Paperlad

Just for clarity it’s a Chimaera 400, in the TVR world it’s the one for the softies! It was first registered in Northwich so you’re bang on with Cheshire. I’ve had it just over two years but it’s got a full service history (and every MOT) since new. Only 47000 miles after almost 21 years. It’s always a pleasant surprise when it starts but if I’m honest (and not wishing to totally destroy the image) other than an old, flat battery, it’s not broken down whilst in my ownership...yet.

Nice Griff. I took mine out of the garage today for a proper, pre season polish (I think the modern phrase is detailed!) but given our current restrictions it went straight back in after I’d finished. I can wait another couple of weeks or so before we go for a drive.

It would appear that our eldest daughter has CV! Suddenly it all becomes very real and no longer just press reports and statistics. She’s 29 and a school teacher, sent home today to self isolate for 14 days. She has all the symptoms eg fever, constant dry cough, aching muscles etc but as only hospital admissions are now being tested we can’t be certain that it is C -19 although it’s pretty obvious. I guess, because of her youth, she’ll feel crap for a few days and then recover. Mrs PL and I spent some time with her over the weekend so we could have too, only time will tell as the incubation period is up to 7 days. I’ll keep you posted.

Not quite, there are still a number undergoing treatment but not yet fully recovered (or deceased!). PL

For those interested in statistics, I found this...... https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/?fbclid=IwAR3xD7yl9tEbGRIUyciDN_UHCAY9SFshvNcAaFuxNBla93G9GmQ7_eZsIms#countries interestingly it shows the number of recoveries (by country) which I’ve not seen in any of the mainstream media. PL.

I tried to run mine today and it seems to be busted! No decoder fitted yet, so I was trying it on DC, the driving wheels went round about a quarter turn and then stopped. If I apply power now the motor buzzes but there is no movement, which suggests that somfink is jammed up. I’ll have a proper look tomorrow and see if it’s easily rectified.

Not wishing to sound smug but my R3809 arrived today and from Hattons too, so I’ve no complaints. it is very small and delicate to the point where I may not fit it with a decoder or run it. A word of caution when unpacking, the coach foot steps are very easy to bend when releasing them from the foam insert and the wheels on bottom most coach had become ‘stuck’ to the packing. Some pics to help with judging how small it is. Yes, I know the Garratt is very dusty but it’s not run since a motor burnt out over a year ago!

I rang Hattons on Sat (22nd) to ask about expected delivery date, I was told that Hattons should receive their orders at the end of this week, they will then need to process orders and send out. Based on the info I’m expecting my Ltd edition Rocket sometime next week. PL

Just finished episode 3. It’s all a bit rubbish, clearly a big budget series with good effects and sets but the storyline (the bit I understand) is pants. Only my opinion. PL.

All my fond memories of my love waggon destroyed in a single post. Anyroad, it had a bench seat somewhere, maybe I’m thinking of the oft occupied rear seat, after all it was 43 years ago that I owned it. It finally went to the scrap yard after I unintentionally took it off roading on a snowy night. A sad day but great times. Thank you stewartingram for the photoshop treatment. PL

and here it is, sorry about the quality though!

In pic 4 there’s a Vauxhall Victor estate, my very first car was one of those, a 1969 Victor 2000 with three speed column change and bench front seat, all finished in a light (dove?) grey. It was as leaky as a sieve and a bit of a rot box but I thought it was great and I loved ‘cruising’ about in it . I’ll see if I can dig out a picture of it.

Oh what, I’ve been considering it for the past couple of years and always manage to talk myself out of it and now you mention it too. You’re a very bad person

New Year resolutions never last! I had promised myself that I would stop buying big stuff and concentrate on smaller, industrial locomotives but I might just ‘need’ one of these. It’s a diabolical Hornby conspiracy

I have just Pre-ordered Ltd Edition one. As soon as I saw it, and irrespective of era or region, in my opinion it is simply a ‘must have’! Well done Hornby. PL.

A few ramblings from me: In the recent past I was definitely in denial about climate change and certainly the effect of human influence. However, time and my opinions have changed about the subject but I have a major problem with the way we are being told about it. I’m not sure who is worse, the Greta’s of this world who are almost screaming that we (adults) have destroyed her future or the absolute denyers (is that a word?) depicted in the Russian video and elsewhere. In my opinion it would be much better to have objective views, from both sides, without political or emotional bias. It seems that whatever I do someone says it’s bad, including the car I drive, the food we eat, power we use, the plastics I use and even the clothes I wear....doubtless a myriad of other things that I consume incorrectly too....and frankly I’m fed up up of being told that everything that I’ve worked for has ruined the planet for future generations! Which brings me on to ‘what can I do’ to make things better? I can recycle using the multiple bins that we have but then I read about the majority of it being shipped out to the Far East! I can drive an almost pollution free car but then I’m told that the materials used in its manufacture have a bigger impact than a modern conventional petrol or diesel car. I mustn’t fly anymore (my job before retirement, so I’m clearly a villain), I can’t eat meat, it goes on. Then I consider what my personal contribution is when I ‘recycle’ everything that I can? The answer is very little in the context of our population and national industry. Even if the whole of UK went back to living off the land it would make little difference in the global picture when I consider the populations/industry of China, India Brazil etc. Perhaps the boffins have, or will have, some answers because I certainly don’t. In summary, I’ll continue doing my little bit but I’m getting really hacked off with being preached at about our ‘climate emergency’ by the media and all the others who claim to know better. Maybe I’m not the only one? Anyroad, just my disjointed thoughts about the whole subject and I definitely don’t have a political or financial motive. PL.

Just in case anyone isn’t already aware there’s a UK project to restore a combat veteran Typhoon to flying condition. https://hawkertyphoon.com/ PL.

We had cameras fitted in Sept ‘18 after some strange occurrences with the exterior lighting. The system is Hikvision HD and the picture quality is excellent. I think a bit of paranoia set in after reading media reports about the declining numbers of police, local reports of ‘chancers’ trying car and house doors and we’re in a mostly rural location. We went through weeks of shall we, shan’t we before opting to have them installed. Since they were fitted they’ve been useful on two occasions. The first was when three young lads stole some eggs from a local farm and were recorded throwing them at the house, the second event was two females dumping a pile of McDonalds food cartons out of a car window directly opposite the drive. Neither occurrence was the ‘crime of the century’ but both times we were able to identify the culprits (the second from the registration num of the car) and by speaking directly to those involved the matters were easily resolved. I guess cameras can be a deterrent if they are clearly visible and other than the two events listed there’s not been anything of note but I doubt that really proves anything. I do find myself checking the cameras regularly and they’re a great way of finding our cats when they hide in the bushes at night.

As an aside, a mile or so walk along the Cleveland Way (south from Ravenscar) is a disused WWII radar station that's well worth a mooch around. I seem to remember that it's owned by the National Trust (or summat) and was originally built to observe shipping in the interwar years. Whatever your interest, it's a spectacular part of the U.K. The 'spotter' with the bald head n 'noculars is me!

Ravenhall hotel is where we stayed on both visits, a lovely place especially if you like being away from town.

I have some photos after a recent visit (Nov '18 and Feb '19) to Ravenscar, I hope they're of interest. Ravenscar tunnel entrance. Yes, we did go inside and walk the full length). The track bed around Robin Hood Bay. Kettlness station, now belongs to the Scouts. Staithes goods shed. Staithes station. Now two private houses. Ravenscar station. The remains of Staithes viaduct. Regards PL.

I had a bash at weathering mine but I'm no expert and the result could have been better (I can't really blame the phonecam either). I figured that even if I ruined it it wouldn't be outrageously expensive to replace it. PS. the layout is a work in progress too!

The rear motor on my Garratt gave up today with a little puff of smoke! It was running erratically on DCC so I lubed the motion, cleaned up the electrical pickups, removed the decoder and tried it on DC. I ran it forwards about twelve inches and then in reverse for about 2 seconds before there was a 'crack' and a small puff of blue smoke. Silly me thinking I'd got away with the motor problems. I haven't tried yet but is it still possible to get original replacement motors?

From my log book, I last flew AFV on 27/10/2016:

A nice pic of one from my old outfit. I can't see the registration but I'll have 'a few hours' on it. Clearly shown is the strange 'bump' above the nose landing gear. It's there to alter the position of the nose gear and gives the freighter a higher nose during ground ops, thereby leveling the cargo deck for loading/unloading. The passenger 330 has a distinct nose down attitude when on the ground. PL