LNERandBR

https://railsofsheffield.com/blogs/news/three-oo9-locos-incoming Rails reporting that Nesta and Dorothea are on their way shortly.

https://railsofsheffield.com/products/Bachmann-391-126sf-mainline-hunslet-0-4-0st-charles-penrhyn-quarry-lined-black-late-dcc-sound Yep, product page says he's in stock. Tempted now I've moved my Linda pre-order to the new FR version. Still would really like a PQR version but not sure my wallet could stand it! EDIT: Rails now reporting that PQR Linda is incoming on their website.

I'm not sure how you measure it sadly. All I know is get the wrong speaker on a DCC decoder and you'll get 'realistic' smoke effects if it's a diesel. 😅

Be careful as speakers have different values. Older DCC Sound decoders need 100ohm speakers whilst newer can have 4 or 8ohm speakers. They also have different voltage requirements. No idea how you would tell what value the speaker the unit comes with would be. All I know is you may end up damaging it with the wrong replacement.

A new F1 manufacturer?

Soon as in not that far away 🤣 In honesty, I think it's a good idea to hold off on announcing more until more of what's already been promised has arrived. Too many manufacturers make announcements and then get bad press for not delivering those announcements within a short timeframe.

Ott Tanak has been confirmed as driving for M-Sport in the WRC next year. Finally the silly season he started by leaving Hyundai has all but finished. I'm sure M-Sport will announce the rest of their lineup soon. Most likely Gus Greensmith will be there as he's been mentioned by them unlike Adrien Fourmaux. However, I hope their lineup includes Oliver Solberg after he was ditched by Hyundai. He really needs a better learning environment and that tends to be what M-Sport are good at. You just have to look at Ott. Really feel for Craig Breen as the hoped for results never materialised this year. Hopefully he will get a full reset by moving back to a part time role with Hyundai next year. Speaking of, Lappi moving to Hyundai was a suprise. Although I suppose it makes sense if he wanted a full season and all Toyota could give him was a part season. There's still some speculation about Elfyn Evans but I think he's all but confirmed at Toyota.

This is very true. There can such a large difference between a 'good' sound decoder program and a 'poor' one. Then a good one can be ruined by a poor installation of the speaker. Like most things it comes down to the experience of the people involved. The best time to hear a sound fitted loco is in a quiet environment. You are more likely to hear the full range of sounds produced then in a noisy club or exhibition hall. Similarly, a well put together kitbuilt locomotive mechinism will show off its quiet running in a quiet environment. I quite enjoy seeing the videos of Little Bytham. With Tony's heavy kitbuilt locomotives flying past at the head of heavy trains. DCC Sound would add very little to that and if anything may detract from it.

I suspect if anything some opinions will be more polarised. Sound in general is very subjective, what sounds 'right' to one person will be 'wrong' for another. It's the same as the DC vs DCC debate. Some people will never swap from their chosen control method and there's no reason why they should. Our great hobby is full of these debates. Everyone is free to take their own path.

Technology is always moving forwards and DCC Sound has improved as speakers and the decoders themselves have developed. The latest offerings in Steam Sound Decoders are far better than what went before. The best I've heard recently being the Bachmann Double Fairlie. You sometimes have to work very hard to fit the best sound components you can into a model. However, unlike detail or weathering they are under the skin. Nobody will know the hours of effort that went into getting the speaker to fit into the bunker. A smaller one would have fitted easier but the sound produced would be worse. So you've taken an RTR model and fitted sound, crew, detailed it, added the correct lamps and weathered it. Then someone comes along and compares it to the old Hornby sandpaper tender. Thing is people are going to still run their older decoders, even if they have shortcomings. So it's all too easy to tar all steam DCC sound with the same brush. Take the brush as far as the model you hear at that spacific time. Then, maybe give it a chance before you go grabbing for that tar brush.

And here I was hoping for a Linda. Oh well, all good things come to those who wait 😅

In the past we've tried advertising in the local press but despite a lot of money being spent on adverts we never saw any increase in footfall. If you can get permission for roadside advertising then that seems to work better. Each local authority has their own rules on that tho and it's important not to push it and be careful. One of our members has been doing facebook advertising using their own account and we've now opened a page for our club. We'll see if that gets some interest from the relevant groups.

https://railsofsheffield.com/blogs/news/oo9-mainline-hunslet-charles It's on their main website too. Will they all be out by Christmas?!

The thing I don't get with gluing kits together is why instructions insist that it's an acceptable method? I've had freinds proudly tell me they are or are planning to build a metal kit. When I ask how they are getting on soldering they look confused and say they are/will be using glue. Their response after I say that doing so is the worst thing they could do is to say the instructions say they can. Despite popular belief that men don't follow or need instructions. I know quite a few people who cannot mentally deviate from them. So if a set of instructions say you can use glue they take that as gospel. Little wonder the projects eventually stall and never appear up the club!

Was going to say, I was very sure I'd driven into the hall at Ally Pally to unload this year. It was the first show I've exhibited at where I've done that. I heard that previously you could drive right up to where your stand is located to unload. However just being at the organ end was near enough. Back to Warley, very much enjoyed my visit on Sunday. Despite some people having issues getting into the NRC, we had no issues. A little queue to begin with but we soon were soon parked in one of the East Car Parks. A walk over to the halls and we were on our way in by 9:30 with our advanced tickets. Managed to keep most of my money in my pockets. Some excellent service from Charlie and Co on DC Kits. The layouts were also all brilliant. Very much looking forward to next years event already :)

So, would the rest of the formation be Mk1 Passenger coaches? Looks like there's a Motorail GUV next to them.

By the 80s were they still used in simular formations?

There is no 'like for like' unless two manufacturers release the same running numbers on their products. Last I checked, 50 001 and 50 002 were different machines. Even then, if the two models have the same running number but different liveries they are different and not duplicated. Maybe Hornby were wrong to release their Class 50 when there was a version from Lima? Where di you stop by saying 'don't do x because they did one before.' If you are modelling the area that the Class 50s operated your options to build your fleet have now expanded. Why is there an issue with running a Hornby one and an Accurascale one?

What's an example formation from the 80s? I presume there were passenger coaches then a number of these at the rear?

Competition pushes manufacturers to improve their offerings in order to win the business. It's a situation where you need to innovate in order to keep up. As long as running numbers are not duplicated then it is completely possible to have multiple locos of the same class/livery. Issue is it's natual for modellers to want 1 of each class. Then they'd want their locos to have different liveries too. All depens on where you are modelling too. How common a class was in that area will affect how many you may purchase. Our hobby can be as deep or as shallow as you want it to be. There is a lot said about duplication of classes, even to the extent that people start claiming that 'x manufacturer is out to get y manufacturer'. Personally speaking I think that would make no sense from a business perspective. On the surface, two manufacturers producing class 50s looks like duplication. However dig under that surface and you will see differences that would allow both models to run together on your layout without issues.

The tickets I have were posted to me. Therefore it looks like they are paper tickets.

I think the saying goes: 'You can make a fast driver reliable but you can't make a reliable driver fast.' 😉

The video that the F1 YouTube channel puts up of Team Radio has him being asked mutiple times well before the line. As far as I'm aware that is synced with when the messages were received. Those videos always seem to play the audio clips earlier than you hear on the TV coverage.

In the cab most likely. Very well concealed if it is 😄 EDIT: Think it's in the roof with the stay alive on the rear cabsheet at the bottom. A couple of suitable figures and you'll never know 😉

Thing is he's not playing second fiddle is he. He's won the championship and it wasn't like he was in a podium position. Effectively he had nothing to loose in letting Checo though. The team want a one two in the drivers championship. It's only Checo who needs the points to do that. Maybe Max will let Checo though this weekend if asked. However I have a feeling the call to do so won't come now.