big jim

first thing I thought….

Just booked a survey for solar panels, gonna have to try hard not to say ‘I don’t believe it’ if it’s a good price!!

Unsold and off the market https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/britains-loneliest-home-taken-market-32179965

And the pictures from my short trip out! drove to longport and caught the train from there, annoyingly the 08:10 derby train from crewe doesn’t stop at longport for some reason so I had to get there for 07:50 and catch a train to Stoke where I’ve got a 35 min wait! longport into Stoke, consecutive numbered voyagers Pendolino then noticed a crewe to derby RTC was on its way which was a pair of GB 73s And on video I then got the call to say it was cancelled so I went over to the other platform and got the train back to longport war memorial archway 170 back off til Wednesday now, coton hill stone job

69009 to longport move cancelled, was en route to toton when I found out, the sleeper conduct was also cancelled so (so far) I’ve had an easy day!

There was a scale model show on today in my lads school in Nantwich so we went along for a look, I wanted to get some fine brushes and possibly get some advice on figure painting, which I managed to get so I bought myself a small bust of my wife’s fave Henry Cavell to have a go at painting and detailing up, quite pleased with how it came out for a first go I then decided to build a laser cut building that’s been sat in my cupboard since a pre lockdown warley show! it’s from petite properties and is a nice simple low relief workers cottage, I was going to do it red brick but realised that the brick paper I have is 0 gauge so I finished it in rustic stone, I made a bit of a mess cutting round the door and window apertures and very nearly gave it up as a bad job but I managed to tidy it up a bit so it’s not too noticeable, I painted the edges black around the windows but changed it to white to look like pvc frames which made a big difference and gave me a bit more confidence to carry on the roof is time consuming as each strip of tiles is individual to be glued down one at a time, they are very thin laser cut card got one small end to do before giving it a coat of primer and top coat then a wash etc going to have to do some studying to see how to weather it effectively, really not got a clue! I’ve got to finish the chimney stacks and pots and I’m going to get hold of some guttering and downpipes, also looking at how to make the likes of electric meter boxes and EV chargers to bring the building up to date, also need to add curtains and door furniture etc quite pleased with it so far

Back to it with a short Langley green to bescot trip with the rail miller, 66716 and 66708 top and tail Langley green and into bescot Conducting the sleeper train in the morning then over to toton for 69009 to longport

Rattle tin time again, another work collegues kid had their head shaved for charity, the hair donated to make wigs for children with cancer i only found out about it today otherwise I’d have posted it earlier on in the fundraising, not far off the target now though https://www.justgiving.com/page/flynnmillward-1708041543167?utm_medium=fundraising&utm_content=pag

it’s in Doncaster now, travelled up overnight, as I’ve put above I’ve got it Monday morning to longport which should be interesting

Back to it Sunday morning after a week off decent week coming up by the looks of it too, rowley Regis to bescot engineers on Sunday, conduct the sleepers and moving 69009 to longport on Monday (@08221 coming via uttoxeter if your about) coton hill stone Wednesday, 805 testing Thursday, weedsprayer to Bewdley (SVR) Friday night and bescot to Worcester shrub hill on Saturday!

Oooh, guess which loco I’ve got on Monday!

I keep suggesting it to John smith but no luck yet, I think as the first reply when I asked him ended in ‘off’ might say it’s not going to happen

I like that!

Last day of my week away in burnham in sea, also my birthday so going to head into Weston super mare again later to have something to eat and another look in the 2nd hand shop I picked up a Kernow 4TC for £100 from earlier in the week been a nice week away, done very little, just spent the time relaxing and playing it by ear day to day back to work on Sunday though

It’s only Hank that comes in and sits on the layout, the other 2 don’t bother Likes to sit on the back of the chair while I’m painting too

there’s a fantastic picture of on an NSE class 50 on an engineers train at brierley hill on the now closed Stourbridge to walsall line and I’m sure it’s 50017, can’t find it now though, looked on Flickr but no joy, only one of 50018 edit: found the pic but it’s 018 as per other pics I found of the same location on a different day http://bescotplus.co.uk/trains/50018_9M01

Whilst looking for something else I came across this thread, what’s happening/happened to BCB? can we expect it at the NEC show maybe?

In wondered why they went right out to see on the old maps, I couldn’t work out if there was an old pier or something that had been removed but that explains it the NG rails I photographed were right at the south end of the esplanade about 1/2 mile south of the main railway, the area has been redeveloped over the years by the looks of it so I wonder if there might have been an old boat yard there at some point, it just looks like a little line to get small supplies down from the road toward the little marina thing on the tidal inlet

Rails down to the river in burnham on sea front

Ghost(ish) in the machine as they were installed in 2018 but nice to see all the same burnham on sea old excursion platform signal box Buffer stop and the original goods shed

Not eBay but got a couple of bargains today, I’m on my hols in Somerset and went into Weston super mare this afternoon, my lad spotted a Lego sign on a shop so we went to have a look and it turned out the shop was a toy/collectors shop who bought and sold used items including trains spotred what looked like a Bachmann MK1 coach for £30 which seemed a bit expensive then I spotted another 3 and on closer inspection I realised it was a southern unit of some sort as a couple of coaches had yellow ends which may be worth looking at for £120, asked the guy if it was the best he could do and he said he’d do the 4 coaches for £100 turns out its a Kernow 4TC unit! was just about to pay for it and I also spotted a Heljan Falcon for £80 which I got down to £70, it’s missing a buffer beam at one end but I’m sure I can get one as a spare, as I was photographing it I noticed it says ‘DCC and sound fitted for Olivia’s trains’ on the label, just took the body off to check and it’s been removed, had it have been in there it would have been bargain if the year but still happy with it for £70!

Can I ask for 56081 in this livery….

Could well be, I wasn’t exactly technical with my question!

I’ve just asked my mate at LSL and he says the black does have a tinge of brown to it, I’ll see if I can get the ral code at some point

LSL have purposely painted 37409 in scotrail livery, it’s not a mistake, there hasn’t been one before but it will run with their push pull set