John Isherwood

I don't get the off-putting bit - though the premium price may have that effect! I'm sure that the product will be identical to the supermarket stuff. What is it, after all? Fruit peel and sugar. There can be many reasons why it's not in the supermarkets - probably some obscure thing to do with Covid-19. On-line sources have been invaluable to me this year. John Isherwood.

A quick Google on candied mixed peel brings up plenty of on-line sources - plus it suggests that wholefood shops might be a good place to look. John Isherwood.

The first thing to remember is that all of my ten boards will be electrically independent - no interboard wiring except the safety wiring for the lifting board. This is specifically to allow each board to be hinged to the wall; (except for the lifting access board); for ease of wiring and maintenance. Secondly, and as a consequence of the lack of interboard wiring, each board will have three DC feed wires from the power buses; two +12v wires from two controllers and one 0v common return wire. This, of course, applies to the lifting section. So, the wiring to the lifting access board will comprise two +12v wires from two controllers, and one 0v common return wire. In addition, the 0v common return wire from the board to the left of the access lifting board will be taken across the lifting section to the board to the right via one of the two brass draw bolts, and the 0v common return wire from the board to the right of the access lifting board will be taken across the lifting section to the board to the left via the other brass draw bolt. Bear in mind that, as a consequence of my 'no interboard wiring' edict, all section switches are mounted on the boards to which they apply; not grouped together at a control panel. Doing this greatly simplifies the electrics, at the expense of more moving around to control the layout. John Isherwood.

Thanks - I'd read that, but not fully understood it! Basically, for a single switch, there are three possible combinations of the two tiebar positions - DOWN : DOWN; UP : DOWN; DOWN : UP. This can't be achieved with a single slide switch; it's not the electrics that cause the problem but the physical constraints of the slide switch. Thanks again, John Isherwood.

I didn't express myself too well, did I? There will be no inter-board wiring, so that all boards except the lifting section can be hinged to the wall. There will be two 20v AC bus pairs to feed plug-in controllers; plus two 12v DC feed buses (from two controllers), and one 0v common return bus. These busses will run along the walls the entire length of the continuous run layout, except across the doorway / lifting section. In order to avoid trains approaching the raised lifting section, the board to the left of the lifting section will have its connection to the 0v common return bus taken via one of the brass draw bolts to the bus termination to the right of the door, and the board to the right of the lifting section will have its connection to the 0v common return bus taken via the other brass draw bolt to the bus termination to the left of the door. Crikey - that sounds even more complicated, but it's really quite simple. John Isherwood.

My proposal is to have a couple of brass slide bolts at the opposite end of the lifting section from the hinges. One of these slide bolts will carry the common return wiring for all the sections of track either side side of the lifting section. So, if the lifting section is not lowered and secured by the bolt, nothing will move within the track sections either side of the lifting section. This pre-supposes that the sections of track either side of the lifting section will be isolated from the common return elsewhere on the layout. John Isherwood.

Having studied the Peco wiring diagram for their Electrofrog single slip, I can see no problem with both sets of switch rails being thrown by the same mechanical switch / lever / solenoid. However, the LH switch blades' polarity switch changes the polarity of the RH frog, and vice versa. That being the case, and in theory at least, a two pole two way slide switch should be capable of throwing both sets of switch blades mechanically, and changing the polarity of both frogs electrically. Please do contradict / debate this theory at will - as I'd like to put it into practice if viable. Regards, John Isherwood.

I don't know if these photos help; all images copyright unknown - will remove if requested. The 'unicycling lion' image shows the prominent reddish orange line at the edge of the roof - and the later images show that this line was still present. The bodyside lining should be the same reddish orange with, it would seem, fine white lines either side. John Isherwood.

They do - but only on their new bulkhead track. John Isherwood.

Thank you for the correction. What I do know - for a fact - is that the loco oil inspection flare lamp that I was given, by an ex-engineman, had a wick of stranded white asbestos. John Isherwood.

I've a feeling that the wadding used in the cast smoke oil reservoir was white fibrous asbestos! John Isherwood.

Ruston, That is very helpful - thank you. I think that the mod below would achieve the same result - but with less visible wire; any comments? I also have an Electrofrog single slip to lay - both tiebars will be thrown mechanically from a single slide switch. Could anybody recommend mods and a wiring arrangement, please? Many thanks again, John Isherwood.

Firstly, I am about to build a traditional 4mm. scale DC powered layout; with turnouts mechanically operated via slide switches and wire-in-tube. The slide switches will change the polarity of the turnout frogs. I have just taken delivery of 34 new Peco Electrofrog Code 75 flat-bottomed turnouts, and have read before of these "normally recommended mods", but have never really understood the why, what and how. Could someone please explain precisely why these mods are recommended; what the perceived problem(s) is / are that the mods remedy; and exactly what should be cut / bonded and where? If some work to the turnouts prior to laying will result in more reliable running, I would like to undertake this during the period that my garage is being converted into a railway room. Thank you in anticipation. John Isherwood.

Having run through my archive of loco photos, it would seem that most, but by no means all locos of this class had visible rivets to the lower half of the smokebox door. As to the rivets in the upper half; these are either invisible or barely visible - certainly nowhere near as prominent as in the lower half. Not my copyright - will remove if requested. However, I have identified a number of locos that has prominent upper half rivets; 61800, 61808, 61812, 61818, 61833, 61853, 61856, 61905, 61906, 61942, 61949 & 61980. There were no doubt others, but I do not have clear photos of the smokebox door of the whole class. Not my copyright - will remove if requested. Note that 61942 is photographed, very clean, on a special train and, to my eyes, has had its smokebox door rivets highlighted with a light coloured paint. If you would like to see any of the above photos, please PM me. John Isherwood.

My fall plates are much simpler - simply the fall plate with a length of 0.3mm. wire soldered along the edge that abuts the loco. The wire passes behind the vertical cab handrails and is then bent at right-angles and trimmed off. When blackened / painted, the wire is virtually invisible and the fall plate is removeable. John Isherwood.

Being a small trader myself, it’s been demanding keeping things up to speed. I could have taken two approaches. No.1 - I tried my best to keep service up to scratch and, when this was not possible, I communicated with my customers to explain why there were problems and what I was doing to remedy them; that way I retained my customers. No.2 - I could have run my business for my own convenience, ignoring my customers and not bothering to keep even my catalogue up-to-date, leaving my customers in the dark as to when their orders would be fulfilled; that way my business would have 'gone down the pan'. John Isherwood.

This supply problem and lack of communication / current product listing predates Covid-19 by a very long time - witness the 2013 catalogue on the website. John Isherwood.

I don't think that anyone is disputing this. The problem is that it seems to be impossible to get any information as to where the problem lies, and when it might be resolved. Potential customers can be very for giving IF they understand the problem, and have some idea of when their orders may be fulfilled. In the case of Markits, offering a 2013 (!) catalogue on their website, full of tantalising goodies, when the reality is that little can actually be obtained in a reasonable timescale - even by wholesalers - is positively counter-productive, and strikes the retail customer as being cynical. It takes very little effort to update a website to reflect current reality - I know; I do it to my own site whenever circumstances dictate a temporary change to normal service. Not to do so is simply to insult one's customer-base. I know that Mark has his defenders, but he really doesn't help himself with his attitude to potential trade. John Isherwood.

As ever, communication is all - customers need to know when they might expect to be able to fulfil their needs. There seems to be ample evidence, too, that the proprietor prefers product development to fulfilling orders. That's fair enough, but the sales lost MUST be capable of sustaining an employee to undertake what the owner seems to regard as drudgery. There are now more than enough first-hand reports from retailers that they are totally fed up of having to decline orders for base-range products; they lose income, as must Markits. The current situation cannot be sustainable. John Isherwood.

None of us who can were born with the capability or ability - we decided to learn. It's not 'can't', it's 'won't'. John Isherwood.

I will say this - yes, again Andy - at risk of being subject to further sanctions. Why did BRM buy RMweb from Andy? At the time, I thought it would be so that they could promote BRM - fair enough; they incur a cost and get a promotion opportunity in exchange. How naive - the promotion opportunity obviously comes at no cost to BRM; we (non-Gold members) fund it by having to endure endless adverts for wholly irrelevant products and services. ..... and then we are regularly chided for not paying actual cash for the privilege of NOT being bombarded with adverts! I know this is out of your hands, Andy - but it must be galling to have to try to justify such cynicism. John Isherwood. (PS. If I disappear from here, you'll know why).

The testing is going fine, thank you. I keep a stock of small BA-series brass nuts and bolts; 8BA, 10BA and 12BA cover most requirements, though I also keep 6BA and 14BA as well. A Google search on BRASS BA NUTS BOLTS will bring up plenty of sources. John Isherwood.

The switches are DPDT, and I did consider the approach that you suggest. However, initially, I may well wish to operate the layout via the 'flick' method - and the simple installation of the microswitch will facilitate this. At a later date, mechanical turnout operation will be installed as indicated in my diagram. In the event that microswitches prove to be less than reliable, it will be a simple matter to rewire the frogs to the slide switches. John Isherwood.

You may have to wait to make your first booked slot - but the secret is to then make it a recurring slot. It may be a little inconvenient to have to be at home at the same time / date each week - but it is worth it for the reassurance that you will get a weekly delivery. John Isherwood.

See my post of 22/09/20 above - the supply situation has now gone beyond the merely frustrating. What is the point of having (theoretically) a huge range of fantastic wheels and other components, if your retailers are unable to source even the most basic range of wheels? Something is very wrong, I fear ...... John Isherwood.