big jim

That’s the multi-storey that’s attached to the shopping precinct with a bridge over the A41 lookjng forward to seeing the vid from our return trip, told my trainee you’d probably be there! today was bescot to Donnington and back with just 4 empty wagons going in uncoupling running round didn’t take long to load so we were early and as the line beyond Wellington is blocked due to a landslide we had the line to ourselves so we went into the station for our break, road learned the route to the pick and mix stall in the market! ran round in crewe where we got the shock of our lives as our CEO John Smith appeared at our side window as we were waiting for the signal to continue the run round, had a brief chat before continuing the run round and coupling up, there are a couple of vids and pics on twitter LSL were testing 60532 “Blue Peter” within their yard and I’ve got to say it’s an absolute stunner, finished in express loco blue, blowing off nicely, managed to get to the end of the ramp and grab a piccie we headed off via Stoke for some reason to Stafford where I was supposed it get off and travel home to crewe due to the turn length but my relief didn’t bring my hire car back from bescot for me so I had to stay on board to go and collect it! DB 66 passing bescot as I got off short job tomorrow Nuneaton to crewe

Same(ish) again job, started in Aylesbury today though, access was via the carriage sidings Into the station again changing ends in risborough and into hinksey Donnington tomorrow

yeah, grateful for that, he was just about to get onto the dual carriageway at the next roundabout so would have been up to 70mph

I’ve got him to order a full set of tyres for it just to be safe, the guy I got it off has offered me a couple of replacement partworns which I’ll probably take ‘just incase’ but I’d feel happier with him having 4 decent ones fitted, also booked it in for tracking

It was going so well, dom was driving to work this morning and the tyre has ripped off the rim for some reason, thankfully he was only on an A road and not going fast! looking at the other front tyre that’s looking a bit perished so I suspect that one was the same, we knew the tracking needed doing as it was pulling a bit to the left so I suspect the extra stress on the tyre didn’t help, nothing showing on the MOT though, no advisories for the tyres I just happened to be 2 roundabouts away when he called me so I rushed round and managed to move the car to a lay-by 25m away, very slowly on the remaining rubber so hopefully the rim will be ok Used my car to drop him at work and currently sat waiting for green flag, just what I need at the end of a night shift!

always seemed so futuristic that unit, exciting to see, think i rode on it once, I certainly cabbed it in derby though! last time I saw it was in the shed at Llandudno jn awaiting its fate, they were cut up in crewe in 2004 according to Wikipedia

Back to it today, gt missenden to hinksey top and tail ballast train 66301 in gt missenden, we had to head south a bit to cross over and head back to Aylesbury 66302 at the other end, we were signalled off the platform to allow us to get the back end behind signal to get to princes risborough Back to the other end again And changing again in risborough! Heading north again! Into hinksey where the DB shunter took it off us and put it away Pretty much doing the same again tomorrow

the cost of even getting it somewhere near presentable both for the MOT and apperance wise is way more than it would cost to buy a replacement in far better nick it’s got bid up to £460 now anyway so as long as the roof get a bid he’s in profit with it

We have been to a funeral today so before we sat off dom wanted to mourn his MX5 too!

And bought!

The guy we got the MX5 off has a Saab 9.3 TDI with 12 months test for £500 that dom has just looked at the insurance for and it will cost him and extra £200 to change to so we’re going to have a look at that in a min, crazy they will insure him on a 1.9 family barge but not a like for like 1.6 that he’s been driving round in for 7 months!

there’s nothing I want in there as it’s all 7mm, although I did find a single 4mm ratio security fencing pack and some useable fox hazchem decals im going to split it into lots, seats, signals, doors and windows, scenic items etc, probable list them on the next 80% off fees day as I won’t have time to do it before my current offer ends tomorrow

Thanks all, very useful, I picked them up for £7 a piece which I think is pretty good given the finish on them, they don’t run very freely so will just be siding material on the heritage part of my layout (whenever I get round to starting the scenics!) Ah yes, I can see it now! Couldn’t with mk1 eyeballs but god bless iPhone zoom!

Done a @hayfield today and picked up a load of assorted bits and bobs from a market stall, was labelled £20 the lot, all 7mm stuff, white metal, brass, resin etc seems to be lots of MSE bits to make up signals, there’s posts, ladders, lamps, signal arms, scale link clock etches and canopy boards, DM white metal fencing panels, SD models buffer stops, a few Langley items such as an etched phone box, Southwark bridge models LSWR platform seats x4 and other bits from 10 commandments and slaters to name but a few! cant decide whether to sell it on as job lot or try and split it to smaller lots such as the seats and signalling stuff on its own etc

It’s not so much changing insurance companies as he’ll no doubt do that when he’s due to renew as if he does that now just to insure another MX5 he’s lost his accumulated no claims and he’s back to square one trying to build up his first years NCD again weve found a few minis about that should see him through til August to get the all important first year in but hopefully he might realise after a few months of driving something ‘sensible’ with a metal roof having an old rattly sports car isn’t the be all and end all tbh I’m liking this for him…. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/285754558611?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=hZmBhohDQse&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=TJORlFVXTTy&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

can anyone identify the wagon types for me as well as possible manufacturers, I picked them up cheap last week as rhey looked well made and finished for the money prototype wise the one with the wagon is a Loriot C if the decal is to be believed but the other which I assume is some sort of glass panel carrier is unbranded manufacturer wise the loriot isn’t marked at all but the other one says A model underneath, both wagons are white metal by the looks of it, certainly no plastic anywhere on either of them

it’s booked via crewe both ways anyway so I’ll get there, just been to Wellington shopping and the station car park is noticeably empty compared to normal so it goes to show how many people use the train into the likes of brum I’ve seen pics of the landslide and it’s pretty much where new Hadley station used to be, the whole area was a derelict wasteland until about 3 years ago, looked like old quarry workings, then surprise surprise it was developed into a housing estate with new roads and paved areas and low and behold a landslide happens!

Spoke to his insurance and they won’t insure him on the like for like MX5, so he’s going to have to look elsewhere and will lose his accumulated NCD if he starts with a new company either that or buy the run around and run that until he’s got the year in, but again he looking at having to add to his already paid premium unless we find the right car personally I think he’s better off finding a run around for 6 months than lose his NCD as when getting quotes last night it was making over £1000 difference on some quotes Easily £800 of chassis and cill repairs are needed, then there’s the calliper, rear discs and pads as well then to properly repair the rear arches is going to be £500+ and it would need painting too, the garage he works at said pre mot that if it did get through he’d be lucky to get another year out of it, it would end up like the forth bridge, finish one bit and start on the next and back to the start again! EDIT: found he can insure something like a Mini Cooper for about £100 extra, some half decent ones knocking about for sub £1000 so I think we might head down that route for now

We have a bit of a predicament regards a replacement car, found plenty of other stuff but he simply can’t get insurance on them, even looking at switching to an 1.8 mx5 is a no no, if he wanted to do that he would have to start a new policy at £2.4K a year and lose his accumulated 7 months worth of NCD we looked at insurance for a 1.4 civic that my mate has for sale for £750 and they want an extra £730 on top of the £1500 he’s already paid for the current MX5 insurance just to insure that, so even to just buy a run about to build his no claims up is going to cost £1500 more! the only solution we can come up with is the mx5 with the dodgy 2019 MOT that I highlighted on the previous page, that’s identical to his current car in every way apart from it’s a couple of years newer so a change shouldn’t cost anything other than the change of vehicle fee however when he put the reg in on his on line policy it says he needs to ring them to discuss it (which we’ll do later this morning) if they say they won’t insure him on it then questions need asking! my thinking behind that car is it’s MOTd until late August which by that time he will have his first years no claims (hopefully!) so should it go for it’s mot and fail spectacularly it’s going to be a case of doing as he’s done now and sell it on for spares or repairs and look for something different with his one years NCD, if it passes then he can keep it and hopefully insure it cheaper using the NCD it’s not an ideal solution but it’s the best one to keep his insurance going to build up to his first year and the one that will be the least outlay from his pocket, the guy said he will take £1300 for it with the hardtop but has said to come and have a look first as it’s got a few scrapes and marks (it looks better externally than Dom’s car from the pics though) Dom’s car is up on eBay and has a bid at £350 with a week to go, the hard top is up for £250 with people watching so if they both sell at those prices then he will have had a years free motoring (apart from consumables of course) as he only paid £600 for it anyway, of course that money will go toward the new MX5 meaning his outlay for that should only be £700 its all very complicated! Dom’s car https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/386842497838?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=TJORlFVXTTy&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=TJORlFVXTTy&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY The one we’re going to look at https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/395251031997?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=QvP3T6_WRDC&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=TJORlFVXTTy&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Only a few from today, crewe to kineton and light loco back to Oxford crewe running round in fenny compton picking the token up for the single line to kineton and into Oxford light loco after dropping the wagons off train home from there, back in on Tuesday next, got a trainee with me for the first time in a while, gt missenden to hinksey for a couple of days, bescot to Donnington and back, nuneaton to crewe and an 805 to Carlisle to round the week off

the description does say it’s in a house they have bought and they need em gone , bet they end up in a skip

im counting 3 big American n gauge smaller triangular n gauge, possibly British as that has a red telephone box on it, I wonder if that’s the one the seller thinks might be Norwich (crown point triangle area) a British oo branch line terminal the strange thing is the more i look at the pictures the more i can smell the room

A quick can you just, crewe to Nuneaton walking down to basford hall, this should be in the ‘when the real thing looks like a model’ thread! 66719 to nuneaton Pendolino back again job done, so quick that when I got back to the car my McDonald’s Coke still had a big block of ice in it! another can you just later crewe to Oxford with a train from Donnington next week looks to be a couple of possessions at great missenden, another Donnington job and a light loco somewhere or other

Dunno whether to put this in eBay madness or good buy thread but an interesting item for someone in the Norwich area with room and not a ridiculous price! https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/204683929624?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=vVYiqDAURm2&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=TJORlFVXTTy&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

I’ve already got a modified Mini Cooper S and he’s going nowhere near that! must admit I did try and get him on my diesel Skoda superb insurance as a named driver but again they wouldn’t touch him as a new driver, I may be able to add him once he’s been driving for a year