Andrew1974

It’s not a lot different to buying something at full price to find it goes on sale the next day. Yes, maybe mildly annoying, but I’m going to get disgruntled about it. And from a publishers perspective it does indeed help sell more mags (at least it did when I used to work in publishing some years ago).

If you change the R604’s opposite the diamond to R606’s then you should be able to get it to work. Either Hornby crossing should work in the middle, never used the slightly different peco one so not sure if that would work or not

Sounds like it could be helpful for drumming up interest for when taking it on the road is possible. I’ve just read the comments on the Daily Mail article and 95% + of them appeared to be very positive.

The description in the OP reminds me of Elmwell Village Depot

Whilst much of what you right is correct, this part is not, very few Games Workshop / Warhammer shops make a loss, most are quite profitable. I play quite a lot of board game and board game shops (most of which are independent businesses) mostly have an area where you can go and play board games ( or table top games), often having a cafe or similar as part of the setup. Given these are small businesses it is difficult to assess how profitable they are but many I use (or at least did until recently) have been in business for a number of years - so clearly had to making some money. I think it’s a great way to support a hobby, but slightly more difficult to do successfully in the realm of model railways.

Health & Safety, when done well is essential. Very few things are banned due to H&S, what should be done is an assessment on what is appropriate. With a clear indication of what should be done/ not done and WHY. If done properly it actually helps people make common sense decisions and assess risk properly (rather than just ignore them). I work in a commercial laundry. We use huge washing machines which will sometimes suffer a blockage. If that blockage can’t be cleared from outside the machine then we call in a specialist firm to clear it. Why you might ask? Because it is a specialist skill and doing it wrong can (and has in the past) result in death when someone has got trapped inside the machine. Such a process is disruptive, so we spend time and efforts reducing the risks of the machines being blocked. Since the policy change we now get far fewer blockages and whilst the ones that happen lead to more downtime overall downtime is reduced and everyone is much safer. Win / win due to good H&S processes. The only downside it when people use H&S as an excuse for not doing something.

Interesting to see fixed and switched diamonds next to each other. Why might this be the case?

Often seen in the garden, but not normally in the greenhouse until today

You could try here? http://modratec.com

In terms of baseboard construction I’ve used a trackbed of 12mm ply (Over engineering but I had a spare piece big enough) and a frame of 56mm x 18mm ply (again because I had some to hand). The back scene and front fascia once I add one are from 5mm ply. The picture below shows the view from underneath. also visible is the uncoupling magnet. Point control is to be added, I’ve cut slots for an operating wire. I was thinking of servo’s rather than solenoids as I am hoping they will be gentler (is that a word?) on the points. I have not used servo’s before so some investigation required.

You don’t say how deep the sides are, but assuming they are, say 3 inches / 10 cm or so then I would have thought a leg in each corner would suffice. 18mm is quite thick...good job you are not planning on moving them any time soon...I bet they weigh a ton!

Bird’s eye view of the layout which was temporarily relocated to the floor for the purpose of taking the photo. The left hand siding has a 5 wagon capacity, the other two are 3 wagon capacity with the headshunt being 3 plus loco, all in typical inglenook fashion. You will notice the right hand edge, which normally sits along the wall is not straight; that is because the wall, like most of my 17th century house has very few straight walls!

OK, first post seems to have worked. So, the layout is a 4mm/ft, 16.5mm gauge ‘inglenook’ shunting layout. Overall size is a length of 4’9”, with a width of 4 1/2” at one end an 9” at he other. It’s fair to say there is not much room for scenery, I’ve use Peco bullhead track, and I do like the look of it. The stock I have is mostly late 50’s / early 60’s although I am making a few changes to some of it so as to narrow the timeframe somewhat. I’ve not completed any wiring yet (you can just see in the picture above the crocodile clips used for testing) but as it will be a single loco in use it could be easily used for DCC or DC. Initially it will be DC, but I may go DCC at some point. I am planning on fitting auto couplings, and I do like the look of the B&B variety, so I will be trying to get hold of a pack or two of those. I’ve fitted an electromagnet ready...but again not wired yet. I’m hoping to get this finished pretty quickly, so I can just have a play whilst working on future projects. Thanks for reading. Andrew

Hi All, After a bit of a break (of about 7 years) I am again trying to do some proper modelling. This has partly been spurred on by getting a space in the house to actually use without having to pack everything away into a cupboard at the end of each session. I look in awe (jealousy?) at the space some of you have to model in, but suspect there are just as many, if not more, that make do with lots less. My new space is what was at one time a corridor to the original front door of our house, now replaced with a window. Total space is roughly 4ft x 11ft (that’s not layout space that is total room size). I’ve taken a few snaps to show what I’ve not got. The first shows the view form the doorway which is in the middle of one of the long walls, the second to the right and the third to the left. The right hand cupboard unit is for my wife’s craft supplies, the left for my stuff and I also have the bench at the end in front of the window. I am working on being able to get permanent use of the top of these cupboards for a layout, I’m thinking Minories type terminus, but for now I’m building a small shunting plank on the opposite wall, just to the left of my workbench as shown in the forth picture. I’ll put a second post up shortly (once I’ve checked I’ve done the photos right on this one) that starts to explain the ‘layout’ ( which is probably a bit too grand of a description). Thanks Andrew

Hi All, I have a Bachmann class 24/0 model, D5011 in green with yellow warning panels. I understand the yellow panels would have been added from 1962 onwards. I would like to backdate to 1959, shortly after it was built. Obviously I need to paint the yellow panels green, but is there anything else required to backdate? Also, can anyone recommend a good paint match? Thanks Andrew

HI Pete, The car park referenced above is still free other than on match days. Wigan are away on the 5th October, so should be free. Always worth checking signs to make sure nothing changes in the next week (stranger things have happened) ...or that you are indeed in the free one, as other near by carparks are paid or for specific users only! Andrew

Hi everyone, Thanks for all your input, I never expected so many replies. I have sent an appeal in, I’ll report back the outcome. In reply to some of the points made I would like to reiterate the following. Prior to Oct there was no way to purchase a ticket other than on the train. Employees continue to sell tickets on the train without mentioned the change. Whilst signs at the station are clear that you should buy a ticket if you can, the machine is card only and the permit to travel option for those wanting to pay by cash is less than clear to me, so how a 16 year old is meant to work it out is beyond me (especially when my 16 year old sometimes lacks in the common sense front). Also relevant in this case is the Penalty Fare Notice does not actually comply with the law (bit of a gaffe by Northern on that one I think) and the ticket machine a few hours later ( when we went to the station to look at the signs) was damaged making it nigh on impossible to use even if you tried (which I admit, my son did not due to some of the points raised above), anyway we will see how it goes. I suspect it would have been cheaper in terms of my time to just pay the £20...but the approach by Northern just seems wrong to me. Thanks again for your comments. Andrew

Hi everyone, Thanks for all your input. just in case there is any doubt my son was not attempting to avoid a fare, was honest about his travel when asked and, to be honest, I if I thought he was actually in the wrong I would just pay the penalty fare. I think the thing that has reall got me riled is the attitude of the railway employee concerned, showing a total lack of empathy and borderline intimidary attitude to a minor. In terms of my 5 ways, 2 relate to the penalty fare notice itself not complying with statutory requirement and the other 3 being circumstances where the regulations indicate a penalty fare should not be issued. I’m going to send my letter in the morning, and will report back on the outcome once I know. I may well be wasting my time, but as I have now written the letter it is only going to cost me the price of a stamp to send it. Andrew

Hi everyone, Just after people thoughts on this one. I travel my train reasonably often, perhaps a couple of times a month on the west coast for our newest main line station to London, I always buy my ticket in advance and typically my journeys are trouble free. My teenage kids use the train more often than I do, but mostly local journeys to the local town, so they buy their tickets on the day. Our local station (which I rarely, if ever, use) is unmanned but a few months ago (October) a ticket machine was installed and the station became part of a Northerns Penalty Fare scheme (so I have just discovered). My my kids have continued to travel in the same way they always have, get to station, get on train, buy ticket from guard, or if no guard comes down the train at the destination station (which is manned). Apparently the correct procedure now is that they should buy a ticket for the new machine or in their case get a ‘permit to travel’ as the machine is card payment only and they deal in cash. Anyway (and I am getting to the point, honest) last week my 16 year old got to the destination station, approached the staff to buy a ticket (as normal) to be told because he does not have a permit to travel he has to pay a penalty fare and is given a notice to that fact. He asks why, when he was doing the same as he has done often in the past, including just a few days before, to which he is told words to the effect that the rules are rules and it is not his (the staff members) problem if my son does not know them. Even my son picked up on his sarcastic tones! Son on getting home, shows me penalty fare ticket and explains what happened. So all this being knew to me I read the rules....and have now penned an appeal on the basis that the rules are the rules and our local TOC apparently don’t know them either as they have failed to follow them in 5 different ways. So the question, am I being a pedant or am I right in perusing the appeal? Andrew

I have been able to extract worn Phillips head screws befor by putting an elastic band between the scre and thre screwdriver, it helps to maximise the grip of the driver on the screw. Might be worth a try if the screw is not completely smooth.

Thanks for all you helpful comments and pointing me in the direction of further info. I fear the site is too big for me to make a faithful representation but I think I am going to devise a scheme encompassing a number of the features that appeal to me. Obviously, if any one has any further info then all help and assistance greatfully received. Andrew

Hi All, I am trying to find information about the now long closed station at Strensall on the York / Scarborough line with a view to a potential modelling project. If any one has any info (such as track layouts, signalling diagrams, anything really) I would be greatful if you could share. I have done the obvious google searches etc and have some limited info, but would like some more. Thanks in advance. Andrew

Surely it was Airfix and Mainline that went bust, not Hattons? edit: Beaten to it...

There could of course many many reasons why Hattons have decided to try and off load some stock, in reality it is probably a mix of a number of reasons. My experience in business is that getting the balance of the right amount of stock is tricky, not enough and you end up not being able to satisfy demand, too much and it ties up cash, costs money to store and just gets in the way of doing business. Hattons most recent accounts are as at June 2017, so are now 18 months old so not necesssrily helpful for understanding what is happening at the end of 2018, but show stock of £3.2m after a provision of £1.0m, giving stock with an original cost of £4.2m. The accounts also state that he costs of stock sold in the year is £9.1m so they stock holding equates to approximately 5 and a half months worth of stock, for a retail business that seems quite high. If I was running that business I might be tempted to try to get rid of some of my overstocked items as well, even if I was OK for cash.

The only way that a double slip could act as a diamond is if there are more than 2 levers, not saying it didn’t happen (there is always an exception) but don’t think i’ve ever seen it in any signalling diagram I have seen. Not sure it would really matter, as signalling would still be such that you could not simultaneously set both routes, so pulling a lever (or two) to go from one route to the other would just be part of the process. If I remember correctly some of the Marcway range is a size match for Peco, so may be able to ‘drop in’