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After lying idle for nearly a year and a half Kirkby Malham saw some life last week. I ran some of my outside framed engines and even after all that time they ran surprisingly well. you might say ‘another busy day at the office’ With a quiet bit of shunting. Finally the stopping passenger departs for Bradford (Market Street) behind Kirtley 2-4-0. L These three locos ages total over 150 years. The 0-6-0 and 0-4-4 well tanks were built in 1966 and the 2-4-0 in 1972 during my intensive engine building phase The engines and carriages, except the four wheeled brake behind the tender, were painted and lined by my good friend Larry Goddard. The quality of his painting has stood the test of time. Derek

The Tanfield Railway today with photos from the late 1980s. Obviously there have been changes since then, Andrews House is now a functioning station for example and there is a lot more covered accommodation for the stock. As most of you know the railway is just to the south of Gateshead, so not too far from home for me. It's a pleasant 40 minute drive. Andrews House HL No2 28th May 88 C9469.jpg Andrews House RSH Cochrane 28th Aug 89 C13728.jpg Marley Hill AEG NCB 9 ex Harton 28th May 88 C9475.jpg Marley Hill Armstrong Whitwoth 2 28th May 88 C9471.jpg Marley Hill RSH 21 28th May 88 C9480.jpg Marley Hill Hudswell Clarke Irwell Marley Hill to Sunniside 28th Aug 89 C13741.jpg This is one of my favourite photos of the line. David

Greetings one and all It all happened so quickly. One second my Mercia Railtours 2007 vintage souvenir glass tankard was sitting on the draining board, the next it had hit the deck and shattered. Its main use in latter years was to hold a supply of water to help me make it through the night. I always hate it when links with the past are lost. How did it hit the deck? Probably it was propelled there by a glancing blow from my elbow. No other occupant of the draining board was harmed in this regrettable incident. At 01.20 this morning my watch stopped. I hope that the reason is no more serious than an expired battery. Fortunately I had been using two watches. One was set to GMT, the other to BST. Obviously I would only wear one at a time. Having two timepieces comes in handy for overseas travel, such as when the chef du train instructs all on the Eurostar to set their watches forward by an hour as we enter la belle France. I cannot do anything about getting the errant timepiece fixed until later in the week, for various logistical reasons. One is that I am out all day on Monday. Among other reasons for the excursion, I shall be visiting Poorly Pal for the first time in five months. The car will not know what has hit it. Hopefully it will not be an HGV. Eeek: it must be five months since I was last on a motorway. It has been so strange not being forever out and about and here and there. Boy do I miss it. Today there will be laundry. There will be gammon steak for lunch, after which I will slob out in front of the TV to watch whatever today's James Bond film is. Intellectually demanding they ain't and that suits me just fine. Best wishes to all Chris

Forgot to process any new pictures, so the image store is empty. To give you something to look at, here is one from the archives.

Good evening everyone As I mentioned earlier, the weather has been a bit mixed today, but thankfully after another mid-morning shower we had no more rain and the sun shine for the rest of the day. But around tea time the wind started to pick up a bit, but thankfully it didn’t last long. However, just after 7 o’clock it started raining again and carried on for most of the night, stopping only a few minutes ago. In the workshop I managed to get the control panel fascia finished, it took 3 coats of white paint to cover the black, but I’m very pleased with how I finally came out. I’ll now leave it for a few days to harden off completely before fitting the LEDs, switches and push buttons, once there in place I can then start wiring them up. In the meantime, I continued installing the circuit boards inside the control panel, they’re all no in place and I’m now at the stage where I can begin adding all the interlinking connections between the various different boards. Goodnight all Brian

On Friday we had some WCML in Scotland photos, ending up at Glasgow Central. Here are some more taken there on visits to Glasgow Exhibition. Glasgow Central 107026 2nd March 91 C15623.jpg Glasgow Central 318252 2nd March 91 C15632.jpg Glasgow Central Class 86 24th Feb 95 C19959.jpg Glasgow Central 303009 24th Feb 95 C19961.jpg Glasgow Central Class 86 and 318268 24th Feb 95 C20081.jpg 86416 David

Good morning. A good day meeting up with long time friends in Croydon - max 6 of us. One we hadn't seen for a year. This morning we were hoping to go to Tonbridge as South Eastern Hastings trains are being diverted via Redhill due to engineering works so three an hour. However there has been a train derailment on the route at Tonbridge yard. What a day for that to happen. So I am now monitoring what happens before deciding if we still do make that journey. Otherwise it could be more shed time testing Western region Hydraulics and then improving the weathering. Update. Trains running again but not this one at Tonbridge

Morning, strangely not windy sur le rock, it seems odd after the last few days. Dull though, and fore-guessed to remain so garnished with rain. A quick glance at the rainfall radar shows showers but the heavy stuff is passing to the north of us and going towards the borrderrs and lowland Scotland. Today will mostly be finishing painting the lounge by the look of it. Joy. Still, it releases the first part of next week for whatever I want to do!

Good morning all, Some blue sky, some clouds and a bit of sunshine at the moment. Showers are a possibility. Rugby watched as usual but I didn't really enjoy either match. The Boss has stated that The Shed needs my attendance today. Unusually I am in complete agreement with her but whether I achieve much down there is debatable. I will have a discussion with myself about that later. First things first though and that will be breakfast. Bacon sarnies this morning for a change. Our local council provides a bulky waste collection service for furniture and other large items. They charge £31 for up to 3 items and £52 up to a maximum of 6. Just had a email from my bank with my car insurance renewal premium, an increase of 19.5%. There will a phone call made at some stage and if I get no satisfaction I will be making calls to other companies and comparing Meerkats etc. I've just been asked what I'd like for dinner tonight and a request has gone in for SMOG as we haven't had that for a while. Have a good one, Bob.

Mooring awl, Inner Temple Hare, A much better nights sleep of five plus two hours, helped by ibuprofen gel coated hands, they are stiff , but only have pain when moved. The field has been mown, the harvester started around 19:00 and finished around 22:00, it's been entirely cleared. They've cut, harvested, rolled up the straw and taken the lot away in one job.. I've never seen that before. It maybe they want the field for rapid replanting. I must admit my English teachers would not be happy with my typing of these messages and in emails, I often mix numbers with words, get commas in the wrong places, use" I " to often, and use "and" more than once in a sentence. That being said my emails are much more formal than most I see, mine are much more like the formal letters we were taught to write.. Today's plans are boat work, fitting the combing capping, and the corner fillet beneath it on the outside. A light sand of the hull, where there were minor bits of filling, an inter-coat sand of the rest of the hull before another coat of paint. Also sanded and varnished will be the front registration plate board. Picture below of a broads cruiser with such a board. I'm considering breakfast,, what to have... Time to go for a rummage in the kitchen.

Here's an old one that still tickles me. HELL The following is supposedly an actual question given on University of Washington chemistry mid-term. The answer by one student was so "profound" that the professor shared it with colleagues, via the Internet, which is, of course, why we now have the pleasure of enjoying it as well. Bonus Question : Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic (absorbs heat)? Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law (gas cools when it expands and heats when it is compressed) or some variant. One student, however, wrote the following: First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So we need to know the rate at which souls are moving into Hell and the rate at which they are leaving. I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving. As for how many souls are entering Hell, let's look at the different religions that exist in the world today. Most of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell. Since there is more than one of these religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all souls go to Hell. With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially. Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell because Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the volume of Hell has to expand proportionately as souls are added. This gives two possibilities: 1. If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until all Hell breaks loose. 2. If Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over. So which is it? If we accept the postulate given to me by Teresa during my Freshman year that, "it will be a cold day in Hell before I sleep with you", and take into account the fact that I slept with her last night, then number 2 must be true, and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic and has already frozen over. The corollary of this theory is that since Hell has frozen over, it follows that it is not accepting any more souls and is therefore, extinct ... leaving only Heaven thereby proving the existence of a divine being which explains why, last night, Teresa kept shouting "Oh my God!" THIS STUDENT RECEIVED THE ONLY "A".

From the warehouse window.

Evening. Nearly the last of Purley Oaks extensive Model Railway collection is now on EBay. As mentioned we did a bit of travelling last week. We haven't been to Beamish for years (I highly recommend a visit). They have finished the new Bakery as well as the Barclays Bank The "new" church and a "Hearse" garage This brought back a lot of memories.. my Mum used to work in Broughs in Peterlee (I used to help there sometimes on Saturdays) The "Durham Health and Holiday Resort".. someone really was having a laugh! Baz

Ey up! A very long, tiring and less than great day at the office yesterday. Had to finish the game at 7:15pm with 16 overs to go as it was very dark. League rain rules are disastrous when covid hygiene breaks are involved. No chance to check in here last night but hopefully today should be an easier day. Parcels must be prepared prior to posting them tomorrow, not a lot else on my slop chit for today. Have a great Sunday! I hope your day goes well and you can make best use of ypur time today. Baz

Good moaning all from a sunny piece of The Charente . A long day was had yesterday supervising the unloading of a pantechnicon of furniture at our friends house. It's all come from storage in the UK. 8 hours in total but the two lads worked hard and did a great job. I only needed to text Rachel in Chicago once and fortunately it was later in the day when she was up and about. Even though I didn't have to do much i felt tired at the end of the day. Beth gave the two lads lunch, which helped dispose of some of the BBQ leftovers. A quiet evening watching Vera then ensued. This morning it's the usual Sunday market trip and I might even get some shed time later if I'm lucky. Regards to all. Jamie

Our council charge twenty quid an item for large stuff I've discovered in recent months just how difficult (i.e. expensive) getting shot of big stuff can be, with the kitchen refurb causing the same problem again. Skips are silly money, and Hippo Bags would lift me of a hundred and forty quid Maybe HH can pull some strings...... Once upon a time you could give the bin men "a drink" and they'd take big stuff for you. Now? Dream on.

G'Day Folks Eh !

This afternoon we catch a Tavistock Junction bound freight train of vans hauled by one of the Newton Granges, 6813 Eastbury Grange. I'm amazed Hornby have never done this livery on this model.

The guy who owns this track was a pro endurance driver for BMW back in the 80s, he even won the 24hrs of Daytona in an M1. I know he's German, and might be Jewish, i'm not sure as he's a minimalist when it comes to speaking. I've always wanted to drive one of those zero turn mowers, but never got the chance.

Interesting but not for me! A serious question: Why the Israeli flag below Old Glory? As as as I know, Tulsa is a long way from Tel Aviv. Anyway, I get my thrills (the book states that it will do 6.5 mph) on my zero-turn :

Evening all from Estuary-Land. The wind seems to have dropped and there's no damage. The council came round and collected the broken easy chair yesterday. Its a free service as well, you just have to leave the items out with the bin bags and a day or two later the wire cage truck comes round to collect the item.

Evening. Decorating completed a day early, due to pretty miserable weather today! So both of us were full on to get it done, meaning I can play out tomorrow - there's a bike club run as a memorial to a founding member who passed away a couple of years ago. Decorating this modest, modern 2 bed bungalow is a breeze compared to the rambling old Edwardian house we used to have, thankfully.

“Messing about in boats“ what a quintessentially British pastime. Of course other countries have yachting, sailing and other maritime enjoyments but only the British can truly “mess about in boats“. I would argue that “messing about in boats“ is the Maritime equivalent of another quintessentially British activity: that of “pottering about the house”. In both instances things get done, but in a very relaxed, amiable and low stress way. Quite frankly, I can’t see other great maritime nations, – such as the Netherlands and Spain – coming up with a story like Swallows and Amazons. Probably the definitive “messing about in boats“ story. For me, messing about in boats means an off-season canal boat holiday. Something alas, Mrs iD has tried once or twice and now absolutely refuses to countenance. I even suggested, by way of compromise, that we do a canal boat holiday in either Holland or France on a wide beam boat with no locks to open. I thought it would be perfect: get some lifejackets for the doggies, plenty of top-notch food and drink and head down the Canal du Midi after the French have gone back to school and leisurely cruise in the early autumn sunshine. Sadly, she remains unconvinced. Still, matters aquatic are not off the table. She is, in principle, in agreement with me about taking the doggies to The Seaside. Either to this dog friendly island off the North coast of Holland, or perhaps we’d travel somewhat further and explore the North Sea around Sylt. Much talk has been posted on these pages lately about the Norfolk Broads, sadly, the Broads - along with the Scottish highlands and the Hebrides - are one of those areas that I have not yet visited in the UK. Maybe in 2022? And on that note, I bid you all a splendid Sunday evening. I am off to play with my Battleship in the bath (it’s the end of August, time for my yearly visit to a tub full of hot, soapy, water) iD

Morning all from Estuary-Land. One thing that I intended to mention yesterday but forgot. On the 22nd August 1970 I started my employment with the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, 50 years ago! I remained with them for 37 years and 7 months until early retirement. I find it hard to believe that it was half a century ago. Thats the next step up from groan. The easy chair that was collected by the council wasn't very large, about the size of a car drivers seat. The free collection service has cut down fly tipping by a considerable amount.

Went to the Farmers’ Market today. No farmers going cheap, though. They said they left that to the chickens.

Morning all. Bright and breezy here. Aditi must have been up early as there is a load of washing outside drying. Back later. Tony

You've prompted me to take a look - £29 for one, £39 for two, £49 for three. The best news is I discovered that they do half a van load for £75, so that's looking good for getting rid of the old kitchen and plaster off the walls Half the price of a H***o bag, and I'll get rid of more that way too

It's £39 pounds here for 1 to 3 items and non refundable. So any reason to cancel or delay and you've lost your money. Please don't mention HH bags, I'll get bombarded by yellow adverts again.

A Special thank you to Tony and Mo for a lovely day. Always worth the drive down to Little Bytham. Some photographs I took took this afternoon (with Tony's guidance). I'll be editing the video footage shot by Tony tomorrow, which looks to be something special!

Work started yesterday on the Bermuda Triangle. So named as this is where the trains disappear I’m determined to make this triangle a big feature now although it was never part of the original plan. With 20ft of fields at its widest part I’m making the scenery removable over the lower tracks which are hidden, and the rest on the aforementioned trolleys which will push into place to fill the space. Today I’ve been making the removable top covers from ply for the apex of the Bermuda triangle. Apart from ply I’ve used a lot of foam board to block out the light as I want the long tunnels totally black. The temporary bridge in the pics (yet to be sawn in half) will be the third scenic break - the back scene wrapping around this and the second bridge/scenic break nearby. A road will link the two bridges. The river will be extended and curve away (and be removable as it’ll be built on a trolley.) Should have it done in a couple weeks.

Afternoon All Had a call yesterday from our log supplier to say that he's very busy with his main business (he's a tree surgeon - cuts em down, then cuts em up and sells them about three years later) and that he has a load of logs in his Land Rover which are well seasoned, tinder dry, and cancelled so if we want them, we can have them at some time in the next few days when he can fit in the delivery - as the space for the logs had not yet been cleared in the garage, that job actually trumped the redecorating and I was out there quite early this morning before a fodder run to see what cheap stuff Lidl had in their chiller that was on its use by date, and offered at 20p or 70p. Then it was back to finish off the garage, as the 10' Henchman ladder needed to be shifted as well. We now have a clear space for logs, a clear and quite tidy garage, and are both totally knackered, and 30747 is sound asleep as I type this. For the first time in weeks, all posts since yesterday have been read and rated, and hope that this will now continue, as the new laptop appears to be behaving, We are having a survey for a new boiler later this week, then a visitor (30747's niece) over the bank holiday, at a suitably social distance. Greetings are, as ever on offer to all fellow ERs, and a well done message to Rick for managing a trip out with the missus - I'm pleased that she was able to get out, and also that she enjoyed it. Regards to All Stewart

Now I've seen everything. Its made specifically for dogs and is none alcoholic.

G'day all, Some showers are promised on the Exeter seaweed infinite improbability scale so we'll just do what we normally do and watch the sky to see what it portends. Dinner yesterday evening consumed tomatoes as part of a 'Provençal' sauce instead of the usual sausage casserole base - and it was rather tasty so will no doubt be repeated as art of teh continuing attack against the South Oxfordshire tomato mountain. Taking away larger things courtesy of the District Council is minimum charge £40 for up to three items then £8 for any additional items up to a maximum of a further two items. clearly the sensible policy of disposing of things like cupboards is to fill them up with as much rubbish as you can find in order to maximise value for money because 40 quid strikes me as a bit on the steep side. I could on the other hand support steam restoration and get one of Mr Hazell's expensive skips but alas the delivering/collecting vehocle comes with an infernal combustion engine (that isn't powered by steam). No other major, or minor plans are currently conjured up for today but it will n be necessary to check the email for the plumber's invoices and then transfer them PDQ to the management for settlement - deep joy all round but at least there is some evidence of drying in the external part of the walls. We (the Good Doctor and I) are also wondering if the 'making good' part of things will include rebuilding the back door step which we demolished in our search for the source of the water, that might save us a job? Have a good day one ad all and still try to stay safe.

I remember when lawnmower racing and tractor pulling was televised when Sky was in its infancy early to mid 90s i cant remember wether it was Eurosport or the now defunct Screensports, whom i seem to recall used to show sports that wouldn't be classed as mainstream. Our gardeners at work had some ride on mowers called Grillos that were low slung they would have made really good Go karts

That picture is lovely Q. It brings back so many happy memories of Easter holidays on the Broads. The only type of sailing craft I havd ever sailed, or poled along. On my last trip at the tender age of 17 our skipper got rushed to hospital with appendicitis and I was left in charge for the rest of the day with 4 younger teenagers as crew. I even managed OK and didn't hit anything. Happy days. Jamie

iD mentioning the Canal du Midi puts me in mind of the Rick Stein foodie programme where he travelled it whilst being stuffed with the sort of grub that iD likes! I enjoyed the series, but not bothered about the foodie side i'm afraid, but I was surprised to see the canal ended somewhere I have been. Well not where it strictly ends, but Steiny went on to Port de Bouc, near Fos, where I once went on a ship! My first taste of real French croissants...oh maybe I do like the foodie bits!

Morning all. Aches have somewhat subsided overnight, although I may have exceeded the 20 minute limit recounted byou Simon. By about 2.5 hrs. But the job had to be completed and it us now looking good ok. Nice curry last night - chicken pathia with lemon rice. Trying to summon up the enthusiasm to do some work on the layout later. Have a good one everybody.

G'Day Folks A couple more from around the layout. D3 & D2 move a heavy train, plus it saves on line occupation. D2, 4321 stops to pick up passengers at Edgwarebury& Watling Pk. Last, but not least, Small Atlantic 3271, hauls a heavy 7 coach train up from Kings Cross, including a Tourist open twin, which I have finally managed to get running right. manna

Snow in the ranges yesterday but this morning was cloudless, if a little bracing, for our walk. Innisfallen Castle was built during 1903-1905 by Henry Hastings Willis, a former Member and Speaker of the Parliament of New South Wales and is now heritage-listed. Here is it with the sparkling waters of Sugarloaf Bay North Arm in the foreground... ...all of which is only about 5km from the Sydney CBD. At times like this I realise how lucky we are to live in this part of the world. Back to business this afternoon. The approach to St Enodoc Station from Porthmellyn Road needs to be converted from single- to double track so I removed three points from the old board 4 in readiness for this. The one in the extreme lower right corner will be re-used at Polperran as I'm now only going to have one siding here, for the camping coach. The other two points need to move about 90mm to the right of their previous positions. The small round holes are for the point motor operating wires and the small round holes with a slot are for the signals. The slot allows the operating arm with its choc-block connector to pass through the baseboard. The bigger round hole at the top left is where the wires to the uncoupler control panel emerged. I've cut the panel and its mount away too. Finally, the large rectangular gap at the top right is where the old electrical lever frame was. The new Modratec frame will go in roughly the same place. Here's the underside of the old board 4 with only the signal current regulators and uncouplers in place. To round things off, here are the equivalent photos of the other half of St Enodoc station, the old board 5, which doesn't need any track alterations. When they're installed on the new layout these two boards will be joined together permanently. Back to signal painting later.

Evening All, Not up to date with what’s been going on here so hope everyone is ok. Domestic chores today mainly with a bit of planning for the new pharmacy. Been raining on and off all day. Hope tomorrow is a better day all round. Goodnight Robert

Drove for hours. Visited Rye and Great Dixter. Quick stops in Winchelsea, Tenterden, Goudhurst and Tunbridge Wells plus at Bodiam Castle, Sissinghurst and Bedgebury Pinetum. SWMBO started nervous as it was our first day out this year. But relaxed quickly and all went well. And the best pictures I could manage were of insects!!!

Afternoon all, Yesterday was very boring, but very interesting. Social distance learning is very boring I have discovered. As for the distance bit, my school was built in 1926, with very narrow hallways, so the the 6 feet apart rule can’t really be obeyed with 270 kids trying to get to various classes. The grades have been divided by alphabet as to when they can go to campus (fri and tues for me), so the classes are all at half capacity. My speech and debate class only has two other people in it for example. I also managed to get lost going to my algebra class, as it is in a different building with three sets of stairs leading to it. I had a 1/3 chance of getting it right, which I obviously didn’t, but I wasn’t to terribly late. Luckily hadn’t missed anything as the teacher was busy sorting out another kid who had a broken schedule or the like. This morning we went out to the track for some testing. And the kart ran would you believe it! Thankfully it wasn’t anywhere near as hot as it was last week, so it want as bad loading and unloading things out of the truck. There will be a video below shortly. stay healthy, Douglas

Last work photo for the week, possession on last night in wilnecote near Tamworth with 66763 seen at end of the job for me and heading home As you can see they were relaying and reballasting the adjacent line, my train had the spoil wagons on collecting the spent ballast thats it for a week now, defiantly got a week away from work, Caledonian sleeper tonight to Inverness then hire car back down the west coast of Scotland via oban, Glasgow and Dumfries and Galloway back to the caravan in cumbria on Friday

Seeing all this talk of the Norfolk Btoads I have been reading a series of crime novels based in that area. The hero, a DI is based at Wroxham police station. However, as yet, I have seen no mention of Q's "Effin Clown Town" Dave

Thanks for that Q. The yard wss just below the bridge at Potter Heigham on the west side of the river but I can't remember the name. No motors though slept 4 teens plus an adult. They had a fleet of 10 and the group that organised it hired all 10 plus a motor cruiser and a launch with seats for us all for evening meetings. Very well organised. Somehow I doubt that I'll ever get the chance again. Jamie

Please excuse the diversion, but one of the great things about fora and our modern age of readily available Information, is that historical research becomes easier and easier. People will often go way beyond reasonable levels to help. When a photo such as this is available, (courtesy LTMuseum archives) it would be churlish not to model it. There are a few more detail signs, lamps and posters to be fitted as well as the newsagents / tobacconist on the retail unit on the left. Still quite a lot to do before completion... Tim

Great Dixter looks fantastic, seems like you got a lot of garden visiting in. Glad Mrs Gwiver managed her first day out Great Dixter and Sissinghurst have been on my bucket list for a while now as has The London Transport museum and the V&A. When I m better it may mean a day trip on Grand Central for the London part at least. I don't know wether I will be able to keep my driving licence it's already on yearly medical review and i can't drive over 3.5 tonnes. I used to drive 5.5 tonne vans and the pavement sweeper was rated at 7.5 tonnes

Last summer I saw a cabin cruiser on the Thames with a bow thruster - very odd. But I could see the point the way some grockles mess about trying to moor. However the bloke on that cruiser seemed to have no more idea of what the bow thruster was for than he knew how to adjust the rudder angle when attempting - several times - to moor