Donw

I think crew training is a much neglected area of the hobby at exhibitions one can often see crew operating who haven't even learnt the route as far as one can tell. Don

I am not sure how you would get such models past your wife? Don

If you are having problems with keep the rail in place where there are slide chairs replace on of them with a bit of PCB or brass shim araldited in place. For 7mm I find 4mm PCB point sleepering just the right thickness. For 2mm I used thin brass. Solder the stock rail in place not using too much solder. You can cut back any on the outside and glue half a chair on. one sleeper in the middle should be sufficient. An alternative is a brass panel pin inserted alongside the rail to which you can solder it is an alternative note 5min Araldite will soften with heat but harden again when cool. For turnouts I found Tortoises brilliant. They only need rough adjustment as they are self adjusting no issues with temperature changes. I never had problems using the C/O contacts for frog switching. The cons are the price and the depth needed. Don

Peco wanted to make the same turnout usuable as both Electrofrog or Insulfrog hence Unifrog . I think this would work IF you can control the wheels used to suit. Sadly manufacturers seem to have different views on what standard to use. It suggests to me is insnt quite working out as well as expected. Making your own turnouts you can avoid the problems. However If you extend the crossing area on a compact layout you may find yourself backing onto the crossing area of a turnout set against you. That is where frog juicers are handy as they will avoid a short. They are also useful in that they do not need adjustment unlike microswitches and the like so handy is access to the underside of a baseboard is a nuisance. Where you have tight curves the last thing you need is gauge narrowing, gauge widening would be better. Rob something continental might well be the mojo lift you need. I believe you may be familiar with Northroader's Beyond Dover thread very inspirational. Don

You have my sympathy Rob. Building turnouts from components does take time. I believe the British finescale kits are much quicker, but there is a bit of a fiddle fitting the tiebars. Short wheelbase locos which suffer from problems with dead frogs can be cured with stay alives., but are probably the least easy to find the room for them. Don

I presume from that that because they want to same turnout to be useable as a 'dead' frog turnout the two point rails are rather close. There would seem to be incompatability problems between some wheels and the turnouts. There is little one can do about that other than replacing such wheels or using other turnouts (build your own?). Don

Where is the short occuring. If it is the back of the wheels touching the open blade then I would adapt the turnouts to bond the blades to the stock rails and have them electrically separate from the crossing. My understanding is that Peco have facilitated this. If it is the crossing area I would ensure the whole of the crossing is one switched area possibly using a frog juicer to stop any problems. Don

That looks rather delightful. I suggest separate boards are the way to go. For one things you dont have to find somewhere else to store the station and other buildings. It also helps that details can be fixed to the board rather than having to be removeable. While today there may not be so much difference between US and European dress I would suggest that in the days of that rather nice loco they would have looked quite different. How to get it past your wife may not be as simple. I would go for the truth tell her it would be more work having to swap things about, and that you just want a nice setting for the stock you have already got. Don

It sounds like back to the old days when RTR 00 were such a mixed lot of wheels that the best thing was to replace them all I used MAYGIB ones and if you were replacing them all you may as well go for EM or P4. I went EM. That said I think Peco should really avoid the gauge narrowing through a turnout. Have any one had a comment back? Don

IF a sheep ran out in front of you and was killed you could get a bill from the Sheep Badger (owner) and a nasty repair bill for your vehicle so locals avoided them. The main towns Coleford, Cinderford and Lydney were outside the forest area. In smaller villages within the forest boundary the sheep were everywhere. You needed good fences or walls to keep them out of your garden. If the postie left your gate open they could easily be in. You had to watch where you trod on the pavements. We also had the deer a group used to gather under the lamppost across the road at night. I found out just how good ABS brakes could be when one leapt from a high bank straight in front of me.. It could make a nice cameo to have someone trying to chase the sheep out of their garden.

Actually the wild boar in the Forest had been hunted to extinction but in the 1990s some farm bred ones were released and in 2004 about 60 were released. These soon established and thrived. So apart from the preserved line the railways were gone when the boar returned. Don

some very nice carriages there.

My wife's Aunt was very surprised when one got in the Coleford Co-op. Don

Yes that would look good as a Buster Keaton style movie. Pretty impressive roadholding. Don

Well theres the US shorties, Washbourne, the Whimsy NG oh and the Continental one could resurface at any time so it could be four. Now most of us will work for a while on one then focus shifts to another. Whereas you seem to be working on them in parallel. I have a 2mfs one that hasn't been progressed for 2 or 3 years. It was started as someting I could take in the Motorhome. There is no motorhome now. Will I do any more or I do have another baseboard built for a 2mm layout some 10 years ago I could move to that. Meanwhile I am slowly doing a portable layout in 0. There is progress on the landscaping for the garden layout and I have been given lots of track some from the window of a late friend provided I recovered it before the garden was redone. but digging and building walls doesn't count as modelling and has to fit in with laying paths hedge cutting etc. I do like the way you are able to get on with modelling so quickly. Don