LNERandBR

It was interesting to hear the drivers asking about the fastest lap. If Lewis had better tyres he might have been able to put up a bigger challange for it. Merc had to cover off Seb's early stop however I do feel it harmed both drivers races, they'd have been better off coming in later, although hindsight is a wonderful thing. As for the coverage, I think swapping the title music is a bad thing. i do wonder if that's something else that Sky has stipulated due to the iconic nature and assiciation of the chain with F1. Would be intereseting to know if Sky use it or not? I didn't like how they put a 'What's happening next' snippit of comemntary on the beginning of the ads. That just hits home that your watching highlights rarther then a live race. Other then that it was a shame to miss out on the techical insight we got from Karun Chandhok. Personally, whilst the Highlights annoy me, I won't be getting Sky just for F1. I've never bothered watching Quali and I doubt I'd watch free practice either. I do however pay for WRC+ coverage.

Was it just me, or did the pause after the red lights all came on seem very, very short when compared to other starts. I did think it was bad luck for Danny Ric, having his front wing ripped off by a bit of grass like that. Suppose he's got to get used to starting in the middle of the pack again and fighting for position off the line.

Thats one point, how about an unpowered option for those who don't have wires?

I always take a brush for dusting with me to shows. One of the first tasks I do after setting the layout up along with track cleaning is check for dust and cobwebs. Most important for a layout that spends more time stored then up and operational.

Have had a very good weekend with Bostcoft at the Lincoln Exhibition. A big well done to the Lincoln Club and especially Sean for all his hard work taking over the manageing. I've had the honour of exhibiting at every Lincoln show since they started the adventure of putting on a 'big' show at the Lincolnshire Showground. It's really gone from stength to strength since then and even suvived a forced change of venue. i worry that it felt quiteter this year then previously, suppose the sunny weather Saturday didn't help with people possible choosing to do something outside rarther then visit an indoors event. However, the walm reception here and from people I talked to during the two days means that it's a quality show and I wish the Lincoln club all the best for their future shows, including the D&E adventure later this year.

Bostcroft is all loaded up ready for the off after lunch.

In my opinion, it's silly to have large numbers of sound fitted locos stood idalling. It makes it difficult to hear the one your actually moving. Wherver possible with Deeping Lane I try to only have one loco atually 'running' at a time. There are one or two shuting movements where you do have to keep a couple running but thats only due to the locos in question only being stationary for a short period before moving again. Shutting down and starting up would therefore cause long pauses in movement. I'm very picky, stabled locos must be shut down and sound must be turned off when a loco is in the Fiddle Yard. The same being true of all my layouts. As for steam sound, its improving but I do find locos sound wrong at high speed. For slow speed like shunting sound adds an extra dimension. Although half the trouble is driving so engines coast instead of 'puffing to a stand' which is just plain wrong and something I really hate. Again, more recent sound projects are far better in this respect and easier to produce realistic coasting.

It's not just Force India changing name this year. Sauber have changed name to Alfa Romeo Racing.

Hattons are now showing the ScotRail TSO's as in stock again. Looks like they got another delivery of them.

My main question regarding lamps is if you have a terminus station and changing the displayed lamps isn't an option which is better? No lamps at all or having lamps on both front and rear of the locomotives? (And by extension tail lamps on front and rear of the trains) Both options are wrong so what do you do if taking lamps on and off isn't an option? In effect, which is the lesser of the two 'evils' so to speak?

My view is despite the fact I don't like it I have no control over it so its not worth getting worked up about it. It's up to the owners of the locos what livery they paint them. As long as it keeps them working and not languishing in some siding thats the important thing.

I certainly think people should be encouraged to try doing more then just unboxing things. However not everyone will have the confidence to try anything. Hopefully some of the people reading Tony's views will be encouraged to try more. Sadly I expect there will be many getting on their hobby horses saying why he's wrong!

A 20 by 40mm speaker without the baffle will fit. It could be difficult to get a 100ohm one now tho. It would be a case of asking around the suppliers.

My biggest problem with formula e was not knowing who was who! Doesn't help when two teams have very simular liveries from what I could see. I expect that it will be one of those things you get used to over time.

I keep looking at the range of locomotive crew with an eye to putting a suitable Driver and Fireman on my Hornby J15's footplate. However despite being very open most of the space on the footplate is taken up by the wheel slashers. What figures from the Modelu range would be best as I'm really struggling to work out which ones to get?

When I came to adding signsls to Bostcroft I found that the exit from the yard wasn't prototypical. The arrangement I had caused issues when trying to get correct signalling. I therefore bit the bullet, ripped up the pointwork and relayed it with a more prototypical arrangement. Upside was I could relay with electrofrog points. Thus improving the running also. I've also finally gotten my signals working. Just need operators to remrmber to use them properly now!

I find that one solution to 'phantom' derailments is to turn the offending vehicle in the formation round or change it's position in the train. This is especially true for exhibition layouts where trains run fine at home but then randomly fall off upon arrival at a show. This is why with our clubs layout I like to stock up as much as possible on the Friday. Then Saturday morning before the show opens can be used to iron out issues. However if something continually derails despite the above measures being taken it gets evicted.

It's amazing how a train can circulate a layout many, many times then, despite nothing having changed, one wagon or coach in the formation decides to spit it's dummy and fall off!

Having things too hot could cause running problems though. Especially if the temperature plummets overnight then heats up considerably during the day. Personally I kept going back to Bournemouth West and it seemed okay running whise for the most part. Although I did see some derailments which I'm sure the operating team will be fault finding after the show. It's a really excellent layout overall.

He's obviously going for a top score then

In secondary school, the History and Geography classrooms had blackboards which streached from floor to ceiling. They were a 'roll over' type. One of my History teachers had an interesting punishment if you misbehaved. He would instruct the class to copy down in their books what he wrote on the blackboard. He wrote quickley and could churn out enough for what he'd written first to start appearing from the bottom of the board. He'd then start wiping off and continueing. He expected your best handwriting and if you didn't write fast enough to keep up then the section you were copying would dissapear over the top of the board. You knew you'd be in more trouble when he marked the books and found you were missing some!

You don't want one inside. You want it outside where you can ride behind it!

I was wondering about the sound option on these versions also.

Am I the only person thinking that the Ground Level 5in should have steamed up a steam loco.

I think I enjoyed watching Lime Street at a show (I cannot remember the name of!) where the barriers were right up to the front. So close you could see into the platforms and actually see the trains moving.