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Well, it took me a good number of goes to learn the art of chassis building, and I'm still learning. Some of my early attempts may prove useful if I ever model a scrapyard. Nowadays access to advice from experienced modellers is more readily available via the internet than it used to be with just books and magazines. You asked about problems. The chassis for this DJH kit is based on agw frames. Getting it to run in a straight line, no problem. Getting it to run round a curve, more of a problem. I learned early on to only fit the central frame spacers so that you can narrow the frames a bit towards the ends to give bogie clearance on curves, particularly in EM. Cheating a bit, but it works. Painting is not my top skill and it still needs a numberplate but there is a lot of satisfaction in doing the whole thing yourself.

Hi Im really unsure about whether to post this or not as there are people far worse off and all I am doing is just being a miserable whining cow. But I am really at the end of my tether now and doing my damdest not to od or self harm again. I live at my 71 year old mum's as I lost my house and belongings 6 years ago. Without her I would already be dead. She is awaiting 2x TKR and 2 x THR for at least before Christmas. Her mobility was usually excellent and unaided but deteriorated literally over night to using 2 elbow crutches which are effective but obviously slow. The main issue is that she just will not accept that she needs help with things like carrying hot drinks and food around. Daily since Christmas at least I have said multiple times to her to not carry things when on crutches as they will destabilise you and increase the risk of falling. I have tried to explain that the last thing you want is a #NOF as the mortality rates are exceptionally high for the first year. But she refuses to listen. She always knows best. Apparently I am the one that is causing the problems and trying to stop her doing anything. I say on a twice daily basis that you cannot carry a glass bowl of hot porridge from the kitchen over an unsecured mat, up a 6" step whilst using both crutches but it is in one ear and out the next. Seemingly i dont know what i am talking about. Apparently she can't keep getting me to carry things despite me constantly saying that is exactly what I want you to do. I would understand if I didn't do anything and refuse to help but this is not the case. I get rhat it is frustrating but it seems as though my concerns and feelings are of no relevance or importance. What is happening is that our relationship is plunging as is my mental health as I simply can't cope with this anymore. I don't like feeling like this or causing it am scared as well that our relationship which has always been fairly good will breakdown permanently and irretrievably. I didn't have ready access to my blade or bits of glass then I would have used them but that would have something else to be slagged off for. I would dearly love to be able to swallow all my meds and be out of it all but feel guilty about that. I could get a carer I spose but can't afford it, it is my role to do the caring as I am here. There is no way she would tolerate a caret going in at set times and saying what needs to be done. I have no problem with being the carer. I just can't take the constant ignoring of my advice. I have said that it will be catastrophic if you fall and die early and rhe last thing that I want but that seemingly makes no difference. Why is it that I feel that I am being a complete for feeling this way and that maybe I dont know anything after all. Im sorry to go on like this especially when there are people with real actual problems (like Rick or John Coombe Barton and Sandy) or without a previous introduction but I do read ER every day. How do you cope or manage when making that transition from offspring to carer- even if likely to be a temporary thing? I just feel like I am getting all the frustration and anger from mother over the loss of her mobility but it is not my fault. I feel a bit better and shall return somewhat ironically to my actual real black dog (a black Patterdale terrier) Minnie the Mop who always makes things feel better Best wishes Natalie

Cartoon, a few years ago. Man walking down the street "Darn. I think I've just taken another photograph of my ear."

Good afternoon to all from some briny that is still rocking a bit. However i have finished my 'Metal Earth' model of a Melbourne W class tram. An interesting little thing to build bought at Healds Hobbies. I've even made a box for it out of cardboard and gaffer tape, so am a happy bunny. Got checked in for our flight to SFO tomorrow so one more night rocking around in a force 7 before arrival in Vancouver. Regards to all. Jamie PS Glad that the ER's meet up went well.

Thanks Rob, I don't have the faintest idea how to access ebay (nor do I particularly want to), but friends tell me about it on occasions and I've certainly seen some very good bargains, as well as 'turkeys', which have been 'won' by friends. Like any auction, it depends on how many are bidding. Where it does seem 'daft', is where bidders pay more for a second-hand, say, kit, which can still be bought new at a lower price. D&S kits spring to mind. I wonder how 'poor' professional builders, painters and weather-ers still keep in business. It would seem there's still a large market out there for kit-built locos on commission. I've lost count of the number of times folk have asked me (usually, late-middle-aged men) to build a loco for them. Were I still building professionally, my order book would be full, though I wonder just what some questioners think my rates might be. I had an A4 I'd kit-built on my stand at York, painted by Ian Rathbone. I'd actually made it for Shap, but it remains in my possession. 'Ah, I haven't got that one in that condition, and I want a model of every A4 in every livery variation' said the corpulent enquirer. 'How much?' 'It's not for sale'. 'How much to build me one like that?' 'About £1,200.00 complete and painted.' 'What!!!!!!!!'. He walked off, grumbling. Here it is, on the job for which I built it.............. Before it ran on Shap, it was thoroughly tested on LB, of course. Has this manifestation of SIR NIGEL GRESLEY ever been available RTR? If not, he'll have to wait!

I refer the honourable gentleman to this:

Blyth and Tyne photos again this afternoon around Cambois, North Blyth and Winning in the 1980s. Winning 56129 coal to power station 11th April 85 C6801.jpg Winning 56006 Blyth power station to Butterwell 15th May 85 C6906.jpg Winning 37161 empties towards Bedlington 1st Aug 85 C7002.jpg Cambois 37059 July 80 J7043.jpg North Blyth 37212 shunting 22nd Dec 86 C8243.jpg David

A great day to be on the Ratty again today. I enjoyed Friday, but it was very cold, whereas today was sunny and much warmer. Two diesel turns completed, with relatively few passengers, possibly as they are all at home watching the football! what I had forgotten today is that it is the day of the Fred Whitton Challenge, which involves about 2500 cyclists doing a route around the Lakes of 114 miles, and going over all the major road passes. As a result, there were a lot of them going up the Eskdale road heading for the 1 in 4 of Hardknott and Wrynose passes. A climb to sort the men from the boys! Here is a guard’s eye view from the 09.25 diesel about half a mile from Ravenglass, looking up to the hills, with Scafell in he right background.

I make no apologies for shewing my steel train again albeit with 72xx class 2-8-2 7200 this time on it's way to Devonport. I need to think of a way of storing these wagons safely using my preferred Really Useful Boxes.

I've only managed 700 miles in a day once (Edmonton-Port Moody). I had "the numb bum" for three days afterwards. Any time I did that drive again, I split it over two days. We regularly do a 400 mile trip these days (Port Moody-Nelson). I'll do that in one day in the summer, when it's light all the way, but we split it in two (eastbound at least) at other times of the year.

Good evening everyone Well what a day I’ve had. I noticed that I’d built part of the valve gear of the L class wrong, having put the slide bars on the wrong way. So I decided to dismantle it and rebuild it correctly, all I had to do was remove the slide bars from one side and swap it with that from the other side, well that was the theory anyway. During the process, I broke the end of the radius arm! Oh, flipping heck I said (or something similar) and at that point gave up and decided to sort out my brass wire/rod store, whilst I thought about how to repair it. In the end I came up with an idea which happily seems to have worked. I’ll know better tomorrow when it’s all put back on the loco and tested. Goodnight all

No Natalie, you are not a whining cow - you have a very difficult situation there, and even the act of posting here must have been difficult. I cannot really offer any advice, but we are all here as a virtual shoulder to cry on - and we all do, so if you want to unburden yourself here, then feel free to do so - as a visitor to ERs' you have an idea how we try to offer virtual support to each other. Kindest Regards Stewart

This morning's photos were taken by Dad at Steamport Southport on a visit in June 1983. The museum no longer exists at Southport, a shopping centre covers the site. Most of the collection is now at the Ribble Steam railway in Preston. Steamport Southport 76097 and Mersey Railway Beyer Peacock Cecil Raikes June 83 J7969.jpg Steamport Southport LMS Class 5 44806 Magpie June 83 J7971.jpg Steamport Southport Ruston and Hornsby Trevithick ex ICI Tunstead June 83 J7972.jpg Steamport Southport Hudswell Clarke Waleswood ex NCB Kiveton Park June 83 J7974.jpg Steamport Southport Barclay Efficiency ex McKechnie Bros chemicals June 83 J7979.jpg Steamport Southport 4 wheel battery electric June 83 J7981.jpg David

It's gone, it's clattered off out of sight, and there may not be another one for some time. Photographers now concentrate on A3 Book Law, which is a very natural and praiseworthy thing to do. The man on the bridge has trotted along to the other end to get this shot. And the chap lurking in the bushes by the signal box was able to get this one.

We went to the cinema to see the opera today -- Dialogues of the Carmelites. I don't think we'll see it again; too emotional. The performance started at noon and finished abour 3:15 -- they had to set up for Gotterdammerung tonight. We once did the return from Florida to the Toronto area in 2 days. Never again. The last marathon we had was south Kentucky to Toronto in one day. When we got to Detroit area SWMBO decided to keep going. When we were on the 401 the road was snowy enough that she wouldn't pull off even to change drivers and she did the 400 kms in one push. Arrival about 10:00 pm.

A wasted day. I went down with something this morning - dizziness, fatigue, mildly upset stomach and stomach pains. Nothing compared with what some people on here have to deal with - basically annoying and nothing worse. However, I slept for four and a half hours - I never sleep during the day. And despite all that I am - to use a good Scots word from my childhood - wabbit!

Aditi,has commented that anyone would think all she does on holiday is eat ice creams and cakes after looking at my photos. Tony

Positively, definitely, undoubtedly, the last of the fish. Sorry about the wonky signal arms. Hopefully this will be next on the list to be replaced. Then we have another new angle from Crescent Bridge.

Natalie, I'm so sorry to hear of your problems and totally agree with Stewart's post. You can be sure that all ERs will give whatever support they can. A few "hearts" ticked can at the very least show you that you're not totally alone. One thing I do know from past experience is that the person lashing out very often does so because they are so frustrated at not being able to do what they want and take it out on those nearest and dearest to them. Hang in there. Bob.

Not actually in Dorking but doing a fair bit of dorking around in the wee jam jar. Took daughter to an Irish pub in Seal Beach last night. I thought I might see a lot of Spiders here but Ive not seen another on the road anywhere.

New laptop arrived one minute into the designated one hour time slot and I've stoked the boiler, fired it up and this is my post with it. Early days yet but it is a massive improvement on the old one. It has been suggested by Steve that I don't attempt to transfer stuff from the old one until he's here to supervise. ("Just in case you push the wrong button.") He's usually right so I'll do as he says.

Ey up! Cough improving but still feel yuck. Short ish T20 match to umpire today. It is supposee to be 13C and sunny..I am not holding my breath. John, can you pass on a "Well Done" to Sandy please? Shows that people know she knows a lot about quilting and has put the knowledge into practice. Hope Chris F is OK. TTFN Baz

Evening all, Yesterday was easy and much of it spent in the company of some fellow RMwebbers / ERs around a table and over some ales. Must do that again when the opportunity arises. The friendship and support was most welcome - thank you all. SWMBO was happy enough to let me go despite feeling under the weather. We abandoned our planned Friday Drinks as she felt unwell enough to need a prompt trip home after finishing work. Today has been harder. She has been parked in front of the tv all day with a mixture of cold, anxiety and a general disinterest in anything. Feeding and watering hasn't really helped a great deal and she retired early to bed. I was required to stay on hand in case of need but escaped for a half-hour in order to purchase some cat food and was allowed an evening stroll for another half-hour having reached the stage of tearing out my remaining hair with boredom. It's not all doom and gloom. Progress has been made with Waddlemarsh where the first ballast has been laid creative moments have occurred. All attempts at finding an available drinking buddy for tonight having failed I am now back to being a bored person watching videos of cats on his computer for want of anything better to do. Tomorrow - who knows? Things have generally taken two or three steps forward then one back so maybe we shall be back to where we were on Thursday or Friday. Watch this space. It's far too early for bed. It's very tempting to crack another beer while prattling at the keyboard. That would solve nothing. Wonder if I can sneak out again without waking her. On the other hand there are some mildly entertaining cat videos out there .........

Rhetorical question, but how unlucky do you have to be before it looks like basic incompetence?

Some street lights to light the way for the workers at Acme Engineering works. These have been made from some scraps of plastic tube, earing backs and the fish hook type of earing thing that hangs from the ear. I hope the pictures show how they were constructed, parts have been glued using gel superglue and sprayed with grey and black from a rattle can. All the best Adrian.

We are in Enfield. I dropped Aditi off at her Mum’s and carried on round the corner to Aditi’s sister’s house to leave our old TV with them. Theirs was starting to fail and they can’t decide what they want so having one that was cluttering up our guest bedroom seemed sensible. It just fitted in the boot of my car too. There was a problem matching a Virgin remote control but I suggested that perhaps not entering return after entering a 4 digit code was the correct procedure. I also mentioned that it was really easy with Sky remotes! Then when I arrived at MiLs she asked me to sort out her Sky remote and it wasn’t that simple! Fixing MiL’s under sink bin wasn’t too difficult. MiL said she hadn’t broken it, it was the carer who helps on a couple of days a week. I also rehung the cupboard door. Not sure if the problems were connected! Tony

Morning all, The sun is shining, the Good Doctor has had a lie in until 08.30 and is now doing the weeding of the veg patch and prepping the area for the runner beans, and Mrs Stationmaster and I are heading for Tesco to buy the 'papers and whatever e;se has previously been forgotten. Meanwhile some Tits have settled into nest box and appear to be at the stage of feeding their offspring and the G word has been mentioned - i may (or may not) be some time. Have a good day one and all

I am confident we will only ever hear the DJM side of things. His former clients are far too canny to go public. Elsewhere we know there is a dispute between a major manufacturer and a leading box-shifter, but neither party has breathed a word on this forum - why would they?

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2019/05/11/sandys-chemo-day-137-of-147/

Evening. Busy day. Not work this time! Besides all the domestic duties we manager a ride out on the bikes together for the first time this year, in a sunny but windy day. Fantastic visibility, we could see the 'windmills' over by Walney Island, Scotland, the mountains of Mourne in Northern Ireland and just, Anglesey. The HO is totally gone now, O gauge is still not planned as the 'picture' in my head I usually work to hasn't formulated yet. Several messages of advice, encouragement and support have come through from O gauge modellers hereabouts, which are most welcome, My concerns of radii are needless it would appear, provided I steer clear of A3s and bogie coaches. As I don't possess any locos with more than 6 wheels I'll be OK. I really must try to steel myself to sell some OO to fund all this......I don't like selling my toys.

Natalie, that is what we are hear for. To offer help and to be a safety valve when things get too much. Dont bottle it up, that is the way to disaster

I've shown this 'Jinty' here before; a whitemetal kit body on a first-generation Tri-ang 'sandwich' chassis. I mentioned that I intended to refurbish it with a current-technology chassis, as the body wasn't bad at all. The new chassis comprises a Comet kit, fitted with the latest Markits wheels, a High Level Roadrunner+ Compact gearbox, and a Mitsumi motor. Having built the chassis, I stripped the body with cellulose thinners and discovered that I had assembled the kit with epoxy - well, it was nearly fifty years ago! Nevertheless, the body is well-assembled and I decided to leave well alone. I did replace the chimney and dome, and added a few extra details relevant to the chosen prototype; (how did it manage to retain destination board holders by the time it became an BR S&DJR line stalwart)? I still need to fill the bunker, and glaze the spectacle plates, but I'm well pleased with the (almost) finished model. What I can say is that this is far and away the quietest chassis that I have built - just the rumble of wheels on rails, otherwise in drifts along like a ghost! .... and I've yet to turn a flywheel and fit it to the spare motor shaft. Regards, John Isherwood.

Good morning all, Blue sky and sunshine here and a fine and dry day is forecast. Yesterday's 21st BBQ and party was excellent. You could say that I may have over indulged a little bit. You would be right. My head is agreeing with you as I type. Today a parcel should be arriving containing my new laptop (which is considerably faster and more up to date than this one) so I should have some fun with that later. Before that I have a recorded rugby match to watch. Luckily nobody mentioned the score last night. First things first though and tea needs to be taken up to The Boss. Have a good one, Bob.

And a few more pics before heading to the Derby Show later.

Very sunny mooring Awl, Inner Temple Hare, 7.5hours solid sleep I needed that. I think I've mentioned this before longest trip without flying, 742 miles, though after the first half hour a 6hour ferry trip of 80 miles. This was after a 12hour night shift. Today the longest is the 400 Mile trip to my parents with an increasing number of stops each time. Today, planed work, Top coat on outside of trailer hard top, The Trailer has a long ramp, but it doesn't reach the top of the hard top, so an upper door is required. I also need a ramp extension, as it's still steep for the layout trolleys. And as I discovered yesterday a prop for the back of the trailer as it tips up when not connected to a tow bar.. (with me at the back) The inside needs a coat of paint cheap(er) white will be plastered on. I'm getting the stare. Ben the Border Collie wants out..

I get quite different advertising on wordpress and have never seen a Jack Russell on John's blog. Some of the advertising that I see is connected to cookies on my machine (from sites I have visited) and some of it is the same/similar as what I see on other sites that use an outfit called "AdChoices". For some reason they think that I need the latest thing in shower caps - costing $43 no less! The heuristics used by "AdChoices" is worthless. In general, I find "Ads by Google" to be a little more on point but many of them appear quite random. I have been happily closing the "Ads By Google" appearing on RMWeb to say that I no longer wish to see this ad.

Have you tried people like Age UK who offer advice? A call will find out whether they can help. And any problem needs sorting, not just the perceived serious ones. I'm managing at the moment but I will not hesitate to call someone if there's something I cannot solve. https://www.ageuk.org.uk/information-advice/care/helping-a-loved-one/

A very proud dad's photo of his beautiful daughter & new hubby.

Here is a question for you. What ius the longest ever item to run on rails in the UK? Have a look at the post below but have a length in mind before you start to read! We crossed back from Orkney today and drove via John O'Groats and Wick before heading south through Inverness. About 6 miles north of Wick on the A99 we drove over a narrow gauge (metre-gauge) line. This was a surprise and it needed to be investigated. .... This post is the result. http://rogerfarnworth.com/2019/05/11/caithness-double-track-narrow-gauge-line

Good oh, the quote box problem has resolved itself. Been rather lazy today. I did go the shed with the intention of cutting up some ply but was still feeling rather frail after last night's bash so opted to watch the recorded rugby instead and glad I did. A great game and I enjoyed every minute of it. The Boss has got a lamb hotpot on the go so looking forward to that along with a glass or two of Shiraz. As I seem to be fully recovered it could be beer o'clock first though. Herself has just spotted that the F 1 highlights are on at 7.00pm. Apparently it's not fair! It is fair however that certain stupid soaps are on nearly every flippin' night. Still, it won't matter to me now I've got somewhere to go and lose myself.

I'm knackered again, 08:30 to trailer, paint outside, ( Buckingham green) 10:00 start building ramp while SWMBO starts painting the inside ( white emulsion) 11:00 ramp completed, start on door, SWMBO gives up painting, her arms aren't up to it. 12:30 most of door built, run out of screws. Need hinges, I start painting inside. Swmbo takes Ben the border collie for his long walk 14:00 inside painted. To be done next week Paint ramp, find some way of mounting it on front of trailer. Finish, fit and paint door. Make support for back of trailer.. Excuse me while I wander off and order screws and hinges..

I guess in this case, there's very little chance of blood being spilled if things go wrong...………...

Can you just reign it in a bit, It's obvious to all and sundry that DJM has not covered himself in glory but it's starting to look like you keep going back to kick someone when they're down. He may very well respect and appreciate that it's others peoples money, but as they took the risk to invest in the schemes he's used it for the intended purpose, although I think he jumped the gun on starting the processes before he'd actually secured the full financing. I'd even venture to suggest that some were a bit too keen to hand their money over without considering the risks involved, to the point of shooting anyone that questioned the funding or accusing them of trolling DJM.

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Targeted ads, they've got nothing on flea-bay. A few weeks ago I happened to look up Budgie toys die casts, since then I have been offered budgerigar cages a few times. The longest journey I have driven in one day was from Ostend to Manneheim, this was back in 1974, I wouldn't want to do it now despite the route being made shorter. Much of the route back then followed the Rhine rather a long way round. Tea to be drunk then off to dispose of some more modelling tokens.

Evening all from Estuary-Land. I visited my friends shed this afternoon, and its enormous 24' X 12'. He is currently waiting for the electric cable to be laid then he can commence the wiring and lining out. Now time for bed, goodnight all.

Had a productive few hours last night and this morning. The three of the grain hoppers are all up to this point in the build now. The brakes are on along with the brake levers, the hand wheels and the grain hopper sliding hatches. Post more later Scott

Its quite handy when you are the one taking the photos - I noticed that he managed to only get his other half and friends / relatives in the photos plus plenty of

match umpired this morning/early afternoon as we had a rain break...Should have been over quicker as the team batting second (chasing 133) were 4 runs for 5 wickets...after another 17 overs they staggered up to 55 for 5.. Not coughing and barking as much but still not feeling even 70% More cricket tomorrow...just hope it stays dry! especial thoughts to all who ail or are missing. Sleep well all! Baz