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Today is retirement day Off to "work" for the last time shortly, just to clear the nearly-empty already desk, sign some paperwork and hand my pass in. Not sure how I feel about it all - not a nice way to bale out. But the place is a shadow of it's former self - now full of highly qualified young cockwombles who couldn't engineer their way out of a paper bag. I'm well out of it, and get to lay claim to my pension before the current situation screws that too (luckily it's one of the few final salary schemes left, though not for newer employees). Here goes....

Some photos from trips to Carlisle once again for this afternoon. Carlisle Class 108 Carlisle to Appleby 27th Oct 89 C13809.jpg Carlisle Class 143 and Class 108 27th Oct 89 C13827.jpg Carlisle 87035 and 86425 up steel coil May 90 J10931.jpg Carlisle Classes 08 31 26 31 60 24th Oct 90 C15413.jpg Carlisle 90001 up 24th Oct 90 C15423 David

Sunny and windy today. Plenty to do, but will I do it? I will do the morning images, the first of which is again of a WD and coal for London. I've been cropping this view lately, but I thought we'd have the full panorama for a change. In contrast, we have a very close crop of an L1 passing Crescent Junction box with the 2.45 from Hitchin.

Your wish is my command:

Just popped out of my little wooden hut where I am self isolating to take some pictures of Ewer Street. All the best & stay safe, Adrian.

Seems I'm now a Pensioner Bloody hell. Many thanks to Stationmaster, Kingzance, Gwiwer, BoD, Ian Abel et all for the good wishes Now then, where do I start??

And on a similar theme, what happens to your lap when you stand up? The old ones are definitely the best (??) Morning all. Been waiting since 0700 for the groceries to turn up - nothing so far. As Baz would have it, Pah! The beautiful cherry tree at the front of the house now has its annual dandruff and the path is ankle deep in blossom. 'We' are apparently going to do something about it this morning. Pah! again. What happens after that has yet to be determined. Stay safe and well. Dave

A recent short letter to the Irish Times said... For God’s sake open the pubs before we all become alcoholics.

Morning all, Occasional rain - mainly when i needed to go out in it. Needed ? Ah there lies a tale. For the second day running a parcel from Cornwall has reached us - yesterday's was from Camborne containing an item for his ladship, one of these new fangled modern 'lectric mocolotives although quite how it will manage without overhead knitting baffles me. Today's was far more important and was addressed to the household management from a concern based in Scorrier and is a gift from our offspring intended to offer a modicum of relief from catering duties,. From which you might work out that contained examples of a Cornish comestible encased in pastry and containing - if correct - pieces of beef skirt, potato, and 'turnip' (a West Country name for swede). A grand tasting will be convened tomorrow evening when the entire household will be present for the evening meal; the $64,000 question will be are they as good as the local management's makings?(see illustration below). So why did I need to go out? The contents of the package needed to be 'quickly' put into the freezer but the ready use freezer in the kitchen only had room for 50% of the goodies so the rest had to be conveyed to the reserve stock freezer which lives in the garage - and you need no further elucidation regarding whom that duty fell to. So unless the Postie brings forth any further excitement (highly unlikely) that episode looks like being the highlight of today, if not the week. Although if she's running very early the Good Doctor aka Station Cat might time her arrival home this evening to match the clapping of hands and fireworks etc session although I think that unlikely as she won't officially be off duty in time. Havea good day one and all. And don't look out on your lawn if you have one and it's anything like ours where we can actually watch the darned grass growing thanks to all the rain and well warmed soil. I must see how the bamboo is doing as it often manages several inches of growth everyday in this sort of weather. A(nd stay safe And congratulations to Polybear on exiting the official world of work. Welcome to the OFs' club - but don't forget to keep yourself busy.

Morning all from Estuary-Land. The other day I decided to sort out my 'day out' bag. A shoulder bag in which I carry items such as tote bags, folding umbrella, pens, notebooks, spare glasses and other items deemed neccessary. Among the items was hand sanitizer, I'd forgotten completely that I had it. Its in the form of a pen like dispensers so they don't hold much but I have four at 50p the lot. I found them in Tess Coes battered boxes, normally they would have cost a £ each. One is now in the car, another in my pocket and two are back in the bag. Same as the Y as in Ye old Tea Shop. Y was used as shorthand by Victorian typesetters instead of 'th' so it should be pronounced 'thee' and not 'yee'. Hippo's and fairy lights don't usually come to mind at the same time.

Last of the station views, but this time a bit further back

Mornin' All A brief moment of joy when the work laptop refused to start properly.....quickly reduced to reality when it was attempted a second time. Bit chilly here this a.m. - have had to turn on the heating again, this does not appeal... Not sure what today will bring, but I intend to broach it head on. See you all later. Thursday; watch out!

Good moaning from a still rather damp Charente. We are now waiting to see if we will be classified as redvor green on the Govt. Map. If we get a green then some lockdown restructions may be eased after 11th May. We will wait and see. Meantime today is a good one. Our gorgeous granddaughter completes her first orbit of the sun today. Last year we were south of the equator close to the 180'th meridian. We couldn't have been further away. At least we are only 700 miles away today and will be videocalling her later this morning. Apart from that it's shopping day, so I will be off to The Danglies. This afternoon hopefully a bit of shed time and some more scanning, i'm now into early 1975. Regards to all. Jamie

Ey up! Her indoors has set off for moreasons having delivered a mugatea to me. Famous words were uttered "stay in bed we can start moving things in the house after I get back" Yeah, right! I shall drink my tea, have breakfast then start on the moving of furniture, unspecified reasons for"...I believe she spoke to the repair man yesterday but a full report was not issued. Pah! As it happens, rain has fallen, but it has stopped precipitating for the time being. Time to grab Thursday and get things done. Stay safe, stay at home! Positive thoughts to all ERs. Congratulations to Colonel Tom! Baz

At least Chris will be able to have a breakfast on his way to ……. er ……...

Good Mornafternoon all. Welcome to Thursday. Happy retirement (and may it prove a long and healthy one too) to Polybear. Happy Birthday also to Capt. Tom Moore. I see there is an antisocial media movement hoping to get the nation to sing "Happy Birthday" to him at 8pm as we clap our other heroes. Burning questions of the day include whether or not GWR will hastily rename 800025 in which case the duration for which it carried "Captain" might go down as one of the shortest times a train name has been carried in public. I understand a 66* has also been named but cannot for the life of me find the link I saw it on yesterday; replacing a cast nameplate might be a costlier exercise than re-applying some vinyl lettering. In other news there are ever-louder whispers of a restoration of train services in a couple of weeks' time. We have a date and we have some provisional details which means the roster clerks and rolling stock people will be working towards service delivery of the proposed service levels from the advised date. It isn't public so details must remain cloaked for now. But it is a first step to returning a sense of normality. Whether it occurs as planned or a little later is for the DfT to determine as they now effectively operate the railways via contracts-for-service. Yesterday saw a quantity of protective materials delivered to the House of Fun. The initial supply of sanitiser - the only alcohol we are permitted (and indeed strongly encouraged) to use on duty had almost run out and has been replenished bountifully. I think we now have 100 litres of the stuff. Ten boxes of blue nitrile gloves also arrived - we use those anyway for certain tasks so the only change here is a greater than normal requirement if they are specified for all-tasks all-day use. And there are disposable face masks a-plenty which will only be issued if official advice changes to suggest they should (as opposed to the current should not) be worn; they will also be provided to key workers for travel to and from duty if wearing them becomes a requirement on public transport as has been suggested in some quarters and enacted in some countries. Just like the trains then - better late than never. SWMBO has commenced writing a short story which she advises will require some of my geological knowledge. I await developments. She has had a lengthy briefing with her senior director regarding future working arrangements. It seems there is conflict between outer-governmental bodies and central government which is preventing some funds being released and also preventing the gates to certain locations being opened. Kew Gardens could be opened with minimal on-site staffing if it was free entry; the pinch-point identified is not social distancing within the gardens but queueing to pay at the gates. All facilities would remain closed - no shops, cafes or glasshouses would be open, just the vast lawned areas and associated display beds. We await further developments there but pressure remains to get the gates open to allow public exercise. Today's remaining task is to transfer all waste to the bin which is emptied at around 06.30 tomorrow morning. Tomorrow's task is to do as much as possible to celebrate the coming of May. It would have been Obby Oss Day in Padstow which gives me an excuse (not that one is needed) to enjoy a Cornish ale or three while singing their May Song. I am also reminded of the rhyme "Hooray Hooray the First of May - Outdoor sex begins today" which would potentially be in breach of social distancing this year Stay well one and all. * It's 66731 operated by GBRf and co-branded Porterbrook. .

I've just flooded the office in dribble!

Aditi has just informed me that she is going out to the garden to break up her chicken manure which had gone solid. Exciting times here...

Good morning all, Nice sunny start here after a very wet night. More showers today, possibly heavy and thundery, with some sunny periods. First thing to do after breakfast is to go for a walk. Next I need to move some money around as one of my pensions landed today. After that I will head to The Shed after failing in that mission for the past couple of days. Bin men due today and my fox stopping mission worked so he's moved down the road for easier pickings. Four doors along there is one helluva mess to clear up. Have a good one, Bob.

Pictures from outside the fence were always available, they were somewhat difficult to hide. The frightening thing was I signed away my life with the Hofficial secrets act for over half my life. But now as I looked for the info to build the radars, I found a maintenance manual** for the HF200 on eBay, and the circuit diagrams for the T84 in various places. Some linked to officially released government sources. ** about £30 and it's in France.. I'm not that interested... For general information about the radars I worked on and many others. See this.. https://www.radarpages.co.uk/mob/linesman/hf200.htm Mooring awl, Inner Temple Hare, 6.5 hours solid sleep pretty good so far. My brothers wife has received an isolation letter somewhat late from the NHS. Sadly she lost her Grandma yesterday, who at 97 was living in a care home. Whether it's due to the virus is not known. It's raining outside, I can hear it on the windows, which may have something to do with the power cuts we had yesterday. At about 16:45 it started for around 10 minutes going on and off maybe a dozen times. Not staying on long enough for the router to reboot. It then did it a couple of times more much later on. On the initial trip, it terrified Ben who had been sitting in the hall way half way between us, as SWMBO was in the kitchen. Ben ran in to the kitchen and sat in a corner shaking.. SWMBO had to comfort him. Once SWMBO returned to the living room he came in and hid in his safe place for most of the evening.. I'm hopping to have an experimental lead melt today, if it's successful I'm not sure how much I'll do. Further muddling of radars will continue, along with the start of next scenic sub board for the unmentionable. That's needed where it so where it joins on the main board can be finished. I'm expecting a delivery of H shaped plastic struts for the legs of the T84, when the order was for the placed the original materials, these somewhat important items were forgotten . There is also an order for some 1/148 metal grid flooring, which was used on the platforms. It's a good product, but a simulation, There is an American product for an etched brass product for the grids, absolutely beautiful, but very expensive and no reference on their website for overseas delivery. Happy birthday, Colonel Tom Moore.

Some of you may have realised that I have a motto: Eat to Live. Live to Eat.

I wonder if he has a stock of cake?

Yes it was and just what I would have selected had I been number one to select. I had been toying with a 4TC but had resisted due to our friend Southern layout not having any more shows in the foreseable future. Its now being pulled with 33105.

... and it works!

Good morning everyone Well the sun is shining this morning, but there are a few dark clouds about. There will most likely be no muddling or DIY today, my first task will be a trip to the Trafford Centre, followed by a visit to the butchers for the weekly meat rations and a pastie (or pork pie) for dinner. After that I’m not sure what I’ll be doing, possibly drawing up plans for a control panel, we’ll two actually, one for the staircase area and one for the main layout. But the actual dimensions for each will be identical. Stay safe, stay sane, enjoy whatever you have planned for the day, back later.

So music room emptied in prep for the work to be done. Polly, there may be some music for you to play in among music store number 1. Ten drawers worth. The other two stores are larger and fuller. No complaints as it means I can buy trains! Baz

Good evening everyone Typically, having just had the windows cleaned, it rained again today and did so for most of the day, only stopping just before I’d finished working in the workshop for the day. Cleaning the paint from unwanted areas of the old towel rail didn’t take too long and by mid morning I was in the workshop. The morning session saw me attempting to quieten down the noise of the turntable drive motor noise. Before doing anything, I ran it without the output drive shaft connected to the bevel gear and it was just as noisy! As I suspected yesterday, the wood was acting like a sound board. So I removed the motor, placed a piece of foam between the motor and the board and ran it again, that did the trick. I then adjusted the spacing between the motor and output bevel gear, placing foam under that to both of them to a similar height and the noise has now all but disappeared. After dinner was mainly spent sorting bits for the turntable indexing system. Whilst looking for some Perspex I came across a couple of pieces of 6mm ply, which I’d forgotten I had, each one was approximately a foot square. One will be used to make the indexing disc, the other will be used to mount the drive motor and also to mount the indexing limit switches. They’ve both been marked out and are now ready for holes to be drilled etc. I’m fitting roller bearings on both ends of the final output drive shaft as I just happen to have a few suitable small bearings doing nothing, so I thought I might as well use them. After I’d come inside and we sat drinking our mid afternoon cuppas, the sun came our and the rest of the day was lovely, but it’s raining again now. Still, it meant that I didn’t need to water the plants tonight! Whilst drinking my tea I read the latest BRM, which dropped on the doormat yesterday. My RMWEB logging on ‘name’ is basically my initials, but it is also a reference to both my engineering career in general and also my last employee. My initials just happen to coincide with one of the 4 main UK thread types, BSW - being British Standard Whitworth. The others are BSF - British Standard Fine, BSP - British Standard Pipe and BA - British Association. The latter are very small sizes and were usually used in instruments etc. There are others but those are the 4 main ones. The BSW01 was my logging on ID for my last employer, which was then followed by a personal password, this we had to change our every 30 days. Everyone in the company had a 5 digit logging on ID, usually there initials followed by numbers. When I left there was still only person with initials BSW! Goodnight all

A small part of the urban scene is starting to take shape:

A friend informed us yesterday that her husband was not happy as she hadn’t mentioned that the online shopping beer was a substituted variety. I suggested that she could direct him to an online beer warehouse but he called out to say he had arranged a consignment from Adnams brewery. Tony

Morning all. It isn’t quite as overcast as the last couple of days and it isn’t raining. We had waffles and fruit for breakfast. I don’t think I have had wholewheat waffles before but they were as the recipe promised fluffy and light not like Ryvita. KZ, have you tried Rapidonline for electrical stuff. I know they are on the Essex side of the country but they do deliver to Herts. We will have to sort out medication collection next week. The last 6 weeks seems to have flown by for some reason. I got the letter from someone who signed as Matt from the DHSC yesterday. I won’t be joining those of you trekking to Wetherspoons in the foreseeable future it would seem. I wonder if other ministers will be writing to me. It is really quite sunny now but Aditi has told me it won’t last. Have a good day. Tony

1100 again already. I have spent most of the morning trying to read my "smart" gas meter, on the basis of " I wonder what happens if I press this button". It would help if there were some instructions. Anyway, pressing the red button blew nothing up, and when I hit the black one afterwards, I got a reading. Her's the L1 again to go with our mug of tea.

Greetings all from Sidcup where the beautiful blue skies of an hour ago have been replaced with growing grey clouds and I have just had to shut the "office" window as the warm sunny air has been replaced by a cold breeze. I go for my walk around about midday and I think that today I will be getting wet. Measuring excessive death rates per head of population are not at a country by country level particularly helpful as it seems clear that the density of population also exacerbates the spread of covid. The US has a much lower per had excess death rate than the UK, but the UK is far more densely populated. And even that is misleading because "no-one" lives in most of Scotland. It might be interesting to compare the excess death rates in New York and London with say Paris, Milan and Madrid. It would not surprise me to see similar rates, given that all are densely populated and rely on mass transit for daily working. Countries that are naturally more isolated (Australia and NZ can manage to self isolate a whole country by restricting who can enter the country. One the mystifying things in terms of managing the spread of infection is why we all rushed to bring citizens home from infection hotspots. That surely exacerbated the spread of the virus.

An air filter has now been installed in the cabin air intake on MrsID's Wrangler. For some reason Jeep, in their wisdom, didn't see fit to include one. It's not clear it will trap viruses but at least it should stop pollen, and we have a lot of pollen here from all the trees.

Australia has the same rules for residents returning from overseas, except the government is picking up the tab. Its a bit of a lottery whether you get put up in a 5 star hotel with harbour views and room service , or a downtown backpackers hostel with views of the skip bin and use of the toaster. At least it makes use of otherwise deserted hotel rooms I guess.

Hi All weather has been variable here today Slapped #rse has reared her ugly head again cos some paper work was incomplete so she has again upset everyone in her quest for greed. BP 217/112 this morning tried to get through to the doctors for a phone consultation that piece of carp called a Samsung let me down again it will go back once the store is open not fit for purpose, finally got through to a doctor 15:30 cos some nupperty feckwit from the reception could not transfer my call what a joke I bit my tongue and was polite I'm just waiting for the how did we do form to pitch up. I hope you are all well and keeping safe. enjoy your evening W Ellpisstoff

So far all of ours is coming direct from each brewery although havent tried Adnams yet but we are expecting one today from Titanic brewery in the potteries - their plum porter is superb

Afternoon All I've had to skip about five pages today, as I was up early to do an early supplementary fodder run, as there are a few things that Aldi sell and which Lidl don't. Also, the recently fettled door needed some work which I was expecting, as the job that was agreed was that it would be returned "as is" and that I would fill the screwholes, do the sanding, and then repaint. So I've only just got to turn the laptop on, and there are, of course, other sites which need to be visited, so generic greetings, and I really hope that we are all well. It does get me away from the Great British Sewing Bee, which 30747 is watching on recorded TV. Back tomorrow Regards to All Stewart

Could have been my dear wife’s family motto. One of their family businesses in India does have a motto, though I suspect it would be a mission statement nowadays.

Probably to amuse! I shall relate a tale of a friend whom was serving with my in Cyprus, who forgot which way the wind was blowing and took a downwind landing with about 10kts of wind following. (Aviators will recognise the slight issue with this). Since he was jumping a rather fast ram air canopy at the time his landing speed, even allowing for a braking flare was around 25 kts. He adopted a very good 'position' and did an excellent PLF (Parachute Landing Fall). But being Cyprus, the ground is somewhat hard and peppered with holes and boulders. As the pelvis made contact with the ground, he rolled into a boulder which suddenly jumped out of the ground to meet him. When he stood up, he said, 'My arse is twitching and won't stop' We thought it was fright until he stood up removed his jumpsuit and dropped his shorts. There was this little tail, sticking up under the skin at the base of his spine, twitching and wriggling. After that he was called 'Pig'

Morning, we had a decent amount of rain over night, the pond has been topped up as have the water butts on the greenhouse, the down side is I am sure I can see the grass growing...…………... After the relief of Mafeking when Tescos delivered, we then had an early delivery of meat from the farmer, so our bare fridge and freezer are now at the desired levels, just waiting on 20 litres of West Country Cider to wing it's way up from Devon, luckily a few cans of Thatchers Haze were in the grocery delivery, so they will lubricate the tonsils for a few days, not that I plan on doing much singing...…….not even in the rain. Take care and keep it covered...………………………...

In my case it is trapped between my belly and my thighs

On the subject of 'why'..... Why is there only one monopolies commission?

Greetings one and all It stopped raining for long enough yesterday to let me attack some nettles, remove them from the garden and place them in the green bin which will be emptied today. There was extreme multi-tasking as I cooked a very late breakfast while putting my shopping in places where I will be able to find it, taking spun clothing out of the drier and draping it over the clothes horse. That of course indicates that I have stored up a batch of ironing for myself, a pleasure yet to come and yet to be identified as a pleasure. There was a pleasant surprise arising from the Dublin debacle, in the shape of the offer of a refund for the Pride afterparty that was to have been held in the grounds of a museum. In the finest Irish tradition I was invited to apply for it by replying to an e-mail address which included the magic words “no reply”! We’ll see what happens. I had been prepared to write off what I had paid but the organisers suggested that those who booked might be prepared to donate all or part of what they had paid to the cause. Perhaps perversely, I changed my mind and claimed the full 34 euros but I might have to wait quite a while to get my hands on it. As I paid with my no-fees-overseas credit card I foresee the credit sitting there until next time I use the card. To predict when I next make an overseas trip will require a better crystal ball than has ever been devised. A way has been found for my friends and me to mark May Day, albeit in token fashion. I may be a bit late posting tomorrow if it comes off. File under mysterious … Best wishes to all Chris

Happy Retirement. Now some people will tell you that you will wonder how you had time to go to work. There NOT lying.

Afternoon, awl, So to plans of mice and men, Well the mice had their way lots of chewed items in the railway shed and I didn't get to melt lead. The search for the old hot plates was a failure. Even SWMBO can't find where she put them safely away. I also got summoned to sort things out in the railway shed, I suspect SWMBO is planning an expansion from her end of the shed.. I did find the box of buildings belonging to the layout I'm working on, and a bag of micro strip and plastic moulded shapes, H, round , round Hollow etc. Bought some time ago as a cheap job lot. It's just got suddenly very very dark I suspect a large quantity of precipitation is imminent. Earlier I mentioned the purchase of some 1/148 walkway grids, that the UK laser cut product didn't look as good as the American etched brass but expensive product.. Well the UK product arrived.. Wow, the pictures are in no way are as good as the product actually is , I'm very very pleased with them. A trial paint to military green, on one grid was successful, using an almost dry brush so as not to block the tiny holes. Now I have them, calculations will commence in 3D to get a neat fit on the first level of the Radar assembly. Some of the microstrip has been used on the radar building.

I had a cunning plan today. As showers were forecast, I decided to run and photograph trains during the lighter spells, and do more tidying up when darkness descended. Thus , some of both occurred, and I have more photos to process. And while sipping our mug of tea, we can have another look at that L1, now at rest having completed its journey.

In other news. You know you are "special" when the head brewer drops off 10l of beer personally.

Parcel just arrived and brought to the shed by my other half.Its about to be given a good run. I like receipts like this!!

Well todays Blast from the Past came after the House move to our present location in May 2014. Just 3 weeks after moving in I had a mild Stroke that put me out of action for a short while, and then I had TOPS built by Derby Sheds, and fitted out by my mate Lee, with me acting as Project Manager and General Dogs Body as I was unable to see strait and do any lifting etc. Once done I already had the idea of a Layout, and it was to be Bitton, just outside Bath. The Project taught me a lot, such as Planning, Building Points, and also the fact that I can't do Prototype Projects.