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Also just realised, today is the first official day of the rest of my life - I is now retired!

For those of you that may know Peter Midwinter, His Wife Wendy phoned me on Tuesday to say that sadly he passed away on Monday of this week. She has put an announcement in his last Topic = The Final Dream, At Christmas time he had half a leg amputated after complication with his diabetes, he also contracted sepsis at the time and was in a bad way for a short while, but recovered and was at their home in Wales overlooking Anglesey. He had recently had a new Railway Room built in which he was starting to join up his many large OO Exhibition Layouts, including, Great Tunsleydale, Bridge of Muir, Glen Gillie, Connel Ferry Bridge, and a couple of others. There is nothing in the Obituary Thread at the moment, but I will speak to Wendy later, as obviously at the moment she has enough to sort out. My heart felt condolences go out to Wendy, and their Daughters Toni and Zoe, and other Family and Friends.

The West Coast Main line in Scotland today, around Crawford, Carstairs, and Glasgow Central. Crawford 86508 freight 29th March 89 C11826.jpg Crawford Class 87 Euston to Glasgow 26th Feb 93 C18319.jpg Carstairs 43123 Cornish Scot Edinburgh to Glasgow to Penzance7th Aug 95 C20366.jpg Glasgow Central 90008 Glasgow to Birmingham 2nd March 91 C15635.jpg Glasgow Central 101691 to Whifflet 24th Feb 95 C19964.jpg David

Not the best of days so far. Last night I developed what seems to be some sort of gastric lurgy with a fever, rotten headache, lots of time in the bathroom etc. Today has seen some improvement aided by Jill's ministrations but I still feel like something the cat dragged in. I only climbed out of bed an hour or so ago and even doing the Telegraph crossword seems beyond me so I'm about to see what the haunted fish tank has to offer. Does this show that I'm still a cockeyed optimist? Dave

Good morning all, Belated birthday greetings to SE Eric. Very breezy here with a bit of rain and sunshine. Great afternoon and evening spent at Nicki's celebrating Gemma's success. Many thanks for all the good wishes and congratulations for her. She's been a bit down lately but has now gone back to her lovely cheery self and is over the moon. Joe had some good news as well, his A level grade C has been regraded to a B. This means that he could have gone to his 1st choice university UCL. However he would then have stayed at home and commuted into London and having thought at length about that is glad he's now going to Sussex, especially now he's seen pictures of the accommodation he's been given. He's also spoken at length to Dan, son of our friend Steve who went to Sussex last year and has given him excellent reports. Now raining again so I'm staying in for now. Have a good one, Bob.

Still shunting

I can't bring myself to point the camera at scenery and trackwork as there's polystyrene and plaster bandage everywhere! This long view down the front of the distillery is starting to look pleasing though.. our J36 trundles slowly by on the main line with coal as the distillery Peckett simmers outside.

Oh well just had call from the nurse i am T2 diabetic

I am not convinced that exam results are any real indicator of either intelligence or indeed the ability to retain knowledge, teaching to pass exams rather then teaching is not the answer, the world is full of highly qualified idiots as it is.

Well. What a mixed day so far. At 05.00 I discovered the milk was off and had to manage without muggertee and Weetabix; there’s nowhere open at that hour to help. Toast and banana it had to be. The wind is making alarming noises in our large trees and around the buildings. And it continues to increase in strength. My annual assessment of competence resulted in another 100% and some very favourable feedback from our safety standards manager. And in a few minutes I must set off to collect the weekend’s hire car and hope this interesting weather doesn’t put paid to our plans. A couple of belated birthday greetings are due. Friday Drinks will be celebrated moderately later on as I have to retain control of the car in order to get SWMBO to Kew and back. Taking advantage of having the transport available she is braving the workplace (after hours) to collect some books required at home. She has also threatened to walk around the Gardens with me but that may become a victim of the high winds.

Congratulations to all those receiving exam results. For years no one ever asked for proof that I had my claimed qualifications but there was a demand for them in my final years of teaching and also proof I was entitled to work in the UK. All of us being asked for proof that we were entitled to work here may have been my fault as I mentioned to the HR admin person that her questioning of just black, Asian and people with “foreign” surnames looked a bit suspicious. She did agree and said she was just following orders. Everyone at Aditi’s last college had to have a GCSE grade C in English and maths. She was surprised after a few years there to have to take their numeracy and literacy tests as she only had O levels in those subjects. I once had a maths group at the sixth form college who seemed quite mature. They basically were not leaving until they achieved at least a C grade which was a requirement for various careers. As long as you were 16 when you started at the college you could keep applying for courses and stay beyond the normal 16 to 19. The maths department getting me to teach them was very much a desperate last chance I think. I am pleased to say it worked.

Sadly it was decreed that teachers should have performance management which is pass rates for SATs, GCSEs and A levels etc which are all also used for grading schools. This would work well if children were tins of beans but they are individuals and have a multitude of needs or difficulties which require attention. The truth now that your child can be a failure before they start in reception disgusts me but watching nursery teachers assessing children rather than nurturing them is what the system demands. Two years left to retirement and I have met and observed a lot of great teachers burn themselves out trying to combine teaching and recording. I will not even start on headteachers who think sacking female teachers over the age of 50 is the right thing to do... Rant over.

GCSEs: I think that long before this cohort gets to Uni then they'll have to demonstrate an ability at A level. This should weed out those whose grades were inflated and wouldn't cope with uni. The GCSE results that I saw yesterday were entirely in line with what had been assessed over the previous 3 years of my eldest'son course work. With only one exception where a grade was lower - we suspect because a piece of course work had been lost by the teacher and therefore not included in the final assessment. There was also a lot of moderation, too to remove teacher bias etc. It's understandable if people are sceptical. But, as mentioned, from my personal experience the evidence of what would be a justifiable grade was there long before the exams/algorithm/teacher debacle. My advice to my eldest is to assume from Day 1 at 6th form that A levels in 2 years time will be assessed by coursework, too. Who knows what may hapoen. So, make every assignment count as if it was the real exam. Same for the younger children who is embarking on GCSEs. I also believe that in employment we end up having to deliver consistently for about 40 years. So what is the better judge of this - a 90 minute exam, possibly crammed the night before, or a 3 -year demo of achievement? Kitchens: I've only done this once some 25 years ago. B&Q who outsourced delivery. What was delivered had several vital bits missing - "not my problem, gov, you'll have to go back to B&Q". B&Qs process to rectify was lengthy and frustrating, not dissimilar to Snakes and Ladders. I've heard good things about Howdens.

Great news about Gemma, GDB. The rain earlier (aka Ark Time) has stopped and it is gloriously sunny now - typical Isle of Fraggle weather! Humidity 92% though, gooey. OK, off to the club.

We have a slaughter house quite close by and when the wind is in the right direction and when the temperatures are up, it can be quite noxious, but that is one of the downsides of living in that rural idyll that townies like to think of as the countryside. The other side of the compass we have a large chicken farm that is cleaned out every couple of months, and that too has an aroma all of it's own. I wish that such folk would actually realise is the 'countryside' is the biggest industrial unit in the whole of the UK. Add to that the usual stuff that farmers spread on the fields as fertilisers and you can begin to gather why I have large nostrils and an extremely strong constitution. Around here, when new neighbours are not complaining of the smells, they whine about low flying helicopters. Well, you bought a house under one of the low flying training areas of the Defence Flying School, so what do you expect? A friend of the Obergrumpenfuhrer bought a house in Headcorn about 25 years ago, whenever we visit she complains about the noise from aircraft at the local airfield. I've told her, that: 1. The airfield was operating there long before she bought here house in the area. 2. Stop moaning.........until you've lived close to the threshold of QRA airfield you have little to complain about in the noise department.

No, not state pension yet, but no intention of working for anyone else again, bar 'the boss'! And yes, I'm decorating.....

Greetings one and all! I slept in a bit and have surfaced unharmed by the experience. Belated birthday greetings to Eric SignalEngineer and warm thoughts to all with young people who have emerged, scathed or otherwise, from the exams debacle in the UK. I don't believe I thanked Q for the news that my former billets in the Fifers Lane UEA residences are no more. We ungrateful students knew them as Horschwitz. It was good for the soul to walk aross the grass to the main block wherein was to be found Mrs Reeder, her kitchen and breakfast. We relied on a shuttle bus to and from the campus, which was divided between University Village and University Plain, and became accustomed to the cry of Charlie the bus driver of "Whip 'em out! Tickets I mean". Oh, happy and long gone days. Even further back in time than that was my candidate for stinky surroundings. Down by the River Thames in Hammersmith was, and maybe still is, the Bemax factory. When we Latymerians were sent out on a "round the river" cross-country run we ran out of country on the final stretch along the north bank. Having already negotiated the plant where Cherry Blossom shoe polish was made, fortunately without detectable odour, our bursting lungs were confronted with the pong given off by wheat germ being processed. There was nothing for it but to take a very deep breath and keep running. Round the river? Yes. Left out of the back entrance to the school, behind Hammersmith town hall, across Hammersmith Bridge, hug the Surrey bank of the river, across Barnes Bridge and along the Middlesex bank until school hove into view. I could not do it now. Other burning issues can wait. Best wishes to all Chris

Building signals step-by-step, part 1. I started with some single-post single-arm signals as these are much the easiest to build and activate. First, assemble the Ratio post, base and tube but without any of the internal operating gubbins. Cut the arm and spectacle from the Scalelink fret and clean them up. You will need to file off some of the relief detail, depending on whether the arm goes in front of the spectacle or vice versa. The Scalelink instructions tell you which for each style of arm. Here is the Ratio arm and spectacle moulding as supplied. We want to keep the pivot pin so... ...cut away everything else leaving just enough of the moulding to glue the etchings to. Run a no 73/0.6mm drill through the holes on both parts of the etching (and the pivot moulding). Line up the pivot and operating wire holes in the etchings with some of the 0.5mm nickel-silver wire supplied in the Ratio kit then (@Tony Wright, please look away now) superglue the etchings together. Similarly, line up the operating wire holes in the etchings and pivot moulding and superglue them together. It's best to do these last two steps separately as there is no pivot hole in the moulding, which would make lining up the etchings a bit tricky (been there...). Here it all is, ready for painting and assembly before fitting the memory wire actuator. Signals with two arms on one post, or junction signals, are a little more involved as you need to fit two tubes under the signal base, one for each arm. I've never succeeded in fitting more than two activators to a single signal yet so I've stopped trying. Ground discs aren't too bad but a bit more fiddly, partly due to their small size and partly because the Ratio ones as supplied aren't designed to work. More on this another time. In other news, this morning's post brought a delivery from MSE/Wizard that included not only some more DG couplings but also some Springside lamps and a couple of MSE banner repeater kits. Why two? Well, first I'm going to try to modifying the Bachmann model with one of the kits to make it work. If that fails I'll just make a new one using the other MSE kit. If I succeed then I'll keep the second MSE kit for another possible application later.

My Great grandfather who lived to 96 was a signal installer and Lineman at New Street for over 40 years. My Grandfather with whom I spent my first six months at work was on the signal department for 49 years including 20 years as Lineman at Proof House. He lived into his 80s, having survived being wounded whilst serving in the Rifle Brigade at Aubers Ridge.

Just filth tonight. Sheer filth. Our York A2/3 on its usual job, the 7.43 from that City. Just a coincidence that this came to be made up entirely of crimson and cream stock.

Dear Ladybird Books After my shopping trip to Sainsbury’s, would you please consider producing these titles: How to Count up to One. (For those who, despite there being a sign saying one shopper, manage to come in gaggles) Anatomy of the Face. (For those who think that covering your mouth only or wearing one below the chin is wearing a mask) What Two Metres Looks Like (For those times I’ve been pushed out of the way because I’ve been waiting for someone else) The Virtues – 5 – Patience (Same as previous)

Morning all . . .Baz, . . .It's a bit draughty. . .oh . and occasionally damp. GCSE . . .Granddaughter had all passes, but where she expected a 7 turned up a 6. . . college starts soon fer her anyway. she celebrated by polishing her newest pair of "DOCS"(Martins), and dying her hair PINK I have been assured it will wash out in a couple of days. 'Ave a good'un, and keep smiling. John

That happened to Matthew. However the teacher Economics GCSE) admitted immediately to him that she had lost it (flew away from the back seat of her car, a BMW convertible). She said “do you have any notes or evidence I can mark?” . He said he would bring in a complete reprint next day or she could have it that day if she let him go home. She told us what had happened too. Tony

Grime once again this morning. Sun Stream, an inappropriate name for an engine in this condition, is now standing at Platform 2, but not far down, as it only has seven on. At the other end of the station, equally uncared for D11 Zeebrugge is off to Grimsby.

Morning. Boy is it wet! Belated congrats to Eric Sig. May your boards always be off. Condolences to Andy's friend's family, diabetes is an awful thing, and should always be dealt with the greatest respect. Non-diabetics so often do not realise how destructive it is, I suppose that having being in the past a manager of a podiatry department I had a greater awareness of the issues when I was diagnosed, but I have a friend who deals with theirs very badly - it catches up.... it can decimate the body, and most diabetics actually die of cardiac issues, so there's another area to keep an eye on. Lecture over. Old farts bike club meeting this morning will be local and not a bike run, as a submarine would be more appropriate transport here today! It's wild and wet, ferries off (UK cut off ) and thoroughly nasty. Arthur Itis is making himself felt, hips foot and new on the scene (I blame Q) in two fingers of the left hand. Atmospheric pressure is very low, and it fell quickly, which usually means a bad day for me. Good luck today Douglas!

Just because the topic was bad smells there is no need to drag this forum into the gutter . Mind you, I got some funny looks once during a coffee break at a meeting in San Diego when I said to a Brit colleague, "Oh him. Yes, he was the best hooker we had then." Not half as many looks as I got in a crowded bar though, also in San Diego, when I asked my mate who was a little way off in a loud voice, "Can I bum a fag?" The place went quiet until an American colleague said, "He's a Brit - means something different over there." We still left soon afterwards though..... G'night all and a belated happy birthday to Eric as well as congratulations to GDB's Gemma. Dave PS, for Douglas and other colonials, the phrase meant, "Can I scrounge a cigarette?"

Our friend Russ next door gave us a load of cooking apples and I have made some individual apple pies this morning. They don't look very pretty but when they've cooled down I'm hoping that the taste will make up for it. This afternoon I will be making my version of Cornish Pasties ..... Sutton pasties!

If he will allow a member of this forum, AndyRam, was one such committed individual whose head made life impossibly difficult such that the end result was that he was lost to education. Thankfully he is establishing himself in the model railway supply field and personally delivered to his customers during Covid to keep it going.

Quote 'On your last point, that is something that ought to be taken up by the union as there's discrimination on at least two counts there - to say nothing of the presumable financial motivation to get rid of a teacher well up the main pay scale. The head in question is clearly blessed with supine governors; it would do them good to be shaken up by having to go to a tribunal.' Sadly of those I have seen disposed of their morale and self esteem is so low they just leave.

N Drive motor in the BTP. Tony queried the level of the smae Loco yesterday and the Buffer height clasing with kit built Coaches Another photo showing the BTP level and the Buffers slightly higher than the D&S kit built Coach on a flat surface. The Loco buffers are the correct height, if anything the Coaches are slightly low. The Coach buffers wont be changed, neither will the Tension Locks which I always use on Coaches , I have tried others and they simply dont work unless you run fixed rakes.

We noticed when travelling on West Midlands trains last week that many younger people and particularly in the BAME community were not wearing face masks on the trains nore in new Street station. There was one older Asian bloke who got off at Sandwell & Dudley with the face mask around his chin the whole journey. Sandwell has a spike in infections and parts of Birmingham may go under further restrictions. We even saw some young blokes vaping on a train and of course no face masks. The whole four days there wasn't a single ticket check on any train (West Midlands, Chiltern, XC) but the trains were quiet enough that it didnt worry us as we were a long way from those with no masks on. On our only tram journey there were plenty of people not wearing masks and that was a bit closer to normal loadings. However our journey wasnt even 15 minutes, so the risk was lower to us. All the pubs we visited, customers were abiding by the guidelines. A few years ago I was standing on the Glasgow bound platform beyond the canopy at Lancaster station when a member of platform staff came up and started to chat with me. I soon realised that he was checking up as to how I was but once he realised I was an enthusiast and saw my camera he wasnt so concerned. A very breezy day here but hopefully it will remain dry when we go to our local brewery that has outside seating with only a few tables under cover. This will be the first time that we see a long time friend since early January, assuming that his drive down from Cheshire is goes to plan.

Good moaning from The Charente. The fence is now up but needs a few finishing touches and I need to build a wicket gate to allow us to maintain the outside wall of the shed. A very pleasant evening was spent with friends who are having to return early to the UK so that they can quarantine before various appointments. Today we are hosting a BBQ as a memorial to our friend thatvdied last year. Most of the people coming were here forva similar event last year and John was at that one so we will raiseca glass or couple in his memory. Before that it's Model Raulway club meeting so all in all a good day lies ahead. Happy birthday to Eric and congratulations to Gemma. Jamie

Evening all, First off happy birthday to Eric and congrats to GDB family. A few days ago I given by my grandmother a barely used tin of Fortnum & Mason Royal Blend Breakfast Tea. Which amazingly, you can get at some of the very fancy cookery stuff shops here in Tulsa. And well it's certainly an improvement over the standard Yorkshire brew, Apologies to Baz. I've actually been to Fortnum & Mason's, and stood out in the London rain to watch the clock. It didn't make much of an impression on 7yr old me, except for the seemingly ludicrous amounts of jam and jelly which were neatly stacked inside of it. Everything is packed up for, err, "the big push", tomorrow, and all emails have been read and there stated actions carried out. Mask has been washed, and uniform located. Mind you I haven't had to voluntarily urinate in my shoes to be able to walk in them. thankfully. And I even got my school ID card. The other big news is that the lamp finally arrived to day, pretty much completing the Weeden model powerstation. Next up to get is a boiler feed pump, driven by the giant hand when needed. A new gasket was also fitted to the cylinder end cap, made from wick material, loads of high grade steam oil and graphite shaving. Sounds strange, but works a treat. stay healthy, Douglas

Thought I post some pics of the final batch of frames from Tim Horn. As I mentioned previously these form the ‘middle curves’ to Huddersfield and include 4 tracks on two levels - the dive under lines on the lower level, and the two lines on top which also peel off to Huddersfield. On the prototype up to 1986, these 4 tracks came together at Heaton Lodge South Junction. Likewise on the model these 4 tracks meet on the same level just before joining the fiddle yard. You can now see the position of the third scenic break in the form of another bridge. I’ll wrap the backscene around this and join it to the final scenic break at the end. Again, this creates a parcel of space which I’ll need to fill. Pretty shortly I’ll be knocking together the scenery carrying trolleys from box section aluminium to roll into this gap. From the viewing side it should be impossible to tell it’s anything other than permanent. There will be at least 6m of double track joining the main Calder Valley line at a 45deg angle, so should be quite entertaining watching long trains climb up to the main line.

Twin screws and two bow thrusters - she's made for the job. Todays' weather though....north Douglas promenade, just by the Manx Electric Railway sheds.

Notification of an update thanks to Jeff again. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/passenger-train-derailment-near-carmont-updated-21082020

Ey up! Two _sugars wasn't wrong.. blowing a gale and raining but... we found the new station.. BoD gave directions and ..there it was.. and people are using it to go to places like.. Hartlepool... Newcastle.... or even to wave at Two_Sugars and BoD as the train passes them on the way North... Note the accomodation crossing to get to the farm.. Baz

Hi everyone, We finally have a full update on the Mark 5s. We're sorry it took so long, but as you can see, it's been quite the slog and world events did take over somewhat. However, we are well on our way. Full story here: https://accurascale.co.uk/blogs/news/mark-5-project-update Cheers! Fran

Afternoon all, The wind bloweth (outdoors) but nobody has been blown away - yet. The plumbers are busily plumbing and have reached the stage, or rather reached it a couple of hours ago, where the water had to be cut off. We will definitely get some of it back before too long but whether that will include all the cold and hot water to taps is another thing; they might over-run into tomorrow. I have suggested to Mrs Stationmaster that she needs to obtain some Duraglit or Brasso to keep all the new exposed copper pipework suitably shiny. She mentioned something called 'paint' in reply but I have advised her that paint can discolour on pipes conveying hot water so an area of 'failed to agree' remains outstanding. For the second day running Tesco's sarnies provided lunch and some sort of takeaway will again provide dinner this evening - Mr Singh's fish & chips last night were excellent but I'm told we might be moving up market this evening. Because of the less than clement weather the kitchen is just about accessible for only the most critical activity - making tea. Not so much time to think about things happening elsewhere with all these momentous events going on indoors. Have a good day folks and stay safe

There was calculus in my O level. I did a modern maths A level and the amount of calculus was less than many traditional mathematics courses. This was a problem at university as physics lecturers assumed a lot of pre existing maths knowledge/skill. I suspect Aditi was told that there were no exceptions and as she was senior staff she had to set an example. In a college you could be senior and manage things but not be “management “. Older readers of this thread will remember the college did try to make her redundant (health grounds) and she won. Part of this process had her wondering just how qualified the people trying to get rid of her were. She didn’t want to use LinkedIn to research as she didn’t want them to know. So Robbie the spaniel had an account created (10 years pest control and water activities) and did the research. Her line manager didn’t want her to go and said that she had been prepared to intervene but clearly didn’t need to (with a “well done, carry on!” message).

I suspect someone had set a target for staff literacy and numeracy and there were no exceptions. Aditi was miffed not to get 100% on the literacy exam. She said that there must have been an error. The numeracy test included some calculus at the end and she couldn’t recall anything to do with that. Strangely enough at the time she was teaching stats to first year social science undergraduates but still had to do the test. Tony

On your last point, that is something that ought to be taken up by the union as there's discrimination on at least two counts there - to say nothing of the presumable financial motivation to get rid of a teacher well up the main pay scale. The head in question is clearly blessed with supine governors; it would do them good to be shaken up by having to go to a tribunal. As a late-entrant not-very-successful secondary science teacher, I've seen the pressures that teachers have been put under by school leadership - focusing effort on those pupils who can be moved up from 3 to 4 (D to C in old money), to the neglect of those scraping along at the bottom or indeed those who might be got up from 6 to 7+ (B to A). I've also seen the professionalism with which teachers have taken those instructions with a pinch of salt and done their best for all their pupils.

We've had one self fix kitchen from Howdens which was very good, and a B&Q kitchen which was supplied and fitted by themselves. The B&Q one was put in very well, and prompted us to have one fitted in one of the Obergrumpenfuhrer's rental properties. The Howden self fit was used as we had a very good offer from them, and we will probably use them again in a new build we are involved with, although we will get them to install as well as supply. (It is more cost effective for us to do it this way.)

Morning, Happy Birthday for yesterday Eric.........................rain and wind forecast, so not much planned, I am still trying to spend modelling tokens on flea bay but keep getting out bid, some folk seem to have more money than sense.....................or am I becoming even tighter than I was?

A friend of mine lasted less than a term at UEA. As I recall, it was the accommodation that got her down so badly. After a few months working as a PA in London to the Barclay brothers, she went on to further education in London and was much happier and successful.

Relevant to the discussion on mask wearing: Other comments on Covid-19: And a general thought:

My neighbours grandson has been staying with them but will be returning to start 6th form (age 16-18) at school in Wales. The uniform is “business suit”. This has been obtained (two actually) but now the uniform has changed to washable clothes.

Rugby union is like American football, except. Remove the body armour, Remove the quarterback so no forward throws, No one can be forward of the ball. You can't tackle / block anyone who hasn't got the ball. To touch down, you actually touch the ball down on the ground. Team size 15 +8 substitutes, but once taken off you can't normally go back on. The match is two halves of 40minutes, only additional time for injuries, so it's all over in under 2 hours total. Not going on and on and on for 5hours plus.. I used to like watching American football, but only recorded matches not the 5hour live matches...

Similar here where 'root' has a different meaning to what Americans mean when they say they are "Rooting for you", "Rooting for the whole team" etc. We had a newly arrived young Canadian secretary where I used to work who we had to convince not to go out drinking in her T-shirt from the "Roots" clothing company which had the brand name in huge letters across her front.

Good evening everyone This morning’s sunshine lasted all day, but as the day progressed the wind steadily grew a bit stronger, but by teatime it had eased a wee bit and we a gentle breeze. This morning’s walk to the butchers was successful in that I managed to get all that was o my shopping list plus a pastie for my dinner, which went down very well in deed. After a quick muggertea I then went on to the Trafford Centre and picked up the rest of the items that cannot be picked up from Sainsbury’s. The afternoon was spent sat in front of the old laptop amending some of the circuit diagrams I’ve recently drawn up. Sheila on the other hand, sat watching a few recorded tv programs, I generally refer to these as property p0rn. The British Steel factory that I worked in made Railway wheels and wheel sets that were shipped all over the world. The storage area where the finished wheel sets were stored had lots of different gauges there, but I never counted them. It also had (when first installed) the longest one piece conveyor belt in the world. When laid out in one straight length it was 1/4 mile long! Dave, I also played in the No 8 position for our school rugby team and know exactly what you mean! GDB. Congratulations to Gemma on her exam results. Happy birthday Eric. Goodnight all.