The White Rabbit

Bernd Maylander? We should get good odds on him down at Ladbrokes. There are rules and then there are 'rules'. Liberty really ought to think these through more carefully, it will just turn people off and they are already losing viewers.

It probably depends whether it's due to American or Russian nukes. My ghost can argue it out with your ghost...

Thanks for the suggestions. I've had a look round and at the moment the best bet looks like get a 7mm scale weasel and attack it with a file, then do a repaint. I'm a bit surprised no-one's done a moulding, had hoped Dart Castings or Langley would have done some, had a look at York yesterday. I'm no good at sculpting otherwise I'd try that. Yes, I ended up looking at some pictures of Canadians' undercarriages last night when I did a Google search. Not quite as bad as the time I looked for "Cornish Models" in a hurry (I'd a temporary mindblock on 'Kernow Models') and ended up at a web-page of life models...

For my next project, I would like to include a pair of otters in a scene, but I've not been able to find any. Google searches only produce airplane kits, art sculptures or cuddly toys. Has anyone used/seen any figures of otters?

We were asked today what we'd do after the autocar restoration had finished. I don't think the answer 'draw breath and have a lie-in' went down terribly well... I know the Tornado group are planning another engine and they might have said 'one's enough' initially, but we have no plans to take on another restoration/new build. Operating and maintaining the autocar will be less demanding than restoration but still require a regular commitment from us. If you fancy it, go for it, but recreating it at 1:76 is likely to be a lot more than 76 times easier than 1:1!

Sounds like a lot of international rugby matches these days. Trouble is, there's so many rules these days, the 'winner' is often the one with the fewest mistakes. It's all maths and no passion or flair.

Well, just preparing for York - http://www.yorkshow.org.uk/index.html (Stand 100, on the second mezzanine). The latest newsletter's been sent to the printers but meanwhile: The passenger saloon has been fitted with seats - the radiators and curtains are to follow... Much of the autocar looks finished from outside, the only gaps are around the engine room, but we have the parts needed to finish this off. There's still work to do with the control equipment and we'll have to do some brake tests in the not too distant future (we are in the Yorkshire Dales after all!) but many of the key parts are in place or ready to be fitted. Opinion's divided about an entry into service date, but we're firmly crossing all appendages that it's later this year. If you can help, do get in touch.

It sounds like you're touting for a job writing for The Unbelievable Truth... I like it.

On the other hand, it's a sizeable handful of free packing you can re-use when you send things out yourself. (If you're feeling charitable, call me an enthusiastic recycler, if not, maybe I'm just tight...).

The suffix "bury" is usually a manor, not a burgh, which would translate as stronghold or fortified place. Admittedly without being able to quote any learned academics, as the language is either old english or middle english, I would suggest it shows the natural progression of the Anglo-Saxon takeover of Britain - east to west - so as Westbury means the manor to the west of [a more important place] this is typical of any geographical colonisation of a territory - places to the east had a head start on development and so there's more names indicating a subsidiary relationship as you look westwards.

I hope it works for you. When painting 1:1 coaches, our problem was not dust but insects, hundreds of the little pests would land on our freshly painted coach side and stick there. Some days it looked like we were preparing for a naturalists' special!

Who else is reminded of the 1950s plan to replace steam and the *-ups this created?

Yes (I blame the lateness of the hour) they were indeed Panzerschiff but nick-named pocket battleships, especially by the foreign press. Personally, I think a heavy cruiser designation was far more appropriate but the point was the British press called them pocket battleships and could draw David and Goliath analogies to give the reporting of the victory more zest. Also, I think we're illustrating the OP & Phil B's posts about the nebulous nature of warship designation. Following on from 62613, these three vessels are a prime example of a 'weaker' navy thinking about how they would fight a more numerous opponent, using technology and not stinting on finance to produce a high quality product. And there are obvious parallels from the previous century with the American vessels built by Joshua Humphreys. Both were subject to political restrictions, both punched above their weight - sorry, displacement - and both caused headaches to their opponents.

In the age of [steam-powered steel armoured] battleships - say crudely 1860 - 1950 - there was usually a trade-off between speed, gun calibre and armour thickness. (A bit like the trade-off a modeller has between space, time and money in determining their layout). A few exceptions, such as the German Bismark and Tirpitz and the US Iowas, proved the rule. Battlecruisers were sometimes described as "Eggshells armed with hammers". The Hood looked very pretty but was out of date and lacked armour in some places. The Alaskas demonstrate the issue: they were commonly called 'cruiser-killers', intended to blow away enemy cruisers at minimal risk to themselves. Their 12" guns would outgun either 6" light or 8" heavy cruisers and their speed would enable them to evade a more powerful but slower battleship. Some called them battlecruisers, some heavy cruisers. Some say they were unique, part-way between cruisers and battelcruisers. The Battle of the River Plate in 1939 was significant because Graf Spee was seen as a pocket battleship by the media. Six 11" guns and eight 5.9. Exeter was a heavy cruiser, with six 8" guns and Ajax & Achilles light cruisers with eight 6" guns each. Cruisers took on a 'battleship' and won - a big morale-booster. Yet many navies would have classified Graf Spee as a heavy cruiser. In the 1812-14 war, the American navy had three powerful 'frigates' - built to the dimensions of a battleship and with a very powerful armament. Much of the Royal Navy's chagrin following their own frigates' initial defeats in action was due to these remarkable vessels being designated frigates rather than 'extra-powerful frigates' or 'pocket battleships' - a frigate was a frigate was a frigate... Edit for typos and clarify designations/main armament.

An argument of etymologists, an expense of consultants and an emb*ggerance of training courses.

That's the 'senior service'...

I've looked at this issue for my own layouts. I can't add much to what Hillside Depot's already covered, but one visual aid I've used was a schematic of the line showing passing places and loops, using tiddlywinks counters as trains. This helped a lot with producing a graph similar to HD's illustration to check we weren't going to have a 'cornfield meet'. The only other thing to mention is station waiting time, whether it's any time difference to get 10 or 100 passengers on/off or to allow for loading/unloading of parcels. OK, I recall you saying DMUs, but in former decades, they still might have some packages carried in the guard's compartment. And are there any 'special operational requirements', such as dropping containers of drinking water off at signal boxes or for camping coaches by the first/last train of the day?

No. Been there, done that... As a visitor, I'd try and acknowledge the operator, if only a nod and/or saying 'good morning', so they knew I'm not ignoring them/sulking. But often I have no questions, just like to take in the atmosphere of a layout. And on the other side of a layout, you know some people just like to do that. If you're too eager to 'engage' them, you can actually put them off. Be available but not 'pushy'.

Yes, it's an Old English (c12/13th century) suffix meaning a clearing (produced from woodland or moorland by a small group of farmers or a family) often enclosed by a hedge. The original word was 'rod' or 'rodu'. It's crudely equivalent to the Old Scandinavian suffix 'thwaite'.

Well, there is a narrow gauge connection, as Boston Lodge did some work on a bogie for us. I was thinking of a standard gauge steam Sentinel, but...

And now it's high time for an update on restoration work. There's been good progress, though contrary to some reports earlier this year, 2017 will not see the autocar running, though I do hope 2018 will. In the last few months, the engine room end has been largely rebuilt. There's still work to be done on the roof though the panels are being manufactured and should be fitted early in the New Year. The floor is largely complete. Further back, the passenger saloon has had lino fitted and the seats are now being installed. The second power desk was completed and lifted into place just before Christmas. Further to an earlier post re the Guinness Book of Records, the latest edition's been published and I'm told we're on page 203. The latest newsletter was sent before Christmas and all members should have received it by now. We're using a new printer – Imprint of Newtown – and there's been positive feedback on the improvement of the hard copy reproduction and standard of illustrations. One suggestion made in the newsletter was for a main-line outing on the 'Brid' branch. Our autocar did run from Scarborough to Filey in the early 1900s and 2024 will see the 120th anniversary of the autocars' entry into service. The suggestion was that if a visit could be arranged, it would be a suitable marking of that milestone and appropriate for the autocar to revisit some of its old stations/services. Another suggestion was that we participate in a line-up of various railcars showing the evolution of railcar traction, including the GWR steam railmotor, the autocar, the Sentinel railcar, a GWR diesel railcar, a class 121 and a class 153. (There's also a four wheel railbus at the KWVR). Given the recent releases by Dapol, a model version of the above in OO is tantalisingly close. Once Kernow's model's delivered, that would only leave the autocar and Sentinel to be kit-built. Photos courtesy Alan Chandler.

A 50-50 chance of getting the right answer, twice? They'd be lucky to make it through the first week. But I'll not spoil Jonny's thread by revealing the answer so soon.

Easy, use BT/O2 as the means of communication between the two sets of guards. The network failure to pass on even the simplest of messages wil keep them alive until they both die of old age.

Allan - that's a persuasive case, thanks for the warning, I hope you're better soon. I know there's a saying about artists suffering for their art, but we don't want to lose you any earlier than we absolutely have to. For my ballasting I use Woodland Scenics S190, diluted no more than c 50-50, that's a fairly concentrated PVA and usually dries overnight or at most within 24 hours.