ikcdab

Agree. Manufacturers are hiking prices beyond what is acceptable. Even the most basic locos are £120+ these days. That might be ok if you got what you paid for, but to pay that and get ropey mechanisms etc is not on. Send it back.

sorry, my mistake. Its voltage. my idea is to use it to assess the controller settings so i can see hiow much voltage is being output.

So i built 5 controllers for my layout as per the attached diagram. This takes a 16v AC supply, rectifies it, passes it through a transistor circuit and then to the output. Its a very simple circuit and works very well. However, i want some way of gauging how much current is being fed to the track. I thought i could use some of the miniature LED voltmeter readouts available on ebay. just connect it to the track output and hey presto i have the readout. This is what i bought: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mini-Size-LED-Panel-Voltage-Meter-3-Digital-GREEN-Display-Adjustment-Voltmeter/133446491572?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649 However, i find that the readout is very unstable and fluctuates massively. I assume this is because the input to the controller is rectified AC and so the output is pulsed. the LED readout reflects that pulsing. I know the LED isnt faulty as i have tried connecting it to a steady 12v supply and its fine. I guess i need some kind of smoothing on the feed to the LED voltmeter but ive no idea how to do that. I cannot change the controller circuits as they are now complete and in use. the smoothing circuit would need to go on the output to the LED voltmeter. Is this possible, if so how do i do it? if not possible, is there a better solution? Thanks controller.pdf

Howard, I subscribe through exact editions. The link to the BRM tv doesn't work and I don't see the traction magazine. How do I access these?

I tend to agree. For around a fiver you can download a Scalescenes kit and you will see from that very well how to build a robust card building. From that it is a very short step to designing your own using the Scalescenes techniques. I use a drawing package on the laptop for accuracy. I did exactly this and produced this... I was inspired by pictures of Winchester station. Used elements of Scalescenes medium station building. Google is the source for pictures of many buildings. Having said that, if I saw Aherns book for a couple of quid, I would buy it!

All I would say is that the underfloor heating is the best thing we ever did. Just love it. It runs through our kitchen, dining room and conservatory. We just leave it on all the time and the space is always at a comfortable temperature and the floor cosy too.

Thanks for your advice. Indeed, we had to lift the tiles in the whole kitchen and they came up very easily. The slab has dried and now to be relaid. Thanks

I placed an order before Christmas. There were the inevitable Christmas delays. I had another query which I sent by email and Jim immediately emailed back and asked for me to ring him which I did and he answered my query quickly. Later I emailed for to lack of receipt of order and Jim rang me to confirm it was on its way and I received it a few days ago. So although service may be slow, Jim seems to be engaged and helpful and at the mercy of the current appalling royal mail service....

I don't know where you live, but local records offices normally have large scale mapping. But guess there all closed at mo. Otherwise you can see the more recent large scales at old maps.com. you can see them reasonably well for free, but you have to cough up if you want a copy. It might be worth paying out to get the map.

I think your right. The slabs are single sided. I don't know how long the leak was there. It was under the sink and I came down one morning and when I stood on a tile it "squelched". A pinhole leak had developed in a copper fitting and there was a very fine jet of water. I can't imagine it was there for more than 24 hours,maybe 48 but surely no longer or I would have seen it under the sink. Maybe it is still drying out. I have lifted the tiles so it will have had a few days to dry out before the tiler comes on Saturday.

We had a new extension built 5 years ago. The floor is a concrete slab with underfloor heating embedded in the slab. Over this we have large slate tiles, approx 500 X 500 X 10mm. From the very beginning some of the slates felt a bit loose but I did nothing about it. Just before Christmas, we had a water leak in the kitchen and a large number of the slates have come completely loose. I have lifted them up and the adhesive just fell away. At least they will be easier to refit. I was surprised to see voids under the slates as they had been laid on "dabs" rather than a continuous bed of adhesive. I don't think the tiler did them right in the first place. I have also been surprised to find wet under the tiles when I lifted them. The water leak dried out three weeks ago so I don't think it's that. I wonder if it's some kind of sweating under the tiles. Maybe the voids get hot from the ufh and then condensation from the colder tile above? Has anyone seen this? By the way, we have a tiler coming to refix the tiles and he has said he needs to use a special adhesive. I don't think that was used first time round. Any comments???

I imagine so.

I like the one at Lynmouth. It's huge and now a bit old and dusty, but great fun. Lots of exhibits of vintage trains etc around the model, haphazard and random. Free entry. We went last September, only restriction was wearing masks. Not sure if it's still open. https://visitlyntonandlynmouth.com/visit/lynmouth-model-railway/

The "slot" appears to be filled with crud, inevitable in its position. Wouldn't a conduit be better?

You make that look so easy... great result. Well done. What's next?

doesn't the scalescenes small arched bridge fit the bill?

My friend had this with her T9. Without checking, there are two bits you need. The new motor mount and IIRC some kind of "hold it down" for the motor. Peters spares had the first, but not the second. However, it was very easy to make my own from a small piece of brass. I seem to remember it was just a small piece of sheet with a couple of holes drilled in it. The job was fiddly but successful. The rest of the loco chassis looked pretty good, in her case it was just those two components that had failed. There is a "Sam's trains" video showing the process.

This is really difficult. You seem to have no insulation between the rafters so inevitably when the warm air from downstairs gets in and meets the cold roof, then it will condense. Air bricks and soffit vents will help. However, unless you insulate between the rafters. Your loft will be unbearably hot in the summer and cold in the winter. Lofts are not ideal spaces for model railways unless you can do the work first. You also need to make sure that the ceiling joists can bear the extra weight. If you leave it as it is then it is never going to work properly. Get some professional advice and see what they say. People do make lofts work, but it does need a lot of prep and work to do so.

Slates varied hugely in size, depending on the quarry, date, application etc. I do think that on a single building they tended to be a regular size. This web page is interesting. http://www.roofconsult.co.uk/articles/tiling/tips78.htm#:~:text=By 1933 there were over,to 10 x 6-inch.

Great spreadsheet, by the way. Having seen your excel query a couple of days ago, I now see where you were going. Brilliant.

We are only talking about a garden shed/workshop, not habitatable accommodation. And the shed is 6m long as it runs along the back of my garage. It looks as if those flashing profiles are quite pricy, around £15 per metre. Has anyone done this with flashband successfully? Ian

So I have had to replace the roof on my shed. The new roof is corrugated bitumen sheets. The shed is a lean-to against a concrete wall. Now I need to seal the joint where the corrugated sheets meet the flat concrete wall. In the past I have used self-adhesive flashband, but I know from past experience that it is incredibly difficult (for me) to do this. If you fit the flashband into all of the corrugations then there is too much material to stick it to the wall. If I stick the flashband to the wall then there is not enough material to fit it into all the ups and downs of the corrugations. So the questions, Can flashband be successfully used in this situation, and if so how? If not, how does one seal when a corrugated roof meets a vertical concrete wall? Thanks!

Manufacturers are pushing up prices way beyond inflation for locos. Even the most basic engines are more than £100 and the more complex models are all North of £150. With these prices, pe4formance such as you describe is unacceptable. The "Sam's trains" channel has a lot to say about that and I agree with him. You shouldn't have to make such intrusive adjustments to brand new locos. I'd just return it and buy something else.

Vol 3 Vol 2: I do have volume 1 somewhere, just can't find it now. Will add when I find it. So..i can't find my vol 1. But here is a link to a pic of the back cover.. https://www.catawiki.com/l/27205207-r-h-clark-an-historical-survey-of-selected-great-western-stations-layouts-and-illustrations-vols-1-2-en-3-1976 Not such good resolution but just about readable. I think it's worth saying that whilst these were very good books in their day, I find them now a bit limited, given that the maps were from fixed periods with no indications of later developments. The signal diagrams seem to be from different time periods. I think there are now much better resources online for this sort of thing, notably the NLS maps and the signalling record society. Many further books have been published which have far more details of some stations. Ian

Yes easy to build, easier than a fixed diamond. I have one on my layout (see thread below). Totally reliable. There is also a topic over on templot forum with a useful drawing.