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Morning all. A work in progress but this is the current state of play with the Minerva open. Not finished but getting there now. Updates to follow. Rob.

A few more photos from Pilmoor today, on the ECML north of York. There is one black and white and four in colour, some don't have a train. However, they are all worthy of study, especially the ones showing the overbridge with its mix of brick and concrete. I hope the others will be of interest to those who like infrastructure, as well as those who need detail photos. They are in order from south to north. Pilmoor Class 43 43110 Kings x to Aberdeen Sept 87 J9270.jpg Pilmoor A4 4498 Sir Nigel Gresley special Doncaster to Edinburgh Aug 67 J1053.jpg Pilmoor Feb 83 C5964.jpg Pilmoor A3 Flying Scotsman The Hadrian Flyer Kings X to Newcastle June 67 DMImageS05.jpg Pilmoor PW trolley crew using phone June 68 J1309.jpg David

Well, it's now 14 days since my 97-year old Dad tested positive for Covid and was confined to his cell in the care home. He has been tested again today and the results ought to be available in a day or so. He has had no symptoms, apparently, but the positive test frightened the life out of me and the rest of his family. He has refused to get out of bed on a couple of days, which is understandable giving the boredom he must have endured for two weeks with only a small TV for company, but I gather today he agreed to be taken outside into the garden in order to smoke his pipe (yes, pipe smoker since the 1940s), which is a promising sign. Car passed the MOT and was given a good servicing; and now is ready for a few more months of largely sitting on the drive. Just watched Kyren Wilson get a 147 in the snooker, and the fire is burning nicely - so all in all a good day. SWMBO is busying herself with her sourdough cultures, and I may get some carb-heavy delights in a few hours time, if I behave myself.

I expect every layout has a favourite spot for taking pictures and this is one of mine..

Morning all, It is persisting down here just now and very breezy with it. I may just be imagining it, but 2020 seems to have been about the windiest year I can remember. Todays walk will only take place when the rain has eased, and then any paths will be sodden and muddy, so it will be a road/lane walk, although some of our usual lane walks will be flooded too, from experience. I saw a great caption from the Ennerdale Brewery website recently. It said "Because if ever there was a reason to drink, it is 2020"!

Hello Tony and all, If I may, I'd like to interrupt the fascinating discussion of A4 tenders to share something I've made, freshly finished today. This is a Connoisseur Models Adams O2 in 7mm scale, finished as W24 'Calbourne' in mid-1930's condition. This is the first engine kit I have built, and I am particularly proud of how it came out. The engine is smooth running, (thanks to the care and attention instilled by the 'Right Track' series), and the lining was all done with a bowpen. It was very much a learning experience, and I do look forward to attacking other kits in the future. Thanks, Zach

Moaning awl. Chilly outside, it is! Thankfully, I'm feeling largely all right by now, though this past weekend had some headache-inducing weather. In fact, Elise had to get a lot of rest due to a migraine. COVID-wise, I'm sure most all of you may have read about a certain gal from Kassel taking part in a covidiot rally and drawing a rather outrageous comparison of herself and Sophie Scholl, and drawing a lot of flak for it - well-deserved, I should add, in my opinion. Especially in light of Germany now being at 942,687 COVID cases and 14,361 deaths as of midnight, so I'm taking a particularly dim view of anyone as self-righteous as covidiots claiming such moral superiority. 7-day incidence for Leipzig in particular is now at 94.7 cases per 100,000, so while there are areas far worse off, it's certainly a reminder that the second wave isn't anything to be ignored. Though it's interesting to see how more sparsely populated regions in former East Germany in particular - such as several districts in Brandenburg and Mecklenburg - have managed to stay between roughly ten and 40 per 100,000. No surprise there when there aren't that many residents who could interact to begin with! Anyway. Sending best wishes to anyone ailing or worrying for any reasons. Let's see what errands I could run around the house today... Later.

Dolls hair before and after.. need to clean the excess flock off the concrete trunking yet

Morning, wet 'n windy so no walk. Mrs H in better form now she knows she doesn't have glaucoma, but close to drowning with the amount of drops she has to put in the eye. They trickle into the tear ducts and end up tasting foul at the back of the throat apparently. Not sure what today will bring as yet, but I am sure some housework will feature at some point.

Only Chewsday, seems the week is dragging with nothing happening on any front! Window replacement started yesterday in the rental property, moving ahead at a splendid pace, looks great, and more to the point will make the place far less draughty than the original circa 1927 windows did! He'd got 13 done yesterday so leaves him 8 to do today, should be a doddle. Tree trimmers running late yesterday, so didn't show up till this morning - 8AM, rather too early for the Mrs to be presentable so I had to head out and confirm the requirements. Having heard sod all from the Long Island client, who DID intimate they'd pretty much all be non-existent this week, I've decided to take tomorrow off (hell with NOT billing them for today, their fault for not being definitive enough), so that means 5 days off. My company provide both Thanksgiving day (Thursday) and the Friday after as company holidays. So, what do do with 5 free days and self-isolating... if I DARE to, I may try and get a start on resurrecting the layout in the basement, all been in mothballs since we moved. Will require a moderate re-organization of all the carp in the basement, but that needs doing anyway, likely THAT will take most of the time <sigh> ONE major task today, curbside pickup of a wine order <hic> 0 overcast and damp first thing, not expected to improve much throughout the day, high of 2 expected. Move on folks...

The B1 is on its way, so the loco to take over the Colchester-Glasgow can reverse into the bay. And promptly the train appears under Crescent Bridge. Colchester's B17 Nottingham Forest is in charge, so something has gone amiss along the way. No relief engine available at Cambridge, it would seem.

Another dark morning here. Wondering what this second lockdown has really done. I haven't seen a large reduction in traffic on the roads (I'm a key worker so still continue to go to work) like the first time, but I guess people aren't that bothered really. But I did manage to bag a good deal from ebay on 4 pairs of trousers and a pair of jeans. Still haven't learnt to buy two if the product is good. Now I'm struggling to find good jeans that aren't "skinny", "super skinny" or "like tights" ... not a fan of this current trend and wish it would give up. But then I don't want to buy boring old plain jeans either! Tut. So this is what life has boiled down to. Where to buy good jeans.

Mooring Awl Inner Temple Hare, 6 hours sleep followed by a couple of sometimes dozing.. Ben the reluctant Collie came out of the house quite happily then stopped and refused to go further until he'd had a stroke and some reassurance.. Banning antivaxers from aircraft won't make a lot of difference , a surprisingly large percentage of people never fly anyway.. I haven't in 20 years. SWMBO hasn't in 40 years.. As it is no Antivaxer would fly anyway, they know those contrails are infections and chemicals being sprayed to allow the lizard people to take over.. A somewhat frightening journey in, first at the NDR a car came onto the roundabout with me already on it causing me to swerve to avoid him.. Then once on the NDR proper, another car was wandering all over both lanes with something below the car dragging on the road.. Eventually I got past when he headed for the grass. Unfortunately at the next roundabout he followed me off, was still wandering across both lanes of the two way road and jerking back when something came the other way.. He then followed me off at another junction, and kept getting very close to the back of the car... I was very glad when he turned off into a housing estate a few hundred yards later. Drugs or drunk or both I suspect.. When I got home yesterday after a visit to the local farm shop (25kg spuds £4:99) equivalent price in Tesco's little 2.5kg bags £9.90 at the cheapest.. Our driveway was blocked by a big 4X4... It turned out to be a Hermes delivery of more LED batten lights.. The Temperature Meter is now off to Ireland, I followed that by a couple of in-house resistors. What to do now? other than inform someone I'll need his equipment some time this week for 9 hours, that's 2 hours calibration and 7 hours cross check afterwards.. Time to go to the lab and see what needs doing.. oh latest email from the USA.. "front of funnel demand generation and closing complex highly technical sales" I didn't know we made funnels..

Greetings one and all In a rare (?) idle moment I put the self-adhesive stamps on the seasonal greetings cards yesterday. Afterwards I noticed that two of the stamps are upside down but I shouldn't think it will make much difference. Hooray for self-adhesive stamps! I still recall the less than attractive taste of the glue in the bad old days when we had to lick the stamps, or find other ways to moisten them. At work we used to have what I called rotary lickers. These were rollers in a plastic trough containing water which moistened the flaps of the envelopes and became increasingly foul with use. Now we have self-adhesive flaps too. Isn't technology wonderful? The cards will be consigned to the tender care of Royal Mail on Friday morning. I just hope that none of the recipients dies between now and then. You may laugh but it actually happened a few years ago. The tale of how I managed not to waste the stamp is best not told. The nearest pillar box to me is emptied at 9 am, except on Saturdays when postie forgoes his/her lie-in and empties it at 7 am. I suppose it concentrates the mind but I see no other advantage, or indeed a noticeable improvement in service. A letter sent to me from Hatfield arrived yesterday having taken almost a week to make the long and arduous journey. How remarkable it is that the bills arrive quickly. For once there are no other burning issues. That is bound to change. Until it does, best wishes to all. Chris

Onwards the wagons roll......

Time for that strange Grimsby-KX parcels formed of just two BGs. I have no idea what loco was rostered to it, but this evening Immingham is short of engines. This will have no problem with such a light load though. I don't know what the return leg of the diagram might be, but a J11 was quite a powerful beast, so I'm sure it will handle it. We also have another look at the B1, just a lttle further on its way to Grimsby.

Afternoon all. This morning we went to Tesco - or rather she went shopping in Tesco while I spent most of the 30 odd minutes she was in the shop walking round the car park. No Ferraris today but two Teslae and a McLaren to ogle (in the case of the latter, the other two were only interesting because they were there and a bit different). Some amusement not from idiot drivers today (almost entirely absent) but the couple who arrived in a BMW - he then drove off and she walked over to the shop but came back shortly after and got into a parked Audi convertible which she then drove to the click 'n collect to load up then she went back to the shop; one can't help wondering what might have been going on there? Fortunately our favoured brand of toilet rolls are still on special offer at Tesco so the long term stockpile was duly increased by today's shop to match the highest score available on a dartboard. This is not panic buying but merely our long established process of saving money as we never buy them when they are at full price but stock up when the price is reduced - saving another £5.30 today. As herself has been completing online quizzes and then looking tposee how they've been doing once they were approved and posted I have been slightly robbed of keyboard access today. Incidentally talking of money I was long. long ago that when looking at income after retirement what mattered was not how much you would receive in ension or whatever but what the net position would be after changing to a different lifestyle. It doesn't work quite the same way if you've been on long term sick because you might already know how your outgoings have changed but the net position each month/pay period is far more important than just knowing how much you will be getting in. But I'm sure Simon T will already be well on top of that. Enjoy the rest of your day one and all.

A'noon. Phil, Our Lady is well and posting elsewhere and as such appears to be involved in much music making. With heaps of technology of course as befits Debs! No doubt she will look in here at some point. I'm being good..... Weather here is foul, showery but really gale force wind now, although warm at 12c. It appears to have forgotten to get light.

When I designed our kitchen some decade and a half ago, I thought it would be a good idea to have the oven higher up so SWMBO wouldn't have to bend doon to get to it, what I didn't take into account was now that said oven needed to be replaced I would have to lift the thing up to waist height..........flippin' 'eavy yon fan ovens. It's now on it's 1 hour "burn it in" phase so some eyelid inspection maybe taking place.

Good morning everyone A dull but dry start to the day, it’s a little warmer than yesterday, currently 11C. Today’s plan is more removing of paint from the cellar walls, this will probably take up most of the day. Can’t say I’m looking forward to it, but it’s one of those jobs that’s got to be done and like most prep work, it’s mind numbingly boring! I’m hoping to get this section (about 2ft wide) finished today, leaving the next bit (a 5ft wide section) for tomorrow. Once they are all done, I’ll make up a small batch of tanking slurry and apply that, then move onto the opposite wall, all 13ft of it! Stay safe, stay sane, enjoy whatever you have planned for the day, back later. Brian.

Good evening everyone The first task I did this morning was to apply the rust remover to the back of the fireplace. This is the first time I’ve used this type of stuff and I must say, I’m very impressed with it. The front of the fireplace wasn’t too bad, as I’d stripped it last week and polished it with a wire brush. The back however had never been painted and was a dull, dusty browny/orangey/red colour! But it isn’t anymore, it’s now a very dark grey, almost charcoal colour, without a hint of rust anywhere to be seen. It will need to be rubbed down with a rag soaked methylated spirit, after that it’ll be ready to paint. The next dry, sunny and windless day we get I’ll give the whole lot a few coats of primer, I’ll leave the top coat until I’m ready to fit it. Whilst the rust remover was doing its stuff, a made a little more progress on removing the paint off the cellar walls. I did a bit more work on the area below the window, which is to the right of the door, this is now done and ready for the tanking slurry. I then made a start on the area of wall to the left side of the door, this section is about 25% done. There are still a few stubborn bits to do, but the vast majority of the loose stuff has been removed. There is also some pointing to do here as well, I shall continue tomorrow. This evening I completed the Sainsbury’s Grand Prix, again it was very quiet and the shelves were well stocked, the only thing I’ve not been able to get over the last week or so is Sheila’s preferred brand of mouthwash! There’s lots to choose from, just none of the particular brand she likes.

Still working on the 30ft final section of double track- yep the Huddersfield upper level lines. Three layers of static grass later, plus lots of dolls hair to create undergrowth/weeds & the small embankment is coming together. Pics show the bare dolls hair (often sold as canopy or postiche) being covered with spray matt varnish. After the dolls hair is soaked I sprinkle woodland scenics Earth blend through a sieve. Just ‘lifts’ the scenery off the floor if you know what I mean. Two lines on the left are the (usually covered) dive under lines

Spent most of the day on phone calls to little result due allegedly to covid I wanted a resettlement figure for a loan they have to post it out. I want to get stuff sorted out with my enforced retirement Asap then we know our income. Some loans may be cheaper to pay off than others Credit cards will be easier to sort out repayment.

Thanks Rob. Another view taken in more natural light...

Hello from Somerset. Car in for service/MOT this morning so had to be at the garage before 8am. No aircon, no heater, no open air vents etc. Nothing in the boot. Car keys in envelope (with name, reg and phone number) posted through letterbox on reception door; and just walk away. I await the dreaded phone call later, to tell me just how much needs doing in order to get it through the the various standards. Mind you, I have had 6 months extra thanks to Boris and Covid - so shouldn't grumble. The original MOT ran out in June.

I think Chris is OK but he could be in trouble if he visits the Houses of Parliament wearing a suit of armour or carries a plank along a pavement, fires a cannon within 300yds of a dwelling house or beats a rug or carpet in any street. Beating a doormat before 8.00am is OK but he's not allowed to keep a pigsty in front of the house! Oh and it's no longer illegal to keep a lunatic without a licence so I've told The Boss she has nothing to worry about! https://www.lawcom.gov.uk/app/uploads/2015/03/Legal_Oddities.pdf

There is no will. He lived with mil in a rented house and had no car,pension or pot of money. There is his collection of country and western CDs if anyone wants them! Robert

Some of the wormer it's one with 100g packet of tiger worms - you can't use earthworms apparently. I wondered how this would work if they were wrapped up under the Xmas tree for about 3 weeks. In theory I guess they'd eat their way out. However these companies also offer a worm gift card allowing the livestock to be posted at a different date. I'd also thought of getting into home brewing, but the area I'd use for that will be a FY by next Spring.

SWMBO has had a worm composter and a hot bin for about 10 years. Once you get the worms going the only maintenance is really harvesting from the bottom, moving the stragglers up to the top and adding more food. That takes about an hour per month. She keeps it out of direct sun in the summer and moves it into the greenhouse over winter. (kept at a minimum of 7c) The real trick is to use Red Wigglers, the Cadillac of worms. < < I'd be really surprised if any ER got that reference. Hers has been so successful that she's had to add 2 more levels to the max of 5. the hot bin has been less successful. Moaning all from the borough of boring. Back feeling a bit better. 14 hours in bed filled with Naproxen and codeine seems to have made a difference. We've started compiling a list of food and other goods we'll need for the post brexit stockpile. A second freezer has been ordered and we are contemplating renting a small storage lockup to accommodate the other crap in the shed for the time being to give me enough space to finish the renovations as well as leaving space in the shed to serve as a temporary warehouse for all the stockpile. I wish I could say more about it but I am working on one of the electronic declaration systems and very worried by what I'm seeing at the moment from the logistics sector. back to work. Enjoy the day.

Good morning all, Cloudy with the slightest hint of blue appearing and will be mild and breezy with the chance of some brighter periods later. A case of wine was delivered by a very cheerful Yodel driver who waited for the door to be answered, waited for me to stand back and then placed it on the doormat for me. Forgot to mention that we had a great (and noisy) Zoom meeting with family Sunday night. Good to catch up with Joe who is still enjoying Uni but looking forward to coming home for Christmas. Also had a quick catch up on Zoom last night with six old schoolmates and glad to see that they're all still fit and healthy. Judging by the amount of walking a couple of them do they're a damn sight fitter than yours truly. First up today will be a bit of a walk including a visit to the baker. Apart from bread I may see if they've got any cakes or pastries to tempt me. Ah, perhaps there's a reason my old friends are fitter? No other firm plans today except for a bit of financial juggling and book balancing. Have a good one, Bob.

Morning all Having worked - man and boy - for a leading supermarket, a relative took redundancy about 18 months ago and joined the Royal Mail. Stress levels went right down as did his weight. Barely recognise him now as walking many miles a day has got him fit. He did mention that it is somewhat busy with the combination of lock down online shopping and Christmas. He advised getting good things done "not at the last minute". My first job summer job was in the post room of a large bank. I was holiday cover and the union rep told me never to use the franking machine. If you use the machine the job will get done quickly and you'll be the first out of the door. One of my other jobs was to take telephone messages from one department to another. There was one charming young lady who it always took at least half an hour to take down the necessary details. Several times a day.

Another forecourt plonk.

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Been sorting out the necessary cooking utensils for doing the venison. I found a frying pan just the right size at the back of the cupboard but it appeared to have been put away unwashed. So out with the scouring pads etc. and a bowl of hot soapy water and believe it or not the grunge just washed off. So the scouring pads went back and I have a nice clean frying pan. Its my habit to rinse utensils after use then put them aside to be washed later. What must have happened is that once I'd rinsed the pan it appeared to be clean and I'd put it away but cooking oil left on it oxidised leaving a brown stain. I'll let you all know how I got on later. PS I hope our lady of the awl is OK, haven't heard from her lately even though some here have been a bit naughty.

Did they ever get outfits like the 17/21 properly decimalised to the .8095 ?

Looks like the Orange One has finally contacted the removal company.................

Hopefully it's ok to post a second photo from the shed diorama I've built. Thanks to everyone on here whose models have inspired me to have a go at something.

I expect the rules have long since changed but many years ago postage stamps were considered invalid if they were affixed upside down. I wouldn't be surprised if nowadays there are plenty of folk out there who don't have the first clue about which way up is the correct way to affix them to a postal item and probably spend most of their time looking for the 'send' button..

Morning a rather dank looking day, waiting for the new oven and possibly my deezul thingy that runs on parallel bits of metal, some muddling may take place once the oven is fitted, more fiddling with point rodding to do.

56047 Waiting for Fuel.

Ey up! Lots to do first thing as a plumber is coming to replace the pop up plug in the bath and do one or two other things. Looks like we have a problem with Royal Mail parcels in Leeds at the moment.. some items delivered damaged..others are...missing and the tracker has no clue where they are..pah!! Other than playing chase the parcel and adding labels to cards not a lot planned for today. I notice that Roooooot is showing the England team how to score runs in T20s..shame he isn't in the T20 squad... Enjoy you day however you can.. make Tuesday count! Positive thoubhts to all ERs especially our missing ones... Baz

People say our main bathroom is too big (wasted space) but it wouldn’t even require 30 sq metres. The ones for our en suite were small in number but amazingly heavy.

CCF at school (Kings Grantham) was affiliated with the 17th/21st as the Regimental Museum was at that time housed in nearby Belvoir Castle. When on annual camp with other units, the lads who looked after the stores did quite well from selling 'surplus' cap badges - they were the 'Death or Glory' skull and crossbones . . . . .

Back a few years one of the lads that worked for me had a ring tone on his phone that was Ozzy Osbornes voice, it began with "Sharron answer the phone", if you didn't answer it the voice got more irate and language got worse. So here is in the middle of the supermarket and his phone starts shouting, he's desperately trying to get it out of his pocket and the phone was stuck, he's surrounded by customers and staff with these foul mouthed expletives coming from his pocket. Some 10 years later I think he's still banned from that shop lol. G'night all

Clare my wife works with children with special needs brought this home from work today made by some of her students

We are now holding our breath to see if we will be in tier 1 or 2. If tier 2 then we have to order a meal with beer in a pub. Unfortunately that would mean all our good pubs will be closed. However we do have a plan. Lunch in a pub then max limit of three pints. Mid afternoon food but bung it in a container (for take home and have another day) then have three pints. Evening dinner then three pints. Just need to find places doing cheap food and decent beer. Our Spoons hasn't been good between lockdowns for good beer.

I have nearly finished the Haydock coal wagon at last, it just needs a bit of weight adding. What to do next ?

When Matthew did his MRes in Utrecht the academics seemed very keen on group projects. As the tuition and work submitted was in English he felt as one of the few native English speakers he was often being used as an unpaid English tutor.

Aditi had a letter from her bank wanting a lot of information we had supplied last year when we opened a saving account with them.. It was possible to upload copies of documents as long as they were pdf or jpg. A lot of the bank statements they want are issued by themselves. I think this is just the bank covering themself to demonstrate that they know where all our money comes from. Aditi sent a document where required but a couple of her documents were pdfs stating “you already have this information”. I suppose if they aren’t happy we will have to move her savings.

Evening All, Apart from Harry’s funeral today nothing much else to report. Service at 12:00,back in car at 12:15 and back at mils at 12:30. No messing . Spent a couple of hours at mils with bil and sil then came home and went for a walk. Neither Harrys adopted son or daughter came so no friction there. Sad though. On school run tomorrow with nephews and Sydney coming at 7:30 so (for us) an early start. Goodnight, Robert