Mountain Goat

But a new Hornby 0-4-0 loco like the Smokey Joe or the GWR 101 types. Hornby have worked on them and you get a lovely slow running loco. They look identical but are much improved with weaker pickups (Helps foe slower running) and what I have eard is now a 5 pole motor. They are lovely! Now if you don't mind a little work (Or a lot of work but you have some patience!) Get yourself a Triang 0-4-0 frame and use modern Hornby 0-4-0 parts. You will have to make yourself a new PCB (Or similar) for the pickups and there will very likely be some chassis mazak cutting and milling which took me a couple of days, but the result (All going to plan) will be a heavy solid chassis and nice smooth slow running. I need to work on my pickups as all I had to hand at the time were bicycle gear cable strands which do work ok, but the first running if they have not been used needs coaxing to get the tarnish off the metal "Gear cable" pickups. My loco is now a heavy thing. So heavy that it does not wheelspin even if I wanted it to, but to be fair, Smallbrook Studi had already added lead shot balalst we8ght in the saddle tank, and I added extra weight in the form of liquid lead when I decided the loco needs a pair of coal bunkers, and this was before I decided to do the chassis upgrade.

Lots of detail there!

Length looks like the standard Hornby 0-4-0's minus their couplings and the wheels are also standard Hornby 0-4-0 wheels. Percy had green wheels but otherwize used the same chassis as the Smokey Joe types did. The rest of the model the builder will have to answer.

Very nice. May need a little more filler and sanding down but otherwize it is very nice. Moving the safety valves is a nice touch. It certainly is good for a first attempt. Beats some of my past attempts!

Doesn't that remind you of Thomas? I am not saying it is identical. I am saying that the Hornby Thomas may be a good candidate to represent something like this, but I no longer have a Thomas to look at to see how similar they are.

It is only the detail like the wheel splashers and some of the smaller details which would need changing. It is odd when one finds a so called "Highly inaccurate toy" turns out to be a fairly close and proportioned model of a prototype except for a few details. It is funny though as Triangs adjustments which needed height to clear a clockwork spring... If they did not base it on this loco above, then it really does make one think that "There is a prototype for everything" could not be too far out as being true. This would make a rather excellent article on how to convert one of these to look like the prototype above and it looks very do-able!

They did in South Wales, UK in the early 1800's. One line I read about started off as an edgeway line, and was converted into a plateway (As that was the "In thing" in latest technology back then, and later converted back to edgerail design. (Edge rail is what we use today as the rails are sat up on edge).

The beauty is that double flanged wheels did not need an exact gauge. This is why they were used as with some of the quarries, a rock falling on the track, or rough handling of the light rails, which were often only strips of metal which sat in slots in the sleepers and keyed in with wedges of wood which over time tended to lean over etc... Only the wealthier quarries could afford proper rails and railchairs. Now I have a question to some who may know this. The old way that was once popular was to have flangeless wheels where the track had the flanges. Now this design found favour in the early years as waggons did not have to stay on the rails. They had the advantage of being pushed to where they were needed off the rails and then simply pushed back on to the end of a track where they were assembled to make their next journey. Question. Were double flanges also used in this way? In the early years when for a while they had both railed systems, locos (If they were wealthy enough to have had a loco) and waggons would have suitable wheels with thick flanges which could be used with both track systems with the same wheels. The new edge rails had to have a slightly wider gauge to do this but it was a brilliant solution as it meant that one could slowly convert ones railway system as one could afford it, as lets face it. Railways are not cheap!

I believe there was a certain date where the law changed? I know things changed for cyclists too but in the use of reflectors. I have a a few older bicycles where I am legally allowed to ride them on the road with just the one red rear reflector and a singlw red rear light and a single red front light. The law back then complied to filament bulbs, but one of my bikes does have a dynamo light system which was legal and still is as it is on my older bike, to only be lit when in motion. Todays bikes have to have a front, rear, spoke and pedal reflectors along with lights to be legally ridden at night. Bicycle lights here in the UK have strange regulations which are based on city cycling but are useless to cyclists who ride in areas where there are no streetlamps. For example, the front light has to have a beam which has to direct light in all directions including a portion which must shine towards ones face so one can visually see that ones front light is working, but the only directions in the regulations where it does not specifically have to shine is directly forward, and directly backwards. It was a wierd regulation which caused many of us to need to either paint the top of our lights lens or apply tape over the top so when we were cycling in non streetlit areas, we could actually see where we were going. Certain things one learns through experience. I once fixed one of those flags which stick about 18 inches out the side of the rear carrier which had a reflector on it. It was designed to allow one to have some room when cars passed. However, no sooner had I fitted the plastic device, every other car that passed came right by my legs! I took it off, and cars passed giving me room again! It is surprizing how many motorists passing bicycles pass without crossing into the opposite lane. Now I fully appreciate as I am both a driver and a cyclist, the difficulties experienced when driving or riding both means of transport, and there are times in a car when one comes round a corner on a hill and meets a cyclist who is doing all he or she can to slowly get up the hill, and as a motorist who did not see the tucked in cyclist until the last second, as the cyclist would be more visual if they were out a bot from the edge of the road, may be faced with a dilemma, especially if the motorist is faced with a car tailgating them!, and the motorist has to pass fairly close to avoid an accident. Most of us cyclists realize this as there are times when this happens, and for us, the tailgators tailgating other cars through teaffic is where I have personally had the closest shaves with... Along with the modern traffic calming measures which have made things many times more dangerous foe cyclists who have to use the roads, as thwy have narrowed the roads and placed traffic islands every so often... So cyxlists get motorists cytting them off trying to overtake on small gaps... If they left the roads as they were thwy would be far safer for us all! And not only that, the old curbs which used to vave a curves edge to them now have a 90 degree edge to them since the traffic calming measures have come in so if one comes off onto these new curbs it is serious even if one is wearing a helmet as a 90 degree anglw on the curb will split straight through a helmet ina fraction of a second. Who in their right mind designs these dangerous traffic calming roads? They may keep speeds lower, but they are deadly for cyclists!

I find that as my inner mind works best in pictures, if it is a visual memory I can retain it well. I can remember my days as a toddler and even before I could walk... My earliest memory that I can think of is when I was just 4 days old. But when it comes to mathematics or other subjects I did in school or collage, especially relating to mathematical formula etc, I would have to start again from scratch. It is strange to say that my last exam I took juat so happened to be GCSE Maths after I left collage and found myself on an Employmwnt Training course, and I had a mark of 100% and got a C. I did want to go for an A paper, but in my area of the country they did not do A paper maths, so I did not get much of a different grade then I had had in school. I always found Maths wierd. I would either get a rather good grade, or I would get a poor grade, and I just could not fathom what I had done different from one maths exam to the other.

When I worked for the railways, around the latter half of the 00's a few of us were interested to see if we could rent the building in Whitland to start a model railway club but after a few enquiries, there had been some sort of dispute between the train operating company and Network Rail and I had heard that we were not the only ones who had enquired about this building as a few others wanted it for various plans from re-opening it as a ticket office to running a commercial business. I also made enquiries about dissused rooms (I was in touch with railway track workers who were able to advise me of buildings with dissused rooms which were in good conditon and no one was using, as one of the railworkers wanted to join us with the idea), but despite there being two such suitable rooms other then Whitland; one being at Haverfordwest and the other at Llanelli, we had no joy whatsoever when we made enquiries. Even our traincrew manager was puzzled why the company was not interested as we would be hiring a room they did not need and had no plans to use (Is why I suggested the rooms I knew of in those three station buildings) and therefore reducing their station rental costs for the company. To us we could not see why they said no, but there must have been some technical reason? Anyway. I thought I would comment about that sttion building in Whitland, which in those days only really needed a lick of paint and a few minor repairs if that. I would imagine by now it would be in a bit more of a mess if it has remained in the condition it was in. Anyone have an update? I am no longer interested (And some of the other traincrew have since retired, left the company or have passed away) but there will no doubt be others of railway workers who are enthusiasts who could have an interest? It is surprizing how many railway modellers work, or have worked, or even would love to work on the railways!

Eye Contact And How One Thinks... When I am relaxed and comfortable I can make eye contact, but normally I can't make eye contact and keep up a conversation. Often throughout my life, especially when in school or college, I would be told off for not looking at the teachers as they taught. I never knew why but I found it easier to concentrate when things became deep to zone out my eyesight in a blank stare at a plain object like a wall, so I could really get to grips with taking in the information being taught. But I learned that teachers would assume that I was not listening and that I was daydreaming. Now sometimes they were right! As I tend to need to turn what has been taught into a picturelike thought so I can have a better understanding of it in my mind, and I have learned that I can go very deep in this when I do so... So I will be dwelling on this picture thought for a while before I would tune back into what was being taught. (When learning to read I often tried to stop the teacher turning the page as I needed to gaze at the pictures). Looking at pictures rather then words is assumed to be a childlike quality but what if ones deep thinking inner mind works in picturelike form? A conversation came up between my Mother and I while we were playing a board game where we needed to do some simple mental mathematics in our heads to work out the score. Now I was tired. I had also had a burmout a couple of months earlier which takes a long time to recover from, so I am not in my sharpest form. It was taking me a little longer then my Mum to do the adding and subtracting of the scores. My Mum was asking me why. I made a comment saying something like "I was adding up the dots". She seemed puzzled which made me puzzle as well... But as we went deeper into the conversation I told her how I add up dots in my mind to do sums as I can picture them in visual thought patterns, rather like one sees on dominos or a dice, but my adaption of doing this. In essence I can be working in different bases and need to convert them into base 10 if multiplying or dividing, but when adding or subtracting I still use the same patterns of dots which form visual distinguishing shapes in my mind, but there is less need to think of converting the answer into base 10. Now throughout my schooling years I have always tended to confuse my matjs teachers as it is only recently that it vame to me that I do this, as in the past when a maths teacher asked me how I came up with my answer I just wasn't able to tell them! It now explains to me why in maths exams I was never able to show the workings out (If I could, and draw them in picture dots I may have lost some teachers ability to comprehend my thought processes!) I often would write down the answer, and then do the workings out backwards from my answer. Another thing in which I puzzled one maths teacher and it was what I call "Two take" learning. If I was anxious, nurvous or stressed etc, which I was in school, I would need to learn maths using the two take method... Let me explain what a certain secondary school maths teacher said when he saw my parents on a parents evening one year. He said "I don't understand it. I can teach him about a certain maths subject and he will totally get it. He will answer the sums on the board correctly. He will have totally understood the subject. But the next time I see him in the next lesson, it is as if he had never been there. I would have to start the whole subject all over again!" Thus, I would often have to learn things two or three times to be able to get it to stick in my mind. (Ooh. I'm getting day jar vous at the moment. And before you say it, I saw you trying to correct me in my spelling in the day jar vous! Haha!) But something interesting that I did not know was different, and I honestly thought the gentleman who was testing me in this was not really that serious in what he said and it is only now looking back that I realize he was serious... When I was going for the job of working on the railway as a conductor (We were actually more like passenger guards as we were working engine and coaches so we would couple and uncoupke and work groundframes, and propelling movements etc), I remember being tested for colour blindness. The gentleman brought out a book. It was full of pages of those coloured dots. Now I had to try to see the letters or numbers in the patterns of dots. He started with the first page and went from there. At about half way in he was about to stop me but I already answered the next page, and he hesitated but decided to carry on. I then proceeded until he reached the end of the book. I remember having to take my eyes out of focus to see many of the letters or numbers, so by the time I had finished, my eyes sure had had some excercize! Then the guy said "I don't know what to tell you. You've answered the lot correctly!" Puzzled, I asked "Wasn't I meant to?" He said "No!" He then went on to explain that the first half of the book was designed to pick out if you were colour blind and what colours you were colour blind in. He said he thought I had totally filed in all colours, so he was about to stop the test but I answered ths next page... which was designed so that only those who were not colourblind could see, and the whole second half of the book was designed the same way... "And you answered the lot!" He said "I have done this job for (I think he said 47 years? He was close to retirement) and I have never had anyone do what you have just done! How did you do it?" I said I didn't know, because I didn't. He honestly did not know if he should pass or fail me... But he then reasoned that if I was colourblind, no way would I have been able to answer the second half of the book, so he said "It has to be a pass". So I know my mind works well visually and I can see patterns where some other people can't. Wierd isn't it! And just a brief sideline into sound. Up until recently when the noise of wifi etc has deadened these abilities, I used to be able to hear bats. I could not work out why other people could not hear them! But also, I remember walking past this man who stood right by me and blew his high pitched dog whistle right by my ear really loud. I automatically put my hands over my ears as I hurried past, and the man had a right go at me. I said it was very loud and it was right next to my ear. He said that only dogs can hear it and humans can't. How did he know this? I could hear it! Why did he have a go at me? I was doing nothing wrong. It was him who decided to blow his dog whistle as I passed! Anyway. I thought I would mention it.

I would use a 2ft wide board rther then turning in 18 inches as it gives a little more to play with. It is still space saving. By keeping to 4 wheel short coaches which tend to be the length of a Hornby 4 wheel coach or just over, and using nice little 4 wheel waggons... And 0-4-0's or short wheelbase 0-6-0's it is very do-able in 0-16.5. The good thing is about narrow gauge, is that it looks plausable as one tends to associate narrow gauge with sharp curves. 00 gauge also can be made to look convincing if one sticks to short 4 wheel coaches as it is the overhang and underhang effects of bogie coaches which cause the undesirable visual issues associated with sharp curves. Obviously if using 00 gauge one needs to be selective in what one runs, just like one needs to be in 0-16.5. The thing is, I often see critical comments given by those using 3rd radius curves or larger in 00 gauge and they say things like 1st radius curves are unprototypical, yet if they want to follow prototype practices, they are a bit hypacritical as they need a 24ft wide board with a checkrail just to do that, so they are compromizing quite a lot anyway... So one may as well make ones railway fit the space one has just like they have done! The key to it all though is to make it work visually. Obviously there is no point making it all work visually if trains don't take the sharp bends... But the art of compromize is illusion, and if one can pull it off one has done well!

When I look at a black 5, if it wasn't for the external valve gear, I would be looking at a castle in appearance, and the castles were often preferred by the engine crew to kings as they regarded castles as the superior loco. Black 5's were equally as successful. A pretty sound and sensible design. I have often wondered about bicycles, as I have been in and out of the bicycle trade for years... And looking at a groupset for example... Just when they get things right, they go and change things with an entirely new design and mess things up big time, and I have found the same for the entire bicycle. They seem to be getting things just right when someone starts a new fasion and it all goes to pot with problem after problem that the new design has... Often these new designs are old failures re-invented. It makes me ask why they don't just stick to what works well and has passed the tests of time where one knows they work and last, and just stick to that design. Why do they keep trying to re-invent old catastrophies and claim they are new? At least the origional people to design some of these mess ups had an excuse as they did not know unless they tried it.

I wonder what happens to locos that suffered mazak rot? They maybe full of useful spares!

Here is my 7mm narrow gauge layout (An example of size. 2ft x 7ft). I have a lot more work to do on it. The circles are where the platforms are going to be. They are just to reduce the weight a little. The layout has legs though the legs are folded up so I could work on it.

Just to clarify one little point. My last layout was 00 gauge in DC. I then half converted to DCC (I say half as even after spending a lot on DCC, I still did not have enough decoders or had fitted them all!) So the 35 minutes of track cleaning was with DC. I never did get to have a DCC layout despite plans for an indoor and an outdoor 00 gauge DCC layout. When I turned to model in 7mm narrow gauge, I turned to DC because of my budget needs and also because I missed it. There is far less messing around. I am the sort of person that if there is a DCC setting to program, I will spend ages fiddling! So for me, turning to DC was the answer.

Watching her video made me determined to see my doctor to ask to be assessed.

Do modellers need a cheaper way to enter into the hobby?

Wouldn't it be cheaper to (Now I don't know how much of this line is still in use) open a new station in the Swansea dock area and use existing lines? I worked the District line but as a passenger avoiding line, so I did not go down the branches from it... But if it still exists it maybe a more viable possibility? I believe the Pontarddulais to Gowerton may need more effort to re-instate it? I know they did want to use it as a cycle path but had to think better of it. I have not really explored the area myself. Only passed on the roads. A driver said that he used to work trains down to the colliery there. Was one of the car scrap yards on the colliery site? Is the scrap yard still there? 700 autos or a name like that? Used to go down there regularly when I used to own a Fiat. Haha. Many Fiat owners did! So many Fiats in scrap yards back then. I then bought my first Volvo and rarely did any local scrapyard have a Volvo, so I stopped looking... But in those days Volvo parts were reasonably priced new unlike today where they wanted between £173 and £240ish (Depending where) for a tiny little power steering pipe! It was only a few inches long. I had the old one fixed via a retired blacksmith who used a stainless steel welding rod to seal the little hole.

I feel in trying to explain, I go off on so many tangents that I mess it up. Maybe a decent youtube film would best explain the traits.

I think the cab looks too small and needs more length to it. If the cab was lengthened a little and the smokebox or the boiler reduced a bit... Chassis can be shortened... But what about a class 03 chassis with reduced con rods so the con rods only cover the wheels. Would it look more convincing? I suggested the 04 or an 04 as the wheels are closer together. One needs a short wheelbase 0-6-0... And if that was a terrier wheelbase, it needs to be shorter still. The body may not actually need extending that much at all.

It is not an easy thing to give an answer to. One can only give guides. But without guides, one may not even have realized what the issue is throughout ones life and without some sort of basic simple test, one may jot know if it is a good plan to be assessed. I do not know if I am on the spectrum or not. I have had a few people who are sure that I am, and yesterday one said she was so sure that if it was a case that I did not have it, she would be surprized. (I think she said she was so sure that if I did not have it she would put her fingers or toes i to a fire or something like that? I hope she doesn't if I am not on the spectrum!) Another has worked with a great many autistic people and she gave a list of 32 traits she noticed I had, and only two of these traits I am not 100% sure if she is right or not. But anyway. What does one look for as a guide? As many people are puzzling if they are on the spectrum or not. A difficult one to answer as autism can effect a person in so many different ways!

How does one know if one is likely to be on the spectrum or not? Quite a difficult question to answer but the first possible indication is where one may feel like one does not really "Fit in" or understand how to fit in to a social setting, or one may only be abld to do it through masking, and be exhausted and stressed and very much need to unwind when one gets home after having such a day. Masking feels like you have an inner real you but your outer you has to adapt and keep ahead in its adapting... And always assessing what one says and what one does, and the situation one really fears is for the mask to be exposed. Consider an actor. One first has the real person who has a real life beyond acting. The real person. Then one has the actor acting the part in his or her job. One puts on the character one needs to play. Now masking is very much like this, but it is done all the time, where one often thinks to oneself "If only they know the real "Me"", as one always wan't to de-mask but one can't. Also, when one has been masking as long as I have, it is a bit like a lady who has spent a lifetime of dying her hair and can hardly remember what her natural hair colour actually is! The other thing about masking is that though on the one hand an autistic person who masks, who would normally under the old system be catagorized as having aspergers syndrome, (Some autistic people don't mask and they would more likely be classed as autistic, now known as "Classic autism")... where the autistic person longs for routine and order to make more sense of life... due to masking and the fear of being discovered (Which has disasterous results believe me!), one has to keep changing jobs and sometimes even changing friends when the masking starts to break down. (I don't mean one does not value friends as one loves friends as to an autistic person who by nature may struggle to make friends in the first place due to the inability to "Connect", one also finds that friendship may need a lot of masking ability, and the fear that the friend would be dreadfully upset if (Or rather when) they discover one has been masking to make the friendship work (As without masking one can't connect with the friend), and so one finds that after a certain period of time one distances onesself from ones friend (s) to protect both oneself and ones friend from hurt. That way one does not lose a friend and one does not get hurt. (I am exposing myself as I write this as I hope that any friends I may have will not be reading this! If you are one of those few friends, I love you and want to remain good friends even though it seems like I may have become a bit distant. It could also have nothing to do with masking and that I just need a bit of time to do other things, or some de-stress time)). I don't have that many friends of my own. Not close ones of my age I can just call in with. But so far there is only one person of my own gender who I have unmasked while in his presence and he does jot mind, and I believe he may be autistic and not know it. Somehow I find it slightly easier to talk to those of the opposite sex, but more difficult to become close friends for long. Anyway. I hope I have made some sense and I apologize for turning to explain masking rather then the origional heading so I will go back to the "How does one know if one has autism" subject. Those on the spectrum notice that they are different. Today the meaning of the term "Individual" tends to have altered over time to mean "A single person out of a group", where a few decades ago it had a slant towards "Different" as the meaning to it. (It is understandable as in the 1970's with the old CSE and O level education systems, individualism and individuality was celebrated, but these days individualism tends to be a curse to the communistic style GCSE's where real individuality tends to stand out like some sort of alien being, so these days someone who is on the autism spectrum will very much stand out. There are many other traits associated with autism, and no two people share the same trait, but to me the feeling of not fitting in (And this can be with both introverts and extroverts as there are both types on the spectrum) and somehow making a lot of effort to connect with people tends to be a common feature.