Riddles

The Roco and Kato ready ballasted track both do look good although I am not sure which is which! Do you think they will be durable enough for outside use or were you just planning to use them indoors?

You always seem to strive for and achieve, a really tidy and professional finish on the outdoor section and now you've extended this to inside the shed. You should be really proud of what you have done.

Oh dear! I do hope this isn't the end of another great 00 Garden Railway. Perhaps you could run it on someone else's railway if the temptation does overcome you.

I fully appreciate your reticence to order a Z21 without seeing it but to be honest there is not much to see apart from a very neat black box. There is also a separate power transformer and the wi-fi router. The main user interface is whatever mobile phone or tablet which you have to hand. Control can be remarkably fine. Altering the angle of your finger or thumb on the throttle can make a very slight difference to the speed. Android users seem to have had more problems than Apple users (iPhone, iPad etc.) because there are many different variations of the former. Mike, I do agree with Mark that you should approach Gaugemaster to have the round knob controls repaired. They do have an excellent lifetime repair guarantee for their analog products but they may wish to promote a good reputation for servicing the digital range which they market. I suspect that they were reluctant to offer the same guarantee on the digital range until they gained some experience of what might go wrong and what the potential liability might be. Mike, you mentioned the sniffer port in your posting on Tuesday. Just to avoid anyone being disappointed, this is only fitted to the full price black Z21 system and is not included in the white z21 controls supplied with some Roco/Fleischmann starter sets and which are sometimes available separately from split sets. There is no separate programming track output on those either.

The Seuthe smoke units must have much better heat insulation than the last Hornby smoke units did. I remember watching horrified as the chimney and smokebox of my 28XX loco slowly sank down as it overheated. It took me over 12 months to find a replacement body so when I did, the smoke unit was removed a.s.a.p. That was on analogue control as well so current was only passing when the loco was running. Steam/smoke does add so much to the realism when it's done well.

Truly inspirational. This is a 00 garden railway that looks like it has a purpose and is going somewhere.

A sad ending but at least you know you did everything you could for him.

What a huge difference in just a few days. Well done.

Great to see trains running again on Worsley Dale. Obviously a child near the railway was much more dangerous than your late lamented Scottie dog.

Sorry Thomas but could you explain what you mean by reinstalling your Roco Z21? Do you mean you had to recreate the layout? My Z21 just works straight from the box for controlling my locos without any "installation", although I don't use it to change turnouts yet. You are making great progress. Well done. Riddles

It was good to see you at the DEMU event at Burton-on-Trent today and catch up. I managed not to spend too much and resisted ordering those new Cargowaggons from Kernow. Hope you had a good journey home.

Congratulations Iain. Wishing you and the missus all the best for the future.

It's great to see you returning to the railway and that it has not suffered too badly over the past few months. Keep up the good work.

30 years ago Hattons would have been in Smithdown Road, Liverpool of course, so you will hopefully be creating some new happy memories.

If you are thinking of Hattons, Google maps suggest that it is a 35 mile / 47 minute drive from West Kirby to their store at WA8 8FZ , via Runcorn. Your choice whether you go over or under (only 23 miles but 57 minutes) the River Mersey. A good resource is http://www.ukmodelshops.co.uk/ but Hattons would be my first choice despite what others might say. I've never really thought of Iceland not being far from England but the last few weeks have certainly felt like it!

Gemini Storage Solutions have a good range of Really Useful Boxes as well as some similar ranges. They attend several Train Sales/Swapmeets and I've found their prices unbeatable. They are based in North Lincolnshire I believe, so not too far away for you Mick, I should imagine. They also sell on eBay but postage puts the prices up. They have attended the big Doncaster Exhibition in the past but I don't know whether they are going next month.

This type of self-adjusting link was always referred to as an "Omega" loop ( Ω ) in old model railway magazines, when electric point operation was the exception rather than usual. Apparently Ω is the 24th (and last) letter of the Greek alphabet.

You will have to make sure that the springs are well oiled to prevent them from rusting up solid, but it is definitely a good idea to use Hornby-Dublo (made in Liverpool). It was all very strong and solid. I'm hoping to use the diecast through station in due course. I've been buying up platform extensions when I have found them at a reasonable price.

Fortunately there's an excellent online index to articles in Model Rail magazine at http://www.ukmodelshops.co.uk/ModelRail . Entering "Night Ferry" in the search box gives the following results:- 2004 72 October 32 Night Train to Paris, Ferry Trains Prototype info on the 'Night Ferry' sleeping car express to Paris Prototype upto 1980 3-7 Prototype Information 2004 73 November 42 CIWL Class F sleeping car Modelling train ferry traffic with the Model Rail 'Night Ferry' kit 4mm 00 5-7 Modelling-Coaches 2004 74 December 66 Building the Night Ferry Kit - 2 Completion of the Class F sleeping car Model Rail 'Night Ferry' kit 4mm 00 5-6 Modelling-Coaches 2006 97 November 56 Fourgon Conclusion Complete your 'Night Ferry' set with these new SNCF luggage vans 4mm 00 1970s-1980s 7-8 Modelling-Wagons 2007 107 August 36 Continental Baggage Building the latest 4mm scale brass kit in the Southern Railway 'Night Ferry' range from MARC Models. 4mm 00 1930s 3 Modelling-Wagons Now all you have to do is find those issues! Regards, Riddles

I know exactly what you mean Mick, it's all so VERY tempting. The O gauge Class 08 diesel is another bargain. I just have to keep on reminding myself that the main reason I am planning a 00 garden railway, is that I have such a huge collection of 4mm stuff and no space in the house to run it. I think we should try to keep this forum just for 00 though. There is already loads of stuff on the web about 0 gauge garden railways. They've got it easy. Great pics by the way.

"Cap Lock" works OK on the forum using Google Chrome for me. I doubt if the problem is with the forum OR Chrome, but I'm no expert. Regards, Riddles

I found it quite easily at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFqKggA4WqY but I seem to be the only person to have viewed it so far. Perhaps there was a delay in it becoming watchable. Well done David.

Careful Purbeck! Thomasl said that "Piko Code 100" was useless after 3 years, not "Peco". Peco is British and Piko is German. Regards, Riddles

The maximum voltage at the maximum speed step is set by CV5 and the maximum voltage at the middle speed step can be set by CV6. The basic Hornby R8249 decoder does not allow CVs 5 and 6 to be changed although they can be if it is a R8245 Sapphire decoder. I have never heard of the 9 volt limitation on the Dapol track cleaner but if it was used on DC, the available voltage would probably be reduced by the propelling locomotive from the maximum set by the controller. I have fitted a decoder in my own track cleaner but it is not very successful, mainly due to the poor electrical pickup on my model. I never persisted in looking for a cure. I should be interested to know how successful you find it.

I thought I should tell you that Silver Link was delivered by courier at 4.30pm today. I've not had chance to unpack it properly yet but the instruction booklet is very comprehensive. Lots of different DCC settings to play with if you are that way inclined. I haven't seen any way of turning off the back lamp without turning off the front lamps which is not good but I have only flicked through the booklet so far. Riddles