Brian D

My first "genuine" ER post - the alarm went off at 5.30 this morning so I could take my youngest daughter to Clacket Lane Services (M25 in Kent) for a pick up for a French skiing trip. Now back home in Essex. Off to Leicestershire later today, visiting the wife's sister. Hope the roads stay quiet as they were this morning but I doubt they will. Regards, Brian..

Dear Andy, I hope you and your loved ones have had a great day as we have here. All the best for 2015 and keep up (gently) the fantastic work on Bitton. Best wishes, Brian.

Thanks Jock. Feeling completely stuffed at the moment and sausage rolls and sandwiches are on the way I hope the New Year is good for you Jock. All the best to you and yours from Brian & Jacky.

I was hoping to get my existing layout into the shed before Christmas but other events have intervened i.e. second grandson arrived (my daughter and baby James are doing very well). However, I have completed some of the "man cave" elements of the project which included running a TV co-ax aerial from the house to the shed and installing the erst-while kitchen TV therein and hanging some of my pictures on the walls. Hopefully, after Christmas, I will get the railway in the shed. A couple of pictures taken earlier today follow. End Wall Back Wall Anyway, I feel a beer coming on. Merry Christmas. Brian.

All the best for Christmas Andy. Bitton looking very good. Best wishes, Brian.

I have saved a couple of articles from Railway Modeller, one from 1987 and one from 2010. I'll pm you. Regards, Brian.

There is quite a bit to report but, in the meantime..... Regards, Brian.

Just a quick question Andy - are you putting any cant into your main line curves and, if so, how will you achieve it. I only ask because it is such a highly visible feature of the real full size railway and I've rarely seen it modeled. I was toying with the idea of incorporating cant into the curves on my new layout. Regards, Brian.

My Christmas present from SHMBO is enroute from Sheffield as I type but the conversation I have with her when it arrives will need careful preparation before I open my big mouth Seriously, this release caught me by surprise - wasn't expecting the K1 until well into the new year. As a north east engine, I just had to have it. Regards, Brian.

Should have gone to "Specsavers" - try their varifocals

...and another ditto from me but this is great Andy to see how you are fitting the railway into the landscape. I'm sure you could also paint something railway related even if it's a copy of a photo or one of your "proper" pictures. Regards, Brian

Thanks, Andy. Sign of the times I suppose. I only had time to fit the alarm today so will sort the lock out tomorrow. Regards, Brian.

A fair bit of progress in the last few days! The door has had another coat of blue and now looks OK. Taking advantage of the dry weather this week, the bedroom (12 x 12) carpet and underlay were placed on the decking and cut to fit the shed (10.5 x 6.5). So I now have fitted carpet in the shed and it feels quite homely now. So much so that I have hung a couple of my photo canvases on the shed back wall - I'll take some pictures and post them tomorrow probably. In the meantime, I have just "gray scaled" the pic of the black 5s and I will leave you to decide which image you prefer, although the black and white looks more steam age and atmospheric to me. Original image posted here for convenience as the page has just flipped over. Hopefully I will fit the alarm and security lock tomorrow after which I need to add some shelves and source some timered heating (I have my eye on some Screwfix items) before installing the existing railway. Getting close now. Regards, Brian. PS: Edit to add first image for comparison and minor grammar stuff.

It certainly was a fantastic experience last night - you could hear the engine(s?) for several minutes working hard up to speed before the train was in sight. There is a diabolically tight curve near the former Tilbury Riverside station (now a container base) which I think is 20 mph restricted. After that heading eastwards there is I guess a couple of miles of dead straight track across the West Tilbury marshes where I imagine the Black 5 was given its head and that's what we could hear last night. Terrific. Just off to ER now to check out the other pic you mentioned. Regards, Brian.

I'll try and upload the pick of the bunch pics I took tonight..... ...this is the main image previously cropped and this... ... ...is probably the best shot considering. Regards, Brian.

Thanks Andy - something to consider. Oh, and what a great resource RMWeb is, I'm sure you will agree. Best Regards, Brian.

Semi progress report/completely off topic! I've given the door interior (vertical laminate flooring haha) a couple of coats of paint over the last few days but temperatures are very low and it is taking longer than I thought to dry. No rush I suppose. Anyway..... ....earlier today, I caught wind of a returning "Steam Dreams Cathedral Express - Southend to Norwich (1Z51)" which would pass through our local station (5 minutes walk away) at about 20.55 this evening. So, I set off and witnessed, I think, a double headed (2 Black 5s) train storm through the station - fantastic noise, smoke and atmosphere. I took the "big" camera and got some shots but obviously it was dark, a moving subject and I was reliant on the station lighting, so.. the best I could do, severely cropped...excuses, excuses................ Regards, Brian

Sorry, Andy. I didn't read down far enough to see your response to Al's post. Looking very "fine-scale" which is great. Regards, Brian

You and me both, my friend. Regards. Brian.

Hi Ray, Thanks for your comments. I've not got any night heating in the shed because there is no railway equipment installed yet so I don't really know whether I've got a condensation problem or not. The plan is to put some heating in there on a time clock. The little fan heater I've got out there is certainly effective in raising the temperature quickly (see earlier post) but I'm as yet undecided on the type and level of heating to install on the timer and just how long to set the heat to come on for, if at all. Hopefully I'll get my existing layout out there soon and see how it gets on in its new environment. Yes I was aware of Andy's problem and pm'd him about it but was barking up the wrong tree. Andy's shed is considerably bigger than mine and (I think) he has installed a triangular insulated roof space. My shed's eaves are too low for that so I have just insulated and sheeted up the two slopes as it were. Kind Regards, Brian.

Hi Andy, thanks for looking in. I'm reasonably pleased with the way things are going. My shed arrived with a triangular timber strip or "drip" over the door so I think I'm OK. I'll keep a weather eye on it though ( ) just in case I need to beef up the weather protection at the top of the door. Regards, Brian.

Sorry for the delay in posting pics of the finished secondary glazing and the fitted blinds so here they are. Over the weekend I framed out and added insulation to the shed door as shown below. I was trying to find a cheap way of lining the door interior - seemed a waste to buy a whole sheet of mdf. On Sunday, Homebase had a sale on and I thought a cheep pack of laminate flooring might do the trick and my wife stumbled across this end of line pack priced at £7 odd. With the additional 15% off, the price came down to £5 odd - result! This morning, in between the drizzle and gloom, I cut the boards to the appropriate length and screwed them to the inside of the door frame as below. Sort of vertical laminate flooring I've got some rubberised draft excluder to go round the door but I probably need to paint the frame first. The security lock and hasp and the shed alarm also need fitting and I also need some dry weather so I can get the erstwhile bedroom carpet and underlay out of the garage and lay it on the decking so I can cut it to size to go in the shed. Getting there, slowly. Regards, Brian.

Hi Russ, Just stumbled across your thread, as you can see by the numerous "likes". Living in Essex, we have had many great holidays in Norfolk, including the north Norfolk area. It's nice to see the area replicated and your model looks excellent. It would be good to see a layout plan if you can upload one. Keep up the good work. Regards, Brian.

Some more progress made today. After visiting two Dunelm Mill stores today, I eventually plumped for a couple of blue black-out roller blinds for the shed. So this afternoon, I finished fitting the acrylic secondary glazing and fitted one of the blinds. When I've got the other blind up and peeled off the protective film on the acrylic tomorrow, I'll take some pics and post them here. Regards, Brian.

Good Afternoon, Jock. I trust you are good today. Indeed he is and such a prolific layout builder. My own modelling efforts are in a much lower league. I think I underestimated how substantial a building Andy has, hardly a "potting shed" as he calls it. Kind Regards, Brian.