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[dkightley]

Just been browsing on YouTube...and I'm amazed that videos of The Bridge are coming up at positions 3, 7 and 29 when doing a simple "forth bridge" search....even after all this time!!

[dkightley]

I think I've finally cracked the issue with only being able to run one train at a time under script control. A strange mix of not using the "Extended throttle" type and opening up windows on the controlling PC in the right order!

For a written reminder......start PanelPro, start two or three throttles, assign trains to throttles in order throttles loaded, start train running scripts, set up script settings one at a time.

I've had to modify the scripts to make all variables unique (ie prefixed by "self.") and added in a couple of initial values to ensure the script doesn't lock up!

Next task is to put a couple of power units in a vice so I can squeeze in a DCC decoder in each.....this is going to be fun!

[dkightley]

Fresh out of the virtual paintshop……….you can still smell the Irn-Bru……….

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[gbtrains]

WOW
The vinyls look amazing

regards
Graham

[dkightley]

They're not the vinyls you sent me....but it is your artwork!!

Your design must have been based on an artist's impression of the livery...and the nose fairing colouring on the real thing is different...its all blue with a yellow rectangle around the window and lights. Also, I couldn't get the vinyl to mould around the fairing properly....the vinyl is too thick for the small curves.

What you see above is your artwork with the nose colour altered, and the whole image brightened up by about 10% to make the fine details stand out better. The result was then printed onto white waterslide transfer paper for inkjet printers, a thin coat of spray matt varnished applied, and with a little help from MicroSet transfer setting solution, they went on a treat! Fiddly.....but an excellent finish!

[martink]

That looks like it is to commercial / RTR standards. Well Doug, I think you've just raised the bar for the rest of us.

[dkightley]

With less than two weeks to the Bridge's final outing for the time being, I now need to clear space in the workshop and start checking out what needs repairing, etc.

I might even have one last go at sorting out the scripting to get multiple trains running......there's got to be a right way of doing it!! I need to cure this once and for all,,,,not only for this layout, but for Saltash as well! And I want to get the nice and shiny Scotrail HST running along with other stock!

[dkightley]

Part way through prepping for this coming weekend's show....

A couple of minor scenery repairs at the Dalmeny end sorted so far.....and I might have finally cracked the problem with the scripting not working correctly. More of a start-up sequence for things on the laptop than any errors or missing bits in the code! I have resized the script displays to get windows showing side by side on the laptop screen....which is obviously smaller than my desktop!

[dkightley]

Well....now the Models Weekend at Crich is over, The Bridge is now officially in "semi-retirement" and will be put in storage. I'm not accepting any new invitations to take the layout to any shows for the foreseeable future....however I am open to any "special" invitations that may come along that may make me decide to bring the layout out of retirement.

The layout did start showing its age over the weekend. Friday evening saw me having to trace and repair two faults in the track power wiring.....both fatigue breaks of wires at connectors! And during running on both days, I was plagued with bad connections at track joints...despite having fitted brand new connectors!! Perhaps the layout was trying to tell me that it was ready for retirement...

A few stats....

24 shows in three years. 50 show days. Five "Best in Show" awards, one "Best visiting layout" award, and one "Best scenery" award. A few appearances on TV for both the layout and me, Rolling stock covered in excess of an estimated 35,000 scale miles (over 75 real miles)……..

Not bad for my second layout ever! and not bad for a T gauge layout.....holding its own against the established gauges!

[dkightley]

And here's what might be the last photos of the layout...….

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