Bezzy Oppo

If anyone is after a Z21 complete set-up, I have one surplus to requirements, used once to prove a loco. Just sat in its box so can be reasonable to an RMWebber! PM if interested or questions. (Apropos AY)

And this beauty is being restored by the good folk of Llangollen railway (just a bit big for my shed!). It may be Polak's showroom or a bar, I haven't decided yet. Could be a bar with a layout I suppose.....

All's progressing steadily on site now. Those who've visited the NYMR last season have had our new carpark to spread out in albeit only currently stoned up. I set seed in the newly topsoiled areas and the wildflower meadow is sown in the flood swale at the bottom end of the site - dogs love it. Now comes the invisible very expensive bit, namely drainage and fuel interceptors. Once the house is sold we can start building! (Again). The old flat on site is acting as our interim retail shop; this is also where internet orders are despatched from. At my workshop the first (and most challenging) of the brakevan restorations is moving along nicely. Shotted, painted and timbered out ready for floor and superstructure, it'll hopefully be somewhere near by the time the warm weather arrives. Anyway, some pics.

And when my JLTRT Class 37 with twin ABC motor/gearbox bogies is complete with extra detailing packs and all manner of spoiling embellishments and sits in its custom made carry box ready for exhibiting, I shall not once rue the fact I could have had three RTR products in lieu. Instead I shall think of all the cottage businesses I've supported and one man bands I've chatted to/ made friends with and all the new skills I've learnt along the way. And... move away from the soapbox.

'Why spend upwards of 600 quid on a locomotive kit (once you add wheels motor finish etc) when you can get RTR for half that?' Because I enjoy modelling?

It'll be interesting to see the import tariff's impact (i.e. free trade agreement tbc) on final price.

Factory shop is just off the M62 at Normanton Phil. Worth a visit - the range is huge, way beyond what's normally stocked by the likes of Staples and B&Q etc.

We’ll once again be on the top floor at the York show with our full range of static grasses on display, pop up for a chat.

Ben Fogle. Just. Ben Fffffffffogle. At the other end and radio rather than telly, the late Humph.

Oooh. I might get beaten to it! If anybody is interested it took a ###### equipped JCB to break out the concrete ballast (just managed it). Contained therein? 43 three link couplings and four instantas. All told around three tonne of scrap iron infill. I can't believe the word ###### is redacted

Stand 42, with the better half.

Is this Gilberdyke Mick?

You may have heard it here first. Or not. Remember Klackers? Here come their illegitimate twenty first century spawn: Fidget Spinners and Fidget Cubes. A hijacked therapy tool and now soon to be playground craze here in the UK. I'm dreading the inevitable from my 6 & 7 year olds. I just hope they go the way of Loom Bands. I suppose I could wax lyrical about the benefits of ceramic bearings in all of this... Edit: I think I'm sounding like my dad circa 1980.

See I'm now at the 'pre-tooling' stage....

Sorry Doug, Did the ol' thought I'd replied but in reality hadn't trick. Pup's called 'Tarka' - irony very deliberate.

I promise not to hit the gronk! Infill well underway now.

Bet I get this one released first!

That puts my eight years' service in the hydrographic flotilla into a whole new perspective; Port Stanley residents may also disagree. Still, changing times. I could just be reverting to analogue now I'm approaching the big five 'oh?

Well despite the weather seeming to conspire against us, infill of the old fishing lake is well underway. Approximately a third of the required infill is in. The NYMR is scheduled to bring spoil in from Grosmont next month which hopefully will get us somewhere near the quantity required such that we can start landscaping and stoning in preparation for surfacing. On the van restoration front my workshop out of town is taking shape with the commissioning last week of a nice Felder combination woodworking machine. The first van (BR standard 20 ton brake van) is in shop and I'm currently stripping back to underframe and removing fittings for patterning. I've had to completely replace the oxygen/acetylene gas axe set as the one I inherited was a death trap. Its replacement dutifully does the hot knife thro' butter routine. A further six brakes/Sharks/boxes sit outside in the queue. On the modelling front I'm well on now with 2 JLTRT 08's which will see much action on my proposed O gauge layout 'Pickering' (as preserved) - the first two baseboards of which will be the first candidates for the aforementioned Felder machine. I'm starting with the LNERCA's Atkins building and the C&W workshops as a standalone proposition prior to the station / railhead / town element and High Mill crossing to the north. It helps when your better half is, well, a fairly handy type. All the bucket swinging (20 tonner) on site is her fantastic handywork. The crowd control barriers at right is where 37264 (I guess) will be hauling spoil to from Grosmont for tipping. The puppy was her Christmas present after her last GSD departed age 17 years (SWMBO major credits).

Hat, coat, exit stage right at the rush. Hat doffed.

This was really rather good, I took this at Gilling, North Yorkshire a couple of seasons back: