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and this one definitely has wooden treads laid cross-wise...

These look wooden, but of course are quite early...

i guess its obvious that latterly the treads would be metal, either a grid or chequerplate. However, during the transition from semaphore to colour lights, i suspect that the signal department would be tempted to use wooden treads as that had been the custom until then.... i just cant find any more info....

Thank you. Photos are difficult to come by! So if you were installing wooden treads, were these laid longitudinally or crossways? I have examples of both!

Not in your area, but Salisbury to Exeter is suitable. Busy line, was once double, carries some occasional freight and other traffic om dioversions....

I am building some colour lights for the new layout, which will appear here soon! The layout is very loosely based on Southern practice in the 1960s...or maybe the 1970s, who knows. I am currently making a platform starter, which is 2 x 3 aspect heads plus theatre indicators. I have made the upright of the gantry from H sections and plain girders for the horizontals. I am going to be mounting Berko heads onto the gantry. But what would the walkways be made of? Semaphore signals had wooden treads, is it the same for early(ish) colour lights or would they have been steel plates? If so, was it an open grid or chequerplate? Or did it vary and can i apply rule number one? In other news, elsewhere I am using a ratio pratt-truss gantry (again with Berko heads) and this does have wooden walkways.... Thanks.

i went to the exhibition on Saturday. Drove from Somerset, bit of a queue to get into the car park at 10am, but nothing unusual. I paid £12 parking in advance - not sure why anyone would pay more on the day. My impression was of an awfully large number of trade stands with model railways scattered around them. I saw no "wow" layouts this year. Although all were excellent, generally they were small to medium rather than large and exciting! I also think that trains must run! All too many of the layout just had nothing running or some rather slow shunting going on. the exceptions were the two(?) live steam layouts and the vintage Hornby dublo sets.We do come to see trains running and the operators need to know they are putting on a public show, not there for a social. On some ,layouts the operators were just stood round chatting and not running trains. So please sharpen up. All that aside, i did enjoy it and will go again!

I imagine that with two autocoaches coupled together and with 100ft or more of control linkage, that the drivers control gear was either very sloppy or incredibly stiff and unresponsive....

I am very keen on getting a class 31, the Hornby one looks to be a good performing model. However, the mazak list shows that R2420; R2421; R2754 and R2413 are all mazak affected. Indeed, there are several on ebay which show the damage. Question, are all l models affected? Or has the chassis material been upgraded? How do i know which ones are safe to buy? Are there any other options? Thanks

I think you need to be more explicit with the track plan. Some of those crossings will need to be slips. I suppose both could be double slips, but I doubt that the main line one would be.

the title really says it all. I have the Bachmann set of three of these: https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/brsand/e30b3f669 the internal floor is just plain plastic which just doesnt look right. i know i could add a load, but if i leave it empty, should the internal floor be wooden planks or plain steel? If steel, how best to represent it? BTW, i assume its a steel floor, but I am just checking....

I would go oo. There is just so much more available and i think it's more cost effective. I also agree that oo is better for a child to handle. That's quite a decent sized baseboard for a first train layout. Is there anyway it can be shorter and wider...then with a hole in the middle it would be much better to run. There are lots of track bargains to be had at shows and exhibitions, I would suggest you start with peco settrack rather than Hornby, I think it's just so much better. It's a great hobby and there is loads of advice here, welcome on board!

And are all the swallow tails the same size? I have a Hornby schools which I want to add a coupling to the front bogie bit I can't for the life of me get the swallow tail into its recess.

It's difficult as I don't think this is a prototypical layout. Trains approaching from the right on the middle line are being signalled with a full running signal into wrong road running. So from that point of view, the signals you have indicated are not right. If all these lines were bi-directional then it might be different. What are you trying to achieve?

Ok so I've cleaned off all the wd40. It's now very noisy. What do I lubricate it with?

Well I have used a common return. Both rails are broken at the section breaks but then all the negative feeds are linked together. It's the positive feeds that are linked by spdt switches to either controller. So is the t1 effectively two transformers in one box and will I be ok using its two separate 16v outputs to supply the two gaugemaster Ws? I only have one W at the moment, planning on buying the second.

What would be involved in servicing it? I cleaned the commutator with cotton buds moistened with wd40. Didn't check or look at the brushes though.

I've had it apart. It's not a pancake motor but a "standard" open frame motor driving a plastic spur gear. I've cleaned all the old grease away and applied a small amount of 3 in 1. Some small improvement, but nothing dramatic.

Not quite right...I definitely have a class 03 split chassis under the Bachmann flag...see attached. I assume it is the original mainline loco but rebranded.

I have one of the original Bachmann 03 shunters. Great body but the horrible split frame chassis. The running is very poor despite taking it apart and cleaning etc. Is there anything which can be done to improve things? Otherwise, I guess it's time for a new chassis. Is high-level the only option and if so, can I reuse the existing wheel sets? Any other points or comments gratefully received!

excellent show, really enjoyed it. some great layouts, my favourite being Evercreech New in O gauge - enormous. Good range of traders too and i spent rather more than I intended. Lighting in the sports hall was appaling, felt like an exhibition held in semi darkness, but other rooms were good. well done to all for arranging it.

The screwfix trestles mentioned earlier are ideal and recommended if you can't do the woodwork. Bear in mind the b&q (and perhaps others) will cut sheet material for free which takes away the trickiest bit of the work.

Always go for ply. 9mm is good but will want bracing and framing. B&Q hard wood ply is actually quite good and is much less than the price you saw. And b&q will cut it for you for free.

if you are using flexitrack, cant you just chop off suitable lengths of that to close the gaps?

Thank you. Means I don't need tho buy another transformer!