jasond

Eeeee, can't just go to bed without popping out to the garage to find the box...! Ooops, disturbed the hedgehog there. Anyway, this Amazon one is nearly identical to the one I got and there's technical info here. The only reference to my ANIKA product - Neon Flex LED Rope Light 5metre with mains plug/use inside or outdoors, use mains plug indoors only - was on a CashConverters site so not much detail except their price, about £16, I paid about £20 for it new. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Global-Gizmos-Metre-Decorative-Light/dp/B072QH7G2V?th=1 Suppose I could plug it in next time I'm out there. Jason

Lighting: I've acquired a reel of LED(?) continuous lighting to have a play with. One of the reasons for splashing out was the original idea man pointing out that we could have 2 reels - one daylight and one night-time. Sounded like fun! Jason

Hi All Latest edition available online or downloadable now: http://oscale.uberflip.com/i/1161044-september-october-2019/0?m4= If you're going to Telford and get thirsty around 2pm either day, there's an informal get-together in the cafe area at 2pm both days for us Nth American O-scalers. The table(s) will have mini Stars'n'Stripes and Maple Leaf flags flying, but all the Americas are welcome. So which flags do I need for 2'6" (On30) enthusiasts. Well, there is an On30 layout there. https://www.gauge0guild.com/Guildex Telford Guide 2019.pdf Eeee, hope they've got some flapjacks Jason

Mikkel's absolutely right. Viewers will be saying "Hey, I could try that...." Or should I try and find the vid I saw the other day of 2 Delaware-Lackawanna C424s taking one covered hopper to a customer. Just take the caboose off and use another loco!?! Jason

Is your UK and German modelling 3-rail then? If not, have you overlooked American 2-rail? Apart from sharing track at layout building time, there are clubs all over the UK with O-scale 2-rail running and the scale difference means you won't bring bridges down and carve platforms up! The O-scale meet at Winchester on Oct 19 mixes 2- and 3-rail and some of the 3-railers are members of the UK Lionel Club. There's also a German layout there this year.+ As a 2-railer, AtlasO is my favourite O-scale brand, although I've splashed out on brass occasionally and not been disappointed! If you're sure of what the catalogs are really showing, Lionel and MTH and other 3-rail brands produce good stuff for 2-rail conversion, but that adds to the price of course. Lionel's PS-1 40ft boxcar is the nicest RTR PS-1 I've seen and been able to afford, just needed wheels and Kadees. I honestly wasn't going to say it (), but 3-rail nearer the track rules it out for me. Jason

I'd just posted about vacant shops to the Gauge O Guild forum, because there was a Shadow minister on TV this morning saying how this should be easier, if not positively encouraged and our Chairman, Mike Bragg, posted the link here. The display looks professional and enticing, hope it goes really well for you. Obvious question, how did you get it the space? Just by asking the Kingfisher Centre management? Please report back on attendance, etc. Apart from free access for the public, what did you have to agree to do or not to do? For a smaller venue, maybe a single retail outlet, what I used to call a shop, opening out onto street, a security guard would be a sensible add-on, but being paid for by entrance fee would probably change the status. Anyway, there's lots of shopping centres around. The TV comment was 'targetted' at saving the High St Jason

From the Gauge O Guild's trader list on their excellent website, the supplier of MTH products in the UK I was trying to remember is D P Associates: http://www.railking.co.uk/ogauge/intro.htm Jason

One East Coast trader told me he was OK with mailing to the UK, it was nearer than California. One telephone order I made on a bad-ish line did go to the Ukraine first, but I got it eventually! Anyway, grit your teeth and try an order. We all moan about postal charges and Parcelforce's clearance charge, but if the shipment is a reasonable size (splitting the overheads over many items) chances are that in O-scale the prices will be better than via a UK importer who may not be getting a good discounted price on his smaller than HO 'wholesale' order. Apart from dealing direct with Atlas, InterMountain (when they did lots of O-scale), Norms O-scale, P&D, Des P;aines Hobbies and many others, I used 3-rail traders like Charles Ro, Justrains, Island Trains(name?) and many others for scale items worth converting to 2-rail. Apart from Tennents as Jordan suggested, there is an MTH importer concentrating on their British and Continental O-scale models who might be persuaded to add track to the next order. I'll look up his name. Jason

Many years ago I took some of the perspex off a, what's it called. sun-bathing cabinet that was being scrapped. Well I'd read all my railway mags in it and noticed my face was still curiously white still. Anyway, the top lid wasn't curved, but flat with 2 bends lengthwise into a flattened upside-down U shape. Anyone still with me? Do you trust me to cut it lengthwise for some clear strips, if so how wide should they be? They might be ready long before the Winchester Meet!! Jason

O-scaler is having a garden meet next week on Wednesday 19th or Thursday 20th June close to where the October Meet is held in Winchester, Hants. 2-rail, 1-1/4"/32mm gauge, 12vDC, Nth American prototype stock welcome. Easy parking Let me know if you'd like address, etc details. Final choice of Wednesday or Thursday depends on the weather! Jason ps: the regular 2nd Monday Winchester Group meeting is tonight at 7.30, St Barnabas Church Hall, Fromond Rd, Winchester SO22 6EF Mainly British, but

'distinguished'?? - oh, that's where I have to be grandpa and lift them out of their cots in the middle of a baby-sitting night ... stiff upper lip you know ... back pain's still there in the morning - you must remember all that! That is a nice little 0-6-0 ... luckily the D&H switchers were different. You're right though, he's had it long enough to get our interest sympathy! Jason

Hmmm, ALSRM Reading, I may try that again. Short drive up to Bedwyn and train into Reading. I'll be the tallish old boy with grey hair and preoccupied look. Hang on, that's about 70% of us attendees isn't it? Maybe I should look about and talk to old mates I haven't seen for a while! Went to the Chicago Meet mid-March. Being surrounded by O-scale and other old mates I haven't seen for a while was good. I made sure a long-standing friend starting dementia was having a good, if final, USA visit, then found my memory was good enough to remember all most of the half-finished projects waiting back home. So no more unneeded parts ... OK, just that nice Atlas Dash8-40BW at a good price from Norm at Norm's O-scale. Jason

Hi Jordan, what Wanted section? Never anything American O on there ... is there? Anyway, I've got a Plymouth somewhere, maybe taken apart. I'll take a pic, but it may be a couple of days before I find it. Jason

Weaver trucks are made from an acetal plastic (Delrin is a particular type) and they're abrasion resistance is very good. The metal axles shouldn't make a noticeable impression. And paint doesn't stick well either Jason

In O-scale, yes O..., I cut the magnets in half, across the middle not lengthways! OK it doesn't eliminate wagon roll on those Delrin-frame trucks, but it helps and means the uncouplers go twice as far! Jason

Yes, it's a bounce.... Winchester Meet day after tomorrow Sat 20th. I have a couple of Atlas RS1s turning up and some frt cars, etc. See you Saturday Jason

Sorry this is kind of off-topic, but I can't open Atlas' pages from Vista-Firefox, so I'll be off to Internet Explorer gulp! Any clues ... suppose I'd better tell Atlas?! Jason

Need I say more? It's that time of year again - 10 days to the American and Continental O-scale Meet at King's School, Romsey Road in Winchester SO22 5PN. So that works out to, er ... Saturday 20th October ... oh, that was in the heading! Come early or late, the memorable breakfast will still be around, even if it's only mine gone cold 'cos the American O-scale stuff for sale on mine and other tables has made me forget it. Dan's Piedmont Blues O-scale standard gauge will be there and if you can tear yourself away, models with narrower gauges and from other countries. Some pics here: http://www.winchesterogaugemeet.co.uk/ I'll be the one with the cold breakfast and happy smile! Jason

Better be.................................

Now you've got me fretting again Dan. My first make-something-that's-not what-it-says-it-should-be-on-the-box was a Maryland & Pennsylvania RPO/baggage converted from a LaBelle 50ft Menasha Woodware boxcar kit. Wish I could see it again Anyway..., only 3 weeks to go to the Winchester O-scale Meet: http://www.winchesterogaugemeet.co.uk/ Jason

I was told that higher speed UK stuff only uses one overhead collector, preferably at the rear of the train, or a second collector might have to deal with wire still jiggling from its first encounter. Jason

Better descriptions of the stolen O-scale locos: Atlas O SW8/9 Union Pacific. DCC and sound All Nation O NW2 Belt Railway of Chicago DCC Weaver O SD40 Conrail. DCC. Scale conversion Weaver O Alco C630 Conrail DCC Scale conversion Thanks Jason

Just copied from Facebook. If you supect anything and don't know how to get in touch with HWMRC let me know I'll see if we can get some more info Thanks Jason

Yes it was Marc I was talking to and yes, all the stuff we need is available in the US, but the usual problem is with shipping costs plus the VAT on it. Marcway track is all-soldered so I asked Marc if he would consider rail-only turnouts, using a handful of PCBs for the important ties. That would allow more detail including spikes on the track layer's choice of timber sleepers. But I guess we can just keep using his regular US kits in code 125 or 148 F/B rail, build them ourselves and leave out the ties we want to replace with wood fill-ins. 'Rail-only' turnouts would be a good starting point for a layout: rails already cut to length and held to shape. Apparently he's done something similar for an On30 modeller who wanted longer/slimmer ties than Peco, but was prepared to finish them himself. Jason

Spoke to one of the trackwork suppliers at G0G Telford this weekend. The cost and availability of American trackwork makes otherwise sane UK modellers use Peco bull-head even. How about flat-bottom rail turnouts with 4 or 5 PCB sleepers in place to position the difficult bits (frog, start of the wing rails, ...) so all you have to do is get the pack of coffee stirrers, etc out and cut/spike/glue the sleeper pieces to the rails? It's been tried over the years in the US, but with current costs we have more of an incentive and potentially the support of a well-known track supplier. Thoughts please...! Jason