Vecchio

Looking at LCUT I was quite happy with their kit (and thanks god I didn't have brick corners). The only problem I noticed was the distance between steps of the stairs going up to the signal box. I corrected that with the addition of an extra step between those from the kit. Now we have probably more "lazy" steps, the right distance may be more in-between. But as said earlier, painting is very important, covers up a lot and also gives the material some humidity protection (depending of what paint you are using - I use enamel). Here the signal box for Frimingham, a 7mm layout, the colour scheme came from signal boxes in the area near Cromer. DSC04955 DSC04952 And as it is so nice - a quick look inside the signal box. The interior is from different Severn Models etched brass kits. DSC04954 Happy modelling!

Prototype based buildings are quite large, I built for instance a single family house from the Austrian pre-alpine area (It actually needs to stand on a slope) - 2 times the size of the standard Faller buildings... IMGP5379 Or the station - Strobl in Austria (was a narrow gauge line station, unfortunately both the line and the building are gone) IMGP5418 IMGP5411 Or even bridges - fascinating fragile and still stable IMGP5426 Here you see the bridge and the house on my layout. IMG20220708102049 I love building them, but I have to say also a good resin building can look perfect (but is a bit heavier)

Back from my "shift" on the layout during our open day. I recently finished a tree which makes a bit of a statement IMG20231028114205 This is just putting the netting up and cover the trunk not to get leaves on. Now the finished tree on the layout. Perhaps I need to move it further back, as it almost overhangs the track. Not really firesafe. Anyway - I do like it. It is approximately 45cm tall. IMG20231029123056 See here a few more pictures of the layout in its current state. IMG20231029123022 IMG20231029122959 It is almost finished, what is missing is a curtain and the transport protection for the modules (and of course the second fiddle yard...) .

By the way - if anybody is interested - you can see this layout next Sunday. I will be there in the morning (probably until 13:00), but the layout will also run in the afternoon, as my friend Ian will look after it. We run DCC sound locos, control is z21 and Megapoints controller. The layout progresses further and further, the point rodding is 99% finished. And of course there will be 3 other layouts in other scales running! Milton Keynes Model Railway Society Open Day 29.10.2023 Our next open day will be held on Sunday 29th October 2023, 10:00 – 15:00 Interested in becoming a member or just want to see what we do? Then come along to our open day! We have layouts in the major gauges, which will be operational on the day. Light refreshments will be available on the day The Address for our open day is North House, 1 Bond Avenue, Bletchley, Milton Keynes, MK1 1SW Free Admission Hope to see you there! Vecchio aka Gerhard

@37Oban I think the reason for not seeing scale high trees is the price.... 😁 @young37215 I think the 3 trees look great, well snipping out or bending a few branches may help to add more realism.

If you go into flickr (where the photos come from) you can zoom to the maximum and then you will see that there is a clear PVC edge protection sleeve on the aluminuim. Especially for you a closeup (of the material for the second fiddle yard) : IMG20231018132206

The Primo stuff is very nice, if you have a few outstanding trees Primo (or one of the other top tree manufacturers) it is. In case you need more or a kind of woodland I normally use the nice (and expensive ones) in the front and cheaper stuff (like bottle brush trees from Faller) in the back. The bottle brush types need to be treated a bit (take out some twigs) as they are too regular in normal appearance.

Not easy to make everybody happy. Too many people, one layout too big, not enough busses, and so on. Why are we not happy that model railway shows obviously are still popular and many people come to look at these shows? For me this show was one of the highlights of this year, and let's face it also Warley was/is? crowded at times. Where would our hobby be without shows?

Pete said the same today. But as I could see some of their tablets (and I own a Z21 myself) it was not a communication problem but simply short circuits. In case of a communication problem the status bar on the Z21 goes grey. In case of a short circuit (which can also be caused by overload) it goes red. If the system is all happy it is blue. As said further up I would put such a large layout into sections like the good old DC boys do. In case of a short just the section actually having the short is dead and not the whole layout (this is assuming every section has it's own booster).

And again some time has passed. But now I have it. One of the fiddle yards is finished and fully operational. The other one just waits for somebody who has some 20hours free to build it... IMG20231013172742 IMG20231013172742 The aluminium strips form a safety barrier so that stock cannot roll off the fiddle yard when moved. There is no switch necessary, the electrical connection is done with microswitches below the board and with the brass lever which also is responsible for the physical alignment of the tracks. Works a treat. Of course sound engines are quiet when the bord gets moved as only one track is connected at a time. This I did for Bob, our treasurer, who couldn't be convinced to use DCC. Unfortunately he didn't see the finished fiddle yard as he passed away recently.

Had a good day at the show, and bought too much stuff. The Waterman layout had a few issues with short circuits, as far as I understood they were resulting from not enough power as well as some wagons which had been aged and the axles were not put back in the correct way. About the power issue: I heard they have only 5 ampere in total (which in my opinion is wrong, if you have one Z21 and 1 booster you would result in 6A). In any case at such a large layout I would use more boosters and also sectionalising (for instance slow up, slow down, fast up , fast down as separate sections). This would give you the possibility to identify where the short comes from and you can run the rest of the layout without keeping the punters upset. All in all a good show, exclusively British as usual.

Really terrible that just now I work on an 0-gauge layout. Couldn't resist, the blue BR one is on pre-order...

Acceptable in real life as well. The coaches will go through from Germany to wherever they have to go. The locomotive will be changed at the border. The profile in most of the European countries is harmonised, so coaches and wagons can go over. It is different with locomotives as the automatic safety/signalling systems may be different. These days you will find multisystem locomotives which have the safety (signalling) systems of several countries on board. And of coarse also the equipment to cope with different system voltages (different pantographs, different transformers, control equipment and so on) In your case - as the loco is steam - only the signalling counts.

Terrible stuff. Just had to pre-order one...

Interesting thread. I used to have a border layout - Italy -Austria so you had loco changes and also run around engines. Even now, at Donnersbachkogel I run around locos on the H0e end to end part, without the hand of God, but nobody of the viewers seems to notice that. Same with a moving watercrane and moving loco shed doors. Sometimes a layout with constant running trains, having only dummy points in the visible section, attracts more visitors than the complicated shunting moves....

Modelling mojo- sometimes I have to kick myself to get on. So now I confirmed to participate to Roade next year with Frimingham even the second fiddle year is not even started. Same with Donnersbachkogel, I still didn't finish the fiddle yard but I am registered on two shows next year. This gives me a kick to go on. Other than that a small Diesel shunter needs to be finished, my Banavie bridge needs a layout around it. So loads of things to finish, I just need to give myself the kick to do it...

That's proper. I see all the steel portals as I live near Milton Keynes and use the train mainly to go to London (WCML).

I think Rishi needs to consider that the Tories have already lost thanks to the premier before him. Of course not an easy task for them because of the pandemic. What would have helped them would be a more party driven approach. What they did instead is a witch hunt at Boris. That didn't help at all. End of political comments. I still hold an Austrian passport and should be quiet (I would have changed it, but £1200 for a British one, and £60 for the renewal of my Austrian ones - a no brainer...).

Electrification: Take for instance Austria. All on the basis of hot cast steel reinforced concrete poles. No massive steel portals. If needed (4 tracks) larger poles on both sides, cross spans serve the 4 tracks. Speed above 200 km/h. Runs also at minus 20 degrees without silly speed restrictions for icicles.

About Ryanair stations: In other countries (Italy) the high speed trains are using the current network to go into town centre stations. They leave the town and where convenient they go onto their own tracks. And in Italy this means even a system change as the high speed lines are 25kV/50Hz while the "low speed" lines are 3kV DC.

I think it is a shame we do not have already a proper high speed network as most of the European countries have. In my opinion it is a must to have a minimum network going up north as far as Edinburgh. We should avoid unnecessary buildings like green tunnels which are responsible for cost explosions, I suppose a noise reducing wall or dam should be enough. Why was it possible in other countries like Germany, France, Italy to build those lines and not here in the UK?

As a modeller of continental trains I find system changes quite interesting and they also add an extra into the operations. Had a Austrian - Italian border layout, so you have to change motive power or use multisystem locomotives. And even if the overhead voltage source is the same - as for instance between Austria and Switzerland - the profile isn't. You can drive all UIC stock in both countries, but the overhead system needs a more narrow pantographs in Switzerland. Makes again a playing field on a border station. Of course it would make sense to have 25kV/50Hz in all European countries, first the investment for changeover is high and second the modeller would lose all his border games he can put in now 🙂.

Midgets: been in Scotland (Highlands) 3 weeks ago, not a midget in sight. Been 2022 (Oban) no midgets. Been 2017 (west coast round trip) no midgets. Probably they don't like my Austrian blood. Different to those in my garden (Newport Pagnell). They eat me but leave my wife alone...

As long as you have expansion gaps at other places I think it is a good idea. Especially as metal wheels will not make contact between the two sections. I play with the idea of using milliput myself. What grade? The cheapest. It is yellow/grey. A) it is a rather small distance (cutting disc wide) And B) you always can paint over.

Was a good show, some fantastic layouts, was with my friend Stephen and my wife. Even she enjoyed it. And the special touch was the possibility to visit the museum as well as a ride on a steam train.