railsquid

I wonder where India outsources its call-centre support to?

There's a thread for people like you (and me)

Just the thing(s) I need for my Zombie Apocalypse layout

WAKEY WAKEY! It's a fine sunny morning here in Tokyo (and I've just spilt some coffee on my keyboard)

DId you forget to turn the dark off?

What's a "Cyber Monday" when it's at home?

Back on topic, how about - for exhibitions held in autumn - taking a mixed bag of leaves and asking the operator what kinds are the "right sort" for their layout? In winter maybe some different types of snow, though you'd have to work out a way of keeping it frozen.

There was a model shop in Redditch in one of the shops surrounding the "market square" (a dismal municipal precinct in the shopping centre) where I bought my first rolling stock with my own pocket money (a Mainline flatbed wagon, cost me around GBP 1.35). It wasn't a proper model shop, the main business was a photo studio and I don't think they sold much in the way of accessories. No idea what it was called, and it vanished without traced a couple of years later, by which time I was taking my (modest) business to Beatties above Birmingham New Street station.

Dull, damp foggy morning here in Tokyo, which is kind of unusual as normally it's either raining, just overcast or bright and sunny, with nothing much in-between. My thoughts go out to the commuters of the city as I start my working day from home, as usual

And here's the lunch itself. DIY boiling job in the pot visible on the left. Very tasty (Kobe beef).

Here in Japan, Christmas is not what you'd call part of the traditional culture, but our street is already lit up like... well like a Christmas tree. There's one popular item which consists of a rope ladder being climbed by three round Santas hung from an upstairs window, which gives the impression Tokyo is under siege from cheeky dwarf burglars.

Good morning, precipitating it down here in Tokyo. Still, it's good for the crops. Off to a shabu-shabu lunch later with the in-laws.

Good heavens, is that the time? Beer'o'clock on the radar to round off this dull, overcast Tokyo day. Today's useless factlet I encountered in the course of my employment: apparently it takes three days to ship a replacement laptop screen from Hong Kong to Chile.

Good morning... I see the darkness-sucking orb in the sky is making its daily perambulation westwards.

I hope it was to a nice romantic candle-lit restaurant

Why thank you! It's a nice place to hang out and feel smug that I'm 9 hours ahead of most of you and am about to clock off while you deal with this whole morning business

Technically it's not morning, just a failure of darkness.

My mother is spending her retirement digging through the family history; some stonemasons who built York Minster are in there, a possible connection with Charles Babbage (he of Victorian computer fame and pickled brain), at least one murderer, various convicted thieves and the odd madperson. And gene tests indicated on my father's side I'm descended from an ancient King of Ireland, albeit very probably illegitimately, which is kind of preventing me from raising an army and going over there to claim back my rightful heritage.

Good morning from a somewhat chilly but sunny Tokyo

A cold rainy evening here in Tokyo, in the middle conference call with the UK to finish off a long day...

Yes, I still have that class 33, my very first loco. Interesting read on that site, thanks.

Evening, slackers. Sun is already down here.

Fascinating, thanks. I believe the viaducts had to be strengthened at some point with the addition of an inner arch of bricks; I'll see if I can find the source if anyone's interested.

I blame the Mrs. for my addiction... having long since abandoned any model railway ambitions, by chance I wandered through a 2nd-hand model railway shop here in Tokyo, picked up a single non-powered N-gauge car of the type which runs on our local line thinking it would look kind of neat on the bookshelf, not long thereafter the Mrs. sees it and demands to know why it's not powered and why I don't have more track for it. To cut a long story short, a few months later and I have an actual baseboard with some track on it which will get permanently affixed at some point. Even better, it turns out the Mrs. can't tell one box with wheels from another (at the last count I now have about 25 powered units), though she picks up on every minor scenery change and is concerned by the continued absence of catenary masts.

Hi, railsquid here. These pictures were taken in the Eberswalder Straße in the Prenzlauer Berg district, somewhat to the north of Friedrichstraße. The elevated railway line in the background is former U-Bahn line A, now the U2, running along the Schönhauser Allee; Dimitroffstraße station (now Eberswalder Straße) is just to the left, though not visible. The former Dimitroffstraße itself, now Danziger Straße is the continuation of the Eberswalder Straße on the other side of the U-Bahn line. There are also trams running on the Schönhauser Allee parallel to the U-Bahn line, at least one route (I forget the old numbers...) would have run through to Friedrichstraße, although at the time the trams were routed around the back streets to the east of the station and changing there wasn't very convenient. If the photographer had turned round and marched down the Eberswalder Straße to the west, he would have found the Berlin Wall blocking his path, and the trams terminating shortly before it. The tram line has been since extended to the west, along what is effectively Berlin's inner ring road, and is currently being extended to the new Hauptbahnhof. The old turning loop is still there and in occasional use. I know this because I lived in the immediate area for many years from about 1991 and spend some time in the area last month Dussmann.