tomparryharry

You need inspiration, young Johnster! Never mind, NEWGOG is on tomorrow! Cheers, Ian.

I used to operate a good 6-odd hours. But, that was me. Operating with the late Ian Hollis with Alkham took about 4 hours to go through the timetable. That was a full-on session. As a result, you'd get quite tired! There are always lots of distractions: Telephone, washing up, anything where Mrs Smith sees me 'playing'. "take the dogs out". "Do the washing up", "Take me to the shops" ( I don't know why, she has her own broomstick). I'm determined that when I finally build my railway room, there will be a good lock on the inside, and a UPS (Uninterruptable Power Supply). Tea? Bring a Thermos.... Ian.

I still miss my old Ford Sierra (D425CDF). I bought it at 89k, and put another 200K on it. A mate of mine bought it, and he did another 60K. At that point, the bodywork was really tired. However, another chap down the road had the engine out, to keep his Sierra going. I think he got another 50K-odd as well. I wish I'd had the presence of mind to find the engine, and strip it down. Truly one of the best Ford engines I have ever owned. Ian.

The Kent Crossflow also gained a much heavier piston, with an integral mixing combustion bowl in its crown. An upside of this was the lightening exercise, which resulted in a 'short stroke screamer'.Normally, we would skim the head to raise the compression ratio. However, with the Ford, we would skim the block.I did like the Kent, and I did get to do quite a few years on them. That was in the old days of 4-star petrol. I wasn't too enamoured with the Essex, as the valve post/stud had a habit of going off-song. Ian.

Surely locomotive, or locomotives? Ian.

Sometimes that is the very answer. Having someone around to occasionally visit , and 'bounce' off ideas & topics is a brilliant idea. One wonders if there is something that can be achieved by having other people visiting, a sort of 'area group' meeting, or just a running session might be the very good idea. One week here, one week there, sort of thing. At least, for me, anyway. Cheers, Ian.

I'm sure a bit of innocent googling will answer that question. As an aside, what will you do when you find the largest forum? Are there taxation implications? Cheers, Ian.

So, lets see if I've got this right.... Plastic tax? What about UPVC double glazing? What about plastic cheese in the supermarkets? Grump, Grump, Grump. Fred Needle-Street,

There used to be a reverse curve from the carriage exit roads, onto the main line. Colin Jacks made mention in his books. I'd guess going in & out light engine is not too much bother, but put a load on, and it's sometimes a different matter. I need to check, but I'm pretty sure that the different regions had varying tyre profiles, which finally became a unified profile. Cheers, Ian.

I do like the GT6. Either hard or soft top. Bags of torque with that engine.

Not too far away:- 24256654 DSO (Diluted Squash Operative).

I paid to go on a glue sniffing course... .. I'm stuck with it now.... Ian.

Sorry Simon, it's a new style on me. Anyone else?

Good Morning Folks. A grey, but dry day here in Newport. Mrs Smith has a severe cold, so I am on waiter duty. A cup of tea will be required shortly. In the meantime, I'm watching some excellent tutorial videos on Youtube, about weathering mineral wagons. The tea request has just gone in, so I'm away. I hope you have a good rest of your weekend, and the week to come. Cheers, Ian.

There is one that made me chuckle, but not D&E... It's a railway line, disappearing into a tunnel. Directly above the tunnel mouth is a church, with a graveyard. In the graveyard is a burial taking place complete with burial party, mourners, and the casket being interred. "If you time it right, you should catch the 6:15....." Ian.

I do like the weathering on the roof. It looks just 'right'. ian.

One I have yet to try, I hope it works. "You need to type in my password....." "It's all upper case. It's W-A-N-K-E-R. Now, speak that back to me". "Sorry? I can't hear you, speak up please". " A bit louder, please". "Can you repeat that, please?" And repeat..... Ian.

I hope this is worthy of repetition... "Hello, we are reported for you iz havin' a virus on your computer" (His choice of words, not mine) Weeze can 'elp yoos. Yoos need to open windows" "Ok, but you will have to be quick, it's very cold". "Wot yoos say?" "I said you'll have to be quick, the window is open" I can't remember how long but it was a couple of minutes. Ian.

I must, MUST remember this one! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ian.

There is a significant co-relation between how a moulding gets ejected from the tool, the cooling cycle, the temperature, and the chemical makeup of the plastic itself. On certain products, we used to use a template to allow the cooling plastic in an controlled manner, to keep product from warping. Different sectional size of pretty much anything solid will exhibit stress & strain, once it gets heated, and conversely, cooled down. At least, it used to! Cheers, Ian.

From a real railway perspective, you probably don't realise is that the current size of the big bits are that much bigger. Gone is the cramped steam age layouts. Switches & crossings are that much longer, to accommodate higher speeds ,as is the operating envelope itself. Add to that added incidental kit, like lineside cabins & boxes, and it's starting to fill up again. Very often, you need 15", to fit in a 12" gap. It's easy to see, but have another look at your favourite lineside location. Then, take a look at an old photo taken in the 50's & 60's. Signals are gone. Junctions are gone. The railway is still there, but the operating process has changed. A facing crossover on a junction would fit inside 800 yards. It's protection might be another 800 yards more. Now, a high speed line will now stretch for around 6-8 miles, even more if its got a ladder style crossover. The 8 foot branch line exhibition is ok, but a real life scenario is now nearer 40 feet (No, I'm not kidding). It's not the quality of your skills, which by & large will still knock my socks off. It's perception which will not come up to your otherwise excellent work. It's a problem we all suffer, especially in 4mm, a fairly commonly understood gauge & scale. I worked up a layout in 4mm, which was fully prototypical in size & operation character. I worked out I needed a layout 42 feet long, plus a fiddle yard. The biggest loss was scale-to-size perception. I see, and continue to see, exhibitions of true quality of work. Hopefully you will remember that when you visit a museum, that its sometimes more interesting what you don't see.... Cheers, Ian.

It's not necessarily scrapped. The locomotive has been stripped down, and the frames are using 2 sets of wheels as accommodation space. To take out the centre pair involves stripping out the entire locomotive motion, so little wonder it all seems a bit sparse. Despite the apparent severity, it's quite a straightforward occurrence. Cheers, Ian.

Just a quick question Folks. What is the minimum radius for the model? Many thanks, Ian.

We've covered a lot of ground with Heljan, specifically with the points raised with the D95xx/Class 14. One of the solutions was to introduce some C clips, which effectively limit the amount of side travel for the wheelsets. It transformed my Class 14, and if the recent release is anything to go by, should work a treat. You can't really blame Heljan for this. Heljan would most probably build a test rig layout, to which the EP model must perform and conform. However.... Back in the real world, John Doe and his 'perfectly laid track' is giving all sorts of problems. There are probably lots of analogies we can use, but I'm sure you get the idea. Cheers, Ian PS. Thanks to Mike NDBS of this parish, for his neat little idea.

I'm probably being a bit unfair, but I'd want (& expect) a model to get 'close' to its operating parameter. Therefore, I'd want to see a 28xx getting on for the 80 wagon diagram, with the corresponding smaller locomotives being able to match their respective diagrams. Didcot-Paddington 'semi-fasts' had 10 coaches as a rule with a hall on the front, so my expectations are about right. Remember however that the bit from Reading was pretty flat, so no real problems there. Cheers, Ian.