Black Sheep

Order placed, thanks guys thanks

That sounds great, if there's one near you! While I circumnavigate Manchester to get to and from work, I don't go into as that takes too long, even on a motorbike, but then I can receive large bulky parcels at work I did get into trouble for receiving a second hand petrol tank (bike) from a breakers yard that stank of fuel once...

I've aquired a Heljan roundhouse which should save some space on the depot side of things, the plan is to anglicise it. Still not convinced on the goods yard, the area in front of the depot should be the town but I'm tempted to squeeze the yard in between depot and town instead of wedged against the station, this way it's directly served by the sorting sidings (fiddle yard) would welcome people's opinions and suggestions. The railway is raised up across the front, but ground level has risen to make the lines at the back on a 6ft retaining wall (with a ladder down from depot to pub back yard!) with larger buildings in the town to hide the curve of the viaduct a bit the left hand end is under not Butlins

Working on the kitchen and playroom downstairs, hopefully after these are done I can spend a bit of time sorting the railway room on the excuse that the stuff piled on the floor could be better stored if the bench was in place. Still planning on using the richardsons steel sections to build a bench onto which I can sit a layout, however I have been wondering if I'm biting off more than I can chew with it and I'm unable to picture how the raised sections of the layout will interact with the roof...

I think the issue is when 'preservation' is used as an excuse for running not only what you like, but how you like with disregard to how a railway operates, or has to operate to do so safely. Yes there are things not modelled that were daily practices such as shunt release (not that uncommon but not seen much a few years back) along with banking etc if a layout is built well and run well then it doesn't matter what's on it - of course, in the confines of your loft / shed / garage / spare room you can do as you please but at an exhibition it jolts reality a little bit too much spoiling the enjoyment of viewing. might be best to start steering away from this subject… how's the layout coming on?

I'm pleased to say we're slowly getting there! The layout room was always low on the list of priorities overall but I'm hoping to be at baseboard building / mocking up stage around Christmas. The house renovation was always going to take a little longer than expected, especially since the darling little monkey in the last post popped into our lives two years ago. The layout room is in the eves of the house backing on to what will be a guest bedroom (currently full of stuff we've only just started unpacking after 3 years!), the wife thinks the dividing wall is under the ridge, it's not, it's a foot further back in my favour One of my other hobbies can be seen planned out on the floor - it's 1:64 scale, not standard Scalextric, I don't have that much space! My small workbench And now, the moment I felt I was getting somewhere... In and tuned to Radio 2 I'm planning on building a bench out of this system: http://www.richardsonsuk.co.uk/25mm-square-tube-system/p47to carry the layout while allowing for storage under it. Thanks for sneaking behind the curtain and looking behind the scenes

Just don't do what I did and buy a motorcycle and you should survive! Congrats on the little one, you've got many happy moments and memories ahead - mine's just started playing with Brio

I was thinking an 0-4-0 green non GWR Welsh engine

Congrats, Looking at photos of the layout earlier while watching 'proper' children's TV, any possibility of a green welsh engine doing a turn or is it a bit far off patch?

bit late to add this perhaps, but Fred Dibnah with a lot of ladders and a bit of rope.

Road Tax was abolished by Churchill as it was felt that no one group should be able to claim more right to the road than another. What we pay is a fee to use a motorised vehicle on a public road, you pay £0 for a low emission vehicle so a bike would be £0 prior to tax disks being withdrawn it was estimated making cyclists display would cost £10,000 for no benefit. Insurance-wise many cyclists are covered on their home insurance for public liability, others through cycling club membership (it's free with membership of British Cycling) This subject has been discussed and locked many times, perhaps a separate discussion compared with the standard of qualified drivers? On my way to work this morning I carefully made my way through a traffic jam to find an ambulance and two police cars blocking part if the entry to a roundabout before spotting a badly damaged motor scooter with L plate showing on its side a foot away from the island itself My guess is, as this road rises and then drops to reveal the roundabout he's braked too hard for the conditions and skidded loosing control He's had a days training before being allowed out on his own (same as myself although I had held a car licence for 10 years) it's better than the old system of buy a bike and figure it out yourself but is it enough? Many training centres will sign off anyone who doesn't wobble too much, others will insist on another afternoon before sign off to be sure the new rider will be ok. Many people will ride on L plates with only re taking the days training every two years as legally required, not everyone will do further training and tests.

Child seats must be used by law until age of 12 or until a set height. Legislation is coming that rear facing seats must be used until a set age - this set age is quite some time after my daughters legs were too long to fit...

A friend crossed the stop line but not into the junction, first police car passed, second stopped, booked him for it and carried on...

There is that possibility. She'd indicated from slip road into lane 2 then stopped indicating before taking my lane as I was about to pass the car in front of her. At least she moved across steadily, not a quick flick like some small vans do Quite glad of the van that blocked me from moving to lane 2 as it cleared otherwise I might have regretted my actions.

As of this morning I have a scuff on my bike jacket from a woman in a brand new range river evoque who continued to move into my lane on the motorway (lane 3) having come right across from the slip road despite my horn being held down and me braking as much as i dare with a transit sniffing my tail pipes did she notice? If she did she pretended not to by looking dead ahead. Wider pillars to give better roll I've strength, better insulation to remove road noise = Bigger blind spots and less able to hear what's around with drivers refusing to use their other senses to compensate or even use their eyes. With older cars you could hear more of what was going on around you, you could see more from your default driving position, modern cars you need to move more to ensure you see

it's good to encourage scratch building, but some people need to undertake a number of builds before having the courage to start cutting and creating, others get half way through building a terrace house and finish up with Downton Abbey! as has been said, the more kits, the more starting points

Has GWR 'Sand Castle' been done?

I'll keep an eye in my mirrors and then I can flash the brake lights, I usually stop short of the queue of traffic so that I can move forward if needs be / don't get shunted into the car in front. Bikers are taught to keep a foot on the back brake for the same reason (plus we don't have a handbrake) not sure how much it helped when I was hit from behind waiting at a set of lights, the bike went a bike's length forwards from under me, was in gear at the time

I'm not always best at keeping to the point am I? I shall try better wipers and better brakes and lights are all good for safety and I am in favour, if I owned a classic car I'd undertake some sympathetic upgrades to both and all three, I think some people see this advancement in safety and don't alter their driving as much as they should for the conditions, on the motorbike I'm out in it, hail stones on the motorway feel like I'm being shot by 12 10 year olds with bb guns at a birthday party after the cake has been finished, do modern cars take the edge off the poor weather in a way that older cars didn't? the wipers on a modern car can clear all but the worst of an Indian monsoon which enables you to continue at pace should you wish to, but is the road surface / your tyres up to dealing with the water flowing across the road? The weak spot in older cars in this example is the vacuum wipers that could only just clear a heavy shower forcing you to slow due to lack of visibility (or worse, crash due to it) and so you were forced to slow down more so than a modern car, your self preservation would kick in before you were doing 70mph over standing water. this is the point I'm attempting to make, some of the creature comforts of modern cars insulate the driver from what's going on relying on greater judgement of what can be seen as less is felt another example, on the way home tonight in lane 1 of the motorway my bike shifts around as it encounters the well worn wheel tracks of many lorries using the M60, I feel it do this, apply a little pressure to the bars to steady it / move away from, my 1980 Fiesta used to dance in the wheel tracks a little bit, the wife's 13 plate Kia hardly notices them - great for comfort but an unimportant example of how modern vehicles insulate from conditions. am I making sense yet or should I give up and go do some modelling?

I fear I am being misunderstood, modern cars isolate the driver from the conditions allowing some to make poor decisions or blindly copy anothers actions eg 2ft off the back bumped of the car in front at 70mph in thick fog that had reduced lanes 1&2 to 40mph due to lack of visibity. Modern lights may pierce the fog better than those of the Minor but does that mean you can continue at normal motorway pace? The same with modern wipers and tyres in heavy rain / spray, in extreme conditions I can feel my motorbike, all 250kg of it is slightly unsettled and there is a wall is spray from each lorry but speed in lane 3 doesn't drop, silver (and other colours) cars emerge from the gloom with no lights on having moments before not been distinguishable from the weather.

I disagree, the skills lost in modern cars is thinking for oneself instead of assuming 'the car will save me' and driving nose to tail in fog at high speed on the motorway. My old fiesta took more distance to stop than a modern golf twice it's weight, it taught me to read the road ahead and to always adjust and adapt to my surroundings based on what's going on. I'll bow out of the debate for the afternoon with this quote: "everyone should learn to drive in a Morris minio, it'd reduce tailgating" -practical classics mag

I prefer driving older cars. I learnt on cars with power steering but no other driving aids (ok, servo assisted brakes, disc on the front) My first car was a mk1 fiesta, had the gear linkage slip one day far from home so quickly learnt to double de clutch which I continued to do so for the rest of the summer until it could be adjusted. I can drive a Morris Minor as easily as I can the wife's Kia Cee'd. I don't count as a young driver anymore (lived through the miners strike but too young to remember) but we're not all innept

Be that as it may, it is not always possible. 9 times out of 10 I am able to park on the side of the road I live on facing with traffic, the neighbours we have will often park across the road (those houses have driveways) to leave space for the residents with children to not need to cross the road at all which we are thankful for. Unfortunately, as I have said earlier in this thread there are occasions the space I have planned to park in has been taken while I am turning in a side street and so I take the available space quickly to not be blocking the road with the entire car while I turn. Some parents have no choice but to unload a child away from the pavement as the other parent is getting the other child out, the bulky design of child seats preventing climbing through the car. I assess the risk and act accordingly and quickly, it takes me no longer to get my daughter in or out than it does myself and I wait until their is no traffic before starting - I can not speak for others nor the school run as daughter is yet to turn 2