lapford34102

Leaving Weymouth with a pair of TC's in the 80's. Track layout simplified and soon to be lost altogether on electrification. Stu

Looks really sharp :-) Stu

Hi, If it's the same as the 22 which I assume it is the they are split axles. They should come out fairly easily (or far too easily in some cases) but use care as the collars seem to be prone to splitting though if you're going down the solid axle route won't be much of an issue, just a spot of adhesive to keep them in place if they feel a bit loose. HTH Stu

Weymouth until 67(ish) when the shed closed Stu

I've done the conversion with Gibsons using basically the same method. I'd need to look up which ones I've used but like the Captain's Ultrascales 1 spoke short. Stu

Is the blue actually, some early models were simply self coloured plastic. I've used Mr Muscle Oven cleaner for paint stripping though it doesn't work on every finish Stu

Hi, Not certain if this has been mentioned before but have hardwired a Lais stay-alive to an 8 pin sound chip in an 08 and it works fine. However not yet tried to read it via my sprog but will do. Stu

Hi, I've made bullhead code 75 "copies" of Peco small radius point using copperclad sleepering. Downloaded the Peco template and and re-drew the sleeper spacing to match the code 75 bullhead. It is a bit more involved than that but essentially that's it. One of the three I did for my parcels layout. I appreciate what others are saying about doing this with Setrack geometry and it looking somewhat odd but until someone tries....... Cheers Stu

A couple of questions that hopefully someone may be able to answer. 1/Hornby 08 with bluetooth sound on the layout over the weekend at AllyPally. Just stopped working and had to be sidelined. Thought the chip had gone but tried it later and was fine. Do these chips have some form of thermal cutout if they get to hot. 2/ Anyone hard wired a stay-alive of some sort to a one these chips. Thanks Stu

Waiting for the AA to sort things out so a hurried of mine, a bit of bent wire on a cheap LED torch Believe someone sells predone one's, sure Tim's got one. Stu

Hi, Firstly thanks to all those who tagged my recent post, much appreciated and makes any developments seem worthwhile so Ta :-) Thanks, I'll bring them along but I'd like to be able to do the figures/vehicles to match. I got very politely taken to task for the first lorry I had on display as it apparently first appeared somewhat later. Wow! Thanks for that, rather neatly sums up our attitude to things. As for the 3 links there was a very obscure study by some university's Department of Utterly Pointless Studies that came up with Hooks Law ( No, not that Hooke, it's the other one) A = N+ 1 Where A = the number of attempts required to couple two pieces of stock and N = the number of people in front of the layout. I think experience though has shown it's a bit more complicated than that......... To be fair to viewers thay are almost universally understanding when things get fraught. Quite often get well meant suggestions for different systems, such as Kaydee's though those look very out of place on a 10ft WB Van to me or Sprat+Winkle which is a fine system but needs to treated like a Faberge Egg once you've got it working. What does irk me is the very very occasional implication that somehow we've made the wrong choice, a mad choice, yes, I can live with but not wrong. At moments like that I wonder about commiting the ultimate heresy and fitting tension locks. Thanks and say hello at Ally if you're there. Stu

Oh Dear! Managed to send Exhibition Manager A the paperwork for Exhibition B…. Should never be let out without a responsible adult. . Anyhow have Ally Pally coming up in a couple of weeks, it’s show I’ve never done so it will be interesting. Sheepcroft’s fiddle yard is quite small and frankly now inadequate and could do with replacement. If I thought the layout had something of a future, it is nearly 10 years old after all, I’d do that but in the meantime settled for some minor tweaks. I’ve added a rough but useable shelf for stock storage and added a small shelf to the front. That brings the front edge in line with the layout so it’ll be easier to do the drape plus a handy spot for the layout info. I’m quite keen on layouts having a bit of info about them somewhere, nothing too wordy just a few key points the builder feels relevant. Sometimes it can save answering the same question repeatedly. One possible benefit of putting it where it is is that it’s a bit easier to read being on the flat. This left a bit of space on the front and I stumbled across a graphic in what looked like a spoof wagon modelling magazine on a facebook group. It seemed rather appropriate to Sheepcroft so I’ve printed it off and blu-tac’d to the front. No idea who did it so hope they don’t mind. We’re out again later in the year at Faversham and Farnham but whilst working on the front idly started mentally plotting the show’s done on a map and realising there were great swathes of the country never visited, East Anglia, the south coast and down the M4/5 corridor for example. At a recent show had a couple of enquiries from the E Midlands area but got a rather glum look when they realised we came from the extremities of Kent and any likely expenses. I did make the point I’m prepared to negotiate. I think the current situation means as exhibitors we could try to mitigate when it comes to costs, I did this with a show last year and got to exhibit somewhere that would have almost certainly been off-limits cost wise. I do though fully appreciate it may not be an option for everyone. I’ve got my Chief Assistant, Tim, to thank(?) for this as he suggested we widen the stock era on the layout for a bit of variety. So having had a scrabble in the unused boxes have cobbled this lot together. Sort of late 70’s and into the TOPS period stock. Getting that right involved a deal of time on Mr Bartlett’s wonderful site so I hope I’ve got things right. I’ll need some more plus a change in personnel and vehicles but it would add variety. Got a couple of Panniers and GW Toads somewhere……… Thanks for looking Stu

My take on the 3 pointer idea. This is a parcels based operation with a run-round via the fiddle yard. There's more here if anyone's interested. https://www.rmweb.co.uk/forums/topic/178424-albert-street-parcels-oo-south-east-60s/#comment-5439807 Stu

Thank you Chris, You assume correctly, the run round is via the fiddle yard, at the moment it's simply that with one siding but it will get revised with more storage space. Hope these photo's show things a bit clearer. Space wise it's basically 2 x 4ft boards but using a traverser in the fiddle yard could shrink it a bit. Stu

Hi, Thanks for the comment Dave and thanks to all those who came and had a chat at Biggleswade. Albert seemed to be quite well received. Layout survived the day without major issue though had a number of minor gremlins show up but considering it was it's first serious show I'd have been surprised if they hadn't. Most were/can be easily dealt with and while the fiddle yard with it's simple trackplan made life a little harder we now know what a better arrangement should be. Pleased with how the 350HP with it's new sound chip+stayalive performed (nod to Coastal DCC for supplying the bits) I've been mildly sceptical of stayalive's in the past but now in the market for a few more. Managed to take precisely one rather hurried rubbish shot before opening ! Thanks for looking Stu