Alex TM

Agreed, but not as good as Lola from Agents of SHIELD; that is a hovering, flying, killer of a car.

Sorry, but having worked with folk in rehab that is not true .....

Hi Clive, A new band to me. The lead guitarist seems to be channelling more than a little of 'The Edge', and the energy of early U2.. Regards, Alex.

Hi Clive, That was unusually 'pop' for them, yet still enjoyable. I was worried when I saw the acoustic but relaxed when I saw the electric hidden behind it .... Continuing to get used to lines alternating between English and Japanese. Regards, Alex.

Hi again, Today saw the track lightly fixed in place, wired, and tested. The next steps are to properly fix it in place, and then paint the rails and sleepers. As most of this was salvaged from my last layout I have taken the precaution of cleaning the last six millimetres or so of each rail end to increase the potential of a good electrical connection. Points are all Peco small radius insulfrog; these have jumpers fitted to make them permanently live. The layout is wired on the principle of one engine in steam. That said, something must be on at the local shed because the fleet have all been moved down to the end of the line. As ever, thanks for taking the time to read. Regards, Alex.

HI everyone, While it is not really 'my thing' I cannot help but have been impressed by the former Kerr's Miniature Railway in Arbroath (take thermals and waterproofs in summer), and the Wells and Walsingham line. I had more of an opportunity to chat with folk and the latter, and found the crews to be engaging. Regards, Alex.

Hi again, Thanks, folks, for your responses. My own online searches had failed to yield anything beyond the crane at Havant, and photos of locomotives posed beside larger sized tanks. Zomboid - humour appreciated. 2251 - I've seen that booklet before but had never noticed the background of the image on page 26. Many thanks for pointing it out. Nick - many thanks for the background details. Again, thanks. Regards, Alex.

Hi again, I spent a couple of hours today playing about with some salvaged track and a couple of pieces of typical stock. One slight change from the first post is that it is now self-contained as a 3-2-2 inglenook. A kickback siding is now in place for coaling and watering facilities. It is all a little clichéd but I am hoping that it will prove fun to build and operate. The plan continues to be to extend it via one further scenic board and a fiddle yard. For the curious, the board is 3’6” long by 11” wide. With a bit of luck Saturday will see the track laid and tested, and the point control rods fitted too. Thanks again for taking the time to read this. Regards, Alex.

Hi Nick, Only those class 27s that were destined from new for the Scottish Region received the catcher recess; you'll also note that the cabside window slides horizontally rather than vertically on these locos. The frame on the horizontal sliders are out of vertical so are easier to spot. As far as I know the recesses were also plated over after the introduction of TOPS. Hope that's of use. Regards, Alex.

Hi everyone, How were locomotives watered on the Hayling branch? While skimming through various photos of the Hayling branch I noticed that none seems to show a water tower. On looking at some of the plans and maps there were none marked there either. I know that branch locos could be watered at the end of the bay at Havant, and there are a number of photos of locomotives by the crane. But was the water from a tower, or from a direct connection to a water main? Also, at the terminus or the branch, were there any watering facilities to compliment the provision of locomotive coal? As ever, thanks in advance for any help. Regards, Alex.

Hi everyone, I hope I am wrong but these 'workers' appear to be line dancing while on duty! Regards, Alex.

Hi again, Lord & Butler were first recommended to me a number of years ago by a late friend. Finally got around to looking at their site on Saturday evening. Saw a few things that I liked and ordered them. Posted out to me on Monday, and lost by Royal Mail on Tuesday! Thanks to much appreciated help from the shop the post office found the parcel and it was finally delivered today. In terms of efficiency, courtesy and promptness in handling enquiries, and helpfulness to a customer they were excellent. I would gladly use them again. Regards, Alex.

Hi, Love the models, especially the work on the carrier crew. Painting figures is something I really need to a get a grip of. Out of curiousity are these 1/35 or 1/48? Thanks and regards, Alex.

Rotherbank (The following fiction was updated on 27th August 2022.) Rotherbank is the terminus of a short freight-only branch on the Southern Region of British Railways. Although built approximating light railways standards it was neither conceived nor built to them. Neither was it an independent project but a joint venture between the LB&SCR and the SE&CR. The light standards to which it was built, coupled with an ongoing lack of investment, meant that it failed to develop. This led to continued restrictions upon weight loadings and to the use of smaller and lighter classes of locomotive. The line saw ever diminishing returns before finally fading and dying at the commencement of the 1960s. Throughout its history its sole purpose was to serve the rather peculiar town that existed a short distance from its terminus. All of the above is, of course, fiction. The name is vague enough to allow a number of actual locations as there are several rivers named ‘Rother’ in England. I chose to pick one of the southern options as it would allow me to run two of my favourite classes of locomotive. These are Stroudley A1x, and Wainwright P. The era for the layout is set immediately before closure as it allows me to use locomotives with early or late crests. Following on from wise advice shared elsewhere on this forum I have opted to build this layout in short sections with a removable fiddle yard, thus offering me the potential of constructing it in manageable sections. This may also enable me to get to ‘finishing’ something before losing interest. Due to the current challenges in obtaining materials I have opted to use as much as possible that could be recycled from previous projects. For track this means using up my remaining code 100 stock, while the board starts as a cut down of my last attempt at a layout build. All being well I should be able to post a track plan, and some images, this weekend. As ever, thanks for taking the time to read. Regards, Alex.

Hi everyone, Spoke earlier with my local model shop, and these coaches got mentioned. They seem to be selling out quickly. Regards, Alex.

True, and there may also be the matter of buffers as these varied across batches and works visits. I've just managed to get to my books so hopefully they'll have photos of the OP's preferred numbers; I can then compare them to the Baccy model.

Hi Hippo, If it hadn't been for the last post I would never had noticed your signature; it's a cracker. Good to see the layout developing too. Regards, Alex.

Hi Nathan70000, If you are happy to replace the smokebox handles on the early one then you could pass it as one of the BR batch with relative ease. The late crest model has, IIRC, both vacuum brake and steam heat; I don't have access to my books to see if any of the 69xxx batch had those. If you can wait a day or two then I can check. Hope that's of use. Regards, Alex.

Hi Jim, Priceless, absolutely priceless. Just showed the video to my Scouse other half; she's falling about laughing. Regards, Alex.

This may have been the first time I have seen Robert Fripp smile .....

Considering what else may appear in a contemporary nativity play, it's almost outrageous that a train has yet to make an appearance.

Hi Tony Crane and Jeremy C, Thanks for those responses. As for the discrepancies in the dates of the repaints I find the same problem with photographs from more contemporary times. Again, thanks. Regards, Alex.

Hi 5050, That van looks familiar. I think it's a Caley one. Possibly a Keyser Kit? Regards, Alex.

Hi everyone, As the title suggest I am trying to find out when the above locomotive was repainted from lined Maunsell green livery into plain black with 'Sunshine' lettering. I have seen photos of her in the Maunsell livery which, if BRDatabase is correct on the renumbering dates, would have to be 1934 or later. As for the later livery, the only dated photograph I have seen is from 1947. Thanks in advance for any help you may offer. Regards, Alex.

HI everyone, That remains my favourite 'Spitting Image' song, and it is Sting on vocals. It also seems to be the one song that doesn't appear on the soundtrack CDs. Regards, Alex.