Foulounoux

There seems to be a stock shortage of these I wonder why

I'm sure customs think we Brits are a strange lot When we first bought furniture over to our house in France we came back on a Sunday, the local French tip was of course shut so we came all they way back up with a van load of polystyrene and cardboard The Douane officer at the last toll booth who demanded to inspect inside he van was totally confused, customs at eurotunnel just found it amusing Colin

Really looking forward to this one. The end of term outing for me in the 1st year of senior school was with the school railway club to FP. Followed by years of ensuring I was at the front end of a Cravens and later 313 so that as we passed I could look out for any deltics I missed. Colin

As someone who finally sold house in Calne in August after 18 months on market and hopefully will move into new house in Havant next month I can only sympathise with having to take a break So happy is my wife to be back on the south coast she has actually said that the first thing we have to do is get me a room for my layout eother as ashes or the loft looks promising Only time will tell if other more pressing projects such as curtains etc take precedence Colin

Just had a look at Tracknet site (makers of ABT rack) and the inference is that the repetition of the rack teeth are modified on curves Colin

As always an interesting thread I have solar panels (HW) heating the pool in France - installation about 6k and cost of heating the pool each year by fossil fuel about 3k so am very happy ( only problem I have is that system gets too hot even heating a 12m x 6m x 1.8m deep pool - I have plans to solve but need to beef up my plumbing skills Mother in Law was offered a PV installation for 9K - She was thinking about it because "i'll get free electric" then I pointed out that she stays up to gone midnight watching TV etc and that at 75 with an electric bill of about 300£ a year even if she is able to offset all her costs (doubtful) it will take 30 yrs to pay back ( OK so electric prices will rise so payback may be less) We are in the process of moving house and if the situation is right then I would go PV and hot water panel route. But the technology is moving quickly and I read of combined PV/Thermal panels which will show much greater rates of return and there is even talk of printed PV panels Recycling - OK if you have a market for the product - 20 yrs ago I saw a state of the art plastic bottle recycling plant that would separate PE/PET and PVC but it closed soon after because there was no market for the recyclate generated. And as to the anti plastic brigade I was keen t point out that they were burning oil in their car whereas at least in plastics the oil got a few more months/years of use before being disposed of. and there are interesting bio plastics that may solve the oil issue As to green electricity - its not the reduction in CO2 that should be the prime mover but the fact that every MW of power from renewables is that renewable and saves fossil fuel. I have said it before that micro-generation should be the way forward but then the big boys wont like that we the people will have the power in our hands - literally. Also expect changes to the automotive market - electric cars using batteries are of interest to the likes o BP etc because the model will be to have Battery stations instead of petrol stations where flat batteries are exchanged for full ones and the advantage to the government - they can tax the transaction Colin

I lose - I was born in an ambulance but Luton on the Birth Certificate! Adopted at 6 months into an East End family from Well St Hackney Granddad (I never met him) was the local coal merchant - Horse and Cart. The family then moved east and west ( something like 14 siblings) to Herts ( My parents and 2 aunties) and Essex the rest. My parents (toe) went via Stoke Newington finally moving out in the 60's A couple of the siblings remained in Hackney hence the saturdays down the market - and pie and mash after . Mind you it took me until my 30's to try jellied eels - I couldn't get over the horror as a young kid of seeing eels outside the shops ! PhilJ W - I believe it was Ware in Herts that had a very high proportion of pubs to population one on every corner but then it was home to the oast houses for the local brewery

In tandem with a pie and mash shop I hope! Colin Brought up on Saturdays down Dalston , Ridley and Roman Road markets !

Non railway but as a Morgan Owner I was interested in this until I saw it ! http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/WOODEN-MORGAN-CAR-HANDMADE-ML41-/290373919326?pt=UK_Home_Garden_Decorative_Accents_LE&hash=item439ba2625e#ht_500wt_922

Yes what angle/length would a 230kph turnout be? Colin

ooh I have some somewhere ££££ ker-ching!!

As a recent ie only 10 years ago incomer to Calne this is fascinating ! Now I know where things were rather than where I guessed they were Colin

There is only one positive aspect to the busway - it does at least protect the route for when they see sense and reinstate the railway It could be worse they could have built on it Colin

I see you are using Brilliant Baseboards but at 3' wide. Have you modified them then? Or is there a 3' version now available which means I can rethink my plans. Or have I just got it a;;; about f;;; as normal!!!

31's were also used to Hertford North with one ending up halfway down the embankment in the early 70's when it was performing a run round manoeuvre My late father remembered it as he was a commuter and one morning got in the carriage waited for the loco to pass in the loop only it never did. Then suddenly lots of staff running about and when he looked down the platform he could see the nose of the 31 in the air. But I can find nothing on the web that records the incident, but I can remember pictures in the Mercury Colin

Well after a year in which I faced redundancy and survived and at the same time found a new job back to some modelling The old Duette Unit was struggling - frequent imitations of a smoke generator being the final clue that something wasnt right I have taken the plunge and gone DCC with a Prodigy system. I wanted something simple to allow me to wire up the layout and this extends to the method of wiring that would allow easy fault finding and easy replacement should a fault be found The droppers go to a terminal block and then a short link wire to a distribution block 5 pole 3 way - as per below The layout itself needs a bit of pruning as SWMBO found she couldn't get into the office with the boards in place so the northern (Norwich) end has had to be simplified and 2 of the crossovers moved off scene. This has meant operationally I have more flexibility so a bit of a bonus. Next stage is the end boards and fiddle yard And I have learnt that my ballasting skills over the years have not improved! Nor has my ability to tidy up as I am going Colin