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Back to Scotland today with some photos taken at Dalmeny in 1991 and 1995. Dalmeny 158728 Edinburgh to Aberdeen 5th April 91 C15714.jpg Another train is approaching in the distance. Dalmeny 107040 to Edinburgh 5th April 91 C15717.jpg Dalmeny 150262 down 7th Aug 95 C20372.jpg Dalmeny 158741 Edinburgh to Perth 7th Aug 95 C20373.jpg Dalmeny 150208 up 7th Aug 95 C20375.jpg David

Morning All, Sorry for not posting recently! As the "normal" routine has been thrown into complete chaos, somehow posting dropped off my radar. Having said that, I have actually been doing some modelling. Not much - but I have a small layout in the offing which I am documenting, but am going to otherwise keep quiet about because usually I never get anything finished (or even properly started!) Baz sent me a PM yesterday to ask if I was Ok, and the answer to that is Yes! Thanks to all of you who expressed concern. I am actually in the office this morning, as we are currently doing some testing - but both Mercedes and I have largely been working from home since March. We are very fortunate - not only are we (and the whole family) healthy, but we still have work and the company have been very good to us. I won't leave it so long next time! Have a good day everyone...

Dull and dank here again today, I'm afraid. Still, I've about caught up on the sleep, so my brain may function enough to think up some new way of keeping us amused. Photos are from another dark day, so taken with blinds open, which brings in a different kind of light, and more problems of exposure to solve. 02 63940 rolls through with the afternoon pick up from KX Goods. then the 5.32 Leicester arrives , 3F power apparently being the best available.

Mica B passing by Jimmy, who's having a right old stare....

So how does one start to describe a layout under the heading 'New Topic' when it has been seen by a large number of people at various Shows for the last 4 to 5 years? It has also appeared in MRJ (Issue 243) and in two other illustrious publications. The layout was also awarded the Railway Modeller Cup for 2017, the Bachmann Trophy in 2018 at the NEC and the Sir William McAlpine Award also at the NEC. Well, as much as I would like to continue with the list of successes , I frankly admit there have been a number of brickbats too, some deserved, some very harsh and dismissive, particularly in the early days when operation was not as good as it should have been. Having then only had very limited ability to erect any part of the layout for pre-Show test purposes, it became painfully obvious that it would not improve quickly until it could be run more or less as a whole. A house move allowed me the opportunity to build a longer shed that accommodates all but the fiddle yard, some 5.5 metres. Following a programme of (what turned out to be) minor improvements to the track and to the front and rear bogies of the various 2-6-2 tanks, that I use, the incidence of derailment virtually disappeared. The bogies are sprung and are checked thoroughly before each Show to ensure the springing is engaged. I found that, as these engines sit in boxes for some weeks between shows, the springing can jam. I have also added sprung arms that ensure more weight of the engine is exerted on the top of the bogie. I discovered a slightly misaligned coach bogie too. In P4 these small discrepancies matter. Perhaps it would be wise to finish at this point and leave another couple of photos in my wake. Layout photos by Barry Norman for the MRJ. Richard

Greetings one and all Seeing Douglas’s bacon reminds me of a trip to Cornwall in 1984. Somewhere in Bodmin I was subjected to a rasher of bacon which would have been ideal for emergency shoe repairs. The repast illustrated looks positively succulent by comparison. Another casualty has been discovered following my unexpected descent of the stairs two weeks ago. I found yesterday morning that my extension lead had been written off in the melee. It had belonged to my father, so another link with the past has gone. It was a simple matter to go out and buy a new one but that’s not the point. Now then: do the remains go in the recycling or the general rubbish? I bet I make the wrong choice. Once there was power, it did not take long to mow the lawn. The unwanted yellow things are everywhere and I have some digging to do. Today? Maybe. Two attributes are required, stamina and enthusiasm. Sadly both are in short supply. It must be 40 years ago that I took a sledge hammer to the concrete covering much of the garden. I was enthused by the Readers Digest book “Food From Your Garden” and fancied putting some of it into practice. Before long, however, I realised that when you plant a whole packet of carrot seeds and harvest precisely one carrot the garden is trying to tell you something: “Don’t mess with me, sunshine” is a good approximate translation. Somewhere amid the unwanted yellow things may be my strawberry plants. If they are there, I will find them. They have served me well in the past and may do again. Gentle readers may well think that I am not at my best today. They would be absolutely right. If anyone else is as cheesed off with the present situation as I am, let them not be afraid to say so. During Mental Health Awareness Week we were told that it is OK not to be OK. Seldom have truer words been spoken. Best wishes to all Chris

And then the first run from the Top Yard, (I need to sort a new name for this end now) through to Seven Up Junction. As I said, the F/Y Track is not laid yet. I then set the Duff back into one of the new Sidings.

I am now able to assemble and use a Flash speed mop. I have clean(ish) floors, and some dust has also been removed, or moved to other places. Washbasins cleaned too. Thank goodness my regular cleaners are starting up again from 1st August. Anyway, I have stopped for a well deserved mug of tea. With it, we can observe a J6 arriving from Grantham with that very short BSK CK formation, as an Ivatt reverses LMS stock into the bay, where it will form a departure to Kings Lynn.

Good morning from a damp and dreary North Salopshire. Today is market day and although Jill and I are still avoiding going anywhere as crowded as the indoor market the traders there are great people and if we put in orders with several of them they will put them all together and one of them deliver to us in the afternoon. They organise payment between them so that all I have to do is a single bank transfer - like I said, great people. We are going to get some bottles of Scottish elixir to say thank you. One of the traders sells the best bacon; about 1/8 to 3/16 inch thick and without loads of added water so after cooking it is almost the same size as beforehand. Whilst I do like thin and crispy bacon on occasion, and having lived in California got used to and liked the American version, in my opinion there is nothing like a bacon sarnie full of nice thick English style bacon well cooked so the fat is browned but the meat is still chewable. Mind you, crispy American bacon with eggs over easy and a short stack with maple syrup - yum yum. Have a good day people. Dave

Another shot under the roof tonight, but not as successful as some, as even at f4.5 it needed 15 seconds exposure. Then one specially for Clive- a double chimney Cravens DMU arrives from Skegness.

DIY Haircut No. 3 day... .....and absolutely no sniggering at the back..... Bear in underwear, sat on a stool in the Railway Room storage area for endless unbuilt kits. Wearing a purple bin liner (don't even go there...) and the bib that came with the clippers. Floor covered in a bl00dy great lightweight plastic dust sheet, courtesy of Poundland - so thin that if you stare at it too hard it'll rip; roll it up carefully at the end and dump it for an easy clean up. Big mirror on one of the kitchen units layout supports, rectangular barber's mirror (as in "ok at the back, sir?") in one paw. Wahl Chrome Pro clippers in the other paw, complete with No. 3 guide. Look in the mirror, take a deep breath, go steely-eyed and then utter the words "go ahead, punk, make my day....." Fortunately Bear survived (fairly) unscathed, and can walk down the street without (hopefully) too many sniggers. Avoided the Barbers for a second time (mind you, they were in lockdown the first time); one more DIY jobbie and the cost of the Clippers and mirror will be recovered. Celebratory Tea & custard cream just scoffed

Good moaning from a warm Charente. In fact yesterday the metal pool sides were too hot to touch as we wrestled with them. Belated birthday greetings to Simon. Chrisf, I do feel forvyou in your present situation. Despite getting annoyed at the words we sometimes exchange It has been better to be able to isolate with another person than on my own. At least you have ER's as a supporting cast. Anyway much work got done and the outer wall of the new pool us up. Today we will be wrestling with the liner. First though I must return to Matha to get the correct tyres fitted on the car. The tyre fitter mixed them up and I have two different makes on the front, which is verbotten in France. Thooughts very much with those who are not feeling at their best. Regards to all,, breakfast is now due. Jamie PS, great to hear from Robert, good work Baz.

I've had another go at sorting out the colour on C747, I think this is the best I can do. It may make identifying the loco easier. It certainly serves to remined me just what a dark cold day it was. Nowadays I'd have stayed at home, but I was young then. York Class 40 up freight Nov 71 C747.jpg David

Never knowingly over-rated I have yet to try Smoke-Your-Own. The recent arrival of a Cobb cooker (similar to a small BBQ) means we can do so but we are bound by a condition of tenancy to not make smoke. Specifically to not use a bbq but the prospect of smoking some sliced pig, or indeed anything else, for several hours without attracting unwanted attention means I have to have a really good story up my sleeve There seems to be two sorts of bacon here also. Supermarket "wafer-thin-and-watery" or butcher's "decently-thick-and-dry-cured" of which the latter is often rather harder to obtain in the current environment. I am not minded to queue for what might be a half-hour outside the butcher's just for some bacon and whilst it can be ordered for delivery the minimum quantity would suggest either a severe addiction or the operation of a B&B with Full English on offer. In a few weeks Ocado switch from Waitrose to M&S for their supplies. M&S has sometimes had decently-sliced bacon but it comes at M&S prices which is almost twice the Waitrose price per kilo. Swings and roundabouts eh? If getting good bacon is the biggest problem of the day we aren't in too bad a place.

Morning all, Welcome to Wetnessday Upon the Hill of Strawberries. I could feel it coming and true to form now that it has arrived the small joints are working much less uncomfortably. A few menial tasks of low importance require my attention between now and bed-time therefore I shall insert a muggercoffee before attempting any of them.

Yet another day gone. I was really poorly last night - got worse throughout my training. Just felt nauseated and had a headache. Took some paracetamol and sleeping tablets, straight to bed. Woke an hour or 2 later, Mrs STH was still up. Today, it's like it never happened. But Mrs STH slept funny so has had agony neck pain all day. I said if she's slept funny, she could have just asked me for some comedy and I would have helped out. She wasn't impressed. But I did also say it'll be like it most of the day and probably a bit of tomorrow morning maybe. We are a pair!

Afternoon from a very damp Surrey. Some crust earning completed earlier. Hopefully more on the way this month. A surprise box of beer arrived at our front door by Courier. It was from our next door neighbours with a thankyou note for looking after their garden. Their daughter has been about a lot recently s I fear that his cancer has got worse especially that I have no seen him for a while even when doing their garden. At the weekend our local council introduced a temporary cycle lane in Reigate reducing the one way down to one lane without consulting local businesses who could no longer get deliveries due to the barriers and cyclists weren't using the new lane. traffic jams were huge on and a number of ambulances got stuck in the new single traffic lane. It didn't look good when we walked through the town on Sunday and had to use back lanes to avoid it on Monday when we did the food shopping. After costing £160k (according to local newspapers) and many complaints its now all been removed. I wonder how many other such schemes have caused similar issues.

Afternoon all, Ah, food. Yesterday evening's self catering turned out not to be as family members various returning from locations various seemed to be in a competition to supply me with fish & chip[s. The Good Doctor won because she was expected home first but she only just d vbeat the returning pair from the follicle re=arranger in Marlow. So it was fish & chips for three of us while the Good Doctor has her preferred sausage in batter and chips. The evening afforded the occasion for direct comparative testing and Mr singh won on both the excellence of his batter and the very fresh quality of his chips, the Portuguese came second, the Chinese were not involved in the competition. as to bacon thetre are of course two basic sorts of bacon in England (and Wales (and Scotland). One is back bacon which comes from the loin and is the thicker, meatier sort. The other kind - exceptionally popular at Christmastide for 'pigs in blankets' - is streaky bacon which comes from the belly and is basically cut in strips - definitely the better if you like your bacon nice and crisp or are using it in a meal with something else (it is my regular bacon for consumption with mushrooms). The sort to avoid is that coming from Denmark because however it might be cut it has a very high water content so shrivels and goes leathery on cooking although some UK produced stuff, especially at the lower price end of the market tends, to be as bad. And in every case the best bacon comes from pigs which have been properly reared and allowed to live in the open rather than in some horrendous factory farm building which inevitably has the aim of quantity rather than quality production. Decent quality bacon does not need to be served with anything else at all and definitely no sauces of any kind, so that its natural flavour - smoked or unsmoked - can be properly savoured. As with most other meat properly raised and individually looked after animals always provide the nest natural flavour although regrettably it's not so common nowadays except from a few select butchers and sometimes from farmers markets. Back to RMweb and no doubt there'll be a good (unintentional) laugh going somewhere so I shall head out in search of such crass amusement. Enjoy the rest of your day one and all and while it might no longer be very fashionable take care and stay safe.

I mentioned after a trip to visit his wife’s family in Florida my brother attempted to import a turkey capable deep fat fryer. As a consolation he did manage to import a smoker. I don’t actually like the taste of smoked food but those who do seemed to think the resulting food items were ok. I notice that when Aditi buys smoked haddock she gets the “traditionally smoked “ variety. When I have barded a turkey with streaky bacon it comes off rather like American style bacon after cooking. Aditi informed me when I told her bacon had been discussed on ERs that she preferred the American style bacon.

i do like smoked bacon... at Christmas we order our meat from a local butcher as well as a stand pie (large) and some of their smoked (and unsmoked) bacon. Excellent for a mid morning Sarnie on Christmas Day. Apparently I am stood down from further housework (I forgot about it being done but received a suitable reminder!) Off back to do some paperwork.. Pah! Baz

I have decided to use 1.5mm MDF as the base of the canopy. This will form the gutter when complete. It will also give some strength and act as a template for positioning the columns on the platform. Here are a few in place. The solid rectangles have been left in place to maintain the shape and give strength during the build process. The 1mm holes mark the position of the columns. First task is to construct the supporting structure consisting of cross beams and longitudunal beams. These will be fabricated from plasticard, 20th for the web and 10th for the flanges. I have constructed a jig to aid assembly. And of course the ends need rounding off. There are 51 of these to make for P5&6, the pic below shows progress so far. Watch this space for more updates.

Towards Chevening Halt.

New back scene in place!

Good morning everyone Another dull start to the day, we’ve had overnight rain but it’s not raining at the moment, however looking at the sky that could change at any time. Breakfast has now been consumed and I’ll shortly be heading back downstairs to the cellar to continue painting the bench parts. The plan is to start top coating this morning and hopefully by the end of the day I’ll be halfway through the task. In between applying coats of paint I shall find a few bits to be getting on with. Nice to see Robert dropping in. Stay safe, stay sane, enjoy whatever you have planned for the day, back later.

Ey up! Very nice to hear from Robert and glad to hear they are all ok. Weather forecast for today is a bit mixed so may have to do some fettling of indoor items. I have some items to deliver to some people in Carlton (Barnsley) but not sure if I can visit them. A phone call should help. Yes Q, cricket is back hence its chuckinitdarn. Pah! Supposed to umpire a friendly at the weekend ut so far the ECB haven't let us know what formats the games should be (6, 8 or 11 a side, 20, 30 40 o ers a side. Our local League want to have an 11 game league with Promotions and Relegations. Not a good idea as the teams with paid players will make life hell for the umpires. Mugatea has arrived so time to get today sorted out, stay safe and I hope you are all OK! Baz

That's a Selway Fisher Design http://www.selway-fisher.com/ , I didn't recognise it at first, because he's built the 16, many years ago when I got the Selway Fisher catalogue only the smaller 9 and 12 ft Stornoways were in there. . The 9 and 12 were Clinker built but the larger ones are smooth hulled. I must admit the workmanship on that boat looks wonderful... http://www.selway-fisher.com/ Selway Fisher is a very popular designer for home built boats, I looked at several of his designs in the past, cleared some land to build a boat on by the rented cottage I was living in and.... Got posted to the Outer Hebridies Mooring Awl Inner Temple Hare 879 / 549. A very good night sleep 5 + 2 hours solid sleep I needed that. Ben the Unimpressed Border Collie was not happy when we went out for his patrol, Dull Wet Misty Definitely earning the appellation Driech,.. We know why of course.... The test match is due to start... I've just had a scan through the current Selway Fisher catalogue and there are many more designs since my previous version.. I'm particularly taken with the Beccles and Ant Broads designs and the Safe harbour 12 .. I'll be wade though the catalogue further, just to see if there are Ideas I can pinch. I doubt I'll ever build another boat though too many other things to do.. I'm afraid i'd call Douglas's Toast .. warm bread, It at least needs to be golden brown all over though not carbonised.. Time to go bimble down to the lab, and set the major equipment on it's next automatic run..

Good evening everyone I’d only been in the cellar about 10 minutes when it started raining and it’s not stopped since, in fact it’s still racing now! However, as I was working inside it didn’t made no difference to my ability to work on the bench at all. Today, more progress has been made on said bench, all the slats, the stays and the outside of the ends have all had 3 coats of primer. The insides have also had a single coat of primer and will get its final 2 coats tomorrow. Tomorrow I’m also hoping to start applying the top coat on the slats and stays too. Whilst waiting for the paint to dry, I was able to finish the inter-connecting wiring for the turntable, these are just plug in leads, so in essence, the turntable is now ready for testing, but which will probably not take place until the weekend. Goodnight all

Forgot to add these two, showing the gangways within the train. The sprung buffers help on the tighter curves! John C.

I have received notification from the first wheelbarrow vendor that I am going to receive a 'full' refund. I will now wait and see what happens with the refund. They are such a bunch of cockwombles I will wait to see if they mess up the refund before I make arrangements to return the second wheelbarrow.

Morning all. It was definitely raining at about 7am when I took the bin bag out. It isn’t raining now though it looks as if it may do so. Our neighbours are off to Wales today to return their grandson who came to visit back in March. I may do some kit assembly today. Cars not trains. It was very nice to see Robert posting again and I am glad all was ok. Tony

The American Breakfast. When I did my road trip across the US in 2012 we tended to stay at motels where breakfast was included to keep the cost down. However when there wasn't one available then it was off to a diner, ysually the one with most flashy pick ups outside. The a full bag of mashings including the pancakes and syrup. My waistline couldn't have done it everyday but they were good. Anywsy back out into the heat to fet more sand for the coving round the inside base of the pool. Shovelling it is warm work. I've got to empty the trailer of rubbish first though. Jamie

Morning damp and cool up here, which is odd as they don't play much cricket round here..........................................(actually there are more clubs than you would think in NE Scotland, Forfarshire and Arbroath are apparently bordering on professional). As for eating carbon, that was the sound of my childhood, waking up to the sound of my mother scraping the burnt bits off the breakfast toast before going to school.

Hmm, computers all over the place here are popping up with ... This update will be installed on 30/4/20, I'm still waiting for the automatic run to finish Of boats, the centre pillar, of the boat needs joining to the horizontal arms, I was going to use a T junction for a pipe.. but then I've realised I need somewhere to mount the jammers for the ropes mentioned yesterday. So i've designed a wooden roughly triangular block, to go over the joint. The only problem being how many bits of wood to make it of to make it look nice and be strong... And for boat building I've just been offered more than half a dozen sash claps all 6ft + extension bars from a workmates, late fathers workshop, that should cover most uses.. Oh bacon.. nothing is as bad as turkey or beef bacon as served in Saudi..

Aw....just when we were having so much fun... What damage did you do to the extension lead Chris? Is none of it salvageable? You didn't trip up the lead and fall down the stairs by any chance? As for recycling, I suspect the correct method would be to take it to the local tip and put it in the electrical items skip. And then, if my experiences of Stevenage dump are anything to go by, go to the local tyre depot the following day and get a new tyre(s) fitted due to having picked up screws from the dump.... And pay for the tyre place to dispose of the knackered tyre(s).... On second thoughts, just sling it in the wheelie bin - it's cheaper, and better for the environment.....

Having built a couple of Slater's toplights some time ago I'd learned some lessons, the main one being that they're far too sophisticated for a bodger like me! So first things that had to go were the bogies - I'd never get those put together and working in a million years. So I used some 8 foot American white metal castings I had in the spares box. I didn't find any bogie stretchers, but soon made a pair from layers of Plastikard, which also served as mounting for hook & loop couplings and vac/steam hoses. The buffers too went on the scrapheap in favour of some ready-made GWR sprung coach buffers from MRD. The next things were the gangways. Ingenious things of joy and beauty for a skilled craftsman but I don't want to spend a fortnight making a corridor connection. I was about to deploy a couple of those rubbery PVC-type ones from some old PC kits (a bit fiddly themselves) when a thought occurred, I had a couple of Keen Systems ends for Hornby clerestory coaches! The scissors gangway was sawed off the ends (easy, with the soapy plastic or resin from which they're made) and then attached to the coach with the floating end plates supplied. After a lot of adjustment to hooks and bars I got them to work well in the train with gratifyingly close coupling, and able to negotiate the inside radius of Peco curved points on the way in and out of the fiddle yard. So the aim was achieved - gangway connections with no 'daylight' and a representation of the scissors typical of these earlier coaches. Next - painting and glazing. I always find glazing the hardest part. John C.

Afternoon awl, One extreme Cockwomble on the way home, braking at every junction, braking from 10mph below the limit to even lower at speed cameras, and then in Effin clown town turning the wrong way into a one way street. Went to the orange shed, much reduced isolation, they are allowing more people into the store . Spent money on good paint brushes to be used on the non sanded final coats of varnish.. Also more white Spirit. I know they have similar road schemes in various places in Norfolk but as yet not heard bad reports, Norwich city is doing enough stupid things to the road network even before the virus, every time I go in to the centre, it's guess which direction they'll send us this time if at all.. We've just had something of pretend Italian heritage, Spaghetti Bolognese, not the best one we've made, the seasoning, is pre lock down, as we've been unable to visit our favourite spice stall.. The Cobb cooker is very popular amoungst the boating fraternity on the broads.

Morning all, Woke up to my dad coming home very early from work, he’d only been there 30 min. I latter found out, that the large industrial gate to our workshop on the other side of town was gone. A half hour later this would accompanied by pictures and the caption that it was destroyed by a drunken corvette driver. So he went look at it, I didn’t not knowing anything. Beans, bacon and toast is being eaten as write this, more bacon for inspection. The remains of that gate, normally about 30 ft wide is below. I will never know why our neighbor fills his yard with those wrecks, but each to there own.

Good afternoon John, I suppose it must be nice when everything is achieved with the minimal effort, and everything runs perfectly. Not having the greatest experience of such 'niceties', I try to get my 'satisfaction' from overcoming difficulties. Does that give a greater sense of satisfaction? I think Al is right, in that it does. That's not to say that anyone deliberately chooses the most-difficult path in their modelling (even I'm not that perverse!), but one gets a sense of achievement (even smugness?) out of producing something which has required some 'effort' to overcome difficulties. Take the ancient Millholme 2P I'm working on, for instance....................... Readers might recall that this was given to me by a mate just over a month ago (builder unknown). I didn't really work, but I got its K's HP2M-powered chassis to go, but not entirely to my satisfaction. I showed the cast metal chassis the other day, but I shall not be using that and (as mentioned) have ordered a Comet 2P chassis. I won't be using the original drivers (the axle ends are covered), so I've looked in my box of older Romford wheels..... These are donkey's years old and had 'blind' holes for crankpins. Thus, this morning, I've drilled and tapped them and inserted the crankpins. Why two sets? The further set are 27mm (about right for 6' 9" drivers), but their flanges have been turned down to finer standards. This would not be a problem on the main line, but the MR/M&GNR bit of LB has some medium radius points to contend with (a potential problem with finer flanges?). The nearer set is 26mm (3" under scale), but the over-scale flanges make the wheels appear greater in diameter. I'll try the nearer-scale wheels first, once I've erected the frames. It would have been much easier to have ordered brand new, ready-tapped, drivers from Markits, but I'm saving money (giving a greater sense of satisfaction?) at the expense of my time. I have a choice of motors/drives. I've had to assemble these little gear mounts (one from Branchlines, the other from Comet), but it would have been so much easier to just drop in a ready-made DJH motor/gearbox combo. However, since the cost of this would be more than the whole loco is worth, then either of these will do. A further 'refinement' has been to dry-brush weather the loco body and tender - just to make it more natural (apologies for the untidiness of my workshop, but I can work in it). What's the point of these ramblings? I could have just sold-on the loco as it was (getting a little - very little - for CRUK). I could have left the original drive and tolerated its poor performance, even when 'fixed'. I could have left the finish as it was. Or, I could have commissioned someone to do it all for me, but how much 'satisfaction' would there be in that? The satisfaction of knowing that I'd earned enough money to be able to do it? Perhaps, but it would then only be a possession. No, by the time I've finished I'll have 'breathed a little life' back into a very old model. Surely there's a satisfaction in that? I'll report accordingly if it's been a success. There is no guarantee! Regards, Tony.

Some from yesterday Leamington to crewe Crewe then back to landor st for a light engine to toton trafford park tonight

Greetings all from Sidcup where it is currently dry but rained during my daily walk. Nice to see Robert posting. I am a fan of smoked food and smokey flavours, bacon, ham, turkey, cheese, hummus, beer, whisky (smoky and peaty), things cooked with paprika that end up with a nice smokey flavouring

Unfortunately most modern smoked bacon is sprayed with a smoking "preparation" rather than truly Smoked. One of my Aunts has a house with the iron steps in the side of the chimney and the hooks for hanging sides of pork. I believe they tried it once but it didn't come out well..

Oops, nearly forgot, glad to see Robert back. Another thing I forgot, it was mentioned on BBC Breakfast this morning that you could donate old computers and tablets so that they can be refurbished and given to school students who don't have them and are having problems during lockdown. Unfortunately I didn't catch who to get in touch with to donate as I have a couple of devices that I no longer use.

Morning all from Estuary-Land. No ones mentioned smoked bacon yet. I got the taste for it from my dad. He was from a large extended family and some relatives had a smallholding in Rainham (Essex). Their cottage was very old and had a wood burning grange with an enormous chimney. They kept pigs and most if not all members of the family purchased a pig every year. When the pig was slaughtered one side was washed, salted and hung in the chimney which could hold half a dozen sides. My dads job when he was a youngster was to go with my aunt taking an old pram to collect the 'family' bacon. This had been in the chimney for several months and was well and truly smoked. The rest of the pig was used as fresh meat or converted into sausages etc. Everything was used except for the oink. The side of bacon was hung in the larder and my grandfather would slice a piece of as and when required. Sadly the cottage was condemned and demolished in the mid 30's and where the smallholding was is now under Tesco's car park.

It was a surprise that they sent it to Birmingham unless there is a similar postcode. If it was Bristol it might be understandable as the district I live in is called Kingswood and there is a like named district of Bristol.

You mean a little bit like this? (below).. Unfortunately my available space limited me to just this. But making my own track work in the fiddle yard, has allowed me a bit more flexibility. But, if only I had 2-3 feet more in width... By the way, the double slip on the right with no track coming off is not a trap. I laid it to be able to use cassettes to bring on/take off stock from extra storage sidings underneath the layout not yet built. The cassette will bridge the line coming diagonally right to left across it and will only be present to load/unload. The (diagonal) line is the down goods/ slow which is used rather a lot. I did get a couple of the peco EM points (not used yet) out of curiosity. They are very good. I keep getting an itch to knock a hole for a tunnel in the wall on the left to make more sidings, but I wouldn't survive the fall out... Going back to your pictures Tony, your sidings display a stunning collection of locos/trains. It's only when you see them all together like this that we can see the sheer amount of work involved. We are all very lucky to have a hobby (obsession as Chris calls it ) like this.

I’m getting there slowly

I wonder why were they sent to Alabama?

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. I googled 'smoked bacon' and I might be tempted by some of the delights on offer. One thing though there was plenty on smoking your own bacon including a few on YouTube. My printer will not now be serviced until Friday. The bits for the service were to be sent directly to my address for the engineer, they should have arrived today but somehow were sent to Birmingham. Now to catch up on RMweb, be back later.

As long as you enjoyed it, that is all that really matters. We all have our food (and railway!!!) preferences and probably should not be making fun of others' enjoyments (well, maybe except for railways ). I do like the bantering about pain-in-ear vs saddletanks and the constant GWR vs LMS vs others. But, of course, we all know that the WESTERN MARYLAND is the tops!

Aah! Computer tapes plus inexperienced/ ignorant/ distracted staff - the possibilities for disaster are many and varied.