractors. In addition to various U.S. forums, you may want to explore the British division of the National Model Railroad Association (NMRA). https://www.nmrabr.org.uk/latest-nmra-news/387-nmrar-2018-convention-announced Joining the NMRA has proven to be very beneficial. My local division, while small, has a number of very knowledgeable persons willing to help and going to our region convention has provided great learning experiences, both from visiting layouts and attending clinics. For vehicles, perhaps Classic Metals Works is the most popular and Oxford is starting to make 1/87 vehicles. I hope this provides a good starting point for you. Dave

On the plus side, the dimensions of Peco track would work for American HO or N.

Jerry, To get an "American feel" you may want to check out some of the books and "special issues" of Model Railroader put out by Kalmbach. Another good source of info is the cs.trains.com forum which is the Model Railroader version of this forum. I hope you'll find as many friendly modelers on this side of the Atlantic as I have found on your side. Good luck! Dave

Alcanman, Not to hijack the thread, but your weathering job on that hopper is superb - especially the trucks. Dave

Joe, Glad to see that you survived storm number 3! Dave

Should be http://www.art-printers.co.uk

Andy, If you do an ebay search for "DSO138" you'll get quite the number of sellers in both US and China that are selling. Here's one I found at random: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Fully-Assembled-NA-DSO138-2-4-TFT-Digital-Oscilloscope-1Msps-with-FREE-Probe/262985417570?hash=item3d3b270362:g:LCgAAOSwUg9ahOkv Dave

Oh, I've tried numerous times to ignore this thread. But gosh darn it, I keep coming back.

I used "buy it now" to purchase a DSO 138 O-scope. Not being that certain of my ability to solder SMDs, I bought one already assembled (most sellers use the term "welded"). By searching around the various sellers on e-bay, I managed to find one for about $20 (U.S.) including shipping. It's on its way, some of the shipping times for these can be quite long, but I'm not in any rush. While I did use O-scopes way way way back when in college, it's been quite awhile, and for the price I figured "what the heck." Right now I sort of want to play around with the thing to see if it is possible to reduce the "noise" interference that can mess with DCC signals. Okay, I'll fess up . .. . I think it will be fun just to "play with." lol Before purchasing I did a search on youtube for "DSO138" there are quite the number of videos out there. Hopefully I'll be able to post something here once I receive the thing and figure out how to use it and what to use it on. I should add that I skipped the acrylic case kit for the scope. Seems that quite a few people have found them somewhat problematic to assemble, and I figure it should work fine without it. I also skipped on buying the power supply for it as I have bunches of them lying around the house. Edit to put in the last paragraph concerning case and power supply.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm