Kelly

Some of the 'not reckoned to be upto the job' and 'unpopular' monikers for some classes came from the tribalism for the pre-grouping railways that some crews still harboured well into grouping. So some of it is more pinch of salt as to relevance about the actual locomotives performance. Some of it though was different ways of doing things and not getting the efficiencies expected and so on.

I don't think Simon needs more crazy ideas in his head LOL! I'm sure both would be popular if the tooling was developed with the ability to offer both (plus the 1 versions (3 cylinders weren't they?). They were supposed to replace the old 0-6-0s and be a quick stop gap measure, but it never quite worked out like that. They had some features in common with Maunsell's other designs, but the changes made, ultimately made them poor steamers (I'm going by an article in a recent Southern Way here). My point is there is so much to choose from compared with Diesel/Electric locomotives. Plus if you offer a pre-1922 design you get potential for a number of potentially sought after liveries such as SECR green, which would be attractive for retailers looking for exclusive models, which is always going to be a consideration when thinking of what to make. Which Hornby and Hattons offering pseudo pre-grouping coaching stock more recently (or about to) along with the Bachmann SECR Birdcage stock and the LSWR Gate-Stock, they'd have more choices to pull them in those potential more popular liveries.

I've never heard of that brand and no idea if they operate over here, I couldn't see any indication on their webiste from a quick look. Individual shoes is not something I've seen offered by any brand really. I suspect to get a trainer or shoe to fit my left foot atm I'd need to buy 2 pairs, one size 11 for the left, one size 10 for the right. It might well prove easier to just get a pair of size 10 sandals that are a bit more rugged than the pair in the photo above, kinda like the hiking type. As the straps will give more room and adjustment potentially. Will have a look in a few shops tomorrow/Tuesday and see what we can find. Good! more stores should do this. They should be banned full stop really as even pre-pandemic and pre-heatwave they were often a source of park or green area fires and/or just discarded after use, especially on beeches.

I suspect we'd have to take the bath and shower out and replace it with a shower cubicle. The walls are all stud and board here, so grab rails would struggle if I had to grab them when slipping. A lot of shower and bath seats have very low user weight limits unfortunately. A larger shower cubicle would at least be able to take a self supporting seat for me. But unlikely we'll be able to do that anytime soon. Though Richard would be able to do some of the work himself as he has done plumbing courses previously, but couldn't complete the plumbing course to qualify as he couldn't find any local plumbers willing to let him shadow them which was needed for the completion of his nvq before he could do the placement and qualify. Unfortunately his retina detached and then the whole pandemic happened before he could do more about it, so that ship has sailed.

There are countless varieties of steam locos never done in RTR to choose as well of course. Diesels and Electrics have mostly been covered off now. D(E)MUs/EMUs have numerous gaps but I think it will be unlikely we'll see too many filled given the costs involved these days and units apparantly being difficult sellers unless iconic. We need as modellers the hum drum and boring though, the ugly rather than the cute. But the flashy and the cute tends to sell better sadly, especially when the big manufacturers typically have items in their ranges pretty much aimed at the collectors rather than the modeller.

This is at Richard's house. The moving in of me hasn't been finalised. When thats all finished with I might be able to get the occupational therapy to do it, but until then can't get anything done as GP is still registered over in Coventry until the move is finished.

Evening all. I thought I'd give an update on some milestones today. 1, first time wearing anything other than the boot or slab dressing on my ankle since February. I couldn't get the trainer on the foot unfortunately due to the swelling in the ankle. But we managed to get a pair of sandals on. Tomorrow or Tuesday we'll look for better options potentially. I suspect I need odd sizes due to the swelling. 2, managed to get up stairs when we got back without going up on my bum backwards. I used the crutches on the bottom steps then used the railing on the right and was able slowly to get up the stairs. I don't think I had the energy for the backwards on bum method by that point. 3, first shower since February. With Richard supporting me I was able to step into the shower (it is over a bath so have to step over that first). Had to do it wrong way around then turn so I could lead with the good leg. Richard stood with me whilst I showered as there is no railing to grab to steady myself. We also washed poppy prior to this, much to her disgruntlement. So some much needed progress! I'll leave you with poppy's face when we got back from shopping.

I was thinking of the N as it would be possible to sell under their IRM brand as well as accurascale, giving more viability to the tooling investment. Design of the tools such that the N1 could be done and maybe the U/U1 would be good, but I'm unsure how viable that is with today's way of making tooling. The Q would be nice, but it is a bit of a odd one as it was not deemed a success and bulleid would have cancelled their building if he could have.

Keeping some milk in the bathroom sink would probably suffice. But I can live without tea I find as it was pretty much rationed to tiny cups whilst in hospital. My discharge from hospital took 2 weeks due to the Occupational Therapists being an utter pain! there was complications of my being registered in one location but wanting to go home to another, where they couldn't send support. I was by far too unstable to be considered for crutches at that point, so the frame was the only option given until I later was sent to the physiotherapists as an outpatient. Those early weeks post-hospital were quite difficult until I could start weight bearing where it started getting easier each day (hopping is no fun and my leg/ankle on the other side didn't like it at all!). Now I'm on crutches and geting about with one with no boot, so thats definitely an improvement on March!

Until more recently I made jewellery, mostly as a hobby. I'd have people saying 'you should start selling it' etc. I looked into it and figured the costs in materials and time just wouldn't make it viable, especially when people will steal designs without a care (often happens to a number of friends and favourite makers of jewellery) and post them cheaper as they've not taken the time to develop those designs. The same sort of thing (wihtout the design stealing of course) would apply to the custom made models. You then have the problem of a lot of hourse invested and the buyer potentially either refusing to pay or not being happy with the end result for some reason (custom work is excluded from the 'change your mind' legislation), though I'd imagine selling on those items would probably be possible, you'll have a rather small market unless you're making something that noone makes in either kit or rtr form. I think slowly 3D printers will potentially be the way forward, especially for the smaller scales. The costs of a printer these days (for resin) can be as low as £200 for one that can create rather good detail. a full mk3 length coach wouldn't fit on their print beds though, so that is the current limitation as those printers with a bigger printer are still a hefty investment.

We have one downstairs in the cupboard. But since getting out of hospital and being less mobile I've until recently been drinking a lot less tea as I've been dependant on others to bring it to me (I still am as I couldn't get it up the stairs currently still). There is actually a kettle upstairs I could use, but until recently getting water for it would have been a problem, currently no decent place to set it up, that might change though soon, though where to keep the milk without getting a mini fridge will be interesting.

To some extent I stopped buying new models a while back. The last items I bought were: KR GT3 (payments spread over time), SLW 24 with sound/KA/P4 x3 (paid on payment plan), Accurascale 92 w/sound (again, payment plan, probably the last purchase of a RTR model for a while), a Hornby H + pull-push set, Hornby 48DS (these last two coincided with birthday/christmas money). Aside from that it has been the odd second hand item or kits and parts to cut-n-shut. As I am mostly interested in the Southern and 3rd rail electrics, I am mostly likely to continue down the route of cutting and shutting Replica bodies with their MLV cabs to make various EPBs and others possible from their bodies powered by their chassis. I currently have a Tyneside EPB that needs the final cab work to replicate the original tyneside style (I still need to figure this out) and the start of a 4EPB on the go (work halted due to moving house and health however). I expect I'll carry on down this route as theres no way I can afford the cost of the Bachmann 2 or 4 car units at RRP anytime soon. Wagons/coaches are a bit easier to justify still at least, but I'll still turn to kits I expect (for the small harton layout I'm planning, most of the stock will be kit built anyway). I have a feeling more and more people will start moving towards 3D printing with resin printers available for around £200 that can do a pretty decent job (especially if you model in N I expect where you won't be limited as much by the small bed sizes on the cheaper model printers). Combine a 3D printer with a cricut and you can probably make most of what most people need with enough suitable 3D design work done of course.

At a minimum they'd have to cost their hours at minimum wage. And it'd be a lot of hours. rTr is expensive for the consumer, but cheap for the manufacturer to make after the initial investment in tooling and design (cheap as in cost of pumping out 1000s of plastic parts compared with other methods of making the same parts, the assembly and painting is certainly not cheap and this is a good bit of where increased costs are coming from as wages increase in previously very cheap labour prices).

I have a mug in the cupboard that would all of that in one go. I used to find the ceramic was thick enough that the tea stayed warm enough to drink as long as you didn't dilly dally too much or forget about it. Easier than making trips up and down stairs with a smaller mug. Combine with a mug warming pad on the desk and it'd be golden. You have to get used to the weight though, but aside from that...

Morning all. Hope everyone is well on what appears to be a sunny and probably warm day. If not best wishes as usual. Not much to report this morning, aside from actually sleeping for a change. Though by far not enough sleep. Now to grab some scrambled eggs on toast and a cuppa.

Tim's boards are excellent. But as Clive says, he is just one person and he has typically a lot of orders and the problems of finding wood has likely effected him a bit as well (probably effected all who make laser cut baseboards I'd imagine).

I go in phases of watching various youtube channels and then move on to other subjects (tech, etc usually) for a while and then go back and watch a selection of channels, usually things like McKinley Model Railway, Everard Junction, Chadwick, Marklinofsweden, Dean Park and a few others. For the most part I typically find their progress and their presentation interesting and informative. I've put some of my own videos on YouTube of course, mostly model railway show video footage. Of course barely anyone watches it, but it doesn't really matter to me as it takes me so long to feel like bothering to edit the footage to put on there.

Looking forward to the show. Feels like a long time since I made it to a scale specific show of any kind! It'll only be the second show of the year I'll have made (getting to shows between February and early July was pretty much impossible dut to my breaking my ankle and leg and dislocating the ankle back in february, I'm gradually getting my mobility back and will be wheelchair/crutches bound at the how probably). I'll be helping (as much as someone can on crutches/in a wheelchair) Natalie with the Signalling Record Stand, most of my help is her being able to use my other halfs car (with me being unable to drive for the foreseeable future due to the above), though my being in the car does mean she has the peace of mind of RAC cover.

Given that models of diesel locos from some manufacturers are hitting the £300 mark and probably will go beyond it before long, I can't see many new EMUs that aren't retools of an existing model (so already some investment there) or a collaboration with the manufacter of the actual units (like with the 800) hitting the shelves. So far we've however had (in no particular order or order of quality): In 4mm at least: 416, 411, 2HAP, 423, 466, 450, 350, 2Bil, 2Hal, (2Hil, 2Bal), 800, 395, APT, Pendolino and others I've probably forgotten about. A 4DD is forthcoming from KR, Theres a 4BEP to come from Bachmann still and some others. Personally I'd love to see more Southern EMUs announced and released. But the reality is the costs have gone beyond what I can justify anyway and I expect in the situation the economy of a lot of countries are in right now that will be true for a lot of people. So I'll eventually get back to cutting up Replica bodies to make EPBs and others. Maybe at some point I'll get around to getting a 3D printer and explore that option, or a cricut (probably quite suited for things like Hastings units).

I've really enjoyed this show in the past and I'm sure it'll be a cracker again. Unfortuately won't be able to make it along as it clashes with Scaleforum and I'd already committee to going to that before the Stafford dates were announced.

I have no use for a 93, but they do look nice from the renders/cad i've seen. The 68s have proven rather popular with modellers and the 88 is probably likely to be in demand also I expect, but possibly still too few in the class and liveries for now. Best of luck with the 93, I'm sure it'll be excellent.

I specifically had a mondeo estate for the space for the mobility scooter. A Galaxy at the time would have been easier to get in and out of, but wihtout being able to afford (at the time I didn't qualify for motability, and still don't) a hoist for it, the mondeo was better as the boot was lower, so easier to load the scooter in. Also estates tend not to have a lip on the boot vs hatchback models where you have to lift over it into the boot. These sorts of things are very much things most poeple wouldn't even think of, but for most disabled people they very much are important. As well as heated seats (my mondeo didn't have them, but Richard's focus does and they're great for my bad back!), cruise control I find is essential. Gives me that ability to move my legs around and helps stop them cramping, a little things, but makes a difference. Of course currently I'm not likely to be driving anytime soon care of breaking my ankle in february, and I'm not sure if I will manage the clutch peddle when the ankle is 'healed' due to the limited range of movement I'm left with. Sadly, component shortages are not limited by far to cars (try getting hold of something like a raspberry pi for instance) and shows no signs of ending, if anything it might yet get worse. When the pandemic hit, the car makers, already on process nodes (measured in nm, the measure of how compact a process of making a chip is) that are obsolete for all else but military and nasa these days (28nm or above iirc, Intel for their CPUs are on 10nm and Apple for their iPhones on 5nm/3nm, AMD for their chips are on 7nm/6nm/5nm), found that they didn't need to make as many cars, so they cancelled their production slots. They thought they'd just pick up where they left off. Those slots got sold off when the tech shortage hit. So now the car companies are scrambling to catch up, unable to source not only the chips, but capaciters and other electronic components (see the capaciter in the APT from Hornby as an example of this happening) and the chip fabs are effectively telling them a) they don't want to support those nodes anymore, so will be winding them down b) the prices are much higher and the number of slots available less due to demand. Que the car companies then having to effectively redesign a lot of their electronic equipment to account for this and put their prices up whilst not having enough chips and components to put into the cars at the levels they'd promised customers. Of course, second hand cars sales have boomed as a result too.

Don;'t forget the LT versions. Bachmann's isn't correct for the LT versions they produce as the cab was altered for the LT tunnels and of course the tripcocks etc. The Maunsell N class could be a good choice, Bachamann's model is very old now, and the Woolwich ones some of which did go over to Ireland I believe? Then of course the N1, and other varients thats have never been produced.

I'm following how the physiotherapist instructed me to get down the stairs with the crutches. The crutches provides a bit more stability as it is harder for the crutch to wobble sideways in your hand as your upper arm stabilises it in effect. With being rather anxious about the stairs I think for now the crutch is probably safer for me. Going up without the railing on the side of the injured ankle is much harder as it is the side ideally I need to be grabbing allowing my right arm to help push me up the stairs with the crutch. For now I think until my ankle feels less wobbly I will probably stick to going up on my bum backwards. Though I can at least now get myself to my feet at the top of the stairs, I very much lacked the strength to do that for months. Saves dragging myself along the landing and pulling myself up onto the bed which was never much fun, especially with poppy's idea of what helping means! Still all progress in the right direction! In other news, I heard from my father today, he has a suspected infection in his lung surgery wound and is awaiting tests. This time the surgery was much involved so hopefully he should be fine with antibiotics and not end up with really bad sepsis like after his bowel surgery.