aberdare

Hello Everyone, I am Aberdare (Jim's) son, James. I was kindly granted access to his account, so that I could pass on the news to those who I know he considered to be his friends, as well as learn more about the project he was working on. It is very touching to see the messages of support that have been left and I thank you all for your kind words. Dad passed suddenly and unexpectedly on 12th November as a result of heart failure. For anyone wishing to pay their respects in person, his funeral will be on 2nd December 1:30pm, at All Saints church in Kilham, East Yorkshire. There will be a private family committal at Octon Crematorium, followed by a gathering at the Old Star Pub in Kilham. For those who might want to pay their respects but are unable to attend, these should be sent C/O Henry Naylors Funeral Directors, Easterfield House, 1 New Rd, Driffield YO25 5DL. I very much hope that you can make it.

Hello Everyone, I am Aberdare (Jim's) son, James. I was kindly granted access to his account, so that I could pass on the news to those who I know he considered to be his friends, as well as learn more about the project he was working on. It is very touching to see the messages of support that have been left and I thank you all for your kind words. Dad passed suddenly and unexpectedly on 12th November as a result of heart failure. For anyone wishing to pay their respects in person, his funeral will be on 2nd December 1:30pm, at All Saints church in Kilham, East Yorkshire. There will be a private family committal at Octon Crematorium, followed by a gathering at the Old Star Pub in Kilham. For those who might want to pay their respects but are unable to attend, these should be sent C/O Henry Naylors Funeral Directors, Easterfield House, 1 New Rd, Driffield YO25 5DL. I very much hope that you can make it.

I have just been able to read through this thread thoroughly and am shocked by the amount of devastation on every single item within the hall, I would be in tears if this happened to anything I have built over the years, as everything I have is either kit or scratch built I really feel for and send out my sympathy to all those who have lost stock. Very few people have ever seen my layout in person because I also fear that one day. that one idiot will decide it is fun to smash up my valued work for fun, many on here, like myself have had very limited time to model and take great pride in what we achieve in that time, it has far more than monetary value to us. My thoughts are with all those who have suffered losses and I wish you all the best in trying to come to terms with it, something I admit would be very difficult for me to do. Jim

Good to see you back Jeff even for a short update. The Lounge can be found in the prototype section - special interest UK prototype - S &C route. Dons post from last year is the last one made. All the best Jim

Hi Mikkel, once again a great story of life at Farthing with lovely photographs. I did wonder if the move would effect the output from Farthing but it seems not which is good to see. It reminds me that I want to reveal the diary of 'Ralph Keinton Bell' about Hemyock when it is finished so thanks for the inspiration to get out and sort my shed out once more.

Thanks for the replies. As requested here are a few pictures of 'Brie' the rescued feral who is now a very affectionate pet. Richard Yes I have seen the redutex items and have been impressed by how they look, I don't really know why I haven't got around to buying any yet though, maybe it's because most of the rooves in the area I model are covered in slate and I just like making my own. Still hoping that I can resume modelling again soon. Jim

Hi Jonathan It's good to catch up and see how the layout is progressing and I am impressed by how much you have achieved over the last few months, I shall be able to spend more time following this now and look forward to further updates. Jim

Hi Chris Thanks for that link it made for very interesting reading and I now know that in the area I model in 1904 it was fine until Nov 21st and the gardens were full of flowers. A brilliant find. Thanks Jim

Thanks Chris and Andy. The last few months had been difficult and modelling had ceased on all projects, the old mind though was always still thinking about future models and research carried on whenever I had the chance. One of those times was when I got roped in to catching 18 feral cats on a local farm, one of which I adopted and she is now a very loving and devoted cat to me, I do like to try and turn ferals around when I can, but I digress. As I was still in the process of farm building the old buildings that were seen soon gained some interest from myself, I asked for permission to take a few pictures to build models and this was granted. One of those buildings was an old granary that I loved the look of and thought it would be a good subject for my farm. Here are some of those pictures. Front of granary Inside the rear The stables (rear) I did like all the vents over each block and have taken closer shots of them for reference. All this research will not go to waste and as the buildings have been drawn up and just need cutting out this will be my next project once I have my room set out, a little way off yet but plans are afoot. So that is what I shall be doing in the near future using the same stone sheets as on the previous buildings, hopefully updates will start in a few weeks and I am looking forward to getting back to the bench and sharing the build as it progresses. Thank you to one and all for the supportive ratings and messages that you have given, they were and are greatly appreciated and the friendship on here is fantastic in times of need. See you soon Jim

Hi Chris I'm just starting to reply to posts and find my way around, I always have a little grumble to start with over the changes but soon get used to them, like you I am just trying to get followed threads back and get used to the changes. Let's hope we can get back to some modelling soon. Jim

Hi Mal My best wishes for the next few weeks and my thoughts are with you and and your family, devastating news like that is very hard to take, very hard indeed. Jim

I am just taking a few minutes to thank everyone who has posted on here and for all the support shown through ratings and PMs, it has been a huge help to read of others stories and how they dealt with things at the time, the friendship and support shown on here will be something for me to remember and I will also try and return that whenever I can. Thank you. Today was the day that all the disability equipment was removed from the house and I can now see how I want my life to progress from here on once the funeral is out of the way next Friday. Once that passed and I am on my own I hope to get back into normal life and modelling after a few weeks and share life on here with you all once again. Again thank you all for the friendship and support given and shown on here. Jim

Thank you all for the best wishes and messages of support. Linda got through the Chemotherapy quite well but sadly then caught two different infections that her body was unable to cope with, she declined rapidly over three days until she finally passed away at 6.20 this morning. She became well liked in her time on the ward as she was in life and will not only be missed my me but many others too. Rest in peace Linda my love. Jim August 2018 Linda. May 1960 - January 2019

I would just like to take this chance to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, also to thank those that have posted since my previous post. Just to update you all on events since then I will just outline the events of the last few weeks. The Chemo should have started early December but was delayed due to concerns over how Linda would cope with the treatment and her MS, they advised her that it would be best not to proceed but for some reason did not contact her Consultant, we did that ourselves and his report basically said 'go for it', this resulted in the response of ' Oh, we'd better crack on then'. This we are now doing. She is now over halfway through the first session and coping well with the side effects so far and has surprised them with her positive outlook, a long way to go yet though and more tough days ahead but she is up for the challenge. Our thoughts are also with those out there and members of this forum who are going through the a similar fight. Christmas for me will be in the hospital as usual, though not ideal it is necessary but we are both positive about the outcome and just hope that we are right to think that way. All the best to everyone and I shall catch up with you all next year. Bye for now Jim & Linda.

Thank you all for the support shown for us both, Linda has been overwhelmed by the numbers seen on here from people who we do not know and it has helped put her mind in a better place, one of her concerns was who was going to support me and this has now been eased. There have been a couple of low moments, one with medication that has now been resolved and the other concerning hair loss, for those that have met her you will know she has a lovely head of red hair that a lot of people comment on and the thought of losing that was hard to bear at first and more than a few tears were shed. This has now been discussed a lot over the last few days and we shall be off to look at wigs sometime next week and she seems to be much more accepting now, however when it does happen I'm sure we will see a few more tears. Thank to those who have also shared their stories of fighting this disease and my thoughts and best wishes go out to you too. Just to pick one out I do remember seeing you Ian (Olddudders) posting all those years back when I was part of 'early risers' for a while when I first joined this forum, maybe it's time to think of doing that again. Once again thank you all for the messages and support shown it is greatly appreciated by us both. Jim & Linda

There are times when I think to myself 'I wonder where old so and so went' when members I follow stop posting, this is now going to happen to me and as I have a few people who follow my modelling thread I thought I would take a little time to explain why without blocking up my that thread. Those who have met me and many that haven't as well know that I care for my wife who has secondary progressive MS and I have disappeared for months at a time when things have got a bit difficult. Well now things are a lot worse as two days ago my wife (Linda) was diagnosed with Myeloid Leukemia after a long period of illness and will be undergoing high impact chemo in just under two weeks time, this has shocked us both as there were no signs of this at all until a bone marrow sample was taken. So I shall be seen logging in to read PM's but not posting for the forseeable future until we hopefully come out he other side. So that is why I have put this post up so that all those who follow my modelling ramblings are aware as to where and what I may be doing, at least I won't be one of those who seem to disappear without trace. Of course as one of life's optimists I hope to be modelling and posting again in the future as I don't wish my layout to be one of those great unfinished layouts of which I am sure there are many. Many thanks for taking the time to read this and shall look forward to the day when I can once again follow the work of many of you and post progress of my own. All the best. Jim & Linda

Thanks Jonathan but I think I have a long way to go to achieve that, somewhere close would be good though. Hello Mike That's OK, however things have been on hold for a while due to dealing with a few issues here at home, my time is being devoted to my wife at the moment and probably will be for a few more weeks yet. I hope you enjoy the thread and find something inspirational as I have often done reading other threads over the years. I hope to resume modelling sometime next month as I have some demonstrations to do at a small local show early next year. There will be no more updates on this thread for the foreseeable future, the reasons are here. Jim

Hi Mike My work can be found on my 'Hemyock' layout thread which can be found on the following link. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/60803-hemyock-down-on-the-farm/page-18&do=findComment&comment=3204817

You are right in that urban scenes are harder, luckily for me mine is open countryside, as I have a large number of trees it has been easier to create perspective by making those at the year flatter so that I create layers diminishing in size toward the back, this also helps in reducing shadows on the backscene itself. I always view and photograph any work from the left, right and centre before fixing anything in place, view blockers are then used to ensure the perspective looks right from all angles. I usually do show the photographs to non modellers and some have thought they are real places, if I can do that then I know I've cracked it but it has taken me a long while to achieve the look I want and there are still areas to work on. Jim

Inspirational work once again Mikkel, I have a number of wagons and horses to complete but other priorities in life are keeping me away from the work bench, however seeing this has reminded me I need to make time if I can. Jim

A sad loss indeed, Allan gave me lots of encouragement in my work and always said he would visit one day, sadly that will never be, a great loss to us all. RIP Allan and thoughts and condolences to his family and friends. Jim

Hi Chris I know 247 developments now stock some white metal ones but I think they are around £7.50 each, the ones at the broad gauge society are a brass etch but dearer again. I look forward to seeing further coach work when you get time, I have a few of those old tri-ang coaches but will just repaint them and add new bogies. Jim

Hi Jonathan It must be a relief now to have all the work complete and be able to think seriously about starting the layout, try not to mess that nice new clean floor up too much though with the baseboard building. Looking forward to following progress from here on. Jim