Thos

Do you mean American beer is not all like making love in a canoe?

Thorembais-Saint-Trond. Later renamed Thorembais-Grand-Leez because it was 5km from the village. (Use Z or D). http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=6fc8906e-5510-4ebf-8b1c-9f7c668aaf00

Nancy, where the trams don't have rails and now usually work.

Hannut, in the Bishopric of Liège. In 2008 the town made a great fuss of a PPP for renovation of the site - but it is still the same now.

Mechelen, between Antwerp and Brussels. Built in 1835 as a terminus of the first public train on the European mainland. However that was not this monstrosity that is being replaced. http://www.mecheleninbeweging.be/

Perwez in the Duchy of Brabant. www.frw.be/fileadmin/user_upload/aau/FAR_1FS2.pdf €431,000 spent and they've created a car park. OK, it's also a market and a place for a temporary ice rink in winter.

Overijse At the bottom of the page is a photograph of one of the ugliest stations ever and which now remains the bus station. http://cheminsdurail.ligne54.be/293GroenendaalOverijse.html

Hoegaarden, where they still brew light beer for women that becomes 'premium lager' in the UK, despite the little problem that witbier is not a lager. Nothing remains of the old station and tracks.

Eghezée http://cheminsdurail.ligne54.be/142NamurTienen.html

Quite a few things in that film surprised me. Most of the suburban gardens seemed to have lawns - I would have expected large vegetable plots. Few people seemed to be carrying gas masks. There was a lot of traffic, with many taxis. Did they not realise there was a war on?

My 2mm workbench is currently occupied by a 15mm model of a bedroom with en-suite for my daughter's techno project. All the doors and drawers need to open, but fortunately the plumbing need not work. I (supposed to be she, but who's kidding) have completed the toilet, bath and vanity unit, while she built a desk and chair. I've had to use a good proportion of my stash of plastikard and foamboard (what would have been loads for 2mm goes nowhere in 15mm) and my 0.3mm wire is going to make doorhandles and taps. Apart from the waste in materials has been the manhours. Oh what could have been achieved if I had been able to spend a whole weekend on 2mm stuff.

Noduwez in Belgium. Holds an annual pumpkin festival (except for last year when it quietly did not take place). Just to keep the game challenging!

A trip to Blighty resulted in my picking up of several orders from my Niece's house - Shops 1 and 2, Squires, C&L and Eileen's. I have now started to make the jigs in the Track Book. Hacksawing the railstands from plug earths was easy until I changed the blade and found my new blades were too narrow. However, my attempt at the track gauge was not a success. I marked the gauge using a button gauge, but my attempts at filing to the required degree of accuracy were unsuccessful - I'll move on and get back to that later.

I appreciate that. However the chapter in the handbook is very superficial at only 14 pages and the MSE instructions are quite daunting. Having said that, it will be quite some time before I worry about signals - my shop orders for my first track and wagon haven't arrived yet.

The value is in the detail, which is what made the track book so good. Perhaps the prototype part could be produced in conjunction with, say, scalefour to split the load. Each could then produce the scale-specific parts.

Fantastic modelling, but what is a radio and a cupcake? The first looks like a wireless set and the second look like jolly nice buns.

Ideally the Lanky (L&YR), but I would need to scratchbuild most of it, so probably 1934 to give me the choice of Premier (LNWR) and some LMS stock. I'm tempted by a bit of steampunk where grouping was replaced by open access to encourage rather than reduce competition. That would allow me to run many different liveries.

A severe attack of logic: Harry's Hornby will now be moving to the cellar (5m x 3.6m) and the spare bedroom (2.5m x 2.5m available) will now house my 2mm layout. When he prefers girls to trains I'll move my layout to the cellar. The cellar room was cleared, but has now acquired some surplus furniture. When that finds a home I will be able to start preparation. I'm currently adding lights to the Hornby Railroad carriages. I've already added seats and passengers. Now I've joined the Association I'll create a small test track and start practising wagon-building and turnout production.

As the LNWR Society do not have the drawings in their list, I doubt the original plans exist. The K&ESR must have drawn up plans for the restoration and may provide a copy for a suitable donation.

Suggestion to mods This thread seems to have moved to buffers - could it be split and tidied?

The membership pack arrived yesterday - so I'm very happy but my wife thinks I'm mad. She doesn't have much confidence in my DIY ability.

How long does Ian normally take to respond? The reason I am getting worried is that I sent off my application via the British Shop in Brussels (who sell UK stamps and have a postbox where they take letters to the UK to post). It has now been two weeks and he has yet to charge my credit card. I appreciate he is a volunteer and I am not getting stroppy, I just wonder whether I should worry yet.

FastTracks have a tool for flatbottom for a mere $80 plus postage, but at that price it would be cheaper to buy new straight lengths. http://www.handlaidtrack.com/Rail-Bending-Tools-For-Trackwork-s/35.htm

but footpaths copper

Excellent. Thanks for the quick response.