southern42

Interesting Chris. You have just brought back a lovely memory. I had taste of it at Didcot a couple of years ago, when they had two young trainee signalmen operating the signal box on a running day (under supervision!). I know there is an age limit on preservation railways (I believe it is 16 to train, 18 to pass out) but one of the lads (who took the token down to the track) was so slight and looking so much younger than his age, and the tall one was of small build, you wondered how they ever pulled and pushed the levers. I can just imagine them down at Traeth Mawr back in the day in the Box and down on the track! Can you imagine a small lad passing/taking/exchanging a token to/from the man up in the cab! Dangerous work, I should think. _________ Polly

' morning all. What a few days! I think I have cracked it with a bit of jiggery pokery! I have a few locos to run in an earlier period but I did not ask my grandfather about the railway when I had the chance...but what does a young child know! So it is onward with the photos. I came across another pic of 9773 that I have not seen before. It is was taken leaving Windmill Bridge. The photo shows the letters LCGB more clearly and explains why I thought the blurry letters had a shadow. It turns out the letters have serifs and belong to the slab font Clarendon/Egyptian condensed type, neither of which are on my Mac Font list apart from Rockwell but no condensed version. There were several ways I could get round it using screen capture of the fonts available online but I do not have a graphics package to do the job of converting black letters to white. This was one of those things that I used to take for granted with Microsoft Windows. The Mac has a "transparency" tool but it corrupts the letters. I tried it! In desperation, I looked (again!) at my list of Fonts and the closest match was American Typewriter. So, how to make a drawing in Mac Pages: 1. Insert the letters onto a black rectangle and make them big, Bold and white. 2. Mask the curved lines and rounded serifs with straight lines. 3. Change the orange lines to black or white as required and space the letters to fit the panel. 5. Take a screen shot to convert the drawing into an image and reduce its size for use in the Headboard. 6. Not an exact copy but Polly Adago Bold is good enough, for now, at that size! Well, if Swindon can turn out its own slab font... (source Clarendon > end product Swindon Egyptian), I reckon I should be able to get away with it! 7. All I have to do next is make the headboard... Thanks for your reply, Chris. As to the white bits on metal buffers and black painted hinges, I will get that grey look just by using my white acrylics. When painted over black/grey paint the colours always penetrate through the white, usually an annoyance but this time it should be perfect!* Ah, yes. Black pannier tank. Easy. Hmm. I would just love to capture all those different shades and types of black paint and their various textures and finishes when covered in oil, water, ash, soot, rust and grime. With a bottle of Rotring ink waiting to be opened, I guess I have no excuse not to make a go of it. Lastly, the rest of the rhubarb crumble disappeared nicely, thank you, and another tin of rhubarb found its way into this week's shopping basket! Rhubarb crumble will have to be on the station cafe's menu. *If anyone knows of a make of acrylic white which stays white when painted over another colour, please let me know. Loco and headboard: https://www.flickr.com/photos/trains-travel/40556942635/sizes/3k/ Take care, everyone, and play safe. _________ Best wishes Polly

' afternoon all. What was I saying about rebuilds on your thread, Chris? Well, it seems I may have to make a Modified LCGB REC headboard following in good old GWR tradition! I was looking for a photo with a sharp image of the Train Reporting Number (1X06) and came across one on the RCTS collection: https://rcts.zenfolio.com/steam-gwr/5700-class-0-6-0pt/hA88A54A4#ha88a54a4. I was looking to see what colour(s) the edge of the panel should be. But... my modelling mood collapsed! I glanced down to the LCGB REC headboard and it looks like a print mounted on a board, after all! The letters have a grey shadow to the left, which you would not see in 3D from this angle, and on the top edge. There seems to be shading round the white border although this may be the edge of the board or just photo blur. The letters REC look grey rather than black, which is probably why they appear faint in other photos but there should be less messing about with a modified version of the headboard! Comments, views, knowledge, humour... welcome! The photo also shows that the paint on the hinges, round the dart, and on the buffers is light grey rather than white. At least, I know that, now. So, until sometime later... Off to make a rhubarb crumble, now. Thanks for Poop! Pooping in. Hope you have had a good laugh if nothing else! Take care, play safe. _________ Best wishes Polly

I do love your stories of local traditions and hope the signal lad gets the token sorted to his satisfaction. Here is Hugh Tookett having just collected the token. His problem was the balcony railing but he will be there ready to hand it over to the up train, the way he was taught by a Padstow signalman. Oh, how he would have liked a signal lad! Keep going with the token, rebuild is all part of railway tradition, and you will have gained that extra bit of achievement rather than an edge of disappointment. ________ Polly

' afternoon all. A few days since I last posted, time mostly spent cutting, trimming and waiting for glue to dry. So a few pics to show off progress. Among other things, I had a go at painting the paper to disguise the joins... but getting a consistently cut rim proved frustratingly difficult. Change of plan, and although it means the relief is more out of scale, I tried using a narrowly cut strip of plasticard. Really, I should have made another one with an even narrower strip but decided to call a halt on the process or I might be here for ever! The finished headboard tried for size along with a headlamp for scale. It is a tad larger than the photo but is closer to the correct size on the loco itself. No photo as I knocked the REC diamond off when putting the headboard on the loco! Re-glueing has taken place and I am waiting for the glue to dry, this time, before doing anything with it. The headlamp on the model of 9773 will be whiter than this with a clear lens as per the photo. Next on the To Do list are the route numbers. Thanks for Poop! Pooping in. Take care, play safe. _________ Best wishes Polly

My washing machine has a no-crease button. Who needs an iron?

' morning all from red dragon land. Cloudy, sunshine due immently, supposedly. We will see. Already mugadecaf time so just to pass on my greetings. Fitt and Elfie doing their best. Keep well, play safe. _________ Best wishes Polly

Since Tess Coe's decided to close the deli counter on our previous shopping days (Mon-Tue) we started to get a chicken to roast and slice it up when cold on the 2nd-3rd days instead of having sliced ham/pork/turkey. With Lockdown there is no deli, anyway, and we have continued with chicken. However, Sunday roast dinner, in pre-lockdown days, was usually midweek roast. In lockdown, with doing click n collect on Thursdays we are more likely to have roast chicken on a Sunday but cold. As this weekend was a Bank Holiday, I roasted it yesterday and that will see us through the 3 days, easily. Some days, I will use up 2 days worth to make a chicken pie with either pastry crust or topped with potato (sliced or mashed), half of which sometimes goes into the freezer. I must give credit to the click n collect service from Tess Coe, although we do have to be patient to get a slot up on screen before we start. That the technology keeps a list your past purchases is brilliant, and being able to change your order up to the evening before is ideal. I do not know about other websites, but this one reserves your slot when you start your order and gives you 2 hours to complete it. The collection point is a building on the far side of the carpark away from the main building, so no contact with store staff or customers. We expected the food to be supplied in their blue boxes so, on his first visit, Ray took our bags to put the items in but they are, currently, bagging up everything themselves. ________ Polly

Not to mention my having to re-read an autobiographical account of my "mind's eye" footplate experience and re-tread happy memories of my days on the exhibition circuit with CQ, coming face to face with a certain member of the Happy Hippo family, seeing CQ depart to a new home, and CQ being awarded a Best in Show award on its first outing under its new owner. Talk about getting emotional - I had to get my hanky out. Shall we call it quits? _________ Polly

Clan Line made the journey from Waterloo (not Padstow as posted - I realised the senior moment error but the laptop battery died before I could correct it, since put right). WC 34033 Chard hauled the train from Exeter to Padstow. Camel Quay was based on/inspired by Padstow and the North Cornwall Railway (c. late BR) and we originally intended to run West Countries on it but they did not look right going over parts of the track. So, we stuck with the smaller engines such as the N class, T9s and Beattie Well Tanks which better suited the curved run into the station as well as giving an impression of the NCR. It equally saved us from incorporating the turntable you mention, or having another loco to take the train out while the WC typically returned to Wadebridge light engine which I had hoped to imitate...but there we are! The layout has gone now, so no worries! But I still love the old NCR! _________ Polly

Seeing those diagrams took me back to biology, chemistry, and physics exams. You drew the diagrams and described the science behind them. Skip a few decades and I remember seeing some exam questions from the same subjects: diagrams were provided and the answer required some sort of sociological/philosophical discussion of the question. "Where was the science?" I asked myself. I hope things have improved... At some point, I met up with a younger than me co-Evening Class tutor who was complaining that the teaching of reading and spelling that she received hardly existed and now, as an adult, felt very disadvantaged. It certainly makes you appreciate the education you received back in the dark ages! Although, I do wish they would have let me loose in the metal workshop! Even better, I dreamt of woodworking classes but had to wait until my early twenties for just a few years worth - then they took them out of the schools so that no-one could be let loose in them. I am the one that feels disadvantaged, these days! _________ Polly

One of my favourite books is From the Footplate: Atlantic Coast Express by Stephen Austin (Ian Allen, 1989) in which you "travel in the mind's eye on the footplate of the locomotive," in this instance, Clan Line from Waterloo to Exeter. Some superb writing, photos (b&w and colour), maps, track plans, diagrams, timetable. Fascinating machines. _________ Polly

I think it is more the 'holiday-makers' that are creating the headlines here rather than the odd person wanting to 'come home' although I suspect even that is frowned upon at the moment when new cases and deaths of C-19 are still on the increase, here. I can understand families that have got separated and want to go home or meet up again. We miss our families, near and far. Fortunately, we had a get together at the end of last year, so we have fairly recent memories to fall back on, and we mainly keep in touch with each other via WhatsApp and FaceTime like lots of others. However, I would not want to put myself at risk, or anyone else, by going visiting, or worse, galavanting round the countryside/from one end of the country to another just to have some fun because it is a bank holiday. I shall bide my time...and keep m*d*ll*ng waiting for the glue to dry... _________ Polly

' morning all from red dragon land. I will be watching the Welsh News with interest tonight to see how many cross the border "illegally". There has already been an increase in those heading for the North Wales Coast this week, according to a member of the Coastguard yesterday. Fortunately, we are off the beaten (tourist) track so I doubt it will affect us. It seems people are claiming "confusion" as their excuse! What is confusing about "Don't come to Wales/Scotland"? The rain promised by the pine cone prophets has not materialised rather we have had blue sky and some sunshine - total cloud cover, at the moment and not quite as breezy as yesterday. I may get a bike ride on the terrace in later. M*d*ll*ng coming along slowly - waiting for the glue to dry, again! Toot on the flute producing some lovely tones - sometimes! I hate it when it goes well and then trips out before I finish a tune! Early days... Time to think about doing some lunch. Take care, play safe. Fitt and Elfie plodding along. _________ Best wishes Polly

John, thanks for highlighting this. I had found a few versions of the tunes on u-tube but this knocks spots off most of them! I shall have to go through the book to find out which ones he plays as I have not, so far, found a list of them. I will certainly have to get a download of them - plenty of sources around. __________ Polly

' morning all from red dragon land. Despite overcast forecast, the sun is out! My bird song book arrived the other day. Several pages of historical information in English and German, and a few illustrations from the original compilation. Where this edition, usefully, differs from the original is in the grouping of tunes according to the bird to be trained rather than being mixed up. If you are wondering why the fifes are lying propped up, it is to give them room to dry out until I put them away. Knowing how easy it is for them to crack (the one in the middle) I do not want to take chances with the new one (top). General principal - wood expansion when wet. So, acquisition of more than one instrument to prevent over playing, getting too wet, and cracking. The trouble is, now that I appreciate how differently and beautifully the varieties sound, I want MORE... Er...maybe not. That would impinge of my...er... m*d*ll*ing budget - there are a few things with flanged wheels due out that I need to save up for.... With the idea to arm myself with some more memorable tunes, I dug out my guitar book of Celtic music for pieces I used to play on the flute having already dropped the guitar to have time to play the former - busy mum and all that - and, of course, even that drew to a halt! The book was also stuffed with sheet music of other tunes, again, a few of which I had played before. Too windy, today, for the bike ride on the spot so, hopefully, I may get a bit more m*d*ll*ing done, even if it means starting a new project while waiting for glue/paint to dry on the current one. The down side of that is tackling waterslide transfers...never having done it before...got to start sometime. Mugadecaf time, then some recycling to go out to the bins. Fitt and Elfie puffing along. Take care, play safe. _________ Best wishes Polly

' morning all from red dragon land. RAF training going on outside. We originally thought it was some private plane out for a noisy joy ride fly around but later found out otherwise. I am a lot happier it being someone from Valley zooming around. These guys have my full admiration for the job they do. "But the RAF is equipping the Texan aircraft with new safety harnesses which will conform to British safety standards and which allows for over sea flying, resulting in a reduction in flights over land, minimising noise pollution." Cloudy, sun this afternoon, "Rain later. Good" no need to water the plants. Yes, we do have this excellent book, two editions, one we bought ourselves and one a C*******s presie from one of the family. Fife chart informs me it is time to oil the wooden fifes, today. So I will toot away on Polly Mur Mer for awhile. I still find this plastic thing hard work. A few jobs around the house, first, then continue with the headboard, specifically, more cutting and glueing. Mugadecaf time.... Fitt and Elfie plodding on. Take care, play safe ________ Best wishes Polly

' morning evening all from red dragon land. Guess what? I forgot to click the Submit button this morning! Sunny, light cloud, bank of grey cloud on the horizon, the other side of Anglesey - it can stay there! Good bike ride on the spot yesterday when the sun came out so looking forward to today's. Some time will be also be spent in the garden - just pottering of maybe reading a good rlwy mag on the step with a mugadecaf, so long as I remember to drink it. Last time, I found the mugadecaf still on the terrace the following day, still half full. Had a light bulb moment, yesterday, after struggling to enlarge some letters for the 10mm wide headboard. I added a thin border around them in the same colour - just enough to counter the ink bleed from the backgound thus, making them stand out a bit more without altering the spacing and size of the headboard which changing the font size did. Anyway, I was a lot happier. Now to finish the job... Update since this morning. Bike ride done but apart from watering the pot plants that was all the time I spent outdoors. Lots of playing on the fifes - oiling time tomorrow! One new tune now played off by heart (Brian Boru's March) - sometimes, anyway. Fingers not always co-operative, you might say! A little progress on the m*d*ll*ng dining table. Part of a headboard under heavy weight to keep it flat while the glue dries overnight. Oven timer's pinging...must go. Take care, play safe _________ Best wishes Polly

' morning all. Most of my modelling time, yesterday, seems to have been spent on the laptop, again. The letters on the headboard panel were not printing out very well on the paper due to the texture of the paper and, I suspect, a bit of ink bleed. I had already found that changing the font by just one size made the letters too big, and adding a shadow or a border (grey) made them worse. Then I had a light bulb moment. Add a border (which can be controlled by nths of a mm) around them in the same colour (white) - just enough to make them stand out a bit more without significantly altering the letter spacing and size of the headboard (which changing the font size did). I also made the panel border wider so that the black ink outside of it will not show through the white paper rim on top, aiming for a sharper image overall.. Things you find out in the making of something! The result was the best so far and I am happy to settle for that. First attempts to add the raised rim were a bit iffy but, hopefully, it will come right, today...and I have a new blade in the scalpel to work with. Take care, play safe. _________ Best wishes Polly

Wishing a Happy Birthday, Sherry. Have a great day. Polly

11 hours ago, The Stationmaster said: To use a rather old fashioned expression i think it can be said that all three are rather comely examples of the female gender. Polly

' morning all from red dragon land. Wet yesterday, but some progress made on the workbench...errrrm...dining table. I sorted the fife music into 3 self seal wallets left over from my art & design days - I knew they would come in handy, one day! They will do until I am ready to progress onto more music - I have loads of the stuff! Plenty to keep me going for a while, anyway. I eventually remembered to sort the recycling for its collection which will be sometime today. If it is not put out the night before, the chances are they will arrive for at a silly hour in the morning and we will miss it! Black bin day (now extended to once every 3 weeks) is typical of that. Access via a narrow lane also means our rubbish goes into a small caged lorry. A bit of glueing to do, today on a 10mm wide headboard and, maybe, a bike ride on the spot - I am keeping my eye on the weather: low cloud and windy, brightening up later with some increase in wind speed, nextdoor's hedge should give some shelter. A good amount of rain, yesterday, and lack of sunshine, now, means watering the plants will not be needed to be done, today. Fitt and Elfie working out as usual. Have a productive/restful (delete as desired) day. Take care and play safe. _________ Best wishes Polly

' afternoon all. Another day passes with some progress. To confirm what size to make the LCGB REC headboard, I resorted to taking a screenshot of the headboard to include loco no. (9773), buffer and headlamp. This was for two reasons - to confirm the size of the headboard (10mm) and the position of the loco numbers which I will need to put on the bufferbeam. Tiny, that is what they are and to be fitted between the buffer and central hook. That will be fun! But, back to the headboard. Test 1. Four strips of paper pasted (PVA glue) round the outside of the panel and cut to size to see if it made a difference. Test 2. Print of headboard panel pasted onto plasticard. Then strips of paper pasted round the rim of the panel and left to dry over night. The ^ indicates: Do not use this edge (rough cut)! Everything cut away but a raised rim. The idea works although the print of the panel was not good and demanded a better one, and the cutting was not good either. A new blade is required! What I did find was that it was difficult to line up one of the strips between two other strips, so it seemed to be better to rotate them round the rim thus: Test 3. Hopefully, this will be it! I printed off a sharper image (as in the above) and pasted it to some plasticard (lightly sanded to take the PVA glue). I am now waiting for the glue to dry over night. I will tackle the next stage, tomorrow. But it is now time for tea. Thanks for Poop! Poop! Pooping in. Take care, play safe. _________ Best wishes Polly

' afternoon all. I am finally contemplating getting the LCGB REC headboard for 9773 done, today. During the week, I noticed, from another photo of the loco, that what I believed to be a wooden headboard turns out to be a metal plate! It is nothing more than the issue of sharpness, or rather lack of it, in some photos. So, it was back to the laptop to have a go at creating some sort of relief to the LCGB letters and the edges of the headboard. Having changed from Microsoft to a Mac, I have lost a variety of easy ways to add 3D effects, and my Mac attempts are not convincing when dealing with a drawing 50mm long let alone reduced to 11mm. I have some prints to cut out so we shall see. I may be able to add a thin rim on top afterwards to give it an appearance of being a plate. Maybe I am being too fussy, but once something gets into my head it is not so easy to get rid of it. Back later (I hope!) with some results. ________ Best wishes Polly

' morning all from red dragon land. Yesterday, I started to watch the the clouds coming in, first a bit of mackerel sky while doing my bike ride on the spot, followed by some stratus clouds in the distance. While waiting for the roast chicken to cook , the sun had swung round and, below the still distant stratus cloud, a long strip of the Irish Sea, which is not normally noticeable, was brightly lit up. That I had to stop and look at. By nightfall, large black clouds were heading our way, with hopes that they may water the plants but apparently not. A job for, today, then. A bit breezy, now, but the cloud has broken up enough for the sun to get through. Bike ride looks promising. Some jobs to do and I want to get some m*d*ll*ng in this afternoon, only a headboard but I have probably spent a disproportionate amount of time on it. So long as it looks OK. The problem started when I realised part of the headboard was a metal plate not a wooden board and tried to get the relief to show up on an 11mm strip of paper... Fun and games. Time for a mugadecafsomething. Fitt and Elfie back in their stride. Take care and play safe. _________ Best wishes Polly PS Happy Birthday, Rick. Have a great day.