FoxUnpopuli

Dissenting view here: I like Sam. I'm fairly sure he's on the spectrum, which gives him a different view on things. His priorities and enjoyment of the hobby are not the same as yours, is all. It seems to me he started just videoing his collection, found that people were interested, and carried on. He has an unpretentious presentation style, and you can see he's learned a lot about the hobby and the subject matter as he's progressed. Having subscribers means he keeps them happy - hence the underwater tests. He calls a spade a spade, and his review of the Heljan Tango is as blunt as you'd like. He says it's rubbish... and this is probably why he chose to run the Tango through the pool. Actually, I find his reviews extremely useful - he's observant and thorough, and a good cameraman; white background footage of the many models he reviews, both old and new, is assisting my purchases of new and S/H stock. He's also curious about everything, so the examination of the track and loco wheels after the pool session was very interesting, and possibly directly relevant to garden railways in damp environments - the dark green chemical layer deposited on track and wheels (probably a mix of nickel oxides) was cearly shown and the speculation that it was more prevalent on the pool test than the plastic tub test because it was a PWM controller was pretty astute. Yes, he runs his trains on the carpet... but he takes better care of his servicing duties than I did at that age! I also like that he's a collector, and buys anything that takes his fancy. I think the industry needs more people like him - enthusiastic - yet he rightly scolds the RTR manufacturers in his reviews for the high prices that seems to be part of the business model now. He praises Oxford Rail highly for their new models and their value, but does call out the weak points fearlessly, and does give the manufacturers their chance to have a say. I think Hatton's must love him to bits - I bet they get a fair bit of business through his affiliate links and I'm not going to criticise that, more power to his elbow. He just likes trains and enjoys model railways. I certainly can see the joy in that, and I'll continue to celebrate it with him.

Holy thread resurrection, Batman. For a 'large' layout - i.e. around a garden of 60 metres long - would anyone recommend droppering to a length of heavy duty electrical flex, to try to minimise voltage drop? I'm planning on doing ths - basically every track loop gets its own three core underneath. At the moment, the longest planned run between two 'control sheds' is 30m or so.