2e0dtoeric

Seconded.

The railroad pullman brake coach that is/was on offer.

Looks as though we need a casualty ward as the next purchase! Dragging the thread back onto the rails, I just bought a Cadbury coal wagon from the Welsh company, left over from the short run from an exhibition (Warley?) Cadbury coal?? Well, They had to keep the workers warm, I suppose! :-)

The balance of my order from that Welsh company, for working semaphores. (I ordered more than they had in stock!)

No disrespect to Hornby, but be wary of track-plan books. Some of the plans have been around since Noah was an infant, and use radius 1 bends! Current loco models will struggle with radius 3, and stand no chance on a 1 or 2, except for 040 or 060 shunters. Use plan books as a guide, and inspiration, but don't faithfully follow them, or you will be struggling. That applies especially to old plans with gradients. Older loco's had magnadhesion and steel rails, so they gripped better, and would go uphill. On nickel-silver rail, a 1 in 50 is STEEP, and if it's on a bend, really steep!

I always find it offensive how legged people cannot 'see' chair drivers. I had similar treatment when I was pushing my disabled wife around in one. They would shove in front, and stand right where all she could see was the buttocks, and on the rare occasion they spoke, it was to me, totally ignoring her, and usually to say go away spelled differently, when I objected to their behaviour.

Does she fancy a Scotsman? :-)

Have you read Rowland White's book 'Vulcan 607' about how the crews had to jump through hoops and borrow bits to make the flights happen? If not, and you have the slightest interest, you should do. Now we're so totally derailed from the track with this thread, I'm surprised the Moderators haven't pounced!

The tiny windows in the Vulcan, Valiant, and Victor was intentional, it was to hopefully reduce or prevent flash-blindness, when the nuke that had just been dropped 'cooked off'. Luckily it never happened. If I recall correctly, the only time a Vulcan was used in anger was to bomb our own territory, on a small island which was being held by another country who thought the island was theirs. No nukes, of course, just plain old iron bombs.

Latest aquisition - some Da--l working semaphores. Regarding WTD's upside down loco perhaps he was demonstrating magnadhesion? Nice Vulcan!

Kindly ignore my missing post post! I'm used to the forums where it puts the last post on top, on the first page, and since this Hornby forum has been updated I've not used it much, and forgot that it puts the last post on the bottom, on the last page. Result - I was looking in the wrong place! I did try to delete the post, but it undeleted itself again!

Well, I just put a post on here, and it has disappeared!

I've got a TTS Duke, and although the model looks good, I'm not over enamoured with the TTS - (compared with a 'regular' sound chip) It makes realistic noises - BUT - the exhaust sounds do not relate to the wheel revs. After a bit of running in (it was a bit jerky at first) I get eighteen - yes eighteen chuffs per wheel rev at very low speed, and a mere two chuffs per ref at a higher speed, wind the rpm's up to semi-fast level, and the chip is going frantic with chuffs! The whistle sounds are good, as are the various other noises - except the door-slam, which sounds like a short chuff, and the 'fireman's breakfast, which sounds like hail on a tin roof. When sitting static, with the F1 selected on, the boiler noises are not constant, they have a small audio variation in pitch, on about a two per second rate, as though the sound is being modulated by a type 66 dismal running in the background. Does anyone else have any comments on the TTS sound, now they have one to listen to? Or is mine a rogue? The hornby ad, shown on the forums a short while ago, also had only two chuffs per wheel rev.

You need to use a miniature camera, but the site won't let me put the link on! Go to ebay, and search for mobius camera - they're the size of a tictac box, and are High Def 1080p, records onto an SD card.

You need a miniature camera - something like this, if the site lets me put the name on - http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=mobius%20camera&_trksid=m194&ssPageName=STRK:MEFSRCHX:SRCH

That's it, PJ, but not fat - yet! Oddly enough, I've never had to use it, except for track-cleaning! The two 'ends' are 48" (1220 centipedes, I think, for those that can't measure in English!) radius on a 50" board.

Yes, PJ, I can reach it all! (Hence the 'rescue hole visible at the r/h end, and one at t'other you cannot see, round the l/h bends!) The boards are three feet wide, and the previous form had a backscene which meant I couldn't reach any problems behind it, without getting the steps and a 'grabber' out, which proved to be impractical! (It also proved to be a popular sleeping spot for the cat, so there was always a lump of fur stuck to the first locos round - not a good idea!) End to end, it's about 30 feet, but as you can see, it's an approximate 'dog-bone' layout. I didn't say in that piece, but have previously, but it's DCC, with every rail piece fitted with droppers to the bus (Don't start that argument again, please!) and some of the locos are sound-fitted. The pile of boxes at the l/h end are all of very short run (100 pieces) local-to-me private-owner four-wheel coal trucks (except the few Hornby ones!) from Astley Green Colliery museum - http://www.agcm.org.uk/ and there are also another six maroon mk1's, a rake of cheap Pullmans, and a few more wagons lurking off-camera. Everything that needed it has been re-wheeled with metal, not plastic, wheels.

p.s. - note the 'scale' filth on the roof-tops, and the very un-scale fingerprints!

Here's my re-started layout, just the bare bones at the moment, but you'll get the idea. The theme is a Preservation yard, with a local branch passing by, with a small halt serving the yard. If you look at the rough and ready sketch, the red line is the branch, and the blue is the preservation yard. Note there's a cross-over link between the two, so the proper loco's can go 'on loan', and dismals can bring tours in! http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee160/2e0dtoEric/newtrack-plan_zpse7c98d9b.jpg looking left http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee160/2e0dtoEric/railwayleft2014_zps2a2c7c7b.jpg looking right http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee160/2e0dtoEric/railwayright2014_zps284c9a36.jpg

This is a quick sketch of my new track-plan. There is nothing to photograph, yet, because it is just naked track on bare boards, while I chase any bugs out.

Point of order...... permission to approach the (railway) bench?

No, that's how long it took to find the dictionary under all the stored boxes! My latest acquisition - a letter from the bank, saying - (paraphrased) oi, how about putting some in before you spend any more!

I'll probably get banned for mentioning it, because I got a rival company's heavily discounted GBRf 66 so that I can swap the body-shell for their noisy Freightliner 66 shell, which doesn't look right in front of a rake of maroon (pretend West Coast) coaches! I'd have preferred an EWS shell, but they seem to be like gold hen's teeth. I know there's one made as a special, due around Easter next year, from a shop near me.

In a way, you have answered your own question! You said you haven't any 1st dia curves, then ask about putting in 1st radius points! The same comment apply, recent bigger locomotives will not go round 1st radius. Only 060 shunters will happily go around 1st radius. Regarding the spacer track, I cannot answer this, as the only place this can occur on my layout, I have about a foot (35 cm) of straight track between the points, as it represents the cross-over between the local branch line, and the 'preserved' group area. Eventually, it will have working gates across the link. All my layout is flexi-track, except for the point-work.

Latest acquisition for me - not exactly rolling stock or a loco - I got the Oxford diecast Ridgway Scania low-loader with the multi-wheel telescopic trailer. It is now parked in the 'yard', with a bit of old track tacked to the trailer with silicon sealant, and an equally tatty old 060 and tender (running number 44074) perched on it. The loco will eventually be liberally rusted up. The trailer does telescope, I didn't measure it, but it's around a foot long, fully extended.