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Many thanks to Team Grantham for letting us pose some samples on the layout at the weekend. Here are some pics:

What no Pannier!!! If squint and hold your head to the right I think you can just make out one about to enter the station from the black hole.....! 😉

A set of what are really reference photos of Crianlarich in 1973, 85 and 86. Some were taken from the train - I only used to put my head out of the window of a Mk1 door at places where I knew there was a safe clearance! Crianlarich view south July 73 C1349 Crianlarich July 73 C1351 Crianlarich loco shed 11th May 85 C6843 Crianlarich 11th May 85 C6844 Crianlarich 11th May 85 C6894 Crianlarich 11th Oct 86 C8056 David

Back to work after the bank holiday - and marking. This is going to be my life work wise until I retire. Mind you, I could have said that twenty years ago. This tranche I have 40 students submitting 2,500 words each, so I have to read and comment upon 100,000 words. The next tranche, due in a week, is 70 spreadsheets each with sixteen worksheets. Then that's it! Resits are due the day after my last day of work and they're someone else's problem.

I had the stitches removed from what remains of my finger tip this morning: Should have been five, but only three were visible. They are probably under the large scab on top of the finger. After a brief discussion, we decided that I can either go back when the scabbing finally falls off and get the last two removed, or I can do them myself. My preference is to carry out the task myself.... After all, I'm exceptionally good at DIY with my fingers.🤣

Baz is of course correct about Frost being made in Leeds, a friend was in it a few times, as an extra. He was.... a police officer in Leeds! We recognise some of the areas as we have a number of friends that live/lived in Leeds. Of course we follow Vera avidly, to spot the locations around Tyneside, great fun, and in a recent one, the street I lived in as a young 'un, with a childhood friend as an extra is several scenes.

Morning, from a dry, sunny but only 11c rock. A day of domestic servitude beckons as no washing was done over the BH weekend. Being a hypertension sufferer we don't use salt in any cooking at all, nor do we put it on food, other than the very occasional chip. (Fries to JS Bach!). I'm sure I still get more than is ideal from various bought foods! Trying to keep carbs low is difficult, they're everywhere.

Good morning everyone When I switched on the iPad this morning, there had been another bl00dy update, consequently most of the icons I want on my Home Screen had disappeared or been moved somewhere else, pah, pah and double pah! So another 20 minutes looking for where they’d been hidden, so I could either put them back where I want them, or download the ones that had been deleted. Then Sheila wanted me to place an order for some of her medication at Boots, there webshite decide that my email address and password weren’t correct, oh yes they fecking are! It took me about 25 minutes to complete the task, it would have been quicker to walk to the shop to do it, pah again. So, now the weather is looking decidedly dodgy, very dark and grey skies, but I’m going to chance it and attempt to do a bit of gardening. Back later Brian

In reverse, in the movie "The Wolverine", the Yukon scenes were filmed at Picton NSW, a small town about 15 minutes drive from here. Fake snow and VFX did the rest!

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Only one call out from bladder control last night and the sore/stiff joints weren't so troublesome this morning but pills have been taken. I try to keep my salt intake to a minimum due to hypertension, but so many things contain hidden salt. Bread for example though I understand that wholemeal bread generally has less salt than white bread. That's not why I eat wholemeal, I like the taste. When it comes to bacon I have smoked bacon, again because of the taste but it must be dry cured, not pumped full of brine.

I no longer have butter, I changed to cholesterol reducing spread. The level was not too far above desirable, the spread has reduced it. I did have statins but had a nasty reaction (I had memory problems and could not sleep at all) so that my GP said never ever take statins again and wrote it in my notes. As for salt there is some in the house, it is useful if the path gets icy and once in a blue moon I put a little bit on boiled new potatoes if I am eating them with fish without a sauce. I usually get enough salt from food I buy - and living near the sea I breathe tiny particles in all the time, especially when there is a strong wind off the sea. In prolonged hot weather I sometimes get a lot of cramp, relieved by drinking water with a small amount of salt added. This morning has been a normal Tuesday, the groceries have come and been put away and the house is tidy. It is dull and cold so I will just go to the beach and have a walk as it is not going to get above 10°C . Then I will scan more photos. I may also contact the Salvation Army to see if they have any details of what my great great uncle did with them in Africa. Some time today I need to start to sort out the intercesions for church on Thursday. Apart from that I can do what I like. Last night I watched an old episode of Vera. I am pleased I did - I hadn't seen it before which surprised me. As usual places near to each other in the programme are not in real life. David

Ey up! Her indoors likes bacon with a bit of mustard in her sarnie...just sayingnlike... Came back from Bristol with a cold.. pah! Over 60s cricket is in Glossop today. Hopefully they avoided the flash floods we had here yesterday. Frost was filmed mainly in Leeds. It was good playing "spot the location" but the continuity was a bit off. Police cars were obviously capable of teleportation. Time to get up and gerronwithit methinks. Baz

All I got on the Bear's link was an article about running.. The only time we put butter with bacon is with a full B.L.T. As for salt, we don't use it in cooking, we very rarely eat out or have a take away, ( ok I now have pie and chips on a Friday between R.A.D.A.R. museum and M.R.C. but that's summer only. I doubt we eat anywhere near 2.3g per day. Mooring Awl, Up early because swmbo got up early, an hour early for Ben's patrol, yes sample time for Ben again. After that Ben and me continued on patrol, which he was very happy about, but he cut it short, probably because SWMBO was up. Ben's gone back to sleep now, lying in the doorway making sure neither of us can escape without him. I could do with more sleep, I've had about 5 hours and have a headache. Like PhilW, I've awoken to pain that indicates a change in the air pressure. Unusually this time it's going up in pressure, normally I get it only when the pressure goes down. The forepaws are their normal light painful level, but my right ankle is particularly stiff and complaining. Though that maybe a result of all day on my feet for the boat show. Later I'll take the sample in, then find out if there are more pills for Ben.. After that, work may happen on the spinny thingy, as my brownie points are in negative territory having been out for all or part of the last 5 days.. Oh and fire stove needs emptying and inspecting.. Time for breaky.. Hmm that well might be a B.L.T.

Success, the Dr says the stitches can be removed on Friday. Also a minor triumph for me. I had been explaining to the receptionist in French what was needed and the settled down to wait for the Dr and read a magazine about content of which we can't speak. Our Dr, who speaks fluent English, bobbed out of her office. The receptionist told her why I was there and I was asked to join the conversation. At the end she gave the go ahead and I thanked her and headed for the car. Only then did I realise that it had all been done in French. That is a plus point. Jamie

Well Roy Erskine Bear [God Rest His Soul] has done a full seventy eight point inspection and notes that all the springy and wobbly bits are within spec. There is a degree of sloppiness within the lower appendages so it might be a touch of Moortens Aroma.

America prides itself on being the most desirable country in the world to live in, and thats born out by the stats - the US has a net gain in immigration from every country in the world................. except one. https://cf.datawrapper.de/dduui/2/ Thats because we have two unique things that makes everywhere else far less desirable for us in comparison: Australian Rules football and Chicken salt on our chips!

Did alright till you got to the avocado aka green putty!try pork sausages with marmalade.. I quite enjoy a ham, cheddar cheese and Marmite sarnie or toasty... Salt.. never use it apart from crisping pork rind... My game today is off.. Buggggrrrrrittt. So no trophy to Glossop... It gives me a day longer to get rid of my cold though. Her indoors went for a minor op on a skin blemish. Local anaesthetic applied.. item removed by scraping it off using a scalpel. Scrapings off to the lab.....should be ok Baz

If you remember way back in 1979-80 there was a TV detective series called Shoestring, that was mostly filmed in Bristol and Weston Super Mare. The outside view of the supposed radio studios was actually a multistory car park near the docks. In the series he'd run round a corner in Bristol and appear in WSM, then another and appear in Bristol. The great shame is the inspector George Gently, the books were based in Norfolk, but they moved the filming to the north east. Ironically it's star Martin Shaw lives in Norfolk just about a mile from my winter sailing compatriot. In films of course the commonly know local connections are the Swallows and Amazons films. Those based on the broads are familiar places I sail, in the books mention is made of Horning Staithe, just a hundred yards from the sailing club. Then there was... Which was filmed on the broads particularly in and around Hickling broad which is very near Heigham Holmes a secret WW2 SOE airfield. No military facilities as such were there, as it's only a couple of miles from RAF Ludham airfield and about 10 to RAF Coltishall.

Agreed. One of the sarnies on my list of likes is extra mature cheddar cheese and strawberry jam. It’s something I picked up from an American colleague and to my taste is yummy. As Flávio states, though, it has to be good quality ingredients. Dave

Same here, but being @polybear it would definitely have been this story. Probably. https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/cooking-and-eating-tarantula-spiders-cambodia/index.html

Apologies again for the long break between posts! I'll be away for 3 days, so there will be more gaps between photos, but we'll get there eventually! Anyway, onto @Paulrhodes 's absolutely exquisite 'Old Parrock'. This little cameo layout in OO is a delight, and, like many layouts at SWAG, proved that you don't need a lot of space to create something impressive. The layout was well presented, ran beautifully, and looked stunning with its Pendon-esque buildings and some lovely scenic work and consistent colouring. I feel it was quite brave to opt for 3-links on what is, essentially, a shunting layout - yet it worked very well. I suppose the small size of the layout means that at least you don't have to reach across a wide baseboard to uncouple! Happily, most of my time at SWAG was spent admiring, and taking photos of the layout - so watch out for more photos and a full layout feature in BRM somewhen next year. But for now, here are a few sneak peaks:

Bear seems to recall that iD is, well, a bit of a pussy when it comes to tommies - yet scorns that most wonderful of scoff, namely Baked Beans. In Bear's recent experience that 5L might actually be 4L; 4L of 10W/40 Mineral Oil for Harry cost THIRTY F. QUID ......🤯 - so that'll be £37.50 for 5L. Jeez. ION...... Bear's lug'oles lowered, new sweeties collected from the Chemist and a minor raid on the Co-op all completed. Tick. And finally..... I see Boeing are in the Poo AGAIN - this time it's the 787 Dreamliner..... BG

But you've forgotten the thing that makes it a healthy option! Where are the grilled tomatoes? Oh yes, you can definitely ditch the black pudding and if you want to substitute more bacon for the sausage be my guest ..... ION Dropped into the local garage to book Monty in for a service and an MoT in a week or so. Then ventured over to Halfrauds to buy a new set of wind-screen wiper blades. I noticed last night when we went out in the rain "down't pub" for dinner that one end of one of the rubbers had split and was flapping about a bit. I entered Monty's details into the Halfrauds screen to find out which blades I needed ...... Computer said no! It seems that Monty is now to old to trouble them with maintaining data about him. Whilst slightly annoying the assistant said I'd have to bring the blades in so that they could match them. He then enquired as to whether I'd like them to fit them (@ £5 each). Alan said no! Anyway, new blades purchased and fitted (well it would have been stupid to re-fit the old ones until I'd got home 🤣). I also bought another gallon (I suppose it's actually 5L) can of Classic Oil for the the bikes. How blxxdy much! It has been ~£20 for many years but had started to creep up in price. Today? £31! I only used to buy it there for convenience so that will be the last can I buy as I was right out. An engine running with no oil is even more expensive than a can of Halford's Classic. Now, I think it's time to go and elevate some more "Big Grass" and after that? Well, who knows but it's a nice day so extraction of a two wheeled machine from the garage is a distinct possibility. TTFN

Good moaning from Nurse Rachedd. The patient appears to be doing well. Shopping has been shopped and the proper nurse has been. Whilst the dressing was changed I had to photograph the scar so that the GP an okay the removal of the stiches. A print will be dropped off at the surgery this afternoon. Then Beth needs taking to and picking up fromher French Class before we set off out for a meal at our favourite restaurant. Jamie

Another good cheese'n'jam combination is crumbly Cheshire cheese with blackcurrant jam.

Tell me about it… However, in no particular order, the following manage to both fill me me up and keep me satiated (a lot of the problems with dieting are associated with satiety) with minimal carbohydrate load Slow roasted pork belly (amazing, fills you up, loads of crackling and zero carbs) Grilled lamb chops iD’s almost “Full English” (bacon, soss, black pud, mushrooms, scrambled egg - with careful choice of soss and black pud, very low carb indeed). It’s almost a Full English as it’s missing that key FE ingredient: a fried slice. Liver and onions. Homemade broccoli and cheese soup Siedfleisch (boiling beef) cooked sous-vide for 24 hours, sliced and seared on a hot griddle served with a salad. Boiled Beef and Carrots (I have a genuine East End recipe for that) Salade tiède with bacon (basically bacon lardons cooked slowly to release the fat - the fat acting to replace the oil in the salad dressing - some decent balsamic vinegar and the salad tossed in this sauce/dressing). A chopped hard boiled egg can also be added. Unfortunately, all but the lamb chops, liver and onions, almost Full English and the salade tiède are not quick dishes to make - but definitely worth it.

Beaten by The Bear.....😁 Bear here..... First Mission: get the Beary Ears lowered, then it's MIUABGAD; hopefully the Printer Cartridge will appear today and I can get some important stuff printed off at last. ION..... Heads-up Guys..... https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-68966497 Hopefully it won't affect any fellow ER'ers BG

Assuming the drum bearings aren't shot (does the inner drum wiggle up in down inside the outer drum? - if so the bearings are fu.....er, shot) then Bear predicts the outer drum damper mounts usually at the bottom of the machine are kernackered - easy & cheap DIY fix usually; the top mounts are usually bluddygreatsprings in my experience. (edit: Assuming the machine is level and the feet correctly adjusted, of course - and the floor is solid enough). There - corrected it for you..... Bear often has Tommy Sauce on Toast (last night, in fact). Go on, live dangerously and give it a go.... There's hope for you yet. Bear will count his intake today - whilst deliberately trying to be "normal" and not fiddle the result. Added salt? Only on Chippie Chips - and they're very rare nowadays. In veg or pasta whilst cooking? Nope, never. It's a "rather fast guy" saying his fave after a race is a Pizza. With Pineapple. iD is now hyperventilating. Ben says that's a fine decision - that'll be buttered and dodge the L & T though.

the movie Silver Streak had the final sequence filmed around Toronto. But the railway continuity was like a run through Reading, Tring, ending with a crash into the ticket hall at Kings Cross. Possesives in place names: These were abolished in Canada many years ago from the names of natural features. Smith's Falls became Smith Falls. Two places in eastern Canada, St John and St John's. St John named after a river. St John's is in Newfoundland which joined Canada after the purge of possesives.

It appears that summer has arrived on the coast ..

I looked up some international salt consumption results. UK is nearer the bottom than the top. Lowest in Western Europe and only Ukraine is lower in all Europe. Every country(worldwide) has higher (some only slightly higher though) than recommended levels. 3/4 of a teaspoon of salt goes in our bread machine loaves. It doesn’t get eaten by one person in a day anyway. I do add a hint of salt to chips. I don’t like unsalted butter on sandwiches so we have salted butter but it is from happy cows. I was telephoned by the GP surgery this morning and have been to a blood test form. This one is for routine diabetes monitoring. Collected and booked. Aditi asked me to buy a baguette and some ice cream on the way home. The baguette, as we have some French cheese for lunch and she thought the baguette might be better with it than the homemade loaf. The current one is rye so perhaps not. The cheese is Pié d’Angloys and it has a rind rather than a pastry top and bottom. I think the ice cream is to go with a rhubarb crumble. The rhubarb was the last of our garden rhubarb frozen last year. Aditi uprooted the crown as it was well past its best. It will be replaced I believe, but the former rhubarb patch is now full of wallflowers.

Watching films shot round where I grew up is the same. There is a shot in Robin Hood Prince of Thieves where, IIRC, Robin is hiding in a cave. The view in one direction was next to Barden Tower in Wharfedale,from the other direction it was near Fountains Abbey. Jamie

A favourite lunch of ours that is surprisingly satisfying is a fairly large amount of baby leaf spinach mixed with chopped up avocado and crispy bacon lardons. Dave

Retreating a few steps towards the platform end, and taking care not to trip over any stray parcels, our man again gets a head on view of 60506, now stationary. It won't remain so for long though, as the next express is due to come through non stop in just five minutes from now.

You know your project stash is too big when....... you forget you'd bought a kit of the same aircraft as part of a job lot, only six months ago. SWMBO hasn't been told.

Bear: Butter (ok, so it's cheapo cr@p in Bear Towers - not cos' Bear is a tightwad but because the real deal is just such a PITA to spread), Tommy Sauce & English Mustard.

Keep looking, it’s well hidden. I’ll just say Pizza & pineapple and leave it there. TTFN

According to the BBC Website: Not Available In Your Area Presumably on the grounds of good taste or public decency….

Can't have been as bad as those old NSU Wankel engines...... The biggest engine failure I say was on sea trials for a new build Containers ship. We left Kure for the inland sea and were increasing revs when there was a most unpleasant sound as all three main engine turbos failed (it was a big 48MW Sulzer). DU (the engine builder) blamed ABB who in turn blamed SKF, it was still in court last I heard about it. Bit embarrassing to have to be towed back to the yard by tugs, but the reaction of the IHI people on board was classic. In a European yard it'd have been pretty much 'well **** happens, that's what sea trials are for' whereas I got the impression that in an earlier time the Japanese would have been committing seppuku or something. Another one which was more impressive but a much smaller engine was another newbuild this time in Norway. During commissioning tests a generator breaker closed out of phase sequence, the resulting forces ripped the engine off the bed plate. Apparently that wasn't meant to happen '.

Quarry Hunslet 'Holy War' rumbles into the Wharf at Port Nadolig with some rubble trucks.

The caption under the photo of the baby monkey - "The monkey torture community began life on youtube..." p!sses me off just as much. Try and upload a video to youtube that contains even a snatch of copyrighted music and you'll be prevented - I was trying to upload a 30 second video of Buttons the Budgie headbanging to Highway To Hell by ACDC but youtube blocked it on copyright grounds. . But - if you have a video of some baby monkey being lit with a cigarette lighter or whatever its "no f#**en' worries mate!" - just as long as you don't try adding a soundtrack of "Light My Fire" by the Doors. They are just as culpable in my book, the ar5eholes.

The best pork crackling I've ever had was on the Cook Islands, there was an eating place ("restaurant" is too grand!) on the beach where they cooked half a pig in the sand. If I ever go back to somewhere I've been before it'll be the Cook Islands - 5 stars!

Giving them away here at the moment, its the time in the season where Haas Avocadoes are making way for Shepard's so there's both kinds - 3 for a dollar (3 for 50p) equivalent in the fruit shop today. . Bursts the balloon of those "The only reason young people cant afford a house is because they are always buying avocado on toast" types.

Neighbours of ours have two children: Alfie and Zoe. Clearly a statement being made there!

The test one out (I also cast one of the three arch lower sections as I also need more of those) seems to have come out well. They do need a little tidying and filing but the viaduct is old and the brickwork was crumbling, damaged and patched in places. Anyway I've started a production line:

You are dead right with that Puppers but I have to say that I am glad that someone from your neck of the woods thinks so as I always thought that butter on a bacon butty was something that defined the lack of taste of the southerner and is eschewed by right thinking northerners. Oh, and I absolutely detest unsalted butter anyway. Dave

We had a retired railwayman who was a member of our MRC. I got to know him quite well. It turned out that he had been in the original SBS, causing havoc in the Aegean. He got badly shot up on a beach and ended up as a POW for 2 years after a German surgeon removed several bullets from him. After he retired from the railway his knee started giving him gyp. An Xray eventually revealed that he had a bullet in his knee that he knew nothing about. An op ensued but the stupid surgeon threw the bullet away. I helped him claim an increase in his war pension but it took a lot of convincing the MoD that he had been carrying a bullet around for over 40 years without knowing. A very interesting guy to talk to. Jamie

Evening all from Estuary-Land. The left knee and hip are playing up again, probably due to the rising atmospheric pressure. If the forecasters are right that means we are in for a few days of hot and sunny weather which is a small compensation.

Busy day today, so late on the afternoon check-in, one or two IT gremlins with pages loading and rating posts but I'm here now. Watched the Miami GP over lunch so didn't look at the papers this morning. So something of an eyebrow raising moment this evening - https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/article/2024/may/07/you-wouldnt-eat-her-shes-one-of-the-family-meet-jill-australias-heaviest-oyster - with some foods, smaller/younger specimens are sweeter/more tender. I'm not sure about oysters, is size linked to quality? I'll not let it keep me awake... Also in the news: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/may/05/north-yorkshires-dropped-apostrophe-for-street-signs-upsets-residents - another example of 'computer says no'. I've done a little web-work and see how !,&,*s and <,>,/s to quote a few can work in searches and database programming but however did the rules on databases and programming language/symbols for street names (and placenames - such as 'Westward Ho!') get signed off?