bigwordsmith

Hi Stu A very fair point and in the interests of accuracy you are probably right. However., I 've sort of realised that this is going to be more of a 'spirit of...' line than total accuracy, especially as there won't be any stations! - BTW don't I still owe you some £££ for the bits you bought for my last proposed but of stonemasonry?

So a bit of sorting out and planning and I came up with this list of train types and appropriate stock - any ECML experts out there, please feel free to comment on whether or not this is broadly correct. I do have a lot of 'foreign ' locos in stock so some of those may well creep onto the odd train. I've even programmed in a couple of footers to use them! However, even running full length trains, as you can see I only use up around half of the vehicles I have in stock, not to mention a fraction of the loco stable I feel some fleabaying coming on...

So as work is a spot on the quiet side at the moment I thought I should revisit my stock list in the light of the revised ideas flowing through for railway ops. I've decided I can get two 3 foot baseboards along the long walls, which will allow me a 3'6 walkway between them, which is plenty. THis in turn should mean I could get 18 roads into the fiddle yard. 18 roads = 18 made up trains, plus the six 'shorties' which should be enough to keep anyone happy, so then I thought about which stock I would need to run appropriate rakes. The first shock was discovering that I've got half a dozenMk1 Bachmann Pullmans, which I've no recollection of buying. They're not even on my stock list! they go with the My stock list says I have 58 Mk 1's, all in maroon and mix of Hornby, Bachman, Railroad, and even a handful of ex Tetley's Mills coaches. Definitely room for some thinning out. ON top of that I have 20 x 57' Mk 1 suburbans, a mix of Thompson, BR from Bachman and Hornby, and no fewer than 39 Bachman Thompsons in a mix of cream and maroon and plain maroon. Just in case I run out of coaching stock I apparently also own 20 Ian Kirk Gresleys in teak or maroon, and unearthed 40 odd 57' Gresleys in maroon and maroon and cream I remember I went through a phase of buy-in Hornby boxed sets, which is probably why I now have 11 ECML pullmans, with much duplication, although where the Devon Belle observation car comes in heaven only knows! I'e note even started on the three large boxes of goods stock, although I do seem to remember around 15 bogie wagons, and probably enough vans to do the Scotch goods three times a day! So the next task is to work out what trains I want to run, retain the relevant stock and dispose of the rest!

We definitely have a way to go when it comes to the electronic algorithms used by advertisers - the picture shows what RMWeb's advertising selector thinks I might be interested in as screens hotted from the top right corner of this page. Apart form the odd bit and piece for my motorcycle, I've certainly not been in the market for any of those things, so I do wonder where Andy's tech boffins get their ideas from....

What’s with all this weird advertising I’m suddenly getting on RMWeb?

I’m sure they’ve looked at at, but how’s your ticker? Being perpetually cream crackered can be a sign of impaired blood flow...

I too have one of those - I call it the fat bag! In fairness I didn’t break any bones, which after 30 years on steroids says I’m either very lucky or very dense!

A promos getting old - whenever I feel down, I just play this wonderful anthem on Youtube...

Not at all my friend - I have to remind myself from time to time that when folks ask 'How are you' it's a politeness not a question! Once tieback stops hurting I'm sure I'll put it all behind me and get back on with life. TBH what choice do we have? Especially if that nice Mr. Starmer is going to lock us all up because we're 'vulnerable' My Arse!

So good to hear from you Phil and even better to know your fighting spirit is undimmed. I recently was offered the opportunity to try out an inflatable crash vest for riding the motorcycle - a bit like a chest-wrap airbag. It would have been damned useful that night, although in fairness I tend to sleep au naturel, so probably wouldn't have been wearing it. You know life's getting on when you think about preventative measures for your sleep! I decided that one thing I enjoy about railways is watching long trains plodding or thundering by as appropriate, and heaven knows I have a huge amount of stock. I've just disposed of one of my 4 A2s on Ebay, and when I was looking for it to give to our wonderful lady from Hermes, I found all manner of things I didn't even know I had bought, including 5 Mk 1 Pulllmans, which didn't have boxes, so heaven knows where they came from! I have always found roundy rounds limiting as I used o believe in the need to go from somewhere to somewhere else, but given the wealth of operations I can do in the loco shed, I suspect having trains as a backdrop will be perfect -a after all in reality most of us enjoy seeing them whoosh through The fiddle yard does allow room for some operations - I'll have to move the engines on the locals from front to rear, maybe I could run the train into a cassette, spin it around then run it back into the siding ready for the next trip - after all if it's off scene, the hand of God can do what ever it likes! Good idea about at the second cassette - I did originally have it on the right hand end and could do a run so it sits besidde the lifting bridge when in use and moves out when it lifts - as per this revision... The great thing is that the bulk of the work on the scenic side has been done with the shed, the rest is titivation and a large twin track viaduct. Hopefully It will re-invigorate my interest, thought I can only use one see of the loft until our daughter gets herself a new house! IN the meantime Keep your wings up. It sounds like you've been having a pretty torrid time of it yourself...

Well - what a traumatic few weeks! A couple of weeks later having both my cataracts replaced with decent lenses, I had to go into hospital for a three day series of steroid infusions for y ongoing pulmonary problems. They pumped me with a mega dose - 3000mg or roughly 36x the dose they give to stop Covid! Unfortunately on the third night I went to the loo and totally lost my balance - major fall which included bouncing off the loo from my back, ripping skin and generally screwing myself over. It's taken two weeks and three visits to the chiro for the pain to recede and my back to unlock, which has given me a lot of time to think about life, the universe and everything. I've realised that however much I may enjoy having a massive collection of stock, the reality is I can't hope to build a railway big enough to do it justice, so I need to return to the drawing board. Watching a series of videos I was inspired by the simplicity of Little Bytham, and have long been a fan of Peterborough North, both of which seem to benefit from a very large fiddle yard and lots of long trains running, so I wondered about going back to basics with this one and doing something broadly similar. This plan - as you can see - divides the room into a scenic half and a behind the scenes section which is pretty much a blooming great fiddle yard with two sets of little end-sidings for DMUs and local stoppers. The idea is the the engine shed is the main focus of the scenic bit with a double track main line running along behind it on a viaduct similar, perhaps with a canal scene as well, and a townscape behind that. I've shown the fiddle yard with 10 roads - 5 each way, but suspect that once I have boards built and lay out the point work, I'll be able to get a few more in. Any thoughts folks?

Phil my friend, it’s great to hear you’re still a Alive and kicking! I too have decide 2020 is my Anna’s Horribilis. This years tally so far includes: Ruptured Achilles rehab from last year Ruptured Lung and artery, which got me hospitalised and led to Covid, which laid me low for eight weeks and ended up with me lying anotheb15% of my lung, so the medics put me on Massive Oral Steroids, which made me awfully ill and left me with hypokalaemia. Just before I went through skin tumour removal, followed by infused mega dose Steroids, to try and recover some of the lungs lost to vivid, but robbed me of my balance and led to a Major fall and back injury, about two weeks ago, which is only calming down now! when I look back on 2020 I really wonder how I’m still going, yet tomorrow I’m out on the bike for some practice, and Monday I’m restarting with my PTI, who is very fit and makes me feel terribly inferior as you know only too well, it’s the sheer bad assness of our psyches that somehow seem to kick back against the ravages of time on our bodies, and keeps us going. Some say weaker bloody minded. I prefer to think of it as ‘haven’t got much choice really!’ Sadly, however, I seem to have lost all interest in modelling, instead I find myself wondering how my family will ever dispose of the collection without being utterly ripped off! funny old world, but keep yer up!

Can we have a poll on London underground stations so we can all shout "MORNINGTON CRESCENT!"?

Fair call, bit it's quite close!

As a young lad I used to fantasise about Sandy Beds which for some reason also brought to mind a particular young lady in the local convent school. But enough of such memories. Can I vote for Millbrook railway station which serves the villages of Millbrook and Marston Moretaine in Bedfordshire, England, on the Marston Vale Line, between Stewartby and Lidlington. I recall it with great fondness as I organised the first ever exhibition t the nearby Millbrook proving ground for Motor Transport Magazine which involved shipping 75 HGV's and 1500 of the UK's top transport Managers into the proving ground, which at the time had better security than GCHQ. One morning we got a call that a contingent of transport managers was waiting at the station for the promised bus to the ground, but none was there. This was pre-mobile phones, so a hectic trip to the coach point by yours truly found all the drivers supping tea in their official tea breaks. Due to drivers' hours restrictions none of them could oblige, but as one of them pointed out "You've got a licence, why don't you do it?' Having accepted the challenge I found myself at the wheel of a brand new 40' 52 seater Scania with eight gears and all the gubbins at the back and duly set off for Millbrook station. What I forgot is there is very little parking by the station which is hard onto the road and a level crossing. I also forgot h that Transport Managers are a sarcastic bunch, so any slight hint of a missed change brought force a chorus of helpful comments "THey're all in there somewhere. Just stir the lever about and pick one". The best one was "I hope you've brought a magnet to get all the bits out of the gearbox!" Happy days

I got them because I wanted a much more prototypical separation ( blimey that's hard to write when your fingers are stiff!) However I found they didn't really seem to close the coaches up more han the standard tension locks, and they still didn't like corners. I probably should have tried them on the Mk1 Pullman set which kept uncoupling, but as others have pointed out an 8 coach rake permanently coupled is a night mare to handle. I tried doing them in four car sets with tension lock in the middle, but that wasn't a lot better, so I bought load of Kadees that I've not yet fitted!

IF my railway wasn't;t all boxed up I'd send a bunch of the Bachman pipes over - they are awful!

I seem to recall that the East coast sheds and crews hated them, but the West Coast mob, e.g. Carlisle thought they were brilliant! But then if you're used to the vagaries of firing Stonier designs versus the free steamers of Gresley and Peppercirn you would say that wouldn't you!

Thanks Ian - Poor Phil I know it laid me out for eight weeks, and according to my pulmonologist, as our Cousins across the water call them, it was only the steroids I'm on that got me through!

Well Ian, I'm going to agree with that if only for the point that I've actually been there! One more for Seaton Junction What's happened to Phil? I've been out of the loop a while recently

I expect many of you folk on here have had a cataract replacement, well on Tuesday I joined the club, and this morning bought a pair of 34.99 reading glasses, so I can once again use the computer. they are still bedding in - Ive got the right one in two weeks, and have been told it takes six weeks to bed in fully, but OMG what a difference! Now I may finally be able to see all the rivets that us folks are so supposed to love counting! I can also see the difference between the different kinds of Pacifics - remembering which is which on the other hand....

A thoroughly splendid building! Having had a cataract operation yesterday my eyesight is rather dodgy, but can I also vote for this excellent place!

David if you're looking for stock, send me your email and I'll send you mystic list - I have over 150 locos, including lots of 'A's and need to thin out - many have only been round the circuit once so aren't even run in! ATB peter

Hi Dylan 'Waverley SHed' started out at 24" = its grown a bit since, but it was fun when it first got build . It even had a turntable! That was its first iteration Then we added some scenic bits Then i expanded sideways after moving to my last loft, adding some carriage sidings ad an embankment ruling up the back - I have a movie of this scene somewhere ion m own thread. Now it's all back in bits as a further move means a rethink of the whole design, but the core remains, albeit with longer roads and a wider base. SO you see, just because your shed will only be 12" wide now - who knows where it will grow in the future!

In case anyone objects to my last answer I’m using the Meghan Markle Gambit!