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13 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

A selection of some of this year's LB images........................

 

280610981_20LittleBytham01.jpg.6e4615d7131df283c09a3000fbece7a5.jpg

 

By far the most important addition to Little Bytham's completion was the correct girder bridge. With computer artwork by Jamie Guest and construction by Dave Wager, this is a magnificent model.

 

322863826_20LittleBytham02.jpg.ea12b9328d3e1afdc5dc2ba13490c81c.jpg

 

Framing the 'QoS' it's built in the same way as the prototype. 

 

874406934_20LittleBytham03.jpg.22fac640a658c7559241cd45f9b9d02b.jpg

 

Similar to a last day of the M&GNR picture by P H Wells.

 

The next major completion was the point rodding...................

 

71152373_20LBbrochure01.jpg.adda5bea8108ec24b02f55edbf3461da.jpg

 

Stretching from the girder bridge in the distance to behind the camera, it took me a long time. Yet, it's tiny compared to what's needed on Retford! 

 

1846863571_2060103elevated.jpg.5ae06269bab7400c959f7d93152208d3.jpg

 

Is point rodding an essential feature on a steam-age model railway? Of course.

 

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I replaced the rubbish previous plastic rodding on the MR/M&GNR bit as well. 

 

And a new loco this year. I built this D16/3 (with decorative valances) from a Mallard/Little Engines combo, painted it and Geoff Haynes weathered it. 

 

1642093083_20Klondike3254cover01.jpg.d6b17c6adbc9915a51d0da67620e068f.jpg

 

Another new loco, but this time resident in Australia. Built for Jesse Sim and painted by Geoff Haynes, Jesse rather likes it. It took over a month to travel to the other side of the world! 

 

 

The amount of work you get done every year really puts me to shame. But this isn't the reason I'm replying to this post. I've thought it before, but I'm not sure I've said it as clearly as this. LB is the least OO like OO layout I've ever seen. Norman Solomon really is a magician and these photos demonstrate that as well as any I've seen before. He certainly succeeds in fooling the eye into broadening the gauge, giving your loco and stock creations the trackwork environment they deserve. Little Bytham really is a wonderful layout and deserves being shown off at every opportunity. (And that's not even mentioning the girder bridge!).

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9 hours ago, t-b-g said:

 

It is very kind of you to mention me in connection with the signals Tony but to be fair I only finished them off. Much of the construction work, including the trickiest part, the milling of the slots in the concrete signal posts, had been done before I got my sticky mitts on them, by Mick Nicholson of this parish.

I should have mentioned Mick, Tony (and he has been mentioned before).

 

Milling the slots in the 'concrete' posts might have been the trickiest bit, but no more tricky that making the rest of the signals - and (impossibly-tricky to my indolent mind) actually making them work - perfectly!

 

So, with acknowledgement of your self-effacement, thanks again; many thanks...........................

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

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I also am very fond of cats, especially ginger ones. I had to find a new home for my last cat when I last went overseas in 2011. He was, despite being long-furred, a very good railway cat. When he was young he did sometimes jump up and patrol the line. He would also wait at the tunnel entrances for a train to emerge, although he quickly learned that pawing things resulted in disapproval and ejection. He would then sit on my 'visitor's bench' and watch the trains running past. He could always identify something new and pay it (non-tactile) attention. He seemed to like big green engines best.

 

Nothing is nicer, on a winters afternoon, than an interesting project on the workbench; a good programme on Radio3 or 4 (this was all before the corruptive effect of 'brexit'); and a purring cat on the floor at my feet or on his favourite viewing seat.

 

I felt a complete traitor when I had to leave him at a new home.

 

Like Tony, am fascinated by a feline's ability to be a sleeping friend on one's lap at one time, and a few minutes later, to be a dangerous predator patrolling his territory in the moonlight.

 

I'm still planning how to get another cat and minimise the risks of the main road and other felines.

 

 

 

 

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I found a photo of Smith/Spliff. Thinking about I think his name with us was Smiff so we really should have known better! Here he is under my layout board at the time. There's even some lego railway bits in view so on-topic!

 

1419632402_Scan313Smith.jpg.20f3aa9b582e050ebb348e011445426d.jpg

 

 

For a while we had a stray that we called Jones at the same time. Smith and Jones the double act were "current" at the time, but also Jones the cat didn't panic about anything.

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I'm also a cat person. Growing up we had "Purr" as apparently I couldn't say pussy, aged 2. She lived to the good age of 17 and survived 2 house moves.  After I'd married and the kids came along we finally decided to get a pet one summer. There were dog and cat people in the house but the cats won by a vote of 3 to 2. We got a kitten who looked just like the Felix cat so Felix she became. 13 years later we acquired Minnie, born under our daughters bed and needing a home. Felix sadly died 6 months later but 2 years on our daughter again presented us with a black 6 month old called Nessa ( she was a fan of Gavin and Stacey) as she had to move to a no pets allowed flat.  I promptly took Nessa to the vets to be checked out and was asked if I wanted her speying.  Yes I said and she was examined. I've got news for you said the vet, she is a he.  As I only knew one other character from the series I named him Gavin and Gavin he remained.  Unfortunately  we had to leave them in the UK as the logistics of the move made bringing them impossible.  I still miss them and could certainly use their hunting abilities.

 

Jamie

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On 13/08/2020 at 18:14, Tony Wright said:

I consider myself a cat person despite not having had a cat for many years now.  From the recent contributions I am starting to think that there may be a correlation between railway modellers and cat people.   Is this a false conclusion?  How many of your contributors would consider themselves to be a dog person I wonder?

Regards,

Frank

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Smudge looking unimpressed as there’s no Kar Track markings on the first freight car!01F7BEC6-8592-4317-9A93-6BE022279508.png.2e29b18c560edff25ead8602cf0775dc.png
 

We’d seen him around for a couple of weeks, one very wet torrentially stormy night he was sheltering under one of our cars. I opened the conservatory door and he came in, climbed onto a chair and slept for almost a day. He’s been with us ever since.

9D7E6A4D-AEB8-429E-A8DE-96F2126963D5.jpeg.7dc235c1bed9a97cc2888d22fcd9f254.jpeg
 

 

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4 hours ago, drmditch said:

I also am very fond of cats, especially ginger ones. I had to find a new home for my last cat when I last went overseas in 2011. He was, despite being long-furred, a very good railway cat. When he was young he did sometimes jump up and patrol the line. He would also wait at the tunnel entrances for a train to emerge, although he quickly learned that pawing things resulted in disapproval and ejection. He would then sit on my 'visitor's bench' and watch the trains running past. He could always identify something new and pay it (non-tactile) attention. He seemed to like big green engines best.

 

Nothing is nicer, on a winters afternoon, than an interesting project on the workbench; a good programme on Radio3 or 4 (this was all before the corruptive effect of 'brexit'); and a purring cat on the floor at my feet or on his favourite viewing seat.

 

I felt a complete traitor when I had to leave him at a new home.

 

Like Tony, am fascinated by a feline's ability to be a sleeping friend on one's lap at one time, and a few minutes later, to be a dangerous predator patrolling his territory in the moonlight.

 

I'm still planning how to get another cat and minimise the risks of the main road and other felines.

 

 

 

 

One lovely little tabby we had (another rescue cat) in Wolverhampton (who was run over in the quietest of cul-de-sacs) used to sleep in a basket in my workshop. Unlike some aloof felines, she was definitely a people cat and, with Mo out teaching and the boys at school, many a day would be spent with my making models and her fast asleep in a corner. I'd be reminded from time to time that food was expected, but it was a most peaceful existence for both of us.

 

However, I say 'peaceful'. I tell no lie but that this little puss could tell, many minutes before that things were going to go wrong. She'd chirrup a mew to be let out, with no fright at all Then, no more than five minutes later, the air would turn blue! I'd cock-up some soldering or drop something on the floor and then my vocabulary would be just the sort used in VIZ. She'd then look in from the windowsill with that smug expression which only cats have.

 

Regards,

 

Tony.  

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Away from cats, and back to what looks right (or wrong) on models with regard to dents and dings. 

 

A4s seem to display quite a lot of creases, especially when clean.

 

16831580_60022studio01.jpg.4511fa1531c211d5ec4b3a2e67e3d919.jpg

 

What's the best way of replicating thin sheet metal? By, err, making a model out of the stuff. 

 

This is built from a Pro-Scale kit. It was started by Mick Peabody, but he 'gave up hope' when trying to build the thin, etched-brass bodywork; and handed it over to me. I had to dismantle a fair bit of what he'd done, which has produced a rather nice crease in the front of the firebox. 

 

Anyway, I finished it off by rebuilding the body and completing the chassis. 

 

He hadn't started the tender, so I modified it to represent a 1935-style, streamlined corridor type (complete with flange at the base of the tank).

 

795274235_60022studio03.jpg.ec277ff97d2a6b6653b097d53ca59785.jpg

 

From this angle, my dismantling has produced a bit of a cockle in the valance underneath the cab, but it might not be that unrealistic.

 

606901406_60024studio.jpg.c37dc5d40963e45ec10ca1e0c6bc59c6.jpg

 

A glutton for punishment, Mick also started another Pro-Scale A4, but this time left all the bodywork to me. Despite its not having to be taken apart, there's still the odd little crease in the cladding (prototypical?). 

 

This one has a tender modified to represent a 1928-style corridor tender (the Pro-Scale one is neither one nor the other - a corridor tender with no beading, but with a straight back). 

 

Strictly speaking, neither of these A4s is exactly right for LB (1958) because both have speedos and electric warning flashes. However, they were both built for Stoke Summit, and the time period on that went up to 1962 in steam-mode. Both these A4s were used on 'Lizzie' in 1961, but, by then, MALLARD had a 1928-style corridor tender (60022 probably swapped her tenders more than any other A4s). 

 

Both these models are now over a quarter of a century old, but they still are the best A4s I possess, especially with Ian Rathbone's painting. They're far crisper than the cast-metal ones (though both had to be packed with lead) and the chassis by far outshine the Hornby ones, especially with regard to the valve gear. 

 

In a way, they've weathered 'naturally', and the odd bit of missing paint or a scuff  is merely testimony to their having run many, many miles. 

 

Interestingly, with their being painted at least a year apart, the BR greens are not the same. 

 

I reckon the Pro-Scale kit makes just as good an A4 as the Finney one. 

 

 

 

 

Edited by Tony Wright
typo error
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20 minutes ago, richard i said:

We have a dog, ( not my choice, I was out voted), she does have a name but depending on the day, is known by me as, Hades, Satan, etc. 

It does mean I have an actual black dog. 
 

richard 

But isn't she lovely?

 

Despite her beauty, perhaps Medusa might also be apposite? 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

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15 minutes ago, Adam88 said:

I don't understand why two minutes after someone started a thread called 'On Cats' this thread has suddenly been taken over as well.  I'm not objecting though, they don't annoy me or bark.

I didn't know a 'cat' thread had started, though I think it's fair to say than many railway modellers I know have cats; and love them. 

 

Is there a link, I wonder? 

 

One railway modelling mate of mine, who always had dogs (and didn't really go for cats) had a cat inherit him after one of his family members developed an allergy to cat fur. 

 

Now, he adores the cat! 

 

I still think it's safe to say that this is still a railway modelling thread, however.

 

Where does it go next? 

 

Regards,

 

Tony.  

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As I have been feeling grot. I have spent today watching tv, transfers, and glazing. Most of time with a dog sitting next to me.

 

I had an extreme reaction to proton pump inhibitors.

 

Currently on huge antibiotic tablets.

 

These are the last two TSOs for my eastern region cross country set.

 

The 47 should be the first recipient of Lima laserglaze.

 

2020-08-16_17_28_11.jpg.29e4bba41e7bdb7f37ffeda64c40c267.jpg

 

This was an Ebay rescue.

 

 

 

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Speaking of Cats and Model Railways.  I don't know how many here can remember Felix the Cat, but one of the things Felix could do was shoot up vertically when surprised.  Now he was a cartoon but one of our cats managed to get into the model railway room and was standing on the tracks when I saw her.  I had one of those Relco high voltage track cleaners tied into the track and I was able to sneak in and fire it up with the cat still on the tracks.  They really can go about 2/3 feet vertically.

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1 hour ago, Theakerr said:

Speaking of Cats and Model Railways.  I don't know how many here can remember Felix the Cat, but one of the things Felix could do was shoot up vertically when surprised.  Now he was a cartoon but one of our cats managed to get into the model railway room and was standing on the tracks when I saw her.  I had one of those Relco high voltage track cleaners tied into the track and I was able to sneak in and fire it up with the cat still on the tracks.  They really can go about 2/3 feet vertically.

 

If that's true, I hope that no-one from the RSPCA is reading this - unnecessary cruelty to animals, and you confess it to have been premeditated.

 

Just sayin'!

 

John Isherwood.

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10 hours ago, dibateg said:

Cats - we loved ours and we loved having them around. Unfortunately both were run over in the lane ( we live in the middle of nowhere ). Much as I'd like another, I couldn't face seeing my wife so distressed again at the loss of a cat.

 

Some years ago I had the unenviable task of recovering a neighbour's cat from the road one evening, after someone had run it over (for which there was no excuse, it being a shortish cul-de-sac - though to some it resembles Santa Pod....).  Then followed the next morning by going over to tell the lady owner (and her kids) opposite, and then acting as Undertaker.  Not one of my better days.

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