CKPR

No new modelling but the box containing the signal boxes also contained a couple of other M&CR buildings, namely Dearham Bridge station building and a yard building from Bullgill. These have done stand in duty on 'Mealsgate' but were built for my long scrapped layout, ' Linefoot Junction'. This was only ever seen by the Manchester group of the EMGS and some of you might recall our stand (and my older M&CR and Furness models) at the MMRS exhibitions at the CWS New Century Hall.

If it's the plastic sleepered 36" radius version, I would leave the SMP 'kit' well alone. The PECO track will be the very old school code 95 flat bottom rail and fibre (cardboard) sleepers variety that was variously superceded in the 1960s by PECO Streamline and by copperclad & code 75 bullhead trackwork.

Just use an EM back-to-back gauge and reset OO gauge wheels, making sure that the wheels are perpendicular to the axle.

I do like St. Tabitha's (formerly St. Tabitha's & St. Samantha's), although I always presumed that Castle Aching contained the parish of St. Trinians.

Happy Christmas to one and all from a miniature Edwardian north west Cumberland (said he typing this near Ludlow in the 21st century) - no more modelling for now until next year.

More progress, if only of re-uniting the various parts of Mealsgate. I had previously made a start on both Mealsgate and Allhallows signal boxes [for more on the restoration of the latter, go to the "Lost Railways of Cumbria" website]. For the first time, these can be placed on their correct positions with Mealsgate SB at the end of the platform adjacent to the station building, of which more anon, and Allhallows SB on the other side of the road bridge on the approach to the station. Mealsgate is, of course, the 'wrong' way round at the moment but the controls were originally put on this side for the Workington exhibition. Therefore, I need to move the controls to the other side before I can properly re-orientate the whole layout i.e. so that the line comes in from the left-hand side. For anyone confused by the previous references to the "Bolton Loop", (a) this is Bolton in west Cumberland and (b) the line was two branches, one from Aspatria and the other from Aikbank Jct near Wigton, both of which terminated at Mealsgate.

Speaking as a Cumbrian of soi-distant Flemish-Scottish ancestory who identifies with pre-Roman Britain...oh alright, I'll admit it, my parents were from Yorkshire !

Roads ? Tick. Wheeled transportation ? Tick. Towns ? Tick.Two storey buildings ? Tick. Trade ? Tick. Coinage ? Tick. Leaders accountable to the people ? Tick. Women as leaders ? Tick. A thriving culture of brewing and communal boozing ? Hic. What we didn't have was a regular army of well-trained & well-disciplined professional soldiers...

Linking to our discussion of model shops in and near Carlisle on the M&CR branchlines thread, there is plenty of evidence that indicates that Romano-Britain continued to function after the Roman withdrawal. In particular, Carlisle [Luguvallium] continued as a centre of trade and political power much longer than other Romano-British cities, probably due to geography. Needless to say, some of us Cumbrians and yes, Kemi Badenoch, we do exist (now there's an example of someone who peaked at being head girl or captain of the school debating society) hold that the Arthurian myths are a distant echo of the survival of civilisation in Carlisle into the very early Dark Ages.

Hi Nigel Good to hear from another member of the August Order of Nelsonians ! I got on board a bit later with 'Sound on sound' and 'Quit dreaming and get on the beam' , just in time to start getting the marvellous Cocteau Collectors LPs as they were released. I'll confess that I didn't immediately make the link with BeBop Deluxe but that was a treat in store. I last saw him live performing with Ian Nelson when they toured with The Lost Satellites. Definitely one of the most under-appreciated musicians as I'm sure you'd agree.

Ah yes, the M&CR and it's reserve lists. At one point, there were at least four engines on the reserve list, being renumbered R1, R2, etc. Photographic evidence suggests that these engines were mostly used on the Derwent branch and possibly on the Bolton Loop as well (currently away from my library so can't check my back issues of the CRA journal) along with the older 6w and 4w carriages.

Well worth a visit - as well as model railways, they stock a good selection of wargaming supplies and practically a wall of Tamiya military kits just like model shops from the 1970s & 80s. You can also visit Carlisle and go to the ever excellent C&M Models as well. Both shops are within easy walking distance of stations on the M&CR - what more could you want ?!

I took my mum to an O/P appointment at Wigton Hospital today and whilst she was being seen, I went into the town to find Jacksons model shop. This turned out to be a most excellent proper model shop and I've stocked up various scenic materials to supplement the DAS and textured paint already in stock.

I found myself in Wigton today and went to visit Jacksons in New Street for the first time. Wow ! What an excellent model shop with the emphasis on model railways but lots of plastic kits and diecasts as well together with a wide range of tools, paints, materials. This is a bit of a hidden treasure, a proper old-school model shop in the 21st century. And they are just up the road from the former M&CR station on the Cumbrian Coast line (2nd station out from Carlisle).

What about having a hidden loop or sidings inside Corkickle tunnel ?

Looking at the proposed plan, I was wondering whether you could do away with a hidden section altogether by prototypically merging the station with the turnback sidings as per Whitehaven Bransty. That way, you could use the original station area to model the dramatic coastal line around Parton (aka 'avalanche alley') or may be even keep it as St Bees.

"Money can't buy happiness but it does bring you a more pleasant form of misery" - Spike Milligan.

I'm currently working my way through a backlog of NHS mandatory training so I'll add it to this weeks To Do list...

Here's an ironic twist - I'm an old-school scratchbuilder modelling an obscure pre-group railway in 4mm / EM but whilst I do count rivets (and bolts), my models are pretty lo-fi (read, crude) compared to modern RTR. Does this mean that my rivet counter licence is going to be revoked ?!

I can't unsee that abomination !

I'm a former Reader in clinical psychology who has left the university sector and gone back to the NHS to work out my time until retirement. I used to think that being on the staff at a university was the pinnacle of achievement (I know, my aspirations have never been very wordly) but I'm glad that I left to do something useful and fulfilling, if a bit tiring at my age.

You're quite right that lifting track can be tricky, especially if the glue is too strong, Resin W being Exhibit A in this regard. I've just relaid the carriage siding at Mealsgate using clear PVA from The Works, which is strong enough and a palette knife will easily remove the track and ' bonded ballast' if need be.

As in many cases, I would agree with IAR here. For the ballast on Mealsgate and my other M&CR layouts, I use Woodland Scenics 'fine cinders' , which I think is either walnut shell or actual cinders, to represent ash ballast supplemented by wood ash from our log burner. He did use PVA for trackwork construction but the much weaker "School Glue" variety.

I use Evostik to affix the cork down - I know it's a bit pricey but I've found that cheaper contact adhesives are even more unpleasant to use. For fixing the track down, I use 'school glue' PVA. The problems I'm having with the carriage siding on Mealsgate are entirely because I used Resin W for expediency, which is overkill and dries like a hard but slighty rubbery plastic that is very hard to remove from cork.

I would recommend using cork sheet as the track bed as it's does the job well and is a natural material (and smells nice !).