Sir TophamHatt

I really don't think the media helps with situations like this. If the BBC didn't report it, I wouldn't have known. Luckily, I filled up just a couple days ago so have another 500 miles in the tank - not that it'll last long with my commute, but at least a couple of weeks and then I'm pretty much on annual leave anyway! Mow the lawn this afternoon I think. It soon comes around, our grass seems to be really growing nicely at the moment. I'll give it a good feed and pop some stuff out for the birds. Need to clear out the chicken coop too as I let go of our last chicken to someone down the road. All in preparation for rabbits but I have said I am not being responsible for them at all (which I know I'll break!). Not until after the winter though. Need to clean it, level the soil and plant some grass first.

This is true. I had ordered some other brass parts but had already finished a lot of the work I needed them for. Perhaps at some point I'll convert them.

That's inventive! We fairly regularly have a fry up for tea - rarely for breakfast! But always a traditional Christmas Dinner... no pigs in blankets though - ugh - they taste awful! We do have bacon rolls (literally a rolled up piece of bacon) and sausage meatballs (sausage meat in a ball, covered in golden breadcrumbs). Never put both in the mouth at the same time though but very tasty indeed.

I ordered some 2mm springs, which from the DCC Concepts page, suggests they're good for OO gauge. Ordered mine from Coastal DCC - superb service every time! Not sure what this measurement refers to though.

People still search by category? I just type whatever in the search box and see what it gives me. I don't trust people to list things properly so find the blander the search term the better the results.

I do love a good discount! It's a photo book, although a little misleading as I paid £25 for a voucher. But £30 or so considering they wanted to charge £75... I always wait for the voucher deal. Happened every year for the last few years around this time so prepare the books and wait until the deal.

You can use uBlock Origin with MS Edge. If it isn't in the Extensions "store" you can most certainly get it from the Google Chrome extension "store". Perfect combo.

I hate being stopped in traffic. Would rather do 5mph for the hour than stop-start all the time.

That's great! I think blending them both on a layout with some flock and some static grass could be the winning combination.

Good evening one and all. I spoke to soon, been called in for three days next week. Not to worry. But I've also got my next project on the horizon, which is adding these modules for automatic operation of a loco on the layout. It would be nice to be able to work with a DMU shuttling back and forth between two stations, seemingly all by itself but I need to do some testing first. Master Topham Hatt has some sort of infection again. Eyes have a lot of sleep, almost getting into conjunctivitis territory. But he's as great as ever! Learning new words almost every day. Today was the number "six"! He can't say the five before as yet but no rush!

Afternoon all Just been catching up on what I've missed. Have nearly a week off from today, which is nice as hopefully it'll allow me to finish painting... not the house but a 3D model of the game Labyrinth I printed. First ones sort of went okay but not great. But I have a day's worth of highlighting bricks and then washing everything with a dark wash (which I thought would be easy but didn't go so well). Not disheartened though as it's not especially keepsake-ish but would be nice to get it looking good. Need to see if I can stick some fake moss on it but the pieces are tiny - just 5-7cm across. Have a good day :)

Drawing in for another night. Got up fairly early for the re-scheduled meeting, thinking I could lie in tomorrow... forgetting that the boiler man is coming at 8am, the car needs to go in the garage as soon as they've left and then I need to be hot footing it back to be in for the log delivery person. At least I have nothing planned foe Thursday! Need to start preparing the garden for winter I think. Didn't think I'd be saying that so soon but where the heck has this year gone?!

I guess it also depends on what's meant by "made in the same factory" - define "made". Where does the factory get their screws and boards from? Different suppliers? Are they simply the "assemblers" or do they have their own stock of screws, boards and switches?

Afternoon all. What a weird day so far... Supposed to have a meeting with a manger from elsewhere in the business today but as Teams didn't send an invite, they missed it. Left for work early to pop in to a cash and carry supermarket, ended up being 30 minutes early. However, have some drinks to last me until the end of the year now. Only two days left to work this week, which is nice. Already have plans for my days off - boiler being serviced, a half tipper truck load of logs being delivered so that's 3 hours of my life moving them around... Would be great if they happened at the same time as I always feel awkward when talking to repair people... I don't really know the protocol on whether I should offer a hot drink (I don't drink them and my thirst drive is relatively low, so I frequently forget to offer ), a snack or what. Log deliver is easy, they dump them on the drive, I pay, they drive off!

There's also this thread but I think the Magnem couplings didn't really take off / not marketed as much as Hunt counplings:

Maybe this high priced pacer person is doing the whole: price it stupidly high give what looks like a huge discount snapped up by a buyer seller gets a price more towards what they wanted buyer thinks they got a fantastic deal If the seller prices it at what they want, they'll get offers much lower. But then why not just price it £20 higher than what you want?

Shame really as it could have closely followed a really old TV series narrated by John Peel called Classic Trains. That was a really great series, each episode dedicated to a specific train / industry. I thought this would be similar but it's a bit humble jumbled.

You can also try growing it in shallow dishes. Then when it's grown, you can simply cut a bit out and slot it in the lawn where it's needed. Saves the birds nabbing loads of the seed!

What coaches / control cars are these? They look pretty nice.

I've asked where they plucked that price from...

*Sigh* - come on Mersyrail: TL;DR - follows on from previous about companies saying "your trains... your store" trying to be all personable. However, some welcome rain today. No thunderstorms but the air feels fresher with the slightly lower temperatures.

Although if anyone wants some official BM1 modules, I think I have two in the draw doing nothing. Happy to pass them on.

Tempted to ask if he has any boxes for 5 rail use...

Evening... and what an evening it is! Just today I have been reminded of something that could be considered "grumpy old man" but it really does annoy me. Our local Morrisons store is being redone at the moment and posters outside saying "we're improving your store..." I really dislike this term of phrase. It's not "my" store at all. Not many companies pretend to be personable like this but I can see getting more annoyed as I get older. Maybe I should challenge them and suggest if it's my store, then I shouldn't pay for anything.