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Morning, from a cold and locked down Fraggle Rock, although in typical behaviour, Mrs NHN who works for 'Government', being they who said on the radio last night 'every possible effort to work at home must be made', is required to go to work in the Big City. She is decidedly NOT IMPRESSED. Beware anyone crossing her path today! I see faceache posts dismantling in great details the Chief Ministers words last night, to attempt to justify not wearing face masks, as it was 'recommended' not compulsory or whatever - what the &^%$ is it with these people? Just DO IT FFS. it's only three weeks, they won't kill you - but Covid might. Honestly......death's too good for them.

60065 heads away, station stop over. Also captured from the bridge.

Apologies ni ot fully caught up and time is going on. In summary - My car flat battery. again, so need to call Homestart (my own fault as I've not run it up lately and the temperature outdoors is well down of course. No problem for herself shopping at Tesco although some stuff was a bit short. However toilet rolls were reduced so she bough 2 x 16 packs for a worthwhile saving. Saw one member of Tesco staff sitting outside looking distinctly hot and bothered on a cold day - maybe it will be a place to avoid before long? The GD had one body to lay out today - not a patient she knew at all so it wasn't so bad she said. Very sensibly they get the deceased into body bags and seal them up pdq. So much for average ages etc - this chap was 68. See (or is that sea?) Pie for dinner tonight and baked beans - gale warning hoisted.

After the excitement and action of the last few scenes here's a quieter moment in the yard as cattle wait to be loaded under the eye of the farmer and his stock man. John C.

Greetings one and all The lockdown has struck close to home. Although the dental practice concerned has not bothered to tell me, it appears that the civil engineering work on my mouth that was due to be undertaken tomorrow has been postponed until further notice. The recorded message that plays when you phone leaves much to be desired and verges on the garbled. From Stalag Surgery, on the other hand, there is a deafening silence. We are told that the over-70s are among those prioritised for vaccination and no doubt I will be told in due course. I am not inclined to start World War 3 by asking the question. There may be a few daring escapades in the weeks to come, given prevailing uncertainties as to which shops are or are not essential. Here is my first candidate. Yesterday one of the nose pads on my spectacles suffered a failure. I tried calling Specsavers, only to be subjected to a less than coherent message. It then became a case of dashing into town on the bus. This is the daring bit, for one never knows quite what Route 5 will do next. At Specsavers the assistant would have had me sit on a chair outside the shop! Fortunately she relented and offered me the chair intended for those who had an appointment. The new pads were fitted speedily and I was out and back well within the hour. Meanwhile, amid all this excitement I neglected to charge my phone yesterday. It now appears lifeless. Why am I so hopeless with technology? Best wishes to all Chris

Bottesford on the Notingham to Grantham line for today. Bottesford Normanton Lane crossing150131 Boston to Crewe May 87 J8919.jpg Bottesford Normanton Lane crossing Class 114 Grantham to Derby Oct 81 J7605.jpg Bottesford cranes laying tack Nov 83 J8094.jpg Bottesford Class 47 Parkeston Quay to Glasgow The European July 83 J7986.jpg Bottesford Class 114 Nottingham to Skegness Feb 83 J7800.jpg David

Mooring Awl, Inner Temple hare. Couldn't get to sleep then eventually did for 3 hours, then couldn't get to sleep, then eventually did for 2 hours.. unfortunately Ben the alarm clock Collie failed in his duties, I awoke ten minutes after I should have departed for work... After doing the azure coloured rear ended insect thing I eventually got here 10 minutes late.. Part of not sleeping was a large amount of water hitting the windows from the east.. The roads were flooded fully across in several places and even where not the side puddles are large.. For most of my journey in there are no drains, just soakaways sometimes leading to ditches.. Since they are all full there's nowhere for the water to go.. As it is I've not delayed anything, the overnight crosscheck of the last two days work failed miserably, it didn't even finish the test programme properly.. It's now rerunning, and then the system they said I could have this morning was supposed to have a verify only on which takes about 12 hours.. Instead someone has put on a measure and adjust.. .. which takes 15 hours,, So that will take a couple of more hours to run before I get it. So I'm currently measuring another temperature meter, delivered to the department... December 24th... they haven't got the normal 5 day turn round on that one.. With all the other work, it won't be finished for another week.. We have at work" Inspire awards" points generated to your account for time served every 5 years, and if someone thinks you have done well at something, they can put you forward for an award... Someone I've never heard of, has caused the depositing of thousands of points into my account, he must be very senior because he gave awards to 84 other people at the same time, why I have no idea, but it now means there is sufficient points in there to go looking to see what I can order on the prizes page.. Just been told by someone else, who got the points, it's worth £45 in Amazon credit. I think that may be sent on a tin of antifouling for the boat.. Ah 2.5 hours late just got the equipment Time to get started..

Among other local Covids, there was a case at each of 3 stores in one chain -- the stores that we patronise. SWMBO is now reluctant to go to them. Two grocery stores and a pharmacy. She was at one just this morning. Resignation of second highest person in provincial cabinet. Spent Xmas at very expensive island resort but left misleading social media posts behind. Gov't now pondering only giving preliminary jabs. I ran a couple of trains today.

Afternoon All Just a quick visit, and again a lot of skipping has happened. I am currently having a bit of a query about a historic tax assessment from 2016, and think I might need some of the paperwork. I am still not all that able to bend down, and the paperwork in question was in a large box at the back of the eaves, so had to seek the assistance of 30747 to get it all rooted out. It was not where we thought, and a thought from me that we had left one box of paperwork in the top landing cupboard - and so it transpired, but that left a load of boxes to replace, much to 30747's disgust that I hadn't remembered this sooner. Then 30747 had the inspired idea of not putting the car boot boxes back, and instead going through them and as we have no plans to do any more car boots, to put the stuff in the garage with a view to donating it all to Wolfwood, a local animal charity. So that's how we've spent the morning of our 42nd wedding anniversary. Generic greetings are as ever freely offered. Regards to All Stewart

I wasn’t the first patient of the day at the clinic but I was the first to turn up. The nurses asked if the traffic was busy. I said it wasn’t. Everyone else must have assumed the clinics were cancelled . Anyway I can stop taking one of my medications, the diuretic one, which will be nice. Apparently my lungs are clear and I have very nice ankles. Return in late February and depending on the echocardiogram either get discharged or a medication increase. I have already booked a blood test for a few days before the clinic visit. Tony

Good morning all, It's been raining for hours and still was last time I looked a few minutes ago. Forecasters claim that it will brighten up this afternoon. Wish I could. Port landing gear playing up again due, I suspect, to lack of proper exercise. Not going walking in the rain though. Another wasted Shed visit yesterday. Just stood looking at the layout and thinking "Why am I here? What do I do next? Why the f### did I start this?" I'm sure that a lot of you have been down that road. Maybe inspiration will strike today. Today's moan was brought to you by our sponsors "Pathetique of Sutton." Have a good one, Bob.

Dry, but cloudy and cold here in North Somerset. The Black dog has appeared here in the past, but not for a while. It certainly was a strange affair as I could never predict its arrival, it washed over like a tidal wave and would stay for hours, if not days. I just had to sit it out. At least I didn't have to have the electrodes on my head treatment given out to my grandad in the 1960s. I seem to have kept it under control recently by a big decrease in alcohol intake. Chr*stm*s decoration were put back in their boxes yesterday, and TBH I am glad to see the back of them. The covid dominated festivities which are best forgotten. Now it is back to the jigsaw.... happy days.

Ey up! Apologies for a late appearance.. I slept in.. now that hasn't happened for ages! Frosty outside but today I am required to use the useless vacuum cleaner on most floors and a mop and bucket on others as part of the cleaning the house game..pah! Lockdown may have started but traffic around here has not reduced apart from a lack of school delivery runs.. As for Jamies old employers.. the new ghost team are in.. they are tucked away in the warmth somewhere. A certain late Divisional Commander will be turning in his ashes! I have put extra padl9cks on the black dog door. It did get in just before Christmas but a quick chuch of a stick guided it back out again. Long maynit stay out. Positive thoughts to all ERs! TTFN. Baz

Can’t sleep and I’ve still got my Waterstones voucher to spend so looking for something to spend it on. This looks like a topper, has anyone read it? It may be of interest to those who find sleep not easy to come by. It

Some interesting (and, as usual, provocative) thoughts, John. Many thanks. As a one-time, fully paid-up member of the modelling press (now part-time), I have to say that the standard of visual presentation, photography (myself excluded) and printing is fantastic in comparison to the 'golden years' of model railway publishing you so fondly remember. Not only that, the standard of modelling presented is to a far higher standard than most achieved in the '60s. The big difference there is due to the development and increasing fidelity of RTR/RTP products in all scales and gauges. You might recall that the RM used to have a Proprietary Modeller section, such was the disdain with which 'out-of-the-box' products of the day were regarded. Of course, the Railway of the Month in each issue was full of examples of things which had been made (out of necessity) but I look back now (only from memory) and some were really quite crude in retrospect (I don't include Buckingham, even though I still don't 'get' it; nor, probably, ever will). I'd also state that the standard of reviews in the current press of new products/kits is also much more 'critical' than in those days of yore, though the MRC did try hard. I wish you'd been a bit more specific with regard to your statement '- the person who buys a completed model and runs it is not a modeller'. I'd have included 'unaltered/not improved/not personalised' in that. The reason for this is that I have around 90 Bachmann Mk.1s on Little Bytham. All are the appropriate types, straight-from-the-box to start with, but all have had their roof ribs removed, new wheels fitted, new couplings made, concertina gangways added and they've all been weathered (to a degree). Would you not agree that required some degree of 'modelling' on my part? What about the guy/girl who (by their own admission) cannot make models to the standard they desire, so gets someone else to 'do their modelling for them', either through building things or modifying RTR? Definitely not modellers then? May I finish with a current example of comparative RTR standards, please? Seen before, but in a different context, this is Hornby's latest Thompson A2/2 (of which I was privileged to see an 'advanced' example). Soon to be available, I think it's fantastic (and I haven't added any of the various detailing bits and pieces). Yes, I know the colour causes questions, but an opportunity to improve it? Its price? Well under £200.00 from some outlets................... And, prior to its being available? I built this for a customer from a DJH kit, and Geoff Haynes painted it. The final price, taking in all the components? Over £1,000.00. Could anyone claim that it's over five times better? Of course not! Is it more-realistic (the ultimate acid-test)? Maybe? I keep on 'banging the drum' about 'layout locos'. Is this not a 'perfect' example of one (even though it has no lamps and it's still devoid of its detail bits)? Close to the 'equal' of this? Better, because the one I made doesn't have cinder guards! Though the kit-built one will pull more, there's not much in it. I doubt if anything I've stated above 'proves' anything. Anyway, I don't think it could. What can't be taken away (at least on a personal level) is the pleasure I get from making things; far more pleasure that that derived from obtaining anything RTR. That said, I have to be pragmatic. Returning to the Bachmann Mk.1s, how much time might it have taken me to make the over-90 I needed from, say, Comet kits? I have made several Mk.1s from Comet kits - the types not available RTR. By exploiting them, does that make me any 'less' of a modeller? Regards, Tony.

Good moaning from down ere, in the land where many letters are dropped, not just aitches. It's gradually getting light and is definitely lighter on an evening these days. The lounge looks bare now that the decorations have gone butvas several family cards only arrived yesterday, along with the aforementioned Cliff Richard wrinkle display, the family cards arectonstay for another couple of weeks. I even got a bit of work done in the shed yesterday and we finished watching, Unbelievable on Netflix. Compelling viewing and well made. This morning the two new arrivals are coming up to sort through some paperwork an try and pick my brains. I wish them luck. This afternoon I may well be loading the trailer ready for a tip run tomorrow. It sounds like we need some sort of mass extinctionn programme for black canines. Perhaps a model railway show, prescribed on the NHS. Regards to all. Jamie

Having a rummage around the 'I don't know what to do with these pictures' file I thought I would post some of them. They where taken on the new phone. Someone might like them.

Morning all. I am fairly certain it is raining. We will be off to Leigh on Sea today after breakfast so I can visit the heart failure clinic. I suspect the result will be “keep taking your tablets”. I have an echocardiogram booked for next week. Nothing planned after we return. No bins today, they will be collected tomorrow. I need to write a note for a courier to take a parcel next door if it comes while we are out. It is too early to have the predicted delivery from DPD yet. Tony

Couple of pics, one of the massive fluffball that’s looking for a new home! sat like that for ages with my tickling his tum, once he was fed up if it he let me know with a slap! and one of Hank, who can’t believe his luck with the size of the box he’s got to play in, had some sports seats delivered for my car and before I had a chance to move the box he was in it!

Morning all, To paraphrase the late, maybe not lamented, Larry Grayson - what a grey day. No rain promised but that was the case yesterday and we did get some drizzle - which of course was carefully timed to arrive while I was taking some exercise walking round the Tesco car park and watching the passing train. Today is decorations down day although that basically mean boxing away the Christmas trees. (yes definitely plural) and various oddments that get strung along the mantelpiece or hung on the front door. That sort of thing is obviously work best delegated to females although i shall no doubt be required to get one tree back into its plastic bag then into its box plus assisting the GD in humping it all up into the attic. and then I will inevitably be required to go into cat scaring mode and wield the device that cleans vacuum. No doubt mum cat Poppy will be greatly upset as she will no longer have the big tree to attack, knock things off to use as balls to chase, and hide underneath when told off for knocking things off it. Yes Christmas is over once again. No other news to report - the lad is busy on the 'phone as usual and might well be involved in some 'telephone training' of his newly appointed assistant - who lives in Katowice (and was recruited bya remote process as well). As a matter of total irrelevance it is just over 45 years since I was in Katowice but I wasn't training anybody as I was invited to drive a rather nice 2-10-0 around the shed yard and showed them how to stop on a rising brake. Havea good day one and all and stay safe and try to keep that black dog firmly in its kennel.

Morning all In the latest news the three wise men have appeared from their hiding place behind the Sky box and are approaching the crib. All other decorations have been down for a couple of days but this is a tradition Valerie likes to maintain. Having said that the tree is down it now needs to go up... the steps to the loft seem to get steeper each year. It’s hardly a job that they can do working from home.

Be afraid. Very afraid.....

Perhaps Mrs NHN should take her bow and a quiver of arrows with her to work and prop it by her desk. Jamie

Good evening everyone The weather has been dull, cold but dry and it remained thus all day, brightening slight this afternoon. This morning the window cleaners turned up unexpectedly, although there were due this week, but as we’re now in lockdown we didn’t think they’d come, but at least the windows are nice and clean. Well I’ve had some mixed results from my work on the turntable control panel today. I managed to find the variable resistor in my resistor box (where else?) and I fitted it to the control board. First tests were disappointing as there was no discernible change in the output voltage. Numerous checks were made and I eventually traced it to a typo on the products data sheet! So, I amended the circuit and carried out tests on the bench and thankfully it worked the way I designed it. So I fitted it into the panel, wired it up, tested it again and it had stopped working! So I removed it and retested it on the bench, it was once again working fine. So I put it back in and once again it didn’t work. I can’t seem to figure out why it won’t work, I assume that it’s something to do with the two different circuits that share a common supply interacting with each other. So I’ve now decided to go back to my previous method and use 2 independent supplies, one for the control circuit and a separate one for the motor supply. I know that this works, because I’ve had it working ok before. So I’ll now need to add another socket in the back of the panel for the motor supply, something I was hoping to avoid, but hey ho! It’s a little bit disappointing, but there you go. The panel will thus have 3 separate supplies, 12v for the turntable controls, 3v for the turntable motor supply and 5v for the point control. Each will have a different plug so that mistakes cannot be made. Thankfully, all the bits I’ve used for this little experiment were ‘in stock’, being left over from other projects where I had to buy things sold in multiples of either 5 or 10 etc and as such, it hasn’t cost me anything other than a bit of time. Late this afternoon, I tried several times to get on the Hornby website, but it wouldn’t open, it just froze up, after about a dozen attempts, I gave up. I eventually accessed the new catalogue via a shops website. One or two interesting items, I might have to think seriously about putting a few old kits on eBay to fund buying the R-t-R replacements instead, some serious pondering to be done me thinks.

A one off diorama to display my tree experiment, made from a plastic armature covered in ready mixed filler and sea foam branches in 4mm scale. Apologies, not a loco in site

I'm sure the weather is to blame, GDB. SAD or whatever. I was going great guns with my O Gauge, in less than a year from it being an American outline HO layout to 2/3rds finished O gauge Forest of Deanish, but it has ground to a halt. I too go down there and look at it, but little else happens. Same with the bikes, I have a bike on the bench ready to strip and overhaul the engine, it's been there for 6 weeks untouched. It was 2c and frosty when I took the boss for her bus this morning, now it is -1c and sunny and still frosty if not worse - work that one out. I need to split wood for the burner so at least that will get me outside, I just took a walk to the village shop and with our lockdown starting....I was the only person with a mask on. No social distancing taking place, what a joke. Folk saying 'it doesn't start until midnight', well did anyone tell the virus that? Jeeze.....

This morning after coffee I went out and Dry Ballasted Bench Road, I've used a mix of Gaugemaster OO Ballast on the approach and then changed to N with mixes of the Grey and some Brown as I was a bit short of Grey. I then gave the standing areas a sprinkling over with some real ash I found in a jar from many years ago, It will be interesting to see how it comes out once I do the PVA application over the coming days.

Morning Tony, Let me say first of all that I was most emphatically NOT making any direct comparison between Buckingham and Little Bytham in my post! Come on - you know the sort of layout I'm (somewhat disingenuously) referring to - the one also with the fire brigade attending to a smoking building, a fox hunt going on, an aeroplane crashed in a field (etc, etc). Against my 'fourth dimension' definition, I would say that Little Bytham was 10-25% (depending quite how you look at it) 'fourth dimension' and the pick-up goods certainly contribute to that. But you yourself cheerfully admit that Little Bytham is your 'trainset' and your great delight is to 'turn up the taps' and enjoyed the spectacle of an A4 on a 13-coach train doing what it does best. In that moment you are transported back to the 'wall' at Retford, crying out 'Streak!' You do yourself a great disservice calling it a 'trainset' as what it actually is a beautifully observed piece of modelling that absolutely conveys the 'unhurried' nature of a wayside station athwart one of Britain's great mainlines. In making my 'fourth dimension' comments, I'm not in any way trying to make out that one layout type is superior to the other. What any one individual is drawn to in this great hobby of ours is a purely personal 'thing', based on what particular aspect floats their boat and that ends up driving the type of layout they end up building or are naturally drawn to. Including those that like creating the church scene or the crashed aeroplane. Good on 'em - they're making something and enjoying the hobby. If I may use Grantham for a moment as an example? For me, that has far more appeal as a location to model than Little Bytham. Why? Because there's so much more going on of operational interest. You have the station itself where trains terminate as well as pause. You have the junction at the north end with two possible routes. You have the goods yards at the south end. And - best of all - you have the loco depot, with top link locos coming and going. When it's all in full operation, sitting in the depot operator's chair, you're both absorbed in the rhythm of the depot workings, doing the forward allocation of locos, trying to make sure the next one or two locos to leave shed are in their designated spots so as not to delay the schedule ... and at the same time have a grandstand view of the parade of trains either flying through or making their scheduled stops at the station, including loco changes. So, I reckon I'm up to about 75%-ish 'fourth dimension' by my definition of things changing as the time goes on. Like Tony (t-b-g), I can look at a picture of the layout and usually work out which point of the sequence we're at. BUT(!) It's horribly compressed. To scale size, N gauge would fit the same footprint - Bytham is virtually to scale (you say you've lost 18 inches towards the bridge) The trackplan is greatly reduced in the yards and sidings - Bytham has every piece last point and siding that was there in the real thing. It uses Peco Code 100 track - Bytham has Norman Solomon's exquisite hand-built trackwork We run typically 8-9 max train lengths (see above, re compression) - Bytham all are scale length I could go on. So which is the 'better' layout?! Answer - neither! Grantham is merely an expression of what particularly interests me as an individual. It also happens to have become a 'stage' on which good friends are able to run their stock, some built especially for the layout. That has been the making of it as a project. But were it to be put to a vote, I suspect that Little Bytham would win every time. Why do I say that? Well, at exhibitions, over the last five years, whilst we've generally had a good crowd around us, we're rarely the most popular layout. And why? (Stand by for the 'punchline') Because comparatively few viewers really 'get' the whole fourth dimension thing. Many are happy just to look at the overall scene for a little while, maybe pick up on a few scenic or loco details. Some are frustrated that the 'stars of the show' (ie the eponymous Streamliners) appear relatively infrequently and eventually wander off in a 'nothing moving on this layout' huff. But those few who realise what we're actually trying to do get into the schedule and what's happening and can stay for hours. One comment from such a viewer makes it all worth while - and I'll happily live with it not being to everyone's taste. There's plenty of other types of layout in the show for everyone to find one that appeals to them

Good morning everyone It’s another frosty start to the day here in the northwest of England, currently 1C out there, but as I don’t need to go outside, I’ll stay put in the cellar. Today i shall carry on working on the turntable control panel, I’ll fit another socket in for the supply to the turntable motor. I’ll then alter and test the delay start circuit boards I made a few weeks ago, as I now know they are wrong, having discovered the typo on the product data sheet. Luckily this is a very easy fix, remove the voltage regulator, turn it round 180 degrees and the resolder it back in place and repeat 14 times! Stay safe, stay sane, enjoy whatever you have planned for the day, back later. Brian

Another mixed bag: Maesteg, South Wales, 9 Oct 1965 Rishton, between Blackburn and Rose Grove, 4 June 1968. Don't want to wander off topic but how's that for a train formation? Penistone Barnsley Junction, probably 25 Jun 1981 Dunford West, 25 Jun 1981 Torside, 25 Jun 1981

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Hardly slept a wink last night due to the sore foot. Its eased slightly after a clean dressing was put on it this morning and now waiting for the Nurofen to kick in. As I mentioned the weather seems to play some part in it. It is always worse when it rains and last night it poured down but this morning its starting to clear up, there might even be some sunshine. Once the muggatee has been drunk an eyelid inspection will be called for.

Happy new year from Colmore TMD on cold but sunny morning..

I'm sorry to hear about the multiple sightings of a dark canine but in all honesty I'm not surprised. I have to say I'm finding it difficult to be cheerful at the moment, partly as it's a dark and cold January and partly because of all the other **** going on ATM. Today I had a form to complete for the funeral director. Who was the deceased's GP? Umm, not sure, check through the papers I have. There was a practice merge/reshuffle recently, so I checked via the website if the original GP named in some older paperwork was on the list of [current] partners. Don't be absurd... OK, I'll ring the practice and ask. Got someone trying to be helpful but not very sure what to do. She said she'd ring me back after checking with her supervisor (and fair enough, she did) but - I'm sorry, because the patient's dead, I cannot access the record. The doctor I asked said you shouldn't be completing those forms anyway. (I explain the hospital's bereavement line isn't answering calls or returning answerphone messages (so what else am I supposed to do?) and I'm working from advice from the registrar (of deaths) to complete these forms to allow the funeral to proceed asap). I'm sorry but I can't help you, can you ring the hospital ward, here's their number. Ring the hospital ward, feeling uncomfortable as they have plenty of other things to deal with and it's the admin people who are useless ****s, not the medical people on the wards. I'm sorry, nurses can't access the record of a deceased person, can you ring their medical practice please? Resist temptation to express myself honestly, said I've just spoken to them, they told me to ring you. Umm, well doctors can access the records but they are all off the ward at the moment, can you ring back in an hour? Mutter, mutter, end call. Ten minutes later, phone rings and it's a doctor from the ward (and full credit to them for taking the time to do that) - answered a couple of other queries but said sorry, we don't know which GP it was, we don't get that information. (WTF did the nurses suggest you could tell me who it was then?) I'm sorry you haven't been able to speak to the bereavement line about [several things] but could you try going through the switchboard rather than the direct number? (Thanks but no use if they still don't answer the effing phone). Sadly, it's not the only instance of trouble I've had. My experience (over the last few years, not just today) suggests most individual NHS staff are helpful and try to help but the rules, management and IT they have to operate under greatly restrict what they can do. This has the effect of making patients and their relatives feel like inconvenient, contemptible pests. And then they have the nerve to lecture us on [keeping a positive mental attitude] when most of the reason we're upset is due to them! Rant over ... until tomorrow, when I may have a new one

Moaning... HUMP day, and welcomed for sure. Yesterday was spent with myriad back-and-forth trying to get my access to the client servers sorted. All levels of folks involved, ALL initially inferring it was my issue, even several times asking if I was using a "," (comma) instead of a "." (period) in a domain name for christ-sake! I refrained from pointing out that I was using blqqdy domain names before most of the arsebandits were even BORN! Finally, around 3PM, the head of "Enterprise Applications" (one of the folks exchanging about 2 dozen emails with me) sent the following; "Can you disconnect from the VPN and try again, our team believes this to be resolved". I THINK, since it did now work perfectly, that is shorthand for; "we did something REALLY REALLY STUPID again with your access and it's taken 10 of us 3 days to figure it out. That's NOT to say we're IDIOTS, but it may LOOK LIKE THAT if we admit to it"... Nothing else going on here, the White House rant-meister continues to assail our senses, but everyone I know is counting down the days... COVID vaccinations here are going at a snails pace, local/state governments reporting that they've no real handle on what/when/where all the supplies are appearing, and the federal government (Trump and band of useless wannabees) insisting it's all going swimmingly! Supposedly 15+ million doses have bene shipped to states, but so far about 4.8 million have gotten a vaccine! Given sh!t-for-brains said there'd be at least 20 million vaccinated by the end of 2020, we simply add that WHOPPER to the lie total for him, I guess! Pah - nothing any of us in the real world can do about any of it anyways - just continuing the self-isolation until someone with some grain of common sense gets things going. -5 and overcast here, may reach +1 or +2 later. Tally ho.

Very true, but is it an essential job? But it does mean that I now don’t have to do it, result!

I did get a pair of moquette socks for xmas the colour on the bottom left of the book cover. When i saw the book i thought it may have been by Geoff Marshall whos aYou Tube channel is always interesting and quirky. Also if you like the tube a guy called Jago Hazzard has an interesting channel he does the tube,dlr and quirky London facts.

The black dog is prowling again Night awl

Greetings all from the fold in the side of the hill. No snow has been seen in this part of the boring borough although it did rain heavily enough in the night to wake me up. Groundhog day working from home. On the school front, Mrs Lurker and a number of other TAs spent a substantial part of yesterday morning printing work for the week for about 20 kids in the school whose parents told the school they could not access the google classroom and that they'd like the work. By the deadline for pickup of 12 yesterday, only 4 packs had been collected. The others will not be getting a pack from now on - it is a waste of time and resources. She does not work on a Wednesday though she did join her class' google meet anyway. And she is back in tomorrow, hoping there might have been a change in the heating situation....

Just a coupe for today, Donnington to stafford, an appropriate military based loco up front!

The idea that women might not be going for breast investigation because of fear of covid is very scary. My good lady was referred for further investigation in 2018, following what seemed quite trivial symptoms, was utterly certain that it was nothing, but was found to have a quite rare, very invasive form of it, which doesn't cause classic "lumps". Nine months of mega-intensive, and really grueling treatment, commenced at fire-brigade speed, followed, with good outcomes. Even a few weeks delay would have led to a very different outcome indeed.

Surely that is one of the jobs that cannot be done from home.

Overnight light dusting of snow. Bin men been (yes, I remembered) - or should it be been men bin? I have been invited to a Teams meeting tomorrow - and so the year begins ...

Probably a bit late to the piece on Southern Pride coaches, what with all this photography and layout status talk! That’s me all over, sorry! I only have three Southern Pride carriages – and to me they don’t appear to be of the quality shown in Tony’s maroon BTK images or the blue/grey one. I have always been disappointed with them. These are Bulleid examples with the some sort of matt PVC type tape overlaid on clear plastic sides. They came with a little brass fret with grab handles, door handles and representations of hinges. The hinges I stuck on but didn’t get the paint match right. The bogies are old Bachmann’s with plastic wheels. The underframe detail is rudimentary. I think I improved the brake gear, the filler pipes and end detail on the brakes. The pre-printed black lines representing the door openings are particularly poor and stick out like the proverbial dogs… D2123 Semi Open Brake Third: D2318 Corridor Composite: D2125 Semi Open Brake Third: It was the experience of buying them that I remember the most. I bought these about half a life ago from the SP stall at Warley in November 1998 and they were my first purchase in an attempt at more ‘serious’ carriage modelling, only having started a few months before by refurbishing 8 Lima Mk1s. What still riles me more than 22 years on was the reaction and diatribe of abuse I got from a team member on the stall when I purchased them. I asked a man behind the stand if he had two Bulleid BSKs and Bulleid CK in BR green, as I wanted to build a formation that might have traversed the Somerset & Dorset in the period 1963-1966. He replied that no, they had sold all the BR ones but still had some in malachite, but could only offer two different BSK diagrams and the CK. I agreed to purchase them knowing full well that I wasn’t getting exactly what I wanted but was still satisfied – it was the know-how of building them that interested me more, I could learn on these and if they were good, I could buy the others later. It was then that someone else behind the stand came across and started speaking to the person selling them to me. So the comments weren’t to my face but they were about what I was doing. He contemptuously laughed at the naivety of the purchase, berating the purchaser’s failure to be authentic and the purchaser’s failure to do historical research. It was finished off with a comment to the fact that the novice purchaser was being so dumb as to buy them, they would probably make a complete hash of the build anyway. All of this was done at increased volume, such that other people in the area turned to look and see what the noise was all about. It was also done shrewdly, such that if the comments were countered, they could be defended as comments being made about anyone or a previous purchaser. But everyone who heard, and there would have been 5 or 6 people, knew he was referring to me. I have no idea who he was or why he decided to have a go at me, through the salesperson. I recall the salesperson looking uncomfortable. I don’t know if he’d had a bad day or was tired at the end of a long show. Regrettably, I didn’t say a word but quietly and self-consciously purchased the models, put them in my bag and walked away. My only excuse is that I was younger then and didn’t know a lot about a lot and still had respect for my elders. Today, I still don’t know a lot about a lot, but I’d be less restrained. I have never bought or even contemplated buying another SP product, nor will I. Wrong colour aside for my chosen period, the quality of these kits will not meet my current level of modelling acceptance, so they are in the queue to be refurbished with Comet sides, decent bogies with metal wheels and an improved underframe. They will be SP no more. Kind regards, Iain

Ratty Rat No 25285 passing the Lazy Gang.

Reading some of today's post I have been wondering where we were going. Here is something I posted on my thread on Boxing Day. "Been running trains, while I was watching a type 4 1/2 rolling along with a train of seven behind it I got into philosophical mode (by accident) and stated to consider what I like about my hobby of model railways. 1, Who doesn't like to see toy trains running? 2, I like making models. 3, I like researching about railways, for my modelling. 4, I like the escapism it offers. 5, I like to be friends with like minded people. 6, There is no number 6 7, All the above make it a fun hobby for me."

Evening All, Not been here much today, work got in the way. I do get the impression that a certain dark coloured dog my be on the prowl. After work a short walk with SWMBO and Mil, half an hour paperwork then tea and a bit of eyelid inspection.SWMBO woke me to watch a programme on Quest on cruise ships and this particular episode featured a Hurtigruten voyage to Antartica which we did a couple of years ago. The tour lead was the same guy we had but we went on an older ship. The weather was better when we went and we even had a barbecue on the outside deck. It really was an unbelievable place and I’m not sure the programme did the scenery justice but the programme was as much about the ship as the voyage. Anyway it did bring a bit of joy to an otherwise miserable day. Keep your peckers up, Goodnight, Robert

Two parrots on a perch...... .....one said to the other can you smell fish?

Still frosty here .. been out to top up the birdfeeders.. this was due to being given the bad eye form one of our robins.. boy he has a fearsome glare! Vacuum has been cleaned.. floors have been swabbed.. that is my house work done for the day. woooopppppidddooo! @grandadbob .. it happens to us all Bob. It has taken me several weeks to almost finish an item to carry people in some comfort on parallel lines of Nickel Silver.. thought I had it finished yesterday.. nope I had missed the duckets off it.. DOH! Off to prepare for a Leeds MRS "show and talk" zoom meeting tonight.. this could be fun! TTFN Baz

Anyone remember the series of "Model Railway Constructor" front covers from the 60's, with staged atmospheric shots. There were some superb photos, most using proprietary models of the time. Caused a bit of controversy back then. This was the most inspirational issue to me. The water tower if I remember correctly was modelled on the one at nearby to me Wigan Central, the article was by Chris Leigh. I built a TT gauge one using various bits of junk !! Varnish on the platform, A Trix Western loco. All the rage back then !! Trix standard (I think) And, for me, the best of the lot, another Trix loco. Would be phoo phood today, but a bit of creative photography back then worked wonders and got the imagination going. Happy days !! All I had back then modern image was a pair of Tri-ang TT Brush type 2's, a 7' x 3' roundy roundy and lots of (free) imagination. I fear we are loosing our imagination these days in this hobby. Brit15

Ah the self entitled with their private jets and yachts chuck em in the gulag with no medical care Along with the rest that dont obey the rules Super spreaders whilst the rest of us have to carry the can. I have had some mental health therapy cancelled due to having to self shield sadly it cant be done over phone