Harlequin

Streamline curved turnout angles are 8° and 20° giving a net divergence of 12° at 2in separation - the Streamline standard.

That space in the reversing loop might need to be left open for someone to get in to access much of the left hand side of the layout (whether they have a small or large waist ). It sort of depends how the layout is fitted into the garage, i.e. where the walls are. David's loco release crossover is a definite improvement but could be closer to the buffer stops.

The heritage people have been a bit naughty there unless there’s some complex reason that justifies upper quadrant signals on that line. (These things are always possible.) Proper GWR lower quadrant signals seem much more appropriate for your layout, though. The Ratio kits and/or the Dapol versions should do the job very nicely.

Upper quadrant? No finial? I thought it was supposed to be a BR(WR) line...

Your obvious anger with the Peco product is misplaced and misdirected. The Streamline parts can be used systematically when you understand the geometry and there are many design tools that can help with that. You'd be better off complaining to Peco than us if you find the product too "toy-like".

Peco do NOT make any claims about the frog angles of Streamline turnouts. The 12° refers to the final angle of divergence of the rails from the turnout. Their geometry allows different frog angles to be used to achieve that divergence.

Think of it this way: If you weren't visiting the loft regularly you wouldn't have noticed the problem until it had become much, much worse! I hope the trees that have been watered don't start growing faster than all the others...

If you can't see the throat pointwork a lot of operational interest is lost, IMHO. Maybe the quality of the modelling would compensate for that but for some people that still might not be enough.

FWIW: More recent Peco templates are not photographs - they are computer generated images, presumably derived from the CAD designs in some way. In those cases, since we know that PDFs hold dimensions accurately we can be sure that the template are reasonably precise. They are still not engineering drawings but I'm not sure that's really needed when many people have successfully derived working geometries for these parts from the information we do have.

Apart from the white lamp that image could be decades earlier than LM's normal period. BTW: Is the white lamp a bit too clean??? Do the staff at Encombe Town all line up on the platform and stand to attention when the Director's train comes through?

Very Nice! You could really DO things with that space - I mean garden things as well as railway things. The discussion above assumes that child time and railway time are mutually exclusive but if you become skilled in another form of engineering, social engineering, you should be able to get your children interested in railways and then CLICK! everything falls into place. Yes, you could become the square-jawed, pipe-smoking Dad in mustard-coloured cardigan helping your offspring to build their model railway - but which is, of course, really yours. And here's another idea about gauges and gardens which will please @Nearholmer : How about splitting the difference in scales and choosing O gauge? That would run very well in a garden without it taking over completely and a decent scenic section could be fitted into a (large) shed. There's increasing RTR support for O making it easier to get something up and running quickly and providing a source of cheap bits for the kids.

I see Charlie at Chadwick Model Railway is finding out about helices the hard way. He has tried magnets and bullsnot and now he’s going to reduce the pitch and thus the gradient.

Think about the inertia of the sector plate... You might find that it takes significant force to start the thing moving out of the current catch position and then difficult to stop at the next one. If so that could be very frustrating. I don't know what the best solution is here - it's tricky.

I was over-dramatising to make my point, of course. Anything that makes the product easier to use, eliminates a required material and speeds up the build must be a good thing, no matter how skilled the builder might be. (So long as it doesn't increase the cost significantly, obviously.)

How about leaving a small hole in the base and supplying a suitably shaped upstand that plugs into the hole as an option? It definitely needs some physical isolating barrier and the idea of daubing epoxy in that area is not appealing. That could make a neat build very messy, very quickly!

There's a potentially nice fit of several of the recent ideas, the home office / study 5ft cube and the bottom left bedroom with the secret door. Like this: (Assuming 2mm scale.) The study cube has access to the window. The layout doesn't impinge on the study cube at all. The main scenic part of the layout is not affected by the roof slope. The entrance door allows for decent width behind it. The reversing loops could remain in place for most of the time assuming access to the storage is infrequent.

I think you should relay the crossover. I know it’s painful to take what might seem to be a backwards step but in the long run but it might be better to fix the fundamental problem now and avoid years and years of niggles and questions. In fact if you lifted more of the track you could fix one or two other issues such as the kinks that can be seen in your curves and the large gaps in the rails that appear to be visible in several places.

Have a search through Teaky’s Attic for his recommendation.

Barnstaple Victoria Road, Dulverton and Wiveliscombe, same day (18th April 1960):

Same.

Bad news... It’s back.

That seems to fix the problem for me on iPad. But I saw the same thing when I cleared my browsing data and cookies and after several hours it came back so can't say definitively yet.

OK, I see. If the frogs on the 3-way asymmetric turnout are not electrically connected to the closure rails as supplied AND IF they require external switches to power the frogs (that is to say if they can't be switched by the blades alone without causing shorts as John R was trying to work out above), then yes, Suzie's method doesn't apply and you may as well solder wires across the rails. Sorry, I'm not familiar with the 3-ways.

I spend a lot of time "chuff syncing" as part of every sound installation I do. With some decoders it can be very tedious but when it finally comes into sync I always feel the realism steps up a notch as I watch the loco move.