Mike Bellamy

April 26, 2023

Thank you Simon.

I remember when Howard came to one of our 7mmNGA events at Mickleover (Derby). He had bought the layout " Crackington Quay" the day before and had never operated the layout. As he was vertically challenged, we had to find him a strong enough box to stand on so he could see over the top of the backscene !

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April 17, 2023

12 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

As we drove along I asked them where the boundary was between South Kirkby and South Elmsall. Elmsall Dyke boss, oh sh1t, came th reply.

SWMBO was a Teaching Assistant at a local secondary school and a volunteer group leader for the Duke of Edinburgh scheme. During one of the expeditions, one of the female teachers who was authorised to drive the school minibuses took her to one of the checkpoints to meet the groups. She was being driven down a narrow lane and said " Watch out, there's a dyke on the left" to which the teacher replied "And there's one on the right as well". SWMBO had no idea about the teacher and was full of apologies, saying that she had been brought up in Lincolnshire where all ditches were called dykes. They both had a great laugh when they met up with the other staff and repeated the story.

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April 9, 2023

6 hours ago, polybear said:

A VHBB to Embee** 🎂

(**See what Bear did there?)

Thanks Mr Bear - I almost missed that one especially as the Birthday was mentioned on Early Risers and that's where the other responses have been. I know I'm not the only one to forget which topic I'm reading.

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April 9, 2023

Thank you all for the Birthday wishes. it's been an interesting weekend with eldest son and husband staying with us. They have a small and rather old motorhome so we took them to the local dealer (Don Amott) to have a look around and they're now think of upgrading to something more modern - could be an expensive visit. We all went out to lunch today and soon after they left, middle son and 7 year old grandson arrived with an Easter Egg for me. Jacob claimed he sixty but he did admit that most of these were very small ones !

However what made it interesting was what happened early Saturday evening when I was called at around 6.40pm by a club member who was in the clubroom with a colleague working on improvements to the N gauge layout. After hearing a noise outside, one went outside to see what was going on and they then locked themselves in as there were a couple of youths outside who were banging on the outer metal door, the inner wooden door, the windows and the end 'fire door'. This then escalated to them shouting that they were going to break in and they later got around the end of the building and onto the roof. This had been going on for some time and they called me for assistance.

I said I would be there in about 10/15 minutes and that in the meantime they should ring the Police. They also rang another member who lived locally who then also rang the Police but I don't know which call went through first.

There was an immediate response as when I arrived, there was already a Police car in the car park and the two officers had disappeared in pursuit of the offenders. I went to the door and after identifying myself the door was unlocked but this was difficult at first as there was a lot of broken glass in the entrance as at least one beer bottle had been smashed against the door. Another Police car arrived with four officers and one offender as they had called for backup. Soon after a third car arrived and later a Police van - so in total their response was eight officers and four vehicles.

A lady who lived nearby had taken some photos which were shared with the Police and so they had a description of the second person they were looking for who was later apprehended and brought back to the clubroom as his coat had been left behind - a Police Officer went over the fence into the space behind the building to recover it for him !!

Full details were taken from the two members there and the lady with the photos. I also contacted the Community Centre manager next door about their CCTV which might have shown the offenders depending on their location. In addition, the Centre Caretaker had been there and also witnessed some of what was happening. When I asked the Police about them wanting the CCTV, the offender in the back of the car looked rather shocked that we might have some for their actions on film - we have been asked to retain the video in case of need.

We were told that the first offender who had been taken to the Police Station earlier had later been taken home to his parents and so we assume he was under age. The fate of the second offender is currently unknown. I returned home about 8.30pm and the others were happy to remain and continue with their work. they regularly attend on a Saturday evening and let others know that they are going to be there.

People walking by were asking what was going on as they had never seen so many Police and heard sirens in what is normally a very quite residential suburb of the City. Top marks to Derbyshire Constabulary.

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April 9, 2023

12 hours ago, PeterBB said:

One Easter while camping in the Peak District woke up to find 5" of snow on the tent - probably early 80s, Mike Bellamy might remember the actual year.

Sorry Peter, I haven't a clue about that although I do recall that a cricket match at Buxton had to be abandoned in the 1970 (?) in June because of snow.

I never have been able to remember dates except for today 9th April as it's my birthday and next year will be three score years and ten . . . . Also have to remember a date in February (not the 14th !) which was our wedding day 45 years ago and SWMBO's 20th birthday - at least they are both on the same day . . . . ! !

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April 7, 2023

3 hours ago, 45156 said:

My best achievement on a live gig was at uni, when I was in the student's union for lunch and there was a call on the tannoy for some folk to offer assistance with the Pink Floyd's gear in exchange for a free admission to the gig that night - and the following night's gig. I volunteered, and a large group of us helped the roadies to move all the gear from their artic to the hall on the third floor of the union.

April 1982 - one of the first Derby Model Railway Exhibitions at the Assembly Rooms in the centre of Derby - except in those days our show was in the 'Darwin Suite' as the 'Great Hall' was used by the City Council to show archive films by John Huntley each afternoon. We were delivering our club layout to the loading bay at the back on the Friday afternoon when a large motorhome arrived with Bob Geldof and the Boomtown Rats, asking if they had come to the right place. We directed them to the other end of the building. Later after school finished a group of girls arrived and took our photos, convinced we were the road crew and our large wooden stock boxes were part of the band's gear. After another year of successful shows, we were getting hundreds more visitors than the film shows so we swapped halls for a couple of years and then took over the whole building.

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April 4, 2023

7 hours ago, Coombe Barton said:

... Been out with a colleague today. Photo says where, tweaked to correct converging verticals. Needs more practice. ...

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2023/04/04/zoe-more-rapidly-downwards/

The Baptistery Window in the Cathedral Church of St Michael, Coventry, designed by John Piper with 198 windows - 26m high and 17m wide. We were there two weeks ago and according to the guide book, it's the UK's favourite 20th Century building. By coincidence we were in your part of the country today, viewing a second hand caravan purchase at a storage site at Sibbertoft.

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April 4, 2023

It looks like the sort of model produced by A1 Models of Doncaster, now sold on Ebay. His OO9 kits are available from Dundas but I'm not aware of a 7mm stockist. Suggest you contact him via his Ebay shop and see if he recognises this as one of his kits. Looks like he is now producing 3D printed items as well.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/a1models-doncaster

https://dundasmodels.co.uk/webstore/index.php/hikashop-menu-for-module-108/category/500-a1-models-loco-kits

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March 31, 2023

3 hours ago, AndyID said:

Went for a spin in the wee car this evening (just to charge the battery you understand) and I took some pics of a nearby trestle bridge for MrsID, She does paintings of stuff and she's always looking for interesting subjects.

Interesting bridge but I just wonder why they didn't put the roadway through the middle which is wider and without the height restriction ?

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March 24, 2023

1 hour ago, New Haven Neil said:

. . . Car parking, Keswick. Long term park was App only, but our phones don't work well here on data, couldn't get it to work.

We were surprised that our Tesco phones had no signal (using the O2 network) when we were in the middle of Keswick last year - but at the top of "Catbells" overlooking Derwentwater there was a full signal . . . but no car parks on top of a mountain !!

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March 21, 2023

3 hours ago, 009 micro modeller said:

And there I was thinking Swiss layouts always have mountains. 😀 Did he sell the second one as well?

He traded it in with another member who at that time was a second hand trader, regularly going to swapmeets. Vic changed scale / gauge regularly and enjoyed building layouts, but he would often come back a few weeks later and swap to a different scale / gauge - of course the 'trader' always won by letting him have stock worth less than what he was trading in 😀

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March 21, 2023

2 hours ago, Chris M said:

. . . . To be fair, no matter how well planned the list of layouts attending any show can be dynamic right up to the Friday before the show.

Several years ago, a member exhibited a layout at our village hall show with a "For Sale" sign on it. The layout sold on Saturday and was taken away at the end of the day - and so he brought another on the Sunday ! Most of his layouts were Swiss / Austrian, completely flat, oval of track, couple of points, station building and a few chalet style buildings - the thing we always remembered about his layouts was the use of a very bright green grass mat. Several of our members didn't notice the difference and the description in the guide fitted both layouts!

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March 19, 2023

10 hours ago, polybear said:

. . . . . Have some cash with you - most stalls accept cards, but many were struggling with the signal inside the Hall; I heard from one stall holder that if they wanted to use the Ally Pally signal (whatever that may be) for their card readers they'd be charged £78 for the weekend.

I expect that those struggling had card readers that are linked to a mobile phone and they had chosen a network with a poor signal in that area. I used to help a friend with his trade stand at shows BC (Before Covid) and he had a sim card from one company in his phone and another in a mobile wifi unit so he had two chances of getting a good signal. The 'Ally Pally Signal' would have been their own wifi network - £78 for the password to connect ?

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March 16, 2023

14 hours ago, Tony_S said:

After echocardiogram, I think the next one for me was the heart stress test. This isn’t awful, you have to walk on a treadmill

In my case it started off as walking, then it got faster and finally they increased the angle so I was running up hill. At the end I almost collapsed onto a chair gasping for breath but still all wired up to the machine while 3 or 4 technicians looked at the computer screen. When I asked if there was something wrong, they told me I wasn't recovering as quickly as they expected - what the ****did they expect - the last time I ran like that was 60 years ago at school - and still came in last . . . . .

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March 16, 2023

Am I right in thinking that these will be approx 28" wheels ?? If so there are some Kadee wheels on Ebay

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/274183855706

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March 16, 2023

18 hours ago, Chris M said:

Hornby Magazine is most definitely not a single brand magazine. It covers a lot of stuff across all scales and I think it does it very well.

I seem to recall way back when it was first published they did say something about concentrating on RTR OO and then in the 3rd or 4th issue featured a 7mm Narrow Gauge layout as I commented on that in a RMweb topic at the time. I suppose the connection was that it ran on 16.5mm track and some locos were on OO chassis but it did seem to go against what everyone was expecting at the time.

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March 14, 2023

12 hours ago, AY Mod said:

. . . . Lovely to spend the morning with you . . . .

. . . . . . . and Oscar and Rupert - I know how much they enjoy meeting visitors 🤣

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March 11, 2023

11 hours ago, polybear said:

Out of interest, has anyone come across this book - or maybe even got a copy?

https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/Railway-Modelling-Masterclass-Vol-1-Locomotive-Construction-by-Tony-Reynalds/9781844252473

Bear has a sudden desire for a copy - but they seem few and far between....☹️

You never will find a copy as it wasn't published.

On the Gauge O Guild Facebook page, Malcolm Mitchell reported Tony's passing a couple of days ago and was asked about this book by someone who posted a photo of the 'front cover'. Malcom's reply is posted below

Quote

Unfortunately this book never existed - it was a weird setup by unscrupulous publishers. Tony knew nothing about it.

Sorry to disappoint you - but after your visit to Missenden, is there anything left to learn . . . . . .

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March 11, 2023

12 hours ago, john new said:

For the second time recently I have been annoyed when visiting the supermarket to find that despite being a subscriber to two of the modelling mags (Rly Mod - digital & Model Rail via my local newsagent) the attached supplements in the Sainsburys versions have not been issued to regular readers.

The Railway Modeller supplement (LMS Locos) was enclosed with my printed subscription copy and so it wasn't a 'supermarket special' - but i appreciate your frustration that things like this are missed from those who have gone digital.

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March 8, 2023

4 hours ago, Northmoor said:

I think the normal solution is to charge an early entry rate of perhaps £5 instead of £1. The dealers have no excuse for not paying up; the extra cost amounts to about ten miles driving for them and most will have come many, many more than that. Even car boot sales charge buyers for early entry to compensate for the "dealers" and having to deal with them.

Our local club organise regular swapmeets with 15/20 traders all selling model railway related stuff. One time it was pouring with rain and we took pity on the queue outside and let them in 15 mins early. Those who arrived at the advertised time were then complaining that they had missed the bargains. What they didn't appreciate was that the traders had all been there for at least two hours, one to set up and the second hour to wander around looking at what their competitors were selling and then either grabbing a bargain or going back to their stand to alter the prices. One time a club member took a table as he was having a compete change of what he was modelling - a nice neat table set out with nearly new Hornby and Bachmann stock all at competitive prices. One trader made an offer for the lot and cleared the table before the event started . . !

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March 8, 2023

I did not find the original name you quoted on the Companies House Register . . . . . . but HOBBY SHOP 22 Ltd was incorporated on 13th January 2023 with Adam David Cann named as the sole director. This information is on the public record available online.

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March 5, 2023

1 hour ago, polybear said:

Bear was booked to go to Missenden Abbey this weekend (muddlin' courses)

Sorry to hear of the continuation of Paw Pain - by coincidence the last topic I was looking at before this one was all about the courses at Missenden. Have you seen the link to the photos - I have just been back to try and identify you but all the modellers look human (some more than others) and no sign of anything big white and fluffy . . . .

Click for Link to Missenden Photos

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March 5, 2023

On 03/03/2023 at 13:26, Mark Saunders said:

It was the time that many councillors were declaring nuclear free zones

Although it was before we moved to this area, I'm led to believe that that road signs said "Welcome to Derbyshire, a Nuclear Free Zone" until it was pointed out to the Council that one of the Rolls Royce factories in Derby produced the nuclear reactors that went into every nuclear powered submarine. The signs were then replaced by ones saying "Derbyshire supports Nuclear Free Zones".

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March 3, 2023

Copied from the Accurascale topic posted earlier today by one of the directors. Seems they have the confidence that was lacking from Rapido.

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Excellent to see that there is interest in us doing more O gauge. So much so, we want to let you into a little secret...

We can confirm that we have designed our first O gauge locomotive and it is going to tooling in the coming weeks. It is not a locomotive currently in our OO range, so it is O gauge from the ground up. Feel free to wildy speculate on what it might be!

We will reveal it when tooling is complete and a pre-production sample is in hand later this year.

Let the speculation commence . . . . . . ! !

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March 2, 2023

9 hours ago, mdvle said:

It can often be easier to sell into a market that already exists than to attempt to have a none-existent market to yourself.

Once your name is established in a given market (this case O/7mm) then you can try being more adventurous.

So what about Ixion who produced the first real RTR 7mm loco - a small company with two partners in Australia and Chris Klein here in the UK who started with an N Gauge Manor, followed by an Australian On30 steam railcar and then the Hudswell Clarke 0-6-0. At that time they produced 1,500 (500 in three different colours and then did a re-run of another 500 in a different shade of green. Then came the GWR Fowler diesel which was a unique engine as I believe that was the first to be built and the slightly later LMS version was different as the starter motor was on the other side. They were adventurous and that created the market.

Due to changes in his partners' other interests, Chris then joined with Chris Basten to create Minerva and that company continues to develop and bring out new products despite the sudden unexpected death of Chris Klein.

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