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21 is currently in "Patio" service, thanks to a temporary marker made from plasticard and something that I have just had to explain to the kids is Letraset. It'll do for now, but I'll draw it correctly and add it to the next white transfer sheet.

Very good, that certainly fits with the photos.

With the article for Continental Modeller submitted (watch out for it in the autumn) I have had some spare modelling time to address some of the many issues with the overhead and pantographs. For the former, I have added better tensioners thanks to my traditional use of Meccano and despite the heat it is more reliable (enough to convince me I don't need v shaped guides on converging routes), and for the Steeplecab pans that ended up sitting too high I have basically taken one apart and turned the base upside down to lower the pixot axles. It is currently on test with no.28.

Good point, I've amended my post above.

First gen (motor bogies) have silver wheels, no holes in the truck retaining plates underneath and a hard shell case in a box where the stripes are more apparent. Second gen have a central motor and gained blackened wheels and five square holes in the retaining plates. Boxes contained foam but changed to the current type with a window when they were DCC fitted, which was printed underneath. Large worm gears were screwed to the frames above the trucks. The third gen have white "DCC fitted" printing with a date underneath, and only three square holes. They use the same central motor as the second gen but have smaller worm gears that are clipped to the trucks.

It depends... the bow collectors are sprung so they are vertical, if the wire is too low or too taught then the bow won't push up with enough force to flip rearwards. I did wonder why the wire on Books Bridge was so high and the collectors so tall but that is to ease reversing. I used to switch on a HO scale layout with trolley poles, it was possible to back-pole but the public generally didn't get the amount of interference needed. The next trolley pole layout will use more through running.

Have you considered using bow collectors? They seem a bit more forgiving than pans and look better under simple wire. There was a nice O-16.5 layout at Ely called "Books Bridge" with them that would be worth you looking into. From my observation of the layout in operation the bow collectors would auto-reverse and operation was hands free and not affected by them, but you'd probably need to set the wire height quite high or allow plenty of slack for them to reverse reliably.

44 tonner are 9.6mm, 70 (and Underground Ernie) are 10.5. This applies to all three types of chassis, although the Bachmann spares site doesn't differentiate the difference between the latest types of truck.

Not sure if this has been mentioned before, I've seen photos of similar conversions from Cuba but nothing like this: http://www.trainweb.org/oldtimetrains/industrial/ont/century_coal.htm

I have just looked at that, but realised I still need to rely on a certain amount of ambient lighting as the LED strips are insufficient on their own. It would probably impede access and create an ugly shadow (but is what I did with Blue Heron). Both of these photos are taken at about a foot distance and at 1.4x zoom, the higher one is about 5' and the lower one is just over 4'. I think both still have plenty of sky to not make the edge look too jarring, and despite the obvious compromises there is enough to draw the eye into the scene rather than looking for the peripherals*, although this has been a problem during the mag photoshoot where I've eyeballed a scene I like but have trouble framing it. Otherwise, after reading the Railroad Mag article that describes slide valve Moguls dragging Hershey cars with the power off due to hurricane damage, I've been playing at the same with the mill's Alco. *Does not include backscenes with totems stuck on them like a Zeppelin.

I brought a copy of Railroad Magazine November 1946 because I figured the Hershey article was quite long, and it was at 11 pages and as many photos. One shows a string of Sinclair oil tanks behind a Steeplecab carrying a P marker which is a current mystery as my only other photo shows it on one with a string of cane cars. It does mention Boxcars from certain Eastern roads which makes sense for cars exporting sugar to Hershey factory in Pennsylvania, but still no photos of them. I've found a few spare Accurail 40' OB boxcars that might be suitable but that takes the car count to over 20 on a layout that can only handle about a dozen so I'll soon reach the magic double figure for over-provision.

£117...? How much does a contactless card reader cost?

What a great show! I managed to call in as part of a long weekend involving a 50th birthday party near Norwich and got chatting about Interurbans on front of my favourite layout "Books Bridge" with someone who turned out to be @stivesnick. East Quay also looked very good and was very inspirational. I did fill on the survey accordingly and did answer yes to paying for a colour guide, but on reflection the freely handed out folded sheets of A4 contained all of the information necessary, any more would probably take up too much time to produce.

Good to catch up with @stivesnick at Ely today, I forgot to ask when the layout might be at exhibitions in the future?

There have been a couple on eBay recently at around that price....

I used to say that exhibition layouts should get a discount on materials because they're effectively free advertising for manufacturers. However, I'm still finding it the case that there are too many layouts where the final effect isn't as great as the sum of parts for quite a few reasons. I do work with the best productivity when against a deadline I'm sure @TEAMYAKIMA has written before about something I can empathise with, ie getting invites to shows. Too far away, weekend that always clashes with something else, operators not available, and bad experiences beforehand are some of the reasons I've heard, even then assuming you're going to pick up invites. I'd say from recent experience over 70% of the invites are from friends or acquaintances who know what I'll have exhibitable in the future, 20% from enquiries for details at shows, and the rest from what has been seen on the media, such as a thread on here, eLayout listings, or from a show review video. I have been tempted to break with convention and ask a show organiser directly to attend specific events but don't like doing so as from experience the more someone is asking, the worse the layout is.

Another option might be to use a CD drive motor to repower it, either available as a kit or from sourcing your own parts. I used to swap motor bogies around so my single motored 86s had a Lima power bogie, and the double motored ones used a pair of Hornby bogies, often with non-traction tyred wheels fitted and with extra pickups. Some even had ex-APT motor bogies (different winding and recognisable through having a hole in the top into which the pantograph base was attached.

I could have done with this earlier- I have a P?k RS-2 that I was inspecting prior to putting on the bay of E and it is proving to be a right pig. Despite changing the axles and intermediate gears (can't remember the sizes) with those from a nearly new Athearn GP38, cleaning all of the old grease and re-lubricating it, and closing up the universal onto the worm shaft because it was preventing the truck from moving laterally, there is still a grinding noise at speed that reminds me of the sound of a dry Ringfield motor...

There is a case for extra time to be added if there is a red flag with less time than it would take for a car to leave the pits and finish an out lap, just as long as it doesn't cause excessive bunching and everyone gets a fair shot, and the concept of a restart is viable. I'm sure Liberty media would love the extra excitement...

They'd just make another. What looks like the Thomas body that was modified from the original E2 took is actually on something like it's third or fourth brand new tool.

Opening date TBC, as it has recently been taken over by the R&ER.

DH-84 Dragon G-ACET after its first post restoration flight this week. It is in the colours of Scottish Motor Traction, a company vaguely related to the LNER.

Leamington -Coventry.

Steeplecab 21203 plinthed at Hershey Station in Cuba. With its square hood and roller bearing trucks it was the ultimate evolution but sadly now out of use. There is another square hood loco abandoned near the Hershey yard and a third at a museum in Havana. Despite going to Yakima three times I never thought to visit the Washington State Merci Car, likewise others have been kept on public display throughout the US. https://www.amusingplanet.com/2016/05/the-merci-train-49-boxcars-filled-with.html?m=1

And due to Nimby protests, they had to build them just outside the British Empire in Cairo...