devonseasider

Handbags at dawn - do we have a qualified mediator?

And if Philthyrichbastardbloke doesn't want it I might, so PM me with it as well. In my case you can throw in LMS stuff, so between us we could possibly (almost?) clean you out. P'rapsnotsorichbutstillabitdirtyoldmanbloke PS can I attract you to Thorncombe yet?

If you were standing in front of Fisherton Sarum at the time, then the "someone at the Barnstaple Show" was me! I've tried 2 different direct plug-in decoders and a tiny TCS chip on a short harness with an 8-pin plug. None of them fit snugly enough to allow the body to drop back on the chassis without distortion at the rear end. In fact, if I'm honest, even the supplied blanking plug causes distortion when the rear end of the body is pushed down properly onto the chassis. (I think I may have got a "Friday afternoon" production - as well as the rear-end distortion, both cab-doorway front handrails were floating loose in the packaging & both cylinder drain-cocks dropped off shortly after it was unpacked. Other than that, it's a lovely model & the chassis runs like a dream.) I'm convinced that the problem lies in insufficient clearance in the void under the moulded coal in the bunker. If you remove the coal rails, water filler & moulded coal (none of which were glued on my loco) you'll find a moulded sub-structure in the bunker space with a flat top & a sloping front - sorry, but that's the best I can do to describe it. When the body's pushed down onto the chassis the decoder (or, as mentioned above, in my case even the blanking plug) pushes against the underside of this moulding & stops the body sitting down properly. Tightening the fixing screws causes the rear end from the cab doorway to the buffer beam to lift, distorting the running plate & putting a noticeable slope into the rear cab spectacle sheet. Initially I thought the problem was that the chip (or 8-pin plug) was too high to fit under the horizontal top part of the moulded bunker sub-structure. After a bit of furtling around (please excuse excessive use of technical terms!) I now think that isn't the case, rather that the leading edge of the decoder is catching on the underside of the slope on the moulding. If I'm right, then cutting away a slot in that slope should solve the problem. I haven't had time, or plucked up the courage, to try it yet, but watch this space - it won't happen over the weekend, but maybe early next week . . . .

But at least we do still get the occasional - very occasional! - Bulleid Pacific. Worth seeing if they're heading west - they've come off the embankment across the Axe valley floodplain & started the early stages of the climb towards Honiton Tunnel. Usually working hard by the time they skirt Whitford & hit the remains of Seaton Junction. Life down here continues in its bucolic 1950s style (except that the tractors get bigger each year!). It's a bit like a marriage between the Vicar of Dibley & the Titfield Thunderbolt. We're cocooned from the 20th century, never mind the 21st! Major news story to shake East Devon last week was the discovery of an illicit "market gardening" project - forget Axminster Carpets & say hello to Axminster Cannabis. Actually, say goodbye to that as well - the local constabulary moved in to the building & spent 2 or 3 days allegedly "clearing it out", whatever that means . . . . Will you be heading this way again any time soon?

If you climb that signal post & look back towards Axminster you'll just about see our house on your right before the line goes under the Hampton Lane bridge.

'cos he's of Manx descent?

£72 at Collett's in Exmouth. One BR black in stock at time of writing, along with half-a-dozen in green. Can't imagine them dropping below that price.

Is that norty?

Another satisfied customer here. Order placed late Monday night, processed Tuesday morning, received in sunny East Devon Wednesday morning. Couldn't ask for more than that.

Safely back from the frozen north courtesy of Flybe, having spent an enjoyable day at Model Rail Scotland while Mrs DS found herself the only person booked onto her surprise Charles Rennie McKintosh tour at the Glasgow School of Art. Well, you've got to pick up Brownie points wherever you can, haven't you? Equally safely back from a trip over the border into Zummerzet this evening to see the Phil Beer Band in Taunton. Another enjoyable time had by all, so a few more points in the bank! Anyway, enough of the off-topic stuff ('cos most of you probably won't have heard of Phil Beer in any case!) and back to the Dairycoates visit on 18th July '64. The loco classes I will always associate with Dairycoates were B1, Ivatt 4MT 2-6-0 & WD 2-8-0, along with EE type 3 (later to become class 37) & various 0-6-0 diesel shunters. Yes, I know there were many others, but over the short time that I made visits there, these were always the most numerous types. This time I didn't photograph any of the EE3s and the couple of WD photos I took were in the last post. Here are the other 3 types. B1 61289 Ivatt 2-6-0 43077 D3675 with a rather nice view of the "stem" of a NER swan-neck water column A glass of neck-oil beckons, followed by a l - o - n - g sleep if Network Rail allow - there's some overnight maintenance work going on in & around the remains of Seaton Junction, just a few hundred yards away, and they've apologised in advance for possible noise . . . .

18th July 1964 was another Dairycoates visit, with 26 steam & 14 diesel (mainly shunters) on shed. That sounds quite a low number but checking back I see it was a Saturday so I expect a lot of the allocation would be out working. As far as the steam was concerned there were only 4 different classes on view - Ivatt 2-6-0, B1, WD and B16. There were 7 B16s which, from memory, were stored in a line in 7 section. If I'd known then even a fraction of what I know now (ha!) I would have photographed them but . . . . Being fair, though, I was a spotty youth, still at school, with little money, film & processing was expensive and I had photographed a few of them back in February. How was I to know that spool of film would be irreparably damaged later that year? Still, lots of other people would have taken much better pictures than mine could ever have been. I did manage a few half-decent pictures, so here are a couple of WDs at the coaling tower. First picture is 90265, second is 90351. Flying up to Glasgow later today with Mrs DS for a short break - what a coincidence that ModelRail Scotland is on this weekend . . . . She can do arty-farty things while I have a day at the show (I booked her on a Rennie Mackintosh guided tour as a surprise so that got me some brownie points!) & we can have a couple of days together "out & about" depending on the weather. Will post the others from this visit early next week. Take care.

No problem - looks better like that!

I've been trying to get something out of my Dairycoates photos from February '64 but so far nothing acceptable. The film was damaged long before most of the frames were printed - all I've got is a couple of quite indistinct prints, but I'll keep trying with them. Next trip back east over the Pennines was July '64 for a 3 or 4 day visit. Some of it I remember very clearly, much of it is a complete haze! I know I went by train & I was on my own rather than with parents - I've got a memory of wandering round Leeds, seeing a Deltic in Central station, bunking Holbeck & Neville Hill and drawing a blank at Copley Hill. From Hull I took the train to York, then on to Darlington & West Hartlepool - I remember nothing of the journey north but I do vividly remember the journey back. I caught the wrong train at Darlington & instead of heading down the mainline to York I realised I was on a train to Harrogate - I spent most of the journey in the toilet hoping that I wouldn't be discovered by a ticket inspector! On eventual arrival at York I found my way up Leeman Road to the shed yard & took 3 photos. This was 17th July. J27 65894 with a lamp post growing out of its boiler. Stored B16 61448 in the company of A1s & V2s. One of those V2s - 60856 - waiting for the inevitable.

I used to enjoy it when I was younger . . . .

David - congratulations on both counts. It really is a nice little layout. Roger (who relieved you for a while at Thorncombe) was very complimentary about it.

A pint of fish & a chip chaser. Sounds good to me. Slightly off topic (unusual for this thread!) - took the dog down to Seaton seafront earlier this evening so I could watch the sea roaring in. There's been another (small) slip towards the western end of the promenade. There's also a big lump between there & Seaton Hole that's been waiting to go for some weeks. Too dark to see whether this weekend's storms have finally taken it out.

It's an evolutionary thing. Takes a few years to become noticeable.

Down here, just round the corner from the real SJ, we're starting to develop webbed feet. It's like a re-run of the day I shared a shower with Stubby . . . .

Nice to see someone with good taste in music!

"Stick insect" was the phrase going through my mind. Sorry, but there was more meat on one of those geckos in Walkabout.

Keep on eating the geckos! "This film contains scenes that some viewers may find upsetting". It also contains scenes that some viewers may find . . . . errrmmmm . . . . what's the word I'm looking for?

Try again about 4:30 - 5 this afternoon . . . .

Yes, forgot to say that it isn't for the faint-hearted . . . .