Dava

Can you get a robot to assemble these junksaw puzzles? Mrs Dava has acquired several of the blasted things! Dava

Good to see this investment after all the intensively used but rather naff trains which have provided Valleys and commuter services around Cardiff for decades. Dava

It’s not the Little Loco Co. Project revived? It could create a whole new micro market for O scale, at a very good price for Heljan. There is a sound package already out there from EDM Models. Dava

If you’re given a model J94 or pannier tank, you might be curious about what it is and does. They are quite common on heritage railways. I only knew what a Midland 3F was because it turned up in my train set! Sadly none actually survived. HSTs will be heritage trains by the time the Hornby sets arrive. Dava

Napoleon Bonaparte quote on war no. 44: “Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.” Dava

Bec kits sell Sommerfeldt bow collectors, pantos & tram poles. Im looking at using these for an Hoe tram project. Dava

Has anyone used this online retailer? https://www.topslotsntrains.com/topslotsntrains/about.asp They are keenly priced in some useful areas, Before placing an order, I’d just like to know if anyone had good or not so good experiences with them? Dava

On the GGR website & Facebook page is information about their new book. “The Story of Groudle Glen Railway: Encompassing the Glen & the Zoo” by Barry Edwards. It’s hardback & costs £25, don’t know if this includes postage. I’ve asked about length, publisher, ISBN & any release to booksellers outside IoM. I have 3 previous GGR books, the most recent Plateway one dates from 1989, but this looks to be the definitive one, would just like a bit more info before ordering it. https://www.ggr.org.uk/store/ Dava

What happens to Park & Ride tickets? On EMR these offer a discounted car parking ticket with a return, even cheaper after morning peak, but issue requires ticket validation by staff and it’s not an option on the auto ticket system. With Railcard it’s an even better option, and you can renew railcard at the office too. Without this it will be cheaper to drive to work. I don’t agree with the ticket office closures either. Dava

If I carry on working till 66 then every year adds to pensionable years & then the state pension kicks in, so it’s better all round. Dava

I understand Slaters add a delaying agent which slows its evaporation. I don’t know what it is, I’m not a chemist. Dava

Since the personal tax allowance is £12,570 for 2023/24, minimising tax paid above that is a consideration. Running a modest part-time business from home means some costs can be claimed against tax, for example. Just a thought. I don’t fancy retiring at the moment with costs rising everywhere and paying tax on half my income. Dava

The best model railway show in the East Midlands, Sadly, others are now fallen flags. GCR stand will be there. Dava

It would be great to see this fascinating layout with the brilliant interior brewery modelling displayed at an exhibition in the National Brewery Centre in Burton, just like we used to. Sadly that isn’t going to happen now, the museum & venue is closed but I hope we can still see it on completion. Dava

Anyone come across the MTH Overton coaches? I’d like a pair for my shortline! Dava

The pattern for the J27 was made the old way, a work of craft by a young pattern maker, I saw it. Can now be done in CAD & 3D print. A disappearing art? You still need a foundry to pour the metal and machine shop to bore & finish it. Dava

Glenda was a great actress primarily in the 1960s to 1980s and then an MP of principle.I remember Elizabeth R & many other performances on TV at the time. Total respect for her art, sincerity and passion. Dava

I will just add a little bit of background about Bunny Mine for anyone new to this thread, as all the photos prior to 2022 were eaten by the great RmWorm attack. Bunny, like nearby Gotham, is a real place and part of the continuing history of the Nottinghamshire gypsum mining industry. Bunny has a mine adit, the former Silver Seal mine on which the microlayout is based, nestling under the scarp slope of Bunny Old Hill. The steep sided cutting and woodland have yielded gypsum fragments and moss which have been used, as is my wont, in the scenic treatment of the layout. The layout is pictured below, it is just 40x12 inches plus a shunting stick and display boards at shows. It is powered by Ruston locos [some supplied by the real Mr Ruston], O&K and others. Mine cars by KB Scale, turnouts and track handbuilt. There has always been a plan to connect with the Mill, again a real if lost place, using a circular track for efficiency. A lot of information and materials have been gathered for this. It is not all serious, as at Easter the mine is taken over by bunnies and chicks retrieving wagonloads of chocolate eggs from the adit. there is also a working bunny burrow in the first picture, along with fox and badger. The layout has been exhibited several times since 2018, twice at the 7mm NGA at Burton, at the Mickleover Trent Valley Group, and other local events, even at Rushcliffe Halt last year [static due to wet weather]. One excuse for the slow progress of the extension, apart from the workshop periodically accommodating GCR reunification display models for attention, is the incursion of US shortline models as a competing attraction, wanting their own running line. An example of this sort of thing is in the final picture. Dava

Thanks Dijon and Giles for these updates from Rhyd & two delightful quarry Hunslets. Looking at the list of layouts for the 7mm NGA this Saturday in Burton, there are some fine layouts but, again, none in 014, which is where this thread and Bunny Mine came in a few years ago. I hope to visit during the day and am resuming planning for the envisaged Bunny Mill extension. Sadly the photos in the 14/11/21 post above have disappeared but here is a clue of what is planned. My modelling has been limited by ridiculous workloads, continuing wrist and medium vision problems. Only the first of these can be made better! Hope to make progress this summer. Will I build 8 turnouts or rethink the design? The rear section will be concealed in the mill, the spur at the front connects to Bunny Mine. Dava

Here’s the Gauge O one I built back in 2016. Rather lightweight & powered on one axle.

Nice to see narrow gauge modellers on here using pictures! Less frequent on NGRM. Dava

Link to useful photos about the Spondon & York locos here http://www.emus.co.uk/spondon.htm Dava

I cycled this line, staying at Ravenscar and doing Scarborough then Whitby and back over two days. Lovely but the pull back to the summit from Whitby past the old mines is a long climb. It is much more woods than when the line was open. Dava

Yes the Battlefield line one is ex Spondon. Now in black. The Manchester industrial museum has this one in b/e mode. Ribble railway has one. These were all English Electric built at the former Dick Kerr tram works at Preston where the design originated and had many variations including overhead, batteries or both. I built a 7mm scale model of one a few years ago. If you work at Mail by Rail I really enjoyed a visit a few years ago. I’d like to do the tunnel walk as one of the best bits we’re the glimpses of stored trains in the return loops lower down. Dava

Could it run on batteries only? The English Electric steeple cab at the Battlefield Line runs on batteries and some of those locos were b/e only. Recognise traction batteries are expensive! Dava