Owd Bob

Loving the wooden planking, a great use of paints and shades to show a realistic wood effect.

Ince Cemetary and the road bridge over the WCML is to the left just off this pic' the Red coach is on the old Springs Branch line/sidings. The Green wagon is up on ramps whilst it gets a jet spray the bloke who lived at the end terrace used to deal in used trucks and did them up a bit before selling them on, the Orange truck cab near the coach looks like a Foden?

Is that at the Metal Box factory Monty?

Mid' 1980's at Springs Branch Wigan. Taken when the 20's & 56's first appeared here for use on the MGR Bickershaw to Fiddlers Ferry.

It was the only one of the three in that pic' that i remembered and it was 25 235. I've since modelled it in 'O' gauge. Here it is again and two more whilst i'm on.

Was it in a 'Lancashire Triangle' Pt.1 by Dennis Sweeney?

There were no balls on the beach no one had one, good example though! If it's a ball it must be punctured but never mind it's only flat at the bottom...

Good in theory but sorry to say it was all wet sand and the tide was well out and about half a mile away. I have read about things that are supposedly only seen when using cameras etc. because of a wider light spectrum they use....i had a bigger better zoomed in pic' on my old lap top which i lost and this lap new top has'nt got the tools to make these few pics' any bigger, and i've tried and will try again, because it do's look more domed on top and more metallic looking, with darker shading underneath. Not surprised there had not been many postings since Jan' when some folks just want to take the wee-wee out of the subject, and the folks that may or may not believe.

Stubby there were no planes, gliders, flying kites or footballs, no noise at all. Was a calm mild misty xmas day and with only about a dozen folks on the whole beach.

The other pics' i took just seconds before and seconds after this one show nothing at all, not even a Seagull, its as though it was only visible through the camera screen...so i'm reckoning on some kind of camera glitch, this pic' may be a good example just to show how folks can think otherwise though.....and my minds not so fully closed on the subject. I knew of Prof' Laithwaite, i knew some of his family who lived just up the road in Atherton.....mag' lev' comes to mind, wonder where that idea went. Apollo! i should have been at the 'Prisoner' convention the other weekend ...i just hope i'm still around to go next year and i don't get beamed up before then.....BCNU.

Black Rock Sands, Porthmadog, 25-12-18. Was a very mild xmas day, so we went for a walk and a play with the Dogs on the beach. I saw this object at the time showing up silvery White in the little 3 inch screen top left hand corner and just thought it was a Seagull that framed the pic nicely....but i was not too sure once i got home and checked it. UFO? Pixel glitch? or just a Seagull after all? Hope it's Interesting and fun whatever you may think it is.

Dare i suggest ?.... One thing i do remember from my weekend visits to 'Fads' DIY in that era was the amount and spread that the weeds were left to grow around the station, and the amount of rubbish left on and around the tracks...not including the 142!

Just for a laugh, my 12 year old Philips lekky razor, it could almost be a cl.802 & TPE livery prototype.

I saw it

Cheers Russ Really a very interesting unit then, i wonder whatever happened to it?

Reminds me a bit of this red unit at Warrington in the late '90's, t'was a bit faded though.

Early 2000's. 66 110 at Warrington Arply.

Soz slg, i stupidly thought this was for anybodies holiday pics' so i've removed all my stuff.

A nest of Rats at SP depot in the early '80's.

Apollo at the very top of Gidlow Ln. there was a colliery where the tracks ran directly on top of the old Roman road going north towards Boars Head, the Roman road remains still run south through and under the turf farm field. Rylands sounds familiar was there a mill there? Then there's the old Pagefield building of Walker Brothers fame. There's a cracking big railway viaduct off Wingates Rd./Sennicar Ln. near the River Douglas, but beware of the locals who have made it a no go zone for anyone driving or even walking up that area, and somehow made it a private road, not sure how they can get away with stopping folks walking up as it's a public road and a public footpath in my A-Z, but they have done! Mike the water tank is a dead end siding, it would have gone right through for another 15ft. and then back around if things where different, but doing such would take me too near the anti social scum bags next door, and the less i see, hear and smell of their existence the better for us all. So we'll swing it through the old shed. We are busy pegging and leveling out the last of the route today, as it maybe the last warm dry day for a while, but the plants do need a good watering, hopefully not as much as it they had a month and a half ago though. Will post more pics' as we progress.

Red sling back wellies with gold racing stripes Paul! Following the Yellow brick path/road leads to a 3-bed post war semi demolished Wigan MBC council house, No Emerald City or pot of Gold at the end of a rainbow here, but i'm doing my best with what i'm lucky to have to create my own little Utopia. Lovely weather for getting stuff done, but we're only doing a bit every other day, and If we carry on digging down Apollo i'd more than likely find a few unrecorded late 18th -early 19th C. mine shafts. With my Phil' Harding hat on i dug this up from the original field levels on Thurs' there was a mineral line about 20 yards away where a brick viaduct once went across Westleigh Brook(River Glaze)....'cos i really can just about remember when all this was just fields.

Another good week of track bed construction and plenty of rubble was found, tidied up and then laid in the shed floor. Had a bit of a 'Time Team' moment when we came across an old yellow coloured path under about four inches of soil right at the end of my final six foot length of track bed behind the shed, i remember helping my late Father to construct it in 1977. (i remember it so well because Elvis had passed away the week we did it) My Dad had made the paving flags himself using wooden molds, he worked at a builders merchant in Wigan and materials were easy to get hold of... ..and mostly if not always free if you know what i mean...Nudge! ..Nudge! A can of yellow cement dye (Febtone from memory) was used to try and match the path to the house brick colours, it was laid down level from the rear door of the house, starting two brick courses under the DPC level and went due north towards the rear boundary fence, it was used for my Mums washing line. I also found a short piece of angle iron knocked well into the ground, (so it's stayed in) that the then wooden 3" x 3" clothes line post was once attached to. I was amazed to see my track bed levels had matched up perfectly with the old flag level! Deffo more luck and a pure fluke than good judgement. The old shed base which was once dug out and lowered so i could get my old landy inside it and under the roof was re-filled in with rubble back up to the original surrounding ground levels again, hopefully one day i can complete the loop through the shed and this over this rubble. Its alignment would curve through the shed and then go right under where the left wheel of the trailer is and roughly under the left rear wheel of camper van in the last pic' Thanks for showing an interest and all the nice comments.....it's a real pick me up and great encouragement to carry on.

We've been busy on the warmer days over the last three weeks or so demolishing an old shed and using the best un-rotted wood from it to make the small platform and add a little fence. Think i've overdone it with the signs and bucket though. The plants are growing well now and are bushing out nicely all along the track side.

...you know your Onions! Nice pics' I always wondered what the number of the Green 33 is i often see on the web-cams at Swanage? A 33 arriving at Crewe from Cardiff in April 1984.

Thanks Zomboid, you are far too kind Sir! Looks like I've been there and done that never to return now etc. There's only a 20ft length left now for any future 'O' gauge testing purposes. When old age, close family and personal illnesses and bad neighbours all combine to make you think whats the use of it anymore. Hoping to move on to bigger and better things one day soon. I might as well post some pics' on whilst i'm here....cos' i know how much certain folks really like me posting my stuff.