Golden Fleece 30

Very nice Mike. Split pins are a nightmare at times. I always use brass ones from Eileens Emporium and stianless steel wire for the handrails. Stainless obviously wont rust but there is the mismatch appearance wise of brass and stainless. The worst one for replacing are the Castle and 2-6-4 due to the curves involved and I admit I have scratched the odd one. Garry

Thanks for this, I admit I do not remember seeing it doubled although I probably will have as I went to most of the ones at the Corn Exchange. As shown in the above scans from RM is what really impressed me though. Garry

Don't worry about 4mm photos if they are relevant Mike. I certainly don't remember this layout but looks good. It is an interesting comment about cutting the webs to help prevent warping but with the track all down I dont think I can do that. Thankfully, if it does warp bad enough to stop trains running I have a lot of Gem plastic sleepered track abbout 50 or 60 yards, I can replace it with. Some of this, about 30 yards, is still new wrapped in its delivery wrapping to the shops. You are correct with Lydney having its original line turned into a disused one when an extension was built and here is the photo. Also a drawing showing Lydney with its first extension and final incarnation. Garry

Don't worry about getting onto the TT pages Mike, its model railways and that's it. I don't remember the Highland railway one but certainly do with Marthwaite, I saw it in the flesh unballasted but cannot recall seeing it with ballast at a later stage. I saw Lydney many times and here it is with some ballast but I think mine will be without, certainly a lot easier to do leaving it off. I had a photo somwhere of a Black 5 in Birmingham New street with all the pointwork without ballast so I have an excuse. In those days Kings X model shop used to sell bags of ballast that when opened dried rock hard (no pun intended) in the air but if I remember correctly it was not cheap and nce opened you had to use fairly quickly. I think mine without ballast will not be too bad as it will have static grass and modern buildings on it plus fencing as seen in the photo. Garry

I was not going to get involved but it was brought up and as you say we are all different but for me sound is a complete waste as it is so unrealistic. It is taken from real ones (that's fine) but it plays as a real one which is 76 times larger than the model. To sound correctly it needs scaling down to match the appropriate sized model which I don't think sound can be scaled down. At shows it spoils my enjoyment when I can hear it from upstairs when the layout is downstairs, in other rooms etc. Worse still is when as an exhibitor all I can hear is them all day long, and it spoils it for other sound layouts who cannot hear their own. Keep sound at home, in the club rooms or better still have just DCC shows where I don't have go and to listen. I'm ready to duck the bullets now but that is my opinion. Garry

It was mentioned earlier all teams were given a Gaugemaster DC 4 track controller, if they wanted DCC they had to provide it themselves so no knowledge was needed. Garry

A little experimentation, I had thought of ballasting the track but having tried a little on the head shunt end using "Ballast Bond" which is a ready made type of PVA mix it did not work with most of the stones not gluing. I did not want to wet the fibre sleepers too much obviously so thought about just painting the sleepers and base. This is a short section which was quickly done last night with a brush. It looks reasonable so I may do it this way but with a can to get everywhere or stick to the brush. The fencing is Hornby cut down which looks fine so with a little painting will be okay for the boundary fence. Also a view looking down after testing a few locos. Garry

Leaving my personal issues regarding DC v DCC aside this is a difficult one to discuss/show in this sort of programme and who it is aimed at. Reading a lot of extra people, adults and children, have attended more recent exhibitions due to the show then hopefully they may look at entering into "our world" and this then is where I see the argument for DC v DCC appearing. I know some sets are sold as DCC with the vast majority still DC but who are the DCC sets aimed at? Again leaving my personal views apart, I can see a lot of people looking at DCC as they are told what it is supposed to do, and as mentioned on here, the use of a phone etc will make them happy and they may go down that route, but, I doubt giving a young child a DCC train set would be beneficial for him or her starting out. When I was little (7, 8, 9, 10 etc), many moons ago, I would ask for a new loco for Christmas/Birthday and when I received one I could open the box and put it straight on the track and run it. Now if the basic set was DCC it would mean a loco would have to get a chip and be wired in correctly and certain controller settings made, (correct? as I am not a DCC fan), and I doubt a 7, 8, 9 year old would be able to do this and I think this initial start could be off putting. Even DC can give issues like turning the control knob the wrong way (good old 3-rail does not though) or a second hand loco may have had its magnet removed and replaced the wrong way round or even remaged the wrong way, but it must still be easier for a young child. This type of programme is not for discussing the merits of one system over the other, it is for the entertainment value, so I was a little disappointed to read on here a few pages back that the final is going to be all DCC. I personally have no knowledge of it, and don't want to, but how many winning contestants do? Hopefully in the interests of the viewers someone from each team will have the knowledge but I think it a little unfair as it then becomes more of a "specialist" competition. Garry

A little video of a couple of freight trains in opposite directions. We only have 4 boards wired up plus a 3 foot drop just past the girder bridge so I do have my heart in my mouth at times. Garry

Bought a few coaches from the 3mm society non Tri-ang department and these two will not be getting repainted, I could certainly never do the Teak effect like this. The Teak one is a Bec kit, the NE fish van might be scratchbuilt. The photos actually show up things the naked eye does not, really pleased at something different. I did paint a Bec 4 wheeler in maroon last year but with a few more now I may do these in Blood and Custard livery. Garry

I am not too worried about the wheel Robert, just hoping I can get 4 decent matching curves. As mentioned earlier someone may have an oil bottle for it. Garry

Nice to know you still have them, I may be getting an unopened bottle of oil to put in it as its own is missing. The thing is this set cost less than some Jintys on their own on Ebay but what I liked is the Type A track and its controller with wires. Garry

Hi David, Don't worry I will be doing what I can to keep it going. I am slowly sorting out a few things like track across baseboard joins where they have moved, point motors which need contacts cleaning (or replacing as in one place so far) and a couple of points where the rail has come away from its pins. That was one issue with the plastic sleepered points the rail was only soldered to about 4 pins. Our little one discoverd electric points tonight and loved it, problem is she cannot yet relate to the diagram to layout positioning yet. I too used to love the articles like Lydney and see it in the flesh at shows. Garry

I am not really keen on this, "stars" seem to think the public owe them a favour. If you get one for FREE then he (or she) should be interested in it, the moment you start paying him (or her) then they are in it for the money. This programme is supposed to be for the public not someone who wants to be the big I am. Garry

Received a nice first generation goods set in nearly new condition. Looking at the motor the felt pads were still bright white and the armature, insulation etc all very clean. The centre wheels are the plastic version and one has split. The wagons look to have had very little use with no tell tale gunge on the treads. The controller wires are still tapped up and the box in not to bad a condition. The only issue is that 4 curves are missing but may pick some up somewhere. Garry

A short video. The Britannia is not as noisy as it appears. Garry

Our little one has had her first go at running a train on the new layout. She struggles to see over the top even on her tip toes on a stool so maybe needs a higher one for now. Garry

I do let children have a go with my 0 gauge layout handing the controller over the layout to them. It is end to end and so far I have had no issues, and as remarked before, the adults and children love it. I did also let a couple of children operate my TT layout and our 6 year old was the one to show them what to do. I know a chap called Alex Garfield encourages children to operate his TT layout even providing a drivers hat for them. It is all good publicity and can only benefit everyone. On the other hand I have seen some operators look down their noses when asked a question, more so if it was a child making you wonder why they bothered showing their layouts. No matter how good or not a layout is politeness costs nothing and we are all the same even if the skills are not. Garry

I am not getting into a debate on DC v DCC but finger poking does not work when the whole layout has stopped and people stand around scratching their heads not knowing what to do. It happens at every show I go to and at York this year one DCC layout spent all 3 days without running from its set up to dismantling. Don't get me going on sound either. Garry

A couple of things to look at, the nylon sets do tend to attract and collect dust and fluff more easily than the metal ones, even in the compensated bogies. Two, the nylon stub ends do get worn which can prevent them turning easily. The single should pull free running coaches easily. My Lord of the Isles pulls nine Exleys fitted with Bachmann bogies without any difficulty. Garry

A little more testing as I have wired up a second controller and electrified the points. A few point motors are sticking and hopefully just need a clean and oil, plus a couple of operating wires need replacing and a few rail joints need looking at but coming along nicely. Excuse the poor video it was done on my phone. Garry

I think the main issue is that they have a few teams of individuals getting together who cannot do any prework like the clubs can and that puts them at a big disadvantage. On the first episode I thought is was a one off as a team had dropped out but obviously not as there have been 3 teams like this I think. Another slight issue is what constitutes a prebuild? Missenden got pulled up for rows of houses yet Fawley laid all the top board track which, in reality, was a lot more than 6 pieces. This is an anomaly that needs sorting out and clarifying for next time. Regarding the comments about Fawleys layout for Fire and Ice theme I thought they could easily have put the scenic snow over the tracks and buildings to show a winter scene. Garry

Not really that impressive Mike, just enlarged the photo on my phone and took a screenshot :-) Garry

I do have Queen Elizabeth somewhere Mike, unless I have sold it, which has a bevelled smokebox but not done by myself. It was bought that way as something different. I cannot remember if there is enough casting to file it down or if some filler was used inside though. Garry

Actually Kevin it is Duchess of Norfolk not York. There was never a Duchess or City of York in this class. Garry