Martin S-C

I am irritated because there has been a complete failure to fix this after so many issues involving so many people and for so long. There is nowhere for the issue to be except in the code or in people's profiles, unless its just a poorly configured server. Saying its proprietary software doesn't help your case. Its software. It will have bugs. It seems like a number of the community members have found one, or more. If its not your code then I assume you approached the vendor a very long time ago to resolve this, when the issue arose - what was their response? "with additional modifications" Well, how do you KNOW they haven't caused this issue? Changing code in one area can do some very weird things in other areas. I think given how long this has been going on this community's members deserve to have it fixed. The site is not much more than a big inconvenience to use and it all appears to boil down to the user profile and "content I follow" database or command. EDIT: Just now, for the first time today after hours of timeouts, the "content I follow" option has worked. Perhaps checking my profile activity may reveal something.

Hm, close but no cigar. That doesn't produce the format I prefer to use which is topics only with the detail condensed. I'm trying to save that as a new stream but it simply won't let me. The timer indicating its talking to the server runs indefinitely. Its been doing that all day. I recently updated to the latest version of Firefox and its got worse.

Having this continuously now. Simply cannot access "Content I follow" at all. Hopeless. Andy - please fix the code. It has to be the code. You give me a url link that works, I browse the site for a week or so doing nothing at all except click links within RMWeb and then the error returns. Its been like this since a short time after the new site software was introduced and that is... how long ago now? Two years? About time this was looked at properly.

Oh. So you're not doing it proper, like the rest of us do. Splitter!

That looks okay. I'm not so sure about the curious articulated chassis system you've mounted it on but the body is fine

I recall many many years ago at a model railway show at Central Hall Westminster (so that shows you how long ago) there was a layout with PO wagons marked up with those names. In all honesty the layout was crude by today's standards and the quality of running wasn't that great but the joke was when shunting them the operator made up some very odd sequences and got a few chuckles from the crowd, but in a lightning fast way got them back in the correct order.

I still experience this from time to time. There has to be an issue in the site code. Andy - you supply me with a URL to use and its fine for a while but I just browse around the site going back and forth just being a site user and after a week or three, the delays are back.

That flexible walling is brilliant. Where did you get it again? I have seen almost exactly that pattern used in the Forest of Dean so will grab some for my layout.

Your measurements are around the curve of the track centre line I take it? But yes, very helpful, thanks.

Can I enquire what your system is for arranging a correct and steady gradient around a curve where you're having to build the trackbed in sections - limited I'm guessing by the dimensions of the ply sheets you're using. Do you have a long spirit level with a pre-measured support at one end? Or some other means of getting the grade correct, because I understand that around a curve all kinds of odd geometric things happen to a slope. I have exactly this task ahead of me in the second iteration of my own layout and have been wondering how best to do it.

Bloody hell, some cheeky sod just took a photo of what's in my recycling bin.

Once Edwardian had told us there was trouble at t'mill, the flood gates opened. I quote Commander Sam Shore at Marineville... just go to 00:40 ... "Anything can happen in the next half-hour."

Oh, no, Edwardian, what have you done? We know where this will lead...

Did he model railways though?

I don't reckon that backscene very highly. Much too abstract.

If doing that gives me muscles like his and long luxurious hair again, I'll try anything.

Interesting plan. I can see it incurring additional expense though such as a fridge for beer and curries, a microwave, a potty and a sleeping bag, but the basic concept is sound.

I don't see why not. Of course the other issue is the timber framework either side of it... though I'm going to do my best to make that stable.

Yes, that's the biggie. It won't have a hinge this time and will use 3x DCC Concepts electrical alignment spigots/plugs, so no wiring around the door frame this time either. It will fully lift out as well as being smaller and simpler. My main concern is as its across the door and one of the windows, and one of the wall vents is nearby it is still about the most moist places in the room. I wonder if construction entirely from ply would be better?

All dismantled. The next task is to clear and clean the room which, with this nice weather, should be tomorrow, put as much stuff as I can in the garden shed with only electrical items and rolling stock going into the house for safe keeping, then lay out the old frames on the floor to see how best to cut them to fit the new baseboard dimensions. Learning an important lesson from before, this layout's entire framework is going to be on one level with only small raised areas in two locations - the branch terminus and the colliery. Once that's done the next stage is to print a 1:1 scale drawing of the track plan and lay this on top of the frames. Where the locations of point motors intersect with frame spacers the frame spacers will all be moved. No above-board point motors this time around. This is lesson #2: the baseboard framing will be changed to fit the layout's pointwork and not vice-versa. Once we've done that the adjusted frames will be refixed to the top of the existing legs and a new 9mm ply top surface screwed on. I was going to lower all the legs by a few inches but having thought this through its a lot of work for a small gain so we'll stay with the current layout's height which will be mostly lower than before as almost everything will be at 0" datum and not raised up - before the highest point was 8" above datum and that was just a little too high for comfort. Lesson #3. (Lesson #4 is no pointwork in tunnels). The altered frames as well as the leg units will all have their open end grain sealed with PVA to reduce as much as possible the tendency for the timber to breathe and thus change dimensions. After that will be to build the raised areas for the colliery and the branch plus the long 1:67 branch incline which might be quite a challenge. This is almost 28 feet long and is going to be technically tricky as it turns through 180 degrees around the east end of the room. And then... lay track, wire it up, place engines on and play trains. Easy. I hope to have trains running by Christmas! Last frame comes down. Last leg unit still standing. Now we have a big stack of frame units... A big stack of legs units... And a huge bag of track. Its a bit like a Jidenco kit if Jidenco had made whole layout constructor packs. And not included any instructions.

In today's news, engineers dismantling a disused railway in Peterborough unearthed several containers of chocolates and toffees said to date from the Christmas of 2018/2019. There were theories that they had been placed there as a time capsule. A leading archaeologist who inspected the find stated that the sweetmeats "really ought to be kept well enclosed in human stomach acids in order to preserve them properly" and was seen to take them away to his private lab for testing. It has also been speculated that Britain's strategic reserve of steam locomotives may be down there as well, mothballed inside cardboard boxes and bubble-wrap.

Going... going...

Nearly finished with the dissing. It will soon be time for the mantling to begin.

PM sent, and thanks again.

Thank you Nick. I do struggle with visualising all this so its appreciated. I wonder if it would be possible to rearrange the levers so that the most common and main movements are all close together (signals and points) and in the centre of the frame so that the least used levers are at the ends. I realise I'm asking a lot and if its too big an ask it's fine for you to say no.