Wright writes.....

[robertcwp]

For over 20 years, I had no 'home' layout, but I was part of the exhibition group who displayed the likes of Stoke Summit and Charwelton at near on a hundred shows. I built a lot of locos/stock for both layouts (and for other WMRC layouts in OO and EM). 

 

I'm glad I now have a home layout in LB, if nothing else because it's a huge delight to have so many visitors (two groups this week). 

 

Changing the subject, I realised today just how much of a zealot I must appear to many. I visited one of my local clubs today - a friendly bunch, with a marvellous clubroom and test tracks for those who might not have there own layouts. One guy came along, and proudly produced a OO A3 which (it would appear from the conversation) he's just had renumbered/renamed 'professionally'. He invited comment, and a small group of 'ooers and ahers' gathered. I was (sort of) invited to look at it, and (sort of) invited to comment.

 

'I wanted it in wartime condition', he said. 

 

'Why has it got a 1946 number on it then?' said I. It was a model of FLYING SCOTSMAN (Hornby), numbered 103. I went on to point out that it had left-hand drive, a red-backed nameplate, front numberplate, a corridor tender and a banjo dome - all incorrect for FLYING SCOTSMAN immediately post-War. 'I don't care', said he, 'I like it, and that's good enough'.

 

I said no more. 

 

I wonder how typical he is. Certainly, from what I've seen, typical of the club. I don't think I'll bother going much more, because I'm sure I'll eventually 'offend' someone. Do many who indulge in this hobby not look, make no effort to conduct research and live in blissful ignorance? Interestingly, in the club library there were the appropriate RCTS and Yeadon volumes - both freely available to examine and borrow. 

We all live in blissful ignorance of lots of things! I think each of us focuses on different areas and issues. It won't come as a surprise to anyone who knows me that I focus on carriages, train formations, units and getting things more-or-less in period. When it comes to wagons, I'm ignorant of most things.

 

A current pet hate of mine is seeing Bachmann 4 Cep units on exhibition layouts with the trailers the wrong way round - two last weekend at Milton Keynes for example. Still, that's not as bad as the layout at Folkestone where I saw a 2 EPB and 2 Hal running coupled together. Yes, really. 

[APOLLO]

Layouts ! - I've never been without one since 1960 !!

 

1960 - 4' x 3' Tri-ang TT

 

 

Upgraded to 7' x 3' up to 1971,

 

 

A version of Kings Cross (one Bec brush 4 and two Brush type 2's !!

 

 

Then we moved house and I moved up to OO as my TT stuff was worn out. It was boxed - I still have it..

 

1971 - 1979 Layout around my bedroom - first a representation of Sheffield Victoria

 

 

Then rebuilt to Garsdale, then morphed to an American HO layout

 

 I subscribed to Model Railroader - bought my own house in 1979, discovered cheap American O gauge, built a concrete sectional garage and that was that --- until 1993 when I got married, moved house, moved the actual sectional garage, rebuilt the O gauge  layout (as now). I built an OO layout (Chesterfield Market Place) in a spare bedroom until the twins were born in 2001, O gauge still intact, OO bedroom layout was scrapped and moved my OO to loft  around 2003 till now !!

 

A wonderful hobby for me over the years.

 

Brit15

[St Enodoc]

We all live in blissful ignorance of lots of things! I think each of us focuses on different areas and issues. It won't come as a surprise to anyone who knows me that I focus on carriages, train formations, units and getting things more-or-less in period. When it comes to wagons, I'm ignorant of most things.

 

A current pet hate of mine is seeing Bachmann 4 Cep units on exhibition layouts with the trailers the wrong way round - two last weekend at Milton Keynes for example. Still, that's not as bad as the layout at Folkestone where I saw a 2 EPB and 2 Hal running coupled together. Yes, really. 

If one was hauling the other dead, that would be OK but I take your point. Did the layout have a third rail? Was it properly laid out at points and crossings? On many that I've seen the first train to go over the pointwork would have had its shoes knocked off and the juice rail displaced.

[BlackRat]

One and a bit......well established OO/4mm.....due for reconstruction next year and a sloowwww burn O for which I am slooowwwllyyyy building stock.

 

No rtr 7mm .......yet.

Edited October 16, 2018 by BlackRat

[St Enodoc]

Tony has played with my trains - DCC and all. See link below.

 

Martyn - you don't have to join a club to exhibit your layout. Once word gets round that you are "in the market" exhibition managers will be queuing at your door.

 

Apollo - what was that on the mantelpiece in the first photo?

[New Haven Neil]

I have a layout, but it's a fair way from LB!

 

Lost interest in it now, so the next one will be SR 3rd rail - with no EPB's running with older units!

 

[robertcwp]

If one was hauling the other dead, that would be OK but I take your point. Did the layout have a third rail? Was it properly laid out at points and crossings? On many that I've seen the first train to go over the pointwork would have had its shoes knocked off and the juice rail displaced.

Having seen the unit pairing, I didn't dwell to look at anything else.

[D.Platt]

Evening Tony

 

Sorry the problem lies with the rear set of driving wheels which are set back under the cab to much , it was when I was trying to set the sand pipes and searching on line for photos that I realised the fault, the frames are per drawing but it seems they should be the other way round,l fear trouble at the valve gear and cylinder end of the loco but ,

I’ve bitten the bullet and stripped the chassis down it’s only taken thirty years to get it here so what’s another few weeks to try and get it right ! perhaps it’s a good idea to have scale drawings when starting a kit but who supplies them these days ?

Dennis

[Clive Mortimore]

Tony has played with my trains - DCC and all. See link below.

 

Martyn - you don't have to join a club to exhibit your layout. Once word gets round that you are "in the market" exhibition managers will be queuing at your door.

 

Apollo - what was that on the mantelpiece in the first photo?

Hi UDJ

 

It is a King/Castle/Star/Saint/Lady/Hall/Grange/Manor/County, well they all look the same to us non-GWR muddlers.

 

As for your second statement, both Pig Lane and Hanging Hill got no invites after they appeared in magazines.    Suppose diesel depots with scratchbuilt locos and workable track plans aren't as sexy as impossible track plans and RTR diesels.     

[APOLLO]

Tony has played with my trains - DCC and all. See link below.

 

Martyn - you don't have to join a club to exhibit your layout. Once word gets round that you are "in the market" exhibition managers will be queuing at your door.

 

Apollo - what was that on the mantelpiece in the first photo?

 

It's a gauge 1 live steam GWR County class loco, scratch built by my Grandfather. I still have it - and still after many years awaits repainting - I'll take a picture & post a photo.

He also built a larger scale Britannia live steamer which he named "Marcus Superbus" !!! - My brother over in Canada has that loco. Another is (was) over in Australia, an A3 I think.

 

My Grandad (I hardly knew) - died in 1964 when I was aged 12. He was a wonderful engineer and I have a couple of his live steam creations, this loco and a few static engines. He was an electrical engineer by trade, who, in WW2 did work for the government in Liverpool "de gausing" merchant ships (to make them un-magnetic) - The Philadelphia experiment type stuff !!!- I don't know any more than that, other than he was awarded a sum of money from the Government for services rendered after WW2. His nickname for me was "Fingers" as I was always messing / interested in his workshop  etc !!. His workshop was the front room of his small terraced house just behind Wigan North Western station goods yard. His lathe was foot treadle powered, I have that also (but can't - dare not use it !!). I'm sure he was my inspiration for modelling - but my modelling is very different than his though !!!

 

Brit15

[Headstock]

Evening Tony

 

Sorry the problem lies with the rear set of driving wheels which are set back under the cab to much , it was when I was trying to set the sand pipes and searching on line for photos that I realised the fault, the frames are per drawing but it seems they should be the other way round,l fear trouble at the valve gear and cylinder end of the loco but ,

I’ve bitten the bullet and stripped the chassis down it’s only taken thirty years to get it here so what’s another few weeks to try and get it right ! perhaps it’s a good idea to have scale drawings when starting a kit but who supplies them these days ?

Dennis

 

Good evening Dennis,

 

I have a side view of a B16/2, a locomotive that is proportionally identical to your B16/3. I can't see any issue with the position of the driving wheels as you have it in your photo. However there dose seem to be a problem with the proportions of the cab. Unfortunately I don't have a drawing of a B16/2 or 3 to confirm the impression I have that the cab on the model looks too short  in length and too tall in height. Isinglass would be the best people to contact in order to obtain a drawing with the correct proportions.

Edited October 16, 2018 by Headstock

[Lecorbusier]

Talking about trying to get things right. I have recently started having a bash at scratch building some 1903 MR wagons from Styrene sheet ... I will post something when I am further on. Its amazing how much I have learnt in a very short time about the humble wagon. I am lucky enough to have scans of some of the original drawings (available for download from the MR Study Centre) And some reasonable photos ... but the main point here (old news to many I know) is that when you have no kit to build ... no RTR to modify, you really have to look and study just to be able to start. I am not advocating that everything should be scratch built, but having a bash at something relatively simple really teaches detailed observation.

[Headstock]

Interesting Andrew,

 

That would be a huge TV audience. I also think many would enjoy a serious programme about Railway Modelling craftsmanship .. just like they do in many other areas.

 

And/Also rather than Either/Or.

 

Good evening Tim,

 

I don't generally watch a lot of TV, if I did I wouldn't do any modeling. The craftsmanship angle probably has some merit, as long as you are not preaching to the converted.

[Headstock]

It is important to recognise that people's circumstances change with time.  I used to have a layout, then children arrived so the available space and funds had to be devoted to their needs.  Then my career took off and I suddenly had more funds but not the time or brain capacity for modelling!  Now I have retired, and have the space, time and funds for a nice layout... and my own layout room, and soon will even have a dedicated workbench!

 

I wouldn't say that I was any less of a railway modeller when I didn't have my own layout, just that my circumstances were different.

 

Phil.

 

Evening Phil,

 

that sounds like my Father.  Apparently, it was the fault of my arrival on the scene that required him to sell his lathe!

[Woodcock29]

Do I have layout - yes. Have I ever been without a layout? Not really.

 

When I was young Dad had a small 6 x 4 railway in our timber garden shed at Potters Bar. For my 7th birthday I received my own layout on a board a bit smaller than 6 x 4 which I could lay down on the floor of our sitting room. About 18 months later in mid 1964 we emigrated to Australia taking all our locos and rollingstock packed in steel deed boxes Dad had got from his work. I've still go some of those boxes. For about 4 months I lived on my uncle and aunt's farm whilst Dad looked for work and Mum and Dad looked for a house in Adelaide. A few months later and we were in our own home - but not much space for a layout so Dad built another 6 x 4 which rested on two of the steel deed boxes and took up most of the spare floor space in my bedroom.

 

A few years later we demolished the old steel garage at the end of the garden and had a new 30 x 11 shed built - for a car and a 10 x 11 railway room. The railway in this room just grew and eventually went around all the walls. When I got married in 1978 little did my wife know she was marrying a guy who came with two 4 x 2 baseboards! These were built at my parents home whilst they were away on their first trip back to the UK just before the wedding. They were erected in the spare bedroom of the flat/home unit we lived in after our marriage - basically just to provide somewhere to lay some track for loco testing purposes - no real intention of building a proper layout at that time (I built a Wills K3 and GEM D34 and some wagons in those few months). Six month later we moved to Mt Gambier in the SE of South Australia where we were able to rent a Govt house that came with my job. This had 3 bedrooms - so a spare for visitors and the smallest (12 x 8) for a layout. So in that room I built my first proper layout with proper ballasted track - just a simple through station with 3 storage tracks in each direction on the other side - this was really a layout on which to run the stock I was building. Three years later we bought our own home in Mt Gambier - which had a former single garage that had been converted by the previous owners into a rumpus room. So the layout was moved and erected in this  21 x 11 space. But the layout remained 12 x 8 at that stage as we had to be able to walk partly through the room to get to the double garage the previous owners had built on. That layout did eventually grow slightly with the addition of a high level branch.

 

Almost 10 years later (end of 1991) we moved back to Adelaide, where we rented a house for 3 months whilst we looked for our own home. The layout was in storage for those 3 months and a few more in the new home - that didn't stop me modelling though as I built my model of B3 Valour in that time. Our new home had a 24 x 13 shed which we lined and unfortunately I needed to make space for 5ft wide tool/garden shed at one end, so I ended up with 17.5 x 13 for a railway. The existing layout was erected for about 12 months whilst I planned the new layout which duly got built, taking up 17.5 x 8 and incorporating the branch station from the old layout, that station being relaid previously with C&L track (previously Peco Code 100) - but I never got the tiebars to work to my satisfaction, so the the bulk of the new layout was built using the then new Peco Code 75. The layout never got sceniced, It was really only a test track/storage for all the stock I was building.

 

Another move of home in late 2005 provided me with a shed 24 x 18 and a double under house garage for 2 cars - why else would one move home!  So the current layout which is very slowly being sceniced, has been up and operating for the last 10 years plus. Since I took an early retirement 7 years ago it has been operated to a sequence about once every 6-7 weeks by our Wednesday Club, a group of six mostly British Railway Modellers of Australia (BRMA) members. So what of the future? I need to continue with the scenery but at the same time I'm building locos and stock for a new exhibition layout being built by Gavin Thrum based on Spilsby in Lincolnshire in the mid to late 1930s with a deadline of 2 years for the next BRMA Convention in Adelaide in 2020.   

 

For some time I've also had ideas on building a portable South Australian layout (for the SAR stock I've been accumulating over the last 10 years or so) - this would be built in half of the garage under the house and based on a prototype for the first time (about time I hear Tony say). Also another proposal is a portable layout based on Sutton on Sea on the Mablethorpe loop and modelled on a summer Saturday with day trippers from the Midlands. Also I need to build at least a plank type layout for a couple of SAR narrow gauge locos I have to build! Will any of this happen - who knows? Does it matter - not really.

 

Sorry Tony if I've taken up too much space but your question about who has a layout got me started!

 

Andrew    

[t-b-g]

Talking about trying to get things right. I have recently started having a bash at scratch building some 1903 MR wagons from Styrene sheet ... I will post something when I am further on. Its amazing how much I have learnt in a very short time about the humble wagon. I am lucky enough to have scans of some of the original drawings (available for download from the MR Study Centre) And some reasonable photos ... but the main point here (old news to many I know) is that when you have no kit to build ... no RTR to modify, you really have to look and study just to be able to start. I am not advocating that everything should be scratch built, but having a bash at something relatively simple really teaches detailed observation.

 

That is a very good point. I have very little RTR, mostly kit built locos and stock with a few scratchbuilt items. It is the small number of scratchbuilt ones that have given me the most satisfaction and enjoyment. Many kits, especially older ones, are very approximate and sometimes very badly proportioned. Even modern ones often contain errors and faults and don't fit together as they should. If a scratchbuilt model is wrong, there is no blaming a manufacturer or kit designer. If a bit doesn't fit or is wrong, make another one! It is only a few square inches of metal/plastic/wood.

 

I also find that going back to source material of GA drawings and photos of the prototype has taught me so much about the real thing compared to assembling bits that were provided. I end up asking myself "Why is that bit like that and what does it do?" and "How was that fitted and what was it attached to?".

 

Building everything from scratch isn't an easy option and would mean most people never getting anything even slightly ambitious completed. But I would encourage anybody to have a go at perhaps a loco, a carriage or a wagon that is not available as a kit or RTR. 

[Andy R]

Erm......

 

Confessions time.

 

I have one rather old layout set up at home, a joint interest in a large EM layout with 5 stations on it, plus 5 exhibition layouts, mostly in store but which come out from time to time, part of they old layout that is exhibited, plus baseboards for a new one.

 

Another layout recently left for a new home and there are a couple of others around that I have had a part in constructing. That is without including any I do for paid "work".

 

Yet I quite "get" how it is possible for somebody to just enjoy building models without feeling the need to have a layout. I am quite happy sitting at a bench making things and it is only the social aspect of running a layout with friends that gives me pleasure. I rarely run trains when I am by myself.

 

Tony- thats amazing, where do you store all these layouts? Ive only seen the iconic Buckingham of course, and look forward to seeing it again on the 8th of next month.

 

Andy R 

[St Enodoc]

So what of the future? I need to continue with the scenery 

I should think so...

[St Enodoc]

I have a layout, but it's a fair way from LB!

 

Lost interest in it now, so the next one will be SR 3rd rail - with no EPB's running with older units!

 

P1070915.jpg

So it'll be Newhaven Neil from now on then?

[Tony Teague]

I recognise each of the phases of a railway modellers life that have been mentioned by others - I was given a Triang trainset for my 4th birthday which lived on the carpet and then on a flexible sheet of harboard. It went through a series of transitions ending up on a permanent baseboard inside an old brick-built air-raid shelter in my parents back garden, but all of this came to a (temporary) end when I was about 12 or 13 and discovered that girls were more interesting!

 

There have been 3 separate layouts at distinct stages since - all built to stay at home and all tending to be as large and complex as possible (clearly that is my weakness); the first was a blue diesel era layout built in what was a large loft conversion, then after a move I started a Southern Railway layout on baseboards set up in a living room that didn't get much other use. This was scrapped after a house move, and then finally I got my purpose built railway room in 2005 and have been working on what I imagine will be my "project of a lifetime" ever since.

 

It is large and overly complex, and whilst it does not represent a prototype I hope that it is prototypical; my knowledge of what that means has improved vastly over recent years and so things that were acceptable when I started are now verboten. I have just completed adding tail lamps to every train, plus corridor connections to all of those that need them, every loco has real coal, a crew and head code discs since it is a Southern Railway layout (as the layout has storage for 75 complete trains these are not small tasks).

 

I am not a loco builder, although I own a number of kit-built locos, however, I turn my hand to just about everything else; nevertheless, after some lessons and coaching from Mr Wright I can say that I have now built 3 locos, the third of which is just reaching completion. It is a SR, ex-LBSCR E6-X (one of only two) from a Shapeways 3D printed body and a South Eastern Finecast E6 chassis:

 

 

It runs well but as can be seen, the surface of the 3D print is never going to match brass or RTR injection moulding, despite this being the higher grade of print offered by Shapeways, but as a layout loco it looks the part at normal viewing distance and since there were only two prototypes, this is never going to appear as a kit or RTR model - so I am happy!

 

Tony

[Clive Mortimore]

I forgot to say something about my present model railway. I have it working reasonably well, still throws up a new hiccup now and then but I think all new layouts will do so.

 

The most important thing about my layout is it is now at a stage where I can work on it when I like, or the stock when I like or have a running session. I am a lazy modeller who flits from one project to another without finishing anything but I am happy doing so. When running a part finished class 114 on a unfinished layout I can still have fun.

 

Look at lovely red pannier with routemaster bus transfers on its side.

[Chamby]

I recognise each of the phases of a railway modellers life that have been mentioned by others - I was given a Triang trainset for my 4th birthday which lived on the carpet and then on a flexible sheet of harboard. It went through a series of transitions ending up on a permanent baseboard inside an old brick-built air-raid shelter in my parents back garden, but all of this came to a (temporary) end when I was about 12 or 13 and discovered that girls were more interesting!

 

There have been 3 separate layouts at distinct stages since - all built to stay at home and all tending to be as large and complex as possible (clearly that is my weakness); the first was a blue diesel era layout built in what was a large loft conversion, then after a move I started a Southern Railway layout on baseboards set up in a living room that didn't get much other use. This was scrapped after a house move, and then finally I got my purpose built railway room in 2005 and have been working on what I imagine will be my "project of a lifetime" ever since.

 

It is large and overly complex, and whilst it does not represent a prototype I hope that it is prototypical; my knowledge of what that means has improved vastly over recent years and so things that were acceptable when I started are now verboten. I have just completed adding tail lamps to every train, plus corridor connections to all of those that need them, every loco has real coal, a crew and head code discs since it is a Southern Railway layout (as the layout has storage for 75 complete trains these are not small tasks).

 

I am not a loco builder, although I own a number of kit-built locos, however, I turn my hand to just about everything else; nevertheless, after some lessons and coaching from Mr Wright I can say that I have now built 3 locos, the third of which is just reaching completion. It is a SR, ex-LBSCR E6-X (one of only two) from a Shapeways 3D printed body and a South Eastern Finecast E6 chassis:

 

SJPPA16001002181016.jpg

 

It runs well but as can be seen, the surface of the 3D print is never going to match brass or RTR injection moulding, despite this being the higher grade of print offered by Shapeways, but as a layout loco it looks the part at normal viewing distance and since there were only two prototypes, this is never going to appear as a kit or RTR model - so I am happy!

 

Tony

What a characterful loco, very nicely modelled.

 

Inspiring!

 

Phil.

[StephenB]

Has anyone else managed to get their copy of the Little Bytham 1938 DVD from BRM yet? The lack of hearing anything is worrying, or is it just me?

 

Stephen

[grob1234]

I hope my A1 passes some sort of muster...

 

[Tony Wright]

Do I have layout - yes. Have I ever been without a layout? Not really.

 

When I was young Dad had a small 6 x 4 railway in our timber garden shed at Potters Bar. For my 7th birthday I received my own layout on a board a bit smaller than 6 x 4 which I could lay down on the floor of our sitting room. About 18 months later in mid 1964 we emigrated to Australia taking all our locos and rollingstock packed in steel deed boxes Dad had got from his work. I've still go some of those boxes. For about 4 months I lived on my uncle and aunt's farm whilst Dad looked for work and Mum and Dad looked for a house in Adelaide. A few months later and we were in our own home - but not much space for a layout so Dad built another 6 x 4 which rested on two of the steel deed boxes and took up most of the spare floor space in my bedroom.

 

A few years later we demolished the old steel garage at the end of the garden and had a new 30 x 11 shed built - for a car and a 10 x 11 railway room. The railway in this room just grew and eventually went around all the walls. When I got married in 1978 little did my wife know she was marrying a guy who came with two 4 x 2 baseboards! These were built at my parents home whilst they were away on their first trip back to the UK just before the wedding. They were erected in the spare bedroom of the flat/home unit we lived in after our marriage - basically just to provide somewhere to lay some track for loco testing purposes - no real intention of building a proper layout at that time (I built a Wills K3 and GEM D34 and some wagons in those few months). Six month later we moved to Mt Gambier in the SE of South Australia where we were able to rent a Govt house that came with my job. This had 3 bedrooms - so a spare for visitors and the smallest (12 x 8) for a layout. So in that room I built my first proper layout with proper ballasted track - just a simple through station with 3 storage tracks in each direction on the other side - this was really a layout on which to run the stock I was building. Three years later we bought our own home in Mt Gambier - which had a former single garage that had been converted by the previous owners into a rumpus room. So the layout was moved and erected in this  21 x 11 space. But the layout remained 12 x 8 at that stage as we had to be able to walk partly through the room to get to the double garage the previous owners had built on. That layout did eventually grow slightly with the addition of a high level branch.

 

Almost 10 years later (end of 1991) we moved back to Adelaide, where we rented a house for 3 months whilst we looked for our own home. The layout was in storage for those 3 months and a few more in the new home - that didn't stop me modelling though as I built my model of B3 Valour in that time. Our new home had a 24 x 13 shed which we lined and unfortunately I needed to make space for 5ft wide tool/garden shed at one end, so I ended up with 17.5 x 13 for a railway. The existing layout was erected for about 12 months whilst I planned the new layout which duly got built, taking up 17.5 x 8 and incorporating the branch station from the old layout, that station being relaid previously with C&L track (previously Peco Code 100) - but I never got the tiebars to work to my satisfaction, so the the bulk of the new layout was built using the then new Peco Code 75. The layout never got sceniced, It was really only a test track/storage for all the stock I was building.

 

Another move of home in late 2005 provided me with a shed 24 x 18 and a double under house garage for 2 cars - why else would one move home!  So the current layout which is very slowly being sceniced, has been up and operating for the last 10 years plus. Since I took an early retirement 7 years ago it has been operated to a sequence about once every 6-7 weeks by our Wednesday Club, a group of six mostly British Railway Modellers of Australia (BRMA) members. So what of the future? I need to continue with the scenery but at the same time I'm building locos and stock for a new exhibition layout being built by Gavin Thrum based on Spilsby in Lincolnshire in the mid to late 1930s with a deadline of 2 years for the next BRMA Convention in Adelaide in 2020.   

 

For some time I've also had ideas on building a portable South Australian layout (for the SAR stock I've been accumulating over the last 10 years or so) - this would be built in half of the garage under the house and based on a prototype for the first time (about time I hear Tony say). Also another proposal is a portable layout based on Sutton on Sea on the Mablethorpe loop and modelled on a summer Saturday with day trippers from the Midlands. Also I need to build at least a plank type layout for a couple of SAR narrow gauge locos I have to build! Will any of this happen - who knows? Does it matter - not really.

 

Sorry Tony if I've taken up too much space but your question about who has a layout got me started!

 

Andrew    

Take as much space as you like, Andrew,

 

I don't know whether it was me who originally asked the question (not that it matters). However, it's questions like the one you've just answered which keeps this thread so lively, whoever asks them.

 

Regards,

 

Tony.

 

P.S. I hope the members of your excellent association have recovered from listening to my 'thoughts'.