10000

The electro diesels class 73 were built at Vulcan Foundary, up the road at Newton-le-willows. Perhaps they were export locos?

Definitely not export loco's.  Could have been a few years later, the 74's.

Just checked one of my old books and for me to have all of the 74's in the same colour ink it would have to be Crewe or Derby as I didn't get down to the Southern area very much.

OK not humour but should raise comments if used on an exhibition layout

http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/16219370.Witnesses____horrified____by_double_skip_lorry_stack/

Have to say I don't recall seeing 25kv locos being built there around that time.

AL1 Introduced 1959     

AL2                   1960   

AL3                   1960/61/62   

AL4                   1960   

AL5                   1960/62

Edit: could they have been Classes 72/73 which were introduced 1962 and I seem to remember something like them being built at Crewe

They're in every war film I've ever watched, what do you mean they weren't in the war?!

Then watch "The Train" with Burt Lancaster

While out for my walk this morning a patrol car followed by 3 vans went up the road. A window cleaner stood there looking absolutely gob smacked commented to me that it was rare to see 1 never mind 4 together.

_{In the same way that several heritage railways have WW2 days with or without German uniforms or with or without Nazi Uniforms.   I think in general the Nazi uniforms are verboten, but whether german military uniforms appear is down to each companies choicer and perception of damage limitation.  Equally of course no mainland UK railways saw germans (or Nazi) forces so not really recreating history.}

Never understood why they feel the need to have German troops holding up /attacking the train. 5th columnists in British or US uniforms maybe.

But the thing that annoys me is when people refer to both the Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe as Nazi uniforms. They never seem to include the Kriegsmarine in that context. No doubt there were party members in all the Germany forces but a lot who were not. Also many people are unable to see the difference in the Germany tank crews uniforms and the SS

OK not 00/HO but give them time

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2575667

Well I've read the posts on here in support of the police but I'm sorry they do not change my view of the Police Force/Service/Pseudo Army or what  ever they want to be called.

I don't let the couple of speeding tickets  I got back in my motorcycle days, they were a fair cop (pardon the pun), colour my view.

Over the years I have known bent cops. Bullies who were in uniform because of the power it gave them. Senior officers who called up a car to escort them home when over the limit.  But also some reasonable people who wanted to do a good job.  I also feel sorry for their families. Many years ago my wife worked with a young lady (late teens to early twenties) who was beaten up on a regular basis because her farther was a detective in the local station. She stayed with us a few times after nights out when he was not available to pick her up.

The problem lies with the management/organisation of the service. For too many years just like most tax payer funded organisations, including the ones that should have made a profit like the steel industry, they have had  an attitude about spending money that would not be acceptable in private industry/business. I saw this attitude first hand when I worked in the nationalised steel industry and many years later when I did some work for a council.

But now they are in the real world and just like a private industry having to shed jobs because of falling sales the management and hanger ons (like HR etc) make sure their jobs are protected and get rid of the front line workers. Then with the reduced number they decide what to deal with for example the recent incidents where 6 officers had a photo call with a ex footballer when his car was recovered but someone who's home was burgled and car stolen didn't even get a visit from one officer.

But even Antex did stupid things. My 12 volt soldering iron made in England has brown, blue and yellow/green wires so I've always kept the label on it saying 'Do Not Connect to Mains Supply'.

Our town police used to have shotguns clamped upright to the dashboard of the cruisers. They are out of sight now, presumably in the trunk. 

May be so but at least out there the Police do respond.

My son and his family live in Surrey B.C. Last year his not quite 3 year old daughter managed to activate the emergency call feature on his Apple watch. They got an immediate response to which he aplogisied and said it was a mistake, but an officer was still sent out just in case. After he arrived he checked all through the house to make sure everything was OK.

Dammit, there goes my idea of a sexy scene in the sleeping car! it was going to be cam operated off one of the axles...

These days you probably don't need to use a cam just have easy access to change the battery!

Never seen a beat bobby for years, occasionally get a car along the road but that could be down to the fact that the road is used as a rat run.

I get tired of the complaints about lack of resources , they increased the Council tax precept for the police by 7.2% this year but they can still afford plenty of radar trap vans.

4 roads out of the town where I live, all single carriageway and not very wide. Over 5 days they did all the roads both directions. Even had 2 vans in operation at the time.  This is Lancashire police who can't be bothered to solve over 6000 unsolved crimes in the last 3 years here in the valley where I live.

I don't have a problem with a bit of humour on layouts be it subtle, obvious or even smutty.

Of course exhibition layouts need to be more careful these days as far to many people seem to have had a humourectomy and take offence at the slightest thing.

I've no doubt that if mine was shown in public there would be some complaints as it has on it a sign, like the old neon signs, for a strip club

Turn down the voltage output by the decoder. CV5 top volts CV6 mid volts.

Search the web and you should find examples like this one on how to determine the values

http://www.sbs4dcc.com/tutorialstipstricks/decodermotorvoltage.html

In some ways not customer friendly but maybe all shops need to do the same as the Model Railroad shop in Renfrew BC and have all bags left at the door or at the counter.  Yes small bits can be slipped into a pocket but it does limit what and how much can be taken.

Personally when I visit my regular shop (Arcadia) I have one of his bags in my pocket which comes out at the till (and always leaves with something in it).

When I visit other shops I rely on them providing a bag.

I would have thought that the voltage from a phone charger would be too low to throw a Seep motor.

I have heard of people using laptop chargers.

Seep motors respond very well to being powered from a CDU. These either work only with AC or are not bothered if the supply is AC or DC. I use a transformer but if you prefer to have something ready-made, then perhaps use the 16v AC output from a cased controller?

This leaves you with AC rather than DC, but it is easier to rectify AC to DC than it is to invert DC to AC.

Older phones may have had some that gave out 12v but all the phones I've had in the last 8-10 years have been 5v.

The Canadian Post used to make all the tracking data from abroad available, but suddenly stopped letting the public know a couple of years back....

The reason for this remains a mystery,

but if you look at their website you will soon learn that the resident programmers have issues with understanding the way Canada Post functions,

and this could point to the root of the problem.

Probably not their fault as Canada Post probably has no idea as to how it functions as an entity..

But Canada Post does share tracking data with the appropriate country of origin.

So for example the German Post Office website lets me know that that my parcel has arrived in Canada..

I can then surmise it will probably be five to ten days before I get the parcel 

(It may also have been sent to Richmond B.C because someone mistakenly thinks that Nova Scotia is on the West Coast..)

Then I can again check with the German/French/Norwegian Post Office that I have received it..

(A seemingly pointless exercise but useful if the expected parcel did not turn up..)

So there is a viable way round a problem that has no viable need to exist..

But I have also discovered that un-tracked parcels arrive in better than half the time it takes for tracked ones to arrive..

I've sent parcels to B.C. a few times, untracked, and they arrived OK.

Talking to ex pat Brits in B.C.some of them have expensive items shipped to a pickup point in the USA then they make a day trip or long weekend into the States to pick up the items.

The model railroad shop in Renfrew said if I wanted  anything sending to the UK they wait to ship until they have enough non Canada items to post then drive down to the States to send them rather than trust Canada Post 

I enjoyed the original radio broadcast the TV shows , film and of course the books.

At all times you need to keep in mind a comment from Adams himself where he explains that the history of HHGG is so complicated that every time he tells it he contradicts himself, and whenever he does get it right he is misquoted. Also that each time it has appeared in some form the story lines differ from the previous release.

No thanks. I tend to walk around with earbuds in listening to my own choice of music. Its bad enough when I can hear the noise from a sound fitted layout over the music in my ears without added music

An alternative to the ramps is to use a piece of clear plastic, the type used in shirt collars ( if they still do) or the windows in Metcalfe packs. 

Cut a strip about the width of the ramp and a bit longer. Push the ends under a couple of sleepers at each end  so it forms a hump in it. It should be flexible enough to allow stock to go over but enough lift to uncouple.

I started using this method because many Bachman locos grounded on the ramps because of the under side detail

As an IT person before retiring I do have more than just a computer and printer on my  LAN, probably a lot more than the average person.

I frequently see in device logs IP Adresses trying to access them. Usually only a single attempt which are probably Bots or scanning software and an occasional attempt at access .  Now a couple of days ago a serious attempt was made to try and hack into one of my Network Attached Storage devices.

The offending IP address was an Eastern European country. Because it exceeded the permitted number of login attempts it was auto-blocked by the NAS. 

So in my router i set up a  block for that country and in 12 hours there were 490 attempts to access my LAN.

Attacks from the Internet are a fact of life but in my experience this is way above what I would normally expect.

There is more to buying  an inkjet printer than just the software.

As I stated I have owned HP inkjets (2 off)  and Epson inkjets (2 off) and all of them suffered badly from blocked jets requiring frequent cleaning routines even though I used their inks not 3rd party. Yes part pf the problem is not using them frequently enough.  In fact the last HP and Epson where both binned as working printers because they were costing me more in ink for cleaning than printing.

Another thing to avoid with inkjets are printers that use 1 cartridge for multiple colours because you end up changing the cartridge when only colour has run out.

Not exactly related but I have a model I need to return and the seller is insistent that I cover the return postage which also must be tracked. Is that right or are companies obliged to cover return postage also?

You should refer to the Consumer Contracts Regulations.

Any terms and conditions that say you must cover the return cost wouldn't apply where the goods are faulty.

Of course the situation with a private seller on eBay may be different

I've had success printing decals on a Canon MG5550 inkjet.

Also having previously owned HP and Epson inkjets I have found it does not suffer as many jet blockages as they did.

Remember to get the correct paper. Clear for putting on light objects and white for use on dark objects.

I have 2 Econami in Proto 2000 Alco's PA/PB both work with no problems on NCE Powercab.