southern42

Those stressed dowels. What a are brilliant idea! I can see one that being handy for some of our British deciduous trees - the oak and the ash, for instance. Your forest is coming along superbly.

ICRS Headboard Test 2 9mm headboard (with lettering and border modified and darkened) was printed out. The roughly cut headboard is blutacked in position - lamp irons needed! Plasticard found... _________ Best wishes Polly

To continue with the ICRS headboard. I printed it out at 9mm width and it maybe a tad too big. The yellow/orange lettering and headboard border were a bit too pale so I have darkened them. Just got to have another go at printing it out. Cutting out the oval smoothly could be a problem but I reckon if I stick it on thin plasticard I may be able to rub down any rough edges with a nail file. Hopefully, I will have something to report later. _________ Best wishes Polly

Thanks, Barry. That is a great help. Yes, the loco is spray weathered. In its present condition I would be really happy with it for its goods deliveries as in the Uxbridge photo of it. For the ICRS 'Special' I should have looked at the details more closely before I gave it to Steve. My fault! You live and learn! Polly

' morning all from red dragon land. Sunny and warmer than expected. Two lots of jets have flown over since I came on, probably RAF training flights out of Valley. One of today's little jobs was to clean out the toaster. Unusually, I have not done it for awhile. The rest of the day awaits... Take care all and keep safe. _____________ Best wishes Polly

Those trees are wild, man. Fantastic, BoD. You must have so much patience.

I thought it was shredded wheat... We've just bought some in case the porridge oats run out! (edit) ...for eating, that is, not modelling...but you never know!

' night all and nos da. _____________ Polly

Hi Andy, I have caught sight of the occasional shop displaying a sign on the door suggesting they order online giving their website. I don't know if you are doing this or if it makes a difference to sales. Thoughts with you Andy and hope it works out for you. ________ Best wishes Polly

' afternoon all from red dragon land. Taking advantage of Ray having gone for a keeping-a-distance walk. Big step for me...my Brompton is standing on the cycle trainer for the first time since 2012 when I was recovering from the busted elbow. Just had a short go on it out in the sun on the new patio terrace. Another go when I recover...haha Will have to stop here for a mo... Son calling on FaceTime... Back later

Hi All. Welcome to some weathering issues! If my memory is correct, I read that 9642 had a clean up for the driving experience special. The photo shows the BR crest nice and bright and white paint everywhere: smokebox no., 81C shed plate. smokebox door hinges, cab no., and one lamp whiter than the other, and reasonably black side tanks and cab, certainly compared with the rest go it. Even the smokebox door looks as though a rag has been applied to it. A really informative view, this, of the brick building (left), signal box, signal by the footbridge, ground signal in the foreground, track layout including catch points (right), and length of walkway to the steps down to the depot. Not a view you usually see. I love it! And it always amazes me how long the walk to the steps was. Since I do not remember the footbridge from my daily commuting days way back, when I had the opportunity to get to know it, so to speak, I still feel gutted that it had already been removed by the time I got to see it in 2016. Yes, I know...Didcot nicked saved some of it! And it does not look like I will get to see that bit, this year, now, either...poop! As to my weathered model, after its express freight runs in and out of Uxbridge, the crest will need cleaning up and the paintbrushes brought out to complete the look. I will have to get the shed staff on it! Then get them to add the accessories...lamp irons,* headlamps, shed plate, cab power and weight disc ('C' on yellow), firing irons, and cab crew, etc, not to mention the headboard! Someone is going to be busy! (Me!) *Who's lamp irons should I use? And which headlamps would suit best? Modelu has the GWR ones but finishing them off looks a bit fiddly! I don't fancy crawling around the floor looking for a tiny dropped lens! DCC Concepts sells working lamps but not of the GWR/BR(W) type...(yet?). Poop! ____________ Best wishes Polly

Thanks, Barry. Printer inks turned up, yesterday, so I hope I can print out a headboard that looks OK. Polly

' morning all from red dragon land. With no playing miniature tr**ns on the horizon for awhile, I am enjoying not having to set the alarm for an early start and having a bit more time at home. I am one of those who like being at home and to 'potter', as a work colleague put it some decades ago! So, the porch got sorted and cleaned out on Thursday and Friday - some G stuff (hand tools, plant food, weed killer, etc) has gone in a box to the big G bin in the garden; 3 buckets of coal kept inside for bad weather (snow, in particular) have gone outside; and tools, various pieces of timber, tools, etc have gone to the garage or shed. Not totally empty, but at least we can move in there now! One new piece of equipment has made its way in there - the bike trainer I used indoors when I busted my elbow. Ray tried his bike on it yesterday. I just need to get my bike back in shape (dusted down, tyres blown up), then, yay, I'll be back in action. Some plants in pots are gradually being attended to. One, in a pretty poor shape (overwatered!) was planted just in case it survives. Another, desperately needs planting out - the roots have blocked the only hole in the bottom of the pot which is now overflowing after all the rain we have had. Amazingly, all my cuttings have survived. I just hope the peony will do the same when I plant that out. They do not like being moved but it has grown over the years in its 'temporary' pot so at least I can give it a permanent home. I am also using my new found time to post on GWRd, or put another way, start thinking about modelling again... and to carry on finding things to photograph such as yesterday evening's sunset... Keep safe, all ____________ Best wishes Polly

Great to see you all back and hope you are all well. Thanks for the ratings. Tbh, I am hoping the thread (and RMweb as whole) will help keep my/your chin up in the coming months...so feel free to pipe up/join in as you like...I would be delighted to hear from you, too. Back to business, then. Another transformation by Steve turned one of GWRd's pannier tanks into No. 9642 (81C 1959-64, the first of its class to be preserved and currently under overhaul). As I have enjoyed several brake van rides, all on different railways, I was most keen to model the Imperial College Railway Society driving experience along the Brentford Branch on 3rd March 1963. Awhile ago, I came across this image on Flickr which shows the headboard quite clearly. More recently, I came across this colour image which got me thinking: I could do with a better rendition of the headboard than this to print out for my model. So, I had a go at recreating the headboard design. I could not find the crest of the Railway Society (it is now Rail and Transport Society with completely different logo) and decided to google the college crest and Stephenson's Rocket. I used the font Avenir (in my laptop fonts) to (approx.) match the initials I.C.R.S.. Not so easy as the headboard is at an angle to the camera. The oval shape and dimensions are also approximate. This is the result. To give an idea how this will appear on the model, here it is reduced in size but it will need to be printed out even smaller! Just goes to show what we are up against working in 4mm. I just need to get some printer ink to print it off and see what it will look like on the model. Why is it, when you need the printer, the ink has run out? Duly ordered... ___________ Best wishes Polly

Hi all. So, we are well into 2020 and things on GWRd are progressing, if a bit on the slow side. Sadly, I will not be able to lay any track for awhile. Sorry folks. Talk about patience! Anyway, looking positively forward, among GWRd's allocations is a newly named Modified Hall. 6988 Swithland Hall (82A 1959-63), which was originally going to become 6967 Willesley Hall as at 81C 1958-63, has been, thanks to Steve (Grimy Times), magnificently transformed into 6998 Burton Agnes Hall (81C 1964-65). This is yet another loco with a 1960s resident/user of the Southall Depot which is preserved - this one at Great Western Society's Didcot home for the elderly and duly visited on several occasions. Thanks for looking in. Your support and comments are greatly valued. ________ Best wishes Polly

I have just had a chance to download some photos. Hope they are of interest. Going back a month, storm Ciara, brought down one of our trees at Betws. This one taken on 29th February. The track you see is for the tram which was damaged in a storm last year when a tree fell on top of the tram shed. I took the following views on Saturday, 7th March on my morning track inspection. It is the first view the passenger gets. The tram shed is beyond. Walking round in a circular route you get an idea of the enormity of it all. The tram track disappears into the distance as the railway track comes round from the left. Looking back towards the caravan site and you get another sense of its size. The second view of the fallen tree that the passenger gets from the train as it bears off to the right in front of the large fir tree. Part of the tram's overhead wire was also brought down. Clearing the site is ongoing... ____________ Best wishes Polly

Oh, gosh. Didn't I worry about it being too scary, too? I remember seeing Bambi at the cinema (just) and I must say, it is the scary I remember but our own youngest loved it!

' morning all from red dragon land. Rain later...* On the first drive of the day at Betws on Saturday, I saw a couple of young rabbits on the green ahead, one of which I must have missed by a couple of feet (or less?) as it changed direction(!) and darted across the line in front of me. Fortunately, I had already slowed in anticipation - rabbits cross your path all the time but none have been as close as this one! (Jackdaws are a similar problem at West Shore - but they do it deliberately, i.e., wait till you come into view; land on the track; give you the eye; then fly off in the nick of time! I have been known to stop the tr**n in the nick of time, too! Anyway, I was unnerved for a bit, and tried not to think of the consequences... Sunny day at Betws on Sunday which brought out the visitors and more than doubled our passenger numbers. It must have been the warmest day so far - with the sun out, I was too hot in all my winter warmers...but fast forward to sun dipping down behind the mountains and it got quite chilly again. Leaving the regular staff to run with the diesel, I drove the steam l*c* round to the yard, got the necessities done just in time to get inside the shed before the downpour, followed a little later by a rather sodden regular crew on the diesel. A punctual departure, we stopped off at Siabod for our usual drink, teacake and a read of the mags - most of the snow on the mountains gone. Best go and zap my gonecolddecafcoffee in the microwave... Be *good. ________ Best wishes Polly

What hit me, before Christmas, was finding such dinosaurs in a shop in a tourist centre with label stating for over 36 months...presumably of the edible variety - chew/bend/pull apart and they break up into small bits ready to swallow. And nowhere could I find a dinosaur labelled suitable for our coming-up-to 2 year old dinosaur lover. Wow, it is tough at times. Not to worry, we gave her the Bambi DVD instead...mini war now between wanting that and the Aristocats, not to mention what her sister wants to watch - princesses and Snow White. OOooops!

Warning: These dinosaurs contain small parts....do not give to...

But so often a whole lot funnier... I used to love the Goons, especially Harry Secombe and Spike Milligan: I must go down to the sea again, to the lonely sea and the sky; I left my shoes and socks there - I wonder if they're dry? You can tell my great lifelong literary prowess: that and "Good Dog Nigel" (John Lennon) are but a very few poems I remember! Have a rofl kinda day. _________ Best wishes Polly

It's sunny - you were right the first time - and not a lot of wind. Rain has kept at bay and muddy hollows are drying out - for now. Enjoy... ' morning all from red dragon land. Eventually, I managed to get to the big store in Bangor for some daffs in bud for home. None on show to buy in Betws that I could see, not that I went any further than a 10 minute walk from the station. I did intend to take home the fallen ones at Betws but as I forgot to pick them up, I decided to leave them in the workshop - still looking good on Wednesday and cheering the place up, and hopefully for the weekend! A bit of colour does wonders to the spirit. Anyway, home daffs are gradually opening and looking better by the minute. Have a blooming day, all ________ Best wishes Polly

BoD, you are doing great things. Keep going... We had the same issue with Camel Quay. The original plan was to copy the track diagram of Padstow but the dockside and sidings continued way too far forward for a narrow baseboard - but hey presto - turn the quayside lengthways; place on the opposite side of the Camel estuary; find a suitable nearby proposed railway way back in history and some industrial/farming links; re-create its own history, railway, and landscape based on the area; and it soon became a "real" railway, a scaled down "real" Padstow, and a "real" place - at least some exhibition goers thought it was - they "recognised" it as they "had been there"! And it was just as exacting, exciting and pleasing as if we had done Padstow itself. More so, because we tried very hard to replicate the feeling of the North Cornwall Railway with a what if it was on the other side of the river, at the same time, making sure we were able to keep ourselves busy and entertained operating it - we did not want to be bored (let alone bore exhibition goers, in our case). So keep the elements you want that reflect Crianlarich, such as your buildings, timetables, loco and rolling stock type, liveries, and numbers, etc, and keep in mind that Railway Companies had to build to fit the land they had available. OK, some had a lot more space than others. In that respect, I guess we all may have to be prototypical! Just watch out the government does not turn down your proposal, runs down your railway, or comes along with the Axe...unless intentional, of course! And, if you want to keep the name, adding Road/Other to the station name and it could be a short distance up/down the line or on a branchline. So many possibilities... In the end, if it resembles Crianlarich, it is an achievement in itself. Enjoy, BoD (and excuse my ramblings!) _________ Best wishes Polly

Wow. Great families think alike. For my birthday, I was given tickets to travel behind Flying Scotsman in spring on one of those recently televised railways in the north west...further details later in the year...Now, do I take my first ever 00 steam loco, the F.S., with me? ' night all, nos da and chuff chuff. ___________ Best wishes Polly Wolly doodle all the day Warning: verse 3 may be unsuitable for awl those of a sensitive disposition

We had three pubs, so I have been told, in our once small quarryman's village (which has expanded with council houses and more recent new builds) and before my time - one near us. The BBC's Wales History archived page, The death of the British pub explains: The public house, a place just to drink and talk, arrived in Wales in the early 1700s. To begin with they were beer houses, the name summing up their origins. Quite simply people opened up their houses and sold beer in their front rooms or parlours. In rural areas these beer houses might be located in farm houses - in towns they were just as likely to be terraced properties,* surrounded on both sides by the dwellings of ordinary men and women. To begin with these places had no bar counter - such refinements did not come into being until the middle of the 19th century. The beer (and it was, normally, just beer that was sold) was stored in the pantry and was fetched to your seat or, if you were lucky, to your table by the landlady or landlord, being poured from a jug directly into your glass. Most of these early pubs or beer dens had only one room, with chairs typically set around an inglenook fire or lined along the walls. These early pubs were well used and provided valuable income for the owners. In many cases they were run by women, the men continuing to work on the farm or foundry during the day and either lending a hand at night or simply sitting and partaking in the entertainment. It was very much a working class clientèle as the upper echelons of society would either use well-established inns or drink in the comfort of their own homes. But for men coming home from the pit, quarry* or steel works these public houses provided much-needed refreshment after a working day that would probably kill or maim most people in this day and age. Beer was also safe to drink. It was, for the most part, relatively clean and unlikely to carry disease. * Applicable to our village Do I foresee a return to such pub?