Railpassion

Loco restrictions date from post privatisation. In BR days all major types visited including deltics. As a youth I spotted cl 20,25(rare),31,37,40,44,45,46,47,55,56(special).

40s, 31s, 37s all had a turn on this KX working. Loco bans and all that rubbish date from Railtrack and NR days. Most types found their way to Brid. 20s 31s 37s and 47s all worked passenger and freight. There were hosts of charters and excursions up until the mid 80s. I remember travelling behind a 40 to Butlins in 1976, a deltic at Filey, travelling direct from KGX to Brid with dining car, probably 40 hauled, and plenty of DMU variety. Peaks were frequent visitors as well as 47s. I also remember a school trip hauled by a 47 watching it run round its train before departing the rarely used platform 2 southbound for London and returning late on platform 8.

Shape | ______ / / < Hood 0.1 mm thick 4mm diameter hollow cylinder _ / | < faceplate 8mm diameter circle.

Thanks I'm stuck on a signal head that requires a complete circular hood that is longer at the top. It's basically a short cylinder hollowed out with a 55 degree angled splice. The cylinder is hollowed out in pocket function right through and attached to the face at a right angle. At the moment I can't splice it at an angle \ . The LED will be attached behind the face and shine through a 3mm hole surrounded by a 4mm hood. Other software seem able to create cylinders with angled tops straight away but not FreeCad? I'm obviously missing something.

Many thanks for your help and recommendations everyone. The Indian locos look great and the French carriages look well. I'm hoping to complete the first designs before Xmas but I'm stuck trying to work out pythons in Freecad. Other people suggest I use Sketchup so I'm going to give that a try to see if it produces easier results. For the colour light signals I'm making I thought of using 2mm diameter brass tube for the posts but it may be easier to fashion these in 3d printed material. I'm reading through some of the posts on this part of the forum and it's a fascinating developing area. For me it's been great to try to learn a new skill during this odd period so that 2020 isn't a total write off.

I was at the PO this afternoon where they advised me to post immediately as First Class was being delayed by up to a week! They said 2nd would stand no chance of delivery before Xmas. My postie delivered a parcel from Gaugemaster today that was posted on Monday. So it's a bit hit and miss.

I'm very new to this but have made a good start with FreeCad and I'm finding it quite absorbing. I'm working on lineside structures, signals and platform canopies and fittings. I'm unsure whether to use sprues for smaller pieces like signal discs etc. I do not have a printer so would like to outsource the printing to somewhere which does it for you for a small fee. I've heard of shapeways which seems to be based in NY and NL. Can anyone recommend a printing outfit in the UK which will print out files?

I've recently bought a couple of Trix Eurorunner diesels and I must say they are superb runners. I am very impressed by the weight and the smooth operation. I know they are not quite as highly detailed as others but the construction is simple and solid with no loose wires and as few moving parts as possible. Price-wise they are very competitive too.

I'm reading the wrong paper!

After reading a rather scathing piece in yesterday's Sunday Times about the demise of Ian Allen's Waterloo shop, my thoughts turned to the future. So many of the clientele at exhibitions have grey hair and whilst there are younger people the hobby is now dominated by the retired. They have the money, the expertise and the time. We are all heading for the grave but will the hobby go with us and become extinct? Having lived in France and Switzerland I was always struck by the number of families and men aged up to 40 at exhibitions and would say the average age was around 30. The Swiss do have a very positive view of their railway and interest is more mainstream with many female enthusiasts too. In Britain many parts of the country are no longer near a railway and even fewer places see a freight train so there is less to see and spark people's interest. The model railway challenge on Channel 5 has helped bring some fun to the hobby and I hope it's begun to change perceptions. Can the hobby be revived for the young to help sustain its future? My cousin who is now 9 has a lego Eurostar layout with remote control operation and extensive track. It's so easy to operate and has no worries over live rails etc. Scaletrix has track but Mario has just released a toy car hybrid which is interactive and runs without track. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/technology-54663569 Is it time someone adapted this or created something similar for railways by using remote control and small cameras? Advantages would include: Dead rails - no need for clean track etc by using rechargeable batteries Simple scenery with digitally created enhanced landscapes Story and game interaction Creating a buzz around railways Flexible layout plans and designs which are quick to build. Any thoughts?

I've started using graphite on my garage layout and after three months the graphite sections have been faultless with no further attention. The running is much smoother at very slow speeds on DC.

I was in Leeds last night. At rush hour (1730) there were about 50 people on platform 16 compared with 400 on a normal day. Later on around 2100 I counted 52 people on the Birmingham train and over 60 coming off a train from the south west. The station was not deserted but I would guess around 20% of normal. I'd say the city itself had only 20% of normal activity. Train travel is not that risky if masks are worn and I think capacity could go up to around 50% without too much difficulty.

The line is undergoing more repairs and a blockade scheduled to end in June is now extended to July 4th. Further work is planned in the Autumn. Journey information is published daily. https://www.ligne-des-cevennes.com/ It may be worth contacting the line support group for more information. I had planned to run small group railway tours to the area but the timetable chaos caused by strikes, sudden engineering work and now corona have put this idea on hold till 2021.

Well done Tim, too many people walk around failing to notice the fascinating architectural treats all around them. The psychological and aesthetic effects of curve and line are so powerful.

Thanks for posting these diagrams. Something puzzles me which you may be able to help with. A daily movement for the trip trains using the coal yard was , after running round in the sidings, to propel in the wrong direction through Platform 5 under control of Quay box (acceptance lever). I can't see a signal for this movement on the plan as No58 seems to apply to the middle siding. After the resignalling of 1973 there was/is a post signal after the down excursion meets the up main reading to Platform 6 with a shunt arm for calling on and two dolls (originally for 1 and 2, now for 4 and 5) Any thoughts most welcome

If there is a drop in traffic after corona it will mean fewer people standing at busy times rather than empty seats.

Gosh, I've just seen the devastation. The layout was an inspiration. I've tried OO twice, N twice, HO, TT and HOm in the last ten years. I'm now on layout 7 with HO and making good progress. It's the building phase that I enjoy most, but this recent layout is now at the scenery stage and I'm still interested. It could even by finished by summer. Excellence is the enemy of the good and all that.

Good news for the railway today. Now we need to electrify the rest of the mainline network.

Will it be as successful as Boris's Garden Bridge which has cost £39M ?

Part of the problem is the name. CTRL tells you what it is for but HS2 simply does not. New Northern Mainline, or Northern Rail Link, would be a better name. No emphasis on speed or the number 2. Birmingham should have been kept out of the publicity and phase one should have been all the way to Leeds or Manchester.

Fascinating subject. I'm surprised a manufacturer hasn't investigated simplifying diesel loco motors to use just one powered bogie as in days of old, thus creating space for batteries and receivers. Body shells could be highly detailed as now but the extra space could allow more features and lower cost. With steam tenders it is even easier. I think there is a real gap in the market.

Thanks, I see. My interest is in powerless track enabling easier design etc. Total radio operation makes a lot of sense too.

Am I missing something?

Surely the way to reduce wiring is to go radio controlled. Just control the locos and never have to clean the track again.

I posted this in th Hornby thread last week but it may be more relevant here. "Intrigued by the DC control... Yesterday was my first experience with Lego trains. The 8 year old operator was delighted and demonstrated a working Eurostar with sounds and whistles on his phone app and used a tiny game controller to wirelessly operate the battery-powered train. Running was super smooth and reliable. No wiring needed. This is the way to go for model railways. Hornbys new DC system is intriguing but you still need the wires to the track. Surely the future is radio control and cut out the wires altogether. Diesel locos could have one driven bogie and the batteries could sit above the other bogie." Reading other posts on this topic, the alphabet soup is a real turn off but I think there is real market potential if a major supplier could be tempted.