Hibelroad

I tried some once and it ended up looking like ground covered in teddy bear fur, so I gave up on it.

Why the reference to 1833? more L&M stuff ?

I haven’t followed the layout plan, I’m not a fan of large meandering layouts, but I was also struck by the immensity of the room. Searching online failed to find houses costing millions which actually have a 51 foot long room.

Wot, a seat on TV programme ? Or am I showing my age now.

Ok I know the NHS isn’t actually free, it is more of an insurance scheme where many pay but only some benefit. So to get back to the thread perhaps you know you are getting old when you get more value from the NHS than you have actually paid in (like me 😁).

In Wales and Scotland prescriptions are free for everyone, I don’t know why they charge in England but as has been noted even £10 an item can be a bargain compared to the true cost of some pills.

I don’t see the sale of 1000 00 gauge locos as flooding the market, type 00 gauge locos into eBay and you get 34000 results. Not all of those will be actual individually boxes locos but it does put things into perspective. Looking at it another way 1000 is probably an average production run of any particular model from current manufacturers.

You know you are getting old when the most important item in your tool bag is a packet of Co-codamol.

I would never buy model railway items for profit, it is very much a field where if you want to make a small fortune you need to start with a large fortune. The auction house will have put in a lot of work in collecting, sorting and cataloging all those items so I doubt they made too much profit. Just enjoy the models you have, if you do need to sell in the future due to changing scale or whatever then just accept the going rate, if you make a profit that will be a bonus.

Sign of getting old? still being attracted to 25 year old women but thinking there would be nothing better than sitting down and having a nice cup of tea with them.

The Blue Pullman. I had a card from Kellogg’s corn flakes depicting this DMU and I hoped to see it on my occasional trips to Manchester London Road. Unfortunately being only 4 or 5 at the time I didn’t know it went from Central station and no one explained that to me.

I’m not sure that rule1 overrides the laws of physics.

Charging extra for postage too!

The traditional way would be to scribe plastikard sheet and cut out arcs to fit the windows. Yorkmodelrail.com make a range of headers but they are sized to fit their window range so may not fit.

If you have access to Railway Modeller on line archive then there is an article in January 2000 about making baseboard from foam board. Also Gordon Gravett has built a lightweight board for Arun Quay using very thin ply box girders around a foam core. Unfortunately I don't know of any article which explains this in more detail.

A quick bit of googling suggests it is unlikely as the cutting head is mounted on a fixed xy movement frame. I could only suggest looking for laser cutting firms within Australia and asking what they can offer, but being a traditional sawdust and shavings man myself I’m no expert.

I seem to remember reading about Iain Rice pondering the improvements to RTR a good few years ago and wondering if this would give modellers more time to improve the detailing of track, buildings and scenery. I’m not sure if it has.

I’ve used cellulose thinners on my own kit built and soldered models, works a treat. Would not be any good if there are any plastic parts or glue though.

Very sad news. I once saw Tony when he had a demonstration stand at Telford some years ago, he was an inspiration and clearly a great craftsman.

The LNWR versions sold out too but I think there is a lack of interest in LMS at the moment. This is evident in the scarcity of LMS layouts in the magazines., which is a shame.

I worked at Traws in 1977, I must of just missed you! I did go on a guided tour in the lateish 90s when it was being decommissioned but I think those have ended now.

I’m firmly in the “all graffiti is vandalism” camp so I’m surprised that it’s now being offered as a form of weathering on models. It may be realistic but to me it’s a step too far and I prefer my models to reflect a more rose tinted view of the world.

Another common misconception is that radiation spreads like a disease or virus. Obviously it doesn’t and it’s a lot easier to detect and control than a virus.

Signalling is very much a neglected feature on many otherwise highly detailed layouts. Part of the problem is that the whole area is somewhat mysterious, partly due to the fact that there are few magazine articles or books explaining what it’s all about and how to model signals and associated equipment correctly. I’m am guilty of neglecting signalling mainly due to ignorance and would agree that it’s a subject deserving wider discussion.

When I first started work with the electricity board ( early 70s) we had a man with a van who spent all day touring the area looking for trees and bushes to lop before they reached the lines. He did much of the work himself and his donkey jacket had rather a green appearance due to all the algae and moss off the bark. He has a good working relationship with the hill farmers and spoke their lingo ( like Gerald in Clarksons farm or the farmer in Hot fuzz). As a result we had very few vegetation related faults but I suspect such a job would be seen as an avoidable expense these days.