Mark Forrest

While it didn't quite feel like Summer, riding conditions in the Peak District weren't too bad at all today. Despite all the rain, Upper Derwent reservoir was looking surprisingly low. Hose pipe ban next week? One for the Gate Appreciation Society

Here in Staffordshire the weather has suddenly brightened up in the last hour or so after a wetter than expected start this morning. Bikes are ready and a riding location for tomorrow has been selected - just hope the forecast is right and we get a reasonably dry day tomorrow.

That's why I do P4; less chance of unwanted visiting motive power turning up when you're away from the layout at a show

After about 8 weeks, Mrs F has finally got her e-bike back with a new battery fitted. Picking it up from the bike shop who were dealing with the warranty issue turned out to be a bit of a faff as when she gave it a quick test ride in the car park the dropper seatpost wouldn't stay down. After some frantic activity involving all of the mechanics from the shop, they worked out that the outer cable to the post had been snagged during reassembly. They ended up having to drop the motor and battery out again to free it off and replace the cable. I'm glad we checked before leaving as I wouldn't have liked to try fix it myself. Anyway, it's safely back home and on charge hopefully a chance for a bit of a test ride after work tomorrow. Then there's downhill world champs to watch on TV on Saturday - looks like the track might have already claimed a few victims in today's practice runs.

The rare combination of being in the right frame of mind and having some free time coincided today and I decided to take a look at the Class 14. After a while searching for my rolling road, I gave up and tested it on a length of track from the former Fryers Lane fiddle yard. It was initially hesitant to run, but seemed to get going and started to run reasonably well, although occasionally stalling. This confirms my suspicions that there is nothing fundamentally wrong with it, it probably just needs a little TLC. Let the dismantling commence! Having worked out how to get the thing apart, I've cleaned off the paint from the cosmetic frames (which are made of a shiny plastic that doesn't take paint well) and given them a waft over with some primer. It's tempting to try to add a bit more depth to the very two dimensional springs, but I'll probably leave that for now.

I built a retaining wall around one in a similar position on Black Country Blues; always regretted doing that - a taller base or timber frame support seem to be much more likely based on prototype photos.

Those wheel centres look great. In addition to the self quartering, the ability to fit, remove and refit during the build must be a significant advantage too.

I must admit, the weather has been getting me down a bit. I don't mind muddy wet riding in the winter, but could really do with a bit of a break from it during the summer months! I've even resorted to a Zwift ride this week when I couldn't be bothered going out; something I hardly ever do in the summer. That said, I've still been getting out 2 or 3 times a week for a mixture of on and off road riding either on the gravel bike or hardtail. The full susser has been a bit neglected, mainly because Mrs F's e-bike is still in the bike shop waiting for a new battery to arrive from Spain so our riding has tended to be less gnarly. I've been getting into the habit of taking a bike with me when I'm working in the office (Welwyn Garden City) and getting out for a mid-week ride there. Usually I take the gravel bike but found an off ride route that was (just about) worth taking the MTB for this week. Got a couple of events coming up which should help with the motivation. On Sunday, the Square Snail starting from Shrewsbury. Organised by the same guys who do the Salop Sludger, it's a point to point ride with the distance between each point increasing in a Fibonacci sequence. Sounds suitably geeky, should be fun. Then in September, it's the Grindleford Goat, our third time riding this event. I'm slightly tempted to put my name down for a 150km Audax at the start of September too. Only a week until World Champs starts now though, so looking forward to watching the XC and DH.

No real progress on the layout as any spare time over the past couple of months has been spent on some jobs around the house or (in the brief gaps between terrible weather) out riding bikes. On the way back from one recent bike ride, I popped into a model shop and bought myself a Rapido Toad. A bit of an impulse buy, but it goes nicely with a Heljan class 14 that I bought recently through the member's sales section of the Scalefour Society forum. Think this may be the first Rapido product I've bought, I'm impressed by the level of detail and ease of P4 conversion. The Class 14 is in need of a little work, it was made clear by the seller that it can be a bit hesitant to start. With that in mind a strip down, clean and possibly new pickups and on the to do list.

They were at the Scalefour Soc show in Crewe on 3rd & 4th, trading as usual with a well stocked trade stand.

A work trip to Edinburgh today so I took the bike with me in the car yesterday afternoon and stopped off at Glentress to stretch my legs after the long drive. My first time riding there (and riding solo) so just did the red trail. A short but enjoyable ride. There are a couple of trail diversions in place and construction work, like this gap jump which I assume is for the World Champs XC course. Driving back this evening down the M6 passing the signs for The Lakes with the bike in the car on a sunny evening took all of my willpower to stay on the motorway!

Interesting as it hadn't been used for a couple of weeks as she has been resting her knee. We charged the battery on Friday. Plugged the charger in this morning and still showing fully charged, but still no power. We've just handed it over to the mechanics at the shop she bought it from; earliest workshop slot they have is two weeks time!

Long Mynd Batch Burner yesterday. For one reason or another we'd not ridden this event since 2019, so were looking forward to it. All was going well, we arrived in plenty of time, signed on, got our numbers etc, until about 20 minutes before the start Mrs F pressed the power button on her e-bike and got nothing. After a few minutes of frantically trying to switch it off and on again, back pedal to wake up the motor and bang it on the ground - still nothing. Faced with the decision to pull out before the start or struggle on, pedalling a 20kg bike with no assistance and a sore knee (the reason for taking the eeeb in the first place) she bravely decided to give it a go. I'm not sure how she did it, but despite the extra weight, drag from the motor and sore knee we got around in well under the 4 hours I'd estimated it would take us. Despite all the drama, it was a great ride. Lovely atmosphere at the start/finish and out on the trails. Just 450 mountain bikers out doing what they love, in beautiful surroundings on a sunny day; while also raising money for a local school. Nice bit of cake and a pint of Ludlow Gold at the finish too. I think we'll be back next year, hopefully without the mechanical issues!

Mrs F and I rode another section of the Trans Cambrian Way yesterday. We started out near Llananno, initially heading east on cycle route 825 before climbing up to rejoin the trail where we left it last time near Beacon Hill. From there we rode the section to Bwlch-y-Sarnau then a short section of road to get us back to our starting point. Some fun flowy descents and a nice bit of rocky singletrack at Brondre-fawr Hill. Nothing particularly technical and all the climbs rideable, but either long or steep enough to be a challenge. 30 miles and 4000' elevation - definitely a loop I'd ride again and good practice for the Long Mynd Batch Burner event that we're riding in a couple of weeks.

I'm running 38mm Schwalbe G-One All Round on my gravel bike for riding much the same sort of surfaces (with the occasional bit of rocky and/or muddy bridleway thrown in for good measure). It doesn't look like they do these for 26" wheels though. The Marathon Plus that Jim suggested is definitely worth a look. 2.35" seems wide for that sort riding so I'd consider going a little narrower.

What sort of surfaces are you riding on? In my experience, you can't go much wrong with something from the likes of Schwalbe or Maxxis. If you're looking to reduce rolling resistance you could run something narrower.

Looking good. Where did you source that holder for the Multimaus handset, I could do with one of those myself.

I saw the 40 and 45 on their way south last week, quite by chance I happened to be out walking the dogs when they passed.

I like the look of this, nice depth to those baseboards too. A reminder that even a basic two sidings and a loop takes up quite a lot of space! Are you building it to scale length or will there be some degree of selective compression of the scene?

Started a little project today to ride the Trans Cambrian Way - a 100 mile mostly off road route from Knighton to Dovey Junction. Personal circumstances mean we're unable to do it by riding the entire route over three consecutive days, camping or staying in B&Bs along the route. Instead, we'll break the route down into sections and ride them as an out and back or (as we did today) incorporate it into a loop. Not setting any time limit, we'll just do it when the mood and weather suits this type of ride. Today a relatively gentle start; Knighton to Pool Hill on the TCW, then a mixture to bridleways and lanes back to Knighton. A few bits of railway interest as we rode parallel with the Heart of Wales Line for much of the ride including the climb out of Knucklas where the trail climbs alongside the viaduct.

Llandegla yesterday. I'm not normally a big fan of riding here, but had a really good ride. Last time we were there (September last year) some of the more interesting sections of the red trail were closed due to forestry work, but these were all open yesterday; just one black graded section still closed due to storm damage.

My Fryers Lane layout was originally built for through running, with a fiddle yard at either end. I've now replaced one of the fiddle yards with a (shorter) scenic board. As a nod to its former configuration, I've added some sleepers beyond the buffer stop, suggesting the line has been cut back to this point. As a further hint to this backstory the buffer stop on the former through line (now a headshunt) is of a later LMS/BR pattern, in contrast with the earlier LNWR one on the siding next to it.

One of the things that was discussed during the layout's outing to SWAG was the need for something else in the yard area at the back of the layout. @mudmagnet had a very nice oil tank with him on his sales/demo stand and I was able to try this for size. It looked good, but the configuration of pipes and ladder didn't quite work. Fortunately, thanks to the versatility of 3D printing and Richard's skill in designing stuff, it was possible to tweak the design to suit. It arrived in yesterday's post and looks fantastic - I'm really looking forward to painting and weathering it.

Mrs F and I are off work this week, so went out for a ride today. As usual, we let the weather determine where to go and ended up driving up to the Yorkshire Dales, starting out ride just south of Grinton. After a fairly brutal climb, we dropped down to Castle Bolton. After that, a headwind did it's best make hard work of what should have been a reasonably fast traverse before climbing again, then descending from Greets Hill to How Hush. A nice ride and stunning views - the weather treated us kindly too (except that headwind). Tough going at times with 3400' of elevation in a 22 mile ride, worth it though.

This afternoon I thought I'd spend a bit of time clearing a few things off my workbench. Inevitably I got a bit distracted and started tinkering with a few projects that have been hanging around for a while. I did consider starting a separate workbench topic, but (for now at least) think I'll keep it here. First up, a Parkside RCH 5 plank receiving its brakes. The recent arrival of vol 5 of David Larkin's "The Acquired Wagons of British Railways" on my bookshelf has some useful prototype info. This pair of Chivers Crabs are long overdue a trip to the paint shop. From a slightly earlier period, I've made a start on applying transfers to this Midland D299 in LMS livery. As usual, the layout has become a shelf for unfinished wagons!