andyram

Sixoh8sixoh: I am extremely jealous of your maze escapades. I used to love the show and thoroughly enjoyed the recent charity remake. The question has to be asked....did you get locked in?

Neighbours and Home and Away missing from that list!

Morning all. Cloudy, but mild here this morning. I have read, with interest, the recent comments about the postal service. Our final collection is still 5pm from the local post office. However that is a 15 minute walk away. It seems that the provision of a post box was not included in the plans for the new housing development where we live. The delivery service has much changed over the years. I remember a time when we had two postal deliveries each day. The first post usually arrived by 8am, with the second delivery early afternoon. Once the second post was abandoned the delivery slipped to later in the morning, although it would usually be before lunch. Times certainly have changed - in recent weeks our post has been delivered at various times of the day. On Wednesday it arrived at 7pm!

Today has seen the Skaleby Quay project reawaken. The first of the new baseboards have been started. A 4ft X 2ft section of MDF has been screwed to some under frame supports in my usual way. This will create a base for the main station area and will incorporate a track plan similar to the one shown above. Due to the location in the room the plan will have to be a mirror image so that the station will be on the left of the board. A raised track bed will be constructed once the track plan has been completely finalised. This raised section will allow me to construct a beach and harbour scene at the front of the board. At the rear of the raised section there will be a sea front street made up of low relief buildings. These will be raised above the track height so that the layout will have three different levels to it. At present I aim to alter the track plan slightly so that there is a run round loop on one of the platforms. One of the sidings will be used for fish traffic and, if possible, I may try to include a general goods facility too. In time I will be adding an extension board to the right of the plan. This 2ft X 2ft board will include a small loco shed such as the one found at Swanage (minus the turntable). There is no timescale for completion of this build. I am also unsure whether it will be offered for exhibitions - that depends on the success of the project. Hopefully it will not stall this time especially as I have wanted to build a coastal layout for some time and have been assembling a collection of appropriate scenic items. Fingers crossed there will be more progress to report soon.

Evening all. I hope today finds you well. Today has been a strange day. Sarah and Amber were due to be spending the day at her mum's, giving me a free few hours. The plan had been to visit the Severn Valley Railway for a much needed steam fix. Sarah was happy enough to take the bus to her mum's allowing me an early escape and a chance of making Bridgnorth for the first departure of the day. I was up as planned this morning but never made it. A combination of my own lethargy and lack of motivation, coupled with Sarah's own dark mood helped me to make the decision not to go. Instead I saved Sarah the bus trip and drove her there. She is finding things hard at the moment too. Her mum and step dad are selling up and downsizing. Despite her hopes that they would move closer, they have actually bought a bungalow much further away (3 bus rides instead of 2). This has hit her hard, especially as they will spend a small fortune renovating a wreck when, for the same price, they could have bought properties in better condition closer to us. Sarah is finding the sorting of her remaining stuff tough too. That, along with Amber now being at school, has brought her mood down. I decided that, with the amount of work outstanding and Sarah's current mood, I could not justify the trip especially as it would have meant Sarah heading out on the bus in the cold this morning. I also could not be bothered to drive there. That is the first time I have felt like that for a while. On the positive side of things I made use of my free time, calling in at b and q and collecting the wood for the new baseboard. The first part of the build was completed by lunch time. In the afternoon I did a bit of scenic work on my other layout ahead of the exhibition (see Skaleby West thread). I then caught up on some more school work in front of the tv. Quite a productive day so I am not too disappointed with missing out on the Severn Valley. Enjoy the rest of your evening.

Thanks Andy. Hopefully I can get the scenic water added before I go back to work next week. More pics will follow as and when I make progress.

A little more scenic work today. I am trying to get the river scene complete before the Weston show next month. Some scenic scatter has been added to the river bank and some rocks to the river bed. All will be glued down before the scenic water is added.

I had an interesting chat this evening with a fellow model railway club member and they paint a different picture. There is a farewell event on November 5th which will also feature some visiting layout. After that the layout will be dismantled and put into storage. However, providing the museum remains open, it should re-emerge in a larger space in two to three years time with the prospect of the layout being made bigger, not smaller. Two club members are apparently a part of the group looking after the layout.

Along with some

If I could turn back time - Cher

Pies falling from

Morning all. I hope today finds you all well. This morning has dawned chilly and cloudy. We are due to head up to the Designer Outlet near Mansfield this morning as Sarah wants to visit. I will do my best to look interested by a procession of different clothes shops whilst she spends ages looking at things and then buying nothing. Grandadbob - I am glad I am not the only person to have raised an eyebrow at Polly's comment about touching up the "wagon owner". It seems our minds must be cut from a similar cloth! I hope the track painting goes well second time around. Hope everyone has a good day.

I thought the same Andy. It actually seems to fit quite well. I may leave it there permenantly. The only drawback is it slightly obscures the station name board.

Some work in the railway room today. Skaleby East's baseboard has been stripped of all but the track, with buildings stored away. The build of this layout has stalled and the layout is now mothballed to the garage. This has allowed the whole of Skaleby West's scenic section to be viewed. Whilst most of Skaleby East's buildings have been returned to their original boxes, one box has eluded me. The small gents toilet block has therefore found a temporary home on Skaleby West's platform. It almost looks at home as the Standard 3 arrives with the late evening train. After Skaleby East's baseboards were removed I found the time to give the river bed a quick coat of Woodland Scenics river bed undercoat. Hopefully I can make further progress this week.

Erm....the alter ego of Batman!!!!!

Good afternoon all. Many thanks for the kind words and good wishes. We are on half term break right now so things are a little more sedate at present. Today we visited a couple of garden centres and the Masson Mill retail outlet. The latter has a Hornby outlet on the same floor as a whiskey shop so it is always worth a visit. Very little purchased, apart from a small garden shed model. This is my third and will, in time, be transformed into a beach hut for the coastal terminus project. Sarah has been encouraging me to buy the timber and build the baseboards this week but whether that will happen remains to be seen. The comments about people's opinions of the teaching profession have made for interesting reading. It is true that the job has got harder and the demands greater. I don't think I have worked as hard as I have in the past couple of years. During this time I have, on occasions, considered a move away from the classroom. So far I have not made the break, nor considered an alternative profession. This year, for the first time, I have not enjoyed the job of teaching. Normally the enjoyment and satisfaction has kept me going and, when very busy, I have hung onto the holidays as a chance to spend time with the family. The one benefit is the summer break and I do keep reminding myself of that fact in the most difficult times. I am sure that, in time, this feeling will pass and I will begin to enjoy the job again. Yesterday i did have the first "what if" question entering my head. Before teaching I considered journalism as a career, but never followed it through. I was put off by a difficult first job working in free newspaper office. During that time I did, even at the age of 16, have some sports articles published in their publications. A few years later I edited a football fanzine for a couple of years, developing it into a more professional publication with increased readership. All very small fry it has to be admitted. But the "job advert" on RMWeb for the BRM editor job did make me wonder, if only for a brief second, what my career could have been like if I stuck to my original interest. Anyway, there is a spare hour or so....the question is do I spend it on school planning or playing trains?

No. He only knows Bruce Wayne.

That should have been an instant fail

Let me talk to you about Santa Claus....

But for the price tag it could well be a Nigel Pearson signing for Derby County

Good evening all. I have finally made it back onto these pages after what must be about 7 weeks away. I am sure I have missed so much so my humble apologies. I have noticed, via Facebook, of the passing of Ian OD's brother and repeat my wishes to him that I passed on via that other form of social media. I would like to send generic good wishes and support to you all. I have not been totally away from RMWeb for the period of my absence from here, I have popped into other threads from time to time. However I have been unable to spend much time on here, and certainly not the time to properly digest the happenings of other people's lives. I have also not wanted to share much about my life either. The last few weeks have been a struggle. I did not look after myself during the latter part of the summer break. On a personal, and family level, we packed so much into that time. Day trips to Llangollen, North York Moors, Severn Valley, Cleethorpes, Yorkshire Wildlife Park, Alton Towers etc etc were all great fun and provided good memories - but I did not drink enough of the right stuff frequently enough. This left me with dehydration and some bladder trouble to start the new school year. The old health anxieties and phobias that have plagued me for years resurfaced too and I started the school year battling my personal demons. This was followed by a particularly difficult term at school where a lack of support, and issues beyond my control, hampered my teaching. It also resulted in my poorest teaching grade in the whole of my 18 year career. Not what I needed on top of everything else. I have pretty much crawled to the end of the half time and stumbled into the break. Right now things do seem to be on the upturn. I have sorted some of the unsupportive people so work is moving upwards. The health situation does seem to be getting better as I learn to drink more of the right stuff - less strong coffees more glasses of water and cranberry juice! This is helping to suppress, if not completely vanquish, those demons. Time will tell if it is a temporary reprieve. Time for modelling, and the modelling mojo, has been at an all time low. The layout I had planned to build for this year's show has failed to develop beyond the early stages. It looks like I will be aiming to repair the original layout and drag it out again. Time is short however. My longed for coastal terminus layout had been placed on hold earlier in the year in order to work on other projects. It is this that is now threatening to ignite the creative spark. A redeveloped plan will require new baseboards. Sarah has suggested I build them this week. Time will tell whether they will get done. Hopefully I can keep you all up to date.

Have to say the fishing rod pulling Supercar out of the water was a classic.

A brief running session today. Standard 3 82001 returned to Skaleby West on a passenger service with a parcels van attached to the rear. After arrival the train reversed back over the points before detaching the van. After hauling the carriages back into the station the loco ran around the train and hauled the van into the loop before shunting it into the good yard. Here a few iPad pictures from the day. The layout is due to attend the Weston on Trent exhibition next month.

Don't you know - anything can happen in the next half hour!!"

Hi Jim Just caught up on your thread. I have loved the pictures from around Fort William. My wife and I spent our honeymoon up there. The first day was spent on the Jacobite wth 45321. Your pictures of Glenfinnan Viaduct are stunning.