Quote from: Papyrus on January 15, 2026, 09:54:04 AM...we will be looking after her once a week when he goes up to London so on Sunday we will be introducing her to our two dogs. I will report back...

Well, the first week has passed and we have spent rather more time looking after pup than we anticipated. The theory is that we looked after her while he did some work... I'm sure that's not what we signed up to, but we shall see.

Anyway, our dogs met the pup and studiously ignored her, but they are thawing slowly. They dined together without argument as you can see:



We also introduced her to the delights of the local coffee shop today:


Anyway it's all going well so far!

Cheers,

Chris

I've got a helix on my layout made from No3 radius curves. It is 2% and covers 3 and half turns. My Union Mills and older GF steam locos can manage 4 or 5 coaches, the newer GF steam sometimes struggle a bit. Big diesels like Deltics and Class 47s have no problem with this gradient even though on a curve.
The old version of the club layout had two big oval helix units one at each end, these were also at a nominal 2%; as a test one evening I tried my UM J39 and at 14 coaches it was still showing no signs of slipping and there were no more coaches available.
HTH
Cheers!

Quote from: Newportnobby on Yesterday at 03:58:21 PMI'm (maybe wrongly) assuming the gradient is for one line to cross another, as in a figure 8. Where they cross, lower the bottom line into a shallow 'trough' instead of it being on the level. Then the gradient for the upper line doesn't need to be 2% to clear the lower track.

Got it. Thank you.

Here's what is meant. The two pairs of lines crossing are at the same level on the right hand side.The near pair descends by 1:100 (1%) while the far pair rise by the same grade. They cross in just over 1.5m. My layout is a looped eight similar to your plan., and getting these lines to cross was a key part of the design.

Dave

I'm (maybe wrongly) assuming the gradient is for one line to cross another, as in a figure 8. Where they cross, lower the bottom line into a shallow 'trough' instead of it being on the level. Then the gradient for the upper line doesn't need to be 2% to clear the lower track.

Quote from: Newportnobby on Yesterday at 09:42:43 AMAn alternative is to lower the ground by 1% and raise the track(s) over it by just 1% thus getting the same clearance but with a lower gradient

This is where my mental deficiencies rear their head the most: as simple as this might seem, I can't visualize what you mean by this. 

All great info guys! Thanks so much.

3 years ago my mother had a fall in her bungalow and managed to get to the phone to call me. I was there within 20 minutes and called 999 to be told no ambulance for 13 hours. As it turned out it took just 5 hours (so that's OK then). She had broken her hip, and it's very unpleasant to hear your mother screaming in pain. She was taken into Preston hospital and passed away within a week from pneumonia she didn't have before she went in.

Big shout out to Martin @port perran for suggesting we create the story and for the continuance of the journey into the West Country
 

Toss up between the unhappy and angry thread but I plumped for this one.

Hot on the heels of my fathers passing and falling out with Adult Social Don't Care re my mother the father in law had another fall yesterday (he's waiting for a hip op). I know it's not their fault but a 6 1/2 hour wait for an ambulance although things quickly investigated upon arrival at the hospital.

Just lacerations, broken ribs and a fractured pelvis! Not sure how injured you need to be to get an ambulance more quickly? I will avoid politics but its decades of underfunding the NHS