ParkeNd

Ah but does it prevent you from speeding up going downhill past speed cameras, and brake if someone pulls out of a side turning in front of you, and stop you varying your speed between 55 and 75 when you think you are doing a constant motorway speed?

I tend to agree with the person who posted that he finds that people sharing the same road is generally a remarkable demonstration of cooperation. However the use of smartphones at the wheel particularly by young women on the school run is potentially lethal - particularly noticeable when I am riding a bike as they drift across the road at you. This can only worsen eventually as car makers are committed to make interactive entertainment a feature of new cars which at some stage will filter down to school run usage. However one bad driving trait can be an advantage. Middle lane hogging. The new law has made zero difference to the M4 between Newport and the Severn Bridge in either direction. Virtually every car uses only the middle and outside lanes. Whilst it can be very dangerous on leaving the bridge toll booths as the cars at the left two or three booths drift straight across "their" lane without looking to get into the middle lane, the middle lane hogging does leave the left hand lane virtually empty and thus ideal for 67 mph on adaptive cruise control.

The honest answer to your question is "No". The shot you are looking at is a tiny part of my N gauge layout of Parkend in the Forest of Dean. Most of the track runs through forest and the view you have seen is just the approach to the station past the signal box and the newsagents shop (demolished in 1930 but living on in our 4th bedroom). Because most of what you can't see in this photo has bits of magnolia wall showing through the foliage I use a full length green background to make life easier when taking photos. My main hobby is photography so I made the layout to play trains and take photos. I have resisted any form of permanent back scene - it makes no difference to me when playing trains and cannot ever match the required perspective from every viewpoint and every height above the baseboard. So I have built up a library of backgrounds I have photographed - and I pick the one to suit the photos. Then Photoshop it in - which has taken quite a time to reach even my skill level. This is the original shot before the background was chosen - but the background does mimic the true background before houses were built in 1990.

It was until about 1965 - it's a real place.

N Gauge. Parkend on the Dean Forest Railway.

Yes Catweasel. Our third in a row. Bobbie.

Sorry - no sympathy from me.

This needs to be read with a Northern accent. The local priest was doing his rounds in a deprived part of Manchester. He had visited the houses of several families who had not been to Mass for weeks and was becoming depressed by the poverty and the evidence of excesses of the demon drink. But suddenly he spied a heart warming sight amongst all the gloom - a little girl of no more than five years old was sitting on the kerb cuddling an adorable little kitten. He strode up to her and said "That's a fine little kitten you have there - what's its name?" The little girl looked up at him with her bright blue eyes and said "Cookin Fat". The priest looked puzzled and asked "Who thought of that name my dear". Without hesitation the little girl replied "My Dad when he fell over it walking down the stairs"

The choo choo again. This time at Whitecroft Station on the DFR.

My Dean Forest Railway Society membership card arrived today so I am on more of a reasonable footing. I visited DFR today and spent ages talking to the excellent Peter at Whitecroft station who is painting the station building, opening and closing the gates, and doing all the platform duties all on his own. Peter showed me the exact positions where the signal box (currently delivered but needing restoration) needs moving to and how two sets of tracks need to be shifted by crane to align the planned passing loop. I am becoming quite fond of Whitecroft and will document in photographs the installation of the second platform and all it's associated work - to be posted on this thread as it happens. The following few photos are some of those I took today at Whitecroft and show what I am withering about. In the meantime the huge wall of coaches has been removed at Norchard where it was blocking the view of all the interesting stuff - great. It was a very busy day with car parks full and 5 coach trains packed. Great stuff.

When part exchanging my last three cars at a major brand dealership when just three years old with FSH all in a neat folder I found that in all three cases the new owners did not have the documents passed on to them. My impression is that presenting FSH when selling saves them knocking off part of the offer for your car - but if they were to pass the documents on to the new owner then they could not bump up the first service bill for the new owner by replacing parts that had already been changed - so they keep them.

Yes - like at the junction of the M4 and M5 near Bristol. Leave the variable speed limit permanently at 60 mph and catch more people doing 70 mph. Which is what they do most of the time - traffic congestion with no more than 10 vehicles visible on the road.

Maybe a bit out of the ordinary.

This is a real class photo of the inside of Lydney Junction signal box. Thanks so much for adding them to the thread . I shall go over on Wednesday - and thanks for the tip about Friday.

As soon as his hair was straightened he unexpectedly picked up the lamp, walked to the other end of the loco and hung it on the back of the coal bunker, and then got into the cab, and the train left the terminus in reverse. The loco had previously run around its train - so the driver could straighten his hair.

An extra nervous looking young woman sat down opposite the doctor when it was her turn for her appointment. The male doctor asked "And what can I do for you?" She started to speak but thought better of it and clammed up. So the doctor said "It's OK - just take your time". So she started again "This is very embarrassing. I'm worried that I'm ------------" And with that she clammed up again. The doctor assured her that the door was shut and that no-one could hear her. So she started again - "I'm worried that I am excessively kinky". With that she went bright red, got up and headed for the door. Realising that he had to put her at her ease, before she reached for the door handle, he intoned "That's not out of the ordinary - I am in fact very kinky myself". She half turned and said "You are only saying that just to stop me leaving". "No no" he said "I'll prove it - go and stand in the corner facing the wall and bend over and grip your ankles - and I'll do something kinky". So the woman did as she was bid and clung to her ankles for a full five minutes in anticipation". Nothing happened so she stood up and turned around and there was the doctor sitting at his desk writing his notes up. "I knew you were conning me" she wailed "you said you were going to do something kinky - and nothing happened". The doctor looked over his half frame glasses and said "I always keep my word - I've peed in your handbag".

Sorry. I meant it's a choo choo.

A bit of a different placement - on the road !! Dean Forest Railway's slope tanked prairie 5541 crossing the road up from Lydney Docks and just entering Lydney Junction. Edited to correct description to prairie.

You don't have to. Just tick a box on the category you are looking at eg Diesels-Farish and used locos are excluded.

A woman was watching from behind her net curtains as the new neighbours were moving into the house next door. After seeing what sort of settee and chairs they had as they were carried in she was dismayed to see a rabbit hutch carried into the back garden. Whilst the house had stood empty her own Alsation dog had got used to squeezing through the hedge and burying bones in next doors flower beds and going to retrieve them later. So she vowed only to let the dog out in the garden on its lead. All went well for about two weeks but one afternoon as she was watching TV she noticed the dog was missing. Before she could get up the Alsation appeared with something white and fluffy in its jaws. Horror of horrors it was a domestic rabbit - stone dead and covered in dirt where the dog had tossed it about. She panicked but retrieved the rabbit, washed it clean with Persil, and blow dried it with the hairdryer. When she saw the neighbours go out she crept round and posed the rabbit in the corner of the hutch as realistically as she could. The next day she was hanging out the washing when the new neighbour came out to do the same thing. "Hello" she called across the hedge "how are you liking it round here?" The neighbour replied "The house is great - but there are some really sick people around here. The day after we moved here my little girls pet rabbit died and we had to bury it in the garden. Some sick person has dug it up and put it back in the hutch"

Hi Alistair. Thanks for the very open, honest, and informative reply. Whilst I still think that some of the actions (leaving new clutter in customers view where they take photos they show their friends) are careless and shortsighted, at least some of the DFR team seem to be in agreement - and this is good. The muck just left for other people to clear up later after jobs (see all the green bags and wood offcuts behind the new gate) could be educated out and thus not need volunteers time to clear up. Whilst I am getting myself hung - the trolley shed is just plain ugly - is that the only place it could go amongst the foxgloves on a nice green bank - or is it the shortest distance from the crew wagon? The line side vegetation clearance is superb though as shown in your photo, and Parkend remains the jewell in the crown. Please carry on posting on this thread - your photo is great. Got any more?

5541 slope tanked prairie just run around it's train and being prepared to leave Lydney Junction on the Dean Forest Railway bunker first for St Mary's Halt and Norchard.

I do think that it is a local thing though I wouldn't write off the whole of Gloucestershire and Herefordshire - it's mainly the Forest and it used to be more ingrained than now. Going twee like Surrey would be going too far, but as even more of us outsiders move in the just chuck it aside when finished approach should dilute further. In the short term some DFR general management housekeeping tours might kick off some changes for the better.

If the lowest price is what matters then take your chance on EBay. For cameras this means grey imports with meaningless guarantees. For model trains it can mean almost anything. But if honesty, reliability, and dependability come into your requirements then Hattons will be a better bet even if the price is not rock bottom.