john new

Agree regarding traffic levels, out today for a walk and to pick up a prescription from the village pharmacy. Traffic levels around 3 to 4pm when we were out seemed, if anything, busier than a normal afternoon. At least we picked a quieter circular walk today up the hill and then along part of the old Merchants Railway line, bleak but good views down onto the village and out to sea. Yesterday in the sun the seafront was quite busy although not too busy to socially distance.

As a retired Emergency Planning Officer the key factor when a state of emergency or the like has to be declared is that it formally brings in to play a whole raft of inter-service liaison arrangements from Gold Command level down the chain that normally are not used*. The interaction of response and resources therefore improves over and above that when each service operates independently. That was the case when I retired, albeit 12 years ago, but I doubt the ideology of it has changed. The most common one that hits the news is COBRA, when the top brass at national/political level come together in Cabinet Office Briefing Room A, hence the acronym. * (1) IIRC also the trigger for aspects of military input, and the costs of that for the civilian agencies (for us the expected use in our Emergency Plans was their helicopters for flood rescues) (2) Such links do always exist informally, the declaration, formalises the processes.

Whilst this initially appears to make sense, as an Editor of a Society magazine, I add that the job of editing takes long enough as it is, for professional magazine editors their job will be hard enough already. Yes, when I see something interesting I have/will ask if the writer will contribute or use the idea as the idea for a new article. In the latest edition I have done just that, two sets of images of the same location 160 years apart, merged to a single feature. Trawling for material though, rather than just using the serendipity of seeing something potentially useful. is a whole league higher.

Press release – York Show 2021 & 2022 The show will go on… just not in 2021. It is with sadness that the organisers of one of the country’s largest, and longest standing, model railway shows, The York Model Railway Show, has been cancelled in 2021 due to the ongoing Covid pandemic. Held at Easter each year, the Show normally attracts more than 7,000 visitors each year, and with around 130 trade stands, exhibitors, society stands, normally makes the Racecourse venue in York a busy venue for each of the three days of the show. Recognising the ongoing situation, Mal Scrimshaw, Show Manager, explained some of the reasons for the early decision. “We know that we have a hugely popular and busy show each year, but with many of us in the hobby having been touched by Covid in some way, we have regrettably had to take the decision to cancel next year’s show. “We know that many people look forward to the show, and it marks a point in the year where they meet friends and family, both inside and outside of the hobby. But until this virus is under control and we can all lead lives a little closer to normal, meet friends and be part of crowds, the only responsible decision is to cancel to preserve the show for future years.” Work is already starting on the planning for the 2022 show at Easter on 16-18 April. If you have bought advance tickets for the 2020 or 2021 show, these will still be valid for the 2022 Show. However, should you wish to receive a refund, organisers of the show are sorting out a practical way. Details of how to apply for a refund will be published on the website in the coming months. “We are incredibly sad to have cancelled both the 2020 and 2021 shows,” continued Mal. “A lot of work goes on behind the scenes to put shows like this on, all done with the good will of a fantastic group of volunteers. We know it is frustrating for all concerned, but we have received lots of messages of support for the decision already. “I hope that you are still enjoying the hobby and creating wonderful models. I’d like to take the time to wish you all the very best for 2021 and I look forward to seeing you all at the Show in 2022.” - - - - - - - The above has been published on our website today and also circulated to the print media, other web fora and hobby related Societies.

As those who may have seen my earlier post on this as someone who quite likes some layout shots, but definitely not all, to show the layout's setting I will also comment, and I hopefully constructively, as LB is a fantastic creation. The top shot - yes I concur re the intrusive elements as the image is mostly layout on a 1/3 to 2/3 split, in itself, showing the photographer's craft. Earlier on in the thread you posted a shot from somewhere behind the spot that was taken from (or with a wider angle lens*) showing more of the room, and in that one the inclusion of the surroundings was useful in setting the overall scale and not as intrusive. In a magazine feature it would have only needed one such "in its' location" type shot. That said, even if you had cropped it to roughly level with the rear backscene top, the fact that image is in the as taken state as to subject matter shows the L angle corner (Left) disguised by a tree, and your use of angles in the right hand corner to smooth the backscene transition. In the lower version it does show the layout in a better manner but those educational aspects are lost. The assumption from the lower shot, unless you look very closely to see the angle in the painted fields, would be you had used a single piece curved sheet backscene and also that there is more layout to the left and cropped off the image. In the lower image you also lose the educational value of seeing the cottages as half-relief structures. There was a lot of comment on changes in magazine content earlier, and I think this type of change is actually the difference between then and now. You are a master of the craft (modelling and photography) and your lower shot undoubtedly shows off the layout in a better presentation than the top one, but in doing so some of the inherent authenticity of the physical model (as in photo 1) is lost in photo 2. * possibly a still from the DVD.

Fully concur.

Definitely, that was always the plan.

The originals were meant to have Trix commonwealth bogies with card overlay sides added from the kit. I built one back in the day which I subsequently scrapped but retained the 2 pairs of bogies. They were also recently found lurking in a spares box, one pair is now under a Hornby Mk1 which had a broken bogie, the other set remains pending.

Having found I still had an unbuilt one in stock have just picked up some of the 1970s Trix 4mm LNER coach kits to go with what I had. Will scan before attempting a build.

The big problem with modern lofts is that they are not designed and built for what people actually want to use them for, and probably haven't been since the 1960s. From a users perspective they should be built like attics used to be, i.e. suitable for general storage areas or as studio rooms like the old maid servant quarters. I guess economics to keep building costs down is the reason that sea-change happened but W frame lofts that you can't use to store stuff in are just plain wrong. The house I live in now is a 1973/4 build, with a loft comprising useless dead space. If we ever move again I will definitely be trying to avoid the latest build standards as they look even worse. Not sure I fancy moving into a wooden hut, that has been outside in the rain, and then having outside cladding added, that type is all that seems to be being built round here.

Neither, if they are ill, whether with COVID or any other bug they should be indoors anyway, not acting like that irresponsible woman Boots used to set the wrong example in a TV advert a year or so back. But by responding here are we guilty here of troll feeding?

It is over a decade now since I retired so the rules may have changed; however, newly introduced national legislation when I was still working mandated a range of data items that had to be physically distributed to residents. The Newspaper format was the most cost-effective option. (In Dorset we still get one just into the new financial year). We all knew most copies probably went direct from doormat into the bin, if we were lucky for our recycling teams to collect, so the print run was a waste of money to produce and distribute but the law said we had to do it. This is partly to do with COVID, as was typical with much of central government's directives then it was forced on LAs to be done and no cash was provided to do so. Nothing changes, the latest is the schools testing regime, short notice and I bet there was no cash grant for implementation. My prediction for Boris' announcement - after all the hard work schools will have done over the holidays in making even more organisational changes ready for an as safe as possible opening a U turn directive will shut them. Knock on impact then for parents and their employers, who, having made assumptions based on where their children will be during day time hours find they have to rapidly re-ramp up day time child care.

We have just had our main house roof replaced, replacement of the loft insulation at floor level next on the list as we have had condensation issues. However, point of the post, our garage has an uninsulated flat, felted roof, it gets ridiculously hot in summer and cold in winter; although air can get in it is not particularly well ventilated for through circulation. We have to use it for storage, being at a coastal location within 800 yards of the rocky beach the ambient air is regularly laden with sea spray, the mould (in our case usually white in the garage) as mentioned above is a serious issue. I always wear a heavy duty face mask when working in there for more than a few minutes nowadays as I had correlated previous asthma/hay fever like issues to periods spent tidying and box shifting in there. A lot of occasional use stuff that was stored previously between usage bursts in the garage now lives on our spare room beds, only going out to the garage, when the family come to stay and the beds are actually needed for sleeping in!

On behalf of the SLS I sell our in house produced new books, UK VAT on books is zero rate. Do we need to do anything with regard to any overseas sales other than add P&P. We don’t currently use e-bay. I had assumed not before seeing this thread, now I am not sure.

My great friend amongst the travelling fraternity, Miss Rosa Lee, and who has an affinity with crystal ball gazing, suggests that the son of said Mr Brunel of Portsmouth, may start a great debate over the distance that should be left between said rails. She also outlines that a great anxt and turmoil will undoubtedly again arise amongst those who will follow Mr Faraday’s marvels into their miniaturised form over rail spacing.

As a former manager of a waste collection service one reason for the change around holidays is tip opening hours. If you can’t offload you delay collecting it. That has nothing to do with whether the service is in house direct labour or contracted out. Whether modern ways of working across society are fair on operatives is a totally different ball game, ask anyone who is, or has family, working in retail.

From memory I think it was on my HSBC account recently that I was ordering something on line it generated a text code that had to be entered. (I use HSBC, Halifax and P Pal*) I have also noticed recently some instances where touch at a shop doesn't work and the pin entry is required, I have always assumed that this is a validation check that the card hasn't been nicked rather than a random fault on the reader or with the card. * Possibly it was a PP triggered action before it got to my actual bank.

As are the standard banks.

I wouldn't want it in every one, but an occasional including the surrounds, like that of the Bullied above is helpful. Show videos are helpful in this respect as provided most shots cut out too much most of the background they let you see what works and what doesn't regarding things like back-scenes.

Definitely two teams that would have had a special relevance to the Company's engineering employees!

So true.

There was a lesson learnt but not made public until after it had left BR ownership and was being rebuilt. The lesson - check what is delivered is what was designed! Assuming my memory remains correct the biggest problem with 71000 was it was not built to the drawings in the firebox area and therefore did not get adequate fire draughting. The restoration team found and corrected the error and transformed the locomotive's performance. But was it already a known problem but hushed up? Why that wasn't discovered during shake down testing, or if it was the discovery got covered up, may come out eventually in someone's diaries. Clearly possibles include (1) the loco depot side didn't want the engine with its complicated rotary gear, they already had adequate LMS designs, so even though crews knew of the steaming problem their hierarchy were happy to let 71000 fail to meet expectations and therefore defer the rest of the class, (b) it was known about but there was a lot of a**e covering and (c) all matched with the change in direction and the quicker than originally planned end to steam traction anyway so why bother to fix and build more of them.

Given the responses above I am one of the odd ball readers. I quite like shots that show the railway in its room rather than a forced in extra. A layout needs a fascia and a back scene and they are part of the modelling totality and, as in the recent DVD/YouTube link you recently posted, it is useful to see how modellers successfully do, or don’t, process their edges.

To be fair pre-COVID bus use here on the Island was much higher than you would predict. We think a significant lack of parking is the reason. We have a drive, but when family visitors bring a 2nd car, if you go out there is often nowhere to park one of them nearby when you get back, hence buses used in preference. Add into that local pockets of deprivation, no cars to use. Our route 1 service runs at 10 mins frequency in the peak and in the summer half-hourly overnight/24hours on Fri and Sat; London ridership levels which don’t occur on any of the other local routes.

With WWII not long over maintenance of jobs for the returning ex-service men was a key consideration. Women got kicked out of their new found skilled work just as they had after WW1, a further upward notch in the desire for women's rights. Whether the option of modernising and increasing efficiency could have been done immediately after the war is almost irrelevant - it was never an option that could have been widely sold to the electorate. The standard classes when they came along a few years into the new BR era were an attempt to do that, standardise parts and introduce some labour saving ideas for accessible routine maintenance etc. A good idea but time overtook it.