Mike Bellamy

Known to some of us who have been in the 7mm Narrow Gauge Association for some time as 'Member Number One' as he put the advert in Railway Modeller that started the Assn. The 'Beaver Creek' that I recall was his home layout in On30 which was featured in a long running series of articles in 'Narrow Lines' (the Assn magazine). Perhaps he liked the name so much he used it again in a larger scale . . . . . . . .

You are obviously enjoying your retirement doing all those jobs you never had time for . . . . . .

Serious question to answer my curiosity - is there any significance in the different coloured keys ?? .

When I first started reading this I thought your Mum and mine must have been related - then as I saw how organised she had been, I realised that she was the 'Master' and my mine was just an 'Apprentice' - organised but not to that extent. Most impressive and a great help to you in sorting out her affairs. Mike .

Thanks for the link to the Age UK "Lifebook" - something I need to sort out for myself. Mum had her own version which was a large A4 hardback notebook with 'Notes for John' written on the front. Found after her death, it listed everything Dad needed to know as she had total control of the finances and had everything written down - but kept separate from her 'Passwords' book. These were both invaluable documents to me as executor as by then Dad was 90 and didn't know how to switch on the computer and thought a mouse was 'them little bu**ers that got in me shed'. With stocks and shares, examination of the bank account(s) might show if dividends etc have been received. .

The book "Brewery Railways of Burton-on-Trent" by Cliff Shepherd lists 32 railway crossings over public streets in 1890 but looking at the numerous maps most of them appear to be single track lines and so not quite the answer needed here - but just think of the chaos caused by trying to negotiate that lot in 'rush hour' in what was at that time a small town. .

Early Riser today - 45th Wedding Anniversary and also SWMBO's 65th Birthday - not many get married at the age of 20 these days do they - as for me, I'm approaching 69 at Easter. Got cards to write and tea to make . . . . . . .

Local Ford dealer (T C Harrison) has sent me an email link to a lot more information - there is direct link to F1 as the original Mr Harrison drove an ERA C-type in the first Silverstone GP in 1950. Well worth watching the videos . . . . . . . . . . . . . https://www.tch.co.uk/news/february-2023/ford-returns-to-f1/ .

Several examples of the Screwfix trestles in use at our show on Saturday - they were supporting 3 out of 7 layouts - examples shown below copied from Neil's topic about his Elsbridge layout - just realised you can see the cash he collected from our second hand sales table to be split between Neil and myself !! Also see here from Andy Young - more photos of another layout using the Screwfix trestles. https://melynvalleyrailway.blogspot.com/2023/01/making-exhibition-of-ourselves.html?m=1

We run a small local show and have one model shop, one second-hand trader and the Club sales stand - so in those circumstances then you wouldn't be able to attend as we simply don't have room. However we also run three 'Swapmeets' each year, hiring the church hall with between 15 & 20 traders all selling second-hand (and some new) stuff - at least 90% is OO and so they are all competing with each other. We charge £15 for a 6ft table and we often get one off bookings from people wishing to sell up their collection, including club members. On the club sales stand we take 10% commission so paying £15 for a table is sometimes the better option. There are about 100 customers at each event. We find that the traders all like to get there very early - we regularly get three waiting at 7.30am for an event that opens at 10.30am and of course they are all set up and ready within an hour and spend the rest of the time going around the room looking for 'bargains' that they then add to their sale stock. At one event, a club member had a table full of OO stock and before the event started, a trader offered him a price for the lot which he accepted and so we allowed the two traders each side of the empty table to make use of it! Look in the Modeller or on UKModelShops for swapmeets/toy fairs in your area. .

Must have been a good driver as he/she missed the fence - and not a wall in sight this time . . . . . .

I went for the key earlier and then went to collect the tables we have to borrow from the local model railway club. Had two trips back to the hall and so we now have 12x6ft tables 100 cobs 10 kg of bacon 12 pints milk plus tea coffee and sauce for bacon but I forgot to get the sugar! The lady who runs the office at the church caught me unloading when she finished for the day to point out that we had booked just one hour from 7.30 to set up not 4.30 !! Early start in the morning - as I'm the key holder, I suppose I should be there first. .

Of course there's already a body kit from EDM Models to fit the Dapol B4 - Fletcher Jennings Townsend Hook - resin printed body and a number of cast brass fittings. https://ngtrains.com/shop/product/townsend-hook-body-kit/ .

That's what I first thought but they are H & A - this is about A & H . . . . . . confusing or what ! https://www.aandhmodels.co.uk/ https://www.hamodels.net/ .

Known fault caused by Andy trying various temporary fixes to get rid of adverts that are popping up in the wrong place. Usually refresh will clear it and give you a proper looking page. .

Oh dear - for some unexplainable reason, I forgot all about that last night and so I'm a bit late catching up on the latest progress. Not long now until we all get together to meet face to face and to admire the layout (along with many others) - I guess I should start planning for the catering - got lots of bacon and cobs to order!! .

I haven't seen an actual advert for a couple of days but there is still a white space at the bottom of the screen which has 'Advertisement' as a heading. Hovering over that space doesn't show a link to anything but it's taking up about 10% of the screen. However the 'Back to the Top' arrow has moved to the left of the screen but is actually active across the whole page - hover over the white box in line with the arrow and it reads 'Back to Top' anywhere across the bottom of the screen. .

Have you tried going direct to the publishers, Wild Swan? See the first post on page one for details and a link to the associated website for the Titfield Thunderbolt book shop. .

It's so much easier if your local store has the 'Scan it yourself' hand scanners - then you don't need to go through the usual checkout - just go to the till and pay so she won't see what you bought until you get home and start emptying the bags . . . . . . . .

Paul Martin at EDM Models (ngtrains.com) https://ngtrains.com/shop/brand/kadee/?filter_scale=o-scale .

The Works offer similar boxes but from the on-line photos they may not be the same quality but are cheaper - then I saw Hobbycraft have 35x25x17 at 2 for £20 and so cheaper again. https://www.hobbycraft.co.uk/wooden-storage-box-35cm-x-25cm-x-17cm/6173741000.html .

Returning from shopping, we had to pass the garden centre and SWMBO reminded me that we get free drinks with our loyalty card - so in we went and only paid for cake. Wandering around looking at all the 50% off sale items, we met a couple who we both worked with over 25 years ago - both a few years older than us and although she's in good health, in the last 10 years he's had kidney failure, prostate cancer and now has leukaemia - made me glad to feel alive. He's very positive about everything and praised the NHS - apparently the prostate was treated as part of a trial for a new drug at an estimated cost of about £.25m. .

Posted by Ian Kirk himself on the Gauge O Guild forum over the weekend. In a previous posting (before the announcement from Cambrian and Phoenix Precision), he had also given a brief history of his involvement in a number of different businesses. .

When I was riding the Black Horse at Lloyds bank, there was a share savings scheme where a fixed amount was taken from salary to buy shares - at the end of the five year period you had the option of taking the interest or buying share at the price they were when you signed up to the scheme. When I was made redundant back in 1997, I didn't cash in my shares as they were going up in price and I had the pay-off to live on until I got another job. All went well until the financial crisis and the purchase of Halifax/Bank of Scotland which resulted in a Government bail-out and a crash in the share price. I still have those almost worthless shares - what was once part of my retirement plan for a round the world cruise would now only get me a week in Skegness (other cheap UK resorts are available). .

Wise words from Mr Bear. My father spent the last couple of years in a small bungalow (one of eleven) in the grounds of a nursing home. Although he owned the property, there was a service agreement with the home that they would provide emergency cover in case of need and so alarm pull cords were in each room. There was also a daily visit each morning from one of the staff at the home - usually 'Laundry Pat' (so called as she did the laundry for the residents at the home). As he didn't want to be bothered with her calling in every day and spending 10 minutes gossiping, dad had an arrangement that she would tap on the lounge window, where he would be reading the paper (if it had arrived) or watching the breakfast news. If he waved back, then she knew he wasn't dead yet - this worked well for a couple of years until his health deteriorated and we arranged for carers to visit daily and he passed away peacefully in his sleep at the age of 92. I hope that Chris had a peaceful end to his suffering. We did meet briefly at an early RMweb meet at Warley some years ago and in a posting here he also expressed surprised that 50 years ago (at the age of 18), I had seen a folk artist he knew at Grantham Folk Club - I was by far the youngest member of the audience! .