Topcat1707821625

@RE If a you purchase a new product and it is faulty or not fit for purpose then under the Sale of Goods Act (2015), unless you bought the product direct from the manufacturer, your first recourse is to the retailer, even before contacting the manufacturer's customer service. Don't even think about fixing the problem yourself. You could end up invalidating the warranty.

With railway modelling, as with anything else, I think it's a case of cutting your coat to suit your cloth. If I had vast amounts of space and large amounts of money I would model in O gauge, because that would suit my big fat hands. Personally I think N gauge is ridiculous as many of the features are vastly oversized, from the width of the wheels to the handrail knobs. I would only consider it if I had a really limited amount of space. OO gauge is probably the best choice for many modellers, especially if you are buying second-hand, as I mostly do. It's just a shame it's not a true scale and a pity that virtually no British rolling stock is available in HO. I can imagine that TT120 will become popular over the next few years and second-hand TT120 stuff will become more common.

I don't think that railway modelling is dying, but it is a hobby that is becoming too expensive for many people. I probably don't help because almost all the stuff I buy is second hand, since I simply can't afford to buy a loco that costs the best part of a month's state pension. The demise of Hatton's is sad as they were one of the biggest suppliers and you could often pick up bargains there.

I can't advise on how much you need to file down the frog but I would suggest that for consistency, if you don't already have one, you should buy a digital caliper that can measure internal dimensions, external dimensions and (most important for your purpose) depth. DON'T buy one of the cheap Chinese ones advertised on Ebay for as little as £5 as most of them are rubbish and some of them are made of plastic. I would advise buying a 6 in/150 mm stainless steel one made by Dasqua for £24.50 from RGD Tools in Mytholmroyd, either on Ebay or direct from RGD. I might be attempting this operation myself sometime as I have a lot of older locos with deep wheel flanges but also a lot of modern points acquired from various places. Doing this accurately with hand-held tools would be very difficult and time consuming. My approach would be to fit my small bench drill with a diamond-coated jewellery bit (basically a rotary file or grinding tool) and preset it to the correct height for taking out the required amount of material from the frog.

I would go further than previous replies and say that I wouldn't even consider using a 50-year old controller. Components, particularly electrolytic capacitors, deteriorate with age and even if it works now it may fail in the future. I'm not sure what the item in your last photo is???

Hi Son of Triangman. Thanks for the info about Dell, I will definitely take a look at them. Sorry to hear about your and your friends'/relatives' health problems. Hope to resume work on my motorised crossing soon.

Hi Son of Triangman, Off topic but I'm thinking of replacing my PC and wondered if you knew a reliable supplier of refurbished ones. There are so many who advertise on Ebay and I'm a bit wary. Also apologies for not updating on my level crossing project. My (non-live-in) partner has been seriously ill (thankfully much better now) and I've been staying at her place several times a week.

A lot of old films were shot in daylight with a blue filter on the camera lens to make it look like night, for example the old Hammer horror films.

Caveat emptor, as the Romans used to say.grinning

@atom3624 If you watch the video you will see that the vehicle drivers are seated on the left and the price of the system is quoted in Euros, so they are obviously not in the UK, and are on the correct (right) side of the road from their point of view.

@Flashbang Very interesting, but without explaining the terms you use your dissertation will probably mean little to people who are absolute beginners when it comes to electrical/electronic circuits. Alternating current? Hz? RMS? Full wave/bridge rectifier? Capacitor? Resistor? Forward voltage? Anode? Ohms? They say a picture is worth a thousand words and some actual diagrams of circuits to use with LEDs would be helpful, as would the simple equations used to calculate resistor values.

@LI There are lots of discussions about powering LEDs on the forum. Just go to General Discussion and type LEDs in the search box followed by the ENTER key.

As a retired electronic engineer I absolutely agree with what others have said. In any equipment more than a few decades old containing electrolytic capacitors these will have degraded, as may other components, especially if the equipment has not been used for some time. My advice is to bin it!

Why not look on Ebay? Or just do a general internet search?

@K3 I found your post fascinating. I wouldn't have the patience! Digital calipers are very useful instruments for most work, especially measurements of larger items. I have 150mm and 300mm ones. However, their accuracy usually isn't as good as their resolution. For very accurate work I still use (but rarely) my old Moore and Wright micrometers, but of course they will only measure up to 25 mm and 50 mm.