Tim Hale

That is very odd, despite inserting spaces and returns at the appropriate places, the above text is one amorphous blob. Tim

Actually,Before I posted my request for clarification at Post 229, I did PM (twice) Dapol Dave on this subject and waited a couple of days but received no reply . Therefore I feel that, politely asking for clarification on the forum is, under the circumstances, both appropriate and helpful to other modellers of the Southern railway who were perplexed by the reference to 'ladder' signals. In fact, when Dave had not responded, I had contacted Graham Muzzpratt for his 'take' on the term ladder and found another possible explanation -'lattice' possibly a spell checker error (the SR did use latticework signal extensively) but now, thanks to Dave's explanation, that was wrong. Thank you for providing an explanation and thanks also to Sarah for solving the puzzle,I am sure that many Southern modellers will find the 'rail-built' SR signals to be most useful.Thanks also, to the two Mods for their help. Tim I am not sure what relevance this has to Post 224 as Stationmaster makes no mention of Southern signals, did you mean Post 225?.

It would have been nice to have received the courtesy of a response from Dapol. Tim

The Royal visit to Dorset in '52 The Diamond Jubilee visit of HM The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh to Sherborne was a rather special day in West Dorset, it repeated a visit by Her Majesty in '52, when a young un-crowned Queen visited the West Country, a year before her coronation. The first visit was by train, this time the old SE&CR Pullman parlour car Malaga was flanked by set s845 of four Bulleid coaches in immaculate carmine and cream, hauled by Bulleid 35019 French Lines CGT in sparkling BR blue. The coach was used on by King George VI when travelling on the Southern Railway, built in 1921 for the SE&CR boat traffic, it was withdrawn in 1961 and sold to Ian Allan publishers and used as an executive dining room. Unfortunately, it was offered for sale in 2001, its fate is unknown. The model is a modified Hornby, it will occasionally run on Beaminster Road, accompanied by a rake of Bulleid coaches in carmine and cream hauled by a Merchant Navy. The photo below is the locomotive of the Royal train at Sherborne, in May 2012, thankfully the station survives and is still at the heart of the community. Tim

Hi, I have just read Dave's mention of a Southern 'ladder' type, may I ask from which SR constituent company does this originate, I have never heard of this type. Thank you Tim

Ian, I merely salvaged the window from the property, not the former inhabitants Tim

Gecko aka chitchat, had them in the DQ's at HMS Terror, Sembawang

Tunnels on curves are horrid - not my favourite task and Beaminster Road needed one at each end. On the eastern (Crewwkerne) end, slices of polybead foam was used but by the time the western (Chard Junction) tunnel was built I had switched to cardboard boxes from Sainsgogs. The image raises another comment from visitors to the 'shed' - the window is a bit too posh. It was salvaged during the modernisation of a brothel in Amsterdam, it seems that the city historic building agency ignores such establishments and 40 Guilders was all it needed to buy a genuine design by Piet Mondrian, no doubt the window is worth more than the shed? A bit of art from Amsterdam Tim

Somerset does have the most varied wildlife of any county in Southern England.

Back to the layout, I am the first to admit that I am a creature of habit with no imagination whatsoever, every layout seems to follow the same pattern, consequently I use the methods which I find most comfortable. Scenery, better known as the 'lumpy bits', tends to be offcuts of polystyrene foam culled from various sources - skips and the local tip are favourites - so the photo of the eastern tunnel mouth should be no surprise. I did, however, purchase a foam cutter which made the tunnel liner much easier to make and two hours later, the basic forms are in place but sticking it down with solvent-free Gripfill can wait until I have done so more cutting and shaping. There-in lies a problem, the faithful Dustuster is always running out of charge and I do not cut polystyrene foam unless there is a vacuum cleaner on stand-by - that is a mistake that I do not intend to repeat. The other must-have is a big plastic dustbin (fitted with liner) to store the detritus. Without further waffle, the eastern tunnel mouth: However, I loathe the nausea of hoovering the workshop, my clothes, the Jack Russell after every session. However the foam still has its uses and I will place it under the hillsides where I will be planting trees but only as a user-friendly base otherwise it is cereal packets, cardboard and newspaper. Thanks to the unwitting influence of Geoff Forster and Barry Norman, I am abandoning 30 years of cutting polystyrene foam sheets for scenery and I am about to give their method a try. The speed of construction with a Bosch hot glue gun is astounding, the only delay is waiting for the PVA to dry on the foam/cardboard joints. The next step is to create a lattice support for the hillside by weaving strips of thin cardboard across the tops of the uprights. The concept of re-cycling the surplus boxes from Sainsgogs really appeals and I wish that I had tried this years ago. Real Blue Peter stuff. Tim

Not really anything to do with the project but I came across this lovely photo of a container being hoisted above a Ford Thames Trader with a Conflat at one side. A rather nice cameo and easily modelled. It must be sometime after '62 when the Trader Mk2 was introduced, I haven't a clue as to where or when except it is something that we have lost. Tim

Is the newt called 'Tiny' after all he is my-newt? Tim (gettin' his coat)

Last night I managed to take a snap of 'something' on the edge of the woods that border our garden. Not sure what it was, it shuffled about for about five minutes but took off like something possessed when it heard my mobile ring tone possibly it was startled? As it seems quite friendly but incredibly stupid, we have named it Boris (Johnson). Tim

Is the squirrel OK? Tim