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#71
General Discussion / Re: what are you listening to ...
Last post by Moonglum - April 07, 2026, 09:11:55 AM
Yes, I have that track on their "Live in LA" release*, haven't heard it for ages!

Tim

* try this Martyn @port perran
#72
General Discussion / Re: what are you listening to ...
Last post by port perran - April 07, 2026, 09:08:28 AM
I've not come across The Rippingtons before but very nice indeed.
I'll be listening to some more.
#73
General Discussion / Re: what are you listening to ...
Last post by kusojiji - April 07, 2026, 08:28:34 AM
Another from the GRP label: Rippingtons Miles Away


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ynduhf-c2YI
#74
N Gauge Discussion / Re: More about couplings
Last post by GrahamB - April 07, 2026, 08:26:17 AM
To answer a couple of  points;
I cut the Dapol magnets in half. They can tend to splinter so care is needed.
With fixed rakes I use a combination of medium/short or short/short couplings to achieve as close coupling as possible. I then use Dapol Easi-shunt couplings at each end, again a mixture of medium or short.
I'm not aware of anyone supplying Easi-shunts already fitted but it's an easy unplug/plug in process.

If anyone thinks using these couplings is a slow, painful process, I volunteer at the Ashford International Model Railway Education Centre (AIMREC) https://aimrec.co.uk/ refers. On the Gresley Beat our longest train is around 82 wagons long – all coupled correctly with three link or screw couplings. We think very hard before varying the rakes!


#75
N Gauge Discussion / Re: More about couplings
Last post by ismangil - April 07, 2026, 08:02:00 AM
Here I am, new to the hobby, 8 years later, have spent weeks researching couplings so I can make sure I have the best chance of reliable coupling and auto uncoupling in a ready to run fashion, without modifying anything.

Are there wagon brands that come ready to run with Dapol easi shunts or similar?
#76
General Discussion / Re: Childhood model railways
Last post by The Q - April 06, 2026, 08:28:28 PM
Quote from: emjaybee on March 28, 2026, 10:54:05 AMOkay, the flashbacks are happening.

My early model railway experience was the obligatory 'O' tinplate. We had enough track for a oval & a siding. I can remember the builders doing our family extension winding up the loco for me & setting it off. That was 1973.

Then came my first trainset.





My first set too, but about 5 years earlier, with birthday presents over the next few years, some GWR carriages, a hall loco, plus a few other items created my first scenic layout 6ft by 3 ft.. loosely based on the station  my grandfather worked at.. very loosely, in oo gauge that station is 32ft long!!!.
Sadly no photos..

Also Sadly when I went away to work my nephew's and nieces destroyed it,..
I still have the remains of the rolling stock..

Soon after I got my first N gauge rolling stock, but that was left at my parents while I moved again and disappeared..


I now have 2 N gauge layouts and an HOe layout under construction, having worked on club layouts in various places during my previous peripatetic life
#78
General Discussion / Re: Get well soon, George
Last post by Newportnobby - April 06, 2026, 10:00:21 AM
George sent me a pic of him and Anne being mobile, although George is walking with the aid of a stick. Unfortunately, it seems they think he now has pneumonia :doh:
I must admit when my Mother fell, broke her hip and was taken into hospital first she got a UTI then pneumonia. Hospitals, eh? They just keep on giving. :unimpressed:
#79
General Discussion / Re: Happy thread
Last post by Newportnobby - April 05, 2026, 08:05:59 PM
I'm just happy to have got through Storm Dave with no damage to my little bungalow.
I have to say in all the years I've been here that one was the worst, I reckon.
I'm sure at least twice I felt the property vibrating!!
#80
General Discussion / Re: Happy thread
Last post by Papyrus - April 05, 2026, 07:31:44 PM
This probably ought to go in the "Phew! That was lucky!" thread, but as we don't have one, this will have to do.

A note on the family calendar reminded me that the house insurance was due tomorrow, but I thought it odd that I hadn't had a renewal notice. I searched through my paperwork and emails and found I didn't get one last year either. That was when I started to worry. I had taken out a 3-year fixed rate deal in 2023, and got a renewal notice in 2024 but stupidly I thought the deal meant it was renewed automatically. Reading it again, more carefully this time, I found I was still expected to actually respond to it. So..., we have been uninsured for the past two years! What a good job the house didn't burn down.  :smackedface:  :doh:  :-[

Thank the Lord for instant cover, even on Easter Sunday.

Cheers,

Chris
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