jpendle

Hi Cav & Alex, There's a lot of frothing over on the N Gauge forum, you might want to respond to some comments there as well. Great news by the way. Regards, John P

It isn't correct for (m)any of these to run through Wigan, but they are on my train set John P

I think you also need to be wary of your local authority. Permanently changing the use of a garage isn't allowed if it constitutes one of the planned parking spaces on your property. Regards, John P

Nice to see another N Gauge WCML layout. Is it DCC? And what make is the overbridge? Regards, John P

If you are outside the EU then nothing changes. The bigger sellers already have this stuff sorted out. Regards, John P

The N Gauge TPE 68 is now due in March. John P

I ordered my Northern Rail version today from Hattons, with any luck it will be here Wednesday. As others have said, for 115 quid I think it will look OK on my new layout. John P

Hi, I’m also doing Wigan NW and Wallgate but in N Gauge. My local station was Westhoughton but as it has very limited interest and services I decided not to bother modellng it. I’m doing the mainline as a roundy roundy and the lines through Wallgate as end to end. I’m also using a Z21 Black and have chosen Tortoise point motors for slow blade motion. I found that removing the spring from Peco points helps the point motors work better but I have to have polarity switching as I can’t rely on blade contact any longer. Pictures and stuff are on the N Gauge forum. I got tired of trying to keep two websites up to date with my old layout. Regards, John P

If you email Hattons they will probably measure it for you. Regards, John P

Maybe I’m being gormless, but I thought that Insulfrog points didn’t need insulated rail joiners. Regards, John P

I haven't seen any. Sorry, John P

I'd disagree that the Next18 socket is pointless. It allows more functions than NEM651 and can't be plugged in backwards. Also if a manufacturer uses Next18 they are very likely to add more functions to their PCB designs (Dapol N Gauge CL68 comes to mind) For N Gauge I think it is a good move. Regards, John P

Most N Gauge diesels whether Farish or Dapol have circuit boards which hardwire the front and rear lights together. In order to do what you want you'll need to bypass the circuit board to get this to work. Regards, John P

Hi Suzie, I haven't tried this but I would have thought that the loco, as it has the decoder, would have to be in the section before the BM-1 (Assymetric DCC) would have any effect, unless the lead coach is connected electrically to the loco? Regards, John P

I use Zimo exclusively in my N Gauge stock. I have only seen the 'loose contact' issue in a couple of locos, most have worked perfectly without any need for kinks in the wires or tape, etc, etc. Now that Next18 is being used this should no longer be an issue as all manufacturers should be using the same plug/socket pair. Regards, John P

I'd be happy if they would do some more 150's in new liveries (Northern, new and old in particular). Given that these things ran just about everywhere I can't understand why they aren't a priority for re-runs. Regards, John P

The rught hand rail is determined by the loco’s direction of travel. If your track is aligned north/south and the BM1 is connected to the East rail then trains travelling North will stop, trains travelling South will not stop. I suggest you try the BM1 out on a piece of plain track before fitting it to your layout. Regards, John P

We just found "Baby Jesus" for the Crib and the missing Bishop from our chess set. Still missing a cover for a sofa and, more importantly, 'Railways in and Around Bolton' John P

The +4 issue on accessory decoders is fixed, there is now a parameter in the maintenance app that let's you select the appropriate addressing. Regards, John P

None of the above. This one, Zimo MX600R 8 Pin DCC Decoder, can be had for 20 quid and will knock spots off the others. Regards, John P

The most shocking aspect from my point of view is that they actually have (had) their own Surface Mount Assembly line. Most operations their size would get the PCBs built by a contract manufacturer elsewhere in the US. John P

I think all the Ice Cream vans in my youth were run by Italian families, not sure how many of these business still exist though. Regards, John P

Argh Jim lad, pieces of eight pieces of eight. If you add a Jolly Roger, it would be plenty piratical. :) John P

And in the finest traditions of local Journalism not a word in The Bolton Evening News. Presumably because everything worked as it should, so its not newsworthy. Regards, John P

OK so I should have looked properly at the timings. FYI CHARD, the first four letters of my surname do match but I'm Lancashire through and through, no Italian that I'm aware of. :) Regards, John P