The Night Mail

[AndyID]

5 hours ago, Hroth said:

 

Its amazing what you can get to go around Triang 1st radius curves!

 

 

Is anyone here old enough to remember Tri-ang Standard Track?

[AndyID]

5 hours ago, AndyID said:

 

I doubt if inclining the rail would make much difference. That's done on the real thing to increase the contact area between the wheels and the rail to reduce wheel and rail wear. Typically that's not a serious problem for modellers 😀

 

I made this thingy a few years ago to see what happens. While rolling along straight track (no incline) it weaves from side to side as expected although it doesn't want to stay on fairly gentle curves. It's probably just an example of why things tend not to work the same with major differences in scale.

 

 

Uh-oh! He's doing it again.

That's also a plug for my home-made track. Straight off a filament printer. Definitely not as crisp as injection moulding but the cost of the plastic parts is negligible. And, you can have any gauge etc you like. You can also incline the rails just like the real thing if you care to go that far.

[AndyID]

17 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Don’t agree, at all.

Ultra, in ultra processed food, refers to all those additional chemicals - unknown outside of a chemical factory.
 

 

Many, many yonks ago I was on a bus tour in Belgium (probably around 1958) when the guide proudly announced that the factory we were passing was the "poison works". Dad was a pharmacist so he immediately twigged it was simply a translation issue but it remained a family joke for many years.

[BR60103]

5 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

 

 

This is my favourite corner. Is outback Australia not wide enough and flat enough that they couldn't find a bit that didnt need an S bend in it?  My alternative thought is that one bunch of blokes was laying the track from right to left, and another lot coming from left to right  and they juuuust missed.

 

"No worries, get a couple of those curved bits we've got left over in the box, no one will notice!"

 

When I see roads laid out like that, I say to myself that one farmer supported the government and the other was opposed.

 

[BR60103]

59 minutes ago, AndyID said:

 

Is anyone here old enough to remember Tri-ang Standard Track?

Aren't we all?

 

[monkeysarefun]

 

One of these is a weird orange colour, the other is a cheese flavoured  snackfood.

 

 

[pH]

5 hours ago, AndyID said:

Should people in the South of England by kettles on defurred terms?

They should compare three different makes before buying. Having done that, peoples’ buying decisions show remarkable consistency. 10% chose the first one they evaluate, 25% choose the second, but the majority pick de furred one.

[Tony_S]

5 hours ago, AndyID said:

 

Is anyone here old enough to remember Tri-ang Standard Track?

Was that the grey plastic moulded ballast version? If so, that was what I had on my first electric train set for my 5th birthday.  

[AndyID]

6 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

Was that the grey plastic moulded ballast version? If so, that was what I had on my first electric train set for my 5th birthday.  

 

Yes, that was it. It was followed by Series 3 Track which had separated sleepers!

[Hroth]

6 hours ago, AndyID said:

 

Is anyone here old enough to remember Tri-ang Standard Track?

 

I've one of the first Triang train sets, the R0,  containing Standard Track.  Like the traditional banana coaches, the track base can be a bit warped...

http://www.tri-ang.co.uk/RO Set.html

 

The last time I looked in the box, my coaches weren't so badly warped!

 

[Happy Hippo]

48 minutes ago, AndyID said:

 

Yes, that was it. It was followed by Series 3 Track which had separated sleepers!

Followed, by Super Four, which was my entry into the Triang realm after HD 3 rail and then Wrenn track with fibre sleepers and live crossing noses.

 

After using Wrenn track, Super Four was a bit of a let down as it was steel and rherefore rusted whereas the Wrenn track was nickel silver.

 

 

Edited June 5 by Happy Hippo

[TheQ]

Nope never had that track nor remember it, wasn't born in 1955, didn't get my first model Railway until mid to late 1960s, by then I was also playing with others down on the local line. One train a day, not weekends, you could hear the track making noises long before anything came slowly into sight.

[DenysW]

9 hours ago, J. S. Bach said:

But, those "dissolved minerals" are made up of various elements, too. And there were none; at least in measurable amounts

So all those years I spent having water analyses done for elements other than hydrogen and oxygen, which reported back in ppm or ppb were a fantasy? Oh dear. 23 years work down the drain.

[SM42]

27 minutes ago, TheQ said:

Nope never had that track nor remember it, wasn't born in 1955,.

 

Me too.

 

I started with Hornby's finest late 1970s track department output. 

 

Still got it somewhere. 

 

The new fangled HST raced round an oval of track, 3 position controller. 

 

(Like the track, still got it all. The box looks a bit battered now though.)

 

An occasional visit by my brother's Wtenn Peppercorn was made  

 

He wasn't so keen about the 14v the controller supplied to his 12v loco. 

 

Andy

[Dave Hunt]

8 hours ago, J. S. Bach said:

A comment for Air Vice Marshall Hunt (Ret); when you say "bang out" of your plane (meaning ejection?), that reminded me that when I was with RVAH-6, the crews referred to ejection as "punch out".

In the RAF ejection was generally “bang out” but “punch out” would be recognised and occasionally used. Fortunately it was something I never experienced. Sometimes it was used in other contexts such as when at a meeting or party people would say, “I’ll have to bang out early,” as slang for leaving.

 

Dave

 

 

Edited June 5 by Dave Hunt

[Dave Hunt]

I never used the track types mentioned in earlier posts. I went from HD three rail to two rail flexitrack and hand built points from kits (can’t remember the name now) with a brief sojourn into N gauge. I did see some of other people’s layouts using such things as fibre sleepers but in 4mm I always used copperclad or ply.

 

Dave

[Oldddudders]

Fibre sleepers a la Wrenn were a bit prone to warping in less-than-dry environments, ISTR. Peco and Graham Farish (Formoway) hit the better note w plastic sleepers. The latter brand was more to 4mm scale, but needed a point switch or motor to hold a turnout over. Peco's centre spring meant no such extra investment was needed. The market decided which was better value.

[Dave Hunt]

15 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

…….. needed a point switch or motor to hold a turnout over.

When Tortoise point motors first became available I was a bit sceptical about their longevity as they hold point blades over by stalling out still with current applied. After seeing them used on some exhibition layouts I was involved with, though, when they gave no trouble I was convinced that they were OK and have used them ever since. So far I have known of only one failure in over fifty units and that was on the Severn Mill layout I worked on.

 

Dave

[SM42]

Hoorah!

 

Man has been to fix the dishwasher. 

 

It lives. 

 

Mrs SM42 is a happy bunny. 

 

I've still got time for some kip before a night shift.  

 

Even better.

 

Andy

[Happy Hippo]

2 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

I never used the track types mentioned in earlier posts. I went from HD three rail to two rail flexitrack and hand built points from kits (can’t remember the name now) with a brief sojourn into N gauge. I did see some of other people’s layouts using such things as fibre sleepers but in 4mm I always used copperclad or ply.

 

Dave

Looking back on my track building, I've never used ply for sleepers.

 

Having used battened timbers for the garden stuff, (it's still in the garage roof), moving down to 7 mm scale, and having enough sores (sic) to make a dermatologist ecstatic, I turned blocks of timber into sleeper strip and cut to size as required.

[jamie92208]

12 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

I’m afraid that the Darjeeling was never my cup of tea.

 

Dave

 

Where's that groan button. 

 

Jamie

[Dave Hunt]

1 hour ago, Happy Hippo said:

Looking back on my track building, I've never used ply for sleepers.

 

Having used battened timbers for the garden stuff, (it's still in the garage roof), moving down to 7 mm scale, and having enough sores (sic) to make a dermatologist ecstatic, I turned blocks of timber into sleeper strip and cut to size as required.

I’ve found that 1/16 ply when stained makes good 7mm sleepers with the proviso that it is obviously too thin if you want the sleeper ends visible. It is also good for bonding resin or plastic chairs to it as the softened material soaks into the porous surface before hardening. 

Dave

[Compound2632]

1 hour ago, Dave Hunt said:

I’ve found that 1/16 ply when stained makes good 7mm sleepers with the proviso that it is obviously too thin if you want the sleeper ends visible. It is also good for bonding resin or plastic chairs to it as the softened material soaks into the porous surface before hardening. 

 

With what solvent? 

 

NB 1/16" = 4 3/4" at 4 mm scale so pretty much spot on.

Edited June 5 by Compound2632

[polybear]

2 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

 

With what solvent? 

 

NB 1/16" = 4 3/4" at 4 mm scale so pretty much spot on.

 

Butanone IIRC

[AndyID]

I think I tried every type of 00 track for a while. One I have not seen mentioned was Peco spiked track. It used flat bottom rail and fiber bases. You could get It with steel or NS rail. I used the steel rail version in the basement at my parents house which was a mistake. The rail rusted and the fiber bases warped.

 

Later I moved on to SMP. The later version is pretty good. I think I still have an unmade plastic base point kit.