Regularity

Cool - and great for operating sessions with two people.

Jack, I don’t think it would work selectively on just one unit within a consist, but it could be used if the two engines were independently controlled.

How to win friends and influence people, eh?

A question over terminology, but by “head-end power” are you referring to their being an engine each end, with only the one at the front (according to direction of travel) actually powering the train, the other simply being part of the consist? This is wonderful for modellers: run rounds do require more length on a layout, and we frequently have more locos than we need. And here we have two for just three freight cars! There is an interesting challenge here for DCC consisting with sound. Since we rarely have individual traction motors, the free-running abilities of our model engines is non-existent, or requires a lot of effort. We therefore need to power both units, even if the prototype wouldn’t. On a DC layout, this simply means finding two closely matched mechanisms, and using an isolating switch or two. On sound-free DCC, the mechanisms can be controlled via user defined speed curves so that they respond identically. With DCC sound, you really want to have one unit idling, assuming both are sound fitted. Alternatively, you control them independently using manual notching/drive hold on the trailing unit to keep the sound at idle. Switching the sound off on one unit, or only having one unit sound fitted (must be the one which does the switching) is cheating. Does consisting allow for having one unit just idling on the sound, yet moving with the rest?

Technically, the gauge should be 16.67mm, which means that 16.5mm is about .003”, or 3/16” scaled down from the prototype, undergauge. I defy anyone to measure that without digital, dial or vernier calipers! (IIRC, Peco Streamline is slightly over gauge anyway.)

The word “awful” was used to describe the then newly-rebuilt St. Paul’s Cathedral. At the time it meant simply, “full of awe”. Somehow over the decades and centuries it has come to mean almost the opposite. Times change, so do words and their meaning.

Frank, If you are concerned about removing the transfers, then don’t! Instead, try carefully over painting with yellow gouache or enamel. Have a few wooden cocktail sticks handy, cut to various shapes, to chisel/nudge any errant paint marks, and you should be OK. With transfers already there, this approach to hand lettering is a lot easier! Hope that helps, and Happy New Year to you, Simon

No amount of false beards, wigs and greasepaint can disguise the sprightly movement of young dancers!

Classic case of projection, maybe? Happy New Year, whenever/whatever you celebrate it.

All but impossible.Following on from earlier, the mass of the engine and therefore the downward force (aka weight), even if made exactly of the same materials, will be related to the volume, and reduced by 1/(48x48x48) from the real thing, but the strength of the rail is determined by the cross sectional area, which has reduced by 1/(48x48). Effectively, the rail on the model is 48 times stronger than on the prototype, which is why softspringing looks so good on a model: it makes up for the lack of springiness in the track and substrate. The upside of this is that we can make our track much firmer than the prototype ever could - if we could not, then unsprung rtr would not stay on the rails - but it also means that we do need to take care in laying our track, too, ensuring that unless we are in full control of matters, we need to keep our track as smooth and even as possible. This makes Jordan’s achievements on this and the portable layout all the more accomplished.

The film starts with a French 4-6-0 (2C0)*, which would not have been the train engine on leaving Constantinople... Oh yes, well known for such a spacious cab... *OK, it starts with the ferry on the Adrian side of the Bosporus, but you get my drift...

The pain in question being Alco’s propensity to produce clouds of clag? RSD-12s, I take it? Very tasty.

Just for you:

If you took the photo with an iPhone or iPad, the sensor detected that you had the device held wrong way up (right way up is with charging socket at base, I believe) and attached this information to the file, so that it can be displayed the “correct” way up. This is just one of the many small ways Apple try to “help” us with their arrogance, and detract from what is generally a more pleasant user-experience than other, more flexible operating systems...

Atilla the Stockbroker would be impressed.

The issue is that the frequency of the swing for a pendulum is not related to mass, merely the length of the pendulum from pivot to centre of gravity: grandfather clocks have a long, thin rod connected to a weight at the end to maximise the length by concentrating the mass at the end of the rod, not to make it slower by being heavier. (This is also why when you are on a swing, and you go faster, the arc you subtend gets bigger.) Springs will need to be dampened to slow the response of the pendulum. Often this is achieved on model trains by having soft springs fairly well compressed, which we can get to some extent by increasing the mass. This also has the benefit of a less bouncy ride generally. Ultimately, though, you can’t scale physics: it is what it is, and a model with 1/48th of the height will naturally oscillate faster than the real thing. If I recall the formula correctly, about 7 times faster. The same consideration applies to things like 3-link couplings etc, where appropriate, which is why they look awful when someone rocks a layout.

Hopefully not: how much length would you actually gain by doing this, and at what cost to how it looks? Little and seldom is still better than none never...

Clear as a bell?Do you usually get noisy snow in West Yorkshire?

Does this mean you have recovered your mojo, Jordan, and will we therefore be seeing updates soon?

Oh dear.I have succumbed to temptation. No idea why, but don’t tell the missus...

Somewhat underpowered, but the boiler will be able to supply more than enough steam... Sister 178 was an Old Class I.Also appearing elsewhere on the web. It later went to Selsey Tramway as Morous.

It was because so many “busy” people dodged round barriers, that they started bringing barriers down sooner.

Stupidity operates without international boundaries.

I don’t think that’s the group noun.

Does anyone know of, or have a copy they are willing to share, a drawing for International Car cabooses with a standard cupola (not extended vision)? Although it is not essential that it be an exact match, I want to modify an EV model to look like one of the Maine Central series 655-659, per the following photo: