Kelly

There are plenty of unread books, I'm sure I'll cope fine

Morning all. Hope all are well? if not, speedy recover and thoughts as appropriate. Off to the local MERG area group in a hour or so. Should be another good meeting, missed the last few as they clashed with shows and other things.

That is between me and him

The nature of how the wcml was built by the Victorians largely negates any possible upgrade to achieve what hs2 is projected to provide. The layout is very much a snake due to landowners historically refusing permission, so getting higher speeds is very difficult to achieve. Beyond 125 and can signalling is deemed essential I believe. Pebdolinos can do 140 and can signalling, but the 350s and others can't do more than 110 at most and combining the two makes any signalling upgrade very very expensive. Which is why br never did it despite wanting to when the apt-p was being developed. As others have said, there is the problem with widening of just too many bridges and housing and industrial development to ever consider that viable in place of hs2. My view has always been that hs2 is needed, to some extent regardless of the cost in some respects. The route and management are a different story.

Evening all, hope everyone has had a good day? If not hope tomorrow is better. Richard had the rac out for his car today as I mentioned in this morning's post. Rac diagnosed a duff battery (late last year his alternator died, so possibly that damaged battery and cold weather killed it). Fixed by rac with a new battery and he's safely home with poppy again. Miss them though, flat is too quiet without the mad bouncy hound! Only have until Monday to see 'm again at least. Richard changes to day shifts next month which should make things easier in some respects.

Are the books available as ebooks do you know? (Jenny?). I tend not to buy books now unless they're specific authors in hardback, all others I get as ebooks to save space (precious commodity in a bed flat).

Morning all. Hope all are well? if not speedy recoveries as needed. Happy birthday to Mick for yesterday, hope you had a good day. Yesterday proved fairly productive at least, should have the bedroom and living room finished off next week hopefully. At least my flat is only a 1 bed one! then the outbuilding needs sorting/tidying... Richard was supposed to go home today with Poppy, but his car won't start, so we're awaiting the RAC to come out to see what the problem is, I reckon either glow plugs or battery most likely. I daren't try my car in case that too won't start, it still has the same battery it left the factory with in 2005 (well if the stamp on it is to be believed), but has shown no signs of problems at least. Fairly sunny today, with a slight bite to the breeze, the snow is mostly crunchy stuff underfoot now, I suspect most of it will be melted by the end of the day, though snow is forecast for Thursday too.

Always a good show. Will be there on the DEMU stand with Natalie I expect.

Evening all. Hope everyones day has been good, if not hope tomorrow is better. We've managed to do some of the tidying of the bedroom (it was a mess mostly because of health and inability to kneel/bend well). Can actually see carpet! even Poppy was shocked! Got rid of a load of stuff, sorted out other stuff and got rid of a load of cuddly toys that had been taking up space for ages before Poppy got her teeth into them (she was very eager to tell the monkey who was boss, but was thwarted by them being taken to Richard's car to go to the charity shop where hopefully someone else will enjoy them). The book cases are the next to be sorted, with bowed shelves swapped with the other bookcases that take a lot less weight and sorting through the mountains of books to wittle their numbers down to just hard backs and special books (talking fantasy/sci-fi here rather than railway/aviation books!). All of this is in preperation with moving into Richard's house at some point in the future when finances align to allow it (probably when he's finished plumbing training and working as a qualified plumber). Now to get something sorted for dinner and laugh at Poppy trying to catch snowflakes as they fall. Only a light spattering here, but likely enough to cause chaos on the roads. Thankfully I don't need to go out anywhere until Saturday (MERG meeting) unless the snow gets worse and that gets cancelled.

Another consideration is, if they have no physical shop they're not supposed to be able to sell the Peco ranges (except for a select few shops) generally. Toher other consideration is, if they're not an affiliated seller with Bachmann/Hornby etc, the status of warranties can become murky.

Afternoon all. Hope all are well? I'm just about awake after a poor nights sleep. My other half let me sleep in before taking Poppy out for her walk necessitated opening the door, where I got thoroughly licked and massaged by a rather excited Poppy. Were meant to tidy the bedroom yesterday, but after taking Poppy for a long walk around Memorial Park, we were all too tired to contemplate it (I'd not slept well anyway either). Today hopefully something can be managed.

That is a very nice photo of the moon. When I got my Mondeo estate a few years ago about 5 years ago (realised I have had it longer than I thought), I was looking at a SUV type body car as well as the Galaxy. The Mondeo won out in the end for a) being able to fit mobility scooter and allow room for passengers and extra shopping/luggage still, and b) much better fuel economy compared to similar sized/powered SUV/Galaxies (almost double over the Galaxy or better) from a 2.0 TDCi engine. Now I have a smaller mobility scooter and have been able to get 6 layout boards (admittedly blank), a society stand boards/banner and associated items (and stuff to do on said stand in several boxes), plus overnight luggage for two in it. It keeps going, but not sure for how much longer, but my baseboards for all layouts being slowly planned/built have been kept to 3ftx2ft max to allow them to fit into the Mondeo with the seats down and the scooter disasembled and put on the folded back seats (it will also mean that when I move into my other halfs at some point, the boards will fit through the loft hatch!). I expect the next big fail on an MoT will be the end of it though, though for a diesel (14 years old) it is barely run in at 121k miles on the clock.

I'm not entirely sure it was a case of no one wants, no one expected perhaps. But I expect it'll be proving popular with military modellers and a lot of WD/ROD based layouts have popped up recently with the 100th anniversary of WWI having passed last year, so it made sense from that perspective. I suspect collectors will buy it too as it'll be different on a shelf for sure.

In the past when Natalie has been taking photos on stations, she has had a few staff approach her, most are fine once she explained, a few say they can't let her and if she doesn't stop and leave they'll call BTP and have them arrest her and confiscate the camera, each time she's called their bluff and told them to call the BTP, who when called get very miffed with the station staff for wasting their time usually.

Being woken up by this crazy hound this morning after not seeing her for almost a week. Can't help but smile when she is around, so much energy and love of life in her.

I got one for Chrimbo from my partner and his mum. With being asthmatic it will be much better (though I have a face mask too), but need to source a longer exhaust hose to reach a window for where it is, folds quite compact as well.

Interesting diversion for Revolution. I'm sure it'll be popular, good luck with it.

We'll know when both are ready to ship I'd imagine. Iirc raoido had some factory problem last year which has caused some delays, so that might be why no warley announcements were made in that regard. I have my suspicions about what their desiel could be however, quite possibleit could be EE or sulzer, but just speculation really. As for slw and a 33, if they do release one I'll be looking at at least 4 I expect. With their payment plan options it is much easier for me to afford. Almost finished paying for the 2 24s...

Watched the series 'Bletchley Circle' recently on Netflix. The obvious clanger was the Southern on the loco tender and Southern Railway on the coaches in several scenes when they travel by train, when it is in the mid-50s by that point and that would have gone by then most likely.

That is looking rather nice and imposing (as the real things were). Look forward to seing it fully painted.

Bachmann are in catch up phase really. Hornby are in a state of transition with the 2019 range the first since Simon Kohler's return, with some good joined up thinking in the range. As stated above, DJM only communicate via email to crowdfunders now and via their own website. I'd be surprised if anymore announcements of new models are made by DJM with the amount of models already being worked on. I'm skeptical we'll see an 86 from OR, if anyone is going to do it, I'd expect Hornby to, perhaps for 2020 range unless they have a surprise waiting for later in the year, but that is dependent on how they perceive the 87 to have gone most likely. I'd expect another steam loco from OR and another wagon maybe at most, they may announce something to compliment the Mk3s however, who knows. There is still potential for announcements from others (Rapido have said they're working on a UK diesel, and SLW might have something up their sleeve perhaps).

There is nothing really to compare it to in the UK, aside from perhaps a horse or something escaped from a zoo I'd imagine. I did see an episode of Mythbusters where they tested the effects of moose hits, the results were, not too pleasant in most cases, understandably doing a lot of damage. Seemingly the long spindly legs meaning the body was at windshield level for most cars was the big effect, a pick up being deemed likely to be safer as a result iirc.

Whichever it was it gave him a bit of a fright apparently (we don't speak, so I get anecdotes via my mum instead).

Once again nothing much has happened, due to a combination of time, not being at home and health again. The templot plan is 90% done, but I still need to give it a bit more thought and before anything else occurs, I need to sit down and have a stab at building some points etc. I picked up some more Hopper kits at Warley (the Slater's ones), these might not technically be correct for the probable time frame, but will add a little extra wagon interest. I also picked up some etches from Dave Bradwell at Scaleforum to convert/upgrade the old Dapol hoppers I have. Still yet to make a proper start on the Judith Edge 0-4-0WE kit, though I did pick up a High Level gearbox kit for it at Scaleforum. Just haven't had the time since to do much due to the planning for the Warley show (DEMU stand), working on an issue of DEMU's UPDate and the Christmas/New Year period being away. I have however finally got a clear desk in a corner of my flat that can be used for working on modelling projects (and jewellery projects), and got a portable spray booth for Christmas to compliment the airbrush/compressor I already have (I also got a Pull-Push set (H class plus maunsell coaches) and a set of Birdcage coaches for the other layout plan).

My brother emigrated to Canada a year or so back. He got a bit of a shock according to my mum when he first encountered snow out there, and moose (or was it elk I forget?).