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Newcastle, Benton and Benton Quarry junction for this morning. Newcastle right Class 101 to coast left Class 101 from South Shields May 74 J3714 Benton Class 101 Morpeth to Newcastle 10th Aug 85 C7112 Benton HST 43073 up10th Aug 85 C7113 Benton 47188 up ammonia tanks Grangemouth to Haverton Hill 10th Aug 85 C7115 Benton Quarry Junction Class 254 down May 83 C6053 The line to the left went to Gosforth and eventually reached Ponteland at one time. At this time I think there were still trains to Rowntrees at Fawdon as well as making a connection to the Tyne and Wear Metro. Now the line is gone. David

Ratcliffe on Soar on the Midland between Trent and Loughborough comes next. Ratcliffe on Soar Class 47 up July 71 C664 Ratcliffe on Soar Class 45 St Pancras to Nottingham June 76 J5300 Ratcliffe on Soar Derby dmu June 76 J5334 Ratcliffe on Soar Class 45 45xxx St Pancras to Nottingham April 78 J5991 Ratcliffe on Soar Class 45 down ballast Feb 83 C5940 David

Hi folks, Jus some more cab sneak peeks! More soon! Cheers! Fran

Well are all those panniers and Prairies here are some wagons....... Say tar!!!

I digressed today from track laying to install two signal gantries, delivered by Absolute Aspects on Monday. As with all of their creations, they are works of art! 1st photo is the board at the southern end stripped of anything that could fall off when tipped. The signals locate into DIN sockets fitted under the baseboard. Once the holes for these were drilled and filed, the board was gently slid out (it is wedge shaped) and turned on its side. 2nd photo shows the board with the two gantries slotted into place. With the board located back into its normal position and parts replaced, a few photos of the gantries in situ. Wiring up us 'work in progress'. Giles Giles

Not had a Fairburn (Noo Year challenge) update for a while. Quietly plugging away in the background ... Tank top details. Lifting lugs and inspection covers waiting to be fitted. The tank straps are quite distinctive. As the boiler and tank units separate, needs to be a close interface. With the two assembled together in the frames, straps are soldered to boiler, to align with fixing points pre-soldered to tank tops. Filler caps. None of the right size in stock so simply fashioned them by lopping the tops off these long term residents of the 'spares' box. No idea what loco type they were originally intended for? Moving on to the front of the loco, here's the all important 'face' coming together. No LMS style smokebox doors to hand (WHAT?!), so I took a similar size one and turned it back to plain so I could ... ... add the detail. Not too shabby? Tried in position. Front footplates now need detailing Adding steam pipes, lubricators and front sand box fillers. Are we - perhaps, just maybe - starting to look like we're on the home straight? Hopefully!

Seagull is now off on the way to Grantham. For some reason I did another very similar shot, and didn't fancy doing all the shopping again, so I cropped it and changed it to black and white. A very large black cloud must have obscured the sun just as the photographer took this.

Another of Dad's black and white photos, this time of an A3 at Nottingham Victoria. I haven't edited it in Photoshap, partly because this is how I remember the photos he printed to about whole plate size, 8"x6". David

Although the layout is a work in progress, this hedge is greening up nicely.

I'm getting really hacked off with people here banging on about bloody cakes. Look what you've made me do now!!! I'm going to have to go and have a lie down in a darkened room ........when I've eaten it. 🙃🤪

To somewhere else! Out of sight, out of mind is the philosophy here when it comes to that kind of thing. A couple of days ago @Ozexpatriate reflected on how few degrees of separation he is from someone killed by US gun violence. In contrast, I wouldn't be anywhere close to knowing anyone who got bitten by our wildlife, let alone died from them. Dogs are another matter, I know quite a few people - friends and family included - who have lost dogs to snake bites. Dogs tend to run in and bark at say an Eastern brown snake, ("worlds second deadliest snake!") unaware that it is not only a bat sh!t crazy snake but that when striking it can launch itself full body length and bite them in the face, which is an instant death sentence. I never did let my dogs off the leash here in summer and when the last one died of happy old age I switched to Gary The Parrot for fear that my luck would run out - seeing a dog panic, collapse and die in convulsions from a snakebite is really awful. We grow up amidst deadly stuff so it just seems normal to us. Everyone as a child was taught to not walk in the long grass in summer, not go into the water at sunset or after a storm and how to tie a tourniquet if bitten by a snake or spider. We were taught about all the other deadly stuff that is out there, although this far south there isn't the range of them compared to Queensland or the NT so we got off lightly. Basically down here apart from the usual boring snakes and spiders and sharks it is pretty much just Blue Ringed Octopuses living in rock pools that can kill you in 5 minutes. Seriously though, the risk of ever actually seeing something venomous, let alone being attacked by it is very minimal. If I was to divide my age by the number of times I've seen a particular dangerous thing it'd average out like this: Deadly snake sightings: Once every 3 years. Deadly Spider sightings: Once every 10 years. Shark sightings: Once every 20 years (and I spent every weekend at the beach in the '80's and only about a dozen times did the shark alarm go off while I was there) Deadly seasnake sightings: Once every 30 years Deadly Blue Ringed Octopus sightings: Once every 50 years Deadly jellyfish sightings: Once every 30 years Deadly horse sightings: I still have nightmares about them.......... nightmares, get it? I make myself LOL sometimes! In contrast, we have nice stuff too as compensation. I stopped in at dads on the way home. He has this " tame" King Parrot that turns up demanding food - I have them hanging around too, but my ones are very skittish, this guy was very bold, he sat on my arm and took sunflower seeds from my hand....

I find the antics of some of the so-called influencers quite repellent. There is a restaurant chain of four establishments in our area that are clean, well appointed, staffed by friendly and efficient people and serve excellent food - not all the same but with varying decor and menus. I know the head waiter in one of them and he told me that one of these influencers contacted the owners saying that if she recommended the restaurants to her followers she would expect free meals for her and a companion. The owners told her to Foxtrot Oscar and that since she was known locally they would monitor if and when she ate at any of their restaurants so that if she made any false detrimental claims they would sue her. Apparently she hasn’t been seen or heard of since. Dave

It’s to add to the collection….

The Trump trial as narrated by Stanley Unwin. Old orangey partifants hardyblow Rimple Trumpskin moany on freeze peach inwingements daily between sleepybyes. But judgelet probabibbles finalment patience expirational, and throw Trumpskin in the clinkyshut. Deep joy.

I don’t know the detailed recipe for the pastel de nata from our local deli but they appear to be made in batches of about 30 or so, are scrumptious and cost £1.50 each. Dave

Good morning John, 'Trigger warning' acknowledged. A fine RTR model 'inferior' to a scratch- or kit-built one? Only in terms of haulage? I took this Hornby RTR A3, changed its identity, replaced the bogie wheels and weathered it; then sold it. Why? Because it just couldn't haul trains like these, here pulled by my South Eastern Finecast ENTERPRISE (painted by Geoff Haynes). The train in the first shot is 14-cars long. Seen here in its entirety............... All built from metal kits! Here, it's hauled by a DJH A1 - no Bachmann RTR A1 will look at this. Granted, not all layout owners/builders are 'loonies' like me, but, for my needs, it has to be kit-built locos. Garsdale Road? The most-exciting thing David Jenkinson ever created. Though my memory crumbles, I saw it (I think) at Central Hall, and never looked at anything else. Nick Campling was helping him operate it. Regards, Tony.

All this talk of wax got me wondering if it was a Brazilian toilet. Good moaning from the Charente. Still cool enough that we have keep the fire lit. The nurse is due this morning to change dressings. I will be on coffee making duty. Then a fish pie take for consumption tonight. Jamie

Foam used in such tasks isn't permeable, it's closed cell foam. Wax rings in the UK are very rare, I've never come across them, though it seems they are available. Most UK systems use some sort of rubber seal. Mooring Awl, About 5 hours sleep, not enough, just can't get back to sleep. The forecast for the weekend has improved, looks to be dry for Saturday's boat show. MRC this morning.. fitting a sink for dirty brushes etc... Suns up Ben's snoring, so should I.

We had the plumber in today. On the weekend SWMBO noticed water liquid seeping out from under the toilet. I called Monday morning and Bob said that he was just back from holidays, but I got an appointment for today afternoon. When he lifted the fixture off its mounts, there was a break in one of them and the washer thing (about 6" circle) was life-expired. New mounts and a new washer of wax instead of foam. Shims under the base -- looks like the floor has a slight hump. I've now seen it done; I think I'll use a professional next time as well.

Not really in a photo mood today! up side departure from oxley Splitting at Chester 777 unit Liveried up unit passing at Bangor Bangor on the return 777 in Chester DRS convoy in crewe LSL 37s possession tomorrow night near Coventry I think!

Afternoon! What a storm in the night! Well, if there was one I didn't hear it 🤣 Nippy and dull though this morning. Amazon delivered the miniature ePaper display yesterday along with a box of 10 rotary encoders including push button function and black anodised aluminium knobs. The box of 10 cost £9.99 which, even when I went to school, means they were a pound apiece. How do they do that? In a similar vein, I've just nipped to Screwfix (on the RD, it would have been rude not to) and bought a pair of replacement 1/4 turn 1/2" BSP ceramic tap glands for the bathroom sink for the princely sum of £5.06. They are of course machined from solid brass, they have rubber O rings fitted and include plastic mouldings and the ceramic inserts. How does that work! Still, never mind I can live with not knowing, Back to the ePaper display. I spent a few hours last night and most of the morning trying to get it to work. Downloading the simple "prove it works" code from the manufacturer's website didn't work. Without the display attached the code ran through to completion (which is a bit strange because at one point it checks information returned from the display in order to proceed!) but connect the display and it didn't get past "Go" (or a call to the init function for those in the know). Anyway after much perusing of internet forums, downloading some 3rd party libraries which included their own, much more comprehensive, example apps, trawling through lists of 80+ different drivers in header files trying to work out which was the right one and swapping two of the handshake lines over from the configuration shown in the manufacturer's notes we got there! Softies will recognise the significance of those two little words with or without an exclamation mark ...... Now to work out what I actually want to display on it! Oh yes, <RANT MODE> = ON On my return I witnessed two more examples of idiots pulling out of side turnings into the path of oncoming traffic. #1 I was waiting to pull out of a side road and turn right onto the busy, single carriageway A6*. 75 yards or so further up to my left a car was waiting to do the same manoeuvre in order to leave a car wash. A minimal gap opened up in the stream so they decided to plug it. The person (with right of way , travelling at normal road speed) very nearly re-arranged the idiots back end but fortunately managed to slow down enough not to make contact. #2 On the last stretch of open road in the countryside before home on the left there's a "business park" (it was a farm but where's the money in that). As I approached the access road I saw a stationary car waiting to pull out. Alan complete with a full day-glow yellow tabbard over my jacket, a bright yellow full face crash helmet and a bright orange Yamaha approached with, as a precaution right hand on front brake lever, right foot on rear brake lever, left hand on clutch and left thumb on the horn button. Turned out the precautions were entirely justified as the idiot then pulled out. If I'd have been travelling at the speed limit or even unprepared I'd be dead or at least severely re-arranged. You see it time and time again! What is it with these twits ** <RANT MODE> = OFF * It's probably known as the A1086 or something now but it will forever be the A6 for me. ** Other suitable words beginning with 'T' are available, refer to @polybear for more details TTFN

Good morning all, Dull start here and apparently it was very damp with thunder and lightning in the night which I didn't hear. I did hear the torrential rain and hailstones which woke me at 04.50 but I managed to doze off again for another hour. 5-6 hours sleep is the norm for me. I do sometimes doze off for about an hour after lunch if I stay in the armchair. A cloudy day is forecast with more heavy showers and the chance of thunder. 12°C rising to 18°C. Bin lorries have already started their parade but no Ocado delivery this week. We're using up part of the various supplies that were possibly bought for some sort of siege and will pop out for any fresh stuff required. Still no Sim card.....it's in the post!!! I did ask Nicki's fiance Darren where it was (He's a postie) but for some strange reason he seemed unable to tell me. 🤪 Abbie and James are on holiday in Malta visiting his grandparents. Their Instagram photos start early each morning with a shot of a gym and both of them in there. This is followed by photos of sunshine, lots of drink and huge meals....that may be why the gym is being visited. 😁 Jealous? Moi? The gym not so much although there was a time way back in the dim and distant recesses of my forgettery © ChrisF that I would have enjoyed such a thing. Window cleaners have just arrived. They were due over a week ago but sadly the old boss and dad of the current boss died a few weeks ago so unsurprisingly they had more important things to deal with. They've been doing our windows for about 20 years and changed from ladders to long poles and hoses just before the pandemic, the main reason given being the insurance costs. Must admit I was sceptical to start with but they are good lads who do a great job and it saves me having to do it. Better go and open the back gate for them. Have a good one, Bob.

Ey up! Busy, busy, busy.. Getting picked up at 10 ish. Then off to the club to load van. Then trundle down to Bristol. Hopefully we will have a good weekend.. Misty this morning ( the sun didn't burn through it until lunch timeish yesterday.) Time to get up and eat.. I may be gone gor a few days so.. behave.... the awl flinger will be watching Baz

41157 has set off, but won't get far, as the 8.08 KX-Skegness on the Down main has to clear Crescent Junction first. It has eleven on, so the wait may not be a long one. The B1 comes under the bridge, and will stop at Platform 6 for four minutes. I wish I knew which of these Skeggy trains were Pacific hauled as far as PN. I suspect there were some, but that the stopping time would be longer if that was the case.

Afternoon Awl, An extra hour of zzzzzzzzzzzzzz was achieved, Ben the nice Collie letting me sleep in. He had a good snuffle but was mightily offended when I moved a oak log during HIS walk. The look of disapproval was intense. MRC, cut out in board for sink done, various battens fitted to walls, various other bits made till we ran out of wood. To orange shed, concrete, tap washers, paint and varnish bought. More Observations on Saturdays weather look increasingly good for the boat show. Sundays err not a lot of wind and some rain.

When I was in my 3rd year at Uni ('70-'71) some friends lived very close to a large local bakery. Next to their house was a path that went to the back entrance and presumably served as an emergency exit as it was open. We would knock on the back door about midnight and for a shilling get a bag of warm doughnuts with jam.

Isn't is just? You know it's going to be a busy watch when you drive down the road and can see shipping almost nose-to-tail (all right, bow-to-stern) in both lanes. And you know it's going to be busy when you switch on the kit and find most of the local yachtspersons and local fishing / pleasure boats are out or making ready to go. Yes, that was a busy, BUSY, morning on watch. I hardly had time to make a brew. The moment I did so a hiker came past to report a distressed seal pup on the cove slipway. Not really what we are there for but she did also mention she had already reported it to wildlife welfare so other than noting the report in the log no further action was required. Dr. SWMBO will be home later therefore the Distant (Signal) West must be cleaned and everything put back in its official place. As opposed to where I leave things when she is away because I know where they are! Next weekend has given her some issues. She is due to present a paper at Cambridge University on Friday and was offered accommodation in order to return to Cornwall on Saturday. There are no trains from Cambridge on Saturday owing to an incursion by the Orange Army. So she booked the overnight sleeper from London on Friday night and arranged to leave Cambridge a little earlier than they would have liked. The sleeper has now been cancelled due to "Industrial Action Short of a Strike" in other words a ban on non-contractual overtime meaning at least one member of the train crew will not be willing to work and it cannot run. So she toyed with cancelling altogether. Cambridge came across with an offer of accommodation on both Saturday and Sunday nights which means she can avoid both the Orange Army and the Industrial (absence of) Action but will not get home to Cornwall for the weekend at all. That, in turn, means she has to figure out how to carry the extra clothes she will need for being away for ten days not four. She cannot manage a bigger bag than she uses; she has difficulty getting laundry done as service washes are the only option and they are expensive in her area. We'll nut something out. Meanwhile it is time to wrangle the Shark and perform other acts of Domestic Engineering and Purificatory Eurhythmics. .

Bin day today, we are given lockable containers by the council for food waste. This morning it was not in the place I had left it and when I checked the foxes had got in to it but just scattered a few bits around. Oddly I had put the handle in the upright position to lock the bin and it was still locked. It's known for the cleverer foxes to unlock the bins but they don't usually lock them again afterwards.

I don’t mind at all but for a difference of 75p for a once a week treat my personal choice is the pasta del nata. Each to his own; an ‘influencer’ I am not. Dave

Morning, from a dry rock at 12c with more promised, indeed almost a given. Wonders. Breezy to windy though. We're off on a little bike ride this morning, as Mrs NHN wants one (!) of her other bikes out of winter storage and another to be put away for a few months. So the white bike needs a good run to charge the battery before laying it up. The blue one will emerge from a chrysalis like a flutterby, it hasn't been ridden for a couple of years.

Good morning everyone A bit of an overcast start to the day so far, it the sun looks like it’s trying to breakthrough the clouds. My first task will be to drop Sheila off at the church hall for her Zumba class, after which I’ll return home to try and tackle setting up our new digibox recorder thingy, this should be fun! Once that's (hopefully) done, I’ll carry on with the micro layout buildings which I’ve made a start building. This will get packed up just before dinner, as Charlie is due round this afternoon. Back later. Brian

I honestly wish the problem at the MoD was incompetent civil servants, as in that case the problems might be addressed by a campaign of firing and hiring new people. I used to do a lot of work for the MoD and spent a lot of time in Bristol, and contrary to what is often portrayed I found the people I dealt with highly competent and committed to doing a good job. They were good people in a dysfunctional system. Where I did see ineptitude was at higher levels in Whitehall. Even there it was in many cases less incompetence than arrogance. I had the same argument repeatedly on certain issues such as special engines for warships, they genuinely seemed to believe commercially available engines were junk and that there was an industry anxiously awaiting the opportunity to design and build a super duper diesel engine for 8 frigates. They couldn't get the fact that even if they had the money to pay for such an engine none of the engine builders would be interested because engineering resource needed to develop and build an engine which would struggle to get into double figures wouldn't be working on designs that would sell 100's or 1000's. I explained multiple times that Wartsila, MAN et al really couldn't care less about the MoD, customers like Maersk, Evergreen, COSCO buy more engines in a year than the MoD will buy from them over several decades, followed by huge orders for spares and support, it's their standard engine or go somewhere else. That always went down like a lead balloon. Even the USN, which orders a lot more ships than the RN, struggles to find interest in the big equipment suppliers to deviate from standard designs as it's not worth the effort. The other issue is when they sign contracts with a commercial customer they have a delivery date, it's sent to a yard, goes through an acceptance test and job done. I know companies who actively avoid warship work as they can't face years of endless meetings, interference and efforts to change orders midway through delivery etc. If the MoD was building 100's of ships the gain would be worth the pain but the orders are trivial. I used to get orders of magnitude more booked hours for MoD work than I needed for much more complicated approvals work for merchant vessels, however in my case my employer saw political value in the military work despite being able to make a lot more doing a lot less commercially. The department I do find properly incompetent is DfT, but that's another story.

Portuguese Custard Tarts (or more properly Pastel de Nata). Although the original (and some say only true) recipe is a closely guarded secret (see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pastel_de_nata), all recipes I’ve seen call for flour, butter, egg yolks, cinnamon, vanilla extract, cornflour, lemon zest and water. The highlighted ingredients tend be avoided by commercial manufacturers due to reasons of cost (butter, cinnamon, vanilla extract) or shelf life (butter) or ease of preparation (lemon zest). Butter, especially, is frequently replaced by margarine (or a pseudo-butter) as items made with butter can quickly go rancid. For a home baker, the cost difference between using real ingredients as opposed to synthetics is marginal, but for a company mass producing thousands of Pastel de Nata each day a one or two pence difference (or more) between real and synthetic ingredients soon mounts up to a big wodge of cash*. Furthermore, even with the financial advantages of bulk purchasing and mass production, using “real” ingredients could well increase the price per unit to a point where those who care more about price than quality will no longer buy your product. Let’s be honest here: how many on ER would spend £5 for a hand made, all natural ingredient Pastel de Nata from a small baker? * one US site quotes $6.19 an ounce (about 30mL or 6 tsp) for a pure vanilla extract and $0.12 an ounce for synthetic vanilla. So if a batch of tarts (12) requires 1 tsp of vanilla, then a mass production of 12000 tarts would require about 2000 fl oz of vanilla for a total of about $12000 for the real stuff or $240 for the synthetic version.

My old layout 'Appledore' will be there with some of our usual crew but not me this time.

Yesterday I took the winter tires off the car and replaced them with the all-season tires it runs with for the warmer months. Today, I drove the car some distance with the all-seasons. I had forgotten how much quieter the car is with those tires on, compared with the winters.

Good evening everyone The weather finally what it wanted to do, so I had a great day in the garden, the sun shone and it was pleasantly very warm. We did get a bit of rain around 4:30 this afternoon, it was quite heavy, but didn’t last long. But I get another 2 sets of seeds planted, I also administered the nematodes to the garden in an attempt to stop slugs. I even managed an hour in the workshop after dinner. But I packed up early so that I could get my ears lowered. My left hip has been bothering me for a day or so, so, after I’d had my hair cut, I too a brace of paracetamol, which do seem to have helped. So tomorrow I’m going to take it easy and do a bit of building construction.

There’s a story (possibly apocryphal) of a similar incident in a Canadian town on the Prairies. A man noticed activity in his garage at the far end of his yard. Suspecting a burglary in progress, he phoned the local RCMP detachment to be told that they currently had no officers available to respond. He hung up, waited a couple of minutes and phoned back to say that the RCMP did not need to respond, as he had taken his shotgun and sorted things out himself. Cue the arrival of several cruisers at high speed with full lights and sirens, in time to apprehend the very alive burglars. After things had been sorted out, the officer in charge said to the householder “We thought you said you had shot them?” To which the reply was “I thought you said you had no officers spare to respond?”

Shh...

Yesterday, the County tank was running, together with the Slaters Toplight carriages. Recently they have had a full re-paint, with new glazing etc. I looked on the Slaters website to see if they are being produced yet, it seems there is still non news on a revamp. With the County tank, the two Toplights and the C23 clerestory, they make a nice local train from Twyford.

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. We may have had a thunderstorm last night but if we did I must have slept through it. The seaweed twirlers have predicted some more for this afternoon but they can never be sure exactly where. I will be 76 in a couple of months time and my driving licence renewal dropped through the letterbox a couple of days ago. I will shortly be doing that on-line, my eyesight is up to scratch and I have no medical problems that will affect my ability to drive so there's no problem.

We didn't have anything as delicious in South Leeds but warm freshly baked breadcakes from the Bath Road bakery were always well received. Allegedly there was also products from the man with the monacle or so I am told. Jamie

Tell you what, vitamin D3 pills make mine worse supposed to take calcium pills as well but the combination ones i was prescribed have soya oil in them and i have a reaction to anything soya based so thats a no go!

Wish we could have muggy, we were down to near freezing at dawn and it was chucking it down as well. No thunder though, the Dartmoor land mass to the north west of us greatly affects our weather.

Drat. I had thought What Tiler? was a monthly mag for decorators.

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Five solid hours sleep last night then I woke up to the rain and hail hitting the window. However I went back to sleep for another couple of hours without disturbing bladder control. Even Arthur Itis was behaving himself. Not sure what to do today, I've already voted by post so there's no reason to go out.

Of particular interest to this forum is that Willie was an extremely accomplished modeller. Not just railways (he had a garden railway and and avid model railway enthusiast) but ships and probably anything that could be modelled. He had a wonderful large scale scratchbuilt ferry, and a lovely RC Leander class frigate. He also made the famous Matchbox 1/72 kit of the Flower class Corvette as an RC model. I was at school with his youngest son and we were very close friends. I remember Mr Taylor, a lovely man, his shed was every modellers dream. He used to take us to sail his warship flotilla. Considering some asinine locomotive names this is richly deserved (overdue), a wonderful gesture.

Actually warm and sunny with a light breeze today, temp due to rise to 20deg by this afternoon! S'pose I ought to grub some more weeds out before they rocket up...

Not that I'm all that fussy, but... ...just in case anyone wondered :) I do, but with no real intent. The recently announced 517 has got me back to thinking of a 4mm BLT, but that would still be tabletop*. I just like the idea of a few of my little layouts linked around one system. I tend towards c. 6' scenes (a natural 120 degree viewing angle from a comfy central seated operating position) anyway, regardless of how big a layout may be overall, so all that changes is convenience/coherence of 'offscene' moves! Thank ewe. You make a very valid point, but I don't think I can afford to loose that space - visually as much as in terms of siding capacity, so whilst I shan't be doing exactly this in 7mm - it was plenty tricky to do on Code 75 - I think it shows where I stand on subject proper rail-built bufferstops. And wot she sed. Agreed! See @JimC's typically informative write-up and some useful pics here. From which a great demo of why I keep banging on about the importance of setting for small layouts. It doesn't matter how clever your trackwork is if the stock swamps it - you get so much more out of a space by going small (and so, often, going early!), I wish more was made of it as a layout design factor. This is now a thing, and shall be played. Rules to be codified here in the near future! Right, where're we to...ah, yes, today: I fear I misunderstood the position, purpose and...well...size of East Budleigh's goods shed. Pics and plans here http://disused-stations.org.uk/e/east_budleigh/ However, something in that orientation may work rather well. The current plan is for there to be a warehouse/transit shed to hide the edge of the board, aligned with the tracks, with a lean-to style loading bay extension, thus: bolted to the side. The inspiration comes from Bideford, Fremington having nothing suitable: with the lean-to taking the place of the canopy at the far end. Speaking of ends, other one looks like this: Which is rather fine. Or was, as it's all be knocked down for flats now. Clearances are tight on the LSWR van...but an inch is as good as a mile sometimes. Sadly the van took an absolute clattering in the course of being delivered, one end of the box being totally crushed. The vehicle escaped remarkably lightly, with only one buffer ripped out (replaced, visuals are fine) and this damage to the roof: I suspect I'll just glue it, but had be toying with the idea of covering the roof with tissue soaked in dilute PVA to add a little texture and better represent canvas. Happily, I've utterly destroyed the Siphon roof Which has snapped and been 'fixed' (YMMV) upwards of ten times. It needs all the help it can get, and so I was in the fortunate position of having a test subject to hand. Mid process... ...and end process not shown cos I didn't get a pic, but in general I think it's a success. Certainly doesn't look any worse! I'll probably still end up making a new roof for the Siphon, but that's future-me's problem :) Thanks for popping by! *With nobs on. Still very rough, and feedback would be most welcome, but it currently looks like that. Removeable cassette connection lower left, as per, RHS masked to the operator somehow but open for views through/between the sheds. Pretty gentle turnout geometry, loop curve between settrack R3 and R4. 1900s GWR BLT - 4 wheel coaches, 3 plank wagons - with nominal arrival and departure platforms. Suspect in 'reality' it'd be one platform only (upper) in regular use, the other being used for parcels, coaching storage etc most of the day/year. Anyhoo...!

SO ... We're on our way to Brissle. Long way back home if I've forgotten anything! 6 day adventure this one, in total. Today: 4pm pick van up, load up and get some miles under the belt Tomorrow: to show venue and commence set up. Friday: complete set up and be ready for the adoring public from 1230 Saturday: full show day Sunday: last show day, pack up and get some miles under the belt Monday: complete journey home and unload Tuesday: take van back at 8am There must be easier ways of making a living 🤔

Good evening Brian, The Olney Club members are very friendly, too - certainly by today's evidence, where five visited and we all had a most-enjoyable time (though apologies to Malcom for our crumbling - soon to be replaced - decking!). Great fun was had running the railway, though there were a couple of MR/M&GNR derailments caused by a rogue coupling - now fixed. In fact, the most-popular loco on the day ran on the 'little bit'.............. My McGowan D9 (painted by Geoff Haynes). Only one 'visiting' loco was brought (though more will be brought on the next visit)................... This J50. I recognised it instantly, since it's a lot of my work. It originally came from the estate of the late Gordon Stolliday. Now, if memory serves, Gordon had started it (its origins unknown). To reach this stage. I took it further. To completion. Then painted it. It was then weathered by Geoff Haynes, Geoff West or Tom Foster (I can't remember which). To produce................. The rather attractive loco seen above (I've added the crew and lamps today). I sold it originally to one of the Olney Club members, but he has no further use for it, so, via some 'wheeler-dealings' it's back with me. Chances are I'll keep it! Thank you gentlemen for your most-entertaining company and conversation, and your most-generous contributions to CRUK. Particular thank to............. Barrie Trinder, who gave me this fascinating (and recommended) book he's written. Gentlemen, here's to the next time.....................