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Mike Bellamy

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Posts posted by Mike Bellamy

    Windley, Derbyshire - All Change (again!)

    in Layout topics

    Posted

    What with you, Phil, Mike & Rich (any others?), it is like Mickleover again! What was that pub called we used to visit after club? Oh! Good days!

     

     

     John - that was The Robin - some recent mixed reviews here http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g187048-d4014570-Reviews-The_Robin_Pub-Derby_Derbyshire_England.html

     

      This site actually says it was a bit rough in the 1980s - must have been on Club Nights !!!

    http://www.pubutopia.com/pubs/D/Derby/Mickleover/The%20Robin%20Hotel/

    • Like 1

    Windley, Derbyshire - All Change (again!)

    in Layout topics

    Posted

     

    Yes it was the proximity of the quarry on Mercaston Lane and the Tarmac facility in Mugginton that led me to dream up a stone quarry near here! Can't be too implausible? Didn't a mutual good friend (Phil T.) work around here?

     

     

    Just up the road at 'Charcon' - working on the maintenance of the machinery producing concrete slabs and kerbs and as long as nothing broke down he had time for modelling or sleeping on the night shift!

     

    If I have copied the link correctly this should be the site

    https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&ll=53.007392,-1.611128&spn=0.004164,0.012392&t=h&z=17

     

    Mike

    • Like 2

    Ixion 0 Gauge Fowler Diesel Loco

    in Smaller Suppliers

    Posted

    Met up with Paul last night with the rest of the 7mm Narrow Gauge Assn Trent Valley Area Group - It's very big 'area' as Paul came down to Derby from York just for a couple of hours in the pub.

     

    Main topic of conversation was the new baseboard design which he has had laser cut in 4mm ply from his own CAD design but then he set up a yard of Peco track and demonstrated the sound on the Fowler - amazing to hear the starter motor trying to turn over and eventually it gets the main engine to fire. Loco set off down the track, off the end and carried on along the table for about another 3 ft or so until the 'stay alive' expired - we now appreciate why you need careful control of the DCC to prevent accidents - of course once it was travelling across the table it was uncontrollable !!

     

    Mike

    Ixion 0 Gauge Fowler Diesel Loco

    in Smaller Suppliers

    Posted

    Paul (EDM) is at a motorway service area and doesn't have full internet access at the moment but he has asked me to pass on the comments below from one of his customers - not much he can add except that he's rushed off his feet at the moment and is on his way to Boston Lodge (Festiniog) to look at a job that needs doing there . . they say there's no rest for the wicked :nono:

     

     

    I've just received my Fowler 0-4-0DM with SOUND and 'stay alive' from Paul Martin at EDM Models. ABSOLUTELY SUPERB!!!

    It runs incredibly smoothly and as slow as you could ever want. O-4-0's are notorious for poor running due to current interruptions - not this one. The 'stay alive' keeps it going regardless, smooth as silk. I removed mine from the track with the sound still playing and it kept going for something like 20 seconds plus.

    It looks great, runs great and sounds great. What more could one want. Worth every penny!

    Congratulations to Paul Martin and Paul Chetter for the sound and 'stay alive' addition to the Ixion Model, and also Chris Klein and his Ixion colleagues for another cracking model!

    • Like 3

    Grantham - the Streamliner years

    in Layout topics

    Posted

     

    So now I ‘risk it all’(!) by going into some detail re signalling and electrics…

     

     

    Anybody still there…? Hello…?(!) :lazy: 

     

    'Robert'

     

    Sorry you lost me on the second line when you mentioned signalling and electrics - and as for interlocking and that amazing diagram - well words fail me . . . . . :O

     

    Good luck - I'm sure someone will be along soon with words of wisdom but you can bet I still won't understand it

    Grantham - the Streamliner years

    in Layout topics

    Posted

     

    Those of you with the Cawston book, turn to page 47 now...

     

    Too clean although I see you got the right engine in the background - and in that photo there are two crew members on one side - but I guess you have someone on the other side to hide the motor !!

     

    So what about the other photo on page 47 - J54 3637A or does a withdrawal date on 1930 make it too early for you?

     

    Then there's the horse from page 46 already discussed - but Grantham had three . . . . . . . . . . . .

     

     

    Mike

    • Like 1

    Cadbury Bournville

    in 7mm+ modelling

    Posted

     Mike,

     

    Quite a weight to support above the layout, I wouldn't trust my woodwork to support such a structure I can imagine the consequences! It might be worth considering for our Club layout which is awaiting a suitable rig and will need a span of around 5m, do you have a photo of your arrangement?

     

    I am looking at two options for the lighting rig, a pair of aluminium disco lighting bars, which bolt together in the centre, and which will give me about 3.6m clear span, and a folding display stand which is quite light but maybe too flimsy, I will have to address the issue soon, as I will need to incorporate holes for the supports within the curved end board sections. I don't think I'm going to be able to clear 6.5m with one span.

    I must admit that we were all concerned about the weight but the guys on the layout built substantial wooden supports at both ends - probably from 3"x3". There was a slight dip in the middle but that was more about the way the locking mechanism worked and was hidden by the facia board. Sorry no photos - it was only used once at a show earlier this year and isn't set up like that in the clubrooms - besides he wanted his ladder back to get into the loft at home !

    Cadbury Bournville

    in 7mm+ modelling

    Posted

    Interesting use of the ladder. Our club N Gauge layout uses one like that to support their lighting units. When fully extended it is just the same length as the layout and they have built wooden supports at each end then suspended the ladder between the timbers. Strip lights fixed to timber are then held up with cable ties and a wooden fascia fitted to the front. Looking at the layout you would have no idea that a folding ladder is above it !!

     

    Mike

    • Like 1

    EDM Models/www.ngtrains.com - Introduction

    in NG Trains / EDM Models

    Posted

    Should have kept quite. Could be a pay cut involved

     

    To have a pay cut, you have to be paid in the first place . . . . . . .

    Like Phil, I remember the 4mm version, including the comments I got from other Club members when I looked after your demo table at the Derby show when you had that and other locos on display and I was asked 'What are you doing there - you've never built a model in your life' - true then and almost true now !!

     

    Mike

    EDM Models/www.ngtrains.com - Introduction

    in NG Trains / EDM Models

    Posted

     

    Mike Bellamy. Mike is my trusty right hand man at shows. As the ex bank manager on the team he is charge of taking your money whilst I deal with enquiries. He also makes a cracking cup of tea

     

    Ha! thanks Paul - although on Saturday as we'll be in Burton we might have something a bit stronger than tea and in a pint glass instead of a tin mug !!

     

    Thanks also for the promotion - I never made manager and never would do so I fell off the Black Horse when they realised they could pay someone half my age half the salary to do the same job - for the last few months I was just answering the phone - of course now they don't have phones in branches and you'll probably get an overseas call centre . . . . . .

     

    Mike

    Lynton & Barnstaple OO9 Loco from Heljan

    in Heljan

    Posted

      they'd buy anything even if they run it out of context.

     

    Didn't we have a similar argument about the Blue Pullman - look how successful that's been because a lot of people liked what they saw and bought it - the fact that it never ran on a GWR shunting plank (for example) wasn't enough to stop them buying it - the same could be said about Tornado or any number of other models. There are very few layouts that are operated entirely with the correct stock - most have something out of context.

    • Like 2

    Lynton & Barnstaple OO9 Loco from Heljan

    in Heljan

    Posted · Edited by Mike Bellamy

    I have picked up from another forum that the latest issue of Railway Modeller being delivered to subscribers has details of a ready to run OO9 loco from Heljan based on the Lynton and Barnstaple 2-6-2 Exe, Tor and Yeo. There is also speculation that Heljan didn't produce the chassis?

     

    Anyone got any more information

     

    Mike

    Ferme du Pont ~ WDLR 1918 ~ 0-14

    in Layout topics

    Posted

    I can confirm that the figures are from Phil Morris of PLM - he has a stand each year at the Convention - and every year I'm amazed at the number of new products. A few years ago my young son was interested and Phil gave him a whole load of figures from the 'seconds' box free of charge - of course it helps being one of the organisers of the show !!

     

    Mike

    • Like 1

    HS2 under review

    in UK Prototype Discussions (not questions!)

    Posted

    Radio Derby reports that Leader of the City Council and the local MP are both saying that the East Midlands station should be in Derby - where on earth did they get that idea from and where would it go (although some would suggest knocking down the Westfield shopping centre). The routes into and out of Derby are certainly not straight and isn't the whole point of a high speed route that it's all new and able to run at high speed - no tight turns such as around Pride Park! Toton has always been the most obvious location as there's plenty of disused land there.

     

    For local travel isn't the point of a separate line to free up capacity so that the very long distance travel (eg Leeds-London) doesn't get in the way of other trains such as Sheffield-Leicester and so the regional services are better - and with the electrification of the Midland Mainline that will also help. One commentator on the radio said that although everyone keeps going on about the time to London, he felt the greatest benefit would be to improve the times from the Midlands to the industrial North East.

    • Like 5

    Grantham - the Streamliner years

    in Layout topics

    Posted

    Here is part of bridge No.243 sometime around the turn of the century.

     

    You wouldn't recognise that road junction now - a roundabout and traffic going in all directions!

     

    Looks like 'Bill Stickers' has had a field day on the bridge sides - obviously no laws against 'fly posting' back then

     

    Mike

    • Like 1

    Black Country Blues

    in Layout topics

    Posted

    So maybe some redevelopment of the area should be included - you know, modern, boxy houses.

     

    They could even be situated on post-5402-0-21380100-1353268356.png

     

    Ha! Read that last night and it meant nothing - read it again this morning and got the joke straight away - don't browse the forum when half asleep :nono:

     

    Mike

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