Philou

Returning on topic, there is somewhere on one of the Metro tank threads within RMWeb, a photograph of a Metro hurrying along on the SWML between Newport and Cardiff hauling what IIRC could well be a rake of coaches similar to those in the photos above - who knows - maybe a stopper calling at Roath (for Splott). Cheers, Philip

Yay @The Johnster ! See! I knew you would come up with the goods. Yes, I admit crossing Splott Road railway bridge daily to and from secondary school (St Illtyds seeing as you mentioned the Illtydians Club), but I was too short to see over the parapet and never really saw the railway itself! Cheers, Philip

Interesting to see 'Roath' as a destination. The district of Roath is extant but the station has long gone. @The Johnster of this parish probably knows far more than I in that respect. Nice detailed photographs, thank you. Cheers, Philip

IF the object of the exercise is to get rid of the tyres because they've become flaccid/worn out and NOT replace them then fine though I have a doubt about the groove catching on the railhead, however it does seem that experience mentioned above shows otherwise. On the other hand if you're looking to replace the tyres with new ones (if you can get them!) or an alternative, The Johnster has recommended elsewhere that Bullfrog Snot makes for a good substitute. A keen modeller that I know, who is also an electrician, uses small slices of heat-shrink tube (various diameters are available) and then warms the slice, once neatly in the groove, with the back of a low heat soldering iron - seemed to work for him. I am in need to do a couple of dozen locos where the tyres have degraded due to oil and old age and I know that most of them I shan't be able to change the wheelsets due to cost and availability of replacement wheels. Doing without may just work! Cheers, Philip

I have both types of airbrush - a 'bottle' type splatter from Lidl plus their compressor and an Iwata. I do also a have a bigger compressor - more in a mo'. The splatter gun I bought to be able to 'learn' as I was recommended the Iwata and as it was expensive and absolutely no knowledge of its use nor any other sort of airbrush, I didn't think I should use it straight out of its box without having some working knowledge. I should also add that some knowledge of colours could be useful as having seen a professional weatherer at work - it's not just browns, greys and blacks, but also yellows, blues and can you believe purple? I have used the bottle gun for just overspraying trackwork in greys and blacks and browns for the rails - the effect needs a lot of work yet. Now to the compressor: As it was a cheapy, the recommended use was (IIRC) 10 minutes and then 30 minutes rest. I pushed it to its maximum as I was doing a large area of sidings. The thing seized after about 20 minutes due to overheating!! After about 30 minutes it was good to go - so choose a compressor adapted to your intended use. Why didn't I use the bigger compressor? Well, it's noisy, it's heavy despite being quite small, it's oil-filled and care has to be taken in its use so as not to get oil in the air reservoir (it can happen if it's not kept upright) and most importantly the outlet thread does not match the smaller airline threads of Iwata or the bottle gun and at the moment I'm having difficulty in finding a suitable adaptor. The compessor was passed to me so I'm not too bothered at the moment and I have nowhere at the moment to be able to to any airbrushing anyway. I still haven't used the Iwata either! Just my experience to date. Cheers and good luck, Philip As an add-on: I forgot to add that the bigger compressor has an air reservoir so once up to pressure, it will switch itself off and will supply air at a constant pressure. When the reservoir falls below a certain threshold, it'll power up again, so it's not on constantly, whereas the small one was on all the time - another point to consider.

This came up on another thread - loco working for 5 mins and then stopping. Restarts after a few minutes and then stops again. DCC fitted too. After a lot of checking all the mechanics and electrics, it was suggested that it may be a dry solder joint (haven't seen the feedback on that yet) that works OK cool and on warming up then breaks contact. Perhaps worth checking the harness and the PCB? Cheers, Philip

......... and ours are cheap compared to European prices!

I was musing on that very point - the answer has been staring at us. There is only I retailer in Tier 1 - Hornby itself! Why? They have all the stock of all subsiduaries, they have a website (of sorts) and they now have a shop in what could be called a high class outlet, John Lewis!! There you go, all sorted! Everyone else is in 2 or 3. Cheers, Philip

Well! As said above - you could write a whole essay on the matter. Me? Always had a train 'set' from when I was very young - Trix Twin on 3-rail bakelite track then 3-rail fibre track. I progressed from there into Hornby-Dublo and 2-rail but straight into Peco and flexitrack - it was fairly new then. I wasn't THAT interested in the real stuff and despite crossing the SWML everyday to get to school, there never seemed to be much activity and when there was some I was too short to see over the bridge parapet (yes, I'm looking at you, Splott Road bridge). I squatted in the loft of the Victorian house in which we lived and made myself a 27' 1" x 7' 6" layout based on a CJ Freezer plan. I also dabbled in a few whitemetal kits (that I still have and all the original stock). THEN (play the music of doom) I discovered loose cars and fast women and lost interest in 'playing trains' - though that wasn't MY view of my hobby. Roll forward 50 years. Having collected oodles of stuff and no particular period or region I am on the brink (yes, yes, I've said that for 3 years now) on the brink of starting a layout in a barn - though I have a lot of building works to do first (hence the delay). What will it be? It'll be about 7.5m x 6.2m (because I can) and based on two linked prototypical stations that will have their own branch lines. It is based on the Welsh Marches area so stock will primarily GWR/LNWR for the early period that I can model, then GWR (late), BR(W) and transition modern/privatisation. The modern will be mostly Rule 1. Plenty of roundy-roundy and shunting and branch-line operations. If I was stuck for room or stock, I'd probably do a typical GWR/BR(W) BLT or a section of the S Wales Valleys, an area with which I'm familiar - I come from the same place as The Johnster. As for what you want ..... what do YOU want? Having lurked on RMWeb for a while, I would suggest that you need to research a bit on a protoypical location and work from there - or at least take note how pointwork is laid out - an easy trap to fall into and not get right. Even if you end with a fictional place, any trackwork should follow prototypical practice. At the end of the day it's a hobby and hobby should mean relaxation and fun (for given value of fun!). Cheers, Philip

@simonkilvington Hello and welcome to RMWeb. I had trouble in getting started with Transport Fever from Steam. Downloaded and all I had when I played 'Start' was a black screen - it was running but nothing was showing. The Steam community were able to help in suggesting that the video drivers were not up to date - updated them and the game played perfectly well. Perhaps you too need to update your drivers? Is your card powerful enough to play the game - especially if you're on a lap-top? Cheers, Philip

@Rivercider Is the cave nearby? Thanks for the photos of the grids and the gated road. I did note in the photo of the Montgomery canal bridge, that on the camera side of the pedestrian gate (and other gate) there appears to be a road sign on a black pole (similar to a 'no waiting' sign). Does that happen to be a gated road too? Cheers, Philip

I noted with interest what Hornby have said regarding certain criterion they expect be met by retailers of their brand viz: 'that amongst other things maintain a clean and well laid out store and who promote several if not all of the Hornby Hobbies ranges, which includes as well as Hornby railways, Scalextric, Airfix, Humbrol and Corgi'. One retailer I know used to stock Scalextric but because of the voluminous size of it, it couldn't be sold on the same premises. Eventually, he stopped selling Scalextric and sold off the second premises. He has diversified into AFV kits but I don't think he sells any Airfix (not sure). Insofar as I am aware the only car models sold are the Oxford ones. The premises are clean, well-stocked and a warm welcome awaits customers, though he does mail-order he doesn't have much of a web presence as he has already a loyal set of customers. Is he likely to be relegated to Tier 2 too? Interesting times. Cheers, Philip

What @giz said - s'normal. Second engine starts up once on the move - just like the real thing. Cheers, Philip

I've already posted similar but worth repeating: To date, I've had no problems with parcels being sent out from a UK shop via RM/La Poste. All parcels were well over the €135 threshold. My supplier is not normally equipped to do the VAT deduction before onward posting (so little UK/EU business he has no EU registration) and therefore my parcels were valued and invoiced with UK VAT included. No request for EU-VAT has yet been made, but it's early days yet and I'm sure there will be confusion galore when the new intra-EU VAT rules are applied . I shall be trying again soon and I'll let you know what happens. It seems from the e-mails, that Spain and the Netherlands are being somewhat over-zealous? Cheers, Philip

As @Bernard Lamb has said, it may be worth having a chat with people, or if you're lucky to have one nearby - a local model shop. If they're worth their salt, they'll only be too happy to show some and let you hear them. They certainly worked their magic on me as I walked out with somewhat more in value than Bernard suggested above! As a PS: The bundle did include the Blue Pullman and ECoSII DCC controller - so it wasn't a huge amount of stock. Do I think it was money well spent? Most certainly!

As an add-on, most diesel or electric locos come with lights fitted - though Bachmann and Dapol (of the major players) seem to do a better job of it than Hornby. The only fitting that you may have to do yourself is the lighting in coaches or a wagon in the case of a rear tail-lamp. I have both these jobs waiting to be done.

Of those on your list I have the Heljan Class 17 (which was sound fitted for me) and a sound-fitted Dapol Class 121 (green + whiskers as it so happens). I don't know if the Class 17 is available now as a factory sound fiited model or not, but due to the limited space, the speaker in mine is too small and the sound can't get out from where it is and is therefore 'weak'. There is a thread somewhere on here where somebody did show a better option for placing the speaker - I shall be doing that - otherwise a very nice model that apparently works far better than the real thing! Insofar as the 121 is concerned, the speaker location is better and is quite loud. The sound file is good too as it replicated the changing of gears very effectively - again, a very nice model. I can't give you details of the sound set up (chip maker) or who's sound file as they're packed away for the time being - sorry. Cheers, Philip

Very interesting thread - almost a 'what if' there was no longer Hornby. However, one thing hasn't been really explored in detail: Is there enough spare cash to support the trade as is without a new entrant dipping his toe in the water? I don't know if I'm a 'typical' customer or not but due to Covid, my buying habits have changed - whether it will stay that way or not, I don't know. I thought that by not going out I would have had some extra cash to spend, but it hasn't turned out that way and my railway spending has gone to a few chosen suppliers, new or recent entrants to market, rather than the more well-established manufacturers. That's primarily because I like 'quirky' and modern block trains and there hasn't been much by way of other products that I 'need' rather than what I 'want'. Am I part of a changing demographic? Would I spend money on another new entrant? Do I need lesser detailed MkIs? I don't think so in respect of MkIs as I would not buy lesser detailed anything if it was avoidable AND I have enough of them anyway - as an example. I note that Joseph is back in France and would seem to me that there is a huge Euro-market of lesser-known locos waiting to be modelled. Perhaps that's where there is a market to be explored rather that what I perceive to be an already crowded UK market. Question though arises: Is there more railway modelling disposable income in Euro-land than in the UK? Just my thoughts. Cheers, Philip

I asked the very same question on another thread (can't remember which one, now) but the answer was DAS modelling putty, spread between sleepers and from track to track and then coloured using washes and powders. Haven't tried myself yet as the layout is not yet started but it did look very effective (why I asked originally). Cheers, Philip

@Rivercider That was the day I came across the thread! Ah well, such is life. However, the picture that you uploaded is good as it clearly shows how pedestrians gain access without ever crossing the grid itself. There aren't around here and asking Madame Philou, it would seem that Common Land is not a known thing - though when they show sheep on the Pyrenees (for example) they're free to roam BUT supervised by a shepherd and his dog (mostly Welsh sheep-dogs from what I've seen). Cattle grids seemingly are an unknown equation too. In these 'ere parts, I know of only one parcel of 'open' land and sheep are contained within it by a single strand electric fence. Cheers, Philip

Hi all especially those modelling in N, Just an update to let you know that Lord and Butler who are open, but with slightly restricted hours, have received stock of the new Kato GWR 800s and very nice they are too, apparently. There's also a near-full range of Hornby, Accurascale, Bachmann, Peco and all other favourite brands. @Alex TM I'm sorry it took so long to get back - time just whizzes by (and I forgot ) - the scale of the AFVs is 1:35th. Cheers, Philip

Hi, I've been following this thread with great interest - fascinating stuff especially all the nearly forgotten narrow and industrial railways. Here's my contribution and it's mine! It's an abandoned section of single track crossing a dual-carriageway at Talbot Green in S Wales. There are two links below showing the crossing in 2008 with working wig-wags and barriers and the other showing it in 2018 fenced off. The pictures are in the attached .doc as I don't know how to embed the pictures here. The reason why I say it's mine is because I did the preliminary design of the crossing when I and my colleagues worked in the highways department all of *gasp* 40 years ago designing the Talbot Green by-pass (now built). At the time, the single rail line was reasonably busy, linking a coal processing plant at Beddau to the SWML at Pontyclun - about a mile between the two. We had even interlinked the nearby traffic light controlled junction to the crossing so that vehicles couldn't be stuck on the crossing at an awkward moment! The road design was slightly complicated as the carriageway cross-fall had to be married to the cant of the track and the falls were not going the same way! Bit sad to see it all but gone now. A473 Talbotgreen.doc https://www.google.com/maps/@51.5328233,-3.3911092,3a,90y,280.03h,84.53t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1suCtd-ABhkznoAyrRwVb4OA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192 https://www.google.com/maps/@51.5328559,-3.391012,3a,75y,265.17h,79.38t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1syj_TKFV9hLwHU57tTm5eqg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656 Cheers, Philip

Ahh .... thank you for that. It's been some time since I was involved in highway matters. There were some other oddities of which I have forgotten. Cheers, Philip PS: I will correct it just in case.

Please sir! Please sir!! I have a topic for you - especially for those in rural areas particularly places like the wilds of Wales - cattle grids! I can't supply any photos as I'm a tad removed from the UK, but I do know they vary from place to place and are very rarely modelled. Of interest would be the arrangement for pedestrains to get around them. I know proper Welsh sheep aren't bothered by grids as they just roll over them! Ooh! Ooh! And another topic - gated roads. I have never been on a gated road so I haven't the foggiest of what the gate part would look like. There were a few gated roads south(?) of the A41 between Waddesdon and Bicester (possibly Brill/Piddington area). I never got to see them in the flesh due to rushing between Chelmsford and Ledbury. Photos of the Permissive Paths reminded me of this: When is a Bridleway not a Bridleway? When it's a BOAT (Bridleway Byway Open to All Traffic). You do see sometimes off-roaders on Bridleways and unfortunately if it's a BOAT, they may have a right to be there. There are also RUPPs (Road Used as a Public Path), but I don't remember now if wheeled traffic was allowed or not. Cheers, Philip

Shades of Lilley the Pink there, methinks.