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This morning's photos are some more from the Tanfield Railway, which as you all know by now is just south of Gateshead. Marley Hill Siemens Harton electric 9 28th May 89 C11907.jpg Marley Hill Smith Rodley steam crane 28th May 89 C11906.jpg Marley Hill RSH Progress 28th May 90 C14478.jpg Marley Hill RSH Progress 28th May 90 C14481.jpg Sunniside RSH 21 and Hudswell Clarkw Irwell 28th May 89 C11901.jpg Sunniside RSH Cochrane 2nd Aug 87 C8728.jpg David

This afternoon we'll start at Northallerton and end up at Tyne Yard, having travelled north along the ECML. Northallerton Class 254 down 31st July 1986 C7771.jpg Durham 22nd Oct 86 C8107 Durham 153307 up 16th Oct 93 C19149.jpg Plawsworth 43084 down 27th Oct 92 C18089.jpg Tyne Yard 37510 up aluminium 19th June 91 C15950.jpg David

I feel what this page needs is more cowbell pictures. This is one that appeared in the BRM article, but I'm unashamedly posting it again as it's one of my absolute favourites. Al.

Possession train from Leominster to crewe with 66751 Waiting to leave the possession at wooferton learned today to check whether the hot plate is turned on in the loco before I put my hard hat on it!

Well they seem relaxed and going about their business without any concern of the issues raging in the committee rooms. Chug on brothers

Of Pecketts and Panniers...

So today's job was to tackle a freezer which (unknown to us) had defrosted a while back due to a power outage/fuse tripping. Swmbo came with me to sort it out and from the way she threw herself at the back door moments after opening the freezer's lid I think we can say it was "too firkin smelly". Hours later I can still smell the concentrated over-ripe death cheese odour on our clothes. I think we may have invented a new mass COVID test. Hands up anyone in this - or neighbouring - postcodes that can't smell this freezer.

Morning all. Dark and dismal again here, but at least it has stopped raining....for the time being. Still up in the air with the photographs, the morning subject being the L1 hauled 2.45pm from Hitchin. The trouble with these angles is that they reveal areas where I should be getting on with things, but haven't. Plenty to do over the fence in the background. This one was a bit easier. I just cropped out the bits I didn't want to be seen.

A final view of 7754......for now. Rob.

Son has just been telling me of a customer's installation of a gas hob he condemned. DIY job Owner had coupled hob to gas supply with hose meant for taps. Should have been stainless armoured. And it leaked. So he used gaffer tape. He ensures that he takes photos of the "before".

I though the firkin was also a measure of excess. As in "Too firkin hot", "Too firkin heavy", ...

Good Afternoon all, Well good if you're duck. But firstly belated congratulations to Peter and Mrs BB. First task on the list will be to get the Good Doctor's car back into the drive as I had to move it in order to allow the lad out in his to visit the town for breakfast (his regular Sunday treat to himself) and to do the shopping - which saved us older folk the bother. The Good Doctor is, hopefully, asleep after last night's 13 hour shift and with two more night turns to come with the associated pleasure (not) of driving to and from Oxford in the horrendous weather. And so to £sd. If today's juveniles and even some of the spreadsheet wranglers saw the sort of stuff we had to do in the olden times of the 1960s with such entertainment as Daily Parcels Balances with enough columns to keep any spreadsheet happy - the one you never forgot 'cut flowers in the Ledger Label (LL) 6 column unless they were going to Norther Ireland in which case they went in the Paid On Customs Declaration column. Weekly, fortunately replacing daily, booking office balances gradually came in from the mid 1960s onwards with the trusty ready reckoner by your side to aid multiplying up the price of umpteen Day returns to London, and then you had to bring the whole lot into the 4 weekly accounts and balance that as well - to the last 1d. By the last time I was involved in managing booking office staff all that was needed was to press a few buttons to get the debit off the machine and count the (by then decimalised) cash etc to strike a balance - even easier since then with cards automatically accounted by the machine and not much cash to count. They really have it easy nowadays. And yes - even in the 1990s and subsequently I was working on railway distances in miles, chains, and yards - beautifully simple system to understand and of course it fitted nicely with mph. And we still seem to manage quite well with multipliers of 60 or 24 when it comes to time - which is dead easy to convert into mph, one simple division you can do in your head. Ah well back to earth - get the girls' car in and then head for the kitchen and the nmushrooms and bacon on toast. Have a good day one and and and all and do your best to stay safe

Need to re-book the Gasman. In "fixing" our problem he knocked the pressurised water tank thermostat off. Bugggrrrrritt! Not happy about it at all as he spent a while telling us our CO monitor is in the wrong place.. his colleague who did our annual service said it was fine.......PAH!! Baz

Lets calm things down..... With some ambient sounds of wind whistling through the trees here are some trees to put you into a tranquil and peaceful trance. Breath slowly and deeply... Stare in the pictures and..... Are you all calm now?

Afternoon All Had to skip a few posts, and we are, apparently, the owners of a rather beautiful 1/12th scale model dolls house, made by the late John Croake, which will be paid for tomorrow, as the shipping costs are not totally unreasonable. - debit card will be taking a hammering when the dealer is open tomorrow. Meantime, I have had an issue with one of my guitars, an Ovation, for some years. The electrics packed up about ten years ago - the dealer who sold it to me told me, as did TWO other Ovation dealers, that it had a passive pre-amp built in, So I assumed that its silence was due to a broken wire somewhere. Took it to my new-found repairer yesterday, and he immediately said that it appeared that the guitar had an ACTIVE pre-amp - took the strings off, and found a little box inside, screwed to the back if the instrument. - and opened it to reveal a very dead and very, very corroded PP3 battery. New battery, clean up, and it is now working for the first time on ten years, and he only charged for the battery. So that in turn meant that we had to get the Marshall combo amp out of the eaves, a nightmare job to say that least. Now need to go and sort out the money, as we need to get the current account fettled with enough to pay for the purchase. Generic greetings, Regards to All Stewart

Morning all A true ER for a Sunday. I am awaiting the supermarket delivery. Owing to the return of that Ruddyvirus slots have suddenly become rarer than rocking-horse manure; our preferred Friday 4-5pm has had to become Sunday 7-8am. Sun day it is not. It is still very wet. At least I have a muggertee while I wait. Last night’s little indoor picnic was lovely. A candle-lit meal of salmon, beef, individual quiches and a selection of tasty salads followed by a cheeseboard plus scones, jam and cream. Now then Waitrose - where are you? My eyelids are objecting to being open.

And the UK Mark worth 160 pennies. Plus barrel sizes 1 gallon 8 pints. pin: 4½ gallons = 36 pints. firkin: 2 pins = 9 gallons = 72 pints. kilderkin (frequently 'kil'): 2 firkins = 18 gallons = 144 pints. barrel: 2 kilderkins = 36 gallons = 288 pints Hogshead =66 gallons, 528pints.

Morning Been booking hotels for our upcoming trip around the country. First two nights should be in Chester which is now on the Covid watch list but if that goes into lockdown then that may change to Lincoln or Nottingham area. One night in Derby then one night in Bakewell so we can visit the Thornbridge brewery tap room. All the rest to be decided depending on what other areas go into further resrictions. yestrday plenty of brambles cut back in between rain at other halfs Mums. The brambles are up in the trees so its going ot take a number of visits to clear but at least parts of the garden that have not been visible ofr years now are visible. Car wasnt ready to collect yesterday so we stopped off at Arundel Brewhouse on the way home. First time in there and was well worth the visit as some nice beers on tap and my other half was doing the driving. Back home we then went for a pub crwal around town. Penultimate pub was almost deserted but the last one was reasonably busy but a noisy group spoilt it a bit that were well under the influence by 8pm and the manager had to have a word with them. They had spent quite a bit on the various Thai dishes that they were eating. This ies exactly what I thought would happen as people just start drinking earlier and possibly quicker ot beat the 10pm curfew. At least plenty of distance between peopel in the pub htough and we were gone before 9pm heading home. Today been in the shed as its been continuous rain . Due to go out shortly for a walk through the ground of the mansion house at the end of our road and the first time that we will have done so. This path is off limits to the public except for the first Sunday of the month and today is the last one of the year plus its advance payment so we will risk getting soaked. Most of it will be under trees.

Cut resistant stainless steel gloves any good for you Bob?

Good morning all, Been pouring with rain all night, still is and looks like it will be for the rest of the day. A bit late here today as I had a lie-in and didn't get up till 9.00am which is very unusual. Wasn't going to rise until I heard the magic words "If you want me to cook some breakfast you better get a move on!" So a move on I got! Now suitably refuelled with eggs, bacon, tomatoes, toast and coffee I can face the world. A further visit to The Shed is on the cards and then possibly some rugby to watch. A couple of games have been called off due to Covid but I think the televised ones are still on. A small package is due today containing a steel safety ruler. You'd have thought that given my "reputation" I'd have one of these in my armoury already but haven't and continually dice with self amputation with an ordinary steel rule and scalpel. Other packages are due including a delayed additional birthday present for The Boss which should have arrived yesterday and some household supplies. Have a good one, Bob.

A few more pictures of progress so far. Lights have been installed behind the proscenium, and I'm currently working on the platforms and trees at the northern end of the site. Later today I'm hoping to do a few experiments with vegetation. The foot path from Gratton Lane. A view through the trees The disused Princetown platform An overall view Alex

Morning All, Just had my breakfast of cornflakes but with the banter about cooked breakfasts I wish I hadn’t. SWMBO hasn’t had a good night so still in bed but I remember her saying we could walk to the local shopping centre today where there is a cafe/bar/bistro that does a good gluten free cooked breakfast. Perhaps by the time she stirs and we’ve walked there it will be lunchtime and the breakfast is of the ‘all day’ variety. We may get wet getting there but it will be worth it. The ‘ruddy’ virus doesn’t ‘scare’ me personally but an outbreak at my pharmacy scares the poo out of me. Concocting a business continuity plan and keeping it updated makes my anxiety worse. I’m not sure the staff at the pharmacy really understand the gravity of the situation. One of the issues I have is that two member of staff live in the same household and another two are mother and daughter so if one of the them gets caught I’m going to loose two members of staff. Three of them have elderly parents and visit them every day and the manager has two boys at junior school. I not keen on employing people related to other members of staff for other reasons but now there’s an extra one. We had to write a contingency plan a number of years ago but none of us actually thought we were ever going to need it. If we’re going to walk down to Fox Valley for a cooked breakfast I’d better try and raise SWMBO from her slumber. Thanks for listening and speak tonight, Robert

Greetings from the soggy remains of the boring borough. Wet, wet, wet and not that crappy boy band either. Too wet for me to start cutting the osb for the shed's replacement interior lining. Too wet to cut the new shed roof insulation. Too wet for SWMBO to plant the several hundred bulbs that arrived this week. Seems the idiot developer/owner next door failed basic physics at school. The replacement roof over what was the wash house doesn't have sufficient slope to drain. I'm looking down at at least 4" of water in their new roof paddling pool. Yesterday we fell down the Netflix rabbit hole. Ended up binge watching the whole series of American BBQ Showdown. The new Krups draught beer dispenser was put through its paces as well. Today will be mostly..... who knows. Enjoy the day.

Good moaning from the rather Maritime part of the Charente. We certainly had a storm yesterday. Somevof the liquid sunshine even found it's way into the kitchen, so I've just rung the roofer. Apart from that yesterday went to plan. I bought the cordless drill and Beth made 19 jars of green tomato chutney. The apples ini it came from either our tree or those ofva couple of expat neighbours. As I am the only chutney eater in the house I am looking forward to sampling it in mid November. I even got some more of the shed floor cleared. My first winter task is to paint the rest of the floor in the main part of the shed. Today I may be sealing the cleared part with dilute pva. We had two good video chatscwith various offspring yesterday. Martin's future bil is still in hospital but wife and daughter seem to be doing OK. It's not actually raining at the moment so we are off to the market. I can here shoting outside so the Chasse is out. I saw two lots of hunters yesterday but also saw deer and the lovely site of a Hen Harrier quartering a field looking for dinner. Regards to all. Jamie

Bear's Tip of the Day: Using Hammer Action is a very, very bad move.... Drilling thru' bit of insulating tape is a good idea - it stops the drill bit skating all over the show. Starting with a diddy drill bit (4mm is nice) helps - I've never found a need for the special drill bits for tiles; any splintering of the glaze is usually hidden by whatever is being screwed to the tile (shower head rail?). One last thought: covering the bath or shower tray with lots of thick blankets etc is a good plan, cos' if you don't then something is bound to drop - bath enamel doesn't like that. Ask me how I know.....

Bob of course is still very much with us - but he's a Grandad now.

Talking of the engine shed.... Workmen now fixed in place. One change, turned the chap leaning on the door to face the other way as it gave him a sort of disinterested feel whilst reading his paper.. Now to sort out part 2 of this scenario?

Morning all. It may have been raining all night as it was when we closed the curtains last night and opened them this morning. Garden looks suitably watered and I don’t think the new hose will be required for the hanging basket. I haven’t been informed of any tasks today, though I suspect a walk will be suggested even if it continues to rain. We have lots of clothing for wet weather. Tony

Good god!, people are already up, we took a look outside, and stayed in bed.

Lummy...it is sunny here...at the moment.. Garden pond may be pumped out later... @polybearBlack pudding is a good source of Iron..helps the blood. Baz

The egg sounds like a plan, but dump the Hockey Puck first Bear is trying to get sufficient enthusiasm/bravery/stupidity to start clearing one side of the modelling room ex. upstairs bedroom so I can lift a section of floor. The job isn't made easier since I had to clear quite a lot from downstairs as a part of the kitchen refurb, which of course got stored in the......

Mooring awl, Been awake for two hours, all those mozzie bites are irritating.. I've discovered two more bites on my hands and one on my right eyebrow near the eyelid that got bitten. £SD was primary school, the books still had farthings in them but they were officially long gone, like rods poles and perches . Farthings were still around though and the sweet shop would accept them. Secondary school was metric. When I did a year working at Bacton gas works, it was a blast from the past as all the training manuals were imperial, and even stated the atom indivisible. Time I think for to hit the snooze button...

Good evening everyone Like elsewhere, it’s rained here all day, it’s not been heavy rain, but it’s been constant! It’s still raining now, but it does seem to be easing slightly. If the seaweed twirlers have got it right, tomorrow looks like it could be dry, we’ll have to wait and see about that. We got up a little late this morning and then we were on the phone to Vickie and Ian for quite some time, so, I didn’t get chance to log in this morning. They both really liked the anniversary present we bought them. The present was a signed print by a local artist, depicting some of the landmarks in the ‘Sale’ area. It showed the Town Hall, (where they married last year) the pub where we all went to afterwards for the wedding breakfast. The road that they used to live on and finally some parks and other places that they used to take the kids to when they were toddlers. We were chatting for so long that I didn’t get to the workshop until almost 12 o’clock! I did intend to do some modelling, but I ended up carrying on with the re-organising that I’ve been doing all week. Another cupboard has been emptied, the items sorted out and then refilled so that all the items that are for a specific task are together, which seems to make sense, as before they were spread over 2 or 3 different cupboards. PeterBB. Happy anniversary to you and Mrs BB. Goodnight all

I have heard people refer to any coins as shrapnel.

In some quarters the pound coin was once known as a 'maggie'. The explanation: thick, brassy and thinks it's a sovereign. Chris

And "A mile a minute" or 60mph was very easy to reckon as "Even time" namely travelling 60 miles in 60 minutes or the equivalent of that over a shorter distance. I have never had a problem with Imperial measures. I can recite rods, poles, perches, chains, furlongs and most of the others which were still in common use 50 - 70 years ago. I even explain to our younger staff today what a "chain" is when they enquire about those numbers you see painted along the railway or structure plates with a cryptic message such as "6m 17c" on them. I think in "old money" though prefer not to convert it by relative value these days as it makes a takeaway coffee seem even more expensive than it is. Currently £2:6:4d to the nearest (old) penny. I'm sure it used to be 3d in Lyon's Corner Houses. I worked in cellarage for a short time and knew the sizes there too. Albeit we invariably referred to them as "an 11", "a 22" or a "36". Where is the array of nicknames for our currency today? Where, for instance, is the tanner or bob? And how many below a certain age have the slightest idea what a florin was or how proud a child would have been to receive a half-crown pressed into the palm by a visiting uncle as a gift. Time for this old fart to brew another muggertee. And yes, it is still raining.

And dirty Panniers....

Ey up! Being as how it is a Sunday I may be tempted by a bacon and black pudding sarnie for breakfast.. question is..do I also incled an egg?? Decisions, decisions... Have a good day here on Planet Earth..stay safe ! Baz

Greetings one and all I had a distressing telephone conversation yesterday with a friend. She is 87 years old, awaiting surgery and scared to go anywhere because of that ruddy virus. In all other respects she is one of the most sensible and level headed people I know. I hope to pay her a visit in the next few days. At least she is in distinguished company being scared. A certain president of a certain United States has has the bejasus scared out of him. Serve him right, say I. We may never know but perhaps it would have been possible for our beloved media to raise awareness of the virus without bringing about what amounts to hysteria. Of course there is a need for caution, not least because even after nearly seven months of living with the wretched thing we do not know quite what it will do next, but surely we do not need to walk on eggshells or have it rammed down our throats morning, noon and night? Perhaps the word 'overkill' is unfortunate but it may not be quite the best way of getting the nation on side. In the near certainty that I will need to find another way of spending C*****mas I spent an hour or two yesterday afternoon googling. From this a possible solution has emerged. Knowing my luck, by the time I know for certain, three weeks hence, it will no longer be available. It amazed me that so many hotel rooms are already taken at that time of year, very much off-season, and I am taking this as an omen! This morning I shall have the TV coverage of the London Marathon playing in the background while I do other things. Later I may play the new CD that came yesterday. The playing time of just over 37 minutes is about half of what will fit on the disc. This does not impress me and I hope the music does. Best wishes to all Chris

The Grauniad isn’t t behind a paywall, the “asking for money” is a standard pop-up whenever you visit their site and can be happily ignored (and article read....) I’m also old enough not only to remember pounds, shillings and pence, but also the occasional farthing turning up in little stashes of small change. I can work easily and happily in both metric and imperial measures. Although I do prefer working in metric for the simplicity of it. The last paragraph In the quote above indicates how rapidly science, medicine and technology can go out of date. Of course, there are universals - such as gravity, the krebs cycle and so on, however there are a lot of very clever people doing their very best to find “exceptions to the rule“, which is how we move things forward. I can’t remember who said it, or the actual quote, but someone once said something along the lines of: “when an elderly and distinguished scientist says something is possible, he/she is generally right; when an elderly and distinguished scientist says something is not possible, he/she is generally wrong”. There is a lot to be said in favour of the idea that human progression has been the result of two driving forces: the urge to show someone that they are wrong and sheer laziness. The first has lead to things like powered flight (the experts said “It couldn’t be done”) and the second to things like printing (why spend weeks painstakingly hand drawing letters, when it can be done in minutes with moveable type?) Up very early due to some corporeal unpleasantness, something that has improved although I still feel ropey. So, not feeling 100% at the moment, thanks to to Mr Arthrosis, Miss Insomnia and that ever popular double act - the intestine twins (large and small). Nothing that can’t be fixed with drugs (and sex and rock and roll - to paraphrase Ian Drury). Enjoy the day.

Industrial grime glorious grime.

So many amazing layouts featured here. The general modelling standard is just brilliant! A few humble additions 'under the wires' on the WCML for a bit of variety. All the best, Dave

Bear had a fun day lifting a section of laminate floor and floorboards in the bedroom modelling room. Fortunately it wasn't the pig of a job it could've been, though it has taken a fair chunk of the day - much of this was taken up with moving cupboards, workbenches, general dross etc etc. Cutting thru' a floor board saved unscrewing and shifting a second cupboard and lifting even more laminate floor, though of course I then had to cut and screw a batten to the side of the joist in preparation for refitting the floorboard - the batten will support the newly cut end of the board. Tomorrow will commence with draining the heating system down so I can remove the horrid pipework and have hours of fun playing pipework origami with some new tubing - fortunately it appears that a friend has a plumber's pipe bending tool so hopefully this should make life easier. Since the floorboards are up directly below an existing double wall socket I will probably take the opportunity to add a second socket to the ring main adjacent to the existing one. This was prompted by my mate from next door (who came round to assist me with the 'umpin and dumpin' of cabinets - both suitably masked, naturally) who happened to make the comment "you got enough plugs in that socket??" (sarcastic b'stard). In my defence, all were very low current jobbies, suitably fused - not half a dozen leccy fires. Still, a second double socket will tidy things up no end, make life simpler, and be a lot more "acceptable". As if I didn't have enough to do already....

Nah, 'course he didn't. Must've been faulty/done by someone else/insert other excuse. He could fix it - for a price.... What, no sausages, chips, beans and fried bread? You've been robbed....

Good afternoon from a rather damp place. We are still in Northern Ireland, I think it was early December. This was further along the platform. On the left is the Motor generator brake van on the back of the loco hauled rake. On the right is what I think is a 450 class DEMU. Then off to Belfast central and an 80 class DEMU coming in. Another 450 class set entering the station. And another 450 with the corridor connector removed. An Enterprise set on the Dublin service was waiting powered by a CIE 201 class GM. IIRC the first of these was flown across the pond on board the gigantic Antonov freighter. And here it is No 229. All being well some more tomorrow. Jamie

At least it's lighter this morning - can have the power off to do the connections.

The Isinglass GNR dia. 310 Milk Brake finally went through the paint shop today then finished off the lettering and glazing before it went into revenue service. It will need some weathering to blend the Humbrol Crimson into the othe Crimson vehicles on the layout, but really happy with how it turned out.

One can try pointing the camera hopefully into the strong light again. But it is much simpler, and more sensible., to operate from the other side. Except when it comes to photoshopping. At least the leading BG is in focus.