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Listen please, the old software had security vulnerabilities and needed updating to this version. Work has been done to make it more like the old version than the out of the box version. I'm getting a bit fed up with some people criticising when they don't consider these aspects or read any of the relevant posts about what's going on. Many people have shown a lot of understanding but some just want to shout an opinion. Frankly, that doesn't help one scrap.

Hello, Mal's wife Gabe here. Really very sorry for being the bearer of the worst news, but Mal died on Monday 18 March at 9.40pm. His children Cat, Fin and I and his best friend (my brother Vic) were all with him, here at our new home in Ancrum Bank. It was so very tranquil. So tranquil in fact that it took me and Fin ten minutes to be absolutely sure Mal really wasn't breathing, he looked so serene and calm. But he was definitely ready to go. All medical and caring staff said how content he looked, wrapped comfortably in all the warm wishes of all those who loved him, from both near and far. A celebration of his life will be held at Mortonhall Crematorium, Edinburgh on Thursday 28 March at 12 noon to which all are warmly invited. I've been working hard all week getting his funeral arrangements sorted and his celebrant, Onie Tibbitt, is keen to get close friends to share the funny things he said or did that exemplified the kind of man he was. You guys were a massive part of his life. He was very close to you. Many is the time he would leave your forum with a moist eye telling me some sad news, or, much more often, with a chuckle. Sadly, you are the guys with whom I have least connection as I have never met or spoken, or indeed communicated in any meaningful way with any of you apart from the briefest of updates while Mal was in Basingstoke after his major op in February last year. You guys may have been a facet of his life which was an entire mystery to me but now it is time to unveil the mystery. It is clear, as Onie and I have pored over Mal's lifetime, that the theme of Railways surfaces time and time again as a major focus in his life. Apart from your friendships, I would love to receive sentence or two from you guys explaining the significance of trains in general and RM in particular to Mal. It is one of my biggest regrets that Mal never achieved his long-held ambition to set up his own model railway here in our new home. Who knows, in the fullness of time, I may even pick up that challenge, but don't hold your breath or you may turn blue and keel over and I've had more than enough of that thank you. If any of you would like to contribute your thoughts, Onie is happy to get in touch with you for a chat, or you could email her anecdotes of funny things he said, or things he did which seemed to exemplify his character, before 5pm Monday 25th March so she can start compiling a tribute in good time. Onie's email address is celebrant@onietibbit.com, so feel free to email her direct, or if you would rather chat, let her know and she can arrange a convenient time. And in case you don't know it already, our new address is 1 Ancrum Bank, Dalkeith, Midlothian, EH22 3AY, tel 0131 660 1609. My mobile is 07563557310. I’ll be shutting Malcolm’s email and phone contracts down at some point, so remember to delete him from your contacts list, but feel free to please add me if you wish ;-) I know you will understand that I have my hands full. So please don't be overly concerned if I don't acknowledge any replies on the forum for a couple of days. Once I can stop juggling balls while unicycling, and once things start to feel a bit more settled, if it is not too presumptuous, I look forward to logging in and maybe getting to know you guys a wee bit. Gabe

Hello everyone, this is Alan's daughter Sophia. I'm not familiar with the site so apologies if there's a better place to say this, but I just wanted to let you all know that my dad passed away peacefully last night. He always so spoke fondly of the community here, so it's important to me that you know.

Having to consider end of life care for my mum is not what I wanted to be doing this week...

feeling like suicide

I've just realised that I was talking to Thomas O'Halloran outside Tesco where he was playing his accordian just four hours before he was murdered. I think he must have been on his way home. I didn't know him but I used to see him there quite often and had just told him how much I enjoyed his music. The murder itself was only about 500 metres from my home where I often walk and next to the Greenford branch. I'm saddened and shocked as is the whole neghbourhood.

I apologise to my friends/followers/whatever on here for not really updating. I've had a very odd few weeks including my brother getting married and a trip to Corfu that ended with us almost getting stuck there, amongst other things. This culminated in my Nan, who has been mentioned multiple times in my threads, passing away just after I returned from Corfu on the 6th. As such my motivation for railway-related modelling, or modelling in general, has been near enough nil. I thank you all for your patience and hopefully will be able to give some updates when I have some motivation back.

Sorry for the outage today. The server started singing 'I don't like Mondays' and that was it.

Recovering in hospital after another bowel op. Several bits in the scrap bin, hopefully what’s been causing the problems in the first place.

Firsthand experience that the NHS is this country's most valuable asset.Instead of getting Easter eggs I got multiple heart attacks, which came as a bit of a shock as up to now my health has been excellent. After a few additions to the plumbing of the ticker I'mnow firmly on the road to recovery. I cannot speak highly enough of the care I got in Southampton General Hospital given by people from all four corners of the globe, all diamonds in the crown that is the NHS

I should be checking out of Hotel Treliske next Tuesday after 6 weeks of care by the NHS. Can't wait to get back to my home bed, but will miss the wonderful staff for whom I will be eternally grateful

Sad news about Bigwordsmith Quote from his FB Account "Hi everyone, this is Peter's daughter Gemma. I just wanted to inform everyone that Peter caught covid over Christmas, and after a short battle passed away on the 6th Jan" RIP Smiffy we will remember you buddy.

Just a quick update to let anybody know who has been following my thread etc. I have had to put my modelling on the back shelf so to speak due to loosing my Father to the dreaded Covid virus recently. This has had a knock on effect as my Dad was my Mums full time carer, as she has had two strokes. Since my Dads passing, my Mum became positive to the virus, so my time is taken by looking after her full time. At present she is making good progress, not bad for someone who is 83 in march. (She will thank me for making that known !) The little bit of modelling I have managed is on the rolling stock front, one being the re-motoring of my super detailed Lima class 40. It really is too good a model to just sit at the side gathering dust, so I took the plunge and fitted a new motor from Strathpeiffer models. The other bits I have managed are the renumbering of a couple of Bachmann class 40s.

Flippin bug has put me in hospital.

I was taking a couple of friends in Oxfordshire to lunch when local white van man ran into the back of my car at a junction. Drivable home with caution but almost certainly a write off and friends still in Banbury A&E being checked out. Bu**er!

An American gynecologist had become fed up with malpractice insurance and paperwork, and was burnt out. Hoping to try another career where skillful hands would be beneficial, he decided to become a mechanic. He went to the local technical college, signed up for evening classes, attended diligently, and learnt all he could. When the time of the practical exam approached, the gynecologist prepared carefully for weeks, and completed the exam with tremendous skill. When the results came back, he was surprised to find that he had obtained a score of 150%. Fearing an error, he called the Instructor, saying, “I don’t want to appear ungrateful for such an outstanding result, but I wonder if there is an error in the grade?” “The instructor said, “During the exam, you took the engine apart perfectly, which was worth 50% of the total mark. You put the engine back together again perfectly, which is also worth 50% of the mark.” After a pause, the instructor added, “I gave you an extra 50% because you did it all through the exhaust pipe, which I’ve never seen done in my entire career”.

I wish to officially congratulate the milk in my fridge for lasting longer than the European Super League.

Just heard from the IET, I'm now an Incorporated Engineer (although I have to wait to get my number before I can use 'IEng'!)

In hospital at Dad's bedside.....

Jobs you don't expect to have to do on a Sunday morning - dealing with a potential paedophilic entrapment scenario. Thanks to the sensibilities of some members it's been swiftly addressed.

I was minding my own business earlier today, sat in my own railway room, contemplating an aesthetically pleasing pannier tank, when I heard an advertisement on the wireless for the LNER! Yes, the LNER! The effrontery, bringing the name of that railway uninvited, into my own private sanctum!

Coronavirus Announcement: I have taken the difficult decision today to put the shutter of the shop down. We are no longer allowing customers to visit the store in order to protect us all and to enable the business to stay open. While the shutters are down we are busy processing mail orders and phone orders. Please stay in touch online or over the phone we are here to help. For now we are trying a collection service, but we will ask you to remain in your car until instructed that your order is outside the warehouse 2H door for you. To enable this to work we ask that you place your collection order via the website and let us know you have arrived. After receiving your order ready email (Not before as it may not be ready). A staff member will then deliver your items outside our warehouse door for you to pick up. Thank you for your custom we aim to process all orders as fast as we can. Returns & getting products for sale will be slower than normal as were are implementing a none handling goods procedure after they are delivered for four days. Thanks Peter Corbitt www.petersspares.com 01642 909794

😥

A day when problems are of a significantly greater number than solutions. I must not have days away from the desk.

Even as Captain Tom lay in hospital fighting for life, a group of young men, who probably owe their existence to men like him, gathered together, unlawfully, to watch a football match endangering themselves and their families. They knew they were doing wrong, with the arrival of the police they jumped over a balcony and ran away. Cowardly, selfishly, no doubt alive with 'woke' sentiments and an over inflated belief in their own self entitlement, they deserve nothing but derision and scorn. See https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-55895734

I’ve joined this forum in the hope some kind people will understand my plight. My husband passed away and I’m left with a lot of OO gauge items I’m not sure what to do with. I will be posting pictures of things I have no idea what they are and hope you can tell me what they are and I can do my research. Thanks in advance.

When the woman two doors down complains about me tapping track pins in while working on the layout in the garden at 7pm on Saturday now has to put up with builders working inside the house three doors down all day... Karma

"Hey Google, add panninis to my shopping list" "I have added pantyliners to your shopping list". FFS!

As the street's binfluencers we seem to have messed things up this week.

Asked today to get some 'Old Jamaica Ginger Beer'. I told my son that I couldn't find when we were there the other day. He explained that it's in the 'foreign foods' section - and it was. That seemed at interesting take on foreign as it's made in a factory at Kegworth, Derby. Maybe Tesco know Derby wasn't on the GWR?

Merlin magic! A Spitfire yesterday and the Lanc today and saw that as it turned and dropped for low level run along the course of the river (we have no dams locally😇)

I know - you ask a question and I'll spend an hour or so researching the answer for you, then you ignore my reply completely, at least that stopped me wasting more time. From now on I won't be helping anyone who I don't know or has less than 1000 posts.

Sorry for the outage since 02.00. Seemingly the server decided to have a restart as it hadn't had one for so long. It then takes it 9 hours to check the files. Great.

RIP Captain Tom - so sad to read that news.

Feeling right royally down this evening - I have a call tomorrow to look at some software development, I have a ready made solution to the problem I will be faced with but there is another way to do the same thing and I am attempting to get my head around it. But can I get it to return even the most simple dataset as it should do - no I cannot, spent two days, seen some progress but not enough. Sometimes I feel like I am a total failure and my imposter syndrome is banging all the drums it can muster at present to make me feel much worse. Hopefully, now I've said this out loud I will knuckle down and sort it.

Like so many Grandparents today I will be celebrating my grandson's birthday today. 3 years seem to have flown by and we have always been in contact throughout that time, he's my Best Little Mate. Today will be a strange time for us to communicate and celebrate in the best way we can together and with the difficulties it presents will be challenging. Not the same giving him his card through the letterbox, but I have seen his Brio layout ALL over his sitting room floor and I look forward to the time we can both play with it again together. My heart goes out to ALL Grandparents in these awful times. G

was saddened when today at his eye test, upon wishing the excellent East European optometrist good wishes for the future was told that they were leaving because "we're not welcome here". A depressing day.

This week...

Amount of wagons announced by Accurascale in 2022 so far? 0. That changes on Saturday 😀

The Queen is dead. My she rest in peace and rise in glory. Long live the King!

Cancer sucks ................ 😡

Was in Ukraine in 2005; small Town called Kolomia. Played with Steam engines for a few days. Went back to Kiev to fly home and visited two very big Loco Depots whilst there. It was all truly amazing and such a wonderful place. I feel for them; how life is changed. P

I am still about - just a bit of a 'troublesome time' - hope all are well, will be back online soon, remain safe my friends. Bob

My 1960s Southern Region EMU/Steam transition era layout is Branksdowne Park. Set in the Bournemouth area during 1966-68. It is long and thin - just 13" wide - to fit in my shed. I can accommodate 28 feet of the scenic section at any one time, but the layout overall will be 40 x 16 feet with a 10 road fiddle yard at the rear. The concept is to show full length trains of up to 12 cars (3 x 4-car sets) at relatively high speeds passing through a small Suburban station, redolent of so much of the Southwestern Main Line. In this scenario, the S&D route is still open, although Bournemouth West has closed - so all S&D traffic has to pass through our little station too. The first five scenic boards are nearly complete (July 2021) with the signalling installed (Absolute Aspects) and most scenic work finished. We then have one more 5ft scenic board plus two semi-cenic corner boards to do, one of which is half finished as it contains the second part of the Steam Loco depot. We expect to be able to show it in October 2022 at the East Anglian Railway Museum's Small Trains Day.

Starting a new job at a model shop today! Exciting times!!

Damned bug is still giving trouble. Another day lost sitting in A&E being prodded, poked and stuff being pumed in.

I booked xmas off so loads of modelling time. Was feeling a bit down that it was nearing the time to return to work. Feeling down turned to feeling ill. One positive test later.

That pop up google add is driving me bl00dy mad. SO ANNOYING! ARRRRRRRHHHHHHH

Do not change your behaviour to avoid being infected. Assume you are infected and change your behaviour to avoid transmitting.

I’m nervously waiting to see what tomorrow brings me as an NHS Doctor. But modelling is an amazing relaxation and distraction. Got a project on the go to unwind