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The NRM has a picture of the compound pulling LNWR coaches which is bad enough. Gresley stuff would be a step too far! Morning All, Little to report. Have a good one all. Cheers Dave

Morning All, The oktas look to be clearing a bit in these parts. Best of luck with the aged Ps chaps, that really is a tough job. Daughters and cars, don't get me started... Today will be spent sorting out the puppy in between attempting to get Waton working. Much cleaning of tediously tiny N gauge wheels and track fettling is in order. I think I've got the electrics sorted (mostly). Ten days to go till it goes out to its first proper exhibition. Will be bashing a few golf balls at the range this evening which is just an excuse to go to the pub for a couple of swift ones. Have a good one all. Cheers Dave

Certainly seems to be settling in. It's 12 years since we had a puppy in the house so we'd forgotten how much has to be made puppyproof! He's been out for a couple of walks each day but kept on the lead until we sort out a bit of basic training. Lurchers need regular exercise but not a lot. Two halfhour walks a day will ensure they do what they do best, sleep! Generally they don't bark and they spend most of their time asleep. They are poachers dogs after all! Our elderly Deerhound Lurcher Henry doesn't walk much these days as he has a heart murmer. He's very tolerant of puppies which is just as well given that his world has been invaded by a very lively bundle of fun. The first night we had Fintan he even crept into bed with Henry and the old softy didn't seem to mind. He has put the young whippersnapper in his place a few times though if he tries to get through a doorway ahead of him or disturb him when he is in bed! Cheers Dave

Morning All, Quite a bright one hereabouts. No lie-in here as we have a new resident... Fintan, a 6 month old Lurcher pup. Left abandoned tied to a tree in Ireland with an open wound in his leg. Initially the vets thought they would have to amputate his leg but he has made a full recovery and this is not a typical pose! Yeah right, "for them"! We all know you want a Thomas layout in the garden. Then it'll be an Aristocraft G scale class 66 with sound and smoke and... Cheers Dave

Ooh, Midland Compound arrived today. Cheers Dave

Then possibly a post post meeting meeting. Or would that make the previous meeting a pre post meeting meeting? Cheers Dave

Morning All, Looks like it might be a slightly brighter day in these parts. Currently sat in the dentist waiting room awaiting my fate! Have a good one all. Cheers Dave

How will Mrs. S reach to dust your buildings? Cheers Dave

My first language is Java but I am fluent in C, Algol, Pascal, Fortran, Basic, Cobol and a number of flavours of Assembler. I can sometimes make myself understood in English and can order a beer (or two) in several languages. Cheers Dave

Morning All, Full set of oktas in place. Today should be mostly finishing up wiring and fitting a couple of point motors to the Waton fiddleyard. That's assuming I can get myself motivated and walk down to the shed. No real excuses as all the bits I didn't have in stock arrived yesterday. Have a good one all. Cheers Dave

Thought about that Stu and it was my original plan but have you ever tried lifting a 5ft long N gauge train on a cassette? I struggle to keep the stupidly small wheels on the track when they are in fixed rakes. It seemed the obvious solution once upon a time but the more I fiddle with these small wheels the more I don't want to touch them! Some of the stock is so light... I have concluded that the only way to keep my own (and my operators) sanity is to use fixed rakes and not rail, re-rail, lift or do anything with the little beasts once they are on the track. N gauge is great but... Mind you it may be down to the competence of the operators I get. What do you get for nothing? Cheers Dave

Morning Afternoon Evening All, Busy day, Golf at 8.20am then a lunch that seemed to go on fom 14.00 till 18.00. Where did the day go? Cracking photo Jam. Cheers Dave

My KEF Cadenzas were banished to the loft by SWMBO many years ago as being too big and ugly. I resisted attempts to get them consigned to the tip and they now reside in my shed and produce a rather splendid sound. Cheers Dave

Morning All, Dog walked, golf bats polished and coffee drunk. Now what? Oh yes, go and play golf. Have a good one all. Cheers Dave

Bit more progress. All track in the fiddleyard is now in place and topside wiring is done. I've had a bit of a clean up and removed the junk from the boards so that they can be separated and the underboard wiring tackled. Quite a bit to do! There are quite a few possibilities in running with this fiddleyard but Eastbound freight to Derby is a no no. There is no easy way to get a train from the Derby lines across to the Eastbound storage roads. It would be possible to do a shuffle by running from the Derby roads out onto the Westbound line and then reversing into the shared roads, going forward to the Eastbound road and then back into an Eastbound storage road but that seems a bit contorted. It would only require the installation and wiring of one more point motor but at the moment I'm not convinced. I'm waiting on the delivery of a couple more point motors and plugs and sockets so I may have to divert to do some other stuff for a couple of days. Cheers Dave

My word that was hard work (in a good way). What a range of entries! Far too many winners in there. Cheers Dave

Morning All, Sun is shining! Short "list" to sort out but otherwise I think I will be cracking on with some wiring modifications to Waton. Gordon you may be lucky and get a local "bad boys" course but don't bank on it. Some counties require you to travel back to where the (alleged) offence took place! My experience of the course was actually positive and it did make me think. We were not treated as bad boys and clearly the aim was to make you think about your speed and how it might affect the outcome of any unfortunate incidents. Of course there was the obligatory ###### who after sitting there for 2 hours then asked "what speed can I get away with in a 30 mph zone?". Missed the point or what? Have a good one all. Cheers Dave

Must be on liberal studies! Cheers Dave (fetching coat)

Morning All, Full set of oktas in place but not leaking at present. At least the colour of the trees is impressive. Now what to do today? Golf or layout wiring? Might be a bit of both I think. Tough job but someone has to do it. Have a good one all. Cheers Dave

More progress on the Derby end fiddleyard following a prompt delivery of some code 55 flexitrack from those chaps in Liverpool. A 4th road has been added to the Westbound fiddleyard roads and this has a link through to one of the 4 new Derby yard roads. In the following pic the HST, Voyager and 170 can be seen sitting in the shared East/West roads then to the right of these are the 4 Westbound only roads then the 4 Derby roads. A hopper wagon can just be made out in the Derby road that links to the Westbound yard. The back to back sprung points provide the main entry and exit to the Derby yard. An Eastbound (Derby) train arrives by the left line at the foot of the picture and trails the first sprung point and then is switched by the 2nd to one of the 3 rightmost roads. A quick change of direction and it will leave the yard and be switched onto the Westbound (righthand) line without any need for point switching or handling. There are 3 switchable lines in the Derby yard designed to work this way so more than one passenger multiple unit can be accomodated. The 4th road is designed to work only in the Westbound direction allowing a freight train to travel from Derby to Birmingham. A train on this road exits the yard by trailing the 2nd of the sprung points and then being switched to the outbound line by the first. Simples! Looking from the other end the 3 bidirectional lines are a bit short. These will be extended to curve around and the one nearest the baseboard edge will (hopefully!) accomodate the HST set. Sounds far more complicated when I try to explain it than it seemed as an idea in my head! Lots more to do. Cheers Dave

Morning All, Bright one hereabouts. Tough day ahead, golf then a trip to the MindHants to see what's chuffing. I suspect there may be some liquid refreshment involved as well! Really must get on with work on the Waton fiddleyard over the weekend. Have a good one all. Cheers Dave

Ha ha. Pete's gaff is about 100ft long I think whereas this one is a mere 60ft and far more local to me! The trainset I was playing with does have Leamington modelled but actually centres on Coventry. No charge for those that know how to operate it. Cheers Dave

The Morley works fine. It's an older one I acquired secondhand so it doesn't have walkabouts. As Waton is pretty much a one man operating thing it's fine. It has 12vDC, 16vAC and a CDU so it covers most bases. Me too! Cheers Dave

Don't know how I would improve it but somehow it seems to regular too me. It's too roundy roundy for me at least. If you just want a procession of trains then it'll work but somehow that seems a bit limiting. Sorry to be negative. Cheers Dave

Morning All, Distinctly threatening oktas in evidence. Off to play O gauge trains for the day on a rather nice layout. All 60' by 20' of it! Have a good one all. Cheers Dave