Begging the groups indulgence

the word 'brilliant' springs to mind.

having a website that requires a lot of typing myself, I can appreciate just how much work has gone into that little lot.

one tiny point. You've spelt Historical Background incorrectly on the index page ;)

Pete

Please do........more than useful......

Quite superb, thus far.

Your illustrations (pen and ink?) enhance an excellent narrative.

Congratulations.

Cheers Robt P.

Crikey that was quick!

Have corrected the spelling on the index page - shouldnt do this kind of thing at 3 am.

The drawings were done on a computer, originally on a Zenith Z181 twin floppy with a mono CGA display, later on a Toshiba with a massive 20mb hard drive. Mostly done in airports whilst waiting for flights, some done on ships when on long sea passages with no major problems to address. Colour was added in a rather half hearted way when I got my first colour screened laptop (IBM thinkpad) about five years ago. Mostly done with the original PC Paintbrush, still find that handy as it has an easy to edit fill pattern which is useful when you only have a mono printer. Modified for the web using Paint Shop Pro v.5 (I bought version 7 but 5 has a better interface for the kind of work I do, fortunately I already had that so I have gone back to using it, it cannot do text on a curve though.

Glad it might be of use - I'll update it as time allows - When I tried it the signals page took several minutes to download (due to large numbers of pictures) so I'll chop the sections up some more as I go along. I'm not sure how it will all fit, I only have 50 meg of webspace (Freenetname) so I may end up having to rotate sections. The kit bashing section has notes on all the conversions I have done, a couple of hunded at least over the years, so that section is nearly as big as the rest put together.

Thanks for the feedback

As always, exceptionally informative, please don't take them down.

I know that your layout is very much "work in progress"

One suggestion though, can we have it so that links *do not* open into a new window, it makes it a little more difficult to navigate, also it makes a users desktop cluttered. There's also always the danger that the user may close the wrong window and thus be prevented around your site. Just change the target attribute in your links and add a return to index page link at the bottom of your descriptive pages.

One (other) suggestion, add "Alt" tags to your pics, for instance I was peeking at the various brake van diagrams you've got posted. Whilst they were referred to in the text it was difficult to work out which one was which.

One (final) suggestion ... make the pages smaller, brake them up into sections, each having it's own page. Easier to read ... also later on when you're revising content much, much easier to update. Pages also load more quickly - I'm on broadband, some folks are on dial-up and have to pay by the minute for an inferior service.

Finally, finally, I notice that your host "IGG" is currently sponsoring "DA2C" might be worth a visit to their site to see how to use style sheets etc rather than font tags etc to create your layout.

All comments to be taken with a pinch of salt, the real deciding feature for any website is content, as yours is superb.

Thanks for the feedback - The main problem is that I used Star Office to create the pages as this is alot easier than any other web page software I have access to - Unfortunately it is an older copy which doesnt generate html 4 compatible code. The final pages will be tidied up using CSE HTML Validator, which I find to be easier to use than Dreamweaver or Hot Metal Pro. Style sheets will be used on the final site, the stuff that's up there is just to get some feedback as to whether the job is worth doing.

The final site design will have on-page nav links, probably using frames (as per

one of the sites da2c maintains) Frames are not ideal from the point of accessibility for the partially sighted but that group are amongst the least likely to need this information so I will probably use that approach.

There are a few layouts out there that I built and I am thinking of using them to photograph the models I will be using for illustrations, I am actually considering having a crack as US outline, mainly because of a vid of such a layout on that Peco CD on RM a year or so back.

Regards

Mike

Mike

Please add to them. I've looked at three pages so far and learned quite a few things from each one! Thank you!

-- Enzo

I wear the cheese. It does not wear me.

Well done, there is a lot to learned from this site. Please continue to add to it.

Keep them coming! An excellent set of notes and diagrams that will prove invaluable :-)

Couple of slight corrections: On

the pic beneath "Fig ___ DC Brake" doesn't appear, and what I'm guessing should be a pic beneath "Fig ___ Hand brakes on non-bogie stock" appears as a blank space.

--

*** *** Updated 22 October, now 609 images online. Rich Mackin (rich-at-richmackin.co.uk)

Good grief! Where did you find the time? This is the sort of stuff people pay for. Oops, shouldn't have suggested that ;-)

....

Yuch!

But seriously content is the key ingredient regardless of any other consideration and you've got the content.

I note from another reply you've posted that you've only got 50M - am I correct in assuming that that is shared with IGG itself? If so, you can have the free use of

+50M (unshared), I simply don't have the time to use it. Consider it payment for all those drawings you've sent me over the last 12 months or so.

Mail me if you're interested.

Mike PC

LOL! It's also the kind of stuff that Wild Swan publishes......!

-- Enzo

I wear the cheese. It does not wear me.

Excellent and very informative: please keep it up

Paul

You have a lot of good stuff there, keep up the good work. /I did notice a number of errors in the signalling page, if its OK with you I'll send you corrections as soon as I can find the time.

Keith

Make friends in the hobby. Visit Garratt photos for the big steam lovers.

In message , snipped-for-privacy@notigg.not.no writes

I'd like to add to what the others have said. What I have looked at so far is superb.

Reference Banner signals on page

GWR and Western Region banner signals were lower-quadrant, others were upper quadrant.

Modern banner signals have no moving parts, being made out of a circular matrix of white LEDs, with the "black" signal arm being switched off. Examples can be seen at Lewisham, and my local station (New Beckenham).

...

Ah hah, I think that you're actually describing the modern equivalent of a 'Sykes Banner Repeater' which is not in itself a signal but a repeater of a start signal (or similar) further up the track that may be out of sight of a driver. For instance when a short train stops at a curved platform the driver may not see the start signal positioned as it is for the benefit of the driver of a full length train. Because of the track curvature the signal can't be seen by the driver of a shorter train (assuming he's stopped further down the platform). All the repeater does is show what the actual signal is indicating - if for any reason the repeater and the signal proper are showing different aspects then it's the repeater that should be ignored.

If you ever stop at Waterloo East you can see some much older mechanical back lit examples. To the best of my knowledge (which of course could be very faulty) this type of signal has been in use since pre-grouping days.

In message , Chris Wilson writes

You're right. I should have said "repeater".

Invented by one Sykes, who worked for a precursor of the Southern if I am not mistook.

Thanks, please do, it'd be nice if I could be sure there weren't any errors

Thanks - The only one I have seen is the one in the drawing, on the line into Stockport, which is still the old mechanical type

Bloody hell I got something right. :-)