mezzoman253

I decided to pre-empt the 21H2 update and did all 3 machines, 2 desktops and one laptop. All successful. A couple of days later(update Tuesday) the laptop was found to have downloaded, installed and restarted, the update to 21H2. I checked it as it was set not to do that. I like to manually download and restart. The desktops behaved normally and I manually restarted. All a bit odd, but no unforeseen problems. All 3 machines say they are not Windows 11 compatible. I'm not overly concerned about that ATM. Rob

I worked on System X as a BT maintenance engineer, and a few of the backplanes had started to fail a few years before I left in 2002. That's 20 years ago, so they haven't done too badly, but the failure rate has accelerated and the exchanges have become unviable, hence the switch to VOIP. https://www.bt.com/bt-plc/assets/documents/about-bt/our-history/bt-archives/information-sheets-and-timelines/digital-exchanges.pdf Rob

We went full fibre last June. I'm still waiting for my "free handsets". We followed the link to the BT website and entered our number and it came back with" this number is not available for the service". We tried the text option on 61998 and got nothing, no acknowledgement or anything. Supplying the whole country with 2 free handsets by 2025 is going to set BT back a pretty penny. Perhaps that's why the link and text didn't work. Rob

https://www.rspb.org.uk/get-involved/activities/birdwatch/

Late '50s was my earliest spotting adventures. We used to go to the footbridge over the GEML just East of Romford, where the branch to Upminster goes off, and stand on the brick wall to peer over the railings. The bridge is still there and I occasiaonally visit for old times sake. This is a pic' I took on 07/01/2012, sadly no pic's from the early days. Rob

If you can, Check if DC running is on in CV29. If so turn it off. This can sometimes cause runaways and odd behaviour. Rob

We're still here! Just January blues? Rob

This thread may help https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/144642-Hornby-tts-stay-alive-solder-connection-points/#comment-3557102 GL Rob

Just tried peco.co.uk in Chrome, Firefox & Edge. All seem to be working normally for me. Rob

Gibraltar?

Sounds like the nozzle is blocked or the needle screwed down too tightly. I'd strip it down and inspect it. See http://www.tcgraphicsandpaint.com/media/descriptions/badger-airbrush-model-200-parts.png As it's been stored a long time, parts could have stuck together. Rob

I hope not, as the 433.92Mhz spot frequency falls within the 70 centimetre amateur radio band and is NOT protected, by legislation, from interference by other users. It is a licence exempt spot allocation and as such has to compete with other signals such and car key fobs, home weather stations, and the internet of things. It could all end in tears. Rob

You can usually tell by the daft user name they've used. Also if a business seller, scroll down to the owners details and it'll show you some address in China. I was recently looking for something and the search revealed 5000+ hits. I then put UK only and this came down to round 300! Even then some were masquerading as UK members. It's about time eBay put a stop to this. Rob

It looks like the wheel has slipped, as the counter weight on the middle wheel is out of line with the other two. If the crank had slipped the wheel weight would still be lined up. HTH Rob

I found this difficult with a Dremel on 00 gauge, so I used a jewelers saw. You can get a vertical cut rather than a slightly angled one. It filled the gaps with plasticard superglued in, and sanded the profile to match the rail. HTH Rob

I have several hobbies that are seen as not cool, I'm immune to it now. People who don't have hobbies usually make fun of the hobbyist because they feel threatened by the fact they, themselves, have no interests. It's getting less so now as celebrities like Rod Stewart, are promoting their hobbies. Rob

There's a RR 153 on eBay ATM. Up to £51 on bidding so far. Judging by the TOPS number it's R2759, as it's not mentioned in the listing. Rob

What a great idea. I too had the same problem having just recently got a set. Rob

Yes, INOX is a range of commercial products from Australia, and a few of those suitable for our purposes are available in the UK from https://www.dcctrainautomation.co.uk/. No affiliation, just a satisfied customer. Taking the previous post re polishing. Yes, if your track was heavily pitted, then probably polishing with very fine grade would be the only way to restore it to any sort of condition. Then apply the lubricant/conductive product. We are talking microscopic pitting as the root cause, so the polishing medium needs to be of a similar or better grade to not compound that. Whatever works for you, and gives reliable running and less cleaning. Rob

Yes, but even the finest grades will damage the track. Ideally the rail head should not be abraded, by ANY kind of material, from new. Rob

This video is a good one for explaining why non-polar cleaners are preferable to polar products. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBYxjcTWCB0 You need to be patient as the presenter does take his time to get to some interesting content, and the latter part could be construed as a "plug" for a certain product. Although he seems genuinely impressed by it. Also there is mention of CRC products which are contact cleaners. However some are polar and some non-polar, so you need to use the right one. Electrolube covers a wide range of products, so picking the correct one(s) would need some research. This makes it difficult to say what effect it would have on traction tyres. It's worth looking out these various videos on YouTube and making your own mind up. But there's some basic science behind a lot of the more recent ones, which is worth knowing. The track rubber really should be consigned to history now. Rob

IPA is a polar product, it contains and absorbs water. It will clean the track but if left it will need to be repeated continually. The non-polar products aid conductivity over long periods. Current thinking seems to be:- Try and limit dust, keep temperature stable and humidity low(dehumidifier). Clean track surface thoroughly, with a non polar product. Then use a conductivity enhancer such as INOX for long term reliability(see videos). Run trains regularly. Don't use track rubbers or abrasives, they create micro scratches in the rail surface that will collect crud. Avoid traction tyres, and plastic wheel sets on rolling stock, they will distribute the crud around more effectively than metal sets. YMMV Rob

This may be useful https://dccwiki.com/Track_Cleaning Rob