BoD

Morning all. Today is likely to be spent chasing my tail. The pharmacy has told me that, despite several attempts, they cannot get any of the eye drops I need to take daily. I had a routine appointment with my consultant six weeks ago and he asked if I had a supply of the drops as the manufacturer was having problems with production. When I said I had six weeks supply he said that all should be sorted by then, which is now now - and it obviously isn't. The consultant prescribed the drops but the prescription is managed and repeated by my GP practice and the pharmacy automatically fulfills it. I just have to collect the drops every two months from the pharmacy. To complicate matters there is some of the medication left in the current dropper bottle but the instruction say it has to be discarded after 28 days, which is today. I will ask the pharmacist if it is safe to continue to use them for a while longer but the problem of procurement needs sorting. I suppose the first port of call should be the GP practice - but you know GP receptionists....... Have a good day the rest of you.

I can only agree with the above but, without being rude, would take it a step further. If you have never had any interest in model railways this sounds far too big an undertaking for one person without prior experience, especially if you are trying to do this as well as other duties at the home. Trying to get together a group of local enthusiasts who are prepared to 'volunteer' to help may be the best way forward.

........... and then two come along at once.

Well since we are all at it. This week I have been calibrating and testing the computer control of my new layout (see link in signature). Some DCC concepts stuff in there, Mick Today I filled the fiddle yard, clicked a button, and then sat and watched trains go by. Yay, as they say.

Stuff Stoptober and Moovember. I'm going for a Cantrememberdecember.

Most of your questions have been answered above, but you might want to have a quick look at this post showing how I went about implementing it.. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/126757-crianlarichish-controlling-the-whole-thing/?p=2948344

From the very beginning I decided that I would use computer controlled DCC to operate the layout. This was not because I needed to but because I could. Having downloaded and had a play with RocRail in virtual mode I thought I would enjoy doing it. I chose RocRail because a) it was free (they do ask for donations but they are voluntary) and b) it seemed to do what I wanted it to do. I liked the three possibilities a) fully automatic – I could just watch the trains going round. b) semi automatic – the computer would choose locos and set routes and signals and I would have to drive the trains according to the signals c) fully manual – where I use a mimic screen to change points and signals and then drive trains. I also thought it should be possible for the computer to run trains on the main part of the layout whilst I shunted away on the branch station. To control the points I used computer concepts ADS – 8FX for the solenoids or NCE Switch-ITs for the tortoise point motors. The ADF-8s I fixed to a piece of scrap plywood and pre wired to make installation easy. The Switch ITs were attached directly to the frame of the layout. The signals were operated by servo and controlled via a digikeijs DR4024 servo controllers. Each point and signal has its own address and if necessary they can all be thrown via the DCC throttle if ever the computer system goes kaput. Something I hope never proves necessary. (I know, I will probably regret saying that) For loco detection I used a combination of Lenz and LDT sensors, again partially prewired on scrap plywood then attached to the frame of the layout. The smaller gauge red wires are individual feeds to one rail of the sections to be detected. The other rail is fed directly from the power bus. The twisted yellow/purple wires join the feedback bus which feeds the state of the sections back to the DCC command station. Finally I created a mimic diagram and set up blocks, sensors and routes in RocRail. The program does do some of this automatically for you but there is also a lot of repetitive manual settings to add too. Call me nerdy but I enjoyed doing it. Anyway, this week it has all been tested and all works as I had hoped. Today for the first time I had a full fiddle yard and the whole thing running automatically without any problem. Yay, as they say. I would be interested in any comments or try to answer any questions anyone might have.

Good luck on Monday, Rick. I hope you find your new job enjoyable, or if not, at least bearable.

I used to hate having to open the loft hatch and get the ladder down every time I wanted to look in the roof.

Sorry, this topic is for real railways - that's a Z gauge model.

Two Christmas dinners and the workshop 140% tidy. Life doesn't get much better than that.

Horace looks like he is enjoying himself though.

GDB. May the blessing of St. Bibiana be upon you.

......... and the Falcons won with a last gasp try and conversion. Might treat myself to another bottle in celebration.

I've a couple of bottles of Timothy Taylor's Landlord ready for this evening's rugby match.

Someone has put an awful lot of thought into the serving suggestion.

Happy birthday, GDB

Nah, Bring your shorts and T-shirt if you don't want to look out of place.

I always set my Sat Nav to a female voice so that I can ignore her with impunity. It's the only chance I ever get. Then when I get lost I have to beg her forgiveness and ask for help.

Are you a man or a mouse. Oh sorry....it's Debs..... you are excused. p.s. great choice of ales.

Great minds and all that.

The roads a very wet now as there is a bit of a thaw going on. Thankfully it is not forecast to freeze overnight. At least that is what they say, we shall see. It was only the other day that I was saying we always used to get at least one covering of snow in November or December, which quickly disappeared before the main lot arrived in January/February but that we haven't had that for a few years now. Me and my big mouth.

The distillery is in Linlithgow. It's the one you can see from the train to Glasgow Queen Street. The buildings were obviously a distillery but are apartments now.

I need to head in that direction too, once I have cleared snow from the car. It's still snarn an arl

They are St. Magdelene. The distillery in now a block of flats. I came across them in a small whisky shop and knowing the distillery was closed I took a chance. I paid £24 each a good few years ago which took a bit of justifying at the time. I realise the price I saw was in a whisky shop in Edinburgh and so inflated but auction prices when they come up for sale, which is not very often at all, are still quite high.