murphaph

Is that image of ballast in a gypsum wagon from after the gypsum traffic ceased? I assume so but would be nice to know for sure.

Just be careful with the isolation of the programming track if it is contiguous with the main track. If you are not careful and park a loco so that the loco's wheels bridge the isolation between programming and main track, you can inadvertently program all your locos on the main track. If doing this it would be very good practice to isolate the two sections with a short completely dead section that's as least as long as needs be to ensure a loco can't bridge the two sections under any circumstances.

Id'd love a bit of background. I have no idea what these are but they look interesting.

I feel DJ has praised me well beyond my abilities deserve but here's my $0.02 nevertheless: Personally I would advise anyone building from scratch to use a bus of appropriate wire gauge, to divide the track up into signalling blocks just in case later you do decide to add some automation and to run droppers to each block, soldering the fishplates within blocks to have no potential points of failure. This doesn't cost anything except a bit of wire and some time. This isn't "complicated". It's still just two wires but it's going to be more reliable and future proof. In DCC you theoretically don't need electrofrog points as the whole layout is receiving the same DCC feed, but many DCC folks do still install electrofrog points (and the associated switchgear to change the frog polarity) for one reason: better slow speed running of short locos with limited pickups over the points. The insulfrog is a dead spot so an 0-4-0 with one dodgy pickup can easily stall at prototypical speeds. An alternative could be to use beefy capacitors as a "battery" to keep the loco alive. All personal choice. In the hidden areas you can typically get away with insulfrog coupled with simply going faster over the points to use momentum to carry the loco over any dead spots. These aren't really DCC issues though. An insulfrog point in a DC layout can cause the same problems though DCC usually offers better slow speed running than DC so the problem might only manifest itself because DCC is better in this regard. The takeaway is that DCC wiring is simpler (on more complicated layouts) or at least as simple (on very simple layouts) as DC and IMO the benefits are clear. You are driving the train and not the track. It's just way more realistic.

The magnetic roof is really nice looking.

I'd be amazed if there wasn't a long crossover period.

There's an article in the Observer today about the boom experienced this year by the UK model rail sector as people have been forced to stay at home and their attention has turned to that old childhood dream. Even the more established firms are facing big problems due to unprecedented demand coupled with manufacturing constraints.

I'm happy with the business model if it continues like the ballasts. Enough for one complete rake, more or less, per release, safe in the knowledge that next time there will be new running numbers. That'll do me.

If anyone doesn't believe how tricky it is to catch up once you miss the initial release, all you have to do is look on eBay for IRM stuff. You generally won't find any and if you do it'll likely go for 50% more than the RRP. I've been lucky in meeting (virtually at least) some really decent people (away from eBay) who aren't price gougers. Otherwise I'd still be scratching around looking for the first few items at highly inflated eBay rates. By the way I'm still looking for that elusive bubbles pack A if anyone is willing to part with one lol

It helps a lot as always I was missing the crucial aspect of the air being forced into the passenger space via the train's movement.

Gotta make hay while the sun shines George! Just don't tell the missus!!! As DJ said to me, sure they're an investment.

Can somebody explain what pressure ventilation means in this context. I tried googling but the term is not specific enough I reckon. How did it work in a railway context?

These aren't the worst wagons to have an issue on the NEM pocket heights luckily enough. They ran in fixed rakes more or less. You wouldn't be (prototypically anyway) shunting these things individually I would have thought. They were all going from point A to point B. Either unit train gypsums from Kingscourt to a cement factory or ballasts that were loaded together at one point and brought together to the works site. That's the case for me anyway. I'll modify the end wagons in the rakes a la Noel's Kadee fix and use fixed couplings on the intermediates, using the NEM pockets as they are. For me at least there will be no need to modify all the wagons. I had ordered the IE bundle, all the IR wagons individually (as I have the IR ploughs) and the ore bundle but then I realised I need two ore bundles, one for the laden and one for the empty return workings to Kingscourt! Don't forget your empty workings lol. Another ore bundle ordered so!

Great stuff and fair prices. The effective 75 for the ploughs in the bundle is particularly fair. I wasn't originally going to buy the IE ploughs as I have the IR ones but at that price it would be rude not to lol.

Hi all, Does anyone know of a source for decals for the MB 709 imp (as used by Bus Eireann on local services). Cheers! Phil

I had a look around the German speaking interweb and if the information I found is correct there won't be any new Profigleis anytime soon. A guy said the machine is broken (presumably) during the move of production to Romania. "Nachtrag Oktober 2018: Die Produktion des H0 profi-Gleises wird nach dem Umzug der Formen nach Rumänien aus technischen Gründen nicht wieder aufgenommen. Die Fertigungsanlage ist wohl defekt. Es gibt aber noch großen Lagerbestand im Handel." https://www.modellbahn.net/index.php/startseite/news-modellbahn/335-fleischmann-h0-wird-2019-eingestellt

Is that a three aspect colour light signal just sitting there on the ground?

Is TT gauge as popular in Poland as it is in the former GDR? I live outside Berlin in what was the former GDR. Half the stuff in my local model shop is TT but over the "border" in the former West Berlin you don't see nearly as much, even 30 years after reunification it's still N and H0 there!

So just for my own benefit, the NIR FKs were all converted to open standards by say 1995? Did any FKs survive as corridors, perhaps indeed as firsts?

Were these BR FKs not converted to opens like their counterparts in the Republic?

Yeah they'd fill a 20' sized hole in the market.

Yeah the 20 foot flats would fly out the door I reckon.

In my dreams Dublin Corporation refused CIE permission to run those wagons through the city and they had to come in via Waterford and Limerick Did these wagons ever ever ever actually make it to Limerick in reality? Even for maintenance? I'm guessing no. If Arran did manage to produce such a niche container (perhaps in cooperation with IRM a la P42) I'd be hard pressed not to buy a rake too even if I had to use a little fantasy to get them on my layout! They'd be an awesome sight of silvery goodness.

I'd take 40' Bells as well and if the pair that went for £88 + shipping on eBay two days ago is anything to go by there is some pent up demand for them.

Well that's the best story of all Edo. Really fantastic. And some people dismiss our hobby as pointless!