Leaderboard

Teloxys Aristata or Sea Foam, trees to you and me. Early on in the year I was looking at the trees on Brasted and thought that they were looking a bit rough and ready, I looked at the price of replacing them with ready made till I saw that for the quantity that would be required a lottery win of quite a size would be needed. So being a tight wad (read Mrs W Station) I decided to grow my own, a purchase of Teloxys Aristata seeds from this link provided me with a forest in a packet for about £4 https://www.chilternseeds.co.uk/item_1235a_teloxys_aristata_seeds Now comes the boring bit, plant seeds in a large pot filled with free draining soil and wait 6months. ......................................... 6months have now passed and your seeds will now look like this if you are lucky. Harvest and hang them up to dry for a week or so. Spray matt brown The next part is to plant the trees, which I did by cutting all the old foliage off the existing trees leaving just the trunk and some branches, and then placing the new branches over the old trunks to form the new trees. The foliage was made by first spraying the top of the trees with firm hold hair laquer then a base coat of 2mm fibre were sieved on, next another spray of laquer and a final layer of coarse turf was applied by hand and another coat of laquer to secure. You need a sunny spot for the seeds as they are a desert plant and can suffer from dampening. And some pictures of the finished trees, I wanted it to look like neglected scrubby woodland. Happy gardening. All the best Adrian.

Some odds and ends today. First I cut away the plastic sleepers at the Treloggan Junction Loop safety (trap) points and replaced them with copperclad timbers . While the glue was drying, I started the front fence at Polperran. I used the piece of MDF that previously formed the backscene, as it was wider than the other odd strips I had. With just a little trimming it now reaches from the bottom of the L-girder to 13mm above the cork, the same as the Paddington and Penzance fences. I fitted a narrower strip in its place as a replacement temporary backscene. I also did some preparatory work for fitting the EB1 circuit breaker and its remote LED, which I can finish off tomorrow. I then finished the safety points by soldering the plain rail to the new timbers, using a Tracksetta to align it, after which I soldered the other rail and the dummy blade in place. Finally I gapped the new timbers. The safety points are now ready for painting, which I'll do as I work round progressively from St Enodoc.

Train activity from... The ground From the air

We are in the dead hour now, so another load of coal can be started on the haul to Ferme Park.

Thanks Chris, It's not that 'I' do not want to 'play anymore'; I'm just finding that, at the moment, ERs seems to be not helping my mood or demeanour and discretion being the better part etc., I'm generally abstaining for a while in case I say something I might regret later. This may sound odd, but as you rightly say ERs does offer lots of support to people, but I can't help but feel there are others more in need than I - so the easy answer is 'leave it for a while' until I can better 'cope' with the 'environment'

An attempt to blur the line between model and real as much as many of the fantastic photos already posted here, another from Charlestown Kiln. The backdrop, sky and exhaust are all from a 'reality' photo of Caledonian No. 828 during a visit to Bo'ness. Everything else is model.

It is a sad fact that motorways, autobahns, autoroutes, autostrada, freeways etc etc etc will, from time to time, be the scene of a horrendous accident with loss of life. Just such a sad event occurred, resulting in a minibus full of nuns - on their way to do Good Works - being crushed between two HGVs, with many fatalities. Unsurprisingly, quite soon afterwards there is a queue of nuns outside the Pearly Gates, where St Peter is doing his statutory assessment duties. Seeing the nuns, he says "Sisters - I am sure we will be able to admit every one of you - but I do have to ask each of you one simple question." With that, he turns to Sister Anne, and asks "Have you ever touched a pe*is?" Sister Anne blushes, and says "I did touch one once - but only with the pinkie of my left hand." "It is well," says St Peter "now rinse that pinkie in the holy water here, and you will be admitted to the Kingdom of Heaven." He turns to Sister Jean, who has already heard the question and is now beetroot red, and before he can even ask her, she admits "I once held one in my right hand." "No problem" says the Saint "just wash your hands in the holy water there, and absolution will be yours." At this point he becomes aware of some jostling for position further down the line "Sisters, please - there is no cause for hurry. God's love and the bounds of the Kingdom of Heaven are infinite, so all who qualify may enter in due course." Whereupon Sister Susan, who has been trying to gain position says "That's all very well, but if I've got to gargle with that stuff, I'd really rather do it before Sister Mary has to put her ar*e down in it!"

Photos taken between Darlington and Newcastle for this afternoon. They should be in order from south to north. Bradbury Class 158 Newcastle to Liverpool Lime St 31st May 96 C20984 Sunderland Bridge 37697 and 37415 down l e 16th Oct 93 C19113 Durham HST down 22nd Oct 86 C8116 Plawsworth Class 254 down 26th Oct 87 C9188 Lamesley Tyne Yard Class 254 up Aug 82 J7696 David

Greetings It is a pity that some ERs do not want to play any more. One of the things that I like about this thread is the sheer variety of what is posted. I do not pretend to know much about some of it, particularly fine dining and aero engines, but that is not important. What is important is the facility to express opinions, let off steam, pour out the heart and much, much more. Sometimes there are spats, as there are in any community for we are human. Much more often there is support for those who need it. Let us stick together and play nicely. For yours truly there will be a fodder run this morning and a meeting in a coffee bar this afternoon. Both are encouraging signs that life is on its way towards returning to normal, whatever that is. Good job too. Best wishes to all Chris

The end of a perfect September day.

Bit of an off day today Swmbo had to go to a&e at Pinderfields I dropped her off at 830 pm I wad finally able to pick her up at 0730 this morning so I had both kids to get ready for school and college respectively go to Wakefield pick her up then drop youngest off at school on the way back. To say I am cream crackered is an understatement. She is ok though which is the main thing

I agree with @chrisf here however we have to accept that people move on, priorities shift, circumstances change and for other good reasons our friends here are not necessarily here anymore. I too take breaks from ERs at times for a number of reasons and sometimes because I don't feel I have the time, energy or anything to add. Today I'm still here. Welcome to Friday Upon the Hill of Strawberries. Still a day of resting for me as the recovery takes its slow course from what ever Mother Nature inflicted upon me. At least it wasn't the Dreadful Lurgy. Each day sees me a little brighter and with just a little more energy. The peak-flow meter suggests the lungs are in marginally better shape too. Tomorrow I venture out in the Little Red Driving Box for the first time in a while; it's cattery inspection day. Only a short trip but one either drives or doesn't - there is no "light option" for the less-than-fully-fit. Alertness is not a problem however. I would never drive if I felt compromised in that respect. It's not worth the risk to others nor ourselves. Friend of a friend has had a few difficult days as her daughter was whisked under blue lights from west Cornwall all the way to Bristol with bleeding in the brain. After staging a recovery without surgical intervention they are on the way home for an extended rest and recuperation. Amazing things these bodies of ours. They let us down and they frustrate and annoy us at times but they can pull off some remarkable feats as well. Not its correct identity but a Realtime Trains "mask" as some commercial freight customers require. They are entitled to a degree of confidentiality about who moves what, where and when despite which the trains will show up on the online systems. Only a very few are totally obscured as a legal requirement - nuclear waste and HM's Private Purple Train being among those. Looking forward to Friday Drinks later. Another weekend lies just over the horizon

Morning All Morning all I understand that Britain's largest class of export is empty shipping containers but old ones seem to be the modern equivalent of the grounded railway van bodies that you used to see everywhere in the countryside. Today's weather in W. London is currently cloudy with patches of blue. I had a computer free day yesterday mainly because I went flying during the day and went to a fascinating talk on macro-photography at the local photographic club. I'd never imagined that slime mould could be so fascinating but it does apparently have some kind of collective intelligence. I was actually interested from the point of view of photographing very small things that run on nickel silver rods and the scenes they run on. The the main learning for future investigation was the concept of focus stacking. Some cameras can now do this automatically but not mine so, if I want to get some decent images of my model railway I'll need my steadiest tripod and some extra software. The alternative of a small aperture and a long exposure does not apparently produce such a good final images. I had hoped to go to the IofW yesterday but the fist and mog that was supposed to be gone by about eleven persisted until about one PM so, wanting to get back for the talk before the M25 completely clotted, I just did an hour of aerial exploration up around Newbury including part of the route where the Kennet and Avon runs parallel to the GWR. In the late 1960s I used to see this from the train quite often. That was before the Canal had been restored yet its water supply system of reservoirs and leats seemed to still be functioning- for the benefit of local farmers I always assumed unless the system really was just carrying on doing its job long after the canal had closed which seemed a bit "After People" . I'm worried about a friend who's been in hospital for the past month, and lilely to be in an intermediate care unit for five or six weeks more, whose younger sister, who she relies on for some help, seems to be trying to take complete control of her affairs. My friend is quite upset about this as she feels helpless to stop her. Have a good day and a good weekend.

Morning All, from Sussex County.... A beautiful Sussex sunrise this morning...created for just staring in wonder at, particularly when enjoying an early coffee and listening to Freightliner Heavy Haul train 784V - 0342 Acton T.C. to Newhaven Day Aggregates, dropping gently down Hamsey bank through the mist. 45 late running this morning. Today is a varied day. Finish creosoting the new anti chicken fences, then stapling the mesh on to them....the fences not the chickens.. A 'got to do' job today is finish off a project that has taken me 8 months so far. Admittedly when I took this on as a request from a friend of my son, it was made clear that there was no rush but I just want to get it finished now. It is was spare Dapol Class 68 body (an absolutely excellent model IMHO) that the chap wanted resprayed and detailed into a 'Caledonian' liveried Class 68, 68030 'Black Douglas', suitable for the latest livery run on the sleeper trains in Scotland. With no real world prototype to base it on I have gone for the nearest loco type, a Class 67, and a generous helping of 'Rule 1'. The Railtec waterslide transfers are as always superb and I am quite please with the result so far. The orange cant rail line is a nightmare to get straight but that is down to my lack of skill rather than the transfers and it does make the difference, especially around the front of the cabs. It has inspired me to use one of my spare 68 bodies to create a fictitious GWR green class 68 for use on the 'Pasty Beds' from Paddington to Penzance. Have a great day all. ATB Grizz...

Some from last night, bescot to Stone rail drop then once done into Stafford and back to crewe bescot, my train ready for the off 66004 again rode to bescot from Wolverhampton and put my bike on the loco for the ride home from basford hall I did however forget that the low emission euro 66s have a narrower gangway than an original one and despite getting the bike on ok I managed to get it completely wedged while I was trying to get it off in crewe, at one point I genuinely thought I’d have to taxi home and come back later in with some tools to take the back wheel off, the pedal got stuck in the radiator grille then as I moved it back to try and free it the back wheel got stuck in the doorway, took me almost 20 minutes to finally free it, it was like something Bernard cribbins would have sung about! running round in Stafford, ran almost 2 hours early back to crewe which was a nice bonus small heath ballast tonight then a week of trafford park next week

Andy, nothing unusual about taking time out from ERs, or anywhere else, I guess. When we are not up to speed, it often does us good to take a vacation from here, now and again. Nonetheless, it will be good to have you back onboard when you are ready. In the meantime, I hope things get better for you. Just keep smiling...a little smile, even to yourself, can go a long, long way. Polly

I bought a 20 footer, one TEU, when we were moving for £1200. That included delivery to site, cutti g of dntilation holes and fitting of a padlock cover. A local farmer friend allowed me to put it in his yard forv18 months rent freee. I still saved at least £1000 compared with renting one commercially. When we finally moved I just gave the farmer the keys. It served as a temporary store as we e ptied the house and aggregated what was coming to France o to pallets or into trailer loads. I havevheard that there are two qualities of container. Single voyage ones and long term use ones. Stewart, I do hope that you get sorted soon. It is said that moving is one of the three big stressors in life, along with bereavement and divorce. Anyway yesterday was interesting.I discovered the water on the shed floor when letting the chickens out.rain was dripping along the line of the junction with the woodshed. After a quick breakfast I went back up and started moving stuff. Most of the potential damage was stuff in cardboard boxes that have never been fully unpacked since the move over 3 years ago. I put up a couple of tables and started a rapid triagevoperation. Dry, damp and beyond redemption. The boxes couldn't be picked up as the bottons had gone. Ironically this task of sorti g the carp has been procrastinated for over 3 years by SWMBO. After an hour we got most ofvit sorted and a lot of stuff is either off to the tip or the charity shop. Nothing irrreplaceable has been lost. My comment that the flood has finally got us movung on the sortung process went down like a lead balloon. A formal wedding invite for next year arrived late morning so the next three hours before and aftervlunch, were spent wrestling with Ryanair's website, booking a hire car and booking a hotel. The wedding neatly coincides with Emily's 3rd birthday. Whilst engaged in this mi d numbing exercise, so ethi g must have been goi g on in what I call a brain. I headed back to the shed and got a ladder out p,us a hosepipe for test purposes. Sure enough I fou d the culprit. The downpipe from a 10 metre length of gutter between the woodshed and the main shec was blocked. This was where I'd installed the diverter for our irrigstion water. The heavy rain had overloiaded the diverter and the gutter had backed up above the waterproofing line. Half an hours work and the problem was solved. Anyway todays tadk js hard, a model railway group lunch and meeting. It's a hardclife. Regards to all. Jamie

Evening All, Didnt get up until late and spent most of the day outside doing various jobs. SWMBO hasn’t been too good all day so went to bed straight after tea so I’ve been quietly roaming around on here trying not to disturb her. Her bp was 80/56 so we’re going to keep a check on that though her usual bp reading isn’t much higher. I used the machine and came up with 119/85 for me so seems the machine is not throwing a wobbly. Goodnight, Robert

No idea but I suspect Homeland Security will be chatting to you about how you got there so quickly from Basildon.

Afternoon all Just been catching up on what I've missed. Have nearly a week off from today, which is nice as hopefully it'll allow me to finish painting... not the house but a 3D model of the game Labyrinth I printed. First ones sort of went okay but not great. But I have a day's worth of highlighting bricks and then washing everything with a dark wash (which I thought would be easy but didn't go so well). Not disheartened though as it's not especially keepsake-ish but would be nice to get it looking good. Need to see if I can stick some fake moss on it but the pieces are tiny - just 5-7cm across. Have a good day :)

Very, very well put that Man Fine dining? Well (and meaning absolutely no disrespect to our resident expert - as Minion Bear most definitely doesn't want to fall foul of "The Boss".....) if some of the offerings meeting that description I've seen on telly are anything to go by then I'm left thinking the following: 1. WTF do you call THAT? 2. Surely you're not thinking of eating THAT? 3. I wonder just how much you get away with charging for THAT? And I don't care if you have been on telly - or how many Michelin Stars you have above the door. (Personally I'd be more interested to see five stars from the local council for cleanliness etc.). 4. You call THAT a main course? A starter. Maybe..... 5. Where's the Chips? (OK, Bear isn't a total lost cause - I'm rather fond of Dauphinoise Potatoes too, though I've yet to find a "Joe's Cafe" with Double Egg, Sausage, Dauphinoise Potatoes and Beans on the menu. Oh well, Bear can live in hope I s'pose..... I'd better stop there, before I reduce iD to total, irrecoverable tears......

N Korea has got itself a operating Missile Car which Lionel thought of many years ago. If its anything like mine, the missile doesn't go very far but the operation is similar. Brian.

Hi Stewart, sorry to hear about your moving issues and can certainly appreciate the stress it is causing. Hope things improve quickly. In the meantime if you 'agreed buyer' comes it a bit just delay him by a bit of inactivity with your solicitor. As you have read our buyers were a real pain and only at exchange did we hear just how much in terms of the agents. we were rung by them with a 'boss' who was not going to be present on then day of completion who was worried about the response a less experienced person was going to be pestered as the buyers had been to ask for the key as they had seen us with vans outside. They were suggesting that keys be left with a neighbour for them to pick up to get in as it was obvious that we had left. SWMBO and the agent came up with an answer the pleased the estate agents - their reply when asked for the keys was that they had to go to our solicitors for them. I duly took the keys to the solicitors and their reaction on receipt suggested that the agents had updated them - remember they had signed and sealed their sale without thinking that they could be homeless - and would definitely 'play the game'. It appears that they did as asap on the day the buyer appeared but had to wait and were not handed the keys until all transactions were confirmed. We have since heard that one of them locked themselves out ... good stress relief for SWMBO and must admit I concurred with her smile. Had written something earlier that referred to a number of other posts but lost it like or instance on John'v vaccination surmises; the antivax marchers and their billboard, the million for cut hair, the cost of wood - also took a bed apart and kept the wood - SWMBO was not happy at that but it will definitely pay off - '42's art update, apologies - with skimping necessary bye pas quiz, big grass snake skins, polymer and supers comment - many of them, Koala sleeping, bonce staple removal and the 'democratic process' of our Fraggle Rock biker. Thanks and cheers. Thanks to reading through todays blogs stress levels have disappeared - ER is definitely therapy.

There's one here. It's the store-room for the village shop but until very recently clearly displayed its identity. Last week two men arrived and painted it into allover plain grey and fitted a felt roof. I suspect that it might at some time have quite literally fallen off the back of a lorry. I was off to bed before but that was subject to the availability of a nightcap. The Nightcap Bar was indeed still open, the nip of Raasay Single Malt was well-received, and it was closer than the bathroom which I had intended to visit anyway. I made suitable use of both in suitable order and am now definitely off to bed. Maybe.

Picked up a fancy camera yesterday as an early birthday pressie. A Nikon D7000, albeit a heavily used but still fully functional one, along with a Nikkor 60mm Macro lens. Couldn't resist giving it a go on the layout. I still need to fiddle with some settings but the results are pretty damn good so far.

It's really good that nothing important was lost - two things that would really worry Bear would be serious flood or fire. As you say, there is (to Bear at least) a somewhat satisfying feeling to getting such jobs tackled; the pro "down-sizers" that appear on telly occasionally would soon tell you that if you've not needed it for 3 years - and it doesn't fall into the "loved" or "sentimental" category then chances are you don't need it. Just don't tell SWMBO that Bear said so..... On the subject of leaks, nearly new neighbour next door (they've been there a year now, apparently) called on Bear for advice about a leaky pipe in the loft; it's apparent that his DIY knowledge is along the lines of "would struggle to get the lid off a tin of paint, let alone use it" category. Photos on his phone were of little use, so I went in to take a look (Loft ladder, boarded, lights all helped somewhat). It was an overflow (condensate?) plastic pipe from the Combi (?) Boiler in the loft; anyway it looked as though the bozo that installed the pipework didn't glue that joint - and at some point the pipework had been knocked. Now it's properly glued with pipe weld and the pipe insulation refitted - about 10 minutes work. I wish they were all that easy. Nearly new neighbour very happy; his missus is feeling a bit frazzled at the moment though, cos' SPT is bawling thru' the night (Bear doesn't hear, fortunately). SWMBO was a little upset to hear from the Doc that "they usually do for the first 3 months" - they're about 5 weeks in so far... Tiler's here....

' morning all from red dragon land. Some big clouds around but the sun is managing to nip in and out between them. Windy too. I did not get a chance to get on here, yesterday, as I decided to nip down to the Log Swing to do a bit of meddling with the pencils before the afternoon's click n collect groceries needed attention. Thereafter, reducing storage on the iPhone to clear the way for more photos. It is surprising how much we hang on to! Anyway, I finally managed to make more room for photos to get a pic of yesterday's 'progress'. Hmm. Maybe that is not quite the right word? 'Panic doodling' maybe better. There is definitely room for a bit more clarity on the knobbly stump, not as easy as I had hoped. Back later with an update... Fitt and Elfie reminding me I am no spring chicken sprightly lamb. Take care all and play safe. _________ Best wishes Polly Best wishes

Morning all, Quick update... 1. Pop-ups appearing more than once. We have raised this with our ad-proving partner and are waiting on a definitive answer. They have said this shouldn't be happening and, looking at the number of ads being served, this is happening to a very, very small (albeit still too high) number of users. Nick, our ad expert, is in regular contact with them and I hope to have more information next week. 2. A cheaper RMweb Gold-type membership. This is something that Andy has been pushing for for quite sometime and I completely agree that it is needed. The hold-up is purely down to other, major web-based projects currently on-the-go within the company. Whilst it's not a huge job, some of the other projects are incredibly urgent and, in some cases, incredibly time sensitive. My request is just not at the top of the list...yet. I have a meeting planned for early next week to discuss how we can implement this sooner. Thanks for your understanding everyone. I am listening. Steve

Sorry, I have to disagree strongly. There are opinions being put forward as real facts, which are contrary to proven science. For example (and without considering the source) the consumption of ivermectin, or the consumption of bleach, for prevention or treatment of covid infections. Those opinions, to me, are misinformation and that judgement is from a scientific, and not a political, point of view.

A stationary 9F at the excursion platform now, which is being passed by another on the slow, with more empties. That one too will be stationary very soon.

Hi all, We had our first exhibition since Covid a couple of weeks ago at the Severn Valley Railway O Gauge Get Together. It was a great weekend and we were also able to capture a sack full of new poses for the range. For anyone modelling creameries, we have a whole host of new figures and milk churns coming out in the next couple of weeks. These depict a lab technician testing the milk, farmer and farm hand, creamery workers moving churns and two poses of a porter and a creamery worker sneaking a ciggy break. We've also scanned the churns and will have them with lids on and off.

A'noon all, hope all's well, A bit of light hearted televisual trivia for those of a certain age (or persuasion!) - it's fifty years since the first episode of 'The Persuaders' was shown on regional TV.... Anyone for a dry Martini and a quick blast along the Riviera....?

Laira, 1991....

Morning, a bit dull here with rain likely later, got a text from the dentists for an NHS appointment, long over due I thought, then I noticed it's for next February!!, oh well that'll be about 2 years since the last one.

And it seems that Aus will be having Nuclear powered (but not armed) subs - much to the annoyance of China (Jeez - talk about pot calling the kettle black......); rumour has it that France are less than happy too (polite speak for mightily p1ssed off...). Oh dear.... I guess even in "those days" the various manufacturers had some concern for little jimmy's eyesight, which is probably a good thing.

Mooring Awl, inner temple Hare early. That does not imply lack of sleep, I had 4 hours, short break 3 hours. Very good for me. Shipping containers, I seriously thought of buying two 20 footers, for use as a shelter for the not to be mentioned hobby. They are quite common around here used as sheds normally painted a plain green, sometimes with additional rooves and entrances. They would have been placed doors to doors with a central wooden section between providing conventional doorways and slightly more length. The reason I didn't go ahead, was getting them the 100yards from where they would be dropped to their final site. The ground is very soft I would have needed lots of plywood and the round poles as rollers , then the Landrover to push. Various model manufacturers made model missile systems for our hobby and road bound vehicles mostly of toy standard . I seem to remember they had one thing in common , the missiles were very disappointing, plopping on to the floor after a few inches.. This week's second major system will be finished soon after I get into work , I left it doing a rerun of one automatic section that just failed before. Time to.. lie back and think of breakfast.

They can be purchased for as little as £1000. Considering that they spend much of their life at sea its no surprise that they corrode quite quickly. The roofs in particular take a fair bit of punishment. Its cheaper to flog them off for scrap or re-use than to send them back to china.

Good afternoon, everyone. This afternoon I’ve a further photo’ by jsb303, of Anlaby Road level crossing as it was in 1961, with a class B1, 61215, on an unidentified train working into Hull. Hull: Anlaby Road Crossing. 1961. by jsb303, on Flickr Best regards, Rob.

Greetings all from Sidcup where a day of work has largely been had and someone has just said that the work that they desperately needed today is now not required until Monday - meaning she is not going to look at it. I have finished it so I will send it to her in about half an hour's time. It's been a mixture of grey and sunny and a week when one of our bins was not taken - seems our little road was forgotten. It's the plastic and bottles bin so it does not smell but it does get full; the wine and beer bottles have to go somewhere! Anyone had any dealings with Beer52 "the UK's No 1 Beer Club"? They're doing a freebie and Elder Lurker is (of course) interested. It's the "exclusive Chicago selection". Phil's zip code is very familiar but I think that is because it is close to the zip code of one of our offices - this would make me guess New York and probably the site of the World Trade Center. If it had not been for that, I would have plumped for the White House

From Flickr

You learn something new every day apparently. Today's newly-learned fact is that the collective noun for hippos is a bloat No wonder they produce so much wind.

Local garage this morning. steve

Good morning everyone The sun is shining and the skies are blue, but at 13C it’s quite cool. As it’s Friday, I shall shortly head off to the butchers for the weekly meat rations and pork pie for my dinner. After that it’s a quick trip to the Trafford Centre for a few more bits and pieces. There are no firm ire plans for the afternoon as yet, but that could change at short notice. Enjoy your day, back later.

Epic.

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Reading through the last few pages it seems that quite a few awls will be headed towards some ER's. Admittedly I have sometimes posted something only to find that I've posted on the wrong thread. I'm not surprised about the one trip containers as mentioned by Jamie considering the disparity between our imports and exports with countries such as China. Our MRC chairman is a truck driver working out of Tilbury Docks and he sometimes shows pics of damaged containers including one forty footer twisted through 90 degrees! Here's a few new uses they have been put too. https://www.marineinsight.com/recreation/top-26-innovative-uses-of-shipping-containers/ Muggatee awaits, be back later.

Off to see No. 1 son and offspring in Chesterfield tomorrow so this morning will be devoted to the manufacture of Grandad's chocolate cake for us to take - once muggocoffee #2 has been consumed that is. This afternoon Jill has decided that she wants to visit Dorothy Clive gardens again with me in tow then it's my turn to make dinner so that's the day gone without any more cobbling. Speaking of which, I haven't forgotten that I promised to post some photographs of progress on the cobbling front and will do my best to do that at some stage today. After yesterday's session with DAS and various other materials forming some vehicle crossings on the layout I ran a couple of locomotives over the developed section to check that clearances etc. we're OK. The good news is that after a minor bit of fettling they were. The bad news is that my 0-4-4 tank was hesitating and even stalling over one bit of pointwork so some investigation is required when I can get the chance. Since none of the other engines I tried out had any trouble I suspect pickup is to blame. Oh, well, the ABS* syndrome strikes again. TTFN Dave *Allus Bl**dy Summat

The new O4 on test earlier this week. Trying it out on the heaviest down train (westbound steel) it needs a bit more weight to get this one up the WJ starter but more problems came in the fiddle yard. The 15mm square motor is very slow running and probably needed a higher gear ratio - the banking locos al run faster and finished up telescoping the back end of the train in the fiddle yard. 63745 may find itself restricted to up trains, should be no problem on Herculaneum Dock next month though. This and the B7 are now with Barry for a good coat of Mexborough filth.

I've found a bit of time over the past week to make some progress with a few things that have been kicking around the back of my workbench for a while, some for a lot longer than others. I made the frames for the Hull & Barnsley G1 a few weeks ago and also cut out the basic shapes for things like the cab sides etc. The past few evenings have seen some progress with starting to solder it together. The side tanks are just balanced in place for now and will be made as separate fabrications before final fitting. The dodgy soldering at the base of the smokebox will be hidden by the splashers and piano front. The wheels are some old scrap Gibsons that I use for setting up the chassis - it is free running when I shove it along my test track so it should in theory run nicely when I get round to getting a motor and gearbox fitted. Still lots to do on this one. The old Dapol Austerity has been on my workbench in one way or another for many years. I must have had this for 30 years and it was always a very noisy and crap runner - I believe this was normal. The first 'modification' was to fit an Alan Gibson EM conversion wheelset - not entirely successful. It ran OK for a bit until the old Dapol motor gave up. The next attempt was to build an RT Models replacement chassis complete with hornblocks and a High Level/Mashima combo. Running was greatly improved but the body still looked a bit rough despite a repaint into NCB livery. The latest modifications have been to get rid of the very visible seam/gap on the tank by changing how the body clips together, fit some RT Models castings, fit a bottom to the boiler, replace the oversize handrails and some of the plastic mouldings etc. I need to fit a few more handrails then the tank can be repainted. It looks like I haven't properly clipped the cab into the footplate on the photo below. I'm not that interested in Austerities but this one was just sat there looking in need of some attention and I felt sorry for it. I haven't bothered with some of the other RT parts like replacement steps and window surrounds. I'm of the view that you can only polish a turd up to a point although some may disagree..... And for something completely different to scratch building steam locos I've had a go at making a Judith Edge NBL MAN shunter - a lovely well-designed kit. This has been another long-term project that I've dipped in and out of since the start of the year. Definitely needs weathering. I'll admit to not knowing a great deal about early diesels apart from being able to tell the difference between one class and another, but I've always thought these were a nice looking prototype. It boasts a High Level 90:1 Loadhauler gearbox and one of Chris's cheaper 1020 motors, and it runs nice 'n' slowly. Cheers Chris

Good evening everyone Well the weather has, once again been very kind to me and I’ve finished the garden fireplace wall. My first task this morning was to build 2 temporary wing walls, either side of the fireplace wall, Sheila was busy this morning, ironing and washing the bedding, so after I’d built the temporary wing walls, I took a photo using my phone, then saved it to the iPad and then asked Sheila to take a look when she had a minute. Whilst waiting for her decision, I swept up all the debris from the area where all the bricks had been stored and moved the few ‘odd’ bricks to behind the shed, but these will probably end up going to the tip. These odd bricks are a different style to those used in the fireplace wall and would have looked very out of place if used. I then brought the recently renovated cupboard from the cellar and put in its new permanent home, below the kitchen window. I then went to the workshop and did some model making. Whilst in the workshop, Charlie messaged me saying that he wouldn’t be coming today, as he hurt his leg last night whilst in Manchester! Anyway, I managed to get an hour or so in the workshop this morning, and I finished constructing the twin gable end window of the engine shed, there’s still one more to do, but that shouldn’t take long. I eventually got an answer just before dinner, Sheila was very pleased with the wing walls that I’d temporarily built. So, as Charlie wasn’t coming, I decided to rebuild them permanently after dinner. Ironically, this is exactly how I envisaged building the wall when I designed it several months ago, but Sheila didn’t like the “untidy side walls” as they looked too ragged, but she now loves them! Still, “All’s well that ends well” to quote a certain Mr W Shakespeare.