Philou

This morning I was going to write a whole chapter, nay, a tome of doom and despondency centring on the alas and alack and woe is me and how the French really need to up their game regarding timber supplies especially as there are millions of trees all around where I live. By this evening the storm clouds of gloom had been replaced by sunbeams and blue sky (no bunny wabbits or bluebirds though). My wood will be delivered Thursday from lunchtime onwards! Good egg is my builders' merchant especially as Thursday is bank holiday here. I'm also having some decking planks delivered as I need to make a set of stairs for our sun-deck - the existing ones being absolutely pants - well built but with totally wrong goings/risings (not me, guv. Built by a proper 'tradesman'). These stairs will keep me busy whilst my flooring is acclimatising to the barn over the following 10 days or so. Downside is that I have to get my huuuuge log cutting saw and trailer out of the barn and another two loads of logs tripped back from stock and sawn and the trailer and saw parked back in place before the flooring arrives. Wait for weeks in doldrums and then suddenly, all hands to the deck! Cheers , Philip

@Wayne Kinney If the trackwork falls under the 'toy' category (as are model railways), then no import duty is payable (at the moment), so good news there. On the other hand, I'm not sure that in France there is a threshold as in the UK under which a certain amount of business does not attract VAT. I think that it is the value of goods passing through customs (regardless of VAT or not UK end) will attract payable VAT here. We shall see! Thanks to @MartinWynne for the radius info. That to me is interesting as the Peco 'large' radius are supposed to be 5', but IIRC someone did a detailed measure of the points and they're not much greater than the medium at 3' in order to maintain the same 12° angle (though longer). 4' 3" radius will do me fine especially if they are slightly flexible. Now if you can do the same with the diamonds .......... Cheers, Philip

@Wayne Kinney Forgive me if this question has already been answered - I have read all the comments but it was some time ago - what are the approximate radii of your points, please? I'm sold on the idea especially as they can be curved a little which would mean that I don't have to stick rigidly (see what I did there) to the Peco F/B Finescale ones for all my pointwork - I can now mix'n'match. Another question, if I may? Would you export to France? I'm not too bothered about the deduction of VAT - I'll just take the hit, though if sent by RM, La Poste doesn't seem over bothered about VAT collection. Parcelforce/Colissimo do! Cheers, Philip

@The Stationmaster Goytre would lead me to think Thyroyd - hmmm. Llanover - yes Llanover Hall in Cardiff. I avoided Ewyas as 1) I can't get my tongue around it and 2) it's a tad close (physically) to Pontrilas. My Dymented was partially based on Dymock which of course was on the Gloucester branch. In your list I like the look of Allensmore as I can turn that into Allensbank - a road I know in Cardiff. Sort of neutral. Or indeed, why not Cwmfields? Cwmfie? Is that just being silly ? Rule 1 could apply. Cheers, Philip

I gave the name a little (for a value of little) thought yesterday and I did come up with a play on words. In and around Cardiff there are villages where Cardiffians took sport in mis-pronouncing the names - for example: Tony wine glass for Tongwynlais and Ribena for Rhiwbina. Well! There's a possibility of Rhiwbina instead of Dymented particularly as there is a (tenuous) link with a fruity blackcurrant drink. (There is a station at Rhiwbina on the City Line. It did also link directly with a station at Tongwynlais when part of the Cardiff Railway but that was stopped in the 50s.) Other thoughts regarding names with perhaps a Welsh Marches name would be gratefully accepted. Good news is that the truck is repaired and hopefully the beams will be gone tomorrow. Cheers, Philip

Mmmmm, @37Oban, jam and pickle, eh? Sounds good. Where Ledbury lays, it was right in the middle of a hop growing area - photographs exist of a hop-pickers train off-loading pickers during the Edwardian period (an excellent reason to use the Hornby and Hatton's 4 & 6 wheel generic coaches). More recently (at least when I lived there) it had become an area renowned for blackcurrant growing - foreign pickers would come for the season. There is no reason then not to have that at my Dymented - instead of hops, blackcurrants. It also gives reason to have train loads of wood arrive from Pontrilas (photo evidence of that) to supply heating fuel. In reality, I think the logs shown in the photos were used the other side of the tracks in the chemical works (which I intend to have as a low relief building) where naphtha and creosote were made. Cheers, Philip

Just a little update as I'm in the doldrums as no sign yet that my flooring is to be delivered anytime soon as apparently the width of boards at 250mm is 'non-standard'. Just give me 52m² in 200mm width then - no problem on my part just more lengths to lay - grumble grumble. I was hoping that at the rate I set off, I'd be home by Christmas - now where have I heard that before? In other news, I can't even do my winter wood as my huuuuuge log cutting circular saw and trailer within which to collect the logs are both hemmed in by the old beams (as shown above). They were to have been collected last week by the SiL but he bust the gear stick on his truck but it should be back on the road this weekend. However, not to be left dwiddling my thumbs, I did redraw a part of my plan as I wasn't happy with Dymented as it didn't have a raison d'être. What I did find was an old photo of Colwall station taken in the late 50's/early 60's showing a loco in steam waiting for the right-of-way with an early DMU with speed whiskers on approach. It wasn't that that took my interest, but an enormous rake of NPCC stock in the background. I couldn't work it out at first - then that light-bulb moment - Malvern Waters! I assume they're waiting to take on board crates of bottled water. I decided that a small scale version would do for me as the layout of Colwall had: double trackage through the station (check), approach either side by single line (check), a goods shed (check), a number of sidings (check) and a reason to attract traffic there (check). All I need now is a decent name for Dymented once I get the layout near-completed as I shan't use Colwall as the name as the reduced station size wouldn't do it justice nor shall I be using much NPCC stock - some other industry will do (maybe not dairy either!). Perhaps you chaps may have some thoughts on that? Here's the revised plan: Pontrilas (oop north), Ledbury (dahn south), and Dymented (out west). Signal boxes are missing together with their signals: Work is now in progress on a revised and less detailed 3D version. Cheers, Philip

I've used flooring underlay - the green stuff that I think is wood-fibre based. It's not kind to cutter blades but it's about right at 3mm to raise the track sufficiently to make the 'cess', a feature that is very often overlooked when modelling the track bed. In @Jack Benson 's case where a yard, or sidings, are modelled, then there would be no need. It's my understanding that it's when ballast is being glued with PVA (or any other glue) it's absorbed into the sub-base and forms a solid mass hence transferring the sound direct to the baseboards. The answer probably is preformed foam simply weathered and NO glue a la @ColinK. It comes down to just how much realism is desired against sound reduction. I did find that after 10 years in stock, my foam underlay (not Peco) crumbled to dust. Cheers, Philip

Also Brassmasters make windows to go in the Scalescenes card buildings. No connection - but I thought they looked quite good. Could they be adapted? Cheers, Philip

@Keegs If you wanted to go with the plan that Miss Prism 'flipped' for you, then look no further than Ledbury that had a headshunt as shown, albeit that in this instance the goods shed was on a line parallel to it. The station itself (it still exists) is where the bridge is on the plan, with the signal box at the end of the platform, between the down line and the storage sidings. Cheers, Philip

The man who might be able help you is @The Johnster as he has a 2721 and seems to know a lot. Cheers, Philip

Well, Friday came and went without any real definitely, all more maybe possibly arrival of wood Tuesday next week. Having nothing to do, I decided that I would pop over to the club as they were setting up some junior modules for this weekend's show - all open to the public today and tomorrow, for free. Light refreshments are available, though I think it'll be a bit far for the majority of you to come over. Here are a few photos of the modules being set up. There are over 30 of them and all created by the junior section (ages 12 - 16 yo). I thought the standard quite reasonable given the lack of materials that can be acquired locally. A fair number of the modules are still WIP (when is a layout ever really finished?). Unfortunately, I only had a small hand-held camera that didn't like the low light levels and so the flash has somewhat washed the colours out: The one thing I do like about the modules is that any module will fit with any other and the combination is endless. The downside is that there is a certain amount of discord scenery-wise and that a lot of the modules above are single track. Have a good weekend everyone, Cheers, Philip

I would check that you can reach into all the corners from where you propose to have your operating well - 900mm would be a good rule-of-thumb - errr - as it were. For terraced houses you couldn't do better than to try Scalescenes ones - come in low relief (front/back) and full width. Fairly easy to hack about to create some variety and its pay once and copy as many times as you want (no connection - just a happy customer). For speedy build, there is Metcalfe and other makes. I like the idea mentioned above of an urban station hemmed-in by walls and the like (think Liverpool Lime Street). Variations of Cyril Freezer's 'Minories' plan abound all having that slightly gloomy feel about them and plenty of bridges to divide up the scene (do avoid the bus-on-a-bridge scenario though ). Good luck - the first few steps are the hard ones, Philip

Well, didn't happen. I did however, restore the lights in the barn that were attached to the old beams by re-attaching them onto the new joists. Funny, same lights but being higher up and angled differently means that there is a much better light spread. I did notice that whilst it only took me 15 minutes to take them down, it took me 2 hours to put them back up! Perhaps news tomorrow (keeping fingers and eyes crossed). Cheers, Philip

Hello chums, Following a week of great inactivity, this greeted me this morning on opening the barn door: The SiL came yesterday afternoon and in 45 minutes he and I (mostly him) had cut down all the remaining beams and lowered them onto the floor ready for collecting next week. It means I now have clear space under the new joists and a heck of weight removed from the existing retained beam. I'm keeping the scaffolding in place as it means that I can use it to start my new floor. Once a couple of square metres are laid upon which I can walk safely (ie screwed in place), it can be removed. Downside is that in the interim, I have no space to stock my new flooring as it may arrive this pm as my builders' merchant is going to the timber yard/sawmill today to do some 'shopping'. Hopefully, my order will be ready: One thing that the recent exercise showed up was that my new joists (or new beam) didn't move or flex noticeably when subjected to an individual load of 100kg+ when centrally placed on a joist - so it's looking positive for when I'm up there semi-permanently (ie back indoors to be fed! ). I've also ordered additional flooring with which to fabricate a new set of stairs (the design in SketchUp matched my expectations with minimal cuts and wastage - so good to go there too) - all I need are the materials! Cheers, Philip

I ask the question as I'm curious - Why? Why are the axles being painted/resistors? Are the systems that you are using for DCC? (I'm going DCC only). If all of this has already been explored in detail, to save you repeating, just point me in the right direction. Thanks. Cheers, Philip

Just as well I didn't include an errant 's' either! I just created the list thinking that I should have added a note to say to @ejstubbs that we would need to search further via images on the web dating from the period to home in on the station - which seems to have been done. I did the route quite a few times starting from Ledbury to Paddington and return but that was in the 90s and to be frank I didn't take too much notice of the trackage at the time as the HST didn't call at all stations. I thought Honeybourne of interest due to its junction with the MOD depot at Long Marston. Cheers, Philip

I thought I ought to post up the SiL's efforts of yesterday seeing as I have none of mine to show: Nice clear space unencumbered by the two beams and the stairwell ready for some stairs. Cheers, Philip

@McC Pssst ...... don't tell her that I've already got a few stashed away! Cheers, Philip

If between Oxford and Worcester: The stations are: Hanborough, Combe, Finstock, Charlebury, Ascott-under-Wytchwood, Shipston, Kingham, Moreton-in-Marsh, Honeybourne, Evesham and Pershore - pretty much in the sticks for the most part! Cheers, Philip

@JeffP Oo-er, I feel for your back. I did mine in 1976 as being a proud new first-time houseowner and wanting to move the washing machine, I didn't know that thing was loaded with concrete blocks! Had a weakness there ever since - though not had anything for the last 10 years (touch wood!). Today has become a non-day - nothing but 'phone calls and visits (my birthday today) and in an hour I have an unscheduled council meeting. I'll try again tomorrow morning, early! On the plus side, Mrs Philou who must have noticed that I have a penchant for trains, gave me a nice Accurascale steel carrier. Very nice thought! Cheers, Philip

Chums! Good news! I left on a bit of a downer being at a loose end having no materials with which to work and being the weekend, I wasn't going ask my neighbours to help in taking down the original beams in the barn. Added to that, on Sunday pm, whilst packing the spa away for the season, Mrs Philou decided to take a short route off our sundeck. She fell, taking a step back onto air, and fell backwards about 1.0m. Fortunately, no RUD (Rapid Unplanned Disassembly) ensued, nothing broken, not even visible bruising. She was understandably, shaken (but not stirred) and is recovering - enough so to comment this morning that I am not very versatile with the vacuum cleaner. "Well, ya boo," I thought," you're better then!" Went to see the doctor this afternoon and he gave her some non-ibruprofen based anti-inflammatory tablets and a script to have a general scan/x-ray of her back just-in-case. This evening, my son-in-law called round to see how things were and to look at what had been done in the barn. He saw the two beams that are blocking my stairwell and he said 'Get your chainsaw ready, and I'll do them with you now'. He went to get his endless chain, whilst I busied myself in putting fuel and chain-oil in the saw and when I came back, the one was already on the floor. 'Wut?' 'It was only softwood and I shouldered it down onto the scaffold and then onto the floor'. Oh, the advantage of being young and wiry. The second beam was strapped to the endless chain, itself being attached to one of my new joists, one minute cut with the saw and it too was free. Down on the floor, the stump just pulled out of the wall and that was it! 10 minutes tops! Next Tuesday he's coming to take the others down and take them away. He did have an ulterior motive for taking them down as wants to build a small log cabin for his son/my grandson. So, tomorrow I remove all the carp in front of the new staircase so that I can get its measurements BEFORE I move it and find it's too short. If too long, I can adjust a little, but I shall need to be careful in so doing and not cause a hazard due to differences in step heights (the risings). Using his endless chain that he has so helpfully left behind, I should have little difficulty in raising it into its new position - it only took two of us to bring it across the road and heave it onto the mezzanine level - so here's hoping that I shall some news to add tomorrow evening. Cheers, Philip

@Michael Hodgson I hope you made a full recovery. It was around 1970 that I saw this particular overhead arrangement. I've just had a look on Streetview but there doesn't seem to be a tram line anymore where I thought I saw it. The trolleybuses are still running. Cheers, Philip

The trolleybuses in Cardiff originally used the patent 'Callender' head that was bronze (or brass) that not only swivelled left/right along the axis of the pole but also 'nodded' to align with any imperfections or droop of the contact wire. They weighed a massive 8lbs and were tied to the pole by means of a cord should one be detached from the pole following a dewirement (as they did from time to time - cue the conductor taking the bamboo pole from under the 'bus and chasing the errant pole). Due to the concerns of possible severe injury caused to the public, Mr Cununder the Transport Manager of the time, designed a lightweight head weighing in at about 2lbs. This head only had the horizontal swivel and no 'nodding'. By removing the 'nodding' action, dewirements were much reduced and there was no discernible extra usage of the carbon insert . The foundry of the Cardiff Corporation Transport undertaking were very adept at casting their own special fittings - heads, frogs, crossings etc. Another Cardiff design was a very short presolenoid run up to the electrofrogs (just a few inches rather than a couple of feet) as it very much reduced the burning out of solenoids as did happen on other systems where the trolleybus may have been held up within the section and the frog held open. I happened to see the system work just the once and it was indeed very quick - really 'click-clack' and that was it. It is right to say that the 'bus had to be coasting or drawing power for the system to work (possibly using back EMF?). Some overhead junctions that were very lightly used (short or return to depot only workings) were hand operated by the conductor (no linesmen for the trolleybuses - don't know if there were pointsmen for the trams though). I really missed the trolleybuses whose demise were probably influenced by the motorbus lobby - all following London's lead. Cardiff's system was a youngster, less than 30years old (1942-1971), when it closed definitively. They are however, bringing back trams, both street- and train-trams (search for Cardiff Metro on t'intertubes if interested). Cheers, Philip

Interesting photo @jwealleans of your van though I note you say 'refrigerator' and @The Johnster says 'refridgerator' (bursts into song). Who is correct? Cheers, Philip