luckymucklebackit

Dancing With The Moonlit Knight - Genesis

Rudy - Supertramp (featuring a class 50 at Paddington)

Learning to Fly - Pink Floyd

I did it on here a couple of years ago, I was "hidden in the loft and noticed a patch of damp scenery where the rain was getting in ", couple of guys on here took it seriously before seeing the joke!! JIm

Fat Old Sun - Pink Floyd

Hi everyone - I read with interest some comments on another thread regarding the “neglected, if not forgotten, art of designing for operation”. As I get easily bored with repetitive movements, Gateside and Northbridge has evolved around a basic need to have a fully operational timetable that sustains interest over a long period of time, the layout is therefore designed with the timetable in mind, don't get me wrong, there are “pinch points”, but that reflects railway practice and adds interest. On a previous, smaller incarnation of this layout, the timetable was run “to the clock” with trains having set periods of dwell in hidden parts of the layout, but this one has got a bit like Topsy and has grown beyond the capability of one operator to run to the clock, and all operations are now purely sequential. The first tool in setting up the timetable is the Formation Planner, this is part of an Excel spreadsheet with each piece of rolling stock listed in columns along the top, and each working listed in rows down the side. The composition of each working is shown by the intersecting box, with the position of the coach in the train shown by the number 1,2,3,4 etc. If the piece of stock is stabled, a colour code indicates where that will be, blue for Fiddle North, green for Gateside, orange for Northbridge etc. Text boxes contain notes of shunts or other special moves. The Formation Planner is essential for checking where each piece of rolling stock is located so that you don’t plan a move when the coaches are on the other side of the layout! There is a separate sheet for the locomotive roster, this is linked back to the formation planner via the fourth column. It takes a bit of fine tuning, particularly at the end of the “day” to ensure that everything is in the correct position for the start of the next day. Note that this is purely for passenger and parcels, freight is run on an ad-hoc basis as fixed rakes, occasionally getting in the way of the passenger trains With the planner complete, the Working Timetable can then be compiled, this is based as accurately as possible on the prototype but us rarely used as the planner works as the operations manual. The timetable is relatively simple in its core, the interest is added with parcels vans being added and removed, changes to formation of the Gateside to Fiddle North trains and the sleeping cars early and late in the day. Hope that this shows that "the art" is alive and kicking at Gateside and Northbridge Jim

I would like to think that on my layout, the art of operation is still alive and kicking! Jim

Life in the Fast Lane - The Eagles

The one at Leigh on Sea of the 302 (C1816) looks like a very similar view of a jigsaw I had featuring a BR standard Tank and a Fowler Tank - am I right? http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fC1RlxpDIdo/VR5ojFj0w4I/AAAAAAAAMgw/AleL6DQ35-w/s1600/Journey%2Bby%2Bthe%2BSea%2B%2B(1000)%2BFalcon%2BJumbo.jpg

From the Beginning - Emerson, Lake & Palmer

I found this Tri-ang advert from the 1960s this morning, would be popular with some of the idiots featured in this thread! http://tri-ang.weebly.com/tri-ang-railwaysminic-motorways-combination-sets-1962-1964-rma-rmc.html Jim

Forty-Five Hundred Times - Status Quo

Long Train Running - The Doobie Brothers

For Mavisbank, I thought I would have a go at making colour light shunt signals. I have seen off the shelf models and a couple of hole made designs, But I had an idea in my mind which has now been put into practise and lo and behold I have got this working, it is cheap, easy and effective representation of the modern BR shunt signal. Above ground the signal is made from thick plasticard, cut and drilled, then mounted on a plasticard base. The example has a non working route indication, this I felt was a step too far to get working. Drill out the plasticard to take 1mm diameter fibre optic cable, make a sharp bend using pliers before threading through the plasticard (this is probably the trickiest part of the job) 18958642913_afebfb8679_o by Lowland Locomotives, on Flickr 19579546875_347e5af2d1_o by Lowland Locomotives, on Flickr For the under baseboard LED mount, I used 5mm ply salvaged from scrap and drilled three holes to take 3mm bore aluminium tube, the LEDs are then pushed into the tubes and glued in place, use two white and one red LED (or one yellow if applicable) Connect up the required resistors and then run wire to the switches, mine work off relays which are activated when the correct route is set. This is the unit that goes under the baseboard 20150828_195048 by Lowland Locomotives, on Flickr Wires connected up for testing, stop indication, one red and one white light LEDs energised for stop aspect by Lowland Locomotives, on Flickr and the indication for the proceed aspect - two white lights LEDs energised for proceed aspect by Lowland Locomotives, on Flickr The unit is then glued to the underside of the baseboard and the fibre optics fed into the tube The LED mount fitted under the baseboard by Lowland Locomotives, on Flickr Before positioning the signal I checked the aspect Stop = one white light and one red light side by side Stop indication by Lowland Locomotives, on Flickr Proceed = two white lights at 45 degrees 20150828_201008 by Lowland Locomotives, on Flickr Just need to get a spot of black paint in the signal and glue in position, total cost is very low, three LEDs, two resistors and some 1mm Fibre Optic, bits of scrap wood and a length of 3mm bore tube, probably works out about £2 per signal Go on - try it!! Jim

Set The Controls for the Heart of the Sun - Pink Floyd

Seven by Seven - Hawkwind

Little Wing - Jimi Hendrix

The Magician's Birthday - Uriah Heep

Silver Machine - Hawkwind

Stop the World I Wanna Get Off With You - Arctic Monkeys

I would say it was a fair bet that J2408 at Kilsby was a Motorail, given the predominance of Mk1 First Class coaches Jim

Wouldn't be the first time that the wife has called me on my mobile from the house phone to tell me my dinner was ready........ ... saves her shouting up to the loft. Jim

Photograph C3892 brought back a memory for me, as a teenage football supporter we regularly indulged in a bottle of Sweet Pomagne (as advertised on the poster in the foreground) during the match, before alcohol was banned from football grounds. Great photographs!! Jim

Over The Hills And Far Away - Led Zeppelin

Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath