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Obligatory "layout in car" photo, I was going to build a frame to lift the baseboards and stuff everything else underneath but I'd only have to store it somewhere so instead made supports to square up the overhanging lighting rig support and the fiddle yard now fits on top. This also means I know how much space I have I in the car for the stage left fiddle yard so it fits above the main baseboard. Just a few final things to do tonight before setting off to Stafford in the morning.

And exactly how uneven is that uneven floor...? Regards, from C20.

Ready for Stafford this weekend, this HO scale copy of the Hershey's homemade device to transfer the overhead power along the train using the existing redundant trolley poles. The white roofed car is the only one which is powered and is usually in the centre of the Train, so in theory could use it's decoder output through the poles to headlights on the unpowered cars. https://youtu.be/1xqO72WS8eQ?si=VCgJUmKZUFUUjy2e

Nottingham upsized to the Harvey Hadden Stadium sports hall in 2000 but about ten years ago had to take a temporary hiatus to a nearby school due to the council closing it to build a swimming pool next to it. Despite show being as large as previously and other shows being held in similar venues the public didn't really get along with the change and attendance dropped even after returning to the Harvey Hadden. This coincided with the passing of long term exhibition manager Ian Trivett, and with no-one available with as much time to spare to organise such a show the club downsized to a smaller and more manageable annual event in Clifton. The council must have got wind of this and decided to close that venue too, so currently the club organises a small spring show in Hucknall, a larger one in the east of Nottingham on the first weekend in November, and members also organise one for the GCR(N) in Ruddington at the end of June.

Could the handrails be straightened by putting them through a thermal cycle? As Ray has outlined, it might be easier to upgrade than find the OEM parts, although I have used filed down Athearn parts before from the spares box.

The powered car (153) isn't running as well as the benchmark Bachmann 44 tonner chassis, so is on it's third motor this week. The chassis was designed for a small flat-can to drop in but it seemed to be growling excessively so I temporarily tried new trucks, then a spare 1220? with a flywheel. I then replaced the driveshafts with silicon tube which is a first for me, before replacing the 3d printed gears with drilled out Bachmann ones to stop them from splitting. The DCC Concepts decoder that is fitted and needed for the ABC shuttle doesn't have anything published in the way of tuneable motor control so I've since tried fitting it with a spare Mashima 1424 or something and it is running a bit better, but still cogging at speed step one and has symptoms of a split gear or something in one of the drivetrains. I don't think I've got time before Stafford to finalise a new chassis and print one as a spare so if it all goes wrong at Stafford it'll be weekend drags with a Mogul...

I was told that the Warley Club had an agreement that gave them the exclusive rights to organising a model railway exhibition there. So either that has expired, or it is more of a general modelling show which the NEC has hosted on a number of occasions.

...If they choose to claim, I don't for one days shows that I would go to anyway because by the time I've got in for free and been provided with lunch I probably owe them money. I also get free electric car charging at work so the free miles that that car does around town pays for the petrol to take the other car and layout to shows.

Short video today showing the Interurban set testing Hershey's home made "train line" which often gets asked about, the existing trolley poles would contact with strips on adjoining cars to connect the 1200v overhead supply along the train. Only the centre car is powered and has working poles (Bowser), the rest of the metalwork is 0.7mm brass although I eventually need to replace parts of it with T section. In theory it is possible to use this for the headlight connections from the decoder.

My new layout is currently set up in the garage so has been operated at temperatures between freezing and 30 degrees without any I'll effects- although I did design it so it isn't reliant on fishplates for connectivity and all of the important gaps have a physical barrier to stop them closing up. Pretty much all of the locos have stay alives fitted or decoders with enhanced "brown out" because I learnt from previous projects that static grass near the track is the enemy of reliable pickup. But something I can't control is direct sunlight on part of the layout- not only does it generally ruin the lighting but has also caused issues with part of the overhead expanding in the past. I'm still surprised by the number of issues that could be prevented with a little thought and planning- such as adjustable feet that undo themselves in transit that can be cured with a spot of threadlock, and dodgy connections through chocolate block that undo themselves instead of a proper soldered plug and socket.

I too thought it was exotic until I was shuffling cars around on it yesterday, and put the yellow West India Fruit Reefer back on the layout. It once again stood out as too garish (which is why it didn't really feature on the magazine photos) and I realised that with black locos, maroon coaching stock and brown freight cars I had basically copied 1950s BR....

By the time it was three years old our Qashqai had had a new 12v battery, new brakes because they were made from rust, a new Aircon compressor (again due to a manufacturing defect) and I am monitoring the oil usage due to it possibly being from a batch fitted with wrongly sized piston rings. Has anyone gone from a Qashqai to a Kona or Niro? Despite the Qashqai had a few things I like that aren't available they seem like the best choice for a replacement. But they do seem a bit smaller and I don't want to compromise on layout lugging space.

Since my main modelling interests seem to invariably involve scratch building, RTR can be useful for "nice to have" models that would otherwise be unobtainable due to the time and effort required- I liked the Rapido Hunslet but really wanted a green Beatrice as per the preserved loco but it wasn't an option in the first batch and buying one to repaint would have taken modelling time away from more pressing projects. The only other pre-order is a Met no.1 for a very slow burning project but I perceived a risk that prices would skyrocket should matching coaches be announced and as soon as I paid inflated secondhand prices a second batch would be announced.

I shall be flying the flag for non-UK layouts with Alonzo Mill, the current Continental Modeller ROTM. I shall be ably assisted by @doctor quinn, who is yet to tell me that he will be bringing a green class 47 for the inevitable photo opportunity ....

A recent Continental Modeller editorial lamented the cancellation of the European Railway Society show later this year and with the German Railway Society's broader Globalrail not continuing and Derby no longer alternating between North American and European themes for one smaller room, there aren't any specialist shows for these themes outside of society AGMs. Furthermore, a number of the larger shows that are financed by British interest magazines rarely feature layouts that wouldn't be of direct interest to their readership, leaving non-UK layouts at the mercy of invites from the club circuit.

^^^this post.

This is the rope-operated bell on the roof of a GE Steeplecab, the mounting was first moved from the hood to the cab roof and later converted to air, using a simplified mount and an air operated clapper mounted inside the bell. Obvious differences are when operated with a rope you would seen the whole bell swinging on the frame, but later on it was fixed in place and the air pipe with square corners and a water trap can be seen.

I know that feeling, I've seen a lot of Narrow Gauge this week and I'm now hoping that I don't find a lost Quarry Hunslet that needs a home...

I'd be interested to see or hear other people's ideas based on this- I'm still finding it fun to operate (as well as leaving one of the Interurban cars running on the ABC shuttle) but a Mill was probably a bit of a cliche- there was a Rum distillery next to Santa Cruz del Norte but photos of it are scarce. I'll probably go ahead and make the proposed second fiddle yard beyond the town scene for use at home but am in danger of going beyond the initial concept of small and achievable....

I did find a copy in Pike's Newsagents in Porthmadog this morning, I might go back and ask them to put it in the window.... I'm not sure if we'll be travelling as far south as Tywyn, might do so to escape the weather that seems to channel itself up to Ceredigion Bay.

I'm not sure why the cover is different, they usually don't have a full page as per last month's preview. Unfortunately we'll probably be away before my sub copy arrives so I'll be scouring North Wales for one...

It was from Bergen National Laser, but I'm not sure if it is still available. This is why you shouldn't read your own articles- there are bits that aren't fully explained such as why I wanted to model something with pantographs but without saying the public didn't understand operating the Yakima layouts with trolley poles meant constantly fiddling with them and getting in the way, and the photo of the diesel hauled mixed train didn't make the cut. But I was up against a 2000 word target. The height of the pans on the Steeplecabs also grates with me in the photos due to a 2mm error in height and an extra 1mm for the magnets, so I have been trying to reduce their bases without breaking them...

Anyone would think I've been raising stuff belonging to the Missus and kids. I have been working on a gantry crane to fill some of the air space in the maintenance shed. The wheels (Lego roller skates, brought especially) run on the I beam so can be positioned. The chain is from the spares box and is probably too thick, the thinner one is a gold chain brought for the upper arms of high-speed pantographs.

Although I haven't yet seen a physical copy, I can confirm that there are eight pages of Central Alonzo as Railway of the Month in the September issue of Continental Modeller....

One compromise I've had to do is actually finish things, instead of waiting for the off chance that a decisive photo of a loco might appear instead of working from one blurry end shot or another with the original logos patched over. I've also learnt that if you've modelled something obscure you need display boards to explain to the punters exactly what they are looking at, and even then for the one person who recognises it or has been there they'll be ten telling you something different or distracting you by saying how your 2'10" gauge Patagonian third rail Interurban relates to how many Triang Brake vans they have...