KingEdwardII

No, most certainly not. My Macbook Pro uses USB-C charging @ 20V, for example. There is a USB Power Delivery standard that supports voltages of 5/9/15/20 V and maximum power up to 100W. They are working on a revised version of this standard to support even higher voltages and more power, aimed at the power tool market. Yours, Mike.

I use MTB MP1 point motors and they, like other slow action motors, will keep the switch blades fixed at the end of travel, without the need for a spring. Indeed these motors work best with the spring removed. Yours, Mike.

I think that the GWSR extension to Broadway - a significant "somewhere" in tourist terms - has made a big difference to the attractiveness of the GWSR to the general public. The terminus at Cheltenham Racecourse is significant for racedays (they run race specials) but Cheltenham itself is yet another significant place for tourists. Yours, Mike.

Well, like the various Birmingham suburbs and satellite communities. The sorts of places served by the Bromsgrove/Redditch to Lichfield line, for example. Or Wolverhampton or Walsall/Rugeley. Birmingham has a quite decent set of rail connections to these communities - and these are all part of the story for HS2, since not so many folk live directly in the middle of Birmingham city centre. For me, this is simply "joined up thinking" - you have to deal with the overall journeys that people are making, not just one piece. Otherwise, they are just as likely to leap into a car since it is less hassle. Yours, Mike.

Hmm, not the experience I've had with my wife's laptop. Twice Windows 11 has managed to lose the configuration relating to the keyboard and render the system unusable on bootup, even after a reboot. Checking through the various forums reveals that this is not an uncommon problem - fortunately those same forums also provide a practical solution to re-enable the laptop. Root cause appears to be a bug in Windows 11. Before you blame the laptop hardware, I'll point out that this is a standard unmodified Microsoft Surface 2 machine - i.e. an all Microsoft combination. Colour me unimpressed, since I'm the "expert" who has to sort out the mess. I simply don't get issues like this on the Mac and Linux systems that I have. I'm regretting not switching my wife's system over to a Mac the last time we had to buy a new machine for her. It would have saved me some hours work and a few grey hairs... Yours, Mike.

A week ago I finally went past the location of the new Curzon Street station in Birmingham, while travelling on a train from Coventry to New Street. It is an amazing sight - a huge long area dedicated to the new terminus, still at the "piles of earth" stage. I can't help but feel that they should really try to find a way to get a couple of platforms on the tracks into New Street, to enable folk arriving at Curzon Street to get to New Street with minimal fuss - the existing tracks go right along the length of the new station. The current plans leave a really awkward gap for anyone who needs to connect with local and regional services that are centred on New Street. Moor Street services are better connected, since the front entrance of Curzon Street basically faces on to Moor Street station, but a lot more of the West Midlands services centre on New Street. The idea of the tram connection is something of a second best in my view. Yours, Mike.

Unfortunately, I don't think the design of the new road makes any difference to those folk - the later protests at the A34 Newbury bypass were even more hysterical and the road design there is pretty bland and even used the alignment of the abandoned Newbury to Didcot railway line for some of its length. The biggest road design crime with the M3 at Winchester is actually the crazy junction with the A34 on the north side - a roundabout used to connect 2 really major roads (now with added traffic lights, of course). It has been a mess ever since it was constructed - there are plans to replace it with a proper graded junction, but as ever, those plans seem to be disappearing into the future since it's an expensive item. Yours, Mike.

Yes, it is all too easy to forget the living conditions for the navvies and their families, having to survive winters in one of the most remote and inhospitable areas in England in a series of shanty towns built near the construction sites. As many died from disease as from construction accidents. A grim story that HS2 thankfully will not repeat. Yours, Mike.

It's the standard M.O. of environmentalists. I remember all the fuss about the M3 route east of Winchester - frankly, the situation there now is much better than what went before, with the site of the old Winchester bypass now a green hillside overlooking the River Itchen. Much was made of the impact of the new cutting for the M3 - a "blinding white gash visible for miles". There, nature has taken over, as so often in chalk cuttings, with trees and brush growing over most of it, just as it has over the similar Victorian constructions along the railways. I suspect that HS2 will rapidly blend in to the countryside once construction is completed. Yours, Mike.

Yes, but be aware of issues: 1) there are a variety of socket types and you need to make sure that you buy a decoder that will fit the socket that is installed in the loco 2) being DCC ready just says that there is a socket that will accept a decoder (of the right type). It says nothing about the space that is available within the loco body to accept the decoder - this can be a tricky business for some locos, especially steam locos, with space being very limited and not necessarily close to the location of the socket. Decoder size can be a very important factor, as also how the decoder is connected to the socket - e.g. the decoder might be connected to the socket via a reasonably long set of wires that enable you to place the decoder into some convenient space inside the loco body. These factors influence which decoder to buy for a given loco. For some of the popular brands, like Zimo, you will find that they have a long list of decoders available, varying by socket type, size and functionality. Yours, Mike.

Currently, there are trains from Blackfriars to Sutton via Wimbledon, but not direct from KXSP. If you enquire on the National Rail app, KXSP - Wimbledon is always a connection using the Victoria line to Vauxhall, since the connection via Blackfriars is quite slow. The SWR connections from Wimbledon are also not great - for Basingstoke and beyond you might as well walk ;-). Some suggested routes from Wimbledon take you back to Clapham Junction... Clapham Junction is a good place for connections to the south and west - Waterloo is better only for some of the longer distance express services like Bournemouth, especially during rush hour. The interchange between Victoria line and Main Line at Vauxhall is not the best, however. Yours, Mike.

Very true. I have done that journey from Waterloo to/from St Pancras many times, luggage included. Not much fun. Changing tube lines is not much fun - some stations are better than others. Some of this could be fixed by having trains run between St Pancras and Clapham Junction - the lines are there, but no trains are scheduled to that route. I think that it would be worth sacrificing some of the trains between south/south east London and St Pancras in order to get this. 2tph would be fine to start with. I agree that CR2 would be a better answer, but I doubt I'll ever see that come to fruition. Yours, Mike.

The one at the GWSR that was recently restored looks spectacular. Makes me want to acquire one for my preservation-era layout. Yours, Mike.

Yes - and deliberately so. I think that it is dangerous. OK, some folk arrange to be able to tilt their baseboards through 90 degrees for work to take place. Others organise it so that anything that needs soldering can be removed from under the baseboard for the soldering to take place. I consider these reasonable approaches. Actually soldering under baseboards which are in position, I consider unwise. For work under baseboards, I strongly prefer either clamp or screw based systems. Yours, Mike.

First, I say - don't do ANY soldering under the baseboards. It's tricky and can be dangerous. It isn't necessary. The approach I have is as follows: - Bus wires traverse around underneath all the baseboards. 2 separate clour coded wires, in my case 2.5mm2 wires from mains flex - Connect wires of a smaller diameter to the bus wires as needed. The connection is made using "splice connectors", which are cheap, quick and easy, needing only a pair pliers to make the connection. I use 1.0mm2 wires for this. - These wires connect to terminal blocks - Multiple droppers to the track are connected to the other side of the terminal blocks, generally using small diameter wire (0.5mm2 or 0.25mm2) Various terminal block types have been discussed on this thread - screw type terminal blocks of small size are probably the cheapest, which use screws for fastening. Wago connectors are very simple to use, with each wire held in place by a lever mechanism, but they are a bit more expensive. Which type is best for you depends on how often you intend to make changes to the wiring. For me, it's mostly fit and forget, so the screw type blocks are what I use. Yours, Mike.

This may have been discussed a lot previously, but is Abbey Wood actually a good terminus for the Elizabeth line in the South East of London? Given that Canary Wharf is on this leg of the line, there surely has to be a lot of demand to use this route for commuters to get to/from both Canary Wharf and the City. Currently, Abbey Wood has a fairly limited service out to places like Dartford, Gravesend and the Medway towns. How is this meant to work once the Elizabeth line is open? I have seen that there have been consultations about extending the Elizabeth line eastwards in this area, but I have found information about this somewhat confusing. Any insight on this? Yours, Mike.

The way things are going, we may get a few more of those in order to keep the lights on!

Yes indeed - it can be seen in the following diagram of a horse hoof; I'm sure that it's the shape of the horse hoof frog that gives its name to the railway frog. Frankly, "frog" is a nice simple term which has a clear meaning in the model railway world. Yours, Mike.

Unfortunately, our rural location would have meant a rather soggy walk to the nearest pub - and our on-site clubhouse bar was closed at the time of the alarm. Else we too would have done the headcount in the bar!

Well, compare Euston with KX/St Pancras. There are North/South train lines there that give connections direct to a number of locations in South London and straightforward connections at Blackfriars and London Bridge to others. That's the kind of connectivity you'd hope for. Northern line from Euston to Waterloo is not great if you have luggage - I've done that a few times. I realise that Crossrail 2 was supposed to address some of the south west connectivity issues, but the current political situation makes that look as likely as a flying pig... Yours, Mike.

When the fire alarms went off at a random time in our buildings with 2000 staff (actually caused by a Freon escape, not a fire), we had a clockwork evacuation that worked to plan. The main downside was that it was pouring down and we all got rather damp outside. Cue much grumbling. Yours, Mike.

That's probably true if you have a lot of luggage, but (as with anything using the roads in central London, including buses) you're in the lap of the gods with respect to the length of time it will take. For the connection between Waterloo and St Pancras, I always use the tube, but I limit myself to roll-along luggage that will negotiate the escalators/lifts. Generally, the timing is predictable using the tube, although there can be failures, so I have 3 or 4 alternative routes that I know well. Yours, Mike.

London south of the river is dominated by the train network, so the underground is only a "necessary evil" as a way of reaching one or other of the rail termini which serve south London. Train - underground - train is really tedious, especially when you have luggage - I know since I have done many trips from Winchester to Brussels or Paris using the Eurostar. It is this arrangement of having to change twice that prompted my remark that it would take more time to get to/from Euston than it would to get from Euston to Birmingham on HS2. Check out a journey from Euston to say Croydon and you will see what I mean. Meanwhile the Victoria line gets you to - Victoria station. The Northern line gets you to Waterloo, Charing Cross and London Bridge. Yes, it's connected but it ain't fast and it certainly ain't easy. "Short" here is well over half a mile along a very busy road. Imagine doing that with luggage in the rain. Fortunately, there are tube lines which will get you there, but again, this is not particularly fast. I regard London not as a transport hub but more an obstacle course. Yours, Mike.

True, but somewhat irrelevant in that this figure is dominated by commuting and has little to do with long distance travel of the kind represented by HS2. It's no error - it is a fair comparision and one that does not make the UK situation look good. And maybe there is a lesson there. Doing things in the French way means lower costs - and actually better integration. OK, I can recognise some capacity problems in Birmingham, but Curzon Street is a poor solution - few folk actually live in the centre of Birmingham and it's an annoying trek from Curzon Street to New Street, which is the centre of the suburban services. Meanwhile the purpose built new Euston station still suffers from limited integration with the London transport network. Hmm, I've travelled a fair bit in those countries and in general their long distance services are considerably better than in the UK. As for local services, they have been pretty good in the places I've travelled. The local services around Munich, Berlin, etc, are excellent, for example. I would not care to hold up the UK as a great example of good local services, although there are some places which are reasonable. Yours, Mike.

To quote a certain tennis star "you cannot be serious". Getting around Britain by train is a slow business. High speed trains are a way of dealing with this, although in my eyes the current plans simply are not comprehensive enough nor well integrated and are myopically London-centric. Just look at the options for getting from where I live in the south (near Southampton) to Manchester, to Leeds, to Newcastle, to Glasgow. By train, Manchester 4hrs+, Newcastle 5.5hrs, Glasgow 7hrs+. By air, Man 1hr, New 1hr, Gla 1.5hr. Wonder how I travel to these places? My love of trains has its limits. Train travel in other countries like France, South Korea, Japan, Germany is simply so much better than it is in the UK, because they have invested in high speed trains. The UK is simply miles behind. Yours, Mike.