Owd Bob

No luck Lads! Sorry but the other half changed her mind and we went elsewhere instead, never mind i'll get there and to 'SP' soon, and this week if poss' I will report anything that moves even a 'Bug' funny how back then we compared how things were in the old steam and '60's days and now there's nowt left to compare owt with even from the late flippin 90's! Nostalgia is'nt what it used to be....and Britains railways are'nt either

Went to a classic vehicle show held in Ormskirk Lancs today, some real classy stuff on show and funny stuff

Just spent a few gentle days in the lovely weather tarting up the line! I've had to re-lay all the loose rocks along the long straight back stretch and chiseled off the sharp square edges off the concrete slabs the track sits on, any gaps in-between the slabs and the newly laid rock pieces was in-filled with soil and Alpine plant cuttings/divisions. The new mine tunnel was formed using all the rocks i had left over from its original ground level site including the corrugated bean tin semi circle of the tunnel mouth, and all the buildings were also moved up beside it on a newly laid small patio flag to make another if not crammed industrial looking yard scene. I've to alter the winding house to suit today which is missing from these pics' but it will be fitted soon Once the new concrete is fully set and dry i'll weather it all down with some diluted pound shop matt Black.

Going to Warrington on Sunday Morn' as the Wife wants to visit 'Go Outdoor' the camping stuff place! I've not been around there for years but know it's very close to Bank Quay Station and the small depot and yard, i need to know if it is still worth a visit and a mooch around? Seeing any loco's will do for me even a 66 or an 08! I just need to and go and spot summat for the first time since 1997!...flippin' heck that's 20 years ago!!

Just I just sent Ossy all the details Phil'

I only heard about it a few days before from Rob Guiness, as i'm not a member of the 16mm Ossy, but he do's keep in touch and tells me of any local meets and he thought that as i only lived local i might fancy a visit, i'll let you know next time. I only had a couple of hours but it was enough to give me a bit of inspiration and a much needed kick up the backside to get a bit done on mine this weekend, and to stop sitting about feeling sorry for mi sen. Met a bloke there who had been down yours just the day before Ossy. Cheers phil i got out for the first time proper and it did me good, had to leave earlier than i would have liked to but the new tablets were kicking in bad style I'll post a few pics' if i get owt done over the weekend.

Had a lovely relaxing couple of hours at a nearby local garden railway called the Howe bridge Light Railway, to which i was kindly invited to by its owner Dave' of the 16mm groups local Merseyside & Northwest branch. Great to get out and enjoy & meet such great fellow minded company and see some lovely stuff....bit on the dull & chilly side but the fresh air for once felt great.

PFV was a 'P' reg' you can just see the bright White tape over the top bit of the letter 'P', the bit of the letter 'L' at the bottom was a piece of Black insulation tape that car was a right shed and a death trap to drive, no brakes and the suspension was held up on all corners with wooden blocks, it was sold on e-bay for three hundred quid after the series finished with the advice that it was spares only, but i believe it was fully restored down in Milton Keynes. The other UKX was its proper number and was the second ever off the production line i was told, with the first ever built Allegro going to Austrailia, it was originally a minter and in a Roman Bronze colour, and can be seen in the first few eps' parked up outside the Police station, its colour clashed with the Cortina which had to be the star of the show and a Panda was needed so it got resprayed early on, this was a very nice car to drive and my Wife always loved driving that one. The third was a White one again a fake 'L' reg plated one and the one you are thinking of Russ, this was also a nice car but half the dash came out when you pulled the choke knob out this was later resprayed into a horrible modena Green. Of course non of the Panda's were ever right as most real Panda cars in the '70's were only two door.

I was lucky to help out in the making of the telly show 'Life on Mars' when it was being filmed, unbelievably it's over ten years ago now!

My other half is a Yorkshire lass but i still agree as i deffo' know from 30 years of experience just how awkward and funny they can be And of course a Yorkshire mon always...." sez wot he likes and likes wot he sez"

Funny how you say you are not a modern fan when i'm thinking that all that '70's stuff is all classic traction to me, steam was just before my later childhood, i do remember going up the steep ramp at Leigh station holding mi Mams hand around 1965 as a 4 year old a few times and going some were nice like Southport for the day with my old Nan lagging behind carrying all the bags full of flasks, butties and a big blanket like an old mule.

i'll post a few more today, i'm not one for making conversation and i'm not as clever as you lads are about the vehicles, but i hope you enjoy them all the same.

Phil' What building is that on the back-scene? it looks really local & very familiar. Superb weathering, i've a paid job for him here if he fancies making a few bob.

Thanks for the link ..brill' as usual! I spent four hours on Sun' morn' following a link off here to 'Wigan World' and all the local railway stuff on there! My old '70's & 80's spotting School mate is coming to pick me up one evening this week so we can go to the 'branch' and remember and relive our School wagging days across on Ince Moss and all the seemingly now much better days we had there...i'll take mi camera.

Sorry about the quality of the pics' but back in the late '70's all i had camera wise was an old hand me down Kodak 126 which was soon followed by another cheap but better quality (the AK47 of the camera World) 'Zenit TTL' I remember sending the films off to 'Trueprint' and getting a free film back. All these pics' were taken at York, i have more but for now i've taken pics of pics', one day i must get all my old negs' put onto a comp' Thanks for Bingley Hall posting the pic of the dented nose of '022 i knew i had taken one around the same time and place.

Apollo! I just turned over the front cover on this months Modern rail Mag' and saw this very sad pic' of Springs Branch as it is now Surely as a working depot even if it's of little use these days, then the undergrowth could be looked after and cut back and kept tidy for the sake of the firms image and name! And at least by bringing back some sort of Government youth employment/training....schemes like wot i had to do and from which i learned so much.....if not earned so much Nice to see it still exist but not in this way.

Loving these old bike pics' although i no nowt about bikes with engines. Heres a few more modern ones i have seen at shows. I do remember these though from my Secondary Mod' School days, most of the older 5th year lads had these 'Yammy fizzes' in the mid' 1970's.

A few from my car pics' collection. Heres a weird rare one to start with believed to be one of only seven left...so i was told! A few more.

Always great to share probs' with others and try make the most of things as some folks are far worse off and luckily i'm still here. My Garden railway is in the Garden Railways dept' of this very forum under the name of the Mc.Mullen Coal Company..i'm totally useless on a comp' and a one fingered typer, So sorry no link to it.....you'll have to find it for yourselves!

Sorry but it's all looking a bit sorry for itself at the mo' Phil' due to me having had a big heart attack six weeks ago and i'm not really up to getting it all sorted out and tidied up yet, i had a mate demolish & remove the main station area last week to try and make things and access easier for me in the future, at the mo' everything even its whole future is up in the air depending on how my health fairs, hence the move indoors to this, at least i can keep dry and warm and keep my interest in railways going.

Sure is! Just another daft interest/project and nothing too hard to keep my mind going and not sitting idle, i've had three now! four if you include the very first one i had as a kid back in the very early '70's. I had to sell my other resto's to pay some bills over the last few years, hopefully i can hang onto this one and get free entry into next years classic vehicle shows with it. Hopefully some more parts will arrive for it this week. This was it just three weeks ago .........

Cheers Lads, all the info' and advise as helped me keep going over the last few weeks I took Dava's advice and got a good mate of mine to brace the underside of the cheapo pasting table with extra battening, he also helped make me a framework for it to sit on in the spare bedroom, hopefully in time it will be a lot more presentable and the bed can get chucked out for good.....at least now the bedroom tax will be spent for something in there rather than the empty room it had become. A few more lengths of track and a tunnel mouth and a stone walling panel have been picked up as well. There was a time when i would and could have made my own stuff but it looks like i'm going to have spend money and buy all the RTR bits i need from now on! We have added a ply sheet at the back, the ends will be done in time and also a front and roof one day soon.

i'll have to track it down and have a read/look Paul, but bargain basement through my eyes is modeling using free stuff from the skips & dust bins.

Great article Night Thunder, are you not involved there and mentioned in the mag' yourself? or am i thinking of someone else?

Hey up! Stuart, i ordered the plates a couple of months ago and they cost a fiver for each pair of both names and works plates, i don't know whether that was when they were on offer but it did seem very cheap at the time, and at least it's nice to see someone had a good time in Wales that week, Is that loco one of the kits you were showing me a few months ago Ossy? if so can we have more info' on them please?