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Once again Norman popped into Bleat Wharf. It struck Norman that whilst quietly returning to nature, Bleat has the feel of something that was a bit unfinished. He decided to make regular visits there to see if this feeling changed.

The second batch are of the London Tilbury and Southend. Sometimes the weather in Essex was very dull and dismal, other days were bright and sunny. Tilbury Town 08519 down le May 80 J6908.jpg Tilbury Edith and Catherine at Tilbury Riverside landing stage on the right May 80 J6917.jpg Laindon 302273 Shoeburyness to Fenchurch St May 80 J6951.jpg Hadleigh Class 302 Fenchurch St to Shoeburyness 27th Dec 79 C4921.jpg Leigh on Sea Class 302 Fenchurch St to Shoeburyness Oct 74 C1813.jpg Chalkwell Class 302 Shoeburyness to Fenchurch St Feb 78 C3683.jpg David

And the return journey. Back to Little Muddle to start it all over again!

Foursomes today, which doesn't mean what some of you naughty people might think. It is a format in which each player of two takes alternate shots, and would then say "sorry mate", if that hadn't been banned by agreement before the start. Anyway, we have qualified for the knockout stage, though we tried hard not to. Having sorted out the camera, I did get time for a couple more images this morning, so here is a J6 which has sneaked into the bay so that porters can throw things about. Someone was determined to get a side on view, despite the clutter in the way.

An update from me... This is nearly complete and will be journeying down to Taunton with me:

And for absolutely no reason what so ever here is a picture of 5355 sitting in the bay platform. I found it in my post focus folder and is dated May 18!!!! Waste not, want not.

Final picture of the day... I removed the blue warehouse building which enabled me to push the lens of the camera in its place. Ivy & Daisy stilling chatting, no change there then?

Miss Gray is still arguing with her mother whilst the city gent pretends not to be listening! I think this works as I zoomed in, which is something I don't use a lot as I rather crop and adjust to close in to enlarge a picture.

A tarped open awaiting unloading. Not sure if tarped is a word...?!

Love it!!

Still no direct access, but I'm sure Andy is aware and will be working on it. It's only a minor inconvenience, after all. Here's the one remaining image I have , showing A3 Sandwich from a different angle, and showing off the Top Shed shine.

Early morning start as the first service from Little Muddle takes the bend into Encombe Town.

Yesterday, a highly pleasurable ramble, which started here:

Two sets of photos together this afternoon, I didn't get chance to post any this morning. The first set are at Quorn (really Quorn and Woodhouse) on the Great Central. Quorn Littleton No 5 Loughborough to Rothley 30th May 76 C2741.jpg Quorn D11 506 Butler Henderson Sept 76 C3018.jpg Loughborough N2 4744 Sept 78 J6337.jpg Most of these people will be (at least) in their 60s now. Qourn and Woodhouse N2 4744 Sept 78 J6338.jpg Quorn and Woodhouse Hunslet 4 Robert Nelson Rothley to Loughborough July 81 J7519.jpg Quorn and Woodhouse Hunslet 4 Robert Nelson Loughborough to Rothley July 81 J7522.jpg David

Some from yesterday, had a week off and back a nice crewe to Doncaster job the obligatory Masborough shot and into hexthorpe rhen got asked to fuel and shunt a class 56 around ready to be hauled to peak forest, new one for me, first time I’ve driven 56081 North Norfolk railway 37032 awaiting the wheel lathe thats it til Monday and the bescot to Toton tripper

Good evening awl! (Other equally pleasant time / location greetings are available) Finally back home from the SRS AGM in Derby! Indeed, Dave, as we agreed, always good to have a face to match the name! Hope the AGM went 'to plan' and that the dinner runs well. I feel I must report the Comedy of Errors (AKA you couldn't make it up) relating to my 'interesting' journey home. I was aware of various engineering works taking place along the most logical route from Derby to Dakest West Sussex and had made some contingency plans. I was also aware of the preference of the SRS to keep the AGM as short as is practical. It started at 15:33, some 3 minutes late; any self-respecting Swiss Railway Conductor would be falling on his sword at this stage but us Brits can be tolerant when appropriate! I reasoned thus: AGM scheduled to start at 15:30. Usually takes less than an hour. Earliest train back avoiding any replacement buses is 16:53. Last similar train to arrive without having to sleep on a park bench is 18:53. So three plans were hatched: Plan A: depart 16:53, arrive in Deepest West Sussex 21:46ish Plan B: depart 17:53, arrive 22:59ish Plan C: depart 18:53, arrive 00:03ish. Arrived at Derby station at around 16:20ish to find the 16:53 cancelled. Adjourned to the station hostelry to pass the next 1.5 hours. Using Southern Failway's app, discovered the 17:10 departure to Birmingham New Street leading to 'connections' (we are not in Switzerland, so I use the term loosely!) to give an arrival in DWS around 21:58ish. Asked the ticket clerk to print the itinerary and duly waited on the appropriate platform with several others. Train arrives, I find the conductor to enquire the cost of an upgrade to 1st class - free, he replied, I don't have a ticket machine. Great! Duly arrive in Birmingham New Street at 17:58. Now, the next train in plan A revision 1 is one of Virgin's finest and I know how fussy they are about tickets. The Screens even stated that EMS and LNWR tickets were not accepted on that particular train. So I found a suitably uniformed attendant and asked direct if this ticket was valid on the 18:10 to Euston. No was his reply; it's a 'Super Off Peak Return', albeit 'valid via any permitted route'. It's not valid until 18:50 so your next train's the 19:10 to Euston. After I'd resigned my self to an hour's wait at New Street (policed today by members of said force from Preston looking for football fans), the penny dropped! Resort to Plan B; it's coming through BNS! Quick trip to the ticket office to check my ticket's validity and get a printed itinerary and into the 18:33 to Reading and treat myself to an upgrade to 1st class as it's Saturday! Arrive in Reading, make the transfer to the train to Guildford and duly arrive to find that the required 21:34 to Portsmouth is nowhere to be seen on the screens. I ask one of the gate staff. Seems some local football fans had activated the emergency system just west of Havant, jumped off the train and started walking along the tracks. The words 'fatality' and 'relief driver' were uttered in the same sentence. We're in for a long night here methinks. Have I enough to get back to the train from Reading and go to Gatport Airwick and get a SF service to DWS? - No! It departed whilst I was doing the calcs. Then, the erstwhile cancelled 21:34 is miraculously reinstated and advertised, initially, as to Haslemere but then all the way to Portsmouth Harbour. Plan B now resurrected and let's see how far it gets. On-borad announcements insist it's going all the way, and I eventually arrive at Havant, on time, to change to a service heading to DWS. (Schedule suggests 22:35.) Two minutes after arriving, I find myself on Platform 1 greeted by the arrival of a train advertised to go to my destination. Needless to say, I board and, after all that has been described, arrive at my destination some 15 minutes EARLIER than plan B had suggested! qv, you couldn't make it up! And it was Saturday 13th!

It is, indeed, Lambley viaduct, but the station is Lambley also; we (Runs-as-Required and I) started from there. For those unfamiliar with the area, to the north the Newcastle & Carlisle Railway ran east-west between those places. From Hexham a branch dropped south-westwards to the River Allen, before dog-legging south-east to the terminus at Allendale. It is on that line you will find Langley station, aforementioned. But, we did not go there. Continue west on the N&C mainline and you arrive at Haltwhistle (what better name could there be for a railway station?). Here was the junction with another branch, which ran southward, going up the River South Tyne valley to Alston. Alston is the terminus, and, by car, is just a jump over the moors to the head of Teesdale. There was once a plan to link Middleton in Teesdale, terminus of a branch from Barnard Castle, to Alston by rail. Lambley is a wayside station on the Alston branch, south of Haltwhistle and immediately after a viaduct. The viaduct is nothing short of a piece of classical architecture, with rusticated base and dressed stone arches. It is tall, graceful and astonishingly narrow. It was designed by Sir George Barclay-Bruce and completed in 1852. And I absolutely love it.

Railcar No.8 arriving at platform 3 from Little Muddle

Slow approach now to the bay platform...

Good evening everyone For some reason I cannot get on this site using my ipad, I just keep getting a bad gateway error message! So I've had to use my phone, which as you can see, is letting me on here no problem. Anyway, a bit of progress has been made in the workshop today. My first task was to have a look at one of Max's engines, which he says isn't working. Put it on my test track and it worked perfectly, so I'm guessing there may be something wrong with his layout! After that I continued work on the L class where some positive progress has been made on the bogies. I'll go into more detail tomorrow. This afternoon, what is the exclusive hairdressing boutique 'Vidal Baboon' s' was opened and what has been called "that mess" has been tidies up. Later this afternoon Mike and Sarah came round and as our favourite Indian takeaway has just reopened after a couple of months, they very kindly bought us a meal. We then chatted for a couple of hours before they set off for home. We then a settled down with a bottle of red and watched the idiots lantern until it was time for bed. Goodnight all

Just been sorting the pictures taken last week and pleased that the picture of the single and double Fairlies taken on our way to Caernarfon has come out quite well: I've never seen both the single and a double Fairlie on the same train and even more so to see the pair operating a train on the Welsh Highland Railway. Last coach on this train was one of the Pullman coaches serving cream teas: As we were on a charter we did not stop at the regular stations (as we steamed through Beddgelert the other half of our tour group travelling in the opposite direction were waiting for us to clear the section) but we had to wait at Rhyd Ddu for the train from Caernarfon to pass us. The guard on our train went down the train suggesting that we might like to get out of the train to see the passing train. I'm glad she did. In passing must mention that all the onboard staff on the train were fantastic - we were not short of coffee, tea and cakes!! It was a great trip, glad I decided to go!! Time now for bed, o yasumi nasai. Keith

And again.......this time on Sheep Lane.....

Sorry Bogie. It is this sort of nit - picking that I find myself increasingly at odds with on this forum and making me consider if I want to continue being part of it. Why do people feel the need to offer criticism for the sake of it. No mention is made of the quality of the image or the overall scene. It is almost as if people look for fault above all else. If Kevin plonks a driver in at both ends then one end will be wrong to someone. I suggest it is easier to add/remove a tail lamp to the end than remove a driver. I'm certainly not worried by it. Just enjoy the image. Rob.

And there's at least one relatively decent second hand bookshop with cafe on the Quay near the Warfinger's house and Customs House. Small-medium transport section, some music scores, some maps. I've picked up things from there in the past. Dave and Shirley Rowe used Exeter Quay as the basis for one of their harbours about 40 years ago.

Good morning one and all. I apologise for my late arrival this morning but, like others, I have been obstructed by the 502 Bad Gateway. Unlike some others, I am not clever enough to figure out workarounds all by myself and proffer thanks to those who have helped me today. I listened to the Radio 3 programme about folk dance yesterday and enjoyed it until a long piece by Vaughan Williams was played which appeared to my uncultured ears to have little relevance to the subject in hand. Hey, what do I know? There are some matters arising from Friday. Lightengine, thank you for your thoughts on the Imperial and the model shop in Exeter. I’ve now downloaded the map of the Exeter bus network. It is one of those maps which aims to clarify matters by having multiple lines to show that lots of different routes use particular streets. This is not as helpful as it might be as regards the city centre! It will make sense, therefore, if I aim to reach Exeter in time to do some exploring on the Friday evening so that I will have a fair idea of what’s what and where’s where on the Saturday. If I do any shopping on the Saturday it is much more likely to be from traders at Pride, particularly if Stonewall have a stand. Their range of merchandise came up in conversation at LGBT Group on Friday – which, by the way, was encouragingly well attended. At this point it is only right that I should apologise once more to the members of the Brains Trust for not being able to join them in London on 10th May. When I accepted the invitation in early March I had not completely figured out the logistics of being in Central London on Friday and in the middle of Exeter the next day. It doesn’t compute and I am ashamed of myself for getting it so wrong. It is a poor excuse that when I returned from Down Under I was barely functional for three weeks. Despite my optimism yesterday the cough, or rather the phlegm that makes me cough, is still making its presence felt and I am a bit closer to total despair than I would wish! Best wishes to all Chris

According to the song "April showers bring the flowers that bloom in May" in which case we are going to be up to our armpits in blooms next month. The current "shower" has been whizzing from a great height for the last six hours.

Cobblers! Apparently "heelball" is: A black waxy substance used by shoemakers to blacken the edges of heels and soles EDIT: These people still sell it https://www.fiebing.com/catalogue/pro-cobbler-classics/?product=301

Now sitting in the bay platform and ready for the return run, Railcar No 8 awaits clearance.

Another interloper on London Road, a NER G1 4-4-0 on the lines into the engine shed on the other side of the bridge. Opposite a LNWR 50ft Corridor Composite carriage is alongside the carriage cleaning platform. Edited to add that the photo is courtesy of Tony Wright, taken at the 2018 York MRS

Morning all. Yesterday's fence painting got me as far as the olive tree in my garden. Eagle eyed as ever I noticed that part of last year's crop was still awaiting picking. That's lunch sorted then. Albeit I may need to supplement this single olive with a lettuce leaf.

Morning all from Estuary-Land. I have been checking various appliances against the smart meter. Needless to say the kettle takes a lot of power. Interestingly the dry fryer uses about the same power as the microwave but I have to bear in mind that it needs twice as long to cook anything. I've yet to try my 30+ year old washing machine or the old vacuum cleaner that I use for collecting the dust from drilling brick walls and other 'dirty' jobs. Weather is looking good, sun is shining so off to the swapmeet at Rayleigh soon, be back later.

Evening all from a warm PD. Morning an afternoon as apprpriate to all and sundry. Fabulous day on the reef and you will all be pleased to know that I won't subject you to a photo of me in a lycra suit. Rough trip 90 minutes both ways but we obviously have gained our sea legs after all the winter channel crossings we've done. The trip was well worth it but spoilt by one group chatting at high volume in their own language throughout all announcements. One lady didn't draw breath for at least 30 minutes despite both of her companions being fast asleep. An expedition to an eatery is planned in an hour. Tomorrow we entrust ourselves to Quanas again and a Boeing 717 to take us to Brisbane for 3 nights. The main attraction there is a washi g machine in the apartment. Regards to all. Jamie

Morning all i spent most of yesterday thinking that I had broken the site as it appeared to shut up shop immediately after my post. As already pointed out this was just a case of the link not working in some browsers. I only found this out by chance on Farcebook. See, it does have its uses. Sobering (and worrying?) thought though that I did wonder what would happen if the site did disappear or change. I don't depend on the site (honestly) but do enjoy it and consider many here virtual friends. I had a most enjoyable day yesterday with my team winning the league. They were top at the start of the game and only a set of unlikely results would see them overtaken. They were playing a team already relegated and won 137 - 10. A freak result. Other games, especially against other top teams, have been enjoyable and close run things. Some champagne was harmed in the making of the celebrations.

Here is the cat we got to foster after Odin’s death within half an hour of being let out of the carrier she had found a place to sit and relax, didn’t hide away, came for a fuss, so much so that she too felt like she had always been here, as I say never going to be a replacement for Odin, 2 completely different characters but the house (and caravan) feels so complete with her strutting around, she is about 8 years old and a wise old woman that’s for sure we were thinking the other day of how Odin suited his name, named after the god of war, it was reputed he did things with little thought about the consequences! in the short time we had him he got stuck up a tree, lost in a duvet cover, tried to catch the fish in the tank, got tangled in a cat toy, and funniest of all, you had to be there to see it to believe it, pushed a small cardboard box along the landing to the edge of the top step then jumped in it and went flying down the stairs in it like something off cool runnings!

I've been a lurker on this particular part of the form for years (literally!) but I think this is only my first post on RMweb as a whole. I have been quite nervous my stuff isn't up to snuff, but I feel like I should force myself to post something to tide everyone else like me over until the professional madmen return! It's thanks to this forum I've been happily playing around with various ideas of my own, and like many here before me, proposed designs, the stuff some people come up with is really inspirational! Thanks for fueling my addiction to the fantastical everyone! That soppy stuff said, let's get to the loco, shall we? ...The Riddles BR Standard 5MTT! This monster came about during a time of musing about the big, imposing Baltics of the early 20th century (especially those of the Lancashire and Yorkshire and Furness) and how they could be brought into line with more modern motive power. As the only ones I did at this larger scale I do feel happy with them, although it's pretty obvious given their basis - It's just a 5MT with a 4MTT smashed into it (somehow everything from the buffer heads to the cab magically disappeared!) and would be criminally overweight for what I would presume would be almost every line in the country, perhaps a 4MT 4-6-0 would've been a better starting point? I do think it's a pretty beast though. Hopefully, I've done this right and below you should see this beast in a strange collection of standard BR schemes and a few fictional ones: go big or go home as they say!

Well I do believe the shop sign is getting there. I have one that seems to work so I have stitched a picture together to get the idea... The remainder will be dressed but at the moment I am concentrating on getting the sign right.

Morning all, The editor obviously likes Kev the Kite because every time I decide to make a post the one with Kev's picture appears and has to be cleared - ah well, just one clock an' all that. Another sunny but chilly day so I don't know if the G word will spring forth and maybe we should be thinking about getting the spuds in? And Chrisf no need to apologise about the. Brains Trust absence. As we went through the various options when chatting at Ally Pally it was becoming increasingly clear that you'd need a flying car, or an expensive train trip, to get anywhere near fitting in the two. Fortunately on the previous day I shall be 'chauffeured' on an expedition to a 'Little' place adjacent to, and on, the ECML so should have no problems stirring my stumps to get to the big city on the 10th. So today will bring what today brings but there will be a Tesco visit to acquire the newspapers. Have a good day one and all.

ChrisF, the model shop is marginally closer to Central but isn't too far from either station. The ironbridge in another country would cross a tempestuous swollen river but in Exeter it crosses ..... well .... hardly anything apart from a valley ..... it is just surrounded by buildings. George's Meeting House is a Wetherspoons more central in Exeter but it isn't the most inspired conversion of a church that I have seen. The White Hart, an old coaching inn, in the same street is much nicer. Just 10 mins walk away the old quays provide some good places to eat, drink and have pleasant scenery.

Chris See https://imslp.org/wiki/Old_King_Cole_(Vaughan_Williams%2C_Ralph) As far as I know it's the result of RVW collecting folk melodies. Movements/Sections6 sections Introduction. Allegro moderato (C major) Entrance of the King. Maestoso (G major) Pipe Dance. ♩= 176 (B minor) Bowl Dance. Allegro molto (C minor) Morris Jig. Allegro (F major) A bold young farmer. Presto (G minor) The Jolly Thresherman. Allegro vivace (G phrygian) An explanation of the piece here http://philipnauman.com/diss/by_comp-b.php?piece_id=166

Good Morning A panoramic view across Haymarket MPD with A4 60009 Union of South Africa about to leave for Waverley and an express south. Regards David

Morning all! Sunny but flipping freezing this morning. TTFN Baz

Mooring Awl, inner Temple Hare, A very good sleep, 5.5 hours solid in bed followed by, 3hours solid on the sofa. I was comfortable and still didn't want to move but Ben the Border Collie insisted. It's dry sunny with scattered clouds out there, more importantly the wind has a little more south in it, it's not quite as cold. I'll be glad when it gets to a real southerly later in the week. The meandering outside shows yesterday's excess time on my feet, have left me with a slight sore back, and stiff leg muscle nothing to bad though... Muggacoffee shortly , then about 3hours roughly laying out the garage base, before heading down to the moorings for the crane meeting. I may do more garage work after, if the meeting doesn't go on too long. Time to..put the kettle on...

I've really enjoyed catching up on a Nod to Brent Robin. I do like the cattle workings! You just need some ex LMS vans in that train! Best wishes, Nick.

Looking across the valley from Middle Farm nothing much happening. Just a quiet, peaceful spring day, sunny but fresh.....

An "interesting" half hour. Having said that last night's picture should have been grainy, I went off this morning to take a few more, and, goodness me, they certainly were. " Goodness me" were not my actual words when I saw them, by the way. A brief Corporal Jones period followed, after which I looked for answers and soon found one. ISO set to 2500 How that happened I do not know. Anyway, I set it back to 80, where I think it was before, and peace and order were restored. I've no time to run trains this morning, but fortunately the 6.40 slow from KX was sitting at Platform 6, and looking very nice, so I got a shot of that, and here it is.