ChrisN

Mike, Sgt Roberts might be the only policeman in Traeth Mawr, but if he blows his whistle, then two [porters from the station come running, two more from the Twll Du, and a couple of fisherman. I think they could probably handle Blanche.😬

Nick, Merry Christmas to you as well, and I hope everything goes well for you in the New Year. Give me a shout if you need anything.

Hi, Glad you are enamelled with it, I was told though to always use a satin finish. I can just about make one train of 4 wheelers, but eventually I should only run four or six wheelers, with the occasional bogie, but they will be GWR, so I am not sure there is much I can do about that.

Dear Mr Mikkel, I passed on your comments to the contractor, he seemed genuinely pleased that you found it inspiring. As for my father, well, I understand that it is the contractor's wife that likes having him locked in the display cabinet, along with the down shelter and a Twll Du train. Says they look 'nice'. I think he does not argue about it as it keeps dad from moaning to him about the lack of a station, or a house, or, well, just about everything really. He tells me that he is not far off from starting our house. About time to as I am fed up of sleeping in the goods shed. The platform is not going as well as he hoped so it might just get done when he feels like it, and he will not wait to finish it before starting something else. He tells me that it is likely over Christmas that he will he tackling the 3rd Class Saloon, as it is small and he needs to wait for his Christmas presents before he can start our house as he gave all his mounting board away to his grandson to build a bowling alley, whatever that it. Is it like skittles? I know he has the drawings for a GWR coach, but has not sent them to the workshop yet to get cut, and is getting a GWR saloon ready as well. Well, GWR. I despair sometimes, but he says, well foreign passengers bring in money. Anyway, I have to go, clocks to wind, tickets to sell, lamps to polish, he has locked away a lot of the staff as well. Yours, Master O. Price. P.S. Happy Christmas

Mike, No, this is a different Sir Jon. He comes from Groombridge. If Blanche did try and paint the town red, well at least some painting would get done, but more likely, Sgt Roberts would intervene first, then your Sir Jon would have to bail her out of the lock up.

Hello. Owen Price here. It has to be me, I am in charge while my dad is still locked in a display cabinet, and the 'Contractor' goes 'walk abouts'. As you can see the Dolgelley train has arrived bringing Sir John to see the 'Young Englishman' for Christmas. He cannot get hold of a horsebox so he has not brought his carriage this time. (Any resemblance to his carriage on the truck behind is purely co-incidence, honest.) He will have to use the 'Toy Train' (that is what we call the narrow gauge railway, and come to think of it so do they in their advertising), to get to Ty Mawr. Better than trying to get up the valley in a carriage, I think anyway. (I think his name is Sir John, he is some toff from England, whatever he is called.) You will have to excuse the mess, the 'Contractor' leaves things around to make it look as though he is working. I am not convinced though, we still have a leaking roof, it is coming in round the chimneys. They are beginning to gather at Shiloh, the Tin Tabernacle, for the Carol Service. I think they are waiting for them to finish praying. They will wait a long time, there is always someone in there praying, they might as well just go in. Well, nearly at the end of another year where not much has happened. The Contractor wishes me to thank everybody who reads his news sheets he prints, and the help and responses, he says he is very grateful and it encourages him. Me, I wish you would all tell him to buck his ideas up and get a move on. So from me, and him, Happy Christmas and have a good New Year.

It was with great sadness that I learned of Adrian's death. He said at the beginning of his thread that he had returned to modelling on his retirement. You would not think so, as he had exceptional skill, going down to the Pound Shop and buying something and turning it into a model. I was continually amazed. He started in rural Kent and then after a two layouts did a scene near Waterloo, a grim city scape completely unlike anything he had done previously and pulled it off amazingly. I asked him once what his occupation had been, and he replied that it was a Sign Writer, one where you painted directly onto the sign with your wrist supported. (I cannot remember the name of what the support is called.) He was obviously a man of talent. He was always helpful and his comments always came with his gentle sense of humour. I will miss his presence on my thread and the other threads that I follow. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family.

Happy Christmas to you both, too.

Mikkel, Yes, an eventful year. Grandchildren, hopefully all of the fun and none of the troubles you had with your own children as they grew up. The Biro will be great as they come round to visit. I have two in secondary school, and all my children are over 30, and my eldest is just turning 40! Condolences on the death of your dad, such an important relationship. Excellent video, but, oh, how tidy your workbench is. Mine is a mess within 30 seconds of beginning work. Have a happy Christmas and a good New Year. (Sorry, I do not know the Danish and if I used Google translate it would probably say something rude.)

This is very sad news, my thoughts and prayers go out to his family.

Yes, Happy Christmas,

That seems to me to cover all the bases. I am not sure how you could shorten it, it did not seem overly long to me.

Station nameboards, or similar.

Of course if you entered the right multiverse you would get to travel to Farthing, and meet all the people you thought that you had made up.

That road at Southall is very interesting. (And today)

I would think that the crossovers would be just that between the lines. It would seem sensible to keep the momentum, what you do not want to do is get bogged down with something, then lose interest and give the whole thing up.

Mikkel, I would never say you were pretentious. Boxes: They will need some type of packing to stop it rattling around. (I think we have something similar which we keep wrapping paper in. (Somehow we still buy more each Christmas and birthday.) Interiors: You know I love interiors, which is why I do not fix my roofs on as it is the only way they can be seen, unless you fit internal lights. I am not keen on lights.

Mikkel, That looks brilliant. It is over twice as long as my station which I thought was quiet big. Fortunately my one is fairly plain. If you decide to make it separate parts, then you will need to work out how to fit them together and make sure that they do not move. I am working on that with my platforms as I have made it with cardboard it needs to be removed if the layout is packed down. (Shh! I am working on it not being.) It will need something so that the parts fit together and then do not move. If not you will need a very long box. 🙂 Vocabulary. Building vocabulary is a whole separate study, which most English speakers will not know, but never fear, Lady Google is never far away. It is 'string courses', but not sure about 'pinnacles' as these are on the top of buttresses.

Do people unstick and move track after it is laid? Yes often. This is the advantage of using PVA, as if you soften it with water, move the track and then pin it in the new position. If you have not lifted it, just moved it when it dries it will stick again. It is always worth not ballasting until you are completely happy with the track position and how it all runs, (says he who has not ballasted his layout yet).

You would think I have not done any modelling recently. This is not quite true but I have not had time to do much. I have been struggling with the flashing on the chimneys. I started by using thick paper, as advised by others. I thought it would be best to paint the paper first, and then cut the shape of the flashing as it was being put on the chimney. That did not work, as the paper was too damp. I then cut the paper before I stuck it on. This did not work as again it was too soft to hold its shape, and even though I had painted it, the edges became white. I then decided to try thin card, so I took a long 2mm strip and cut notches in it, then took it and painted it with shellac. I left it on the paper I used as a protection for the board underneath and did a couple of other things. I went back a couple of days later and it was not there! Either, 1) the roving gateway to another universe which inhabits my house, which removes things and then a few days/weeks later puts them back in the same place or another random place around the house, had struck again, or 2), it had stuck to my fleece, and fell off somewhere in the house. I think it is (1), but either way I doubt if it will turn up at least until I have made another one and painted it, with shellac and grey paint. So, I was encourage how well the miniature papers turned out and decided to try and produce a name and notice board for the Tin Tabernacle. These were duly made out in word, and then put into Silhouette Studio the reduce to the correct size. I thenstuck them on using Pritt Stick. (A hard stick of glue for paper.) If you cannot read the notice you could well be late for the meetings, but even if you can you are likely to be the best part of 130 years to late anyway.. The name appears to be not there, I think I got too much glue on its surface. Next time I print something else I might relace it. (I have since finished painting the bits I have missed earlier.) You may remember that I was looking for something cheap and clever to use as downpipes. In the end I bought some Ratio gutters for the station building, and guess what, there is an excess of downpipes. Firstly I had to warm them in water and bend them so that they would through the water away from the building. (Nothing fancy like proper drains.) They needed a bit more work after this, and yes, I did finish the painting. One down pipe in pipe in position. I did one the other side as well. I am not sure if I will have time, (or inspiration), for a Christmas post, so if not, have a Happy Christmas. If you have been, thanks for looking.

Pre-grouping is a vast area, with (?) a couple of hundred companies, but of course there are the big ones like the Cambrian, and er, the LCDR, and er, LSWR, with many feeder lines to the Cambrian, (did I mention that), like the GWR and LNWR. It would be very easy for it to become large and unwieldy. Where would you put it? In the blogs, would anyone read it? If it was in 'Pre-Grouping' then people would be already looking towards it, if it was in another part of the forum,( umm where?), it might attract people. I do like the idea, it is just how it could be worked out which is more 'interesting'.

Love the adverts. I will eventually need enamel ones. My Nan, probably pre WW2, went to the doctors as she had boils come up. He told her to drink stout. She then drank a bottle of Mackeson every day for the rst of her life. The boils went. My dad said it was because there was iron in the stout, so who knows? There was a time in hospitals that on the ordering list, I actually remember this, there was light ale, stout and sherry.

Not sure what the name of the series is but it is the stock that ran in the 60s.

I have voted. There are a few I would get, no Southend Pier stock this time. I could model myself and my mum and dad on it.

Nick, I am glad you can still laugh about it.