jonhall

particularly suitable for cake decoration scales

and linked to by Brian on page 1 as long ago as 2014

presumably that was done with an Piezoelectric Ultrasonic Atomizer/nebuliser - it looked quite effective on the telly. Jon

I'm sure some will know my interest in Ferry Wagons, I'm just parking some links so I can find them again, with the long term plan of scratchbuilding in 4m. I'm aware of the electrotren model in HO http://www.ralf-bueker.de/Wagen_Zacefs_01.jpg https://karow900.startbilder.de/bild/gueterwagen~deutschland~7-gattung-z-kesselwagen-fotos/333081/das-erste-mal-sehe-ich-diesen.html https://www.tosh-railways.com/Wagons/UIC-letter-codes/Tank/Zacefs/ https://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/germanbogietank on y25's

I think we will see generic locos, and increasingly 'near enough' models of obscure prototypes. Jon Some manufacturers are already well down this road, and its certainly not for the better

Or a Virgin livery APT 'neverwas' limited edition? Or a Revolution trains Pendilino in retro APT livery

I think there are PR issues with that, not least is that those who hold a first class ticket have paid significantly for the perceived benefit of more space/fewer people. If your argument is that its better for everyone that *someone* is moved into 1st to make more room in Standard, since the price of a standard fare wouldn't have been insignificant, should the guard have offered the space to a customer with a full flexible fare? - that, like airline upgrades, would actually build customer goodwill. A couple of years ago I bought my parents 1st class tickets from Bournemouth to home, to make it easier for them to find two seats together and get their luggage on board, but they reported that most of 1st class was full of SWT/SWR staff who were clearly travelling to the ROC at Basingstoke. SWT/SWR don't do seat reservations. Whilst I'm sure those who retired from British Rail won't have felt the benefit of the salary increases of the privatised railway, its certainly true that with the exception of a few passenger on a few commuter trains into 'the city' at peak times, the highest earner on the train is probably the person driving it, and therefore its not surprising that there might well be eyebrows raised. I also feel that sometimes the quality of the 'service' offered might be rather different if the people delivering it had the same exposure to the cost than their customers (from a delivering 'value' point of view) . Not related to first class, but I have boarded a full and standing 150 pre-pandemic, where the only seat without a backside on it was carrying instead a drivers bag belonging to the uniformed member of staff from the TOC providing the service - I had no qualms about asking him to move it so I could sit, but should not have had to. Jon

I'm a little out of the loop as I'm not really involved in the club day-to-day anymore, but I suspect there will be a bus, and I'd expect the timetable to be posted on the website. The bus (which we pay for) has always found some way to have a teething problem, we have had the first bus depart from the wrong busstop at Surbiton empty, we have had someone crash into the back of it, and obviously all the normal traffic problems (including some road closures associated with the remembrance commemorations on the Sunday morning) but it is well used, so we do like to provide it. We are within the TFL oyster area, so if you have a pass, particularly a free one, there are several service bus options as mentioned, and the best are the K4/71/485 (which pre-pandemic added up to 7 buses per hour) there are others that go to 'Tolworth' or even run down Red Lion Road/Fullers Way, but they are less frequent, and a longer walk.

Isopropanol £10/L Butoxyethanol, £16/L Dimethyl Carbonate £35/L (from a lab supplier - I'm perfectly prepared to believe there are cheaper suppliers, but its slightly irrelevant to my point) So about £61 per litre before you look at the facilities to make it in, the labour to mix it, the HS&E costs of handling it in bulk, the bottles to put it in, and making a profit? Seems a bit cheap to me. Oh and I forgot - the chemical knowledge/experimentation to know what proportion to mix it. Jon

Where I do agree with you is that filing the floor flat to make things easier to mount, but the difficulty I have, is that if the pocket is right for a cranked coupler, then it won't be right for any other NEM coupler you might later want to swap to. Jon

I have the instructions, but as I;ve fitted the short ones, and they are finem I wonder if the longs are required at all? Jon

I've acquired a couple of sets of coaches secondhand recently, and was pondering what was 'standard' vs add-ons. The 4 Bernina coaches in a 'book' style box has the pictured lighting 'tubes' loose in the box - would these usually have been supplied in this set? I've also had for some time had the Ew1's and these seem to have been part fitted with a lighting set, but not all coaches have light tubes - at least one only had the bulb insert, so I've swapped it into one of the Bernina coaches, and its a bit flickery. Any tips for improving the connections? I suspect its the connection between the pickups and the light board, and I was wondering if simply a loop of heatshrink might improve the contact? The other thing with the Ew1's are that the light bars don't really transfer the light down the coach, with the bulb end being much brighter - any top tips for improving that - I wondered about painting some of the light bar silver to improve the 'bounce' ? Thanks Jon

I've just acquired a secondhand Kato Allegra and was pondering the the coupling choice included, there seems to be a cosmetic (top) and long and short functional couplers - are all 3 types usually included? Is there a good reason to use long or short? even the short seems ok in the trainset curves I have as a test track. Jon

I think Parkside have probably been as helpful as they could be, in supplying a block that appears to have been designed to be easy to adjust by filing the 'legs' to height (it being easier to take away material than add) - there will be no 'perfect' solution because it will depend on the floor height, buffer length, proximity to the axle, and diameter of wheels fitted, and whilst intended for Parkside, it would be applicable to all non-NEM wagons regardless of manufacturer. I suspect these started out as from the Roger Chivers design, as this is where I first saw this style of mounting block? They certainly weren't included when the vast majority of Parkside kits were developed, because the NEM pocket is a relatively recent introduction to UK rtr (and was appallingly implemented by the RTR big boys) Where Peco have made things a bit more confusing is to reference "...for 36-027 Mk2 Couplings, NEM shaft (cranked) with pocket" which is probably possible to use, but would involve filing the whole of the legs away and possibly the lower edge of the bufferbeam. It would be helpful for someone to point that out to Peco suggesting 36-061 Short Straight NEM Coupling with Pocket (x10) or 36-030 Long Straight NEM Coupling with Pocket (x10) would be more sensible recommendations. As a Kadee user, what I would like to see is Parkside/Peco supply the mount AND the pocket together, because if bought separately for 1 wagon, the mount (x2) only costs 68p, but I then need £2.19 of Bachmann couplers, where I put the couplers aside and only use the pocket, and put £4.25 of Kadee in it! I suspect this needs to be moulded in a different type of plastic to get the 'flex', which Parkside under its original ownership might not have been able to do, but which Peco should already be using in other products. Jon

Yes but the OP clearly isn't which is why I didn't muddy the water mentioning it. What a NEM pocket needs to truly be a NEM pocket, is height from the railhead, and distance from the buffer faces, the kadee gauge only addresses the first, because buffers aren't really catered for in America, and the Europeans who use NEM standards actually seem to follow the standard. Jon

I think there are two parts to this 1) have a look at this thread which shows the various options for straight and cranked, and long and short 2) the Parkside block can also be adjusted by filing the 'feet' to move it closer to the floor of the wagon (raising the coupling height). Jon

The Dapol kit is a continuation of the Airfix class B kit, so you will get more hits when searching for that. Its probably worth observing that the class A, whilst very similar, has a slightly longer barrel, because the class A liquids are slightly less dense. IIRC Geoff Kent writes up extending one in his wagon book. Jon

Pretty much anyone using NEM pockets should have a Symoba height gauge, put the pocket on the gauge, and then buffers touching the plate, and the pocket will be the correct height and reach. https://www.dccsupplies.com/shop/coupling-systems/symoba-102-nem-362-height-gauge/ Jon

Noticed in the edge of a photo at Reading - is the electriciation exhibition in two ex GWR siphons? Jon

Actually looking at that again - they appear to be containers in plate wagons - of is the coil D a permanent conversion of a plate? Jon

As a bit of inspiration Jon

An interesting choice of seat VTG ferry tank Jon

Can I just test my understanding. For the ex-Lima Siphon G, both the Airfix 7ft (B set) and 9ft (autocoach) bogies are viable swaps, with the longer wheelbase being more common later in life (particularly in the BR Blue era). How about the dia 062 with drop vents - only the 9ft? Thanks Jon

Yes, I thought the layouts were excellent, although perhaps an over representation of narrow gauge? I took the bike on the train in the belief that petrol might be a problem, however whilst the BP near the venue didn't have any, two more I cycled past between station and venue had both petrol, diesel and no queues. Jon

Hmm. MORONS! Jon