mick

Tony has asked me to inform everyone that he has been in hospital for the past 6 weeks with a heart condition and is currently unable to make any further progress on his layout. I'm sure you will all want to join with me in wishing him a full and speedy recovery.

Everything's fine with me Barry but apologies to everyone for my lack of input recently (and also my lack of weather updates!) I'll post further details on my thread in a day or so.

That looks a much easier method than the one I adopted Joe and I'm really pleased to see someone else constructing a viaduct using those aerated blocks. Brings back memories just seeing them lined up like that! Let us know how you get on and I'd love to see photos of the finished product once it's complete. Oh and if you can come up with a better solution for the parapet walls then let me know as the pigeons have recently flattened some of mine again during their mating rituals!

Hi Rob I've had most success with the 'central locking' type motor and one I installed several years ago is still operating as reliably as ever. It needs protecting from the weather as any others would but they do seem more rugged than anything designed specifically for indoor model railway use. I tend these days to limit use of point motors to indoor locations using the traditional SEEP types inside my shed along with a peco side mounted motor right where the outdoor line enters the shed but is under cover. The drawback with the central locking type is their size as they are a fair bit larger than a SEEP or Peco motor and you will probably need to construct linkages from motor to tiebar but if you are determined to have points outside then they are something you might want to consider. I've also gone down the route of having 'sprung' points in locations where the direction of travel allows it to be possible, such as my passing loop, hence there's no need for any type of motor at all. This involves some modifications to the points themselves (something you might not wish to do) as well as ensuring all your rolling stock, essentially your wagons, are of sufficient weight to push the point tiebar over without the wagon riding up onto the point and derailing. It was a process of trial and error but I'm pleased with the way it turned out and with very little maintenance they work perfectly reliably. Some of my wagons that had no easy access to the interior needed holes drilling through the base and up into the wagon itself, before adding a little bit of dry sand to weight them down before sealing the hole, again something you might not be keen to replicate with the price of present day models being as they are.

Sorry to learn about your illness Iain but certainly glad to hear you're back up and about again. I hope you're fully recovered or at least well on the way to that. I enjoyed the video and as I mentioned after watching @Andrew's video with the added soundtrack, I quite like them that way. I will have to look out for some appropriate music for accompaniment and have a go myself one day. You've made a good job of yours.

I've just added a selection of 9 Hornby matchboard side Pullman coaches to my eBid store. These were a mix of new and used purchases so while some are in almost as new condition, others have some insignificant marks or damage and are priced accordingly. All have working table lamps though reliable operation does require clean wheels and track to reduce flickering. Here's just a selection of images of some of the coaches listed starting at £22 post free. You'll find details in the store itself https://stores.ebid.net/toomanytrains Rosemary (below) is available for £22 post paid https://www.ebid.net/uk/for-sale/hornby-r4143b-pullman-1st-class-parlour-car-rosemary-199912796.htm Niobe (below) is priced at £26 post paid https://www.ebid.net/uk/for-sale/hornby-r4143a-pullman-1st-class-parlour-car-niobe-199908678.htm Sappho (below) is also priced at £26 post free https://www.ebid.net/uk/for-sale/hornby-r4145a-pullman-1st-class-kitchen-car-sappho-199908610.htm

I'm not sure exactly where to place this just yet so for now I'm going to post here in the Buffet section until I decide later. It's mainly just a heads up that I've once again set myself the task of thinning down my overly large collection of models. Now I've settled on the types of layout I want, i.e Scottish outdoors in the garden and Yorkshire Coalfields up in the attic, I find I've got a load of stock that just doesn't have a place anymore. In addition, the fact that I've amassed so many items over the years means there's very little chance of them getting any track time in the foreseeable future so I think it's better that I let them go to someone who might make better use of them either on a layout or perhaps even on display. I've found it a bit overwhelming recently having so many models and in a way it's been holding me back from getting on with the things that really matter. I'm short of storage space! It's not just needing somewhere to put the models but even when you make things easier by storing them in trays for easy access you then need space for all the empty boxes meaning you really need twice the amount of room you did previously. So a fair number have left me already and there's a good number still to go so from now on. At least I've made some headway so I'll post new listings here too in case anyone is interested. I'm currently listing on eBid and have a 'store' set up (TooManyTrains) with a number of items already 'on the shelves'. https://stores.ebid.net/toomanytrains Ebid is pretty quiet with only occasional visitors so it takes time for your listings to get noticed but I've been a member for several years now and there's a maximum of 2% selling fees so it's okay if you're not in a hurry to sell.

It was a splendid end to the month of March weatherwise with temperatures reaching their highest March peak temperature I have ever recorded with 25.4 degrees centigrade on the final day of the month. As a change from my usual blurb I thought I'd just post these two charts comparing the respective data for each of the past 10 years up to and including 1st April.

Great little video Andrew that just goes to show you don't need DCC sound to create an enjoyable viewing experience. I really like it with a nice soothing soundtrack in the background - much better than some of the awful diesel sounds I've been fortunate enough to acquire! I'd been thinking of doing something similar myself up in the attic and been searching for some complimentary music but it's not until you actually see what someone else has done that you appreciate just how pleasing it can be. The attic acoustics really distort and reverberate DCC sound to a point where it becomes overbearing even for me sitting up there but made even worse on video for everyone else.

I'm sorry to hear that. You're not having much luck recently are you? Things tend to go like that sometimes but hopefully you'll be able to source them elsewhere - there's nearly always a way to get hold of something you want.

That looks amazing.... Looking forward to seeing at least one of those on Clay Mills Junction!

Looks a bit like the one here Barry https://www.custommodelrailroads.com/cmr-train-beaver-bridge.html might give you some ideas

Sorry to hear that you've had to dismantle parts of your layout after you seemed to have been making good progress. Still, at least you're back in the planning stage so it's not all bad news. The 'modular' type build you mention with linking track sections sounds interesting and it will be good to see how you get on with it. An outdoor line with lots of scenery and detailing isn't something I would personally recommend but perhaps with a suitable cover for protection against the elements, as well as all the little critters that are to be found out there, you could make it work. A lot of what we do outdoors in OO gauge is trial and error and what works for one might not work for everyone. Some of us may get substantially more rainfall that others, or maybe higher temperatures even when the distance between our respective locations isn't so great so all we can do is try it and see if it works. Will be following your progress!

Nice work again Tony. I take it you're far enough away from the areas which are experiencing flooding at this time? Geography isn't my strongest point but I believe you're somewhere over towards the east aren't you?

I've just had Worsley Dale powered up for the first time in 3 weeks or so and had a very brief running session. I'd hoped to get away with just going round with the track rubber and then IPA in the track cleaner but found it necessary to get the garden vacuum out too as there was so much debris and fallen leaves along the tracks. It wasn't until I'd started that I remembered I have still to replace the auto frog on the spring points just off Low Shott viaduct. I didn't fancy getting tools and soldering irons out just yet as they are all up in the attic so I left it as it was for now and it didn't cause any problems. I'd already been up in the attic once for the track cleaner and trusty 26024. There's also the cliff face to complete along Buttlebank at the bottom of the garden. We haven't had the weather to even thing about restarting work there just yet so that's something else that will have to wait a bit longer. I'm also determined to get the double track section ballasted this year and as @ba14eaglehas had good results using SBR as a ballast fixative I'm inclined to give that a try rather than the exterior varnish I've used previously along the viaducts. The exterior varnish has however worked fine for me during the 3 years or so it's been down - it's just that it can get a bit messy. Hopefully we 'll get a sufficiently long dry spell so that I can get that done. It should make the layout look a bit more realistic.