Regularity

See this, two weeks ago:http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/107713-castle-aching/page-221&do=findComment&comment=2872804

I did, too.Once. Never again. Never. Works for some, but not for me. Lay sleepers/timbers. Lightly sand the tops: http://themodelrailwayshow.com/cn1950s/?p=1141 but Trevor Marshall is still working through the backlog of lost image links thanks to Photobucket’s faux pas. Lay rails. Wire up. Install turnout operating systems. Test, test, fettle, test, fettle, test. Do something else on the layout, especially any buildings (platforms, goods and engine sheds, etc) which encroach into the ballast area proper (anything which borders the cess is fine). Install (dummy, unless you are really skilled - or deluded!) point ridding, or at least the stools. Test. (Ok, play!) Paint rails, sleepers, etc. Clean rail heads and inside top edge. Test. Install ground signals, and any signals in ballasted areas. Test for clearances. Do anything else on the layout: it really doesn’t matter, except, add the cess after the trackside scenics are more or less done. Did I say I would not glue ballast and sleepers at the same time ever again? It’s a lot easier to make adjustments to everything if there is no ballast. Also, I like to mark out rail positions, platform edge lines, notes about wiring and buildings etc, on the baseboard top, and putting ballast down early hides it all. Plus, I got some bits of ballast under sleepers, which is a real PITA to correct if the glue has dried.

4-8-4s were usually “Northerns”, except on (usually US) roads which didn’t want to acknowledge the Northern Pacific. The New York Central called them Niagaras, the Central of Georgia, “Big Apples”.

Technically, an “American” is not just a 4-4-0, but one arranged with three-point suspension, using the bogie as one point, and with a compensating beam connecting the inner ends of the driving wheel springs, arranged either side of the firebox. In the U.K., a 4-4-0 would most likely be called a “four-coupled bogie engine”. A 4-6-0 is a “ten-wheeler”, not a variant of American. A mastodon is a 4-8-0. Not sure about one or two others: I have seen “Adriatic” in print before, but again, only in a self-styled reference work, and not anything written by railway workers. 2-2-2s were around, as Stehpenson’s “Patentee” a long while before Jenny Lind came onto the scene: I gave Aldo seen “single driver” used for this wheel arrangement, too. Same as with the internet: poor research, or the wrong definition of “original research”, can plague books just as easily...

Just in time to miss you...

That’s a long train for you!

Do they ever usually reach the dizzy heights of “average”?

No problems: thanks for responding. If anyone else wants it...

Is folkish veracity not the same as “I might have just made that up”?

Two problems, but one solution... ...of which you are well aware!

Post 244: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/122168-s7-scratch-building/page-10&do=findComment&comment=2859817

Whilst I don’t feel that way about people who say “train station” (the use of incorrect language on their part simply reveals them to be lesser mortals lacking an appreciation of the Important Things in life) as it is at least unambiguous, I will admit to strong feelings about the incorrect use of “hung” (what you do to meat, or your own neat in front of the two veg, or a picture on the wall), when hanged is the correct and only term, as anyone living in the pre-grouping era would be familiar with... (And you can end a sentence with a preposition, just as I began one with a conjunction .)

I looked at the link, and did think, “That’s not how I do it,” but was pleased that some had had go and developed a method which worked for them, and also shared it to encourage others.Constructive criticism which suggests alternatives is good. Criticism which doesn’t suggest anything at all is useless, and simply suggesting to use google to do a search, rather than a few helpful links, is at best rather lazy, and at worse only one step up from negativity. Forums are at their best when we have constructive criticism, which my second comment demonstrates: a suggestion of how the reply could have been more helpful. User-feedback means moderators need not get involved. Friction? If so, you have read far more into it than is there. No idea who the other posters are. There is a lot of good stuff in there. Incidentally, there are times when “Google is your friend” is fully justified, e.g. when a poster is looking for information and hasn't even done that much themselves. I didn’t think this was one of them. I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to your site, and that photo is great. Keep on sharing!

The former, I think. “I was totally kyanised last night,” has a definite ring to it.

Limewash was banned in the mid 1920s, no later than 1927 (probably the beginning of). Nice job on the weathering! Edit: Discussed here: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/70648-cattle-wagons-and-limewashwhitewash/

Provide us with some example links, at least, and then your helpfulness will be demonstrated.

How do you know what the Railways of Thalnia did? Maybe they didn’t follow conventional construction methods? I have often seen these methods suggested in North American magazines, and on websites, so a Google search may simply turn up something similar. I am all for doing things more accurately, but I am also in favour of people encouraging others to have a go. Not so keen on pouring cold water on enthusiasm, and coming up with platitudes like “Google is your friend”. Some actual recommendations rather than, “That’s not right, but find out the right way yourself,” might be viewed in some circles with rather more positivity.

I have 24 063, fitted with P4 wheels and the full DCC sound package (including capacitors), available. (I presume that SLW could supply EM wheels, if asked.) PM me if interested, and we can negotiate... Edit: never run, never even removed from the display plinth.

Not at all. It was this sentence which was akin to a zen master thwacking a novice with his stick: The irony with the bridge is that Cyril put it in the original Minories plan simply to hide the raised hinges, but it turns out to be a key part of the design process as more than simply arranging the tracks. As someone who spent 4 years working in Central London, I share that appreciation.

Thank you for that.One thing I couldn’t find on the Proxxon website was the capacity on each of the tables. If I wanted to produce something say 5” long, would I be restricted to a 10” master pattern and 2:1 ratio, or would it cope with 15” and 3:1 reduction? That’s assuming it can produce something as long as 5” in the first case!

Apologies, I didn’t mean to appear dismissive. It was just that you made (almost) passing reference to it, and I was trying to find a way to draw out the point. Pieces snipped out to reduce the length of the post, but some great points are made with supporting experience. The sound we can hear is of a nail being hit fairly and squarely on the head. I have tried many. Times to come up with a “compact” layout plan for my own use, which uses one of these ploys, and it never quite does it for me. You have helped me clear away a stumbling block in my own, personal, layout planning, and some options I was considering have suddenly had their flaws (from my perspective) exposed and I realise that I will never be happy with them! Thank you: this has broken a log jam/“analysis paralysis” of 20 years standing.

The human field of focus is quite narrow, about 60 degrees. This means that if you are 4 feet away from the subject, only 4 feet of it is in focus. Any train longer than this starts to look a lot longer, as you cannot - at this distance - focus on both ends, which is why we.... Which is precisely why we have to resort to much greater control of sight lines, as effective viewblockers will serve to “frame” the setting, and the eye will rest within that frame. I think you might be understating the importance of that middle road bridge: it is quite low, and from the usual viewing height it is as effective as a tunnel, as from most positions it is hard to see a train both enter and leave. Because it is a bridge, and not a tall building, you cannot peer round it, so an unbroken view along the Layout is not possible. Like a low retaining wall - which this layout has in spades - the bridge effectively “stops” the eye, so instead of one single scene/setting, there are two. This leads to more time spent looking at the layout (two scenes instead of one) and the layout therefore appears longer than it is. Add to this the fact that many viewers will be less than 1 metre away, and you have a recipe for success! Your photos do a great job of illustrating this principle, by the way.

On the former Stoke Ferry line, the exchange sidings at Abbey and West Dereham belonged to the “big” railway, but mainline engines were prohibited from going beyond the boundary gate, and there are photos of Wissington Railway engines on the exchange sidings. Just do a quick google on “Wissington railway”: a very simple example of exchange sidings. Edit: they may have moved the boundary at some point, but have a look at this post and its thread. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/91758-chris-ts-photo-archives-updated-6th-march/?p=1727372 Second edit: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/73257-abbey-gate/

You can always stand behind a bus occasionally, to get that olfactory stimulation. I find being stuck behind one in traffic tends to remind me of the diesels of my youth.

It happens. In my case, for most of the past 20 years!