Our world in miniature, hobbies

Hi all, The ladies have their runabout tickets & use them constantly. The service to B'ham & Solihull is just right for them since the C & A store closed in Coventry. They shop in John Lewis & House of Fraser, amongst others. The delays in opening the new station at the Ricoh (if ever) has taken its toll, with Bramble Lane station now already closed after six pm. It makes a good story, hey!

Hi all, Look, Midland Red. We are permitted a gap of up to 16' over-ride for the conductor rail. At Ongar, an approaching train activated the power supply to the dead end. When it departed, the power was automatically switched off. So we have reasonable safety for Bishops Heath. Hope you like.

Another pic of the conductor rail through the point work.

Excellent work, Philip - when's it going LIVE?

Hi Midland Red, As soon as we have a two car BIL unit. I have used cut sleeper chairs as the porcelain pots, which fit like a glove between the running rail sleepers. Only a touch of glue, so that it can easily be removed for track or point replacement. I am very please how it looks. I am looking hard to find a layout with the conductor rail but in vain so far. Even the official Hornby demo does not have the conductor. I am so disappointed about that. It is such an obvious detail which cannot be missed, without it looking silly. ps Just found a YouTube Model layout with the conductor. Fabulous. Conductor rail model

My father and I were big into model railways. He had Marklin three rail, and latterly Triang and Hornby Dublo two rail. My favourites were Fleischmann and Rivarossi. In the construction of baseboards, we used insulation board. Is that the same as Sundeala board?

Hi Mike, Very similar, just a different manufacturer. At Courtaulds, in the early seventies, I was involved with a job for "Scot-board" who at one time were the largest producer of 'offal' (as they were called) wood products in Europe.

Hi all, Morning sunshine streaming through our south east facing window casts long shadows at Hall Brooks. Class 25 Sulzer on morning parcels, two parcels trains a day in December up to Curzon St. I am pondering whether to add a conductor rail to the up siding so that a Class 74 loco might be accommodated. Installing the conductors could not be easier, I might even buy a length of Peco concrete sleeper track and use the chairs, the light colour will simulate the porcelain insulator pots perfectly. What a pip!

Hi Philip Is there any reason why you haven't simply used Peco's own proprietary third rail system? LINK

Hi Dutchman Thank you so much for asking. The insulation pots on the Southern region were not all the same. Some were round headed, whereas some were oblong with a drainage channel. They are such a minute detail in 00 that the detail is almost invisible. The Peco items are moulded to fit code75 track so a packing piece is needed for our Code 100 track. The very delicate nature of the Peco small items, means that they would need a permanent glue fitting, whereas what we have done in Hall Brooks, we can remove & modify in minutes. The last issue is availability. What I did in a couple of hours on Saturday, I shall repeat using the Peco white chairs (which are readily available) once we have decided to keep the third rail. Please do say what you think. ps. Just remembered another very important reason for not using the Peco pots. They raise the conductor rail to correct height, which is a nightmare for some, particularly Hornby stock fouling it. Model railways are not an exact science, sad to say.