PMW

in the army now, status quo

I think you missed my point somewhat Pete. I fully support track limits, we seem to get away fine with barriers at Monaco and guess what, drivers generally manage to get around the corners without hitting them. The problem at Sochi was that whilst a driver who for example missed his breaking point and ran off into the safety area was easily able to drive out through the polystyrene obstacle course, a driver at full speed who simply ran wide, which seemed to be most commonly caused by hitting the infield kerb on T1, by the time he has realised he has crossed the line is already out of the corner. He physically can't make it through the approved exit route, which makes the race directors note a farce. I still think Hamilton was in "chunter mode". He was unhappy he was starting on the soft tyre, that was down to a team decision on Saturday which back fired. He was unhappy about the penalty, unhappy about being called in when he was but the team timed his stop to get him out into clean air, and that worked really well. Don't pay any attention to the tyre graphics on the screen they mean nothing. A kid with a red crayon could probably guess better what life is left in a tyre. The graphic showed red but Hamilton was still chucking in fastest laps which kind of makes a mockery of them really. The driver knows what is left in the tyre, nobody else. It needed a radio call from Toto to explain why they timed the stop when they did. I heard the radio call about managing tyres, it was an excuse, it was an "I'm not playing and I'm going to take my ball home" type of comment, when Bonno tried to give him Verstappen's lap times his response was go away and let me sulk. We have seen it before from him. For me, it's the only flaw in the otherwise perfect racing driver.

I tend to like OSB, I know it is not everyone's cup of tea. This probably goes back to my father who was a carpenter and OSB would always be his material of choice for something he wanted to last. I appreciate it is heavier, and harder than ply but is also stronger, more consistent and more stable so 11mm OSB will give greater strength than the 12mm ply and only be slightly heavier. The fact that it is a lot cheaper than good quality ply is also a consideration, and I gave up buying cheap ply many years ago My alternative would be MDF, another heavy option, but doesn't have the strength of OSB

Actually it could be, and doing so opens up whole new dimensions. The reason I went the way I did was the ease of cutting. With our local B&Q not cutting boards at present then it's down to me and a circular. But turn the operating hole around, move it slightly off centre so there is a wider and narrower side and that opens up whole new possibilities

The difference was the purpose of the polystyrene blocks. The ones Vettel took out were only indicator boards, but the ones at Sochi were effectively a part of the race track, as they marked the exit route from the run off area for cars running wide, so had to be replaced. Failure to do so would come under the sporting rule about changing the track condition after the race start, which is not permitted. There are lots of points you could make from this weekend. Yes, as said already Sochi is a horrid track. Secondly for whatever reason the race directors notes this weekend were very odd. These are the "local rules" for want of a better way of putting it which are added to the standard rules for specific tracks. These relate amongst other things to track limits and practice starts. The notes for the practice starts stated, precisely, "on the right hand side, after the pit exit lights. For this avoidance of any doubt this applies at all times when the pit lane is open". that's pretty much word for word. Hamilton conducted his practice starts on the right hand side, after the pit exit lights, but apparently not the correct part of the right hand side after the pit exit lights. Given the vagueness of the wording you can understand why he was upset. Toto Wolff was upset because he was penalised twice for the infringement of the same rule. Common practice in formula 1 has always been to apply only one penalty, unless the offence is repeated after the penalty is applied. This is not a written rule, but why change common practice of many years now? The other issue was the turn two run off. Insisting that all cars which crossed the outer kerb, hence leaving the track should drive around the barriers as punishment was always ridiculous. A driver at racing speed, accidentally running wide doesn't have the time to react and make the regulated run off area, we saw what happened when the Racing Point tried. Finally, despite being a Lewis Hamilton fan I was not impressed with him this weekend. He is, in my eyes the greatest the sport has ever seen, notwithstanding that I accept that comparing drivers from different eras is next to impossible but Hamilton has everything, a fantastic technical understanding of the car meaning if something isn't quite right he can point the mechanics in the right direction. A phenomenal ability to pull out a single quali lap when needed (and now quali mode on engines is outlawed you are seeing how much of it was really him, not the car). The ability to drive lap after lap to "vectors", lapping within a few thousandths of a second each time to manage fuel and tyre use, and then to engage the legendary "hammer time" when he needs to. The ability to out think drivers one on one, there is nobody better in a dog fight than Hamilton, and most importantly the off track abilities. The ability to attract the big sponsors which keep him in a competitive car, knowing where that competitive car is going to be before it happens, who else would have left a then dominant McLaren for a start up Mercedes outift? Also he nurtures the love and respect of the team, they go that extra yard for him that Bottas doesn't quite get. But .... this weekend we saw the bad side of him, the grumpy side with an axe to grind which seems to stop him getting on with his racing. After his pit stop he was too busy chuntering about the timing of it. He came out in clean air on fresh, albeit hard tyres yet Bottas in the lead and Verstappen in second were putting a second a lap on him with worn mediums. He should have been reeling them in, but his head was in a bad place, and when that happens he can be remarkably ordinary.

walking in memphis marc cohn

One other question to ask, are three way points reliable for running? I have always tended to look on the as a bit gimmicky, but a three way point might be very useful in creating the loco storage. A three way point to create three tracks, with a standard point on each outer track could give me a five lane loco store in relatively short track length. I can then get to scratch building a five lane shed.

The long straight run at the top of the board will house the mainline station, hence it has no crossovers. I am toying with the idea of bringing the branch line around the top right corner and terminating it in the mainline station, but to do this I would need to use the mainline as a run round track. This would mean reducing the operating well slightly at the top to make space to turn "platform 2" into an island platform with "3" on the lower edge serving the branch line. This would involve the use of more 1st radius track work, but this will only be used by smaller rolling stock. I'm not happy with the sidings as yet, they do need more work. The original idea of them is to fill the center of the baseboard making it more friendly to a ten year old who wants to play with trains, rather than someone who wants to model a realistic village or industrial scene. To that end the layout may seem a bit track heavy. They do that but in reality there are too many coach sidings and as you rightly say, not enough engine storage. I might lose one of the sidings, on top of which they may not need to be so long. The longest has to hold five coaches, so I have to measure that, probably with bits of track on the kitchen table. This will also determine the length of the station, I don't want coaches over hanging he platforms, this is not Market Harborough! I can't cut the top right corner, at least I could but there would be no access from beneath as that will sit on top of a cut out in the room for the stairwell which rises below it. This also determines the height, a good height for me but in truth too high for a ten year old but we have a very useful stool which rises and lowers and will be used to seat the main operator in the central well, when he wants to sit, and a decent step if he wants to stand. The plan is for a second operator to work from the lower left if required, which is the cut away to allow the door to open (still to be tested!) from where any parts of the layout not accessible from the main operating area should be reached. The curves on the main loop are 2nd and 3rd radius, mainly chosen because we already have those in sufficient quantity (two complete circles of each) from the sets he has. We also have lots of 1st radius (5 full circles) but I too am not keen on using that if it can be avoided, and it may be bundled in to packs of 8 and sold. The first priority will be to get the board made, painted grey, and put in place. Then layout the main double track circuit and get that down. I plan to lay the track on cork over felt to kill unwanted noise as much as possible. The felt is laid on double sided sticky tape so as not to fill its weave with glue, 2mm cork is laid loose on top then the track, which is screwed rather than pinned so it does not crush the under lay. This, supposedly, leaves a floating track which kills the amplification of noise through the base board. It can be ballasted as normal with pva and crushed stone or cork crumb and gives a realistic height to the track. We can build from there, adding the sidings using the same arrangement, creating basic scenery at first then improving the detail. In terms of era I think I have settled on modern era preservation railway, it is the only way the current mishmash of rolling stock could feasibly coexist, and whilst it might be a kop out, if Jamie gets serious about this hobby and wants to commit his pocket money to rationalising it to a specific era and location later he can do so. Also we live quite close to a preserved railway, we can hear the whistles and see the smoke from our garden and we often visit their gala days, so it gives a touch of reality in Jamies eyes at least compared to what he knows. Lastly I appreciate the action of modern rolling stock on OO gauge is not entirely convincing. It can look like a square wheel on a round corner but such is the nature of the beast and we are too far committed to OO gauge in terms of what we already have to change. Once we have this all settled we will need to start thinking about control, but that will be another thread.

Yes I'd noticed that. I could move some, or add some more. The current plan means all of the turnouts are located next to the central inspection / operating well so that Jamie doesn't need to reach across scenery if there is a derailment on them. He is likely to try and rattle Flying Scotsman with all six coaches across them at full chat, so if anything comes off anywhere it is likely to be there. Control will I think be DCC, just trying to get my head around the best way to go at present. Points will be electric, but rather than DCC I might chose to control them wit a digital signal box. I think it will be easier for jim to visualise where the trains will go

The whole thing will be braced into one piece with 2x1, and when freed from it's legs should just about be manageable to take out of the house, should we ever move. I read about people using 2x1 for the legs which seems a bit puny to me, I was thinking 2x2? All jamie wants to do right now is run trains, but hopefully we'll get him involved in scratch building the scenery. With printer, laser cutters and 3d printers at our disposal the world is our oyster.

It might have helped to add that my thought for base board is 11mm OSB. Slice it in half to make two 8' x 2', cut each down to 70", the width of the room, leaving two pieces 24 x 26". Cut one in half to make two 24" x 13" pieces and place these between the two boards, then add the remaining 24 x 26 on one side to end up, after the addition of an off cur or two with something like this. The central cut out at about 2 foot by 3 gives access all around the layout. It will be generally flat, with the exception of the branch to the left hand side which will be below the mainline, perhaps serving a canal wharf. which exits under the track top left.

So, I have decided to create a layout for my eldest, aged 10 as he keeps asking to get his trains out and getting them out, setting them up and then putting it all away is getting to be a chore beyond belief. We have negotiated the use of the spare bedroom for a permanent layout, in truth it's tiny and too small to use for anything else, except fill it with junk which is what has been happening. So 1st question .... Baseboard? Over the weekend I've heard, use plywood, don't use plywood, use mdf, don't use mdf. use chipboard, don't use chipboard, use osb ....... you get the idea. What, in your opinion makes the best base for your layout. I will not be pinning track but screwing it. 2nd question .... Underlay. What underlay is best to isolate the track from the board and provide sound insulation. I don't ant the noise the trains make when running directly onto a board. I was thinking of using 2mm cork sheet, is this a good idea, or not? 3rd question. What period and location to go for? My current set of rolling stock is eclectic to say the least. My first thought given the era of the Diesel locos is all 1960's to go for that era mainline, with an attached branch line but Flying Scotsman's livery is wrong for that era not to mention Flying Scotsman was retired in 63 and the BR blue livery didn't appear until 1965-6. Do I just go for a preservation railway in modern era which would give me the possibility to add modern stock on the mainline, or is that too much of a kop out? Then Question 4 .... Track? I have a decent amount of sectional track, mostly Hornby. Two complete circles of both 2nd and 3rd radius, lots of first radius which I want to avoid using. Just a bit short on straight tracks but will look to sort that soon, though lots of online shops seem to be struggling for stock at present. Is sectional track better than flexible systems, or worse? Please let me have any thoughts?

Only You, Yazoo

Which is what, in practice Formula 1 has been doing for at least the last forty years. Unfortunately in such an environment there will always be faces which fit, and faces which don't. I hoped when Bernie Ecclestone sold his controlling interest in F1 that the management would be changed, would become more transparent. We were promised that it would, that the sport would be taken away from big business and given back to the fans but sadly none of that has happened, if anything it has become even more clouded, as demonstrated by the Ferrari "engine gate" last year.

Hello. Thank you for adding me to your site. I have been browsing for a little while but thought it was time to sign up and say thank you for all the useful information I have found here already, and hopefully for that still to come. You might call me a second time around modeller. As a kid I played around with a little J72 tank loco and an oval of track and over the years added a few second hand diesel locos, that was about the limit of my pocket money in those days. So now I find myself with two boys, the eldest just turning ten I have persuaded the current Mrs PMW to give the spare room over to us boys and our model railway. On top of those bits from my childhood I have added a couple of Hornby Rail Road sets which I think will be appropriate for the boys as they grow, a Flying Scotsman set I scored for about £12 worth of clubcard points, traded in for 4x their value to spend on toys then bought the set with a huge discount when they closed their on line toy sales. He's been given the Caledonian Belle set, a mixed goods and passenger train so the outcome is we now have a realistic amount of sectional track, rolling stock etc, a space of around 70 inches wide and 90 inches deep with which we start from scratch. A weekend of research on the web has left me more confused than when I started, everywhere you look for advice it seems you get a different opinion, so I thought it was time to join properly, and with apologies in advance bombard you all with silly questions about base boards, dcc, point motors etc etc etc etc etc ....... Hopefully you will come along with us on the ride of our as yet unnamed model layout. Many regards to everyone Paul