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When I retire in a few years' time I intend to build myself a model railway. In the meantime, I wish to start on its design. Is there any software that would help me do this?

I use an ancient CAD program (IBMCAD) to design layouts, setting up symbols for the main components. If you're starting from scratch, I suggest you select your manufacturer early and get a catalogue, which should give all of the key dimensions. My last Märklin catalogue (1997/98) offered hardware and software for PD control of layouts, but no mention of design programs.

Check out WinRail 4 for Windows 95, 98 NT from a company called Span Software Ltd. Telephone 01925 814444 or Fax 01925 837348 or if you have internet access: www.winrail.com. Also Hornby have just released Virtual Railway, however unlike WinRail it is specific to Hornby track and track plans.

I can recommend Templot. This software is a track construction template generator. It works for all scales and gauges of model railways. Find it at http://www.85a.co.uk

My problem as a historian is how to enter old currency (£sd) into spreadsheets. Many of the old records I consult have columns for money, which I need to be able to manipulate. I have Excel but am not too proficient yet.

If it is only the appearance of pounds, shillings and pence that is wanted, you could format the column for times, selecting the 37:30:55 format from Format Cells Time. However you would not be able to do any arithmetic on the values you entered.

To do arithmetic on pounds, shillings and pence, I'm afraid there is nothing for it but to enter some formulae! The easiest way to do this is to put the pounds, shillings and pence each in a separate column, say A, B and C. Head a 4th column, say D, with the word pence and put in D2 the following formula: =A2*240+B2*12+C2 and then drag it down the whole column. Use this column for any manipulations you want to do on your money, adding, subtracting etc. The results will then also be in pennies. Leave the result of your calculations in a cell further down in column D. Another set of formulae can then be used to evaluate these pennies back into pounds, shillings and pence in columns A, B and C using the following formulae, which assume the result is in cell D4. Therefore, wherever mentioned, change D4 to the reference of the cell you are using.

For the shillings cell, enter the following formula: = INT((D4 - INT(D4/240)*240)/12)

To sum old currency you need to:
1 create the following functions:
Function Pennies(L, S, D)
Pennies = L * 240 + D * 20 + D
End Function

Function lsdPence(L, S, D)
    lsdPence = Pennies(L, S, D) Mod 12
End Function

Function lsdShill(L, S, D)
    lsdShill = Int(Pennies(L, S, D) / 12) Mod 20
End Function

Function lsdPound(L, S, D)
    lsdPound = Int(Pennies(L, S, D) / 240)
End Function

2 Enter pounds, shillings and pence in distinct columns.

3 Sum the columns in the normal way and format the cells as hidden (ie
";;;")

4 Put the formula '=lsdPound(L,S,D)' in the cell beneath the £ total,
'=lsdShill(L,S,D)' beneath the S total and '=lsdPence(L,S,D)' in the cell
beneath the D total where L = £ total cell, S = shilling total cell and D =
penny total cell.
Dean Taylor,

The first step is to convert the £sd into pence (old). Thus, if pounds, shillings and pence are entered into separate columns the pounds and shillings can be multiplied by the appropriate factor (240 & 12) and the sum of all parts calculated to achieve the total pence value. This value can now be manipulated in any way you wish.

After manipulation one would arrive at a different pence value. This can be readily converted into £sd by first dividing by 240 and then subtracting the integer value from this figure - this integer value is the "pounds". Then divide the result by 20 and again subtract the integer value - this integer value is the "shillings". The final figure is multiplied by 12 to give the pence value.

I have carried this out in Lotus 123 so I expect a similar approach can be made in Excel.

I am looking for a suitable commercial program to organise my vast collection of photographs. I want to be able to catalogue them so that they can be easily identified and retrieved with ease. The program should also be able to produce “caption” labels for each photograph. Any ideas ?

FlipAlbum 3.1 is a program that I find very useful for making up any number of separately indexed photograph albums. It can be downloaded from www.ebooksys.com/flipalbum. It costs about $32 by secure credit card.

I am a keen photographer and have just completed a Millennium Photo Project in the Maidenhead area with over 1300 pictures. We used a product called 'Idex' which can be accessed from www.idexworld.com. It is a database and
stores the photo along with all kinds of info that you define. You can later do a search on that information and sort into categories etc. The latest version is free and is perfect for organising vast collections of photos.
Brian Harris,

I have heard that there is are charities, which will collect an old computer, clear out the hard drive and pass it on to where it is needed. Do you have any recommendations?

Philip Jones,

The Leonard Cheshire Foundation has been running a scheme to provide disabled people with re-furbished computers for some time - contact Andrew Anderson at Workability@london.leonard-cheshire.org.uk.

David Simpson,

I explored this question recently and published the answers at:

http://www.a-b.co.uk/oldcomp.htm. I have more recently found http://www.ribi.org/v&c/free%20comps.htm where Rotary are working with Free Computers for Education.
Colin Pearson,

I have run a pub quiz league in the Sevenoaks area for the last six years. Every year I spend the best part of two days organising the fixture list. All I need is a formula where you input the following.

Is such a thing available either on the net or CD-ROM. I presume the Football Association don't do it by hand?

I am not the world's best typist and apparently the keys make a lot of noise when I punch them. My husband finds this very stressful (like living in a typing pool) which means I am restricted in the use of our computer, in order not to drive him out of the house. The computer lives with us in the living room, as we do not really have enough space elsewhere. Trying to improve my typing skills has been unsuccessful, so I have tried to find a "silent" keyboard instead, so far without success. Do they exist and if so, where can I find one?

Can anybody help? I have a list of 50 horses to follow for the coming chase season. I can access, via the 'Racing Post' website, a list of runners each day. Is there any way that I can compare the two lists to highlight 'horses to follow' for that day. The 'Find' facility is too slow. The quickest way at the moment is to hack the list alphabetically.

I have several used disposable cameras with built-in flash that I would like to recycle by converting them into Slave Flash units. Has anyone an idea how to do this?