Claude_Dreyfus

A reasonably frequent visitor to Friedrichstrasse pauses at the end of the platform. Herr Willy Brandt is steadfast in his refusal to acknowledge the usurper. At the Rotarail show, we were talking to a visitor, who recommended rubbing graphite on the tracks, which helps signification to improve pickup and maintain track cleanliness. This being tested out on the tram lines.

A few night shots of Friedrichstrasse. There are still a good 20-odd lights yet to fit (mainly street lights), but they do add to the atmosphere we are trying to create. Hall lights off last night for a few pictures. Here be spies... The lights beneath the bridge run on AC, and have a very subtle flicker. All adds to the atmosphere...I rather like the reflection of the light on the river on the bottom left hand side... A cyclist makes his way home through the late night streets. The street lights are on, but the residents are tucked up in bed; the houses in darkness. Despite the late hour, there are still passengers awaiting their final trains home...not that the E60 electric will be of too much assistance to them... This a recent purchase by a club colleague and is a Fleischmann model - one of their final H0 models. It is sound-fitted, and sounds superb...that wonderful old electric whine, punctuated by the beating of the connecting rods.

I saw this quote, and it is probably the most heart-breaking aspect of the whole situation. I would advise anyone who would dismiss this situation as 'it was just possessions' to read and reflect upon this. Which is the nub of the issue - how can you reason with, or convey the impact of their actions to someone who does not have the mental or social capacity to understand what they did was a bad thing?

Like many on here, I have wide interests, my own poison being German and Japanese. I am naturally drawn to them, as well as anything else just a little unusual. I like good quality modelling even if it isn't my primary interest. What I am not fussed about are the usual identikit steam and green layouts, which show little imagination, or even any attempt to portray a time or place. That said, I do spend time at every layout I see at a show...you never know where that little bit of inspiration may come from... Do I have a bias? Yes I probably do, but in part that is a reaction to what I see as the need for overseas layouts to have to go that extra mile in order to get invites to shows. I get the feeling many shows will favour an indifferent UK layout over a better overseas offering. I don't get some of the comments people make at shows, at best it makes them look rather foolish, I recall a comment at the Southampton Eurotrack show a few years ago. 'Nice show, but too many foreign layouts'...

Thanks Phil. That is interesting, and also good to see at least some live on. Many of these are excellent models (after all, they are essentially the same quality as the production models) , and with the hand-painted livery samples, the product of much skill and hard work in their own right.

Just curious really. When a new model is produced, we see lots of prototypes and eventually livery samples. What happens to them when they are finished with, i.e. the model goes into production or gets cancelled? Are they binned, or do they end up in a drawer somewhere never to see the light of day again? I'm guessing they are not sold or passed on to other parties as, being prototypes, they won't have the quality finish or mechanism (where fitted) that the production models have.

* Bookmarks comment for future reference when Dave has his 'tadaa' moment...maybe...

377432 heads a fast service towards Portsmouth across the Arun flood plains south of Pulborough - 19 April 2019 On the same day, 377411 heads the all stations to Bognor section of the train, just south of Pulborough. 377432 would have formed part of this train as far as Horsham, where it was detached and ran fast to Barnham, before making up a semi-fast along the south coast.

We have used these types of clips on exhibition layouts in the past and they have caused us no end of issues. Their main drawback is the lack of adjustability, especially at shows where the layout reacts to temperature/humidity changes. At least bolts will allow for some realignment as required. They also get in the way, running the risk of getting caught or damaged when erecting/dismantling at shows or moving around. I must say though, using them as the main track bus is a neat idea...

Broadly speaking, 'not for profit' means any profits made are put straight back into the business/charity, as opposed to being withdrawn as profits for the owners/shareholders. Not for profits do pay salaries (and have to pay any taxes on these salaries, NI for example), so whilst not knowing the detailed ins and outs, there is no reason why a salary cannot be drawn. If he has gone down the full limited company route, there is a set recommended annual salary that can be drawn for salary. I suspect the phrase was more aimed at the purpose of the APT not be a vehicle for making a profit, which may put people off (people seem to hate the idea of making a profit from this hobby), as opposed being a pure not-for-profit...which involves a different tax set up.

Agree. Dave has made a misjudgement, and judging by some other threads has already paid a price for his announcement. There has been justified criticism, but some quite personal and not completely necessary, however in a number of posts there are pointers to how he can rectify the situation, with sensible and experienced advice. Really we should leave it to him to rectify the situation, what is fine us done, but I cannot see what can be gained by barracking him further. I would hope that we are mostly agreed that we want him to deliver his products consistently and without drama.

Topicality alert! Mrs Dreyfus was watching Neighbours tonight. Carl Kennedy has just bought a former Melbourne tram and convinced the blaggard Paul Robinson to install it in his new development. Legend...he has just gone up in my estimation as my favourite soap character...which is a pretty small list, basically consisting of Joe Mangle and Seth Armstrong from Emmerdale.

Interesting, I thought that looked like an RTC liveried 31 at the rear. I see from the gala website it is 31163 (renumbered as 97205). Apologies for the OT.

As with most manufacturers, DJM started with a lot of goodwill. Many were enthusiastic and orders were placed, initially through dealers (I myself placed an order for a class 17) or via crowd funding when he embarked on this. The goodwill has evaporated over the last few years, replaced with a degree of cynicism which increases with every announcement. Crowd funding has resulted in models being delivered, so it does work in many cases, but it requires a degree of faith in the manufacturer to work. I still maintain that Dave can make success of things if he sticks to the creative side, the conceiving, designing etc. He knows the hobby, and his plans show he has a good idea of the sort of models people want. But he cannot seem to get a grip of the business side of things...organisation, negotiation and communication. Team up with someone who is an expert in these things, and it could work well. I fear, however, DJM as a brand may be indelibly tarnished and a rebrand, refocus and some expert assistance may be the only way forward.

Apologies for the OT, but how straight forward is it to convert AC to DC? Clearly must be possible given ESU multi current capability. I thought it was an involved job, or was this simply a 3 rail to 2 rail change?

If the table stays as it is (i.e. we stay in 3rd and Sunderland 4th), then that is a distinct possibility. Wary of Charlton though, and Peterborough will get in the play-offs should Doncaster falter.

Oh well. Pompey managed to lose at home to Peterborough last night and throw away a chance at automatic promotion. Cannot catch Barnsley or an off-the-boil Luton now. Sunderland will be pretty cross as they did the same against Fleetwood (although they were unlikely to get automatic promotion, being two points behind Pompey). I suppose I should be grateful we aren't staring at relegation this season...

Yes, easily done; particularly with the Brawa, Piko and Roco models. It is a bit of a bane when looking at the end of line ranges or sales...often they have exactly the loco you want, but in AC! ESU have managed to design their models so they work on both AC and DC.

You are right. My apologies...to Dave in particular.

Oooh, so those who are neither unequivocal supporters or cheerleaders are ne'er-do-wells... Yet again, it's the world against Dave, so to remedy this, another announcement will be made.

Good to hear you are back Rob. Look forward to seeing what you have in store.

Nice to see the layout yesterday, looks great so far - looking forward to see this develop.

Thanks! That depends if someone invites us!

One of our members brought along the ROCO Railjet set for the end of show frollics at Rotarail today. It is a stunning set, and I thoroughly recommend it. A word on Piko, we had a lot of Piko running at the show today; the newer stuff is very good quality, so the Railjet set will still be excellent (another member has a couple of Piko Taurus locos, which are very nice models).

Overall, we were very happy with how the layout performed on its first outing. We have a few lessons learned, including the need for a bigger fiddle yard, and the curves into the yard need easing. We lost a point solenoid in the last 30 minutes of the show (which will be fixed at the next club night), and one of the other points were playing up sporadically, but otherwise it went well. The trams also need further fettling. Apart from this, we now all have the small detailing to add. Still lots to do, but we have time until it's next outing, which is our open day in October. We did have some interest, with a few potential invites over the next couple of years. The trains were certainly main stars, of course. Unashamedly demonstrating sound (lots of Eastern-bloc diesels) and smoke, they attracted a lot of positive comments. A final picture for today from me. One of our stars, the ESU Ludmilla pauses at Friedrichstrasse, with the Fernsehturm in the distance. There were a lot of positive comments, which surprised and pleased us all...makes the hard work over the last few years worth it, and makes us more determined to try to make the layout something special.