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Some photos of the Midland Railway Trust line to look at while you are drinking your morning coffee. They were taken on a number of visits over the years. Hammersmith 48151 running round 11th June 89 C12039.jpg Butterley 16440 Aug 82 C5850.jpg Butterley Barclay Stanton No24 May 78 J6081.jpg Butterley breakdown crane Aug 83 J8054.jpg Butterley 16440 Aug 82 C5842.jpg Taken from the footpath at the top of the cutting. Swanwick Junction D4 11th June 89 C12026.jpg David

Some more photos taken at Carlisle for this afternoon. The first photo shows 87003 just after it arrived with a Euston to Stranraer train. There were two Motorrail vans behind the loco, so these were uncoupled from the train and 87003 shunted them onto one of the middle roads (the goods lines) as seen in the second photo and left them there for an 08 shunter to collect and move to the unloading platform. The 87 then left light engine and a 47 would back onto the train to take it to Stranraer. Carlisle 87003 Euston to Stranraer April 87 J8882.jpg Carlisle 87003 shunting Motorail stock April 87 J8884.jpg Carlisle 37203 Alcan North Blyth to Fort William alumina May 90 J10934.jpg Carlisle 47404 Carlisle to Middlesbrough April 87 J8864.jpg Carlisle 86251 Euston to Inverness 30th May 90 C14512.jpg Carlisle 43062 Glasgow C to Poole 14th March 92 C16734.jpg David

Mons Meg waiting time this morning. This FO formation of the 4.40 Doncaster formed a Skegness train from KX on summer Saturdays, and featured 8 Gresley TSOs, a four compartment brake, a BSO and an FK. I now have 7 decent Gresleys, so with the substitution of a MK1, this can be recreated. But in the end I missed off one of the TSOs, doh!

E'ning all. Man, where has all that time gone again… Felt a migraine was imminent during my shift last night, so I called in sick when I got home and felt so exhausted upon waking from my slumber that I decided to see my GP tomorrow. I cannot really single out one principal issue but work has been quite demanding in recent weeks. Yes, I suppose it's better than being out of work altogether, as too many around the globe are as a result of COVID, but still, I needed to put my well-being first...also for the sake of safety. Anyway, I'm hoping that a couple of days at my disposal will have a remedial effect. I guess there's no way I can ever catch up with your doings in here, so I hope you have been well, or on the mend if that should not have been the case. Perhaps I'll be able to follow things here more closely too. Yes, I felt like something has been missing from my daily constants, and I often do feel guilty for not being able to find even just a few minutes... Enjoy whatever you're doing…

Afternoon All Sorry, but I've been AWOL for about a week, due to acute knackeration, which resulted from us "deciding" to completely redecorate our bedroom, a task which was not even contemplated last week. 30747 was rooting in the cupboard where we keep the paint and wallpaper (yes, we keep stocks of wallpaper just in case it might come in handy some day) for some unknown reason, and she "found" four rolls of a really, and I mean really, good wallpaper which we had bought about three years ago at the A6 car boot - think around 45 - 50 quid a roll, and you get the idea - bought, if I remember from a lady selling off her stock - either an interior designer or a high class professional decorator - and she wanted £3 a roll - 30747 got her down to £2 a roll, as one was incomplete. Well getting back to the story, out this stuff came, and "it's just right for our bedroom" - yes, except that it is so different that it also mean paiting all the gloss work and the ceiling, So we were going to use the cream paint that we use everywhere else, and which we have in spades - but no, at the very last minute, we tried it against the wallpaper, and it was just too cream. So off to Johnstones for some off white emulsion, which seemed to match. Gets it up on the ceiling, and it's just too white - in fact, it seemed to glow in the dark. So next day, it's out with the tin of off white, and the tin of cream which was too cream, and then it was mix the two until we had a compromise, and repaint the ceiling. Of course, the gloss was too creamy as well, so that got the same treatment. We are now half way done with the wallpaper, and I have to say, it IS looking good. But, our heavy art deco cupboard which was on the hollow wall was, as I discovered on taking it down, actually hanging off the wall, as the wall is a lot more fragile that I thought, and it can't go back there - so there will be a lot of rethinking to do yet. Hence my absence for a week, as in the evenings, I have just been too tired to post, and I have now missed upwards of 19 pages. If there is anything of any consequence that I need to know, can somebody please PM me. And of course, the generic greetings of an entire week are proferred to all my fellow ERs, Regards to All Stewart

Playing trains,which are behaving well, sun shining, photos took, three quick wickets for England. Only blot on proceedings is that someone programmed a route wrongly, didn't know his N from his R. Derailment swiftly followed. No tea break photo, as I was busy pouring endless buckets of water into the fish tank while doing a water change. Here's a lunchtime one instead, Stanier tank pausing at Platform 2 on the last leg of the journey from Leicester to East.

Sorry I don't recognise the layout - but the "Liverpool Central" look is there with the tracks disappearing into the tunnel with a girder portal at an angle. Liverpool Central (High level) would make a fantastic layout - not very long / wide either. Some interesting trains in its latter years. Back in September 1969 - June 1971 I attended Riversdale technical College in Aigburth Liverpool. Train Wigan to Liverpool Lime St & bus down to the tech. We found out that one train ran from the station near the college to Central at a convenient time around 4.30 pm to Central. The bus back to Liverpool was always crowded so we started to use this train (only a few per day back then, nothing for us outbound in the morning). An interesting line even back then with some sidings still in use as we passed the dock area (Herculaneum ?). The loco shed had gone by then. Central was well passed its best, still double tracked to the terminus (the centre line in the tunnel was disused / lifted). Only one platform was in use, and the place had not long to go, as in these photos. Anyone up to modelling this "era" ? - you only need one working point a two car DMU and some college students with long hair !! Brit15

Time for a Thompson. Mons Meg appears, heading the 4.40 Doncaster - KX. We will have a look at the formation of this train tomorrow.

Good morning all. It's nice and sunny and morning orders have not yet been posted. I got the sand shiftedcand the trailer swept out quite qickly and throughput thecday ensured that water kept trickling out of the pool. Some friends have decided, quite suddenly to go back to the UK, apparently because Tony is bored. The upside of this is that they are chucking out. I therefore have become the recipient of a 5" asronomical telescope. As we have a nice dark sky round us I'm looking forward to using it. In the afternoon I took part in my first Zoom meeting for a railway society. Some good things were discussed and it was nice to becable to put faces to names as I haven't met most of them. Gowever after 2 hrs of ineffective chairmanship I was glad that domestic duties needed to be done. In the evening some friends called to return some tools I'd lent them. They arrived on a tandem that they have been given. This gave rise to me having my first ever go on such a machine. I found that I couldn't ride on the back as I wanted to steer to keep it balanced. However Ian and I did manage a circuit of the village with me on the front and no injuries were sustained. The market willbe visited this morning and tonight we are to have a roast Guinea Fowl (Pintard) for tea. A neighbour raised a batch and we bought 4 . Plum crumble with newly harvested plums has also been promised. I may even even be allowed to make the custard. As to parcel deliveries, quite a few companies seem to use La Poste for final delivery but I have seen UPS vans around. I did get a rather nice little parcel from the US on Friday though, a book about the Cheyenne depot facilities of the Union Pacific. That came via USPS and La Poste and our postie left it on the kitchen table as we were over in the shed playing trains. Regards to all. Jamie

Half an hour later a very disjointed and inebriated sounding "Leaving on a Jet Plane" and an even worse "Time for Me to Fly" (REO Speedwagon). No slowing down there. They are outside. Hopefully some distancing is going on. Based on the 'singing' I doubt that masks are involved. Oregon set another record number of CoViD-19 cases today.

This evening I continued with the quarry, making a start on the rock face using ready-mix filler. This will be painted eventually to represent millstone grit. Most of the afternoon was taken up with a bit of Parkside bothering, and here's the result so far: I need to tone down the brake levers and other bits with a bit more weatherage. Thanks for looking, Al.

MOTD tonight so more progress on the marathon PO build - just door bangers to fit then clean up, paint, letter, loads, couplings....... Jerry

Obviously RAF quarters, if you had paint.

Turned on the hose this morning. All went well for about five seconds when a connection decided to part company. Jeez, it's cold on the willy! Off to the garden centre to get a replacement. [EDIT[ For the hose, in case anyone is thinking of making a comment!!!!

I had a good look at the Prairie last night. I adjusted the back-to-backs then had a close look at the loco on the rolling road. There was nothing obviously wrong and no clear reason for the wobble, other than rather a lot of side play on all the wheels. This, coupled with the wheel profile that appears to have very little conicity and the very flat profile of the rolling road rollers, means that hunting is almost inevitable. I therefore tried the loco on the layout today, with a temporary DC feed. It behaved much better, especially when hauling a train. Some wobble was still there but not as much as on the rolling road and at moderate speeds it was barely noticeable. So, I've decided not to send it back and will carry on with chipping, renumbering, new couplings and so on. I think I'll also restrict the side play on the front and rear drivers a little. If I can find any, I'll use the old trick of Peco fibre washers with a slit cut in them so that they can be forced over the axles. If not, the same arrangement with bits of styrene will do. A number of folk have commented on the lack of vertical movement on the pony trucks. The rear one is just about OK but the front one needs more. The easiest way to do this will be with a slightly longer M2 screw and washer. After that little test session it was back to ballasting. I finished another yard-and-a-half of the double track main lines through the station before drawing stumps. No photos though, as it doesn't look much different from what's already there.

I see that Mrs S is following government policy (all governments, everywhere) that “all monies, unless expressly allowed to you, belong to us”. I also note that posters have commented on revenue raising departments in various countries (their worldwide unofficial motto: “Mafia Style Extortion, but without the understanding and friendly customer service”) and I would like to remind people that income tax was originally introduced as a temporary tax to pay for the Napoleonic wars. It may also be salutary to remember that VAT, like Andouillette (tripe sausage) was one of those French inventions that, presumably, always look brilliant after several bottles of Vin Ordinaire... At one point they were selling, for use in high end cassette decks, very, very expensive Chrome cassette tapes that supposedly were the bees knees in terms of sound reproduction. I never really had the opportunity to test this out. By the time I was old enough to have the wherewithal to purchase a high-end cassette deck (I got a Nakamichi) I had pretty much moved on to CDs - both for playback and recording. Do you mean Quadrophonic? The first time I heard Pink Floyd is “Dark Side Of The Moon“ was at an electronics fair in Bologna where they were demonstrating Quadraphonic sound systems and Quadraphonic headphones. For the DSOTM tour Pink Floyd had a Quadraphonic PA system (at the Pink Floyd exhibition at the V&A there was one of the control boxes for the quadraphonic PA on display), but - from what I understand - it was such a complicated bit of kit to set up that they went back to their standard PAs fairly quickly. I suspect that Quadraphonic sound systems went the same way as a lot of audiophile innovations: abandoned due to the complexity of setting up the system and the need to invest a lot of money in high-end equipment to actually get the benefit of said innovation. Don’t worry about being “called out“ over your standards of sanitary cleansing, Even I am not able to reach those standards, despite decades of experience Mind you, it could be worse. We once rented a holiday flat with friends in a skiing area in Switzerland during the ski season. When it came to the hand over check to ensure everything was left as we found it, the Hauswart was most critical about the fact that the pans we had used had been cleaned but not polished. But isn’t that exactly when we need to worry about them? At “this time of night“ A friend of mine worked in shipping logistics (he worked for UPS or DHL or similar) and when I asked him for some advice about shipping an item from the US he informed me that as important as, if not more important than, weight is volume. Apparently, so my friend maintains, volume is important because empty spaces in cargo containers, whether by air or by sea, represent lost revenue. So, I would imagine, consignments consisting of small boxes would be split up so that the small boxes can be use to fill up empty spaces in cargo containers. Presumably a small amount of extra paperwork this requires is more than offset by the financial advantages it brings to the carrier. The fact that a small customer (or should I say, perhaps with more accuracy, a customer with a small order) is inconvenienced is neither here or there for carriers for whom the large corporate customers are considered to be the priority. I really must have had a most depraved youth, for when you mentioned “Pasties” (as opposed to “Cornish Pasties“) the first thing that comes to mind are those bits of dancing equipment normally associated with pneumatic young ladies who specialise in disrobing to music. I suppose I could draw an analogy between the two, or compare them favourably, but I think it is wise to stop now. Have a great Sunday (or for those with alternative diaries, Saturday ) iD

Mooring awl, inner Temple Hare, A very good nights sleep, I fell asleep early, for 5 hours, then 3 hours on the sofa. Pre my snores, Ben the terrified border collie, did not do so well, he was asleep by the side of the bed, and started making little woofing noises, these increased in number and loudness with added growling. Eventually he woke himself up and lept onto the bed shaking, growling and looking confused.. SWMBO came running upstairs during this wondering what was going on. He soon calmed down, but wasn't happy. He went downstairs with SWMBO to his own bed.. Farm machinery has been trundling past occasionally for the last 15 minutes. Today will be a repeat of yesterday more external shelving, actually doubling the width of some to take bigger pots.. To be followed by more boat work, though I'll varnish little Baron's plinth and the stern first as they'll dry beyond stickiness before further sanding of the decks. But first a Muggacoffee or two and breakfast including bacon. Time to... Head for the kitchen..

I think it was up to 9 channels with two low frequency channels. My amp has 7 channels and two low frequency outputs but I only use 5:of the 7 and one sub woofer is quite adequate. For quite a few years it wasn’t easy to get replacement drive belts for my turntable but it is easy now as vinyl has become popular again. I usually stream from my ipad via Airplay to the amplifier but both the turntable and CD player get used sometimes. I did service our cassette player just for something to do but I don’t think I have any music exclusively on cassette so it could be removed if necessary. Aditi listens to the radio a lot so I don’t like to interrupt her listening pleasure! Tony

Having had years of military accommodation, magnolia paint is banned in this house by both of us.

UK tax is cumulative, you add all your taxable income together, take off £12,500 which is untaxed, then the rest is taxed 20% from £ 12,500 to £ 50,000, 40% up to 150,000, 45% above that. It may appear the smallest pension is taxed but it's the overall amount that is. It's all done by computer these days, very little human intervention once it's initially sorted out. There are other variations to the tax system. But much to complicated for here. Afternoon awl, Little barons plinth, sanded and revarnished. It was decided, that the barbeque is to be moved, it's original position was for when the Mobile home faced west, after I rebuilt the internals of the mobile home to face south, the barbeque got left out on a limb of the old deck. It was moved to its new position edging the patio on the south side, after some discussion a built-in cupboard will be block built around it. That is a task for next weekend. It's on its own rickety legs at the moment so a shelf will be built in for it. Luckily some years ago, during a refit of the Tescos I was maintenance man for, I recovered about 10 Stainless Steel shelves 51 inches by 20 inches with 2.5 inch folded edges being thrown away as part of a refit. 3 will get used as the shelf and serving area, the 5 burner barbeque will sit nicely on one. The Exterior plant shelving was widened, unfortunately one decking board short.. I'll get one when getting the blocks for the cupboard.. Then to the stern of the boat to sand it for the next coat of varnish, unfortunately, it's not yet set hard enough. So I completed sanding the decks with 60 grit except for those bits repaired yesterday they too are not set hard. Lots of lost grockles here with the stupid road works signs, every time they drive past there's clouds of dust from the now dried mud deposited by the harvesters.

Goosegogs and black currants (part 1) harvested. Grass edging has been cut at last. Weather wise it is ok as it's warm enough to warrant a T Shirt but the garden still has a lot of water in it. Lunch awaits... Barry

New van on line with friends. Just waiting for NCU transfer to turn up, then complete weathering and add S&W coupling. This is a Peco Parkside model with transfers of a GWR Mink van but the ones supplied where for a BR version! So delving into my stock I was able to come up with these from Fox, Ratio and Cooper Craft - again never throw anything away as one day!!!!! With regard to the running number this was a bit of lateral thinking. I didn’t fancy doing a whole number of individual ones but then I spotted from the Cooper Craft cattle wagon that I had 38528, hmm I thought, there is a V12 series between 85036 to 85335. Now if I took the 3 from the front and added it to the rear I could turn the cattle wagon number from 38528 to 85283 - sorted with very little work ideal for a lazy modeller like me!!!

One dreads to think what the state of the area behind the hedge was like.

Aye up! I see the bouble posting gremlin has reappeared (and I don't mean Jamie!) Sunny but cool this morning. I have some gardening matters to "attend" to apparently. I may harvest our remaing goosegogs and collect some of our strawberries (a bumper crop from our plants this year). Off to drink my mugatea. TTFN! Stay safe and hoping to here from our missing ERs soon. Baz

Off she goes

I have some kind of back yard party over the back fence. After sunset the weather has cooled down significantly so I have the windows open. They broke out the karaoke machine. Carpenters, Journey ("Don't stop believing", of course) ABBA ("Mamma Mia"). Now at 9:30pm, someone is wailing something completely unrecognizable. I wonder how late they will go.

We just finished our 5th wettest June (Junuary) on record. July has been much cooler than usual (it did not exceed 24°C until yesterday). Normal is around 27°C. There has been very little measurable rain since the end of June. Lots of clouds. Fire danger east of the mountains is starting to kick up.

This is difficult. Paddington would have been on the starting blocks but not being able to get a marmalade sandwich in the buffet kept it out of the running. Waterloo tripped up as the starting gun went, 4CORs and Bullieds slipping like mad were impressive, not quite as the old mechanical destination board, as a kid I could watch that for hours. Victoria, sadly not even at the race track. 8th September 1973, the first time the IRA tried to blow me up. Charring Cross, walking across Hungerford bridge (the foot bridge along side the railway bridge) I got beaten up, they tried to mug me for my coat. Blackfyrers, Holburn Viaduct, Cannon Street and London Bridge never appealed to me as trainspotting locations so no comment. Marylebone and Fencurch Street were visited, never impressed. I cannot recall visiting Broad Street before it was knocked down, did the replacement building Broadgate but it weren't a train station. This leaves me the other two on the monopoly board and the patron saint of railways station. Two meant going home at various times in my life, one I enjoyed train spotting, so deciding which is my favorite London terminus is hard. St Pancras before being "modernised" was beautiful and catching a train there to Bedford was wonderful. Kings Cross as a trainspotter was heaven on earth. It has to be Liverpool Street, before refurbishment, all those bridges and tunnels, knowing my away round them we lost the skinhead gang chasing us. It was going home when I lived in Essex. It is where I helped resuscitating a chap, the ambulance turned up and I carried on helping only to find myself in the back of moving ambulance taking the bloke to the Royal London Hospital. That was one of those days when what made Liverpool Street fantastic, was not happening. There was no train movement, the alarm chain had been pulled and the stationary train was blocking up half the station. For trains Liverpool Street was constant movement, the EMUs never seemed to stand still. Sadly today has building over the top of it and the view of old has gone. Taken from a moving train the Liverpool street tank wagon being shunted.

G word tackled, en famille as both the Good Doctor and the lad assisted and the latter attacked an area of jungle much to the disgust of the senior cat who rather liked hiding in it. (there is plenty left to hide in but nettles and brambles are not to her taste when it comes to feline comfort). Pasties duly enjoyed for dinner this evening well up to the normal standard.

Evening all, Today has been a hive of activity Upon the Hill of Strawberries. SWMBO was out early for a lengthy walk while I debated whether or not 7am might be a trifle early for commencing Sunday. After breakfast there was a small amount of domestic engineering required followed by our usual viewing of G*****ers World which by some magic can be seen two days after it went to air. I don't quite understand how those things work. The afternoon began on the stroke of midday which was about as early as I thought decent to go around weeding and raking under other people's windows. Neighbours (Next door) had a house-full of boyfriends which we knew from last night so I was especially keen to not disturb or embarrass anyone there. Nothing like a strange old dude poking about in the garden right under your window when you have other things on your mind! By afternoon tea I had all of the beds we are responsible for weeded, trimmed and edged. Following afternoon tea I was directed to plant sunflowers and geraniums in the only now-empty bed and knowing that the occupants of the flat in question had already gone out for the day I wasn't bothered about proximity to their window. By dinner time it all looked a lot better than it had done this morning. Our hope is that slugs, squirrels and other garden pests don't do too much harm in the next few days as everything (hopefully) takes root. I have some squirrel repellant due in a white van on Tuesday. We shall see in due course whether it actually repels anything. Alcohol has been enjoyed, brisket and roast veg likewise and with our own broad and runner beans plus a courgette and some chard from the garden. And that was the weekend. Gone. Just like that. Far too early tomorrow I must arise and go forth unto the House of Fun. I shall see you all after I return. Until then stay well and sleep soundly.

In other news:

Arternoon awl, If you had to choose a fruit which is bent on world domination, Bond villain style, then our wild strawberries must be on the shortlist. Five days after last looking at the garden with more than a casual glance and some bad language about the weather, they seem to have doubled in spread and height. Even with the birds taking a healthy share, we've had a good crop this year. Inside, the trouble is the Chief Acolyte likes strawberries with chocolate cake, so I tend to get lent on to spend an hour baking to provide the latter... Made some progress on the great sort out and tidy up, outside this morning, saw a Herky-bird doing circuit & bumps at Leeds-Bradford. It's been so quiet lately, when I hear a plane I tend to look up, even without that distinctive engine sound. Last time we had an airforce transport practicing, it was a C17. It's a bit bigger than the red kites which (these days!) are the most common large flying things visible in the sky. I can see me getting into trouble over Cornish Pasties. I can understand some things having special status as they are produced in a very specialist or precise way and can understand why they want to protect themselves against imitations. But (and I confess to playing Devil's Advocate) what might be permissible on the west bank of the Tamar, suddenly becoming an offence or cause of civil action if a cook ordered her better half to put all the gear in a row-boat and paddle a few yards* across to the other bank and cook her pre-prepared ingredients there. Oh dear. Have we nothing better to do? * I'm talking about somewhere upstream, where a bold teenager with drink taken might think he could polevault across the river, not the bit down near Devonport. Anyway, the sun's now moved round, so time to shut up and head back outside and do some painting.

My all-time favourite DMU picture, taken on a Kodak Brownie when I was 17. Derby (reduced to 2-car) unit at Savernake Low Level on a Newbury-Westbury working in the summer of 1964. Though the West signal box survived for a long time after the station closed, there is now nothing left at this site and it is heavily overgrown. (CJL)

G'day all. I agree very much with Chrisf regarding teh casting of Rowan atkinson as Maigret - undoubtedly an inspired decision which resulted in an excellent series of programmes and an absolutely believable characterisation even if one has strong memories of Rupert Davies playing the role. No doubt some very careful attention to trying to set the scenes in an authentic manner also plays a big part in producing some high quality tv drama. Not sure if I will watch it tonight as other family members may have different views but it is a delightfully confounding and l misleading tale at various times as I'm sure Chris already knows. Just to keep iD up to the mark two of my pensions have of course already passed through the depredations of HMRC before herself gets her hands on one if them. The one which goes into my account, obviously the smallest tiniest of the three in monetary terms is the other one which HMRC have taken their cut out of, at Basic Rate - no Code Number. But if I were still a consumer of the dreaded weed it would actually be enough to buy me a packet of cigarettes (of a brand I used to smoke) a week at Tesco prices. Not the cheapest fags on the block and admittedly I usually used to but them in Paris or Brussels at a saving on UK prices but a pension that pays out, after tax, the cost of a packet of cigarettes per week is hardly a fortune. Also to help iD back to more normal equilibrium. Because the Cornish Pasty has a PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) those made by Mrs Stationmaster are not technically Cornish Pasties because they are not made in Cornwall although they are actually made to a Cornish recipe handed down through the family. This of course shows just how stupid a PDO can be because Mrs Stationmasters makes real 'proper job' pasties but they legally can't be called Cornish Pasties while what Ginsters sell as their Cornish Pasty. allegedly made to the original recipe, is nowhere near as good as it used to be and is now mass produced but can be sold as a Cornish Pasty because it is made in Cornwall. BTW - I've just had a half a pasty for a lunch time snack. I'm not sure how up to date this PDO list on Wiki happens to be but at least you know some good grub is properly protected from pale imitations. ah well back to idiot land on RN Mweb where various naysayers continue to swear blind that black is white despite having the blindingly obvious pointed out to them, several times over. Idiocy seems to be getting ever closer when people can't even be bothered to read maps! Enjoy the rest of your day one and all.

Happy Sunday! Plans for today: buy tomorrow's lunch! Back in the day when I had a half decent HiFi system (Ariston turntable with an Ortofon MC20 cartridge, Music Fidelity Pre-amp (factory customised) EAR valve power amps and B&W DM11 speakers) I hankered after (but never acquired) the Nakamichi Dragon cassette deck. It was an auto-reverse player but with only two pickup heads; to play the other 'side' of the cassette, it would push the cassette compartment door out from the machine the rotate the cassette then pull everything back to play the other side. At in excess of £900, I gave it a miss.

Greetings one and all It is a very long time since I have made a shepherd’s pie. Not everyone would choose to have it for Sunday lunch but then I’m not everyone. When I did the fodder run yesterday morning I did not buy enough minced lamb but that was easily rectified. Apart from cooking, eating and washing-up I have no plans for the rest of the day except to watch the episode of Maigret that ITV will show at 8 pm. The original Maigret was of course Rupert Davies and what a long time ago that was! No doubt some eyebrows were raised at the casting of Rowan Atkinson but I think it was an inspired decision. The parallel universe diary has some interesting entries this week. Tuesday would have seen a visit to Poorly Pal and the shed where the layout lives, followed by an RCTS meeting. On Wednesday we should have had Area Group lunch and on Sunday I would have been at Hatfield House for Folk By The Oak, featuring various favourite performers whose names elude recall. One day there will be gigs and meetings to attend. Oh, the novelty. BoD, I’m so glad you have played Kistvaen. I’ve heard a couple of tracks on the radio but haven’t played the CD yet. However long ago it was, I first went to see Calan because I thought that I would like them and thankfully I was right. I will now go and see them if they are playing within realistic reach. As for folk as we know it, I would be very careful about drawing boundaries! It embraces a multitude of what some call sins. One that I had forgotten until the other day is a square dance performed to a tune by the Small Faces at Sidmouth in, I think, 2014. How am I going to cope without Sidmouth this year? I shall be interested to learn what you think of Peatbog Faeries in due course. Best wishes to all Chris

Good evening everyone Today work on the turntable has progressed steadily. The play/slack that existed between the main drive shaft and the main boss has been rectified, testing tomorrow will denote how successful it has been. I’ve also started making a more permanent operating pin, that is adjustable in both distance and height. Proper testing will be done once all the parts are fitted and have been adjusted for maximum efficiency. When I was testing it earlier in the week, I’d set it up in the cellar on my old computer desk and it ran very well. But this morning I took it back the workshop to work on it and after sorting the drive shaft problem, when I tried to run it it was misbehaving again. I have halogen lights in the workshop and a fluorescent strip light in the cellar. I’m now convinced more than ever that the workshop lighting is affecting the UV sensor. So, once I’ve installed everything on the turntable, I’ll take it all back to the cellar and set up up on the old table and carry out all the testing and adjustments there, where, fingers crossed it will once again behave itself. Goodnight all.

Evening all, No packages addressed to me arrived today. The mail did come today, which was relieving. I doubt anybody remembers, but a few weeks back a Parental Unit and myself attempted to make New Zealand (my dads side of the family is from Liverpool/NZ) meat & cheese pies, but they weren't very good owing to the poor quality of crust. Essentially what happened is we couldn't get a hold of any Puff Pastry, so we had to use American style pie crust, which is very different from the rest of the world, in my opinion. So tomorrow they are being made again but this time with Puff Pastry, and fingers crossed they'll improve. Also tomorrow @J. S. Bach will be pleased to know that the mold around the fan is being fixed. As is the light in my extremely dark closet which I broke about 9 years ago. Being the relatively energetic 5 year old I was, I pulled on the chain too hard and destroyed the switch, and probably some other stuff. Unfortunantley the breakers for the secondary bedrooms aren't marked in the box, so the light couldn't be fixed until we found the breaker on Monday. Depending on how long all that takes, the bathroom vent will also be installed. Dad will thankfully be doing most of this, but I suspect I will be indentured for a few hours. I spent some of the day working on a wagon body, and I need to get round to buying wheelsets for it. (Don't tell Donk). Stay healthy, Douglas

Kinda feel a bit let down today. Went to the garden centre mid-morning but hardly any herbs. Drove 20 mins the other way to another one, still none suitable. Did a bit of pottering in the garden but don't feel like I've done very much. Bought the wrong post and spike from Wickes so have to take that back tomorrow. The sun shade sail I bought doesn't quite fit in the way we want it to. Didn't clean the chicken out, did nothing with the model railway (although waiting for a power supply - coming Wednesday). But I did plant out some plants and pulled up the garlic so I guess the day hasn't been completely wasted. I'm not really a relaxer, more of a doer.

I admit I splurged and ordered a 2000 series and the 3000 series set from Tomix after I rewatched a few videos of this line. Remedial shopping? Maybe...

Ruston 88DS parked up during a tea break at Charlie Strong Metals.

Bears, being somewhat solitary by nature, aren't concerned by such unreasonable behaviour. If any thinks they're getting their paws on my un-built kit mountain (ceiling sag or no ceiling sag...) or my RSU then they're in for a disappointment.....

Light in closet fixed and working. Now we’ve had to dissemble the fan for the third time add some new wires. Shower vent can’t even be seen from inside the attic so will have to be an external install. Aka from inside the very very small bathroom.

Our gooseberries have not taken over the garden. They do need a little pruning to keep the middle of the bush open but no more effort than a rose bush. There are even thornless varieties. In case anyone thinks I have suddenly developed green fingers, I haven’t, I asked Aditi. But even I noticed the gooseberry bushes are well behaved. One year we did have visits from a gooseberry insect pest but we used nematodes to defeat them.

Most of the rooms in our house have magnolia walls and almond white ceilings. Both in matt finish. With large ceilings gloss white would be just too bright for this house. Fortunately when it was built we were lucky that it wasn’t treated to some of the colours the builders chose in other houses. This was supposed to be a show home but they needed to sell it quickly. We have redecorated but haven’t changed the colours. All woodwork other than the kitchen units in the house is stained with Ronseal walnut finish. Tony

Tomorrow's breakfast and lunch now in captivity courtesy of two Tess & Co's meal deal.

This one from a building in Gauda

Looking a bit busy! It may just end up a Stabling Point if I get any more Locos.

Those aforementioned companies do have their own vehicles here, also. I will post the tracking when it finally gets here, it was an interesting but not too diverging ride. Same here, the Vulcan trucks arrived but not the ConnDot cars. Glad to hear about the mold, that stuff can be nasty. 9 years to find a breaker??? And I thought that I was slow!