Hi folks! As some of you know, I currently have some plastic NEM sockets being tooled at the factory for use with future wagon kits, but these could also be retrofitted to other wagons if desired. I've been waiting for them for a long time but apparently there's now some movement on it.

In addition to this, I have been quietly developing a new coupling system that is compatible with NEM sockets (so would be suitable for N, 009 and TT120 with NEM 355 sockets factory fitted.) It is a tension lock style design which uses permanent magnets fixed between track sleepers to uncouple, and also has a latch delay function similar to DG or Spratt and Winkle couplings which makes for great shunting. It's just a lot simpler to build and install. First prototypes have worked very well, and once I've ironed out some minor kinks, I'll show them.

However, one problem I am having is that placement of NEM sockets relative to buffer beams and the gaps between buffers varies wildly between models and manufacturers. So if people were willing, what would be incredibly useful to me is if people could measure the distance between the front face of the NEM socket and the face of the buffer beam, and also the front of the socket to the buffer faces. It would be tremendous to have these measurements for a variety of locomotives and rolling stock if possible.

This will help me decide what lengths of shank I should include as options, so that these will fit nicely into a wide variety of existing models.

Many thanks, and I hope to show more soon!

Will.

My guess is it was a competition run in memory of the late Peter Charles Fagg, in which case it was of it's time and needs removing now @Tank

Uploading photos on the forum is archaic (no drag-and-drop?!?), but I appreciate there may be technical or financial reason for that.

However, it could be made easier if the "category" question was removed. The other bits of the form are already option; if you miss out a title it does not care. But if you forget to say if it is a random photo rather than "PFC Competition", upload fails, and you need to do file selection again.

What even is PCF competition? How many years ago did it end? I could not find anything that looked relevant in a search of the forum

Works now. Thanks for sharing. Chris

Fixed - I think!

That huge link doesn't work for me

Quote from: Newportnobby on May 16, 2026, 11:30:40 PM

Quote from: joe cassidy on May 16, 2026, 05:43:09 PMWhat I like about Premier Inns is that they normally come with a pub attached 

Having stayed in 3 Premier Inns in the last 2 weeks (Dumbarton, Dunfermline and Cirencester) they appear to have revamped and standardized their rooms so they're all the same, and the ones I stayed at didn't have pubs next door but had their own in house restaurant called 'The Social'. Evening meals and breakfast menus at all 3 were the same.

Quote from: TeeCee on May 16, 2026, 05:36:22 PM

Quote from: Newportnobby on May 16, 2026, 09:22:16 AMOh yes, the switch for the bedside light is so high up you have to sit up to reach it

a length of string to extend the pull switch cord.

No such thing as a pull cord
Small rocker switch to the left of each bedside lamp out of reach if you want to be prone and turn the lamp on or off

Pictorial evidence of the switch........



And while I'm at it, Premier Inn give the option of turning the bathroom into a disco with purple lighting. Apologies for the first pic and the system has turned it on it's side but this was Dunfermline on 7th May........



I thought that was weird until I was in Cirencester Premier Inn last Friday for a wedding the next day and, sure enough...............



What the heck is that about??  

I've posted a very short video clip on YouTube at https://youtu.be/oj-AnbeDfqw?si=4ebTe1SZHXe5aMMy
It shows that I've been working to complete the capability for trains to cancel a signal after they have passed.
On my layout, The signals are set by sensing the points being activated. A Hall effect sensor then lies in the track just after the relevant signal and resets the signal to danger after a short pause by sensing a magnet under the last coach or the guard's van. Took a while to do, but I'm there at last!

Quote from: jmupton2000 on May 16, 2026, 09:00:59 PMDo we actually know what happened?  There has been radio silence from them for nearly two years.  What happened to the graphics produced for the N-Train range of Underground stock kits for example?

No idea - just total radio silence. The website and domain is still up and running, so someone must be paying for it but no other news. I gather some people lent Luke and Kylie models for making vinyl templates and have not had these returned, which is not good.

Link: https://forum.mrhmag.com/post/mrh-202605-may-2026-13837639

Jon