In a rather 'round about way I made two discoveries yesterday - one potentially more interesting than the other! Well - my little one spent he day Bell Boating with her school (why they are called 'Bell Boats', I have no idea as appeared to be two canoes roped together). All of this entailed delivering, and picking her up from the nearby town of Droitwich. Running concurrently with this I had a problem of how to couple my skips together. I had always intended to run all seven as a rake with just chopper couplings at each end. A little research showed that the Slaters 16mm version had three link chains so that was good enough for me! Now where to get some chain. I did consider using the links from three link couplings but that would have meant buying six sets and that was not a pleasant option. My thinking then went laterally and I ended up with model boats and anchor chain which then skipped to a local model boat supplier. I had come across this a little while ago on the wonderful Internet while searching for some interesting wood but never went there. So, I picked up one very muddy but happy small child and headed of to what can only be described as NOT a high street location!

When I rang to ask if they did welcome visitors they said it was hard to find and they were not wrong! It was well worth it though. After eventually finding our way in, we had a very warm welcome and very quickly shown a great selection of chains in a vast array of parts bins containing all manor of wonders. But, the best thing was they were making much of it there themselves. We were shown around a busy little factory with injection moulding machines, white metal centrifuges and the biggest laser cutter I have ever seen. They are mostly mail order hence the far from shop front approach but they are building a new show room which we were shown. It was an absolute breath of fresh air to see a little company obviously doing very well indeed, taking the trouble to show people around without asking (even though there was [an interested - and muddy!], small person involved), and actually making things!

I came away with enough chain to last me for ever with an apology for it being expensive at a mere £4 - a fraction of what it would have cost otherwise. I know the vast majority of what they do is not train orientated but they have a great range of tools and who knows, you might need so chain for couplings sometime..... http://www.jotika-ltd.com/Pages/1024768/index.htm

Anyway, what I have actually done with the chain is not worthy of a photo at this time of night but I now do have a full set of skip chassis. How long did that take? Absolutely (and I would like to put something stronger!), ages! I cannot believe how long it took to solder the bodies together, fit bearings, and then get all the wheels to turn! I have managed it but the result will have to wait until tomorrow.

Oh - the second discovery? Do you remember the Astonish floor polish I have have been using very effectively for sticking down ballast? Well, it is actually very good for use on floors as well!