2mmMark

Hi Pete , hope you don't mind, here's a few scribbled suggestions. Hopefully self-explanatory. I like the idea of the project very much. With the careful positioning you can lose the baseboard join in solid scenery and avoid a join "in the water". It's the water's edge where the interesting bit is any way. Big expanses of water get dusty and can show up inconvenient reflections of the lights.

I'm not that familiar with the area but in 1965 & 1966 we had familiy holidays in Bournemouth and the inevitable rainy days were brightened by visits to what I now realise was the ERG model railway.

I can't help thinking that if the ERG had concentrated on cardboard rolling stock and buildings, we'd be in much less of a pickle right now.

MRJ270 through my letterbox this morning, along with Voie Libre. Timely, as I have to wait in for my cordless drill to be collected for repair.

Next, some general overviews:

Some photos taken at the Basingstoke Exhibition (9th/10th March) First, a couple of panoramic shots:

When I make DG loops, I solder the phosphor-bronze loop and steel dropper flat on a slice of Tufnol. I then put the angle bend on afterwards holding the solder joint in some fine-nose pliers.

I went into my local record shop the other day and asked "what have you got by the doors?". The manager said "two fire extinguishers and a hatstand".

Pleased it worked out well. That moment when a loco steadily & smoothly ran in after we'd resoldered the crossing and rewired the switches was very satisfying.

I reckon a layout with this feature could be a real hit on the exhibition circuit.

Sounds like Keith needs to assert his rights with his credit card issuer, who may well be reluctant to offer section 75 protection as they are also an unsecured creditor but that doesn't absolve their responsibility. My particular card issuer was and still is MBNA and in the E7even case, they were excellent. I have a great deal of sympathy for Keith's position as I'm sure his preference would be to have the loco he ordered as JLTRT products do seem to be pretty good. Maybe we are inclined to be rather too tolerant of delayed delivery? There was a similar situation in 2mm where a builder/kit producer was offering bespoke RTR 2mm finescale locos at very good prices. Orders were taken but models undelivered after lengthy waits. Paypal was the payment mechanism as I recall and there is a date limitation in that channel.

Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 was very useful to me a few years ago when I pre-paid via credit card for an annual subscription for broadband access from the now defunct ISP E7even. The company went into difficulties in early 2006 but was not wound up until over a year later in April 2007. Via section 75 I was able to reclaim the pre-payment very easily and quickly on provision of evidence of non-supply. I was expecting it to be pro-rated to cover usage received but the whole amount was refunded. Now that personal credit card payments are legally not subject to surcharges, there's no real reason not to use them. Section 75 protection applies even if only part of the payment is made by card, so long as the payment is £100 or more.

I think we've all suffered from a tender behind at one time or another.

"Now, where the hell did I put those cosmetic bogie sideframe castings?"

Ah yes, the old analogue "cut 'n' paste". I remember it well. A nice sound quality, especially on valve computers. I don't know if it's the same for business but in my dealings with HMRC for my personal tax a while back, I used the non-geographical number intended for overseas residents by withholding my UK phone number. It seemed to bypass the long hold queues on the 0345 numbers. I was pleasantly surprised to find the process could be dealt with entirely by phone there and then. Maybe HMRC are only allowed a set amount of difficulty per annum and are now applying that to businesses?

They can be quite large. If you were to pick up my J69 and shake it, it rattles like a Lone Star pushalong Jinty.

Today's junk call from 001132280219 @ 15:33 "Hello I'm Lisa from BT Broadband, your internet server is sending error messages, how many devices are connected" "Well if you count my toaster, fridge and intelligent bathroom shower, it's 38" "Do you have a laptop" "Yes" "What make is it" "Aveling & Porter" ...silence from Lisa and some confused whispering... "Hello sir, you've been transferred, my name is Edward Thomas" "What?! THE Edward Thomas, really, I can't believe it!" "Yes sir. I am Edward Thomas" "Do you remember Adlestrop?" ...unobtainable tone... On the plus side, I now have a contact number for Edward Thomas.

Looking at what you've got so far, the chassis looks recoverable so don't scrap it. There's no reason why anyone shouldn't achieve good running on their first 2mm layout. My first layout proved OK. The trick is not to be too ambitious.

What I would be inclined to do is make a u-shaped cradle around the worm, holding it so it's supported at each end, on a fairly short length of shaft. The cradle only needs to be fixed to one frame so you'll have no worries about insulation. That will hold the worm nicely in mesh. Then you can connect the motor to the worm with a length of flexible tubing, such silicone rigging tube as used by fishermen. Once you've done this, the motor position is not at all critical. Some of the etched chassis kits have that cradle provided which is an infinitely better way to mesh a worm & worm wheel. ​The alternative is to mount the motor rigidly and as close to the worm as possible. Here's how I've set up a motor mount for my Peckett - which I really must crack on with! https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/1345/entry-19090-peckett-y-class-framed-part-3/ Mark

On one chassis where I was having some problems with old style ebonite muffs gripping the axles, I drilled through the muff and axle together in-situ and inserted a piece of wire covered in glue. They're not going anywhere after that! Mark

I don't think the Metropolitan Elite have ever really recovered from not being able to travel first class to Amersham.

I know the rule is no politics on RMweb but somebody has to salt out the mess we're in.

Anyone else think it ironic that Nigel Farage's mouth is built to Berne gauge?

What could be happening is your browser is trying to recover a session to a point where it thinks it's failed and this includes the spoofing page and pop-up. There's usually a way to force start a completely fresh instance of a browser. Cleaning up the cache, history and cookies is advisable. Mark