Penlan

You don't have to answer this, but to spite the wife's parents, are you still together? Or dare I say it, where they proven right......

Horsetan, at this point he stopped for breath before finishing off the other half...... re. Metric, I was working in a Civil Engineer's office in Winchester in 1967 and we were issued with a booklet of Metric data for use in the preparation of drawings, structural calcs., etc. I still have the booklet. So metric in 'industry' has been around for some time in the UK.

There you are waiting, it seems forever, and then 4 (yes Four) pass you by in 22 secs.,....... PS: That Irish Whiskey (Jameson's) seems to have a bit of sediment in it, none of the clarity of a good Scotch.

I admit my interests and info. is based on pre-grouping days when it was NPCS - Non-Passenger Coaching Stock, or at least in the LNWR Circulars I've seen, so presumably NPCCS is Non-Passenger Coaching and Carriage Stock (or Carriage and Coaching...) Live and learn.

Stephen mentions '....but additional capacitors and resistors may be required...'. Do you have any values in mind for, shall we say, a run of the mill controller that would cope with the occasional small coreless motor - understanding of course this would be with a 'Del Boy' type guarantee!

Sorry it's analogue, Bromsgrove Models haven't got to it yet. (DC viz DCC) There's just one 'C' in NPCS. I tempted to expand on that 'C', but time for bed said Zebedee.

All my mains/transformer boxes etc., are in MoD spec., insulated boxes on the floor, only 12V is in the wooden control panels etc., I have covered elsewhere the overhead lighting on my layout again all the gubbin's, ballast units etc., for florescent lighting are in a ex. MoD spec., and fan vented box c/w with heat sinks too. Mind you, there is a lot of dust rolling around exhibition floors, I have to clean out the fan vented one after every exhibition. Many thanks spamcan61 - I tried every other name I could think of for a link... then took a photo.

As mentioned by me above, I use these hooks, clasps or whatever they are called to hang my control panel and coffee/tea and sundry shelves onto the layout. The tongues on the panel face downwards, those on the layout up. Along the top 'joint' between the panel and baseboard, I usually have a couple of those small (white!) window rubber wedges in place to stop any uplanned for unhitching I have found this to be a very efficient method for assembly/dismatling at exhibitions.

One aspect I missed out on with Penlan's detachable control panel is it's a couple of inches wider than the fold-up crates I use to cart everything to/from exhibitions in.... , PS not the layout itself, all the other bits, thus I have to carry it as a seperate item outwith a storage container - there's a possibility the switches may get damaged.. The control panel is clipped to the layout with ... ( I will put a photo up later) My mobile controllers are centered on a couple of tray's with ammeters etc., mounted on them and room for a coffee/tea cup, I had to trim them back a little to fit the storage boxes. So if your doing exhibitions, the size of the panel and/or the transit storage boxes may have to be considered as well.

Mine has a polycarbonate face to it, the controllers are separate, the ammeter is for the Yard controller, the 2 knobs select uncouplers. Looking at the track plan and the spare levers, it has changed a bit since this photo was taken 4 years ago.

I like the light grey, I think it's has the right feel.

Watneys Well any layout based south of Brum, more or less, and at the end of steam would have to have a Watneys surely. I know there were plenty of others, but Watneys seemed to be everywhere.

I lived in Ossington Bldgs, from 1949 - 52, I understand they are now flats, those days you rented the rooms you needed off a corridor (All glazed tiles green/cream), shared toilets on the landings and also a Belfast sink. Gas lights in most of the rooms. One of the buildings was a steam Laundry, I wasn't allowed in - women, but no ladies worked in there!!!!!!!! Those where the days (I feel a song coming on!) when W&H Models was in first Baker Street and then Paddington Street. I see on Google and Streetview the buildings are now called 'London Design and Renovation', might have to a walk round there some time. I see the pub on the corner of Moxon Street and Oss. Bldgs has gone, men only in my Grandad's days - perhaps that's why I wasn't allowed in the laundry?

Well I think the Foxfield's interpretation of Cambrian Light Grey may be a little severe. But why not do it in GWR livery as it's a GWR Vehicle - Ah yes, he who pays the painter calls the colours, and there's plenty of GWR stuff around anyway. Presumably this is the GWR grey (and seasoned bare wood) showing through the Bauxite.

Midlander, I'm copying this over to the Swansea Vale Topic, and will then continue the loco related postings on there.

I see we normally call these coaches Push Pull's - as per the Topic Heading but looking at this photo, I see they actually have Pull & Push written on the end(s) Image from the Gloucester Transport History web site, Modelling N Gauge page at :- http://glostransport...Pull%20YTT.html

Sorry Coachman, I should have said LNWR coaches on the Midland Rly's Swansea Vale lines, the LNWR is/was the MT&A of course, and their other line - the Central Wales line. I think I have seen the cine film long ago, either at the late Geoff Platt's or Mike Longbridge's, so long ago........ It may well have been Camwell's film, then he would have shown it to us at a HMRS meeting in Worcester in the 70's. I do recall wherever it was though, Mike Morton-Lloyd was there too.

7479 and 7481 are illustrated on the Bryamman - Swansea St. Thomas Push Pull service in 'The Origins of the LMS in South Wales', Gomer Press, the Auto-Gear can be clearly seen - photo's by Casserley as ever. In the 'Neath and Brecon Railway, A History', Gomer Press, there's a photo of 47479 at Colbren Junction on a SLS Special, 14/7/1956 and the engine runs round the two coaches, although it can be plainly seen one has 3 windows in the end, a Push-Pull carriage - presumably the other carriage would have had the through pipework etc., - these carriages look like those in the above LMS book. Again Casserley. I know I should know a little about LNWR coaches, but anything post Arc roofs is to modern for me!!!!! I don't recall seeing any photo's of LNWR coaches (especially P-P) working regularly in this area, although of course there were some L&Y coaches allocated to the MT&A line during the LMS period (info., from the late Bill Tasker) - so all sorts appeared almost anywhere on the LMS system, especially in the backwaters.. This is now cross referenced to the Swansea Vale query too.

Yes, I asked for that but what I mean is any Grey, say Humbrol 27, will look a different hue, perhaps even shade, depending on the type/source of light it's viewed in. The Fisheries Protection vessel in Newlyn looks the same Grey in the Harbour as the Naval ship out in the Bay, but the Protection vessel's grey was different when it passed the Naval ship later today. Grey is in the eye of the beholder. Penlan To old to know everything.

Currently anchored in Mounts Bay is a Naval supply ship, painted in Navy Grey.... I know.. So, it's light grey that has changed it's hue throughout today depending if it's been cloudy, sunny, misty etc., including the reflection from the sea depending on the sky/cloud above.... It would be almost impossible to say what grey it really was - OK I could have swam out there with a colour chart, but...

Midland Wagons Vol 1. states that new Midland Light Grey was a light lead grey which discoloured to dark grey in service, the lettering remained bright because they used a white Oxalic self cleansing paint. Plate 59 in the above book gives a very good example of the the contrast between new and aged Light Grey (It's a BR Copyright photo). Post WW1, there was also 'Smudge', a mixture of ex. Naval Warship grey and what ever else was available to give a sombre dark grey, but this was only used for repainting repaired wagons, not new construction. The Midland spec., for Light Grey covering the period 1888 - 1928 was :- 112lb white lead 4lb black 9lb linseed oil 9lb turps 30lb dryers 36lb boiled oil

The HMRS's 'Great Western Way' states Light Grey for Cambrian goods stock. Some Cambrian model stock I've seen has been painted with grey auto primer, agreed this can vary in shade. Jim Richards Cambrian stock at the NRM is a light grey, slightly lighter than the MR stuff. Humbrol 64 - Light Grey may be nearer, but of the three colour charts to hand, they are all different. Humbrol 87 - Steel Grey might also be a contender, again as above, the charts vary. I'm happy enough with Auto Grey primer. I think the match to MR Grey is about right in terms of 'lightness', Mike Morton Lloyds stock (MRJ No. 3) looked a little lighter than the MR staock, but this could have been acentuated by the Dark Grey/Black framing on the Cambrian Vans. But if you need to move away from the blueness - view them under tungstan lights!!!!!!! Of course all Light Grey stock then varied with time and polution, even the sea air off Barmouth took it's toll.

I'm interested, if only because I tried servo's, but the thing that defeated me was the settings box. After I mastered the servo's and the drivers and getting linkages together (for signals - but it's the same as points - limited travel, set speed(s) etc.,) to enable a reasonable travel on the servo to monitor. However I found when attending exhibitions, the linkage on a few items had 'drifted' and trying to get the Setting box to adjust the movement etc., proved to cause me more problems, then again I'm probably cack handed - yes I know I could ring a friend, contact the supplier, but an hour before an exhibition open's is not the time for careful and deliberate thought processes.... I think the whole idea of RC Servo's is very good, and once 'The Knowledge' is there, 'Simples', it's just the diversity of this hobby means there's so many aspects to come to terms with and focus on into a small space. That is one of the advantages of belonging to a Club, if the Club of course has members who are up there with the knowledge on say, Servo drives, Crane rigging, Telegraph Poles, Harness' on horses etc., ..... I don't belong to a club now, but some 30 years ago I was in the West Midlands EM Area Group.

Is that the one (oh, a pun!) that goes'.... It's my layout and I will run what I like/want....'

JamieB and Kenton, Re. the handrails, if one of you wants to PM me on this, I will put you in touch with a guy who was very close to the late Mike Morton-Lloyd (MML), he should be able to help out with some details, I would expect Chris had details from him too. His household does not have any form of PC, etc., All is slow mail or telephone calls - no mobiles......... I know a lot of the MML photo's are being made available through the Welsh Railways Research Circle (WRRC) at present, (I am a member), the photo's of C.C.Green are mostly with the Historical Model Railway Soc., (HMRS).