DavidLong

Poland seemed to do quite well last night - they seem happy enough with it here in Little Warsaw Ealing.

Poland showed a lot of application yesterday evening, Russia don't do application - it's what lets them down.

I lived in Ealing for a couple of years circa 1969 in Mount Park Road, then Ealing Common.

David

If I was more confident about our ability to beat Sweden I'd think that this was a good result as it is we may have to aim for five points and hope it's enough.

This truly is an England team of no stars and Premier league journeyman players. Still prefer to see Defoe start as he knows where the goal is.

Standout performance so far was by Russia but they may have to wait 'til the quarters to play a decent side.

David

I'm pretty sure someone will have done extensive research on ballast size - I seem to recall the Woodland Scenics catalogue used to have some info on this. Quite agree about the N gauge stuff - 00 grade looks like mini-boulders, though I have to admit I used the latter on my last layout! You learn by experience!

 

Jeff

These comments about using 2mm ballast in 4mm applications are so common it makes me wonder a] does anyone buy ballast that is marked for 4mm use and b] if no-one does then why do manufacturers go on making it. Also if 4 millers are using 2mm ballast then what are we 2 millers supposed to use?

One of life's mysteries I guess.

David

PS Enjoying the thread, Jason

I feel the same about motors/worm mounting (and indeed about the whole chassis assembly with brake gear etc) but in discussion recently somebody asked, how many times have you taken a chassis apart for repair once built and nobody could give a single example. Is it possible we are being too cautious?

For me it's not a question of how many times I take the chassis apart after final completion but being able to do the same during the assembly process. I (and I suspect others) are not such good or expert chassis constructors that we we can accomplish the whole process in one hit and the ability to break the chassis down into into its component parts is very valuable. This has been the basis of my complaint about the tightness of the muffs that we use to join the axles. Opening them out to a fit such as they will grip the axles sufficiently to test the quartering but also not so tight that said quartering can't be fine tuned due to over-tightness of the grip. I would always test the completed chassis under power on the track and, if satisfactory, dismantle it again for any painting or blackening to take place. Having had it running satisfactorily 'in the raw' then I can be reasonably confident that on re-assembly it will perform just as well.

I think that Tim's contribution is very valuable and I intend to use a similar process in the chassis that I am currently building. Similar but not exactly the same as it is a different chassis.

David

About the only good reason I would support for changing or abolishing the offside law would be to stop managers making interminable excuses for losing because the goal was offside (Bill Shankley once claimed all five were offside. . .). This when the opposition player may have been marginally offside but the reason he scored was because of poor marking. This is using the offside law as an excuse for your own teams deficiences.

The trouble is there are people who think that lots of goals are a good thing but this takes a very superficial view of the game and is not one, I believe, that is generally taken by most people who watch it regularly. If you want to see a game with high scores go and watch basketball. . .

By the way, anyone who appreciates the true art of defending as demonstrated by not exactly top-of-the-range players should watch Trapp's Irish at the upcoming championships. Three goals conceded in the qualifiers, now that's what I call defending.

Tikka takka! Pah!

David

Anybody see the England "friendly" yesterday. ITV don't think much of Hodgson's England, they could only find about 15 minutes of highlights for each game so far. Have to say I was appalled by that childish, petulant assault on Gary Cahill by the Belgian forward. Hope his jaw is OK and he does not miss out on the Euros. Lucky Joe Hart wasn't injured too.

I didn't think that Joe Hart covered himself in glory in this incident. Cahill was calling for Hart to come and collect the ball but he seemed to stay rooted on his line so a collision, with or without the rather petulant push, was pretty much inevitable.

Tough on Cahill just as he had played himself into the starting line-up but the way this squad is going it will soon be a case of 'last man standing'.

David

But just think how exciting it would be. Plenty of goals for all.

Sorry, can't agree with that one for three reasons. One is how boring to see the ball lumped forward to some lump of a goal hanger. No thanks. Second reason is that 0-0 draws aren't necessarily dull. Thirdly, defending and preventing goals is just as much an art as scoring them. Besides, recent changes in the interpretation of the offside law seem to have considerably reduced the number of teams who deliberately play an offside trap.

David

 

As an aside, can I say how good this forum is. Given the hatred football can engender, and the vitriolic comments on some other posts in RM Web, we seem to have really good conversations here conducted in a realy good spirit. I really enjoy this and thanks everyone!

Couldn't agree more, Colin. Brilliant, isn't it?

David

So what solution do you have?

 

Should we return to a situation where the great Stanley Matthews received the maximum wage of 12 pound a week?

 

http://en.wikipedia....tanley_Matthews

 

Admittedly 12 pounds was a lot of money in 1949-50, but is nothing like the dizzy heights of today, way beyond inflation.

 

Funny in regard to sporting 'wages', its the employer that encourages OTT payments and not as usually claimed a push by a union. Sorry to bring politics into this debate, but I think this issue is off the norm bashing.

 

I guess clubs COULD gang together to reduce transfer fees & player wages, but they have little desire to do so. The need for the big clubs to spend BIG money to ensure access to the benefits of playing (better still, to do well) in the UCL, means they need the best players. After all the top Spanish & Italian clubs do exactly that.

 

Kevin Martin

Sorry, Kevin, I don't have a solution. It was just the unfortunate juxtaposition of the two events. Darlington supporters raising what are pitiful sums for a club like Chelsea and then, when they do, getting knocked back by officialdom. This is also not an arguement for clubs getting into financial difficulties and then being able to get off without any consequences. In the same breath I am not one of those who wrings his hands about the amount of money in the Premier League and the sort of players that it can attract. Despite not being a Chelsea fan I look forward to seeing the talents of Eden Hazard on a regular basis next season.

David

Fine old club like Darlington FC beset on all sides by lack of money and officialdom.

Chelsea spend £70m on two players.

Sometimes I just despair.

David

I still don't understand why there should be a trophy and associated presentation. At best the 'winner' finished third.

It's the teams that finish second that I feel sorry for - the champions get a trophy, the team finishing 'third' get a trophy, runners-up get nothing!

David

Well done York City! Great season for those fans after hard times the last decade. Kudos to them.

Agreed, Simon, (although they did push Southport out of the play-off places) but going back to some earlier posts I really feel for Wrexham. Runners-up and 98 points but still in the Conference. Oh and while everyone goes on about Manchester City 'buying' the league title can we, in the same breath, mention Fleetwood Town (and Crawley Town before them). It doesn't just happen in the Premier League you know.

David

But if those decoders and controllers could be retained and used with a wireless interface for control and induction charging of locos' batteries - wherever they stop to pick up "water"?

 

I would never have guessed that one day I could get rid of all the cabling between our computers, printers, scanners and routers and use Wifi instead! But now would go back to the old ways?

Agreed. All that stuff under the baseboard does seem a bit twentieth century.

David

Hi David,

 

I think another reason why people aren't particularly interested is because they have already heavily invested in DCC equipment, which doesn't come cheap. I have 9 Loksound and 4 Zimo sound decoders (and still need more) and I'm on my third controller. Add that up and you come to a tidy sum, and that is probably peanuts compared with what other people have spent.

 

Regards,

David

I think that you may well be right, David, and why I suspect that the sort of solution offered by Tam Valley Depot may have more of a future as it can be used with existing systems. It may require a European company to develop it for this side of the Atlantic as it would ensure the use of acceptable radio frequencies.

David

Dave, the Red Arrow system was also available in a radio version, when it was marketed by A1 Micromotive.

 

 

The lack of response is probably because such systems are "rather old hat", i.e. dated and limited in functionality; not to mention their proprietary nature. As such they may be considered incompatible, limited and "risky".

 

I rather suspect the practical reality of battery powered model trains, gives it very limited appeal.

How many people would relish the prospect of going to their layout to play trains, only to find they'd have to put them on charge for an hour or two first; especially in the evening after work, or in a limited time frame?

 

For anyone who really wanted powerless track and radio control; one of the most attractive options may be the forthcoming DRS-1 system from Tam Valley Depot (makers of the Frog Juicer and other goodies).

It isn't a control system itself, but an add-on to DCC that uses any regular DCC system and regular DCC decoders (including sound models).

Locos can then run on both powered track and unpowered track, retaining the full feature set of the DCC system and the onboard decoders.

 

Thanks for the link to A1 Micromotive as I'd 'lost' them. I had a previous URL which stopped working so I hadn't realised that they had pushed on with the system. I would see Red Arrow as a more basic system than some of the others that are being developed and I think that this is reflected in the prices.

I would see the Tam Valley Depot system as being along similar lines to Protocab in as much as the chip or Loco Control Unit is expected to be able to provide features such as sound and lighting as well adjustment to running characteristics.

I'm not sure that I go along with the 'old hat' assessment. I think the fact that new systems are being developed which are, as TVD define them, wireless DCC in the true sense i.e. no layout wiring required. I'm sure that there are many 4mm and 7mm modellers who have three link couplings and mechanical point and signal control who could well do without all that excess knitting under the layout. I'm not sure it is such a hardship to have locos charged up when you haven't had to do all that wiring and then spend time afterwards keeping all the rails and wheels clean.

David

There a couple of place in the States that have announce something similar

 

Ring Engineering -- check their prices

Railflyer

Bill,

The Ring Engineering system isn't quite the same as it still uses track power as part of the operation and I think may have been discussed in the DCC area. Railflyer seems to be similar to Protocab although they imply that you would have to use their Android-based Tablet PC as part of the operating system. I understood from the Protocab guys that an app, downloadable to any Android device, could be used for their system.

I was unsure where to put this thread in RM Web to generate discussion and only decided on this section as it is clearly both electrics and non-DCC, even though it has strong similarity to DCC in that the LCUs have much in common with DCC chips.

I have been a little disappointed that nearly 100 views have brought forth only two responses as it does seem to be a system with possibilities and it would be interesting to read more opinions of it.

Just to emphasise, by the way, that I've no connection with them and, as I said prevously, it won't work for me in 2mm scale.

David

I'm a bit surprised that there doesn't seem to have been any discussion about this new form of control that was launched at Scalefour North last month. To find out more about Protocab and to save me a lot of typing the website is here: http://protocab.com/

From chatting to the proprietors it seems that this is an updated version of Exactoscale's Red Arrow system but uses a form of radio control rather than the vaguries of infra red. Control can be via iphones, android phones and tablets.

I was very taken with the Red Arrow system that I think was developed by Bernard Weller (correct me if I'm wrong) but the new owners of Exactoscale decided that it wasn't part of the core business so it never got developed.

In scales 4mm and above it does hold out the prospect of being almost wire free if used in conjunction with 3 link/screw couplings and mechanical control of points and signals. I say almost wire free as the charging points would need to have some sort of feed attached to them. Charging uses inductive technology so the loco only has to be positioned over the charging point to receive the charge.

As the infromation provided about the system alludes to facilities for lights and sound then it would appear that the Locomotive Control Units are akin to DCC chips but which take their power and instructions via batteries and r/c rather than from the track.

I realise that such a system will not be to everybody's taste but it does have a certain appeal. Sadly, working as I do in 2mm Finescale, there will have to be some fairly revolutionary developments in battery technology for me to be able to use it.

Part of the statement said: "We would like to assure supporters that any decisions will include the long-term interests of our supporters, our community and the survival and development of Cardiff City Football Club in a highly competitive and modern sporting industry.

As a club we... fully recognise the legitimate interests of the fans, supporters and media in the affairs of the club and their right to information in respect of the same.

Blah, blah, blah. Do they really care about what the fans think? No. 'Sports Direct Arena' anyone?

David

It may be inverse snobbery - but I know a good load of "top four" supporters who have never known a time when their clubs were struggling for money or their very existence. Circumstances make you more or less grateful for the good times you have. I think to be a real fan, you have to suffer as a real fan, and that invariably means not supporting Manchester United/Arsenal/or similar and supporting your local team. Not just reaping the rewards of the good times, but being there for the bad times too.

I take your point, Simon, but I don't necessarily believe that you have to suffer to be classified as a supporter. I'm full of admiration for what the supporters of Charlton and other clubs have done to pull their teams back from the brink but it doesn't invalidate the experience of other supporters who have not been through that process.

My appreciation of football is very like my appreciation of railways in that I mostly like all of it whilst having some particular favourites. In football these are Arsenal, Bolton Wanderers, Southport and Waterford United but along the way I've spent some time with the likes of Queens Park Rangers, Bristol Rovers and Crystal Palace for reasons which it's not necessary to go into here.

Congratulations on the season, Simon. Really pleased for Chris Powell who seems like a real gentleman and I hope that you have another good season in the Championship (2nd Division!). Any chance that you'll do a Norwich or Southampton?

As you may imagine, Sunday afternoon is going to be a bit tense 'chez Long'.

David

Even worse in Rugby League, I believe, the top 4 teams at the end of the season play off for the title.The team that was best overall over the year, doesn't necessarily lift the Trophy. Now that is bizarre.

 

Maybe someone with more knowledge of that sport will comment and/or correct please.

 

Rob

Yep, completely weird !

David

I still believe that promotion/relegation should be settled by performance over 38/46 games of the season. In the play-off system a team can finish third, one point ahead of team in fourth. Hypothetical but that point could have been gained back in November by coming back from two-nil down on a wet and windy Wednesday night. Fact is they could be in the play off final against that team that finished a point behind them and lose in the one-off game. I don't believe that that is what a league system is designed to achieve.

Frankly I don't really care if the teams outside the top three don't have anything to play for in the last few games; if they had played better earlier in the season then they may have been in the top three and promoted automatically. Number one fact about a league system - the table doesn't lie.

David

Outside of the Premiership (where incidentally most football teams and real fans can be found) we are now into the farce of the playoffs. This season more than any other it is a complete joke that the team finishing the place below the automatic promotion places has to playoff when you look at the points they have gained compared to the other playoff teams. The playoffs have achieved their aim of giving more teams something to play in the last few games of the season for but that should be something other than promotion (Bonus points next season? cannot be relegated ?). I say that not as a fan of any team that is in the playoffs this year but of one that has only ever managed to win the playoffs when it finished in what would otherwise have been an automatic promotion place. I really feel sorry for fans of Wrexham who having finished way above anyone else, and who should be looking forward to a place in the Football League again, now find themselvws 2-0 down at half time in the play off semi.

Agree with everything you say about the play-offs. I can't see any justification for them and never have. If you are the third best team in a division (or fourth best in League 2/4th Division) then you should be promoted.

However, your comment about real teams and fans is pure inverted snobbery. I started watching Arsenal in the late 1960s and still do despite the fact that in the meantime I have moved to Manchester but I still go to watch them when I can. In those 45+ years I have also watched football through all divisons from the Northern Prem upwards and I would never presume to pass judgement on what is 'real' and what isn't. It's football and I enjoy it.

David

I also want to add that my wife first went to watch Bolton Wanderers in 1970 and she has watched them through all the divisions including the 4th. In the last few years she has been able to watch them in the Premier League. Are you now going to suggest that she is not a 'real' fan?

For electrics, I'd have to plump for the class 71 in the original green;- Simple, understated style but with pleasant curves, neat detailing, & superlative performance to boot...

Nice call, Bruce. A very under-estimated class, probably because of their limited area of operation and relatively short life. Blue with full yellow ends did them few favours and you're absolutely right that the original green with the red and grey bands really looked the part.

David

I see that Wayne Rooney's overhead kick against City has been voted as the best ever in the Premier League:

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk...otball/17946376

 

Is it just me, or is this a bit like one of those polls for the "greatest pop song ever", where the leading contenders are always songs from the last few years (and "Angels" by Robbie Williams usually wins), and older songs - or in this case, goals - are forgotten about? Don't get me wrong, Wayne Rooney's winning effort was fantastic, but it's ironic that the award was announced in the same week as Cisse scored that incredible second goal against Chelsea. As a result, I don't think we can even say that Rooney's goal was the best this season.

No way. Pure luck. I'd have voted for anything by Matt Le Tissier, even his ordinary goals were special.

Mind you, this whole business of 'twenty years of the Premier League' winds me up. What the top division is called is irrelevant and all records should be expressed in terms of the full history of the league and not some concept manufactured by Sky.

David

Mike, this gets better! But I'm a bit confused as to which scale you're working in as I've just been looking at the pictures of your split-box 40 in 7mm scale.

David