Neil

For clarity's sake, as I haven't seen the offending posts, is it safe to assume that genuine, pertinent questions such as those above by Flying Pig and G-BOAF are fine but those which rubbish the notion of climate change and the desire to do something about it are not?

My two pennorth. I've had a couple of spells as part of the team organising and putting on the York Show (I don't now, I live too far away). In the past I've also been the exhibition organiser for a small local exhibition for several years. To start with you can only invite the layouts, trade and demonstrators that are available. Not all will want to come if invited and some make themselves unavailable because of the cost involved in getting them to the show and accommodating them. There is a reason too that regulars appear from year to year. Reliable, helpful, personable exhibitors will find themselves welcomed year on year; prima donnas get weeded out after one appearance, sometimes word of mouth will mean an invite won't be extended. The bottom line is that we do this for fun (maybe doesn't seem so when you're the last out of the hall, sweaty from lugging tables and barriers) so it's not surprising that we seek the company of friends and those recommended by friends.

Just measured a piece I have and it's 0.6mm or about 25thou.

Many thanks for the further suggestions chaps, all will be passed on.

Many thanks for the responses, much appreciated. I believe the couplings are spaced out far enough to avoid buffer locking. I'll suggest this is checked. I believe that some of the derailing has been on straight track which would rule this out unless the bogies have been hunting and there's very little clearance between bogie frame and solebar, still worth checking though.

Lovely model Andrew and a wonderfully battered prototype.

Thanks Andy, I'm told that it can happen anywhere on my friends layout, there appears to be no pattern or common factor and that other coaching stock have no problems.

Has anyone had problems with their toplights derailing at random? If so is there an easy fix? Asking for a friend.

I have in the past bought stuff from China, Atlas Editions European trams (that I cut and shut into narrow gauge vehicles) which I took to be unsold items from the magazine partwork, however this thread has made me wonder if they were extras knocked out at the same factory without the publishers knowledge. I guess I'll never know.

I suppose the 'legality' comes down, in part, to who owns the moulds and the rights to the models which come from them. In this case (if it's the stuff on e-bay) then perhaps it's more clear cut as the packaging purports to be Dapol and Murphy Models. However further complications arise as the stuff is supplied from (and presumably made in) China so who knows what redress there will be.

Not necessarily, launching with a couple of BR standards would give a reasonable geographical spread. Though the timeframe would be limited it is at least a popular one and class 08, 37 (to an extent 24/25 and 31) would overlap and carry the possibilities forward. It's arguable that there should have been a 16T mineral and BR standard brake van in the range from the outset too. I guess that once the novelty wears off there will come a point where the lack of coherence will put off anyone wishing to build a layout with some degree of authenticity. Those with a reasonable amount of space at their disposal will look again at OO and those who would struggle to find room may well head off to the better served n gauge. Further thought, even the relatively recently produced UK 009 releases have a greater coherence than Hornby's TT120 range so far.

While visiting Rotterdam zoo a couple of weeks ago I was amused to see the local wild life making good use of railway infrastructure. Not at all fazed by the procession of trains into and out of Centraal station.

Now you're just being stupid. Of course all statistics are out of date, but a six year period leading up to Covid (which would cause all sorts of anomalies) seems pretty good at giving a guide to the comparative safety levels of European railways. If you want to find more up to date statistics which demonstrate that UK railways are less safe than their European counterparts then please feel free to enlighten us.

I thought I'd do some fact checking, turns out that the UK is safer for both passengers and staff than a good number of developed countries. Bizarre logic here; exposing people to the risk of death makes them safer? Many years ago I taught in a school near to Neville Hill depot in Leeds. A distraught mum turned up asking if we had seen her three year old who had gone missing from her garden. The next day we found out that the child had squeezed through a gap in the poorly maintained fence, wandered onto the tracks and been killed by a passing train. I am really rather cross about the suggestion that we should not take care to protect people. Just for one moment try putting yourself in the shoes of someone like the mum mentioned above, or the train driver, or the emergency services called out to the accident, before posting such fatuous nonsense.

Good grief it's horrid.

The photos are credited to AP Godber, National Library NZ and there are seventeen of them.

Late I know but I've just returned from a trip to Rotterdam by Eurostar; Travelodge Kings Cross £73.99 on the way out and Travelodge Kings Cross Royal Scot £69.99 on the return leg. I book ahead as far as possible and avoid Friday and Saturday nights as they're usually far more expensive.

There's been a long running if sporadic debate in the hobby about whether model railways are art; I think that Voie Libre is the place where it's most consistently proved that they can be. If art is about telling a story, illuminating the unconsidered corners of our world or just a joyous outburst of creativity then the magazine nails it. It's never shy to promote whimsy or fantasy alongside the really finescale stuff, an equality of status I find really attractive.

I remember this from Warley (I think), spent more time in front of it than many of the better known layouts.

We used to use the Premier Inns either Euston or St Pancras, though now our preference is for the Kings Cross Travelodge.

I've had a few copies or inspired by versions of my layout Shell Island, which I've been totally happy about. I regard it as a bit of a complement and the builders were kind enough to acknowledge where the notion or their starting point came from. Another of my layouts very obviously inspired a modeller with a major section of his layout and while I know it shouldn't, it did rankle a bit that it wasn't credited. Yes I know it's a bit shallow and I open up myself to accusations of vanity but it would have been nice, polite even to acknowledge it. From the other side of the fence .... Now I know the modeller who built this and he's a lovely bloke and a talented model maker. Many years ago he said he found the formulating ideas part of the creative process difficult which is why he would take inspiration from the work of others which he liked. This was many years ago, before the days of social media where it's now easy for us to get in touch with our peers and easy for us to share ideas.

Was talking about this with Mrs R this morning. We first took Eurostar in 2013 and there was no queuing, we could walk up to the ticket barriers and progress steadily through. Yes trains stopped at Ebbsfleet but there was no mass boarding on the way out and no mass disembarkation on the return; St Pancras seemed to be able to handle the throughput of large numbers far better. I think what happens today is that because of the increased immigration checks, Eurostar get people to turn up earlier, hence the snaking queue for the barriers. Those at the front of the queue get through earlier than before and add to the waiting trainloads. Those in the middle and rear of the queue trundle through more slowly than before, the cumulative effects of fractions of a minute extra per passenger will have a huge effect on the time taken to transit the formalities. This leads Eurostar to require passengers to turn up early so as not to miss their train which gums up both the departure lounge and the station concourse. Sadly I can't see things improving until the bottleneck of immigration control is eased. There would be space to do this as there is space between security and border control allocated for further queueing. I guess that staffing is the issue and I guess that this won't get better until there's a more constructive attitude towards Europe which hopefully would result in a reciprocal change.

Yep, that was the standout bit for me too.

Further woes hit the railway. A shame as it was one of my favourite visits when I lived in York.

Can you have too many wagons? The latest stuff up on the workbench, more wagons. Over the years I've picked up the odd wagon that I like the look of, even if it doesn't fit in with the grand scheme of things. One thing they do have in common is that they're all bought second hand for three to four quid and they all started life with the ugly large tension lock couplings. Some can be replaced with the screw fixing sort of mini tension lock from Bachmann (with a bit of faffing) but those with the plug in style efforts take a bit more work; here's how I do it. Unclip the covers and take the old couplings out; you'll need the long reach screw fit couplings from Bachmann as replacements. While you're at it take out the wheels too as they'll get in the way. If you line up the couplings with the moulded spigot on the coupling mount you will see that even the long reach coupling is set too far back. However the clip on cover has its hole offset to the rear in the factory fitted position but if we reverse it then it brings the locating hole a few mm closer to the end of the wagon and we can just about get by with this, so file away the moulded spigot. You will now be able to fit the clip the 'wrong' way round. Drill down through the clip with a 2mm bit and also trim back the wings of the coupling so that it will slide between the two raised edges on the coupling mount. I took the cover off to show the altered mounting position compared to the ghostly outline where the spigot was filed away. Clip the cover on, if like me you removed it, and slide the trimmed back coupling in until all the holes line up. I use some 2mm diameter plastic rod to peg all three bits, mount, coupling and cover together, and fix in place with glue. I was lucky that this particular underframe was moulded in the sort of plastic that can be solvent welded. Obviously the rod was cut to size once glued in place. It's easier to line everything up with a long length which then needs cutting back than one cut to the exact length required. Now I should point out that the coupling still won't stick out as far as is usual so it is a bit of a compromise but if your curves are of a reasonable radius all should be well. Here's the wagon coupled up, closer than usual but not ridiculously so. Finally, why bother with stuff that doesn't fit with the premise of the layout? Why put in the time and effort? I think it all boils down to the sheer attractiveness of the models; they're nice things to have but it's possible to make them even more pleasing by putting a little work in, weathering lifts the models as does fitting better working and more discrete couplings. Here's the two latest wagons on the left and a couple I did earlier on the right.