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The Great Central Railway today with one photo from East Leake in 1983 and the rest from Marylebone in July 1988. East Leake Tunnel Class 31 up le Feb 83 J7803.jpg Marylebone Class 115 51674 being filmed 27th July 88 C9581.jpg Marylebone so called GWR coaches 27th July 88 C9582.jpg Marylebone Class 115 51674 being filmed 27th July 88 C9583.jpg Marylebone 27th July 88 C9584.jpg David

Normal service is going to disrupted over the next few days. Sadly my mum died today.

Morning, Baltic out there, but we have bright blue skies and sunshine, so set off early after de frosting the car hunting for Waxwings, found 3 in Arbroath

Surely you aren't referring to the Obergrumpenfuhrer. Morning awl. A chilly boring borough this am. Lousy excuse for sleep. Another man-flu coming on as my throat feels like 40 grade sandpaper. W*nkpuffin of a builder responded. Obvious he is stalling as he didn't answer any questions about how much and when he was proposing to pay. Off to the court on Monday to start the HCEO enforcement. Not sure Chris would we well fed at one of my BBQ evenings. Mac & Cheese with pulled pork is one of my staple dishes. I also love most seafood. Not that hot on sushi though apart from California rolls. That stems from some bad tuna I had once. Work time, coffee calls. No modelling has been done now in at least 2 weeks. Enjoy the day.

when we replaced the radiators in the bathroom(s), we went for towel radiators. Which are great as long as you have central heating that uses water and a boiler The Obergrumpenfuhrer was less pleased with the new fireplace in the sitting room! (Seen here on test.)

Bob., you best not go, lest you be the first to introduce the word 'Trouble' into their business: "There's been some trouble at Dunelm Mill today, when a customer inexplicably injured himself...... "

Mawnin' awl. Long time no see, but be assured that everyone of our number in need has been in my thoughts. Need another cuppa java, so for the moment: - "How about watching a documentary about gluttonous rodents from the New World? It's called 'Pie Rats of the Caribbean.'" Hat, coat…

Knowledge is all well and good, but it's the willingness and ability to share it, that turns knowledge into something worthwhile; that's why teaching and mentorship is such a vital part of society.......my life has been immeasurably enriched by the generosity of knowledgeable teachers and mentors; yes, I have met the odd, propietorial "me-me-me" type, but, on the whole, most with genuine skill and depth of experience have been more than delighted to fully share and support, knowing their experience knowledge will be respected and made best use of.

Morning awl. Whilst at a hospital appt., late yesterday afternoon, I was browsing t'internet for a particular text book, which I've been finding way-too pricey on my usual online sources......I widened my search and Amazon.fr offered me precisely the same book for considerably less than half the price in GBP (delivered) than that of their Amazon.uk site.......I've just had a message (in French of course) that the book will be delivered today; how do they do it!?!

So both cats do a disappearing trick - until I nip upstairs to put on my jammies and find Charlie stretched out down the middle of our bed and Poppy happily ensconced halfway into my side of the bed. Head for spare room (I know when I'm beaten) but before I could spread the duvet Poppy zooms past on her way to share the Good Doctor's bed, Charlie will hopefully not have taken my side before I go to bed but you never know. Presumably this is part of 'settling in'? PM tomorrow perfectly ok Baz. Current weekday journey time to Derby from here is 3 hours on the trains with decent connections which only 2 changes (both of which are in the first 10 miles of the outward journey!). journey time is likely to be longer next May as by then (make me very)Cross-rail will be running its miserable railborne efforts and the first half hour will probably have become 50 minutes, to do 10 miles.

On the other hand, I have had evening class students who, vocally, try to put themselves above their tutor and/or carry on in their own way showing no attempt at improvement or trying other/better ways of doing things. Thankfully, these were in a very small minority - but the trouble is, you remember them! ' morning all from red dragon land. Wey hey. No rain.... Good time to put the recycling stuff out. Last week we had a change of day for putting out the bins. It used to be a Friday, so, when the bin men "couldn't" get along the road (past a couple of parked cars), the bins would be there over the weekend, if not the whole week, until they were collected. Now the bins are collected on Monday. The general waste (bin bags) is now collected every 3 weeks instead of 2. Last week, there were so many bin bags from others, there was no room for our recycle bins! Time will tell how this revised system is going to work. Coffee time. Be good. ___________ Best wishes Polly

I'll tell her you called her that!

They also have Mc D's in Japan - that's where we ate when in Tokyo for an hour one evening back in 1998. We had to catch the last train back to the airport which was quite early. Morning from another Sunny morning. A few pints of Harveys Old consumed last night aswell as a pint of Tribute and an Oakham ale. Walking home my leg started playing up despite those beers. Its been some time since it last got that painful. Still sore this morning even after a painkiller so no patio work today, just modelling in the shed. Talking of trains to Derby, we are hoping to visit Nottingham and Leicester this weekend but the East Midlands maInline is shut again between Kettering and Leicester so the plan is to go via Grantham to Nottingham then back form Leicester via Nuneaton. I thought there were a few trains that went to Nottingham via Corby but so far not found any. EDIT other half was late as trains delayed due to congestion. same this morning heading into work. She said that the driver who sounds just like a pilot on the PA was driving her train this morning. I said did he say they were having to circle London Bridge due to congestion

Squinting trying to read a menu a few nights ago ( as per usual ....vainly, i.e. sans specs). Said to mates that they would never believe I used to be a sniper! Must have been a Jap sniper said one comedian. Waiter then brings out a box with an assortment of specs in that had been left behind by previous customers. So moi being moi happily perused said menu with a rather fetching pair which must have been left behind by either Dame Edna or Mary Whitehouse! Yup.....should've gone to Specsavers etc.

Hi Alex, I was very interested when I found this topic yesterday as building a model of Yelverton station is something I have been working on for the last 3 or 4 years. I was originally born and brought up in the village of Crapstone, which as I am sure you know is about a mile away from Yelverton station, when I was a young child we used the station a lot and I have very fond memories of it. I have for the last 55 years or so wanted to be able to model this fantastic location but never really felt that I had the skills or the space to do it justice, that is until now. After retiring from work I decided to finally have a go even though I knew virtually everything would need to be scratch built and I had never scratchbuilt anything before. I have attached a picture for your perusal. Bill.

We were in France once and having moved (Unplanned) to a different region to holiday Aditi bought some Michelin green guides. Without thinking she purchased the French language ones. When I commented she said I could look at the pictures.

Since we have an awl for certain matters, perhaps it is about time we introduced the lump hammer for the use of French!

From a cold RV across the river from New York. A bit of a walk in the city today, buying warmer clothes inter alia. A delay at one intersection as POTUS was expected by. Swmbo decided to stay and watch. Large number of vehicles with flashing lights. I think he cleared out his apartment from the number of vans.

Morning all, Hump day it is. No responses from the Long Island client after my queries about the c*ckup with the server migration, I'm sure I'll hear more when I'm there next week. Nothing much to report from yesterday, save Mrs A last evening started the dreaded pre-camera-up-your-Jacksie preparation. Not a happy Mrs A at present, besides NOT allowed her morning coffee, pretty much all day is going to be bland/uninspiring fare. Her procedure isn't until 10:30 tomorrow, so a long haul yet <sigh> -8 getting the newspaper, and now it's trying to snow, supposed to get maybe an inch or so, nothing serious, for US at least. -2 the high. Carry on.

and, if that fails you can always photograph the menu and 'zoom' in on the pic you've just taken Ask me how I know!

I must have slept in an awkward position last night as my next and shoulders are very stiff and sore this morning. Painkillers taken, and am sitting with a hot water bottle around the neck to try to ease it a bit. I had hoped to do a little out in the garden today, but that won’t now happen! I should manage the weekly shopping expedition this afternoon though.

Provisionally:

You're surely asking for trouble with that old boiler.

Doesn't that make your lunch rather soggy? Mooring awl, Inner temple Hare, 1117/698 A poor nights sleep 3 hours plus one plus some unspecified dozing on the sofa.. That's what happens when you don't take amber liquid or little pink pills.. Yes Ben the Werewolf Collie wanted out this morning, everything was dripping wet as a rain storm had just past but by the time I got to work it was a cloudless sky. Somehow I don't think I'll be using the train to get to Amsterdam to Fly to Derby Oh I was trained to solder and desolder SMDs, we had to solder a chip on, check it worked, remove the chip, solder it back on again and check it still worked... I've never soldered an SMD since!! Time I wandered down to the lab and see if yesterdays cross check will have finished..

They use Track Shack. Morning all.

More like a land grab.

Morning All Sunny and bright A 3 page catch up what's going everyone posting again !!! Had a good nights sleep woke at 6:30 to the sound of that idiot Reg moving the cars around so no-one else parks outside his house. Off to the shops when it warms up a bit, the printer has run out of ink so Rymans, Smiths and a café to be visited so far, Oh and better go to the Pratwest bank to close those accounts that have been dormant for a year I hate going in there it's full of clowns cuddling note pads trying to look cool I keep putting it off. I'm off to Horrorsons for a top up shop I've run out of fresh food ,bread and milk, Christ life is so boring doing shopping. Better get on enjoy your day S. H. Oparhollic

Back to a more normal viewpoint for a last look at 60109 and 43084. The Ivatt had to remove its stock smartish, as the next local was on its way, this one coming from Grantham.

Was there also a "No riff raff" disclaimer? The hospitality industry in the UK really is different. I used to think that Basil Fawlty was 'over the top' but the more stories like this that I hear, the more I think John Cleese was being too subtle by far in Fawlty Towers. Today is the 49th anniversary of the "exploding whale" story - a seminal moment in Oregon broadcast journalism. KATU's Paul Linnman's commentary is priceless. (This is our local version of the "Oh the humanity!" remark in the Hindenburg disaster.) Mark your calendars, next year is the 50th anniversary.

Good evening from a dark Charente. The fire is hot, after I cleaned the grate bars. Beth is safely in hospital and due to have an operation tomorrow. Hopefully it will sort the problem. An excellent talk with the surgeon this afternoon. Not only did Beth find him a bit dishy but he listened well and was very quick to admit that he didn't know much about Beth's overall condition, so ge was going to enlist the help of a colleague who did. Joan is doi g well and has just cooked tea. I did last nights. She has now got the PM result and hopefully will be able to get the death certificate on Friday. The tentative plan us for her to go back home on Sunday and her husband will get there on Monday. All being well Beth will be home mid week next week. It looks as if we may have to pistpone our trip to the UK. Regards to all Jamie

Aditi is off to French Circle tonight. I have suggested she tries to mention jumping sheep. However as the lecture is about Simone de Beauvoir it may be difficult.

I no longer use a lake of water in a saucer to detach transfers and instead fold up a piece of paper kitchen roll, place that on a saucer and add water just sufficient to soak the kitchen roll. Then the decals are placed on that and they soak up the water and detach while sitting on the kitchen roll. That way they remain flat, don't float away and curl up, have all the glue washed off and need fishing out of a pond. They may take a little longer to detach from their backing paper but I've found it worthwhile especially for tiny N/2mm decals.

Le livre est arrivé! Elle est impressionnée.

Ey up! Debs would that book be "Advanced Awl Sharpening" by any chance? Baz

Morning All, It is a fairly chilly morning in this part of the world. However, it appears to be clear so we may well see some sun later. I have done a certain amount of hand soldering of SMD devices, but I don't find it particular fun to be honest. They are just too small! The exhibitor certainly does sound like a miserable git. Soldering anything is 10% theory and 90% practise, so there isn't an awful lot that a course will actually teach you. If the bloke isn't willing to impart any of his experience, why did he bother sitting there?!? My tips for soldering SMD devices would be as follows: o Well lit, and good magnification so you can see what you are doing. o Good quality solder o Loads of flux! I generally use an iron temperature around 300°C - Anything higher is likely to heat damage the devices. You also need a steady hand! Have a good day everyone...

MrsID "suggested" it was about time we had a heated towel rail in the bathroom. I considered circulating water from the hot water tank through a cleverly constructed series of large diameter copper tubes until I discovered low output (120 Watt) electric towel rails are not ridiculously expensive. Then I found a nice example online that was "used", meaning someone had bought it and had no idea how to install it. I bought it for about 30% of the regular price. The only snag is all the bits of conduit required to connect* it cost as much as I paid for the blinking towel rail. *Fear not. The connection will be fully compliant with the NEC (National Electrical Code) and fed via a Ground Fault Interrupter (GFI) aka RCD.

Good morning one and all There are matters arising today. Let us begin with food. My loathing of macaroni cheese goes back 60 years, to school dinners at Latymer Upper School. It induced nausea then and still does. The courage necessary to eat sushi has not yet presented itself and may not for some time as I have no plans to visit Japan – or, for the time being, Rapperswil. The idea of a gathering of ERs appeals greatly. I am up for it provided the date fits. An alarm bell is ringing in my head as respects the dates of the Derby show but the Staplegrove gathering is already in my diary. It is in the nature of things that whenever or wherever it is will not be convenient for somebody. At the moment, Derby is a pig for me to reach by rail. The current stopping pattern “serving” Bedford is of two East Midlands trains within 10 minutes and then nothing for another 50. No wonder their use is disappointing. I have always had to contend with the Leicester Fester and future timetable plans will entail a change at Kettering as well I had a good day in the shed yesterday and some m*d*ll*ng got done. Less successful was my attempt to place a CD by Sam Carter in the slot of the CD player in the car. I missed and the CD has disappeared. It is probably behind the glove compartment and how I extricate it without dismantling half the car is a Good Question. Best wishes to all Chris

Back from the hospital. I have had my heart’s plumbing and electrics checked. I then saw the consultant who did inform me that I need some treatment. I will get an angiogram and also have some new (to me) medication that will require me to attend what is called the “Heart Failure Clinic” but is really the clinic to prevent heart failure every 15 days. My breathlessness has reduced significantly since starting breathing exercises but I wonder if the heart condition would have been identified if I hadn’t reported the breathlessness to my GP and just put it down to age. Aditi’s (GP) brother rang to ask after me. I said his comments were identical to the consultant. He said he sees a lot of heart patients in his surgery. Aditi has gone off to French circle, which is good.She has been a bit anxious today, I think my “I may have had this for ages, it is being sorted now “ logic has worked. Tony

Afternoon All Shopping trip a success Rymans check, Smiths check, Sainsburys check, Pratwest bank oh dear back to their usual failing I tried to close 3 accounts they could only deal with 2 the 3rd I would have to phone the card center the poor little C.S. lad was stumped when I said I can't hear anyone on a telephone that's why I came in to do it face to face, hold on he said went out of the room and had a 5 minute conference with other staff and proclaimed he would deal with it bless him true to his word he made several calls to some other C.S. persons who said just get on and sort the customer out, 1 hour later I left the bank happy not having any accounts with them I thanked the lad for doing any excellent job of cutting through Pratwest's red tape, what a way to run a bank the senior management want their #rse's kick for having a stupid set of rules obviously drawn up by a Prat, pity more staff there didn't have the skillset to do there job instead of being #########'s . Enjoy the rest of your day S.Ortted.

iD, The ### are a self-imposed censor to avoid the use of modelling terms on this thread - apparently it is somewhat 'frowned' upon (in the best tradtions of ERs), and can lead to all sorts of threats...

Bags, translators, muddy hollows................. Is there no end to my usefulness in everyday life?

who sneezed..

To a certain extent, I'd have to disagree with that Andy. Through hole is getting increasingly expensive and difficult to get hold of. Many of the new devices just aren't available in through-hole packages. Having said that, If I want to solder it myself, and it's available I will choose through hole over SMD every time.

Absolutely. Even torn up Newspapers cost brass tha' know's.... However, you're still only in for 60% of the cost of a new leccy rail, with a lot less installation aggro (hopefully) than a hot water installation. I'd call that a result... The catch is that the book will be written in French....that's why it's cheap....

In other news.. Her indoors off to see Dr Eldest Herbert in East Didsbury today. My day will now include cleaning the house as well as parcelling up items to send to lucky auction winners. I may get a bit of wire strangelling done as well. Looking at a couple of places in Derby closish to the Station. Her indoors has suggested going down on Friday and returning on Sunday so I am checking out accomodation for us as well. It is unfortunate that wherever we meet, despite the convenience of access for some others may have a difficult journey. Up and atem! Baz

Back in those days I could read top to bottom of the eye chart with both eyes no problem... since the age of 50 the eyesight has got fuzzier every year..

Don't blame you! Back when I worked in Basildon, I had a colleague who could hand solder pretty much anything (including large packages like 386 processors) without any form of magnification. I must admit, my skills are nowhere near this level!

Yes. Business travel during Thanksgiving week is inconceivable. Worse is travelling on the Sunday of the Thanksgiving long weekend - it is the absolute worst travel day of the year. Presumably the snowy weather in the east will have dissipated by then. I can only imagine the chaos of the combination of widespread snow and Thanksgiving.

I don’t know much about cats but it seems as if they are settling in nicely.