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I follow a C&C Facebook group as it is somewhere in my top 10 of lines I'd like to model one day. So it be interesting to see what you do with the classic views of street running from around Claremont.

I didn't have much luck on a previous layout where similar locos would stall at the merest hint of one strand of static grass near a rail, so that's why I find stay alives to be invaluable.

TfW.

"Good trackwork" is one thing, but if your prototype looks like it needs a mower instead of a ballast regulator then stay alives are a necessity. I haven't had much luck with the small square tantalum ones but have seen some decoders such as Zen Black advertised with a brown-out feature that is effective over small interruptions. I've never really found flywheels to be of much use at slow speeds but maybe there's a reason why some motors sourced from China come with them balanced, something I've not thought to do.

I get the impression that society still thinks nothing of unlimited car use these days and we are in an era where shows are filled up with the same people travelling to them instead of 30+ years ago when more people went to less shows and it was the layouts that travelled. When Warley first went to the NEC there was a certain backlash because someone could go to 3 or 4 local shows for the same cost, back then those other shows would have 15-20 layouts and lots of variety where as nowadays you'd see 5-10 layouts on repeat because there are less medium sized club shows. Younger generations at work really don't seem so keen on this car ownership thing and many are happy just to get Ubers. Maybe if the true cost was considered, £30 of petrol is really a lot more since money for annual costs must come from somewhere, and the last time I had to hire a car it worked out to £90 per day plus fuel (for an absolute nail of an Opel Corsa). As for my own green credentials, I get the Bus to the NEC, I've taken small layouts to shows in the Wife's EV, and the free electricity we get for that from work for social use I offset exhibition expenses with.

Something else I've been wanting to try is a shortened Peco Loco Lift with a ramp to catch Pantographs. The ramp is code 83 rail curved using Kadee trip pin pliers and slotted into pre-cut holes in the end supports. I don't necessarily need to use this but it was on the bucket list to try. And with the layout nearly 15' in length it seemed like a good place to try my Sounder set, now that the lights have been re-worked in the coaches.

Steam loco piloting Interurban cars on my Hershey layout- the same happened in Cuba quite a few times when a hurricane destroyed part of the overhead. I took that photo a few months ago but recently rebuilt that section of overhead and had to drag the Interurban cars then.

Interesting map from a historic Cuba Facebook group, that Google has translated from Spanish. So certainly by this time there weren't any international docks between the Havana area and Matanzas (shown as "Killings!!!") But there is modellers licence...

In early preservation days a homebuilt raised extension was used to turn large steam locos, but it was a right faff and fell out of favour if it wasn't exactly balanced and rubbed on the stonework. Large diesels such as Peaks had to have their unpowered wheelsets jacked and packed, and I'm sure Deltics were also too long. Turning one of the AC electrics was fairly easy with a working diesel on the opposite road, but if there wasn't we had to use pinch bars which took forever.

I helped my Dad make a few of those, I dug it out a few years ago to plonk on a layout to prove that the reasons why Dinosaurs died out was because they couldn't take a selfie of themselves....

Unlike something else this week FP2 has gone ahead in full, it is just over 4' long in order to fit over the main scenic board in the car making the whole layout look quite daunting at just a smidgen less than 15'. Unlike the other boards it has a built in leg. I have laid enough track to test it (although the frog isn't juiced yet) and after messing round with the DCC Concepts ABC board Hershey Interurban Car 153 made the first legitimate run over the road crossing. Each road can hold a 3' long train so that'll save some space in the main fiddle yard for stock. I'm not sure of the best way to operate it or decided where it goes in the real world, so haven't added extra switches to the main panel yet.

You obviously said "plonked" but it is worth checking the height of the furniture factory. Even with the base set at rail height excess height cars don't have a lot of clearance.

....to be followed in a few months with the announcement of the M6 Toll road extension to Manchester. HS2 obviously weren't shoving brown envelopes in the right direction...

Does anyone remember this regional airline?

To describe the orientation problem, they have a line on top that aligns with the track-easy to set up before ballasting but should one fall out because the hot glue melted in a hot garage makes it harder to refit. I think I did so by trying to follow the original alignment but what I should have done was try it with a wagon or loco above to check the coupler was at it's maximum throw. This is a video on the small inglenook I built because I had a spare, the magnetic field is marginally affecting the steel weight in the hopper and causing it to roll away from the loco without stopping. I've only ever used Kadee permanent magnets before, didn't like them because of the odd phantom uncoupling event and ended up snipping off the pins and just using a skewer. They still don't get around the problem of having to plan where you need them and the couplers need to be set up properly and with consistency, but they are still my preferred option.

Stafford show postscript: first of all a big thank you to Nick Palette for the invite and Nick Quinn for agreeing to operate, despite both never having seen the layout before Saturday. And also to friends old and new who I managed to talk to, I'm still amazed by the reaction the layout got from the public and other exhibitors. I was a bit disappointed with invites, nothing until Sunday afternoon but then enquiries from Shrewsbury, Pontefract and Glasgow which won't be straightforward but might be doable. 2024 is looking full up anyway but if anyone is organising any shows a reasonable distance from Coventry I'd like to hear from you. The next show is Nottingham in early November and I'm contemplating whether I have time to build a second fiddle yard now I've seen how much spare space is in the car. The overhead still needs refining and something doing with the sector plate to make alignment more reliable. I didn't have time in the end to finish something akin to display boards explaining the Hershey but the new fiddle yard gives space to mount these.

It looks like Olddudders has caught the mixed diesel hauled local being switched after arrival. Although steam and diesel was used sparingly outside of the busy harvest period it was always the intention to model this working. Bachmann 44 &70 ton performance can be variable and do rely on a good decoder (ie not the DCC fitted one) and a Stay alive (AEmodels) is a necessity. Photo: William D Middleton.

Just found this thread after being asked about them at Stafford at the weekend as my layout "Central Alonzo" uses three of them. I find you have to set their orientation exactly right and have to stop more accurately than on a between the rails permanent magnet but I generally find that they work really well. @Tallpaul69 Rails have single ones in stock.

Credit though to the organising team for providing on the website a comprehensive list, including images and descriptions. So it's easy to work out what will be of interest beforehand. And as for the vast aisles, that also made it easy to see the layouts from a distance- try doing that whilst trying to avoid people in a crowd.

Singles movie poster, with Janet's VW from the film...

Wait... You mean.. that isn't Che Guevara...?

Destination boards added to the appropriate vehicles, they should probably be inside the windows but I ran out of time and the lettering is a bit big for that. Mrs 298 has also sourced an appropriate Che Guevara T shirt, Cov market must have got a job lot in for the University Freshers...

Annoying thing was, the particular miscreant seems like one of these people whose route takes them past the school twice but wonders why they are stuck in traffic. He was doing what most people seem to do when bored and was playing with his phone, oblivious to the Police ANPR equipped Volvo about 5 cars behind. I'm guessing they didn't catch him that day...

Reported online. I've been reluctant to do so in the past since calling what I thought was the DVLA because of an "abandoned " car, when whoever answered saying "Hello, how can I help you?" to which I replied by explaining the situation which took several minutes for them to say "Well, thanks for that, but I really don't know what that has to do with Scottish Power. I now realise the accent gave that one away...

I'm glad you've found it easy to escalate your concerns, our Daughters junior school does sweet FA apart from putting out a few signs on the zigzags, occasionally parking enforcement turns up or drives past in their Camera Car but with only one team being shared by 70 schools parents know they are likely to get away with it and go into full Gob$hite mode when they don't. Running a MoT &Tax check on these vehicles is sometimes interesting too... Daughter is 10 and would really like to walk to and from school on her own but as we keep saying, it isn't her but other people who are the problem. I'm not sure how addled the brains are of these people but I couldn't comprehend the stress if driving the school run ten times a week, we see parents who live a lot nearer than our 0.5 mile walk and they aren't doing it to save time.