BoD

Having completed the majority of the buildings it is time to take a break from them and work on somewhere to plant them all which means getting rid of the flat earth with holes in it and spending some time creating the landform and scenicky bits. I was lucky enough to win the £100 Hatton's voucher in the virtual exhibition a couple of months ago so I spend it on some woodland scenic bits and pieces. Added to some bits and pieces I already had should give me enough to be going on with. If you look at the prices on there you can work out how long I've had some of them. This one I've had even longer...... To make going backwards and forwards easier I have removed the door bridging section. Normally I just leave this in and crawl under. It will remain out until I've finished forming the scenery because there is a lot of cutting of formers etc and going back and forth. . It means the layout is no longer a full circuit but I can operate it end to end if I fancy a bit play. As long as I don't forget and drive trains into the gap and over the edge!!!!

Young girl decides to flat share with a few short blokes.

The whole sale and then four weeks later administration business seems unusual. And that’s without some of the strange rumours going around.

Evening all. This mornings dog walk was quite surreal. I shall tell you of it , but I don’t want to hear any laughing at my expense. It has been blowing a hooley all day here too but quite sunny so off we go for our usual walk. Normally the dog would do his business in a nearby field but today he decided to use the path before we reached the field. Now this path is on a slight slope, I have a poop bag and am poised to do the necessary when a big gust of wind decides to take one of the turds and start it rolling. I clear the remaining mess and start off after the wayward turd and am just about to claim it when the wind gets stronger, and the turd rolls faster. A little further it must, like me, be out of breath because it slows down. I bend down to scoop the poop when yet another blast of wind sets it off again. At this point I’m wondering just how the daft mutt managed to create a perfect cylinder of poop and whether or not to yell at a bemused elderly couple “stop that turd”. I though I’d better not. It did stop eventually but not before I’d jogged faster than I have in many a year and further than I would call sensible. How many of you can, hand on heart, say you have ever chased a wayward dog turd down a street before? To cap it all, this afternoon some clown put superglue on my scalpel handle. I hope you have had a successful weekend too.

DCC Concepts have files of the all the common symbols, freely downloadable in word or publisher files. I created mine in publisher but I suspect open source software would work too. They are easily scaleable and there as an aid to their mimic panel hardware. Edit - links to download the files are here https://www.dccconcepts.com/product/alpha-mimic-panel-controller-redgreen-leds/

Thanks. I'll add that to the list of things to consider although current thought is something entirely fictitious - but that is not for your thread. I had a look at the winding house on street view. You would think they had copied your model. Seriously, any idea why it is still standing? Is it listed?

Thank you for the good wishes good people. Things are much the same here. Big plus though is my niece who is a registrar at a hospital somewhere or other had a word with mum and persuaded her to talk to an occupational?? therapist about suitable aids. Even one of those rollator/walkers would help. Mum refused to listen to me or my sister - but you know how they think of grandchildren - especially those with not just one but several ologies to their name. For the first time in 3 months we went for a run out in the car, just to test the eyesight you understand. Although we didn’t stop anywhere a visit to the North Pennine dales has perked me up a bit. Stay safe, stay well.

Search for enamelled copper winding wire. It is the wire used for windings for motors (the name gives it away). It comes in different sizes but is very thin. A scalpel or something similar can be used to scratch the enamelling away at the end for soldering. You need to come up with a system though to distinguish positive/negative. Edit Huw - just thinking about this - I’ve got a couple of reels, more than I will ever use. If you want to, PM me your address and I will stick a few metres in the post for you to try.

.... and change those white shoes. They don’t suite you at all.

Evening all. Haven’t posted for a good while although I have dropped by occasionally. The sheer volume of posts is difficult to keep up with. Generally life is sh!t. Mum, who is 89 keeps falling over and it looks like some form of support is needed. Being fiercely independent, she won’t accept this. Son and partner’s Covid episode is, thankfully, over with no ill effects. Daughter is still furloughed and redundancy looks likely. Brother in Law, and dear, dear friend, is on McMillan end of life support. The daft mutt, who is fourteen and a half and has been really fit up to now has, over the last few weeks, aged visibly. I am missing my volunteering and not being able to do the things I normally take for granted, although this in the overall scheme of things is a minor irritation. The layout has had a fair amount of work done on it and is, just about , keeping me sane. (Sorry, your Debship). As Marvin would say, here I am, brain the size of a planet...

Come out of the toilets miming playing a ukulele because the hot air dryers are out of use.

I have just caught up with your topic. Superb modelling.

... and how many of us of a certain age remember casting said weights from molten lead? I won't ask you to own up as to how you actually melted the lead, or where you got it from.

If it were that deadly the church roofs of Britain would be littered with dead thieves.

You take a fresh worm and tie it to your hook ......

..... but nothing grows in the shade.

.... so you are finally letting Sam have some light?

For locos I use wire from straight lengths bought in a pack but... ....not for the faint hearted... Secure the wire securely at one end and strongly grip the other end. I use a few wraps around long nose pliers. It helps if you can do a clove hitch. Now, pull quite firmly. Just before the wire snaps (that’s the interesting bit) you can feel it give a fraction as if it has stretched a little. You will find it no longer coils but is slightly more brittle. I’m not sure of the science behind it but it works on the different wires I have used it on. I haven’t tried it on brass but it should work.

I use the small neodymium magnets - only a few mm in diameter but very strong (and cheap). They are so small that you can bury them in the baseboard between sleepers and once ballasted they can’t be seen. The only issue with them being quite small is that you have to be quite accurate in positioning your couplings - an issue when you’ve hidden the magnets so well.. You may well not find a mix of types of switch. Mine were quite cheap and purchased from a supplier regularly seen at exhibitions who has stock like that laid out loose and you just count out the number you need. I suspect it would be easier for their stock to become accidentally mixed.

Makes a change from using them to build layouts in. it can make it easier too - one box per train, or one per class/type of loco/rolling stock.

I once bought a batch of switches that were advertised as push to make but some turned out as push to break. It might be worth checking the others. I use S&W with wagons (fixed rakes of coaches with tension couplings at each end) but with fixed magnets. I was wondering about electromagnets before I ballast but find the fixed ones work ok. Why did you go for electromagnets?

I use A4 box files with dividers made from either foam board or cuttings from a huge sheet of foam I bought from eBay for next to nothing.

Re the headlight - might you be able to punch out a circle or greaseproof or tracing paper sealed in with ‘glue and glaze’ or something similar?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/OO-Gauge-Hornby-Intercity-125-in-BR-Livery/114257427643?hash=item1a9a45fcbb:g:MKYAAOSw8Xpe4-Dk See 2nd picture - seller gives it 4 out of 5 for body condition.