bbishop

Unsure. The Bishop is coming on the Sunday. Basically think Father Ted and you won't be far wrong. Bill

Evening awl, An enforced absence due to a broadband outage. After some pulling and pushing of wires, decided it was caused by my BT Response 120 telephone having given up the ghost. Only 35 years old, they don't make them to last any more. The big plus was the answerphone facility , which eliminated Nigerian princes, Microhard engineers and sundry chancers hoping to disinvest me of my pension funds. Does anyone know of a relatively direct replacement? Bill

The cost of maintaining the fleet and the Washington Treaty, reduced the capital ships to the three King George V (first class) and the Elizabeths and Sovereigns (five each). The KGVs were replaced by the Admirals in the 1920s but Conqueror was retained as a target ship and de-gunned. She somehow survived until 1939 (lousy shooting?) when she was re-armed with 4" and wooden 13.5". She was used as a decoy ship, including Malta convoys, where she could at least provide anti aircraft cover. Scuttled off Omaha beach as part of the Mulberry harbour. Bill

or the impact of the Washington Treaty. Bill

Nick, A little bit of chicken and egg! At the moment I have three unadorned baseboards and will lay track during the winter. If my entry is accepted in February, then I will purchase some building kits at the Gießen show in March. So the scenick work would take up the next couple of months and I reckon photographs should be available in May. Blindheim will have two tracks on a 8" wide baseboard; everything will be half relief other than an engine shed. If you want to see examples of my work, the original Höchstädt is in the May 2015 Continental Modeller. Bill

Off to Brum. Bill

Dave, I don't suffer with the black dog, However, I have had a couple of crises in the last year and each time I have has support from the ER community. This included a supportive phone call from France, when the caller was coping with his own problems. Do make use of us. I'm off to Birmingham tomorrow to help at the ERA show; carrying tables, crawling round with the electrics, providing first aid. I'm not the youngest, but may be the only one without metal hips and knees. Bill

I've just posted an entry. I'm building a 56 foot layout, called Höchstädt, which has an invite to Guildex in 2021. The plan is to have the branch line terminus, called Blindheim, in front of one of the fiddle yards and I have already built three 4' x 8" baseboards. So build a temporary 8' fiddle yard and I have an entry of 20' x 8". And obviously it's German. Bill

A reminder the exhibition is this Saturday. Bill

The Berlin group has been disbanded, as we are back in the UK. Bill

He didn#t bring it. I brought mine, it#s my alarm clock! Bill

Evening from the Berlin branch of ER, Easy journey from Prague, the hotel is part of Ostbahnhof (simples) so we've travelled U 1- 4 and some Straßenbahn (including an extension into West Berlin). Chris has gone to bed, Bill will potter out for a final beer. Some Stadtbahn tomorrow morning, then home. Guys, you realise that (a) Chris forgot to bring his RMWeb password, (b) logging into a strange PC is at the limits of Bill's competence and (c) German#s use the qwertz keyboard. Bill

Morning all, the Prague branch of ER is signing off, but may reconvene as the Berlin branch. Don't tell Chris but it's U1 - 4 and Strassenbahn today then (briefly) the Stadtbahn tomorrow. Bill

Good evening from the Prague branch of ER. Returned to the hotel having run up a 281 bar bill at lunch. I'm off to photograph trams (focus optional) leaving you in Chris's capable hands. Thank you, Bill. Logging in was far too hard for me! We have had a good and relaxing time. There is something satisfying about sitting outside a cafe with a mug of hot chocolate watching the trams go by, especially when there are lots of them. After a thorough exploration of Prague we are off to Berlin in the morning. Who knows what awaits us there? Well, Bill does but he's not letting on. Until later in the week, best wishes to all from Chris and Bill

Good evening from the Prague branch of Early Risers. Chris is already in bed, Bill is typing this whilst finishing his last glass of Stavopramen. We still have the Green line to circumnavigate tomorrow then some more beers will be consumed. To Berlin on Tuesday. Bill (& Chris)

And my turn to sign off. Back next week. Bill

Chris, Not much more about Berlin, other than U-, S-, and Straßenbahnen. 24 hours isn't long. Looking at the food store, I can bring cheese, onion & pepper and avocado & tomato sandwiches. And bananas. Bill

Not finished yet? You are slowing down in your old age. Personally, I would have excluded the vents from the model and attached white metal one's later. Bill

I'm always a little bit nervous that my points (which are DCC) will "talk" to the layout. I have a mix of solenoids and Cobalts, so always give the former a few back and forths before switching on the power. Even so, I'm always worried that I might smell the delicate aroma of fried solenoid and arachnidiod. So at the Woking show, Tony walks past Höchstädt just as power is applied and his friendly greeting was met with a desultory "hi". All worked first time, other than a dry wire in a Cobalt connector! Then Sunday morning, the control panel stopped working. There is a plan B (F5 on the LH100 controller for those in the know). An hour later I thought "why not try the panel again" and of course it worked perfectly. Having mentioned the show and the layout, I was pleased that two people said it was the best layout there and another two people (both with German connections) said that I'd captured the atmosphere of a Franken Dorf. What better complements, and irrelevant of analogue vs. digital. Bill

Was it Titcombe? I think the moulds were kept, but maybe like the Trevor Charlton zinc sides, the source materials were unobtainable. I built a Freightman SR wagon, couldn't find the roof and, with trepidation, fitted a Parkside one. Fitted perfectly, and there is no way the two companies collaborated. Bill

Club or ex-club? My guess is the exhibition manager is keeping you in reserve in case there is a last minute drop out. Means there isn't a hunt for a substitute, but utterly inconsiderate to a club member. I think I would walk out, as a very minimum, I would "forget" to pay next year's sub. Bill

Leave me out of it. Bill

When they set up T20, Yorkshire got a special dispensation of an extra 9 overs. This was to make it a fair game, because of Geoff Boycott batting so slowly. Mind you, the extra overs has to be bowled by Boycott's mum and, as we all know, she was the best fast-medium in the country. Bill

Off to Woking soon and may see some of you there. Otherwise back Monday. Bill

Are we still talking knees? Bill