great central

Apart from a replacement signal nothing much has changed today. The 156 would still be there but in EMT livery

Talking about wind farms and their presence, is it just me who thinks the teletubbies may have been a kind of subliminal softening up process for having windmills everywhere??

So that's what the song means, they love buses

Thanks for that Russ, I'll let my son know, it's his car now and he's likely to be doing anything at it, I'm merely a chaufeur. I like looking at cars and envy those who can find the commitment to restore and keep them but can't see myself ever having that dedication.

Thanks, it's perhaps a bit of a cheat showing it like that. Both back wheel arches have been plated over and are in primer, that was done about 15 years ago before the car was basically stored in the back of the garage untouched. All done by my son and his friends, biggest problem was the pipe from the filler to the fuel tank which had rotted through absolutely no chance of getting a spare so one of his mates welded it up out of odd bits of pipe and plate bashed to shape. Although started up occasionally it hadn't been moved for several years until last year when he decided to dig it out. A couple of brake pipes and more welding in the floor were pretty much all it needed fo it's MOT I believe. He says that one day when he's got some more money to spare he'll re-do it all properly, as there's quite a few rust spots all round The steward who ushered me into the car park said he's got an MG Maestro that need the back arches welding, he'd brought a Tiumph 2000 and someone with an MGBGT said he's also got a Maestro as well as a Vauxhall Firenza.

More from Ilkeston, a couple of general shots across the market place, if it looks quiet it was getting towards finish time, some cars had left and crowds were thinner. Similar pictures taken earlier would have just been crowd shots Is this an AC Cobra? He followed me into the car park blipping his throttle all the while, impatient or showing off? No need in my mind if the cars that powerful it should pull itself along quite happily at idle. Alongside a car I once read being described as like a demented wedge of Leicester cheese

A few bits of vintage American muscle Son's Camaro with a custom truck alongside which is for sale. £20000 for something totally unique including the paint job and I believe a 390 cu in engine? For me yes, there were several Ford Escorts which would likely fetch a lot more but still a Ford Escort One of the Escorts Did this used to be a hearse, certainly got the look of one. Something for the Mini fans, thankfully due to the age limitation there were none of the newer maxi Minis

A few older lorries at the Ilkeston show today, other pictures on the cars and bus threads. Not that old, but the paintwork was stunning in my opinion, complete with chrome rubber duck Edit: Somehow I lost a line from my post?? What I said was people from the Nottingham area will probably have seen Colson's lorries about, always clean despite them being a tipper and skip hire firm with lots of lights and chrome

Several buses at the Ilkeston show today mostly from the collection at the GCR at Ruddington. This one caught my eye, very much an in service look rather than the as new look of many restored vehicles.

Spent the day at the Ilkeston car show in the town centre. Despite the weather forecast a good number turned up although I reckon some were put off. It did rain a couple of times but nothing too bad. My allocated spot was the town hall car park while my son was on the lower market place. First job after getting parked was breakfast in Wetherspoons. Then the rest of the day wandering about and chatting. Some pictures I took to follow, I'm sure many of you will know more about the various vehicles than me so any captions will be brief. Also please excuse any c@ck ups as I'm doing this in full version on my phone, easier than trying to do it through the computer. The Montego in its space between a Triumph Dolomite and TR6. One of, oddly enough two, DeLoreans there today. But there was only one Montego. Something following on from recent discussions, no idea if it's a genuine or not. Two different approaches to restoration side by side, Princess 4litre R and Bitsa Capri Enough for one post otherwise it's going to get difficult to view. A few more to follow as well as a couple in the bus and truck threads

Not quite main line I'll admit but a lot of the rail in Boston station has been replaced in the last few months. Existing sleepers and chairs, newly installed bull head rail. No idea if they're going to do the same to the west but quite a lot of the sleepers between the station and docks junction look pretty well life expired.

Once while waiting at Norwich, lady with teenage daughter asks if this train is going to London Liverpool Lime Street??! After she'd repeated it three times despite me trying to explain it was for Liverpool Lime Street, I asked where she actually wanted to go? Widnes was her response!

Used to be one in Ripley as well. While we're on about risqué business names, there's a cafe in Great Yarmouth called the Wanger. Several years ago it was called the Wanger and Snatch.

Bog standard 1.6L been in the family since it was about 10 months old. Bought by my dad originally, passed to me when he died and I passed it to my son. Still got it's last tax disc on the windscreen before it was stood down for major corrosion repairs in 2003. It went around the rear wheel arches, same as they all did. But when you look at it it's designed to rot there! Now been a bit 'bastardised' MG alloys and various bits and power steering using a proper rack but run by an electric pump from, I think, a Peugeot. Very much 'ongoing restoration' but drivable and road legal. According to how many left there's only a couple of that year in the country now.

We were looking for something similar a couple of years ago, for an idea the wife had, since discounted. If you can find a firm that manufactures sectional buildings they should be able to tailor something to your requirements. A true sectional building is just that, many coming in roughly 6' sections and should be able to be added to almost at will. Otherwise there is the portakabin type building, you can get them second hand, although I believe they may require planning permission? Edit: Our previous clubroom was that type. Originally a portable classroom it measured roughly 60'x30' but all in 6' sections so could be made any size. The same type of building used to be used as lineside huts certainly in Lincolnshire, there's still a semi derelict one at Grantham. Further edit: Depending how much money you have to spend and whether you need or can get planning permission, you could build it traditionally. I had a garage built at the bottom of our garden about 20 years ago. Found a friendly builder, courtesy of a work contact. I supplied all the materials and he put it together. Building materials are surprisingly cheap, it's the mark up applied by building firms as well as labour costs makes such things seem so expensive. From memory I'd been quoted something like £20k+, it cost me less than £10k. It's roughly 30'x20'

Only just remembered, son asked me a couple of weeks back if I was doing anything this Sunday because he'd booked two cars into the Ilkeston classic car show. Looking like I'll be taking the Montego, wouldn't trust myself driving his Camarro

The semaphore at Wymondham was almost totally hidden by the footbridge. Driver could see it ok when stopped but guard for despatch had to really look hard, specially after dark, the lights weren't very good. Replaced on resignalling with LED below the bridge. But oddly Thetford had a double arm semaphore because of being hidden by the platform canopy

The semaphore at Wymondham was almost totally hidden by the footbridge. Driver could see it ok when stopped but guard for despatch had to really look hard, specially after dark, the lights weren't very good. Replaced on resignalling with LED below the bridge. But oddly Thetford had a double arm semaphore because of being hidden by the platform canopy

Third party cable come down on the OHLE, needed an isolation so it could be removed

The same with units, we had one, went like the proverbial off the shovel, always waiting time with it. After it had a replacement engine, having blown the other up, it was one of the worst performers couldn't keep time.

Difficult to realise it's been shut 37 years now. When we were doing site visits to Deepcar I sometimes took my son. I took pictures of all the masts we were going to build with my son standing underneath to give some scale on the photos, he was about 7 but I forgot to measure how tall he was at the time, d'oh!! Looks an excellent project, to borrow a cliché, I'll keep an eye on it:-) Edit: I think I'm right in saying this will be the second or perhaps third Woodhead exhibition layout based on a prototype location. I expected there would be more with the release of an RTR class 76/EM1

Certainly remember Morning Dew but not by the Grateful Dead, the version I remember was by Tim Rose, still have the single somewhere I think.

Oddly enough I used to quite like sterilised milk, can't say the same for UHT

That vile sterilised milk seems to be more acceptable now it comes in cartons and is called UHT. Still horrible!!

In a past life as an alarm engineer the firm I worked for supplied the burglar alarm system protecting the equipment rooms at the bottom of several police radio stations. This very much in the days of the Northern Ireland troubles. The masts were, for obvious reasons, on hilltops and prone to lightning strikes, one duly taking a direct hit one day and I was despatched to assess the damage. If I recall correctly the police radio technician said it had blown all his equipment as well as the fire service radio which was in the same building. On opening the alarm control panel I was greeted by a charred circuit board and partially melted cables. Not only that but every detector on the system was the same as well as all the cables in the steel conduits around the walls of the building. We had to replace the entire system including all cables. Mother nature can be far more destructive than, I think, many people really understand.