JIJ

To those comparing this to other countries which may run without doors, approximately 10 years ago, I was a passenger on a very full voyager heading south on the MML late at night. Due to the full train, several of us were travelling in the vestibule. At one of the station stops (possibly east midlands parkway), one of the doors didn't close fully and opened as the train was leaving the station (I'm not sure how any interlocking was working). The four or five of us in the vestibule huddled around the other door, and some moved into the corridor connection. At the next station, the door closed and locked properly. I've since wondered how the train continued despite the door being open; but at the time neither I or the other passengers pulled the emergency lever, as we all wanted to get home. It certainly felt unsafe, but the hazard was obvious to the passengers because we all saw the door not closed and could move away while the train was at low speed. Had the door have come open while we were traveling, it would have been a very different situation.

Took the RX-8 in for an MOT last week, causing me no end of anxiety in the run up, mostly due to getting Dr Wankel's finest through the emissions tests, but also due to the chassis being made of the same stuff as @big jim's NB. After taping over a hole in one of the rear arches, it sailed through on Thursday with only four advisories, not bad for a 20 year old car. On the way back from work on Friday, there's a sudden strong smell of rotting coming from under the car. Jack it up, and I'm met with this: That's a rather large hole in my catalytic converter, not sure how that passed an MOT... Oh well a bit of aluminium "speed tape" and it'll last until the next MOT Still ULEZ compliant! ;P

Warley model railway club put on brilliant exhibitions, and Statfold is a great place to visit (much easier to park at and load layouts in too), so a win win in my book. Well done to all involved!

If you leave meths in direct sunlight for a few weeks, it will lose its colour

Immediately prior to, and during early presentation, one of either coaches 1&2 was a maroon colour, the others were the "classic" red and brown (described by L.T.C. Rolt in railway adventure and the maroon coach clearly visible in "railway with a heart of gold"). The addition of the Numbers and crests to the coaches is described in railway adventure, along with cleaning and varnishing. I suspect that the maroon coach was painted around 1946 as a last ditch attempt at attracting tourist traffic after the mine closed (in the 1930s photographs, the carriages appear to be homogeneous in livery) but other than than, I can't imagine that the railway, "running on a shoestring budget" would have spent the money on fully repainting all of the coaches during Sir Haydn's ownership. Edit: flicking through "the talyllyn railway, past and present" by Mitchell and Eyres, there is a photograph from 1948 with the coaches again appearing to all be in the same livery. An open door on one of the coaches shows that lining was present, but it appears to be simpler than the lining seen in preservation, with round corners and only a single colour. The open door also has a number 1 on it, one assumes this is to designate first class

Just for reference, what does count as a "good" controller? Obviously the Morley and pentroller models are regarded as good, and things like the old Triang controllers that spit out barely rectified full wave as "bad". I've seen the old Hornby starter set controllers (as shown on page 1) described both as good and bad by different people (and apparently there are two generations of circuit in the same case, each with very different performance), with the later ones (the silver ones with the inset large black nob) apparently being even worse. Some people seem to have had good luck with the high frequency pwm motor controllers (available on eBay for less than £10), but my own experience with them has shown that while they can work with some motors, others seem to shoot off at high speed with the controller set to the minimum. Is the Gaugemaster Combi a "good controller? What exactly can one look for in the specs of a controller to see if one is good? And can anyone suggest a good single track controller for an "advanced beginner"?

It is a cracking car, everything great about an MX-5 but it's much more liveable and revs to the moon, just ruinously expensive to run, and gives me a heart attack every time it hesitates to hot start. But it's the best handling car I've driven this side of a McLaren, they ride nicely, and they're so cheap for what you get. Everyone should try one at least once.

All this talk of civics reminds me of a friend at university, he had a real thing for Hondas, including a ratty stripped out EG (the generation before the Jordan edition above) with an engine swap (possibly from an integra) and some very aggressive cams. Weighing about 700kgs on very sticky tyres it was a good laugh, and when VTEC hit, you could hear it from the other side of campus. My own contribution to the thread is this: Not sure if it's old enough, but definitely the last of it's kind. Zoom zoom zoom ;)

Westcliff Workshops are developing 3d printed kits for the VoR coaches and brake van. They don't currently have a web presence but CAD of the original style coaches can be seen here: https://m.facebook.com/groups/1013134236485255/posts/1072891513842860/ Print quality on their TR stock tends to be good, so I imagine these will be the same

Having recently been on the look out for 3mm bearings and axles (to make use of some of those n20 motor gearbox combos) it looks like 3mm bearings are a little harder to come by from the usual sources, and I've not seen a set of 3mm tapered assembly axles at all. This put me off the whole endeavour, and I'm going back to 1/8". I will try to ream out the bearings and final drive gear for the n20

Now the dust has settled, I'm struggling to understand a lot of the negativity. I arrived just before opening on Saturday (free parking at tile hill, got the train before the delays hit), and joined "The Hoard", with the show being so popular and with other shows going on, I don't see how else the NEC could have organised it. A good selection of traders with Squires, Alan Gibson, and H&A providing basically everything I was looking for (it's a shame that Eileen's weren't there, but there's not much you can do there), some truly excellent modelling on display, including Robin Gay's Rolvenden, a layout which does not need trains running on it to look appealing, Bron Hebog, and the CVR. The demonstrators were helpful, the manufacturers were interesting (extra credit to rapido for the adverts in the toilets, very humourous) food was good, and the only time it felt cramped was in the H&A stand (which always feels cramped, but they pay per m², so I understand). Overall, as a punter I think it was a good show, and well worth the entry charge. Bring on 2024!

Was good to see the prototype model run on the Clyre Valley railway yesterday, did anyone see what happened when it got to the fiddle yard? Did it not fit through the hole in the backscene? Very impressive looking model though, captures the chunky look well

Kallax!

MCC have no online presence

Bachmann's MCC store in Hinckley is having a clearance sale. Mostly OO gauge coaches and wagons and n gauge scenecraft buildings, a few efe locomotives, some US outline stuff. With a Hinckley bid card (https://www.hinckleybid.co.uk/) you get an extra 10% off Just walked out with a maroon autocoach and an olive warflat with Cromwell tank for £55!