Jol Wilkinson

What is needed is an application that identifies who committed the offence (litter, graffiti, etc.) and sends their ID to the police, their employers, parents, etc. The real problem is not identifying the problem and location and then telling someone else about it so that they can fix it, but developing a culture and social responsibility that stops this abuse of our country in the first place. I've just returned from three weeks in western Canada, where litter is virtually non - existent and a social conscience seems very much more commonplace.

I've just got back from three weeks in Canada, where it appears that the North American divisions of the far eastern brands are having a competition to produce the ugliest car. The Nissan Cube, Toyota FJ Cruiser and Kia Soul (I think there should be an R before that) and the Honda Element seem to be leading the way. The best Ford can manage is the Flex.

What O'leary and Ryanair have done is to capitalise on air travellers greed for cheap flights, who don't consider/understand what they are getting into. Sadly other airlines and industries are happy to follow their lead, as already mentioned. While you can put up with their flight "conditions" for a couple of hours, it becames much less acceptable for 8 or 9 hours, as we recently found when crammed into an Airbus 300 for a trip to Canada. The airline masqueraded as Thomas Cook so we thought would be okay, but turned out to be operated by Air Transat, at whose hands my sister had previously suffered. Although the seat pitch was advertised at 32" as if this was some sort of benefit, we paid a further £39 each(each way) for extra legroom seats. We got seats in the cross aisle (by the escape doors), which were used by all and sundry including the cabin crew with their trolleys, to get from one aisle to the other. A total waste of money/rip off. In addition the seats were so narrow that I couldn't turn sideways at all to get comfortable for a nap (the seat backs didn't recline), so how any "wider" passengers managed I cannot imagine. The attitude of the crew was such that we felt they thought the passengers were nothing but an inconvenience and did nothing to improve the flight experience. By comparison, a flight to NZ last year with Air New Zealand was absolute luxury. We have decided that we will fly with proper airlines in future for any flight more than a couple of hours. For anything less it will still have to be a real bargain. Jol

Actually no, "theyre" as written in an earlier posting in this thread. It reminded me of the usual confusion between the other two.

Modellers that know how to make things, rather than just buy them.

Wonderful. It's great to know that I'm not alone in the world having such views (although my dearly beloved thinks I am). May I add. People who don't know the differnce between theyre, their and there. Rubish speling in generel. Football. Jol

You mean the guy in the background wearing sunglasses?

The London Road Models device is a "rivet embosser" intended solely for embosssing half etched rivets consistently. It was originally devised for that purpose by John Hayes and described in MRJ. Although I have one, I have found that a suitable honed punch, used with a 2oz hammer (much more sophisticated than Coach ) also works very well. Rivetting tools or presses have a punch and an anvil or dolly and will produce rivets on full thickness material. I also have a GW Rivet Tool and have found it quite satisfactory for 4mm use, on the admittedly rare occasions I have needed to use it. Jol

Not actually listening to at the moment, but went to see Joe Brown and his band in Ipswich last night. Never saw myself as a great fan of his but thought they were brilliant.

LRM jigs are now made by Markits (who copied the original ones to sell for themselves). As the original supplier required an order for a batch of at least 2000 to get a reasonable price, and some retail sales were already now going to Markits, LRM decided to buy in from Markits. They are also made from 1/8" aluminium bar stock, but do seem to be slightly larger than the original LRM version. Perhaps the machining of the tapered end also increases the diameter of the adjacent parallel plain section of the jig. Having reduced them to fit your hornblock bearings, I would wipe them over with a coat of light oil to prevent any oxidation/corrosion while they are in the tool box. Incidentally, LRM don't claim the idea for the design, that was Iain Rice's. LRM just started to get them made. Jol

1 - London Road. In the 1980's, it showed me that modelling the elegance of Edwardian Railways, and in particular the LNWR, in 4 mm was possible and that P4 was a practical proposition. 2 - Bramblewick. Because it's beautifully observed and modelled in all aspects. It has even turned me on to the the NER a little bit. 3 - Chee Tor. Because I feel it showed how 2mm or N gauge can be used to model the railway in a large landscape, which is something rarely achieved in other scales. If I ever were to take up 2mm/N gauge, this layout would be the reason. It is a pity we are only allowed three. There are many other layouts out there that also inspire me, some when seen in the flesh and some when carefully photographed and reproduced in a magazine.

London Road Models do a kit for the M71, see http://www.scalefour.org/londonroad/lnwrcarriages.html

Hi Tom, I can't recall if the boiler is etched or brass tube. If etched (which I think it is) it will be supplied already rolled and just need soldering along the bottom seam. If it is thin wall brass tube it will be turned to length with "square " ends for accuracy. That's LRM's usual approach for either type of boiler. The smokebox wrapper and cab roof will need curving, but that isn't difficult. Jol

Tom, Worsdell forever has made a good job of this model but you may wish to consider the London Road Models etched brass kit. It includes a compensating system for the coupled axles and bogie which overcomes the usual problems with getting 0-4-4T's balanced. I also believe that an etched brass kit with cast brass fittings produces a "finer" model than whitemetal. The detail tends to be crisper, with more realistic thickness to the exposed edges of panels (e.g. cab roof), etched coal rails, etc. I gave up with whitemetal loco kits years ago and have never regretted it (even though I've built some indifferent etched kits ).

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned (as far as I can see) the various historical Line Societies. What they preserve, record, etc. will however depend on their objectives or "mission statement". For example, the LNWR Society collects material about the LNWR and its predecessors. Much of this relating to the railway infrastructure is also applicable to the LMS and BR. This information is available for viewing at the Jeremy Flegg Study Centre in Leamington, online at the Webbsite and by purchasing photocopies and prints. The Society also publishes Portfolios (booklets) on various topics. I don't know what other Societies do, but collectively this does provide another large source of information.

Joe Bonammassa "Live from nowhere in particular". Great guitarist - despite playing a Gibson. It's cheered me up after reading various fothing and wishlist OPs and wondering why modellers don't make models any more.

Sandy, is that a hint that you would buy a Renown if LRM produce one? Jol

Thanks, the kit wasn't that straightforward, but worth it in the end. I'm not sure what I'll build next from my stock of boxes (nearly all LRM); possibly a Jumbo. I need to get out Ted Talbot's book (its up in the workshop) to remind myself of the history of the Benbows and Renowns. I think that they were derived from the Jubilees. In the case of the Renowns, as two cylinder simples with the addition of a Whale cab and (possibly) a bigger boiler. Jol

I agree that they were handsome locos, I prefer the original Precursor with the short smokebox and separate splashers to the Georges. There is a movement to build a new full scale George. It would be good if some of the enthusaism that went into Tornado and the other, more modern, new builds produced an Edwardian main line loco that we would never otherwise see. Jol

An update for those interested. Designing and building the test etches, followed by the instructions for the LRM BLoomer has been very time consuming and I've also been working on the extension baseboards and trackwork for London Road itself (not to mention enforced holidays, household repairs, etc.). However, a bit of time went into the Precursor and its now finished, bar painting, etc.