Mike Buckner

Hi Darius, I like your tips about the dragging dummy bogie and crabbing motor bogie. D'you mind my asking where you source your dummy bogie and motor bogie? I presume they're modern Hornby spares? I've a couple of projects that might benefit from this treatment. Cheers, Mike

Thanks for clearing that up. They're certainly odd-looking beasts. Judging by this photo, it seems single-deck/double-deck lash-ups with multiple end-units are a commonplace: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:M7_BDx.jpg

Thanks for the clarification. Perhaps it's a train of motley rolling stock en route to a depot for cleaning of graffiti, as most of the vehicles seem to have marks on the front or the side we can see, maybe there are more marks on the other side. The end vehicles suggest part of a double-deck EMU - of a type I haven't seen before. There are no running numbers visible on the end vehicles - perhaps they are brand new.

Can anyone say which station that is in the first photograph?

Looks like there was some variety in fonts, depending on the available space. For example the letter C in Calne is quite different than in Chippenham. The example below is in the font Hurley 1967 Sans - a .ttf font can be downloaded from the web. It somewhat approximates what you want.

a definite favourite !

If it ends up that you cannot get satisfaction from or a replacement for the dud one, it might be worth checking if the function pins/wires are operational - for example to use in lighting a coach. You may need to put a resistor across the motor terminals to program it successfully.

Reliably among the most interesting threads on the forum

Brighton station has a road going East/West under the front station concourse. It also has another narrow road going North/South underneath platforms 7 and 8. No longer used, it was built in the Victorian era, to allow horse-drawn taxis to ascend a gentle slope up to platform level, avoiding the steep incline at the top of Trafalgar Street.

Clapham Junction

Same here. I know where the station(s) are - in my head. The trains stop there, when I want. Or pass straight through.

I had 3 of those W.H. Smug Specials sets. All 3 had the same fault - the factory assembly of the motor had not properly attached the upper and lower steel plates surrounding the armature to the motor frame. Consequently, they were attracted by the magnet, obstructing rotation, resulting in very slow running with a hell of a clatter. Easily fixed with suitably placed Araldite. They then ran very well without much noise. They could pull far more than any other of my loco's - including a 6-axle heavy Fleischmann diesel. They easily hauled all my rolling stock at the time of about 35 coaches and wagons.

This is certainly true. My own two eyes see things slightly differently. If I close my right eye, and view with my left, things look slightly more pink, than if I close my left eye, and view with my right, when they look slightly more blue.

Chinese Whispers: Initial verbal message: "We're going to advance - send us reinforcements" After several radio re-transmissions: "We're going to a dance - send us three and fourpence"

There's only so much Paddington to go around.

ah yes, the sounds of 2 hours of clanking, washing out, oiling up, fire lighting and hissing steam first thing in the morning

Technology ups the ante. When telephones came out, businesses got a phone to attract more custom. Before too long, businesses without a phone were losing custom. When the fax came, larger businesses were expected to have that. Today, in most cases a business sending handwritten communications would raise an eyebrow. In the early days of computers, dot-matrix printers were an advance over what came before - but now they would shout cheapskate. Nowadays, businesses are expected to have a website. Large businesses are expected to have a well-monitored social-media presence. I have a mobile phone, but I'm not in love with it. Sometimes it's handy. There is a growing tendency to insist on mediating transactions via a (smart)phone, which makes life less easy for those without one - but easier for the authority insisting on it. In Brighton now, you can only pay a parking meter by phone - cash is not accepted - an administrative convenience, and a reduction in theft of the cash. The railways are pushing for "smart ticketing". It will, I'm afraid, become increasingly awkward to be without one.

To simulate the behaviour of multiple locos on the same track, give all your locos the same address, and have the funnels pointing the same way.

They even left in the same manufacturer ID

I have some Mainline Mk1 coaches - they are among my favourites - except the plastic wheels. What wheelsets did you replace them with?

Dwarf throwing?

Did I dream it, or was there a TV programme in which teams competed to build the best (or was it quickest) working layout?

The unit of arrogance is the nanoHamilton

Many Lima wheelsets are brass, they tarnish badly when unused for a period. I wonder how well it would work to whip them out and soak in an ultrasonic bath with one of these fluids for a short period.