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Mawnin' awl. Sheesh, where has all that time gone? Apologies for my prolonged absence, but it currently feels like a bit of a triage unit here. FiL fell and broke three ribs in the early hours of last Sunday, while Elise is down with what after follow-ups turned out to be pneumonia. All of which didn't do my sleep patterns any good, and in addition, I seemed to have eaten something wrong, so I'm currently at home to recover, too. Annika seems to be the only one of our number not affected so far, so, touch wood... Furthermore, my dad needed to have cardiac valve replacement this week, and while the procedure went well, it did cause me considerable worry. Later...

Class 37s at Morpeth in the late 1980s for today. Morpeth 37133 down freight 3rd July 87 C8597.jpg Morpeth 37014 up freight 3rd July 87 C8599.jpg Morpeth 37167 up Aug 88 J9636.jpg Morpeth 37049 down dolofines Oct 88 J9692.jpg Morpeth 37057 and 37012 down goods in loop 16th Feb 89 C11645.jpg David

My wife was quite proud that she'd reversed the car out of the garage this morning. Problem was - I reversed it in the night before...………….. (Mrs NB doesn't read RMw….)

Morning all from a village just north of Ikea. It's sunny but cold here. Not a lot to do this morning apart from trying to sort out house clearance with No 2 son. It's like herding cats. Yesterday I went to York and had a goid natter with my brother and SiL. Then onto Rachel and Laura's temporary home. They are living with Laura's mum so I treated them all to a Chinese takeaway. Little Emily cried while the girls were out fetching the food. It must have been my presence. Their housing situation will hopefully be resolved this week. Not a lot else to report. Dom, Good wishes to all the family. Jamie

Good morning all, A very frosty start earlier today but now sunny and according to my phone app the temperature has leapt up to 1°C. It feels slightly warmer than that. Dom, I hope you and yours are all back to good health soon. Many thanks to all for the good wishes for both my health and birthday. A great day had yesterday and I was spoilt rotten and inundated with gifts. Son Steve heard me talking about my liking of toasted sandwiches recently so bought me a sandwich toaster along with a bottle of Scottish liquid. Various other bottles along with many chocolate covered items were received as well together with a couple of gift vouchers. The cooking of the beef went well although normally I would have had it medium rare but decided on medium to cater for the majority. By the time I got to bed about midnight I was completely knackered so had a bit of a lie in this morning. Most of the clearing up has been done although there are still some more glasses to wash up. Thanks for the BP info Bill. Fairly sure that rugby watching is more likely to raise mine. I have suffered from hypertension for several years and currently take Candesartan . My BP normally seems to hover around 130/85, the last reading in A & E on Friday was 127/83. On Saturday I discovered that the latest batch of SLW Class 24s had been sent out in the previous two weeks. My payment hadn't been taken but after a call to Philip Sutton mine should be despatched today. Late birthday or early Christmas present from me to me. I think roast beef sandwiches will be on the menu for lunch (but not toasted) Have a good one, Bob.

Next on the Down main was another Top Shed A1, seen as it approached and then emerged from under Crescent Bridge.

Greetings all from a bright but cold LBG. It sounds like Bob had a good birthday, despite his recent scare. I hope he recovers, along with all others who are suffering including AndrewC and Dom and his family. The weekend saw Younger Lurker sit exams at the school we'd like him to go to; they're billed as entrance exams but I think they are more akin to the banding tests that some of the state schools around us insist applicants sit so that they can recruit a broad spectrum of pupils. During that time, we visited the sorting office, where BBQ Barn were having a large delivery and then Carnivore to order the Christmas provisions. We seem to have acquired some very nice sausages too! Other than that the weekend passed fairly quietly - no sonic booms for us - although we had a small power cut last night which caused the house alarm to go off and woke me up. I then had very strange dreams in which the clock radio alarm had changed to a trumpet call which I could not turn off, the bay window of our bedroom no longer let in any light and in which our inner and outer front doors had been swapped, the latter showing signs of an attempted break in. Maybe I should avoid the blue cheese!

As one of those officer types I can vouch for the fact that sleeping in such things as Seco huts, 16 man rooms, QRA (quick reaction alert) shacks and even tents has often been a way of life irrespective of rank but it just goes with the territory. Bivouacs whilst on jungle, arctic or desert survival courses was great fun too. Sleeping (or trying to) in the cockpit of a fighter when on what was called slingshot, I.e., waiting on the ground to be launched at less than a minute's notice, was quite uncomfortable but I have to confess that partially flooded ditches didn't feature - the closest I got to that was when I was air liaison officer with 3rd Royal Tanks and spent a few nights in what HH would immediately recognise as a muddy hollow. However, like most others I have never been homeless and what it must be like to live on the streets I can only imagine. That is why I contribute to Crisis at this time of the year - a small gesture to an ongoing problem I know but at least it means that a couple of unfortunate people can get some comfort and even potentially a fresh start in life over Christmas. Thiis post is a shamelessly thinly disguised advertisement. Dave

Just you are happy in the knowledge that Mrs NB doesn’t access this, I only breath because Mrs KZ doesn’t either

Greetings all from the boring borough. Commiserations with those ailing. A belated happy appearance day to GDB as well. Still suffering with this chest infection. Antibiotics have done buqqer all. Back to quack tomorrow. Waiting for the second x-ray result as well as a full set (4 vials) of bloodwork that Vampirella extracted on Friday. Note to self, go mid afternoon on a Friday. X-ray & blood, in and out in 20 minutes for both. The bus took longer. Managed to get out of the house on Saturday for a while. BBQ demo in Sidcup, the Welling Sparkle Christmas fayre and light switch on, then an evening at the 02 Indigo for some retro Mod music with the Vapors and From the Jam. (1/3 original and some original session musicians). Over did it a bit lot. Yesterday saw the washer acting up. 2 hours later and a lot of blue language, the intake valve was cleared and working again. Back to work, coffee awaits. Enjoy the day.

We live in a place which, in the medieval three field system, was called Springfield. There are fourteen springs at the sand/clay boundary, which varied in height. The sand and clay is layered as we're on the bed of the quarter million year old periclacial lake called Lake Harrison, which collected meltwater. Think tundra at that time. The springs still run.

Morning A bit frosty out there. Decided not ot even try to open the door of our 24 year old car as it is often toguh to open and sometimes wont then shut in freezing temps. Never has liked such weather even when newer - odd for a car built in (I believe) Michigan. So I started and warmed up the People mover but that still took 10 minutes to thaw the windscreen. Luckily my other halfs train was running 7 late so had more time to get her to the station. Oil filled heater now extracted from the rear of the sofa in the conservatory and in the shed getting it warmer. The small tubular heater can do the job slowly but I prefer to leave that at a set temperature in case I forget to then reset it in the evening. The oil filled heater has a timer on it and I will also fit an Alexa enabled switch at some point. Hoping to commence the station building for Blackmoor Gate today. Its first show is November 2020.

It's been decided that the LB pictures in the BRILL model railway supplement will be in B&W, it being more in keeping with 'Those Black & White Days'. So, they'll look like this (a selection). I hope readers will find it of interest.................

A friends parents got a new car. The wife got out to give her husband advice about putting it in the garage. He ran her over, drove through the garage, crushed the chest freezer, demolished the rear wall of the garage and stalled in the back garden. My friend started by telling me his Mum had broken her hip. I asked how it had happened...

It might be of interest to some, but British Railways Illustrated now has a railway modelling section attached inside. I've been asked to submit a piece for this, describing some of the trains seen running on Little Bytham. Including this one, the 'Queen of Scots'. It'll feature in the next issue, with a comment to link it to the next issue of the RM. Joined-up thinking? With me involved, I doubt it!

The back of our garden floods once in a blue moon hence the shed was built above the level that floods. However the local water authority has cleaned the land drains recently so we may not have this issue again plusI have built up the ground around the shed. Its been such a nice but cold morning and with plenty of freight / RHTT services I have been out but a start was made on the Station building.

Firstly I would like to add my good wishes, hoping all make a good recovery. I am grateful for the availability of both diagnostic and treatment methods nowadays. I can remember how due to a heart condition my grandmother was bedridden for many winters. Tony

It would seem sewage inspection is currently in progress outside, which I suppose also explains the temporary parking restrictions valid beginning this Thursday between 7.30 and 4 on work days. Thanks for your thoughts, folks. Going by FiL‘s statements (verbal and nonverbal!), broken ribs must indeed be right painful. It does seem surprising that aside from pain management, there seems to be little that can be done. At the same time, it’s quite marvellous that organs as vital as the heart can now be mended in so many ways as matters of, well, apparent routine.

We had a water pooling problem along the hedge line in our back garden. The old countryman who had a smallholding opposite, told us that before the house had been built, the area had been prone to hold water, and that there had been a lot of land drains that had fallen into disuse over the years. There had been a drainage ditch along the hedge, but the builder had filled it in prior to the house build. Funnily enough, I knew the builder so asked him about the ditch. He explained that prior to infilling the ditch, they'd laid in a special porous pipe to carry off the excess water. Having nothing better to do, and being used to digging trenches, I decided to have a look: Due to my age and senior rank, I outsourced most of the digging to the PH who promptly borrowed a mini digger. We found that there was indeed a pipe laid where the builder said it would be, but it was not circular, but flat! So was about as much use as soggy bog paper. I suspect they laid in the pipe and then flattened the ground above with the likes of a Bomag roller. Since we had the mini digger we excavated the whole line of the ditch. At the bottom of the trench we used a post hole borer to get down into the clay, and then back filled with rubble, then a porous membrane and finally some topsoil. since we were at it we installed electrics and water to the bottom of the garden, so we were killing two birds with one stone. But I'll admit that even after all that effort we were only partially successful. Although at least now the water only pools in one particular place that doesn't bother us.

Extract from RAF application form: 1. Are you arthritic? 2. Are you grumpy? 3. Are you Welsh? 4. Are you in the habit of sleeping in partially flooded ditches? If you have answered 'yes' to any of the above, please go next door to Army recruitment. Good night all. Dave

G'day Folks

Evening all, Phew what a chilly day. A good hard frost here this morning and as travel by train with various changes was involved it was not only wear a winter shirt but roll down the sleeves and then add a thin fleece before donning the wax jacket - suitably cosy in consequence even hanging around on station platforms. I knew before leaving home that the 06.43 Nottingham had left New St 21 minutes late so my , er 21 minute, connectional margin in Southampton was at considerable risk to say the least. So I sent an email to the organiser predicting a 12.18 arrival instead of 11.52. As it turned out the 06.43 Nottingham gained a minute or two and then ended up losing a lot more to the extent that it left Reading so late it even delayed departure of the 06.22 York which was supposed to leave at 10.20. No problem as I had by then adopted Plan B which involved changing to an SWR train at Winchester, fortunately somebody heading for the same lunch happened to ask me about onward trains and so also changed at Winchester instead of carrying on to Southampton and turning up an hour late. The first course was not even delayed and we wren't the only ones we got there on the 12.18 arrival - SWR's 'strike service' did us proud as the service we needed was running during the day and got me back to Winchester this afternoon for my XC connection. The lunch wasn't bad and with plenty of gravy on it the turkey was definitely a bit better than its usual cardboard consistency and taste. And just to prove I went to Pompey I had a quick stroll in the dockyard after lunch before train time and managed to see about half of the ship from one viewpoint (I could see the stern half from the station but by then was rushing for the train so no pic - crikey these things are big, very big, even if you remember the RN's last fleet carriers. Sorry to hear you family are keeping the medical fraternity over-employed Dom - may they all recover as quickly as possible.

Ey up! Cool and breezy here this morning. After a light breakfast I shall be deploying the pump in the front garden. While the water has receded a little today may see it drop to a much lower level. I am travelling to Peterborough on Friday for the BRM show ovr the weekend so will not be able to see you in Personchester Chris. I have minor tasks to do on my slop sheet this week so some more muddling should be attempted. Have a great day! Positive thoughts to all who ail..Dom hope all of you feel better soon. Baz

You got bunks? Luxury! And I bet they fed you hot gravel for breakfast. We were lucky if we got a half cup of cold donkey snot.

Morning All Dom - hope that everybody is on the right side of recovery now - it never rains....etc. Rick - I hope the next 27 days aren't too trying for you - Ii's not easy being in the front line when there's disruption or indutrial action - the public will take their frustrations out on anybody in uniform and visible - ie you. Hope your trip to Somerset went well. Generic greetings. Now to venture out to -4C and de-ice the car, cover notwithstanding. Regards to All Stewart

Philosophy has been delayed, as golf club politics have blown up again. Yes, even on a Sunday. I have run some trains though, and taken some photos, and sworn at a squirrel. Here is an approaching B1. It is having a lurch over some pointwork. Then we focus on Sir Walter Scott, simmering in the bay while waiting for the arrival of the Colchester- Glasgow.

Moaning awl. Busy weekend punctuated with plenty of snow, not sure the final count but using the Mk1 eyeball seems to be about 7-8 inches on the ground. Saturday a "quick" replacement of my smart thermostat involved running a new wire to the furnace (5 wires for the smart thermostat, only 4 used originally). Piece-of-cake, RIGHT!! Join new wire to old, pull through and viola. Was a little tricky getting it to feed through, but eventually made it. Excellent. NO SO FAST clever-buqqer, dealing with home-maintenance sods law here... while threading wire around obstacles in basement, tripped on wire and managed to pull the 18 inches "spare", deliberately left dangling, down far enough to disappear inside the wall New hole created at appropriate height on the wall, and I now have an additional power outlet on the wall essentially covering up the hole I had to make to find the blqqdy wire! Finally sorted and new thermostat in place and working but NOT without a lot of extra work and aggravation Sunday up with the lark (except they were all still in bed keeping warm!) as the choir singing two services for the beginning of Advent. Sunday afternoon, to tired to do much of anything but sit in the warm and do the Sunday crosswords. Back working today, and we've a concert to attend this evening. -13 getting the paper, sunny, no snow in the forecast for now, heading for a blamy -4 as the high. Bon chance all

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Had to rush off a bit earlier to take the car in for a new clutch cable to be fitted. Just spoken to the owner/landlord of the house next door, the tenants are moving out on the 22nd of this monthand I'm not the only one who will be happy to see them go. Just had a call, the cars ready, be back later.

Seco huts were SWMBOs experience of RAF single accomodation outside of training. RAF Boulmer was promised their replacement in 1973... they were demolished in 2003. Overhead heating pipes the insulation had long since fallen off of.. Damp in the corners where the damp crept in between the flaking concrete panels etc.. They were the permanent accomodation from ww2 till then, for single personnel for all ranks. ( except when they ran out of room and put some singlees in the married quarters some distance away.) Never got abroad in the RAF, camped out in Sherwood forest, Dartmoor and the Brecon Becons, All 3 in the ice.. in a sanger at Moreton on Lugg at least that was in a nice dry summers few days.. Slept under / inside radars, with 50,000 volts just 5 ft above your head (when lying down). or on a store room shelf with the radar turing the fluorescents on every 15 seconds.. and of course in a drill hall in Erith during the firemans strike.. Locked in, snow bound for several days, working on radar or patrolling during the day, snow clearing during the night, sleeping on chairs or the floor..(having landrover snow plough on the military driving licence means at least I wasn't shovelling) that happened several times at different camps . Note accomodation on most radar sites was several miles away from the work site.. Often watched the Tanks down on Salisbury plain, cycling to school between them. Granddad was CSM of the 4th RTR then later RSM of the 7t RTR.

Good morning. Frosty and sunny here. i don’t think we are going anywhere today, though I may possibly venture out to a diy establishment for bits and pieces to fit new basin taps. Searching for the marmalade recently turned up a few plumbing tools I had forgotten about. Tony

Cold, frosty and bright this morn in NEHerts. Yesterday was relatively quiet until a detachment of grandchildren landed demanding biscuits and chocolate post-swimming. It is son’s birthday today so, as a special treat, SWMBO will be chauffeured to his so she can do her Mrs Mopp impersonation (actually to have a good nose around) either side of having her fangs for the mammary examined. I will dutifully sit where told to, speak when spoken to and drive carefully at all other times. Hopefully, I may make a solo excursion to Peterborough at the weekend so I have summint to look forward to. GWS to all sufferers.

Good morning one and all I was at The Stables last night for an excellent concert by Lucy Ward, so that’s three more CDs for the hessian bag. In the main auditorium was a performance by Les McKeown of the Bay City Rollers. The faithful seemed to enjoy it, though whether anyone forked out the £30 charged to meet the great man is a good question. I have never seen so much tartan in one place – on people, mostly - and did wonder why the foyer had not been carpeted in the stuff. In fairness, it is not for me of all people to comment on those who dress up, given my own fondness for rainbow raiment. I have yet another busy week ahead. Today I have been invited to a gathering of railway photographers at the Ace Café, Stonebridge Park, where I fully expect to be overawed by the work of others. Tuesday sees a talk on the Norfolk and Suffolk Joint Railway at the LCGB while on Wednesday I am to have my flu jab. On Thursday I will be having lunch with a friend near Peterborough. I travel to Manchester on Saturday for the model railway show, bidding a less than fond farewell to Virginontheridiculous Trains in the process. For part of the day I will be at or near the demo stand – long story! – but I will be wearing a name badge as usual and hope to meet Dave and Rambler [can I call you Crimson?], as well as any other forum inmates who attend. Fear not, folks, I will not be demonstrating as far as I know. I did put my hand up once but was told that there is no call for demos of how not to do it. I liked the coverage of the Port Macquarie koala hospital in Portaloo’s latest programme this weekend. They are doing a very good job with so many stricken koalas to tend but it’s an uphill struggle. Whatever else the sad tale of Lewis the koala has done, it has raised awareness of just what harm brush fires can do. Best wishes to all Chris

Listed by the estate agent as a "garage" but by the ordnance survey as a "hut" then? My parents still use their one car garage. Quite how they (Mum and Dad) managed to reverse their 1974 Holden Kingswood station (estate) wagon up the two strips of concrete and through that narrow doorway without any reversing aids besides eyeballs and not losing the mirrors (it might have happened once) is beyond me. Their garage is under the house and below ground level at the back. Consequently whenever there is sufficient rain the concrete floor is awash with seepage from under the rear foundations, making it of limited use for storage. My own (dry) two car garage does have space for my car. The rest of it is cluttered with possessions that need to be sorted and mostly disposed.

Etched wagon and etched clayton coach behind DJH Barney painted in Midland colours as a trial painting experiment.

Evening. Busy at work, one staff member off poorly so a little fraught at times, there's a bug going around Peel at the moment with huge absence at the schools. 'Peel Plague'. We used to do OK for hotels as an orrificer in the Merch, generally joining or leaving a ship involved some hotel time, our ships very seldom visited the UK, I often flew from or to Japan, Singapore, Honkers, USA, the bl**dy Gulf, the Gulf, the bl**dy Gulf......I was on LPG Tankers then, so the voyages were mostly from Saudi or similar to Japan. Boring mostly, but Japan is brilliant.

Afternoon All Went out the front door at 8am this morning the car said it was 0-C hit the Climate button and it was frost free in a minute flat put the seat heater on as well while I wiped the condensation off some of the windows and mirrors and safely drove off down the road with a warm butt. Slapped #rse was here while I was out she wants to know why have I written her name wrong, Jacqui instead of Jacky I said I had not that is someone else that will p!ss her off no doubt I will get the remarks about having phantom friends again. I have a date tomorrow with the new lady I can't wait so I will start getting things ready as it is a dash home from the dog to get changed and off out with this new darling soon after. I noticed Debs is warming the AWL up I wonder who is going to mention the word "railway" first. DOH. Enjoy your day and stay warm it was taters walk round the damp woodland this morning he didn't pull much having taken a new route he was unsure of. W.O. R'nout

Morning, on my lonesome as SWMBO is shopping in Perth(again) so the day is mine, I might just spend a lot of it...……………………………...inspecting eyelids, too cold to venture far.

Now I did say that I wasn't going to post here any more, but I have just woken up and TBH I'm speechless - and that rarely happens! When someone posted the link to the German YOUTUBE channel's Warley 2019 video - 90 minutes of the best layouts at Warley - I was slightly disappointed that Beijiao wasn't featured as the guy had visited us late on Sunday and seemed happy with what we laid on for him and yesterday I contacted him to ask why we didn't make the final cut and he replied it was because he did a separate 12 minute video just of my layout - I have just seen it and I am completely lost for words. Now I must admit that I can only see the flaws and faults and mistakes, but nevertheless if he thought it was worthy of a 12 minute video all by itself then we must be getting something right. I have seen his Warley video and he does show layouts with operating problems and by that I mean if there is a derailment or a glitch with a layout he still shows it - he doesn't shout 'TAKE TWO' - and so it was with our layout. Our USP, the double banked coal train up the 1/30 grade out of the station ran pretty perfectly for two days - except when he videoed it! The two bankers briefly became disconnected from the train and then caught up - I swear this was the only time this has ever happened in four exhibitions! Also he came very late on Sunday by which time we had removed quite a few of the China Rail trains , so you do see the same diesel trains quite a few times. But here it is any way ……………...

Mooring Awl, Inner temple Hare, 1098/685. A good nights sleep, or 6.5 hours with just wake up and roll overs to interup it. I think some on here have been mixing too much with those officer types, In my 12 years in the RAF, in order of appearance not including training camps but including courses at proper camps. RAF Wittering, 1 Week in Transit (triple bunks in a 48 man room) RAF Neatishead 2 months in Transit 4 months in proper accommodation, 3 man rooms, RAF West Drayton 1 week in transit. 16 man rooms (The accommodation wqas at RAF Uxbridge) RAF Staxton Wold (on training course ) 1 week in bed an breakfast, 3 to a room RAF Neatishead, 3 months in transit, , 3 monts proper accommodation, 3 man rooms RAF Staxton Wold, six months in transit 16 man rooms rain coming through the roof. RAF Neatishead, 3 months in transit, beds in corridors, 2 years living out at my expense. Marconi college Chelmsford, Six months in College accommodation, but still having to pay for my living out accommodation At Neatishead. RAF Benbecula, 1 year in transit, 6 months in proper Accommodation, A single man room .. Yippee I had been a corporal for over a year.. RAF Boulmer, 5 years several men to a married quarter.. Note, Transit = Accomodation supposedly used for those just visiting the camp for short periods, not generally in great condition.. As you see no mention of Hotels.. Time to .. Go do some work..

Morning All, It is a chilly morning today. The first morning where the temperature is below freezing (-2°C). Sorry to hear about your family Dom - It's amazing how these things seem to come together. Glad that your Dad's procedure went well though. Have a good day everyone...

Thanks for that David, It's very kind of you. I'm inclined to agree about the 'appeal' of B&W images, especially as they're far more redolent of the period depicted by LB than colour. That being the case, perhaps a few more? Most of these will already have appeared in colour, though I'm interested to hear what others think. I hope you like the Pacific Models' front 'plates. Will you show us pictures of them on your models, please? Regards, Tony.

Baz 2 gearboxes...nil! A result!! Baz

I recall a story which made the nationals 10+ years ago. It was all about Dartmoor(?) Survival Training (Royal Marines?) - the troops were kicked out, told to survive on their wits and not get caught by those trying to find 'em. One enterprising individual phones his missus on reverse charges, gets her to book him into a hotel on full board. Bright lad. Only not bright enough to keep his big gob shut in the bar at night - someone overheard him and bubbled him.... The powers that be said that there were no grounds to discipline him (survive on wits 'n all that); however he WOULD be repeating the course. I've a feeling that they made it as difficult for him as possible.

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Just a quick hello as I'm taking the car in for a new clutch cable at IS THAT THE TIME...

When I surfaced this morning, there was no evidence of wintry precipitation last night. It was raining when I went to bed. No wintry precipitation is expected tonight and the overnight temperatures are expected to be less cold during the week. The Baltimore game versus the 49ers is tipped as a possible SuperBowl match-up. It was one of two broadcast games nationally this morning. Two more games were broadcast - one in the afternoon and one in the evening. It's always entertaining to see snowy NFL games. They have to go to great lengths to remove snow from the all the lines, (sidelines, ten yard lines, yardage numbers, and the hedges - the hash line every yard).

Thought I would post an update on where I have got to on my first etched loco kit attempt .... the Craftsman 1F 0-6-0 tank (I have built an etched wagon and etched 3 wheel coach prior to this). Compared to Sir, the progress is shall we say leisurely !!!! .... but then all of this is pretty new to me and I can't dedicate as much time as I would like to modelling. The upside is that it is a great way of unwinding after a busy or stressful day As I am working to P4, the craftsman chassis was no good, so I am working from a pair of Gibson milled frames .... in the end the only parts of the original kit I have used for the chassis are the cast white metal sandboxes. I am using this as my first bash at CSB springing and have decided to have a go at building it as a set of sub assemblies so I can take it apart for painting and maintenance... the wheels drop out by sliding the CSB wire out of the horn-block tags. Here are the various assemblies. The brake gear springs into the capillary tubes set into the frames and the sand pipes locate into holes set in the base of the sand boxes. The ashpan and spring etches were kindly sent to me by John Redrup at LRM from his spares/scrap bin. I have made them into two separate assemblies which bolt directly to the chassis. The gear box is a high-level offering and the horizontal in line restraint a design suggested by Dave Bradwell. The horn blocks and guides are also by High Level. Here is a picture of everything assembled onto the chassis - I notice from the photo that the pull rods at the back need a tweak to set them level ... luckily this is easily done. The coupling rods are the universal inside motion etch which Dave Franks has recently added to his arsenal. And finally a couple of pictures with the body ... as far as I have currently got ... mounted on the chassis. In the second pic the chimney, dome etc have just been loosely placed in position. A bit rough here and there ... but overall I think its ok .... the photos are pretty unforgiving - which is why I find the work posted here by experienced modellers so inspirational.

There are a lot of 1/10 reviews on IMDb including this pearl.

Afternoon all. Ian A are you by any chance related to GDB. Meanwhile I have had a good day. Contact was made with No2 son and he may be joining us for a curry this evening. Then off to see an old Model Railway friend and hus wife. Then park at New Pudsey avoid the Monty Python connection and caught a brand new class 195 i nto Leeds. On alighting had a chat with the driver who had some very harsh words about the way the cab is designed. Then a very pleasant 2 hours watching trains. Many new ones of various ckasses, 195, 331, 800, 801 and 68. However the catch of the day was 37424 hauling 3 coaches, presumably towards Neville Hill. It's my very kast class 37 and has been avoiding me for over 25 years. It sounded good as well. Supplies of Eccles cakes were replenished at Asda on the way home. All in all a good day. Jamie Now to await the wrath if the Awl for mentioning forbidden subjects.

Our first house had a garage but if I put our Ford Cortina in it I couldn’t open the doors enough to get myself out. When we first moved here my Astra was such a favourite target for thieves my insurance insisted it was garaged overnight. We did keep one car in and one car out of the garage. It is only a two car garage for original Fiat 500s. When my indoor model railway space was required I moved it to the garage and I promised to de ice Aditi's car if necessary. However shortly afterwards she got a car with an electrically heated windscreen. Also it isn’t that cold very often here in Estuaryland. Tony

Blog - Advent Sunday - 1st December 2019 This series at the special request of the wielder of the Awl. https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2019/12/01/sounds-of-the-season-1/