Donw

Beavers are the ones with a paddle for a tail. Don

The signal is really good but the weathering really makes it. Don

The old electric pencil method will work with no issue of contacts burning out. Don

They been raddled to show they been tupped. Don

Its is not just the price to buy upkeep is pretty steep I believe. Don

Exchange of contracts in the UK is usually a few weeks before Completion. It could be the same day e.g A purchaser not needing to sell another property buying say a piece of land, nothing much to be arranged. Where there is a chain the solicitors in the chain will each gain authorisation from their clients to go ahead and acceptance of the agreed completion date and agree with each other when to exchange contracts. The solicitors will hold signed contracts ready. On that day the first in the chain will exchange contracts to buy paying any deposit this will enable the second in the chain to exchange on their purpose and so on. Deposits will be paid. Usually the deposit on your sale is used to pay part of the deposit on your purchase. This exchange of contracts works because the solicitors give an assurance to each other that all is in order. Following this while you are panicking and packing like mad (plus trips to the tip) the solicitors drawn the conveyances. It is all very streamlined now with the Land Registry etc. When We did all the legal work ourselves years ago there things like 'Epitome of Title' to prepare detailing the owners over past years to show that ownership had been legally passed on. In England and Wales you have a reasonable expectation of a purchase before you spend out on Surveys and searches but there is no guarantee of it going through. If when you said I want to buy this it was binding you could be in for a shock. Perhaps a good example is when we went through all the details with our solicitor the plan attached to the contract didn't include the bit of land they had bought from a neighbour to fit a garage in. Said neighbour had since passed away. That would have been expensively awkward if we hadn't got that sorted out. Exchange of contracts was postponed until a proper deed covering that had been obtained by the vendors. Don

If you are buying there is nothing to stop you making a firm offer and paying a deposit. However a solicitor would advise against that. You could make an offer subject to survey (or anything else) but for simplicity offers are made subject to contract which gives you time to find out that there is a planning application for something that would affect you it also protects you as no doubt the offer to buy your existing property is STC subject to contract. One of the checks done during the Subject to Contract period is done by the estate agents to check your buyer either has a reasonable offer of a sale or money in hand. That suitcase of dodgy money just wouldn't do and could get someone reported for suspected money laundering these days. Don

I like the progress on the layout but commiserations on the sales falling through. Seems to be happening round here too. Don

You can change CVs whenever you want. The only thing you should do first is set the CV not to run on DC this will stop it treating the Stay Alive supply as DC and charging off a high speed with no way to control it. I would also avoid too much stay alive. Don

We do get to see a train of 4 wheeled coaches here but not with such a delightful loco. Don

Any savings from collecting the coal themselves would be lost in having to thoroughly clean the vehicle before doing more deliveries Don

Sorry to hear your wife is not so well. Shame the layout had to go but on the bright side you do enjoy starting a new one. I thought I might have seen you at the Southampton show on one of my rare trips over the water. Still lots to do before I can get on with a layout. But a group of us meet in Pete's shed on Fridays to run the odd train, natter about railways and models or moan about the state of the world. Wishing you all the best Don

I have some 0 gauge Vauxhall wagons. It is easy to make assumptions about Colliery wagons as these were more well known. It is much harder to find any local ones. I have some for Pwllheli Quarries but where there others locally who owned wagons circa 1900? it may be businesses were fairly small and not having a lot to send out used company wagons. Barmouth Gas Works may have had coal delivered in colliery wagons and outputs such as Tar were sold to companies who collected it in their own wagons. So the Works had no wagons of their own. Any info would be helpful. Don

I knew Mike Morton-Lloyd and when the book came out discussed it with him. The examples came from the main line he said he didn't have much info on the Dolgelley line or the Coast line. I think the records he had seen were from the grouping period . Don

Trying to work out the wagons one would see is difficult. The colliery end is easier although amongst the colliery and coal factor wagons would be some merchants wagons. I lodged once with someone whose Grandfather had been a coal merchant they had a single wagon but he had no memory of which colliery it would be sent to. There seems to be a lack of pregroup photos showing the wagons. Don

Banking with model trains is I believe easier in larger scales and using three link couplings where the load is split between the train engine and the banker where the couplings slacken. Are you expecting bankers to take up part of the load Jerry? It does look superb. In your situation could the banker follow the train into the fiddle yard and then be dispatched back as though it had just been dropped off any need to uncouple would then be off scene. Would passenger trains have had a pilot rather than a banker? Don

Increasing the 6ft way also shortens the distance to the fouling point making for a longer loop or siding. Short stock also tends to go better over sharp crossovers compared to long ones. Here's me telling that to the king of shorties. Don

Well Bob extra time always seems to be 'out of stock'. Interesting wagons should make good models. Don

Agreed with Andy but depending on the period modelled the road level may have risen slightly if the road originally was unmade. Nowadays with taller vehicles more effort is made to keep the maximum clearance possible. Don

I look forward to seeing your model of that wagon. Don

The litmas test I think is will I regret leaving it out. For me probably not in this case if there is one outside but if you are likely to think 'I should have done the inside one' each time you look at it well ...... Don

Having for many years used a single gear fixed wheel bike I wouldn't say extra leg strength was needed the trick is to use your weight. Dont like the sound of the brake though. Don

What was so special that the Victorians needed great leg strength. Don

Perhaps in today's terminology it would be a virtual prototype. Don

Dolgelley 1885-1922 both the Cambrian and the GWR had a shunt ahead signal. The principal is that under absolute block working the shunt ahead allows a limited move without the need to gain permission from the other box. Whereas the starter cannot be pulled off without obtaining line clear. Don