SamThomas

Personally, I would try to find or mix up a colour representing new concrete and then tone it down with varying amounts of weathering powders.

If these paints do contain substances injurous to health, bearing in mind we are not talking in quantaties to repaint the Forth Bridge (& yes, I am aware it's no loger continuously repainted) will that really be an issue. After all, we are continually ingesting substances that will not harm us provided that intakee is in quantities. Moving on, if the manufacture (irrespective of the branding) of these paints has used such substances then they should be compelled by law to take stocks back, disposed of them (1) correctly & recompense anyone who has returned them. There will be many resellers that continue to sell old stock, especially at swapmeet type events (2)& many modellers who will continue to use them. As it happens I ceased using Humbrol & other enamals a long time ago to use acylics. (1) Surely, the risks should be re-assetained as tiny quantities of these "substances" spread around will be less of a problem than a small warehouse full of paints ? (2) Just look at the amount of old non-PATested controllers on sale at swapmeets to see that a lot of resellers neither know or care much about safety.

Will mixing the wagons really notice that much from "normal viewing distances", especially with varying degrees of weathering ?

I do indeed - it was a point Fraud made when it was introduced - not many vans of the time could jhave 4' wide sheets bewteen the rear wheelarches.

A fairly long time ago a great chunk of the world used Imperial measurements. However, our North American friends redifined the gallon, probably as part of their liking to make things sound bigger or better, like the weight of things in pounds rather than tons. I do believe that they managed to get a man on the moon using feet & inches. However, it's not our fault if they muller our measurements (& language for that matter). We still travel in miles & miles per hour. Bridge clearances still have to be signposted in feet & inches even if they show metric as well. Ceiling panels are in feet (but often quoted in the metric equivelent) as are sheets of timber. Tyres of vehicles are a mixture of imperial & metric.(Some vehicles such as BMW's did have "all metric" wheel/tyres) Our footwear tends to be imperial, not EU. TV screens are measured in inches. Most flourescent tubes are quoted in feet. Standard gauge railway lines are spaced at 4'8½" The most popular UK model railway scale is a mixture of metric & imperial. Baseboards are still often 4' x 2'. Foodstuffs are often packed in 6's or dozens. Trousers still have the waist measured in inches. & of course those of us that drink beer will order "a pint" in the pub. So, you can object to imperial measurements as much as you like, but many of these imperial measurements will still be around long after many of us are 6' under (or whatever the metric equivelent is).

Somehow, "give them a centemetre & they will take a kilometer" just does not have the same ring to it.

Sucess ! Tried a different Ethernet cable, turned off Wi-Fi on the tablet & the router, enabled ethernet on the tablet & it seems to be OK now on it's wired connection. Thanks to all that have helped with advice & suggestions - I was getting very close to giving up. It does appear that a lot of people (including myself) are/were not up to speed with PD (Power Delivery) chargers & USB-C interfacing.

Well, some progress - I now have a Belkin USB-C PD (Power Delivery) Charger, a Belkin USB-C to Ethernet + Charge Adaotor & a Belkin USB-C to USB-C Lead and the tablet is charging OK. I have plkugged the adaptor into one of the spare ports on the router, steady green light on, switched off the Wi-Fi on both the Tablet & the Router - no communication - maybe, I need to set the Ethernet up on the Tablet &/or the Z21 ? Basically, I'm stumped. As an aside the tech guy at Curry's had no idea about PD chargers "never heard of them mate" *** so I went to Argos, went directly to the sales desk & asked the young lady "do you have any USB-C PD chargeres & she said yes & asked if my device was PD enabled, so I left with the aforesaid Belkin items. Thank you Argos, go to the back of the class Curry's. *** I did look at the chargers in Curry's buit gave up when I realised that the person who had stuck the security tags on the boxes had helpfully covered up the specifications of the products !

I can understand Apple wanting to be different in innovative ways, but I feel that their desire to be different has more to do with selling their own brand accessories.

No one. I'm not against EV's at all - there are places for both EV's & ICE vehicles. When Mrs T changed her last car two years ago we drove a Peugeot 2008 full EV (the only test drive car available). We were both determined to hate it, but came back impressed. We wer both very impressed with the performance (& I have had some very fast cars in the past). Two reasons she did not go electric ; 1) Too expensive to buy & 2) Not being able to comfortably cover a 250m journey with a recharge on the way (a journey she woul make 3 or 4 times a year pre-covid). Being disable did not help in this respect. Of course the ranges are much better now. No, what really, really hacks me off is the constant bombardments "get a smart meter", "get an EV", "turn down your central heating", "insulated your home". In our household we will do what we can see saves us money, we will continue to recyle (which we were doing long before Greta was even a twinkle in her dads eye). We try (diffecult) to buy goods that have not been transported round the globe. I admit that we need to take measures, but if we collectively (putting aside the carbon footprints of India, China & the situation in the Ukraine for a moment) reduce our impact on the environment then nature will easilly take care of the rest - nature is far, far more powerful than us. We should be given the choice where we "sit" with our relationship with the environment. Personally, my "gas guzzling chelsea tractor" *** is my only excess in life (except my model railway) as I do not smoke, only occasionally drink & am not one for jetting off halfway round the world 2 or 3 times a year. Overall as a household we do our bit, we have solar panels & try & use them efficiently - having said that, if the dishwasher/washing machine need to go on they go on. Our carbon footprint is probably reasonable. Sadly, to me as a "driver" rather than an operator I find most modern cars (HGV's like DAF's too) are having the feel engineered out of them - almost devoid of roadfeel. No wonder people get into trouble on icy roads even with all the electronic driver aids to "help" them. *** I also have a small tatty petrol hatchback for running around in, the gas guzzler does few miles, probably about 15% of my total miles. I'll keep my gas guzzle thank you, even if i have to run it on cooking oil. (To be clear, the last comment was a little TIC).

There are more than enough electronics in a fossil fueled RR to go wrong without adding to them !

I know which one I'd rather be in (especially if one hits the other). It's not all about penny pinching & saving the planet (other ways to save energy too).

My comment was based on decades of working as an electrical engineer with a fault finding background. Just wait till the DIY'esr start messing about with plugs, sockets & cables. (& they will).

To add, I've googled the spec's of my Galaxy Tab 7 & it appears that it is "PD Charger" friendly so hopefully it will get sorted tomorrow.

Thanks Keith, Nothing simple.............. I'll pop along to the local computer shop tomorrow with tablet & adaptors to see if they have a PD charger that will work - can only take the tablet out !

Well, I've tried the adaptor that Nigel suggested & the through charging does not work. In my ignorance I thought USB-C chargers were all 5v - looking on google it seems that USB-C PD chargers are 20v (which powers the internals of the adaptors) & the device interfaces with the adaptor for the voltage it needs. If this is correct then none of the USB chargers I have (& there are many of them) are PD type, simply the earlier 5v type. Getting more & more confused.

That's interesting Keith, I may look into that if I still have issues after trying the adaptor that Nigel suggested.

Yes, sorry, I'm using the Roco supplied TP-Link Router with no internet connection, Wi-Fi or ethernet.

Thanks Nigel - I did find a few but got a bit confiused about what I actually needed. Ordered, will collect tomorrow & let you know the result.

That's oversimplistic to say the least. Certainly there will a number of "end users" that have no idea that an EV charger will need a much larger supply than a phone charger - believe me, I've met quite a few over the years - on another note I knew a guy who fixed his 200 odd horsepower outboard with 8mm mild steel bolts & was convinced it wasw OK until it fell off, never to be seen again - there are many, mant people out there who have no idea at all about electrical or mechanical "things".

Thanks Nigel, I've spent ages looking without sucess - would you have any links please ?

Both the ACER & the A7 would lose connection to the Z21. When the comms drops out both tablets show that they are connected to the router. Resetting the tablets (that were set to auto-reconnect) would not regain communication with the Z21, neither would resetting the router, only resetting the Z21 would restore communication. Next time it drops out I will check to see if the WiFi Multimaus has dropped out at the same time. I have looked at using a USB-C to LANadaptor but the A7 only has one port so I can't keep the battery topped up during running sessions. I do have a ONTEN Dock that has a male USB-C a female USB-C, 2 x USB-2, HDMI & LAN ports but this needs a 20v supply so I'm assuming that the male USB-C gives ourt 20v which will not do the tablet a lot of good. Maybe, I could look at using a spare W10 Laptop running Android ?

The ACER tablet has been replaced with a Galaxy Tab A7. Much better than the ACER but the Wi-Fi keeps dropping out - resetting the A7 does not reconnect, neither does resetting the Router - only when I reset the Z21 itself does the Wi-Fi reconnect which is anhoying to the point I'm seriously thinking of getting shot of the Z21 & going back to something like a Twin Centre of maybe look at the ECoS - anything with a direct wired connection. Just one more thing to try but can't see how to & that is to connect the A7 directly to the Router without Wi-Fi - anyone know how to do that please ?

AFAIK the "Scenic Railway" at Dreamland Margate relies solely on a brakeperson and no track brakes. I stand to be corrected.

You would probably get a better response if you asked the question in the DCC section.