runs as required

I ticked Agree on your post So: Pop back to this thread in two or three weeks to see if my push-button control kit (developed by the OOLS club link here) can deliver more precise control. dh

Ferocious dawn this morning with thin red line along behind the trees eastwards - "Red in the morning, sheherds' warning!" All iced up ouside but at least DRY 1 I was wrang aboot the N&C - still blocked according to 'the news where you are' - as BoD corrected (and all who agreed corroborated). B ussing between Prudder and Hexham. 2 Good news Jock on the hernia, hope the fluids disperse. 3 NGT6 Be careful how much driver training you give ERs - you could well get pushed out of a job by a whole load of sm@rt @r$e$ turning up and out-pointing you (pun int) chauffeuring madame to Durham City this morning - 'I had a girl called Cleo n the back of my Mondeo*'. She's due her psychotherapy supervision session. ciao fer now *hows that for updating a celebrated lyric? dh

'With a little help from my friends' I've today learnt how to post videos via Utube. So: Here is a video I madeabout 3 days ago of the fourth steaming of Mallard after its 10 year sleep up in our loft. You'll notice I'm not very good at p££ing and chewing gum videoing, notching the controller and talking all at the same time. dh

That's always been my favourite game on a train ride. The Cross Country one through from leaving Sheffield Midland down thru Derby and Brum to Oxford is really good for that. Especially if you get diverted from say Chesterfield Midland. dh

Ditto from just west of Addison in the Tyne Valley; but happy to report the sounds of 66s rumbling down below suggest the N&C to be open again after the landslide beside the Tyne yesterday just east of Hexham. dh

'Shurely' he's another Viz character? Drawn by that celebrated Jesmond railway buff with a station on the NER Alnwick - Cornhill branch

I once worked with a Leeds City Conservation officer who was a Larger than Life character, despite being 'small but perfectly formed' . He had an excellent singing voice and was much in demand as a prominent local amateur opera singer. We were on a York university assignment together trying to help Chinese historic cities make the most of their heritage assets in economic development. This was a hopeless task in the face of powerful Mayors who much preferred tearing down and rebuilding. But our witty LCO kept us all afloat by being a BIG success on the Karioki machines and in devising hilarious 'cunning plans' for staying sober despite the best attempts of the Mayors to humiliate by getting us legless. I last saw him late one night in Leeds after returning from from China (via Ringway airport) together on the train. He proudly showed me around a forgotten bit of station he'd opened up after everyone had forgotten about it and also likewise a forgotten cinema. dh

1 About the distilled water I got warned against dodgy distilled or battery water as it is most probaly 'de-ionised' water i.e. more likely to damage soldered boilers. The OOLS Club Shop also sent me a distilled water purity tester for a few bob more - just to be sure. 2 Spare parts for Live Steam - it was only our local model shops that no longer stock stuff. Hornby themselves still repair and service Live Steam locos and supply spares. dh

Thank you. Most relieved to hear this. Younger actor son suffered this years ago at a job interview in Camden - asked to do an evening Restaurant shift - didn't get the job, didn't get paid. Subsequently got excellent job at posh restaurant 'RSJ' by the National Theatre which led to a lot more work. Plus - we didn't find out till quite recently that our daughter when working down the smoke - HoD at very big S London comp - was attacked in the subway acrioss to Charing+ station from Trafalgar Square on her way home from the theatre one evening. She woke up next morning on a bench in Walthamstow and has never subsequently been able to fill in the gap. Hers was an eventful time in London, doing a PGCE at Goldsmiths. She had her hair set on fire from behind coming up on the escalator at Stockwell! dh

We are with Co-op Energy too - it has proved quite a saving on the old suppliers (i think we'd previously simply continued with the grotesques that morphed out of the old Lekky and Gas Boards). But we have grumps - one is that they don't seem to react to our own readings emailed to them of our meters as they claimed they would. Like you they owe us money at this time of the year. Wife somehow manages friendly telephone calls to Co-op Energy with homely sounding fellow Manchester lasses to get things adjusted. We've both been long supporters of the Co-op right from the days of our local Industrial and Equitable 'Stores' of our south Pennine mill village youth. Sadly the oldest Co-op after the Rochdale Pioneers - in Blaydon (!) has just closed, overshadowed by a big new Morrisons, without any public laments. It was the local industrialist Cowens (of Blaydon Races fame) who set it up. He'd also financed Garibaldi's Red Shirts via gold smuggled into southern Italy in cargoes of Blaydon Burn firebricks- (not a lot of people know this ) dh

Haven't opened the shutters* the past few days due to Noyes Fludde! Its landfill bin week so I've just braved Gateshead's rainy season to whizz the wheely bin down to 'Ourgate-on-sea'. Yesterday the BBC local news reported flooding in Springwell Village. For those not in the know this is at the top of the old Bowes Incline (rope hauled) out of the Team Valley. This must mean that the Team Valley Industrial Estate - and the Gateshead Angel - were under about 100 metres of flood water Oh Dear! In this first week of 2016 there feels an increase in the range of ER anxieties we need to keep in our thoughts.... Best Wishes to everyone dh * interesting nugget of local history These shutters are iron bound because of local fears in the early 1800s of a Napoleonic invasion! The continuing fear of invasion in 1939/40 led to the 'Willows' flood plain in the upper tidal reaches of the Tyne above Blaydon and Scotswood having trenches and ridges excavated across it (they still exist) to prevent an airborne glider invasion landing to capture Vickers Armstrongs.

That's very depressing news. I was hoping I might be able to pick up LS Gresleys discarded and stored away, like our Mallard set, in order to adapt the chassis to different loco types . There is a OOLS Stanier/Fairburn 2-6-4T and a Boxpok Bulleid Spamcan that club members have created this way.. I'd been daydreaming a narrow gauge (larger scale) loco like a Darjeeling or Leek & Manifold Barsi tank that might allow space to accommodate a re-arrangement of the tender boiler. Ringing around trying to source distilled water before Christmas, two NE model shops told me 'they'd thrown out' their unsold Live Steam loco stock and consumables only recently dh

Thank you for your interest. Try this video link demonstrating a DCC controlled conversion There is also this set of posts in the 00 Live Steam Forum which I haven't read because I'm concentrating on assembling the hand held push button controller as an alternative to the Hornby controller. dh

I'd better post a couple of links to other RMweb threads about the state of Hornby Live Steam Firstly this one secondly this later thread. They both discuss whether the Hornby Live Steam system is still marketed. The answer is no, but Hornby still service and repair Live Steam locos and spares for the system are still available. The later RMweb thread wonders why Hornby only ever sold the system in a Gresley Pacific bodyshell and not other GW (minus the trailing truck) or Southern locos. Airing the idea for this project on the Early Risers thread, a couple of experienced 'steamers' advised going instead for a larger gauge. I admit that appeals, but we already have Mallard virtually unused in its box. Maybe the ultimate would be a mixed gauge garden line. One thing that is already clear to me is that it doesn't seem to meld readily with a DCC system - primarily because it not only emits that glorious steam and hot oil SMELL, but is also extremely messy. Some have adapted loco control to DCC, but the 00LS Club is advocating its own push button hand held control kit to give more precise control of the loco. This thread I hope will include assembly of the kit and assessment of its capabilities. dh

I’ll admit at the outset of this thread to being a Mr Toad - driven by a new enthusiasm. . Just before Christmas I escaped a miserable wet snowy afternoon by hurrying through the door of the RailexNE exhibition in North Tyneside. Immediately the intoxicating smell of hot oil and steam wafted past me and I was hooked. The source of the ‘parfum’ I traced to more of a science lab of a exhibition stand than the usual landscaped layout. Locos with steam up regarded me almost at eye level – predominantly Hornby Gresley Pacifics, but centre stage was a splendid dark grey Hush Hush 4-6-4, and a dignified LMS maroon Duchess. There were other LMS locos and a Class 5 BR Standard (in brass) being readied for duty. Rather than hide away behind their treasures, members of the OO Live Steam Club stood in front, enjoying engaging with passers-by That’s how I learned they were all related to my 'Unwanted Gift' of a Mallard Live Steam set stowed away up in our loft forgotten since 2005! It had been my son's Christmas idea to get us all back into trains with his young son (now 15), but after several unsuccessful attempts to tame "the livid beast" we’d reverted back to dusting down the old DC stuff. With the back story out of the way, let me tell you I've now fetched the big box down from the attic. I’ve also joined the OOLS Club (its free) who are proving most helpful and welcoming. On New Year's Day I got the Mallard Set all assembled together (minus the track oval) on my wife’s ping pong table. After a first fill of the tender with Hornby Distilled water, (promptly mailed by the keeper of the Club Shop) and on the Controller Superheat setting, Mallard started blowing off smoke rings in little pips at the safety valve. Accompanied by that great SMELL ! I can demonstrate to you the controversially vague Hornby controls for the loco here and (with the loco body removed) explain the ingenious miniature steam mechanism here With her drivers clear of track (I’m awaiting the arrival of a rolling road off Ebay) I commenced notching the handle across to the stop. (see my driving video in post#10 below) It was thrilling to see the drivers suddenly spin - and with few more notches up, they spun faster. By notching to the opposite stop I managed to slow, then she stopped. With about 15 minutes of steam raised from the boiler filling, I got the drivers spinning two or three more times, in reverse then forwards again I came away very pleased to discover all seems to be functioning, though I cannot honestly claim to have been really in control. Its just the driver that needs training up. (and also about how to post the video I made of attempting to drive the loco using the Hornby controller.) dh Edit: Videos added 7/1/16

There's a rather eerie account in an excellent book "The LNWR Recalled" (compiled by E Talbot; Oxford Publishing Co 1982) by a Fireman to a hard running Claughton driver called Pete They'd had a frustrating night of delays on an up overnight train from Carlisle to Euston all the way up over Shap then down via Oxenholme through crowded Lancashire. Once clear of Warrington Bank Quay 'under clear boards' the driver opened up at last to run hard to Crewe. Then the Firemen thought he'd heard a bang at the front, saying 'What'ts that'? Driver Pete said 'I don't know and i don't bl%dy care, but we're stopping at Crewe'. At Crewe they found a car scooped up onto the front platform and wedged under the smoke box. 'Why didn't you stop; you may have killed two people' the Inspector said. Driver Pete replied 'Lucky it was a Claughton - if it had been a Prince it would have derailed the whole bl%dy train - with dozens killed and the line blocked for a day!' dh

I watched the video with one of my sons and it brought a rush of nostalgia. "That's Grandpa Tom's box" he said. He was remembering how 40 odd years ago we'd call in to "help" on the 2 till 10 back shift. We'd bring along with us some of Grandma Litchfield's Christmas cake (which we still bake). They used to say in Peakdale Club "Looky booger owd Tommy Litchfield - if he fell off 't Stores roof (the Co-op), 'eed land int Divi". But poor old Tom spent long hours (I think he he said longer than 24 hours sometimes) at the back end of WWII in Peak Forest box without any relief and admitted to us how he'd sometimes got hallucinations during the night. He suffered from Tourette's disease before he died and often would shout out "F%kin Japanese!". The grandchildren would rush in saying "You what Grandpa Tom?" "Nothing Love, didn't say Nothing." he'd say, not taking his eyes off the TV screen. His retirement clock sits on the mantepiece in the room our grandchildren sleep in when they visit. Thought you'd appreciate a post - sparked by your excellent model - about a long serving railwayman, born at Wormhill, who spent all his working life in your model signal box. dh

My sympathies are with Jock after having had too many of those hernia (wire netting ?) jobbies over the years. Particularly painful is going down stairs for about two weeks (especially if you had momentarily forgotten about the bruising). We are recuperating this morning after intensive socialising over the Christmas/New Year break. First was touring around family down south (ie south of the A1M Durham City turn off ) Second - even more stressful - was having old friends call on us late yesterday afternoon for an overnight stop-over en route back to Banbury. Mentally we'd cast them in role as Viz Comic's dreaded 'Bottom Inspectors' - arriving to check out whether we were still judged to be capable of looking after ourselves. Glad to see them off safely after a good night's chin wag, a fair few classy bottles (they'd brought with them) in the recycling and no mention of "Don't you think you ought to downsize" into Assisted Living accommodation! Phew! dh

OK here goes: Obergruppenfuhrer (Deutsch) = Arweinydd y grwp uchaf (in Velsh) Penderyn (Velsh) = Whisky brewed in Wales ?? HTH dh

I remember one of our group leaders in the CCEs office at Kings Cross came from Sheffield - where they still had some rather classy modern double deck trams. He'd love to reminisce about regularly being given command of one during the charity raising University Rag week.The City Council "lent" them a tram for the week and he and the driver colluded about where to take the tram through the week cos all they collected in fares went to the charities. He had a couple of assistants serving 'refreshments' to passengers, including draft beer from a barrel. dh Edit Sorry, didn't make it clear - this post is a follow on from the Leipzig party tram. ,,,Off to stretch the back bell ringing now for half an hour Best wishes to all

OK! Time to come clean (wipes oily rag around face)... I've got back into Hornby Live Steam this New Year; I'm just posting now fresh from my third 'steam up' session. First off - the SMELL of hot oil and steam is totally Brilliant. It's even better than sitting under a towel on my head over Grandma's bowl of hot something-or-other as a kid and being told to inhale! I'm not sure I'm any better at mastering control this time (with Mallard's wheels up off the track) but I do have a kit to assemble from the 00LS Club for a hand held controller that is supposed to achieve much more precise responses using push buttons. The Back Story is my son bought me the Mallard LS set for Christmas 11 years ago hoping to get me and the grandchildren back into model trains. We had a few 'well oiled' Christmas goes at crashing Mallard before reverting to our old very well-used DC stuff. The Mallard boxed set went up in the attic - until I went to Railex NE three weeks ago before Christmas and got a whiff of that SMELL ! ...I might even start a thread about it... Mr Toad signing off

But there's 'boys' stuff too in Hobbycraft - upstairs (lift at the back usually). I've bought quite a bit of modelling kit there. It has the best range of low cost acryllics these day (since the Works cut back) and all the pastels I buy to 'shave' for weathering are Hobbycraft. I came to it via a painting course in Mackamland. dh

That's amazin that pic and your description: 12 miles up from the sea, water now brackish, old industry only visible at low tide, replaced by housing... Them 'poetic' tower blocks look exactly like Scotswood Road, Newcastle seen from Dunston staithes dh

Wey Aye Hinnie - 'Gannin' means 'going' ('mynd' in Welsh) Our German master* was from Jarrer and reckoned he found larnin Gorman easy in Hamburg - because they speak Plattdeutsch (Low German) very similar to Geordie dialect. He's the one that told us 'Electrischestrassenbahnwagenfuhrer' meant 'tramdriver' HTH dh *at a 1940s N Derbyshire Grammar school, a very Labour area politically, where our Head (the Boss) decreed 'scholars' doing German was the way to end World War.

OK Here's a stab at the 3 things to watch out for over that Leipzig tram's Dead Man's Handle. erst Oops! I see I'm about to turn left.... zwei Scheissen - there's ein Electrischestrassenbahnwagenfuhrer gannin full belt past in the opposite direction dritte phew that was a close one, but at least I don't have to worry about the trailing point Help the gate to the tram shed compound is shut ! please did I pass the examination ? dh