Kylestrome

For hotels, I can recommend Motel One. There are four in Hamburg and the one in Alster is pretty central and not far from MW. There are others in all the major German cities. I find the price/standard very good for a central city hotel especially the earlier you book. You will find German inner city transport systems are good but DB has developed into something akin to BR in the 70s. The only good thing is that if your train is delayed by more than 60 minutes you can get 25% refund, and for more than 120 minutes it's 50%, but you have to get a note from the train staff as proof of your Verspätung. 🙄 David

I can remember the photo session, but they must have left it an awful long time before putting it in the magazine. The Chapel Wharf article didn’t appear until Christmas 1992 in issue 59. 🤔 David

And by the time you've weathered it all to match the photos, you'll be wondering why you made such a great effort to get the colour 'just right'* in the first place! 😉 David *Unless you want the building to appear brand new?

That sequence begs the question whether the train would be allowed to depart the station directly from the goods yard? It would be interesting to know what the signalling/opereating arrangements would have been. David

Thanks David, and no, I can't remember the year either. 🤔 The DY1 should really have cowcatchers to go with the side skirts, but I couldn't work out a way of making them at the time. If I was doing it now I would get them etched, but I'll carry on with the excuse that they're half way through removing all the protective bits. David

The main baseboard is 94 x 19 cm and folds in the middle. There is a 5.5cm extension which brings the overall length to 99.5cm. The carrying case is 50 x 42 x 15 cm and includes a partitioned tray with most of the rolling stock. David

At Christmas I usually like to post some sort of layout update for postprandial entertainment. This year, not having much new to show, I thought I’d dig out my ancient 2mm layout for a quick photo session. For some this will be old news but there might be a few of you to who may not have seen this layout. I haven’t seen it myself since I last exhibited it at Rail Wells in 2004. It was designed specifically to be transportable by public transport and is kept in a custom made case which conforms to airline carry-on dimensions. It has made the trip to Britain three times and each time it was a bit of an adventure getting it through airport security. Happy Christmas, David

And it looks a bit lumpy too. 🤢🙂 David

"Schöne Feiertage" as they say over here. Or alternatively ...

Really? Most people won't notice any difference. Despite having worked for 40 years in graphic design, I had to study the article before I could tell what has been altered. David

That's rather strange. I bought my last set of 4mm Dingham couplings direct from the the Gauge 0 Guild in January this year (2022) and I'm not a member. I've just looked at their online shop and it states "members only" for these, but how many 0 gauge modellers are going to want 4mm couplings? I think it would be best to contact them and ask whether there is a mistake in the way this item is listed on the website. David

By whom?

As Fishplate says, it‘s much easier to post and edit with a proper computer. 😉 I hope you‘re keeping notes on all this swapping around. If you‘re anything like me, you will be scratching your head in a couple of months time, wondering what on earth you were thinking of. 🤔 David

The saga of the dodgy dogfish continues. Here are the end rails and supports being soldered together with the aid of a rudimentary jig cut from various oddments of card stuck to a piece of board. The angled supports are already drilled for wire locating pins which will hold them secure when fitted to the buffer beams. Small pieces of 0.5mm i.d. tube are soldered to the brake wheels using graphite pencil leads as an expendable locating aid. The brake wheels will later be slipped over the wire cross shaft and glued on, thereby gaining the benefit of a strong soldered joint without the risk of melting plastic. Another jig cobbled up from card and a wood block for soldering the end steps. The steps themselves are filed down from brass angle with bent staples as support brackets. With the parts taped in position it’s an easy job to solder everything together straight and true. I ended up having to make my own vacuum pipes again. These are bent up from 1mm nickel silver wire with details in 10amp fuse wire wound around a 1mm drill in the pin vice. The loops with a tail are soldered onto the ends. The tails are then bent downwards and trimmed to represent the coupling at the end of the vac pipes. At last, two nearly finished Dogfish to add to the long line of wagons that are waiting to go into the paint shop. I still need to fit couplings and safety loops. I’m going to have a lie down now. David

Those gulls can be a menace, especially when they get into your attic! 😁 You're really achieving the 'look' of Mallaig. Happy modelling, David

Here's an interesting little article, with good photos, about the Settle & Carlisle: https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20221129-the-uk-train-that-shouldnt-exist David

They'll have a fighting chance of making the right sounds.

Ever since my last road bike was stolen from our cellar its replacement has been kept safely in our flat. Being short of available floor space, but having 3 metre high ceilings, meant that the only possible storage space left for it was on top of the layout! Fortunately, in an effort to reduce dust accumulation on ‘Kinlochmore’, I had already given the layout a sturdy roof. It's supported at the front by the lighting beam and by the backscene at the rear. The bike only weighs 7 1/2 kg so it requires no great effort to lift it up to its slightly unconventional parking place. A white roller blind does a surprisingly good job of hiding it from view. Now you see it ... Now you don't Here is a gratuitous layout photo, shot while I still had the 10mm wide angle lens fitted, taken at f/11, this time without focus stacking. I must do something about that baseboard gap. David

I’m still doggedly working away at the Dogfish. It’s another one of those two-steps-forward, one-step-back jobs. Several pieces have been applied, taken off because of wrong alignment or position, and then re-done. The one consolation is that the lessons learned on the one wagon can then be applied to the second. I’m at the stage where all the plastic details are on, which leaves just the metal parts to be made and fitted such as handrails, operating wheels, footboards, etc. David

A quick post for the photo nerds amongst you. Playing around with some camera settings, I just never cease to be amazed by the capabilities of my Olympus E-M1 MkIII. The IBIS (In Body Image Stabilisation) makes shots like this possible without having to use a tripod. 12-45mm F/4 @13mm, ISO 200, 1/6 sec F/8, 12 shot in-camera focus-stack, handheld under layout lighting (6500K daylight tubes). David

Completely and utterly ...

How does one pronounce it without it sounding rude?

Right from the beginning this layout was never planned to be as it is now, it just sort of evolved. There have been a few changes, as various operational needs became obvious, and the latest requirement has been to provide a second road at the industrial siding end of the layout. I've already described how I built a simple one road fiddle yard to represent the end of the line, where wagons are supposedly propelled to the distillery and aluminium smelter. I decided to retain the existing box structure, in order to keep the rail height the same, which meant splitting off the top board to re-use it as a sector plate. Fortunately, it came off relatively easily and, after cutting a curve with a fret saw, I was able to cobble up something useful with it. The plate pivots at one end on a screw and the rubbing surfaces run on pads of Formica* which allows relatively friction-free movement. Track is a mix of RTR (SMP?) and ply sleepers/C&L chairs. *An ancient, Avocado coloured off-cut – is it still available these days? The electrics couldn’t be simpler. The finished job. Another sponge rubber bumper was later added in the centre in case I shunt something down the main without first setting a road (it’s bound to happen!). David

Cigarettes.