Tanllan

Union City Blue - Blondie Geoff

Free to a good home. Ten (10) dummy coal loads for Nine Lines brand Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway coal wagons. They are moulded in black polystyrene Approx dimensions: 38.5 mm long x 24mm wide x 10mm high Regards, Geoff

In The Middle Of The House - Alma Cogan (aka The Railroad Runs Through The Middle Of The House )

Have a look at these videos. Regards, Geoff

Nick, The DVM concerned was 'hobby' type device and in no way calibrated. I agreed totally that under DCC power conditions the impedance of the ballast might have been completely different. The performance of the locos was degraded such that they behaved erratically - not just running slow. The worst parts electrically, were where I had been sparing with the PVA but looked the most realistic. Anyway I have learned my lesson - no more real ash type stuff near the rails. Hope your club layout doesn't suffer the same problem Geoff

Lead was/is also used on hipped roofs. See picture. Geoff

Silver and Gold - U2 Geoff

The Smile You Smile - Van Morrison Geoff

Come On Eileen - Dexys Midnight Runners Geoff

David, Thanks for sharing the videos. In the first one I was driving Joan on the ill fated trip that features in the last couple of minutes. There was a mechanical failure with the fireman's side valve gear. We didn't get off the loco until 11pm that evening!! Geoff

The gala organisers try their best to put on a good show for our visitors. What they can do is limited by the availability of infrastructure and locomotives. 2019 was particularly difficult and the problems with getting the visiting engine sorted and ready for traffic meant that planning went right up to the wire. See this link https://fifteenflatout.wordpress.com/2019/09/06/mission-impossible-and-a-steam-gala/ OK so with the loop missing at Sylfaen the frequency of train movements is low at that location, however, by using the public footpath that crosses the Syfaen Brook there are some good train watching and photo opportunities available. During the 2019 Gala, down the line, at Cyfronydd there was plenty going on. (see attached Train diagram for the Saturday) and nearby are some good photography locations. On the Friday I was was rostered on an early shift and In the afternoon I travelled as a passenger from Llanfair to Cyfronydd and spent a while taking photos. I passed the time waiting for trains by finding alternative things to point my camera at - mainly several hundred swallows swooping low over the grass to feast on flying insects - a far trickier subject matter than trains. Sylfaen map https://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=317372&Y=306317&A=Y&Z=115 Cyfronydd map https://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=314036&Y=307579&A=Y&Z=115 As for watching trains in the landscape the spot chosen by Mike Heath for the photo below might be difficult to beat. Geoff Saturday Gala - Train Diagram-1.pdf

It Hurts Me Too - John Lee Hooker Geoff

A cautionary tale: When I began to ballast the track on my shunting plank I used real, genuine, loco ash that I got from the Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway, and to my eye it looked quite realistic. Fast forward a few years ( I was now using a Lenz DCC system) and a Sunday afternoon 'playing trains' as opposed to modelling. None of my locos would work reliably. Cleaning track and wheels had minimal effect. Clearly there was something else amiss. Putting the same locos and controller on a simple bit of flexi track gave good running. So there had to be a problem with the layout. So with the controller disconnected and no stock on the rails a DVM, set on the Ohms scale, was connected across the track. To my surprise there was a reading of around 50kOhms. Despite having changed to DCC a few years earlier the old section switches were still connected. Using these I was able to determine that the leakage on some part of the track was worse than others - and the better the ash ballast looked the lower the leakage resistance between the rails was. So in the period between laying the ballast and that afternoon the molecules of carbon in it had been busy re-arranging themselves to the extent that the leakage current was messing up the DCC control system. I had no option but to painstakingly dig out a large amount of the ash ballast. So I would be VERY wary of applying carbon to the rails as, given time, it may well build up and start to create all sorts of interesting routes for the electricity to avoid having to go through the motors in your locos. Geoff

Rolling In The Deep - Adele

This Is The Life - Amy MacDonald

Claire In Heaven (Capercaillie, Dusk 'Til Dawn)

Provided you are happy with using a soldering iron I would recommend the use of Sub-miniature D type connectors. I have used them to carry the power across the baseboard joints on my layout for over twenty years without any problems at all. Once assembled they are robust and depending on the manufacturer they are rated at 5 Amps or higher. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D-subminiature Geoff

Leaving of Liverpool - The Spinners, The Pogues and many more

For some reason RM Web would not let me load that link .......

The link will take you to the first picture in an album of photos taken during the 2019 gala at the Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway. To see the others click to the right side of the screen or swipe as appropriate on tablet/phone. https://www.flickr.com/photos/tanllan/48675372818/in/album-72157710725248096/ The album covers: Zillertalbahn Railway U Class loco, Countess, Joan, night time pictures, shunting at Tanllan Carriage Sidings.

More in Monday

Glysophate based weed killer should do the trick. Get the stuff that you mix yourself rather than premixed and make it up about 25% stronger than recommended. It will even deal with ivy (eventually) if a very strong solution is used. Do wear gloves and avoid breathing in any spray - for gravelled areas you can apply it using a watering can (making sure you wash it out thoroughly afterwards.

Best wishes for a Happy and Peaceful Christmas