edward66

I'm always impressed by the rapidity with which you get your houses built, they look spot on too!

Maybe the fence is a bit light but maybe it was a new fence to replace a rotted one, it does look like new wood.

No entries since August 20th, hope everything is alright in Oregon!

Won't the planks warp as they dry or not if they dry naturally?

Petition signed!

Going back to Baz's topic on Pontefract and liquorice I once tried liquorice ice cream. It was horrible!

Regarding Julian's comments re Marmite this product now belong to Unilever as does Bovril and both of them have had their formulae altered in the same way they drastically changed Pears soap some years ago. Bovril now only has a proportion of beef extract plus added chemicals etc and Marmite has less yeast extract and other changes to cheapen it. Marmite still tastes pretty much the same but Bovril has a completely different texture. It's the modern world I guess! Happy new year to all the readers of Shaun's brilliant work and postings. Edward

The Dent layout is simply superb, quite difficult to distinguish it from the photos of the real thing! The only tiny criticism I have is that I don't think you would see a bus on the coal road, I don't even think a bus could make it to the station car park up the narrow winding road, steep and including a very tight hairpin bend. Edward

Just read through the 4 pages of this topic, found it very interesting. There are some railways that try very hard to make things interesting for volunteers and have well structured introductions and education in the topics that they will come across. One danger is the "fun" factor. Volunteers are just that and they do want to enjoy their volunteering or they will soon quit. Nowadays we have a very much safety oriented society so there is much more beurocracy to deal with which doesn't have much of a fun factor but it is very necessary. When I was a volunteer back in the 80s it was a great deal of fun and not too much worry with rules, everybody was assumed to have basic common sense, [now it is apparently a rare commodity] nobody got hurt and things got done. Now we have a new rule that forbids people to work on a railway until they are 16 but again some more enlightened railways have special courses for the 14-16 age group which seem to be successful. Obviously in the H&S climate of today volunteering can still have some of the fun factor but with an underlining of seriousness. Young people are the future for the heritage industry. I do feel that as yet the numbers of them actively involved is probably insufficient for all the heritage lines and some may very well fall by the wayside. Only old codgers like me can remember the days when steam engines were part of our daily experience and as we fall by the wayside today's youngsters will have to create their own railway heritage to ensure at least some of it will continue.

When was the last issue published and is it still going?

Thanks for that!

What is covered by this volume, brakevans and what else?

I put some money towards the restreamlining of 6229 foolishly imagining the NRM would return it to steam so we could see an LMS streamliner in action. It appears that I was wrong and it will remain "stuffed and mounted" in York. Very disappointing!

Thanks for the info S Thanks for the info Shaun, I didn't know such things existed but they do and what a huge variety of them!

Pardon my ignorance but what is beading wire?

I believe it was the world's first flat decked bridge, built towards the end of the 18th century it still carries weights far in excess of traffic weights back then and has had very little maintenance over the years, Southern end has a tee junction and Mr Harrison even built matching houses facing the bridge to complete the picture.

Hey Shaun, where do you get the crumpets from, struggle to find any here in Arkansas and the ones I did find were a very poor substitute for Warburtons. I usually bring several packs back when I've been to UK and put them in the freezer. Have to ration them though! Edward

Flying Scotsman looked so much nicer without the double chimney and weird blinkers. Edward

I got my copy free with Railway Magazine a couple of days ago. I found it very interesting and a good read, lots of useful information on suppliers such as a long list by county. Some but certainly not all of it aimed at newcomers, nice article on 3D printing which is something I know little about. I hope it continues and the proprietors can find enough outlets for it, I assume it is supported by advertisers. Great start anyway, well done. Edward

Maybe it was thought that lime didn't have any effect on nasty organisms, after all it was only limewash not quicklime and it wasn't worth the labour and cost. I don't suppose we'll ever know the reason for it now unless it is documented somewhere. It was only a year or two after grouping so maybe there were big four discussions on it which resulted in its demise. Edward

The alloy was always called MAZAC, I suppose it might have changed. Its chief problem is "tin plague" which is a crystalline change that causes the alloy to crumble especially notable on old Hornby O gauge wheels but sometimes seen on very old Dinkies. Edward

Sorry to have given you some extra work to do Mike but I'm sure you are a stickler for accuracy and will feel obliged to do it. There must be countless other modellers who are unaware of the 1926 ruling and will continue to lime their cattle wagons!

Hi Mike, I looked in the search box at the opening page of RMWeb under "use of lime in cattle wagons" and it came up with numerous references. Apparently it was banned as long ago as c.1926 which I must admit surprised me so I imagine it continued unofficially in some places.

What a great collection of pictures, this layout is wonderful! One small point, I did a bit of research and discovered that the use of lime in cattle wagons was discontinued many years ago and certainly before BR days yet it is seen in many layouts. Maybe it continued unofficially in some places?

Hi Ron, Any timescale for your return to this wonderful project yet? We devoted followers wait with baited breath! Eward