1471SirFrederickBanbury

You're right. It seems that I had read the wrong document for the varieties of the smoke fluid I was looking at. I had another glance, and this was the one that seemed most promising of my list: https://looksolutionsusa.com/product/tiny-fluid-250ml/ its msds is here: https://looksolutionsusa.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/MSDS-SDS-fluid-2021.pdf It contains both triethylene glycol and monopropylene glycol, as well as dipropylene glycol. I was looking at making my model railway outside anyway (the only way I could have a decent looping layout in S4x, which is p4, but with full prototype dimensions), and can just use less irritating fluids for any locos I make in 00 or H0. Thanks for making me look twice. I should have done so in the first place.

They're all surprisingly similar in construction, but the Thomas the Tank Engine's mechanism is integrated into the chassis block. The feature doesn't seem to be too expensive, but Hornby charge a lot for it. Despite all the amazing results that TRS Trains can get, I think using a resistor and a glycol mixture based smoke fluid would be more ideal, especially for making the effect more opaque and dense.

Not to mention that the buffer beam valence on that Golden Age A4 is just as bad as the SE Finecast model. The Hornby and Finney ones are better, but are clearly based on the original drawing and thus look only like the first batch of A4s when that part was hand formed. the later A4s had a very different appearance (IMHO) to the likes of Silver Link and makes it easy to tell when an A4 is of that early batch. The best I've seen was a well built Pro-Scale model, but I can't seem find the photo at the moment. Ps, the photo of Silver Link and the one where Mallard doesn't have any lamps are not mine, but were necessary to show the difference.

surely the final owner of the loco could easily sand the flanges down to an acceptable standard. Having done it before, I know that most locomotives have enough power for the job.

I did once see a class 37 that had some character and an impressive "presence" on the rails. I do fear though, they seem to be the last/latest locos that I get that feeling from in Britain. In America thankfully, many are old, loud, if unrefined locos, but some even have enough character that I take their number down. they mostly serve as shunters, but those old EMD engines are great under the load of massive trains. My favourite of these is an SD-40, CSX 8351, which seemed louder and more sprightly than the others. Newer locos (especially big GE ones) feel rather soulless, similar to some of the newer locos and passenger trains in Britain. At least French TGVs still have some character, if not consistently. Isn't it odd that newer locos are less exciting than older ones, by increasing amounts each time something gets replaced? Maybe its because they're quieter and less idiosyncratic.

I think I may know why that's the case for film. These days, even the home release versions of films are sound balanced for THX theatre sound, not exactly something one would expect to have in the average living room! I have found that the only way to get them to be somewhat right is to turn the subwoofer up to comical levels and have a complex speaker set up. It would seem that surround sound is requirement instead of a compatibility feature. In other media, my usual musing is about the English language (especially in America) getting quite choppy. I always knew that most Americans never really understood contractions and some abbreviations. They always emphasise each word somewhat akin to the way that I typed this sentence. In contrast, if-I try-to type-one the-way a Brit (or some people from New York and New Jersey) usually-speak,-There's-more omission-and rhythm, making-it hard-to type-out (I tried to hyphenate where the shorter breaks between words would be, though not perfect, it'll have to do). The choppiness along with trailing off of the voice can make it hard to follow. When not choppy, the "vocal fry" sounds normal, or at times posh, but when the two are together, it becomes confusing and sounds constantly sarcastic! (I remember seeing some Youtube video about vocal fry which was intriguing, if I can remember the name, I may be inclined to post the link.)

I think it has less to do with garish artificial colours, but down to being a reaction to some of the more desaturated examples where people have tried perhaps too intently to make the image gritty and realistic. A great example is the (not so) humble motion picture. In years gone by with film, many movies were bright and bold, with vibrant colours filling the screen. Skip a few years and digital cameras were the new big thing, but many movies were even less vibrant than videos filmed on tape. This was a great effect to make movies feel more realistic, but as with many things, it began to be used in far too many examples, where it just makes everything dull. Meanwhile outside of Hollywood, people started missing the vibrancy of their Kodachrome and Velvia, which also gave more contrast. Even now, many movies and television shows which should feel bright and grand have that grandeur ground off in post production. I find that whenever I look through old albums of prints from film, I see something there that isn’t present in most digital photos, especially phone pictures. This grander sense of a scene of life being picked out of reality is a significant challenge. I also find my phone camera and screen both want to keep everything desaturated, dark, and shifted toward a green-brown colour cast. My response to the annoyance of having to correct everything in post to look decent was to ask my father for his old 35mm Canon AE-1, and in time, I’ll probably have many duplicate photos from the phone and the real deal to ponder over.

May I ask what that policy is? I find it oddly fascinating, all the various techniques and tricks that some swear by, while others swear at. All the many variables turn such a simple situation into an extremely complex and intricate problem to solve. My regards, Rohan

It would also be nice to have a Raven A2, but I have some slight doubts about Tony having any.

The only main giveaways are the Hornby stamped valve gear and 00 wheels. Truly, a magnificent sight to behold.

Funny enough, that front end did go back on perfectly with a drop of super glue (my favourite stuff is black and rubber toughened, so it is shock resistant). Glad to hear that nothing has been destroyed, as I have seen my younger brother sabotage a big diecast american locomotive (2-8-4) to run into a shunting operation at full speed. The "car" as it was impacted, got its ends and bogies thorn up rather cinematically! Looking back on it, I'm glad that he did that, as it wasn't that good of a wagon, we had a good laugh, and I was going to detail the whole thing anyways. Its back in service showing no signs of attempted demolition!

I find myself oddly reminded of the Abbots Ripton disaster. I wonder, how did the rolling stock fair in what must have been a violent crash? I remember once ripping the front end off of a Hornby A4 when a point mechanism failed. The point was of poor quality anyways, with flimsy parts, along with wing and guard rails that had miles of space. I fixed these issues and increased the back to back of leading wheels, and now have a decently reliable, if still hideous point.

It always brings me a slight chuckle when I remember how similar Hornby and TRS Trains smoke units to Thomas the Tank Engine toys! For the kings ransom that Hornby is selling the smoking locos for, I wouldn't bother. They should have used this as an opportunity to use something similar to whats used in the film industry for small fog machines, as the results should be realistic enough to sway people towards it, and there is no oil involved, being that its mostly water, monopropylene glycol, triethylene glycol, and dipropylene glycol (which as far as I can tell, shouldn't be too irritating, and I can always use a less irritating solution if necessary). I'll have a go at making a smoke unit to see just how dense I can get it. Something more like that, I think would be more worth the expenditure.

maybe its the lack of more thrilling forms of shunting, such as kicking, loose shunting, fly shunting, "Dutch dropping", hump shunting, and many other dangerous tricks which speed things up and make up some of the best entertainment I've had, especially with the most free rolling stock!

I wonder if anyone in P4 has heard of Sergent/prototype couplers? They are far superior in my experience to any Kadees in both appearance and operation. They mainly make American couplings, but their "Sharon" type one is probably the best match for 4mm scale 3/4 size buckeyes. Rohan