fulton

Thank you, my Dad worked at Shorts and related sheltering in the underground bit during an air raid.

Interested where this has come from, yes some are known or rumored, living there and working on construction projects there for thirty years never encounted any tunnels, sink holes not uncommon around the Frindsbury Hill area.

This has come up before, I think the conclusion was that there was very little reduction in cost, but the buyer as you say, expected a good discount, works in the American market as the volume of sales is so much larger, I hate to paint over a nicely applied factory livery just seems wrong.

Just to clarify pre Brexit EU citizens could enter the UK using their ID card, which is compulsorily to have in some EU countries, so did not need a passport.

Nice build, I am building the Impetus 16" Hunslet, I also have the Sentinel kit which is designed to drive on both axles, I bought the kit in 1990, in the box is my original SAE (stamped addressed envelop, remember them) from Robin giving the prices, Sentinel kit plus Tenshodo motor, gears, EM wheels, £52+£1 p&p, I needed to supply Sharman 2x24 tooth gears £1.10 each. Around that time I also built his 16" Bagnal, which I still have, I think 1991, it was running on a friends layout at EXPOEM, Robin remarked it was the first one to be finished and he had sold one more of the twelve kits he had produced in that run. I lost interest in British 4mm modelling and tried selling various kits, the offers were insultingly low, so everything went into storage, now twenty years later I am back into British 4mm, pleased I kept the kits!

Similar to above, I paint sleepers first, the rails/chairs then ballast, I try to "plant" things like point rodding bases then ballast around them, to try to get away from the stuck on afterwards look, in this picture have used block paving sand to represent Dungeness beach shingle, favoured by the SECR.

My plates from Light Railway Stores, like Willl, were from their standard custom range, not exactly correct, but for myself quite acceptable, much better than the printed ones, the SE&CR Society has come to the conclusion, subject to more information, that the plates were, cast metal not brass, painted grey with white border and letters.

There have been some recent articles in the SE&CR Society Invicta magazines on this subject, but no clear close up views of the plates, seems they were painted grey with white border and lettering, I had these plates made by Light Railway Stores, I need to paint the border and lettering white, they were cast metal (presumably cast iron). I did originally go for red with brass lettering, my D1 needs to be corrected.

Except some/most/all modern gas hobs require an electric supply before the gas valve will open.

Not just the tax implication, I had a spell working in a DWP office and a small increase can mean other benefits being reduced or stopped, then, if say your hours drop, you can be in a real mess sorting it out, if you are in a minimum wage job it can be a trap that's very difficult to get out of.

Must say I did not get on with foam board, many people have good results with it, my preferred material is mounting board, braced on the inside with more mounting board, glued with PVA, sealed all over, inside and out with Halfords spray primer, have constructed some quite large buildings with it, outside finished with Scalescenes downloads printed on thin card.

To me, less is more, try not to fill the space up with track, more sidings does not necessarily mean more car spots, I found the Lance Mindheim books to very helpful, my own layout based on a prototype location serves a pesticide distributors, tank cars, a potato and onion distributors, box cars and reefers, and a timber truss manufacturer, flat cars and centre beams. I only have four points on the scenic area, serving the three customers, but it still provides plenty of enjoyable switching.

I suspect the Southern Railway fencers dug their post holes exactly the same way you would manually do it today, using a post hole digger, sort of two grafts fixed together, a graft is a type of spade/shovel for heavy digging and a post hole chisel bar, good for getting through rock, stone, light concrete, on site we called the post hole bar, a pin, they were 5' long and weighed at least 20kg.

I debated with myself for along time about including a cut through building on the front, as it is a real location, I decided I would never be happy omitting it, even if it does restrict viewing and maybe a bit ugly on the front, the layout width is scale, the length reduced by 40%, Florida Potato and Onion, Plant City, Florida.

Having looked at my post again, I realized that when I exhibited at Tonbridge last Saturday, I asked for modest expenses, but it was a show me and my mate would have visited anyway, so we saved £7 entry each, plus we would have paid for parking, fuel, cups of tea and a sandwich, so Colin I think I owe you money, if you invite me back next year with my new layout, there will be no expenses.

Having exhibited various layouts for the last 50 years (that makes me feel so old!) I agree with the previous comments, I enjoy exhibiting and try not to be mercenary on expenses, where I could have driven home on the Sunday night I have paid for an extra night to make the weekend more enjoyable, also if it is a show I would have been visiting anyway I do not ask for all expenses as I am getting in for free, as well as free teas and a meal. I do treat a commercial show differently to a amateur club show.

At least here in the UK once your pension is sorted you keep receiving it, my wife is in the German system, has just had one of her private pensions write to ask for a form to be signed my a doctor, to say she is still alive!!! she has only been retired a few years!!!

I can understand people being nervous about a trip to mainland Europe, especially in a unfamiliar vehicle, driving on the other side, different driving rules and maybe a language problem, but I can only relate my personnel experience, I drive a van, personal use only, I travel every couple of months, last year drove in France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Poland and Switzerland. When booking Eurotunnel I tick the box to confirm my van is not carrying commercial goods, it is then treated the same as a car, get checked maybe one in three trips, no questions about what I am carrying, ( part of my layout has travelled to our flat in Dusseldorf and back ) only seem interested in stowaways. As to a carnet, seek advise, I found HMRC help full, then act on the advise. Reminds me when back after Easter to swop my winter tyres, now a requirement in the whole of Germany, some French cities also require an Emissions sticker, easy and cheap to get on line.

Near me on the River Medway, timber is imported, unloading is done by modern large crawler cranes or road going mobile cranes, rather than a fixed or rail mounted crane, most days at least one ship in.

Out of interest, had a look at the link, does not appear to give the temperature range, what is it?

Well done for sorting that out, have not come across those switches before, something for me to consider for the future.

My experience is that the PVA effect, can persist for a few months, maybe down to where the layout normally lives, in my case unheated garage and shed, the up side is that it encourages me to use my polishing block (from the EM society) more often, resulting in a nice smooth polished rail head. (This is my view, others may have very strong alternative views on rail cleaning)

The last time I hired a van to Poland and Germany, I now have my own van and make a trip every couple of months, the hire company were helpful in letting me arrange my own breakdown/recovery insurance, which is what that £300 is basically for, for a fraction of their cost, just had to give them a copy, could be worth asking.

When I worked for a developer, the density was stipulated, hence the growth of three story properties on small plots, and one off road parking space per property was a maximum, it was not what we wanted to build, to maximize returns, (I use returns because not all developments make a profit, sometimes it is keeping the loss down), but it was what we were allowed to build, making some sites unviable.

I use an ANTEX 690D, heats up/ cools down quickly when building a mixed white metal, brass kit, only really suitable at a work bench, I use another iron when working on the layout. Have had to replace the iron element a couple of times, available as a spare.