goldfish

I should have spotted that, the straight coupling rods are a give away. The 0 gauge version has cranked coupling rods to give sideways clearance for the centre wheels. This is a suspicious one : https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/404758859380? "Appears 100% complete. 100% original. In very good condition, some light chips/marks to original paint. Axles/wheels are straight. Untested but see no reason why it should not work. Clean and bright." It is a pity about the missing tender coupling. The strangely bulging cab roof and partially pulled tabs that are indicative of a possibly broken spring. Could that be a reason for it being untested?

One for connoisseurs of real tat. "This Lima steam carriage and tender was originally black and has been distressed to create a unique train." No sign of a carriage, but the tender is certainly distressed. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/176202249661?

The problem with Lenz is the cost, £112.50 a point is enough to make me lose interest.

My apologises, I have not been paying attention. I am always dubious about referencing prototype when it comes to things like Setrack because they are not designed for a market that demands that kind of detail. Your comment about checkrails is interesting, and prompted me to compare the checkrails on a Peco Setrack point with those on my ETS points. The check rails on the ETS points are 15mm longer than on the Peco points, I wonder if this is a case of Peco being over zealous in trying to keep down material costs.

One of the problems with Peco Setrack points is that they are part of a flawed concept. As it says on the box "PECO SETRACK THE UNIT TRACKAGE SYSTEM". The idea being that it is modular each element of the system is interchangeable. The result is 22.5 degree points with an unacceptable track spacing. Peco Setrack has its origins in the wonderfully named Atlas 21st Century Track System. Which in its code 148 2-rail version offers curves from 36" to 54" radius with a track spacing of 4.5". Until around 2015 Lenz track was made in the same factory as the Atlas track and was basically Atlas track on European style sleepers. After 2015 Lenz track was made in code 147 by Peco, retaining the principle dimensions to ensure backwards compatibility with the earlier track. Neither Atlas nor Lenz offer Setrack style points, instead that offer points that provide a track spacing of 4.5". In the case of lenz these are 11.25 degrees with a notional 128cm radius and a length of 455mm. Why Peco chose not to follow the example of Atlas and Lenz is anybodies guess, but I suspect most would agree that a point along the lines of theirs would be more acceptable than the current offering. The choice of radius is also problematic. It is really too tight for traditional fine scale O gauge using 3-link couplings because it only allows a very restricted range of rolling stock, and yet is far to large for use with couplings that prevent the buffers contacting. So far as buffer lock goes, this sounds like a combination of the curvature of the points and the couplings. I believe you use Dingham's which in my experience are not good on tight turns, have you tried alternatives such as the Flippem Couplings?

Having just taken delivery of a Terrier in LBSC Improved Green livery I would suggest that even without massive discounts the lined versions are very good value at today's prices. The "official" minimum radius for a Terrier is 40.5". So I was very surprised to discover that, my example at least, will happily traverse the ETS 627mm radius points on my shunting plank. In fact it runs so smoothly through them that I am tempted to suggest that it was designed to do so. Buffer lock would be a problem, but not with Leeds Bakelite vans and wagons. A very much unexpected discovery, and something I would have liked to know about a long time ago. On the wider expanses, the Terrier will pull and push Dapol Stroudley mainline coaches through Lima 700mm curves with 3-link couplings. So long as you avoid reverse curves, neither the Terrier nor the coaches can manage those without buffer lock. Table top 0 gauge anybody?

You might consider renaming this thread to indicate that it now covers a shed layout as well as a garden railway.

I have a couple of Dapol Stroudley Mainline 4-wheel coaches which I tried on Lima 700mm curves before settling on 27" curves. This is them on the straight, at the start of the 700mm curve, and fully on the 700mm curve with 3-link couplings. The problem I found was that with my ETS Terrier I got buffer lock when pushing them into the 700mm curve with the front buffers. The rear buffers worked fine, it might just have been a feature of this particular locomotive. This did however prompt me to use a 800mm (31.5") curve as a transition onto the 27" curves. This appears to have solved the problem, but I suspect that this is the longest rigid wheelbase that will work reliably with 3-link couplings. The slightly wider entrance curve also looks better, at least to my eyes. I should add that 700mm reverse curves are not possible with Dapol 4-wheel coaches and 3-link couplings.

Thank you for the photographs, they are most thought provoking. My failed attempt with Dingham's was on 627mm radius, so a little ridiculous. I abandoned the idea of automatic couplings completely and went over to LMC pattern drop links. I have recently increased the radius of my tail chasing loop to 27" and so I will watch your progress with interest. The temptation to get a Terrier is getting stronger.

Only three standards, come now there are far more than that. BRSMB managed four, Fine, Standard, Coarse and Unified, all incompatible of course. Add in the internal and proprietary standards and it really is complicated.

Interesting! Are you getting the Dapol Terrier and 08 around Lima 700mm curves with Dingham or 3-link coupling? My own experiments with Dingham's on tight curves resulted in them bending.

Not so much madness as laziness on the part of the bidders: - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/176116695938? You can download them for free from Peco : - https://peco-uk.com/collections/turn-out-crossing-plans/o-32mm? Worth it if you haven't got a printer I suppose.

Getting a fine scale 2-10-0 around 4' radius curves is achievable, Lenz get their Class BR50 2-10-0 around 3' curves with flanges on all ten driving wheels. Whether it is achievable with a kit designed for a minimum radius of 72" depends on how many compromises you are prepared to accept, A little school boy maths suggests that you would have to provided a minimum of 1.8mm extra side play* between the outer and inner flanged wheels. This will necessitate modifying the valve gear to allow additional sideways movement and the varying distance between the flanged wheels. The unflanged centre wheel could be a problem on 4' points by fouling the frog and so may need to have its vertical travel limited. The chassis of the 9F is very exposed and any modifications would be hard to disguise, so the end result might not be visually pleasing. How many compromises you are prepared to accept? * Just to clarify, the additional play is required both sides of the centreline, with possible implications for clearance between the backs of the wheels and the frames.

From what we can see in your photographs you seem to have created an excellent back scene for your railway. Unless the prime purpose of your layout is to use it as a photo plank, I wouldn't worry about the horizon. Pretend it is low cloud, or hill mist.

A tad optimistic me thinks :- https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/305317175645? In excellent condition apart from the missing buffer and front light. Interesting that it is believed to be in great working order, perhaps they really mean not tested.

The idea behind Izal was that one side was absorbent, and the other was covered in a soluble covering containing San Izal disinfectant. that was partially absorbent. The intention was that the absorbent side was used for cleaning, and the other side was then used to disinfect the cleaned area. What is unclear is if the tissue was simply to be turned over, folded in half, or a second sheet used for the disinfecting operation. To my knowledge no instructions for use were ever provided by the manufacturer. Izal was developed as a way of shipping more San Izal disinfectant, which in turn was developed to utilise the waste products from Newton Chamber's coking plant at Thorncliffe. One of those side projects that took on a life of its own.

Luxury Izal can be yours courtesy of the bay - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/175760478922? You can even have a refill - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/305286645842? Or a mundane roll - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/175758997936?

If you were lucky.

Izal was made from recycled newspaper collected separately by the local councils in the Sheffield area. The newspaper was kinder before it was recycled. The coating was San Izal disinfectant, at one time they gave a box of Izal away with every pallet of San izal.

The problem of the page freezing seems to have cured itself after a Ubuntu update.

ETS supply an analogue sound module that works with AC or DC up to 18V. No idea what it sounds like, probably as annoying as the DCC offerings. https://www.ets.cz/en/sound-module-dc/ https://www.ets.cz/user/documents/upload/842 E.pdf

For the last few days I have been having problems with accessing the forum using Firefox on Ubuntu. As a guest I can browse no problem, but if I click the 'Contact us' button the tab freezes. If I log in the page loads but I cannot do anything but scroll up and down, I cannot navigate to another page. Rather weirdly, if I open another tab and open a new instance of rmweb then I can navigate freely until I either try to like something or post when the tab just freezes. The heading on the second instance of rmweb shows that I am signed in, so the cookies are loading. I am posting this using Firefox running on Debian.

If you want a fiddle yard and a run around, an expanded version of Jim Read's Moxley and Muckton layouts would be a possibility. https://ogaugemicro.blogspot.com/

I have been very strict with myself ever since ETS brought out their 2-10-0. and so far I have been good and not succumbed and bought one. I do like their larger locomotives, it always impresses me that they are able to get a 2-8-0 through a double 627mm curve with no problem. A tad large for my shunting plank, but it happily copes with the small radius points. It is much happier in wider expanses running around at ground level on carpet boards.

On the death of the former owner the trains part of the business was hived off to form a new company under the. banner of the Tioka-Ikaria Group, which was headed by the son of the former owner. They carried on making track at least for a while but apparently ran out of money. The website has always shown some products as being available but the range kept reducing. It seems that they have found some finance because the range has increased and they have introduced some new ranges, including the military wagons. What the actual situation is at the moment is unclear, but the Tioka-Ikaria Group website has disappeared. The Terrier has been around for a long time. A couple have appeared on ebay, so some have found their way across the channel. https://www.merkurtrain.cz/britska-parni-lokomotiva-terrier-cerna-trikolejnicovy-system