Broithe

At least it wasn't an acid bath.

One of the features of Irish railways that can be very attractive for a personal layout is that many locations hardly altered over several decades. Merely by changing any road vehicles and, maybe, the odd footbridge etc, you can justifiably run steam trains or a 22000 on the same layout.

Irish Rail on Twitter - Drumcondra Station closed UFN due to a mechanical fault on a freight train. Update to follow.

Excellent - I wouldn't be too surprised of the pads do rotate somewhat, even without the belt - the centres seem slightly offset from the line of the rail and that should have some turning effect imparted to them as the wagon moves. Might be worth putting a mark on the edge and seeing what happens.

Obscured, but the top of the old elevated box at Ballybrophy is just visible here. http://www.sixbellsjunction.co.uk/60s/610604rc.html

Information is power. I keep a small, widely scattered network - and ensure that none of the operatives ever meet each other - it's a basic KGB/CIA-style system.

Good work, you got the same result as me. I asked my Dutch agent and he got a bit further.. ..but. he says that the belts are out of stock.. Explosionszeichnung = exploded view.

That's what it looked like to me, but that seems a bit odd - we need an 'insider' to probe the system... I have sent a message to our agent in Germany....

I have been unable to navigate the spares system - Our 'Sentinel' is German, I think, we might have to lean on him...

In action.

Ah, they are different - mine is the older one with the 'fixed' swivelling couplers - the new ones, which have NEMS sockets, are around €40, aparently. In my town here, there are sixteen charity shops - it's a full-time job going round 'em all....

They still make a version of it - so, spares should be available from a Fleischmann dealer - my German isn't up to it... http://www.fleischmann.de/en/productsearch/0-556701-0-0-0-0-0-0/products.html

A small elastic band shouldn't be too hard to find at the right size. Mine still has the belt for now.

They do look like they are - but, they're not. However, they do look fairly compatible to the small tension-lock type.. ..it wouldn't be a huge bodge to modify them, though. ( I notice that the belt is missing in this picture )

I just picked up a Fleischmann reinigungswagen in a charity shop. It has a couple of fairly weighty rotating brass discs with felt inserts that bear down on the top of the rails and are then rotated by a belt that is driven by the wheel axles as it goes along. The wagon body is weghted to provide friction to drive the belt properly. Looks a well made thing. An interesting object, anyway.

Patron saint of Nigeria, too (and Montserrat).. ..so, I'll be having a Nigerian Guinness tonight..

The bridge seems to have clearly won this time... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-26609950

Rolls Royce piston aero-engines were generally named after birds of prey - Peregrine, Kestrel, Griffon, Vulture, etc. Their turbine engines were named after rivers - Trent, Dart, Avon, Spey, etc.

I dunno, I quite like it...

That's a good way round it - and a flexi-shaft is of great use in many other situations, rather than a specific track cutter that might get little use once the basic layout is established.

One small issue that you can have with a slitting disc in a Dremel-type tool, is that, if the disc is of a smaller diameter than the body of the drill, then you will not be able to cut the track with a perpendicular face. This is not a problem, if you have the body of the drill over the piece of track that you want to retain - the slight slope will then be in your favour and the joint will still close up at the top , the small gap will be at the bottom where it doesn't really matter. If you cut it with the body of the drill over the 'waste' piece, then you'll get a slight gap at the top of the joint that can't be closed up, as the joint will butt up at the bottom first. No big deal, but worth keeping an eye on. A bit of clicky-clack is no harm, anyway.

..and others..

Bridge strike today on Bath Avenue, just north of the Aviva Stadium, delays to Dart services for a while, but recovering now.

Excellent!

- both.