Claude_Dreyfus

Following the conversations on another forum about suitable motors for Finetrax points, I followed your link to this thread. At the risk of yet another 'me too' post, there is some really innovative stuff going on here, to the highest quality. The extended arm on the point motor (post 118) to compensate for the viaduct is exactly what I was looking for to fit my embryonic layout design - albeit my plan involves an overbridge and embankment. Looking forward to seeing how else I can be inspired!

Since the last report, work has progressed on Fredrichstrasse. Now we have the first circuit of track laid out. The station area will be a four-track line, reducing to double-track on the side boards leading into the fiddle yard. The first track to be laid is the outer line; track 1. There will be a platform between this and track 2; likewise between track 3 and 4. In addition, there will be two S-Bahn lines forming the innermost tracks. Jumping the gun a little perhaps, but a hasty rigging up of the club's controller to one of the board sections saw some trains running; albeit only for a short distance. First up was a Roco V220 diesel; most in-keeping with the layout's setting. Not so in-keeping is the Kernow Connex class 205, which had it's first outing (runs beautifully I might add; just needs a sound chip for that true 'Thumpertastic' experience!) Our lovely assistant sits in the station area. The course of the river is in the foreground, which will be crossed by a pair of bridges; one for the S-Bahn and the other for the main lines. The platforms will extend partly across the bridge. The 205 looks quite good on the high-level station. The suggestion has been made that a nice little bit of third-rail may not do any harm! South London in the 1990s perhaps?

Did the Classical poet Virgil know of the trials and tribulations of railway modelling when he composed the poem Georgics and wrote the following passage? Sed fugit interea, fugit irreparabile tempus, singula dum capti circumvectamur amore Which translates to... But meanwhile it flees: time flees irretrievably, while we wander around, prisoners of our love of detail Which can loosely be translated into layman's terms as, whilst you fiddle around with the little details you suddenly realise that time has run away with you. Well it seems very much to be a case of tempus fugit since the last blog entry... Our annual visit to the Midhurst show took place on 5th January this time. This change of date was due to the old Grange Centre being closed in February, with its next door replacement due to open later in the month. Being so early in the year, the variety of layouts and available traders was not as good as previous years, and sadly it had a much lower attendance than normal. We had two layouts due, along with a modelling table, but unfortunately Warehouse District could not attend, so the club flag was flown by Matt and his Wipers, Fish-Hook and Menin Railway. Fredrichstrasse has seen some progress since the last report. Much of the basic formwork around the trackbed has been completed, and the basis of the two bridges have been put in. There are some discussions about the tram lines, especially where they cross the river. I quite like the idea of interlacing the tracks over the bridge having seen this method on the metre gauge system in Helsinki the other week. Yamanouchi Oshika had a short stay of execution following us obtaining more storage space. Sadly, since the appetite from exhibition managers for a 16' Japanese layout has been lukewarm to say the least (I wonder how much interest it would have generated had it been UK outline?), and despite lots of positive comments when it does appear at shows, we have finally decided to withdraw the layout from its final show; which is Rotorail in Fareham on 26th April. It is available for sale, so if anyone is interested, please drop me a PM. Finally, we are arrange for an extra club open day to celebrate the club's 50th anniversary. It will be at St Peter's Hall in Petersfield on Sunday 1st June. more details anon...

Looks like the FA have seen it from Webb's point of view... http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/26039222 All sorts of shenanigans over the past week or so... Arsenal get in a player to cover for their injury 'crisis', only to find the replacement is crocked himself for 6 weeks! Leeds fire and then hastily unfire Brian McDermott Joe Kinnear finally accepts he was as effective as a fart in a windsock in player recruitment at Newcastle; proving that by getting precisely all during January Swansea get ruthless and fire Laudrup just in time for the South Wales derby ...and that's before we look at the continued tribulations of Man Utd, and the fact somehow Arsenal are still top of the league. Still some things are as per usual; Pompey lost to Torquay last weekend and are still languishing towards the bottom of League 2...

I loved the 19th century football comment from Mourinho...as 19th century it certainly wasn't. Matches back then often had cricket scores, not 0-0 draws! Edit: Just seen this...http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/25958046 I wondered how long before an article would appear on this...

It met a rather sad end at the hands of an arsonist if memory serves me right...

I don't know whether this is just coincidence, however so far this week none of the trains I have been on have travelled over this section of track much above 40-odd mph. Is there a speed restriction in place (albeit temporary)? It has been noticably slower as I have been paying attention; trying to ascertain whether or not the renewal has lead to any improvement in the ride quality over that section of track...

I'm afraid I don't agree. Many of these issues you have picked up on reflect the Japanese corporate culture (which itself has proven to be a national scandal), as opposed to an across-the-board reduction in build quality. Granted, Toyota has had a very difficult period recently, but there have also been recalls Citroen, Renault, Ford...the list goes on. Perhaps because it is because they have such a good reputation for reliability it proved to be such as shock. Also, Japanese vehicles are consistently (even now) ranked towards the top of reliability and owner satisfaction. In general, the quality of Japanese train design is exceptionally high and I cannot think of any country, with the exception of Germany, which has such a consistent track-record; particularly high-speed trains. If anyone can produce a train that meets the no doubt endless list of requirements DaFT have, the Japanese can.

Thanks. It was touch and go whether or not we would go, as the weather was somewhat indifferent. Hopefully the new track work will be a far better ride than what it replaced. As an OT aside, my fellow traveller managed to get a photo of 73202 in Southern livery - green and off-white - at Gatwick on Boxing day. Sadly it was not there today...

A couple of us made the trip up to Coulsdon to see what was happening. As can be seen from the accompanying pictures (taken with a pretty strong lens), there is plenty of activity going on... The second picture shows that a second track machine has joined the action. In the background is a 377 operating on the Tattenham Corner line. There were additional services terminating at Coulsdon Town (Smitham in old money!). The 66 amongst the activity is 66174. A couple of views of the attending track machines. The second arrived from the south whilst we were there. Also arrived - and working wrong line - was 66131 on another ballast train. We missed the actual arrival, but both the 66 and track machine seemed to arrive at more or less the same time. The eagle-eyed amongst you may have seen something interesting in the background of the previous shot, stabled on the up Redhill line just outside of Coulsdon South station. These look to be at least some of the heavy duty stuff used for the actual track laying.

My comments are not just based on this season. I agree the lack of Carroll has had an effect, but the team should be more than one player. I'm afraid Allardyce is a very ordinary manager, whose teams play ordinary football...

This, of course, is someone who could manage Real or Barcelona...according to...erm...Sam Allardyce.

Nobody has a higher opinion of Sam Allardyce's management ability than Sam Allardyce. His reputation gained at Bolton got him jobs at Newcastle, Blackburn and West Ham, but he did not set the world alight with any of them. Another example of a manager who does the merry-go-round of clubs whilst better managers are overlooked.