Broithe

We had a large layout with a straight incline, as an excuse to use a suspension bridge. It rose four inches in eight feet, but had bends not far from the bottom ends. The bends, as @murphaphsays above, do add to the resistance. It would be noticeable, with longer trains, that the ascent would accelerate slightly (it was a DC layout) once the whole train was on the straight. We didn't have huge issues with the gradient and there was a great variety of motive units on there - new and old, traction tyres and all metal wheels, etc. A few points did emerge:- Heavier locos were, as would be expected, less prone to slip. Murphy products (only 141/181 on there whilst it existed) were amongst the best performers. Before you commit to a final design, it might be worth building a test set-up with the intended track profile?

Indeed. And they have to consider what happens if they bleed us all dry and we starve to death.

Phew, thank God it's not for 'us'... My wallet had palpitations when I saw the thread title.

When you're building a DART layout and prefer doing water features to ballasting.

Was there also a 'disc' on the smokebox door, albeit a bit more liable to getting dirty?

Spike was always a source of such things...

I'm sure that someone did put a "Scalescenes"-type image up on here years ago, from which a reasonable replica could be made, but I've been unable to find it again...

A bit over 00 scale, but maybe suitable for a G scale arrangement? https://www.irelandbeforeyoudie.com/father-ted-fan-designs-incredible-replica-parochial-dolls-house/

Plenty of opportunities at the moment...

"Item Location" may not always be trustworthy on eBay, either. I recently bought a couple of Dremel chucks that they wouldn't send to anywhere outside GB and, being under house arrest 4.9km from Ballybrophy*, I got the seller to send them to a friend on the Big Island, as I'm in no real rush. I'll admit that I was suspicious that the stated location being Manchester just might have been untrue, but at that time, the £15 allowance still applied, so, even if my suspicions were correct, my agent would not be hit for an extra payment. When they arrived, they most certainly hadn't been posted in Manchester - I haven't actually seen the packaging, but, from the description it seems almost certain to be Hong Kong or mainland China. This 'risk' probably applies more to tools and materials than actual models, but it's worth bearing in mind. * I will do an inspection at some point.

Obviously, the live-steam turf-burner will have been bumped up the list by the news that Bord na Mona are not going to be holding stocks of the necessary material for the required microsods for much longer.

This could be handy as 'evidence', for when you run out of blue while painting the back scene...

A little-known fact is that the meatballs served in IKEA cafés are actually made from customers who failed to find their way to the exit.

We are not alone...

I remember a game show where people were invited to update old proverbs. "As mad as a... ...phone-in caller."

It seems to me that points are the issue - flexi-track wouldn't be hugely difficult, really 'simply' a matter of producing a suitable sleeper base and threading rail into it, much as Peco already do. Of course, people would want wooden and concrete sleepers.