kevinlms

In regard to what was required of the crews, some took it on themselves to prove how well their locos could perform, with efficiency, making up lost time etc and other drivers, just went out for a 'normal' drive.

Agreed, in 1948, there was only 2 real mainline diesels and a number of shunters, so there was next to no comparisons to be made.

I thought I would add this as a comparison. It's for a LNER only poll held by the Railway Modeller in 1960 August issue. It was a 'postcard' poll, with 3 nominations for preferred model. Note this is from 60 years ago and one key thing that is notable, is that the A3 was only 4th on the list and I believe was the first of the top 5 to be modelled as R-T-R. Also the Tri-ang Flying Scotsman model was still 8 years into the future and I believe has been in virtually every catalogue ever since. How many have Tri-ang/Tri-ang Hornby/Hornby sold since then?

Now which of the new icons, will attract the most complaints? Edit Especially, since the thread on cats, has been hijacked!

Since we've had a spate of husband vs. wife jokes/stories. There is this one. A woman went shopping. At the cash counter, she opened her purse to pay. The cashier noticed a TV remote in her purse. He could not control his curiosity and asked, "Do you always carry your TV remote with you?" She replied " No, not always, but my husband refused to accompany me shopping today because of football match, so I took the remote." *Moral: Accompany and support your wife in her hobbies.....* The story continues.... The cashier laughed and then returned all the items that lady had purchased. Shocked at this act, she asked the cashier what he was doing. He said, "your husband has blocked your credit card.........." *MORAL: Always respect the hobbies of your husband.* Story continues.... Wife took out her husband's credit card from purse and swiped it. Unfortunately he didn't block his own card. *Moral: Don't underestimate the power and wisdom of your WIFE..* Story continues... After swiping, the machine indicated, 'ENTER THE PIN SENT TO YOUR MOBILE PHONE'....... *Moral: When a man tends to lose, the machine is smart enough to save him!* Story continues.... She smiled to herself and reached out for the mobile which rang in her purse. It was her husband's phone showing the forwarded SMS. She had taken it with the remote control so he doesn't call her during her shopping. She bought her items and returned home happily. *Moral: Don't underestimate a desperate woman!* Story continues.... On getting home, his car was gone. A note was pasted on the door "Couldn't find the remote. Gone out with the boys to watch the premiership match. Will be home late. Call me on my phone if you need something". Damn... He left with the house key too. *Moral: Don't try to control your husband.*

Certainly, there would be a requirement for a new police building, with teams of detectives specialising.

It may well be. However the bumbling Inspector and his dutiful assistant, INVARIABLY start off by arresting the far too obvious suspect. As the show goes on, either the amateur sleuth or a junior police officer, correctly identifies the real murderer, to the embarrassment of the Inspector, or in some cases a very senior officer who is corrupt. Of course a slight variation on the theme, allows the murderer to get him/herself arrested, because they are VERY obvious, too obvious in fact, so they get released. What is safer, than to have been arrested, then released? The last person to be guilty!

I don't recall seeing one where the Butler did it. Usually the staff are 100% reliable. The family and friends are another matter!

We're catless now, but the dog is just as bad, for hair dropping NOT bench climbing! A Bearded Collie drops so much hair, I'm surprised he's not bald!

But they are cats, so whether a sofa is more comfortable or not, is entirely irrelevant. They will do as they please!

Sometimes Paul A. Lunn provided a compact layout plan, before he went to Model Rail.

Looking at the price difference, between N & 00 suggests that's why the production difficulties lay. Only 200 pound difference, for what I suspect a much more robust design is needed.

Must admit I don't like it at all, just looks so wrong. Yes, I know short platforms existed and passengers usually had to use 1 end of the train. But this looks like the end of a suburban terminus, so most unlikely. David Broad's idea looks to be the most suitable, unless you make platforms 1 & 3 only for such trains. A 3 car Tadpole DEMU only for Platform 2, serving a branch service?

Railway Modeller changed it to 'Right Away' in 2002, with the stated aim of 'an exchange of railway modelling ideas for beginners of all ages'. So 100% bang on target. Later it was changed 'Railway Modelling Explored', with in turn was a rehash of a pull out supplement that appeared in the early 2000s. Again it shows what can be done as starting projects. Model Rail magazine has a couple of pages devoted to readers layouts, with a photo or 2 and a brief description. So I don't get, where this ongoing discussion about ignoring beginners comes from - perhaps, it's the use of the word 'beginner', that is the problem?

Railway of the Month 1977 December entitled 'Out and Back', but station is Sherwood - due to the builder (not article author), being named Robin Hood.

Well, we ARE talking entirely at crossed (sorry for the pun) purposes, as the link Neil0202 provided for BCE, in all 3 configurations, shows only 4 conductors in the curly cords. So none of them will make an 8 way connector. Also the correct terminology for these types of connector aren't 'RJ45', but 8P8C, where means 'P' equals number of Pins and 'C' means the number of Conductors. So you can commonly find 8P2C, 8P4C and 8P8C varieties, and all legitimate and can be purchased off the shelf. The first 2 are generally for phones & phone systems, the second 2 for data. From what you have said, any standard 568A patch cable will work fine, a 568B will also be fine, as long as both ends are the same (i.e. not a crossover). While in theory, you can wire up a cable how you wish, as long as you keep the pairs right. It is of course much better to conform to a standard, so you can repeat and exchange at will/need.

Except what you have drawn is a crossover cable, which for computer network purposes, is virtually extinct. Nearly all equipment auto detects polarity these days, so straight through cabling is standard. https://www.canford.co.uk/TechZone/Article/RJ45ConnectorWiring I should point out for clarity, that while the UK & USA use the 568B standard, much of the rest of the world including Australia, uses the 568A standard. Very confusing when an American business, flies in their cablers and wires up to their standards in OUR country. Been caught out by that - it's no fun scratching your head trying to work out why it doesn't test right!

Yes and of course the issue I picked up November 1960, was in the lead up to Christmas. Certainly families might want to 'put aside' cash for Christmas presents.

You could buy yourself a tester and see what the existing connections actually are, rather than just guessing. Then you can order or make the same ones. I'd buy, as best off factory made. https://www.amazon.co.uk/CSL-Ethernet-Broadband-Connection-Capability/dp/B06XT1Z7CH/ref=pd_day0_23_1/261-6694731-8679663?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B06XT1Z7CH&pd_rd_r=794ef19e-e408-47b4-b503-feb2d15cb177&pd_rd_w=9hAwF&pd_rd_wg=69hrF&pf_rd_p=7a03931e-321d-47c9-b06d-7182e9d48016&pf_rd_r=FJR4KRD5YJJZHPA9NJJD&psc=1&refRID=FJR4KRD5YJJZHPA9NJJD Edit to add Strictly speaking these cables are NOT RJ45, since such cables are 8 wires and 8 pins. 4 wire cables are intended for phones.

Looking at older Railway Modellers (I've picked out the 1960 November issue), there seems to be few ads then based specifically at beginners. A couple of ads do list 'x number of months to pay' (terms are now replaced by credit card details, with the resulting debts to banks). Even the giants of the hobby didn't usually take out more than a full page ads. Southgate Hobbyshop did in this issue, as did Wrenn. Advertisers with full page were Trix, Hattons, Tri-ang, Peco (for Perfecta kits), Bradford Model Railway Centre, Hornby-Dublo, Taylor McKenna, Bassett-Lowke, John Underhill, Airfix, Liliput, Wrenn, H&M, Finisters, Dyke & Ward. Note many of these were either manufacturers or importers and only a small number of retailers, unlike today, where several retailers take out multiple page advertising. Most of the advertising is advising that the reader of what product range they stock, rather than long lists of items - probably a lot to do with the real cost of adverts has gone down, significantly. What I don't see is much advertising for low cost items, it's all standard ranges, or getting people to change scales/standards (3 rail to 2 rail) . So I'm not quite sure where the idea comes from some posters here, that it's much harder to get started than it used to be. There are some blind alleys, such as Airfix and Kitmaster kits with Perfecta motorising kits. By the time you messed about buying kits, motorising kits and motors, were they any cheaper than buying an equivalent Tri-ang loco - not really. Not even considering that a Tri-ang loco would have a vastly more robust chassis. I write this as a person who is slightly younger than the readers of a 1960 magazine, I was 4, but my parents only had a very limited budget.

Found a reverse story to this one. In an issue of Railway Modeller (this century), there is this tale from a PotM author, who writes:- I abandoned interest in railways. After all I was sixteen and more adult activities required my attention! The Hornby Dublo was offered for sale and I acquired the title of student. Later that year a student with a free evening sauntered into a newsagents' shop and asked for a 'magazine'. Browsing was not permitted in those days, and he was offered the type of periodical which is now categorised as 'male entertainment' but, spotting a familiar cover, an astounded shop assistant sold him the October edition of Railway Modeller. The following weekend, back home... (town identifying details omitted) the unsold Hornby Dublo was resurrected and the author was hooked for life! Now I'm not going to name the author (and certainly I don't think the title of shame, is at all applicable) or the layout name, as I don't have the authors permission to do so. Maybe he is on RMweb and wants to identify himself? I don't know and haven't looked. Indeed it is the sort of thing I would have done, rather than buy girly mags. Like this author, I haven't seriously deviated away from railways, especially model ones. Also it shows the logic behind Peco, keeping the external appearance of the Railway Modeller the same over the decades.

I've never used Zero-1, but surely it's biggest problem, is that all the parts of the system are now 40 years old. Should anyone be relying on 40 year old electronics? Probably a requirement to have back up supplies of all components, just in case or nothing will work.

I don't see a need to strip the whole lot, only the bits you need. I have successfully stripped 20mm gaps and wrapped droppers around and soldered to the bus. Most of the insulation can stay put. You said you already had the stripping tool. But obviously it's your call regarding time vs. cash.

But often this cable can be found for free, as loads of it gets used, or even ripped out of office buildings, as frequently the internal partitions get ripped out for alterations. In fact I know of a building where ALL the internals got gutted, they been installed 6 months prior. Why? Because some moron hit a fire hydrant outside and knocked the top off a high pressure mains. For 3 hours the water went up 15 metres in the air and landed on the roof, which couldn't handle it and so flooded inside. The plasterboard walls & ceiling were completely saturated and needs to be replaced completely, along with all electrical & data wiring. I hope the driver had good insurance!

Yes I knew someone did it, but it's not exactly mainstream.The reality is not everyone is concerned about the 'vivid yellow' colour, as described. Just the same way that OO or even EM is extinct, or Set Track too for that matter.