Philou

Thanks for the friendlies/supportive chaps - it is appreciated. I reckon at the moment it's probably no worse than a dose of man-flu. I've no temperature - just some mucus stuck in the tubes. I'm waiting for Mrs Philou to show positive as she's feeling down but testing negative at the moment. I will say the Health Service here are the ball as I had my pass sanitaire issued yesterday (valid from the 25th) and a phone call this morning at 10 o'clock checking I was at home and taking down contact details. My niece who works on the rigs in the North Sea (she's British dammit Carruthers) was on leave and checked upon by the local gendarmerie from time to time during her enforced confinement (she lives nearby) despite the oil industry being super-hot on isolation (can't risk an outbreak on the rigs).

Having read on another threads regarding Correos España I do sympathise with you both ( @Enterprisingwestern @Neal Ball) - there is seemingly a black hole in the Iberian peninsula. The Dutch seem to be hot on collecting the VAT, whereas here is France it seems to be a hit'n'miss affair as to whether La Poste is bothered to collect or not, though Chronopost (Parcel Farce equivalent) do! So far, only had one charge from a half-dozen parcels and ALL delivered with three days from the UK. Good luck in getting all your deliveries, Philip

No import duty on 'toys' which model trains are classed. You maybe thinking about VAT which is payable plus any charges for collecting the VAT (been there done that ). Cheers, Philip PS: There is a thread elsewhere setting it all out, plus the code applicable to model trains.

Hello chaps, Still nothing to report nor photos nor pictures to show. I have my crushed stone and lime but there was a slight hiatus in the village as we had strong winds that brought a few trees down (before Dudley and Eunice) and I spent three days with Mr Mai..ai..air (in my best Larry the lamb voice) cutting and clearing. THEN, we had the grandchildren unexpectedly given/sent/gotten rid of/ for the mid-term break. That meant a 500 mile round trip to pick them up and another 500 miler to give them back. So a whole fortnight has just slipped by entertaining 10 and 12 year-olds, and whilst I was looking forward to getting underway again, I was tested Covid-positive today so I have to avoid contact for the next 7 days. I feel rather rough as it's on my chest and as a child, I was always prone to bronchitis (coal fire and no central heating - pfff .......... kids of today ....... mumble mumble). Tomorrow announces wet weather for the next four days (we had the backside, er, end, of Eunice last night), and I shall attempt a re-start if there's a break as I shall be under cover most of the time excepting collecting a barrow of crushed stone now and then to make my lime mortar. I'll keep you updated asap. Cheers, Philip

Thumbs up for Lord and Butler (Non-disclaimer though as he is my brother). As @NHY 581 said above they are decent and will be fair. Cheers, Philip

Chums, You've heard of the 1000 and 1 nights? Well, I've just screwed my 1000 and 3rd screw into the flooring. My missing planks arrived unexpectedly yesterday afternoon and so I was busy today in the train room trimming and filling-in the spaces. It took for ever as the one wall has a most definite 'hump' in it and all the planks bar one involved a good deal of circular saw usage to get them to fit. The planks were not of tip-top quality either as they all had shakes in them and two were heavily water-logged. I have two trimmers around the stairwell to cut and fix tomorrow. I still need to order two more planks to form the cellar doors, but I'm in no rush for them. Tomorrow (or Saturday), I shall get my crushed stone and lime to start repairs to the wall. I had a closer look today and some of the wall looks literally as if it was thrown together. I did find some small lumps of stone that had fallen out and onto the floor since my last session of flooring just before Christmas - so there is work to be attended to. I also had a mysterious trip in the lighting circuit in the barn - I have no idea what that's all about but there was one of my LED spots that flickered just the once and when switching the lights off that there was a huge BANG! and everything went off in the barn - including the freezer (not good). Not only did the trip go on the circuit but one of the two main trips went in the consumer unit. The whole barn is due to be rewired (it was first done about 15 years ago) as part of the railway room electrics with a new consumer unit in the barn itself. I shall spend a bit more and buy good quality sockets and switches (for a certain definition quality for Euro-electrical fittings) as what I originally bought wasn't that good. I shall also re-do all the external switches and sockets on the sun-deck at the same time. The concept 3D plan is also galloping ahead as I'm back at Ledbury station and presently tackling the unusual brick wall forming the station boundary with Bromyard Road. Possibly a photo and a picture tomorrow. Cheers, Philip

Hello chums, Unfortunately due to the continuing spell of cold weather (0°C most days), there has been absolutely no physical progress to report, even my delivery of planking hasn't yet arrived. All that has happened is that we've burnt a lot of wood over the last fortnight and I have to get some more tomorrow and cut it Monday - just in time for a spell of mild but windy and wet weather - hey ho! What I have done is continued with the 3D conceptual plan and I have arrived at the Ledbury viaducts (yes, I know that there is only supposed to be the one, but there you go), and I am quite happy with the models. The branch line one is based exceedingly loosely on Walnut Tree (now demolished) - I even managed to show the catwalk that isn't evident on the photos that can be seen on t'intertubes. Here are a few images: (The white block in the second image is just my board edge to be trimmed to size). Fine tuning of the landscape to do and then bridges, station buildings, goods sheds, signal boxes, other railway associated buildings and then a spot of colour. Cheers everyone and have a good weekend, Philip

As an add-on to my earlier post, I forgot to say that I CAN get black japanned stamped steel hinges as shown in the cellar door drawings. Apparently they're charnières à l'anglaise (English hinges). They too, will be delivered with my planks. What a good egg is my timber merchant. Cheers, Philip

Huzzah and Hooray! My planks are back in stock and the weather is set mild for next week. I'm not sure when the planks will be delivered, but I can go get some fine crushed white stone and some lime and I can re-start works, firstly by in-filling the wall tops around all the eaves from the inside. I shall try off a ladder for the lower bits and then some scaffolding for those out-of-reach parts. It's only about 3.5m to the ridge from the new floor. Working from a ladder is not too clever as I shall need at least three four hands - one to hold myself to the ladder, one for the bucket of stones, one for the lime mortar mix and one to 'palm' the mix into place - err - maybe scaffolding would be best . In other news, my Christmas present that I wasn't supposed to know about but arrived when Mrs Philou wasn't there, it turned out to be a selection of points - good show! I've also carried on trying to complete my 3D plan - it's not going as fast as the first time due to things that I see and don't like - so three steps forward and maybe two back - but it's all going forwards. I've reached Pontrilas station and heading towards 'Dymented' (I really must change the name!) I did think of an amalgam of Dymock and Peterchurch (one station each on the Golden Valley and Gloucester branches) but it gave Dymchurch (but that was too close to the RH&DR one) and Petermock that just doesn't do it!! I did see somewhere else (another thread here I think) Pump Heol/Five Ways and I happen to have 5 sidings at Dymented - so maybe that would be good. An old pal of mine called yesterday that I haven't seen or spoken to for over 15yrs. Happened to go to Lord and Butler's to see about re-starting a railway and got my 'phone number from my brother! He's decided to go for N - though I think at our age it ought to be 0! That was a good call. Here's Pontrilas, the platforms are in place, but not buildings yet nor the signalbox on the underbridge (which I quite like) leading to the old chemical works: Here's a link to the StreetView picture of the underbridge and signal box: https://www.google.com/maps/@51.9447812,-2.8749956,3a,90y,118.73h,99.54t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s_sSmZLmRz54O4Z6op6mbgg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192 More updates to follow soon. Cheers, Philip

I haven't a dog in this fight, but I knew last Thursday that the announcement was due at 7am and not 10am as announced here on RMWeb. This may have been 'in the air' for a little while. @wombatofludham Pity the Carry On team are no longer about - Carry On Titgate with Kenneth Williams starring as SK (produced by Studiocanal) . Cheers, Philip

Hi, I know nothing about the loco, but just looking at the photo, you can see that the back-to-backs of the centre pair are definitely closer than the outer pairs of driving wheels. Regarding connecting rods, you should be able to make a pair out of some nickel silver or brass, provided you have access to a good, small drill - pillar drill better - and a quality bit. You'll have to have a steel straight edge for marking out and a centre punch to accurately place the marks to start the holes, but it should be doable . I'm not sure how it should be held in the wheels though - I can see a screw in the centre driver (bottom one in the picture). Good luck with the repair! Philip

Evening everyone, Just to say that I'm still alive and about - but nothing physical to report back regarding works in the barn. Apart from being too cold to do any masonry work, I think my mojo got a hangover at Christmas and hasn't yet surfaced. I haven't been letting things slide as I've being busy doing the 3D landscape plan of the layout. I think I've sorted the Malvern Hills and the sloped ceiling - definitely a case of less was more this time. I've done all the cuttings for Ledbury station and I've moved eastwards to the end of the tunnel where it becomes the River Dore/A465 overbridges. There is plenty to do and I have arrived at a point of recreating the two bridges. They will be co-joined to save space. Here are two pictures - they look naked as I have as yet not coloured anything to save on computing power. Landscape first, then the two Ledbury viaducts and then all the buildings. This is Ledbury station yard and tunnel (the grey bit above is the sloping ceiling): This is Ledbury tunnel, East end, with the Big Beam just above. I think this could just work: Talking of buildings, I had a most bizarre conversation with Mrs Philou this afternoon as she got the hump (as did our neighbour who was in for a cup of coffee) as I said I wasn't having any houses on the layout. 'Your having that huuuuuuuuge layout and no houses ?' 'No houses, not any in the immediate vicinity the railway .' 'But .... but ..... doesn't the railway go through towns and villages?' 'Yup, but no houses, or buildings for that matter, close enough to be included. The only building that is a house, is the Stationmaster's one at Ledbury. Stations and good sheds plus signal boxes as appropriate, but no houses, or shops, or factories, none.' ' But what about all those buildings upstairs that you spent ages doing (Scalescene card ones that I did about 5 years ago).' 'None.' 'Well, I hope they're soon gone from the upstairs spare bedroom.' 'Yes dear, as soon as the new room is ready.' 'Humph ..... '. I think she was genuinely disappointed that I wouldn't be having hundreds of cottages and farms. 'Well, what about some cows then?' piped up Mrs Neighbour. 'Look', said I opening up Google Earth, 'here's the railway and these hills are The Malverns, mostly open land and there is no farming - might be a few sheep.' 'Oooh, sheep, you must have some sheep then.' 'Not really, the bit I'm doing of the hills is mostly wooded and where there could be some on the Colwall side, is mostly cutting on the model.' 'Oh, what about over on the other station (Pontrilas).' 'Same thing really, mostly cutting and the boards have to be narrow so that I can reach. The only cows will be those in the cattle docks at the two stations'. 'Well there you are, then you can have some cows ..... boring otherwise.' Weird or what? Or is she (and Mrs Neighbour) actually taking an interest? She has, in fairness, been very supportive in my construction efforts even wanting to help in doing the big timber work right at the start. Should I nurture her interest? What will she be able to do? (She can give me a hand threading electrical cabling in its conduit, but that's some time off). Ideas on a postcard to the usual address, ta. Cheers, Philip

Having spoken with Peter a few minutes ago (11:30 06/01/2022), I can confirm that the models can only be purchased by personal callers due to the fragile nature of the models and their fine finish - they are very, very good (see above) - and he wants to avoid any possible damage to them via post or courier. Earlier, I mentioned EM gauge locos (I shall re-axle the one I have), there are only about half-a-dozen, the rest are 00. In amongst them are locos built/painted by Larry Goddard and Alan Gibson to name a few. Cheers, Philip

@DinOh OK then, here's one cabinet of a selection LMS/MR locos. As @NHY 581 has said, please call the shop on 02 920 667 225 as I haven't had any updates as to what may be available for purchase: Cheers, Philip

Here another cabinet as originally acquired: Cheers, Philip

I think they were the phat phingered sort . I'll amend it straight away. Good to know that there were some boxes too. My info was based on what they had just collected - hence the display cabinet in the previous photo. Cheers, Philip

@Chimer, @teaky I am busy working on a reduced height and I've remodelled the contours to give a dished effect towards the operating well so the hills look as if they sweep upwards. I like the idea of low clouds though! I don't vape but perhaps I could train one of the cats! Here's part of the revised plan (busy doing the Ledbury cutting at the moment): The grey blob above is where the original hill cut through the sloping ceiling. I think it now looks better - a case of less is more! Cheers, Philip

Would you like to see part of the collection? I was told of the collection in the Autumn but sworn to discretion until the locos were checked. I had a few since last October. They worked straight from the box (as it were). One thing you may need to know (unless Peter has changed his mind), these locos were to be sold to personal callers so as to avoid post or courier as these are un-boxed. If you're interested, please give a call on 02 792 667 225. 02 920 667 225. Here is just a small part of the collection (the Aberdare has been bagged by me, but there are a couple of others ). There are also: Southern and pre-grouping constituent companies, LMS and LNWR, GWR and absorbed companies and a fair few Scottish pre-grouping. There weren't any LNER ones in the photos that were given to me. I forgot to say that time is also being taken in trying to identify the origins of the models as there are a lot of brass kits and perhaps more to the point, what the locos are. There are a couple of EM gauge ones in there too. Here are my four (ex-M&SWJR 0-4-4, 517, ex-M&SWJR 2-8-0 and 2-4-0 'Barnum' (EM )): Cheers, Philip

Hello @Lord of Narnia, I like your approach of making the support masts - they look very similar to the O/H masts that supported the trolleybus wires in Cardiff. I remember once, as a child, going to Bruxelles where my UK grandparents had an acquaintance, but I thought (in my mind) that the trams were 4-wheelers but of a style older than the PCCs (or have my childhood memories gone awry?). Looking at the O/H supports and off-sets, would they have really been like that? I ask as they seem rather modern, as opposed to brass shoes that would have been attached to the span wires on older systems. Anyway, good luck with the model. Philip

A picture or drawing of the geometry involved would be useful - however depending on the form of the junction intended - you can make a trailing junction by using a curved R/H point on the outer curve and a L/H 'normal' point on the inner curve (and vicky-verker for a facing junction) as mentioned above by @Michael Hodgson. That's what I'm proposing at several locations on a layout of my own. Cheers, Philip

Here we are - a quick drawing showing the ceiling in its approximate position. As you can see the highest part of the Malvern Hills 'disappear'. I could live with that, but would it look daft? To give an idea of the look, here's another with the top cut off at ceiling height: Unfortunately, from an operator's view all that would be seen is a vertical face (imagine a vertical slice through the hills). I'll work on this some more to try and achieve some balance aesthetically. Cheers, Philip

Happy New Year everyone, and I sincerely hope that 2022 will be an improvement on 2021! It hasn't all been turkey and Christmas cake and being at a loose end, I've continued with my 3D plan of the layout and started to place the landscape. You will see the general effect in the first picture below: I haven't carved out the railway yet as I decided that I wanted to visualise the landform before creating the cuttings and embankments as I can then allow for the cess and and parapets/retaining walls as necessary (you'll see what I mean over the next few days). What this first picture shows is that despite me wanting to make a visual statement regarding the Malvern Hills, it's just too much (height of 2.0m above floor level (not board level)). As you will see in the second picture, the Big Beam and the roof line co-incide with the landform, so clearly I'm having to review this - a case of less is more, I think: Cheers, Philip PS: I seem to have developed a short in the power circuit from the house to the barn - joy! Going to have to eliminate things one by one ........

I like 37 076 ^^ - got a proper exhaust tail pipe ................... , ooh ooh and skirts! If someone would make one with skirts, I'll have three, thangyouverymuch.

Hello chums, I'm in the outskirts of gay Paree and finding myself at a loose end (gave up on doing some waste plumbing with the BiL as we couldn't work out what was going on) and so I decided to have a look at the headache beam. Fortunately, I took the measurements with me and I was able to gen-up a drawing of the Big Beam and overlay the proposed layout. The plan is still very much WIP but the layout is correct in respect of location and height. It's the landscaping and building placement that has yet to be done. There two views of the layout. In both views the new stairwell is in the south-west corner (bottom left-hand side). There is sufficient clearance between the bottom of board and the stairs to access without a cranial collision and the stairwell is 1.0m in from the southern (bottom edge) wall for the layout - the maximum width of the boards being 900mm. In the first view, as I had originally 'seen' in my head, we can see the lowest part of the big beam coincides with end of Ledbury viaduct and the station throat of Dymented: There is about 200mm clearance between the track top and the underside of the beam. At this location, there is likely to be a lot of movement getting around the sector plate, activity at Dymented and getting to/from Ledbury/Pontrilas just at the point where headroom is very restricted. Here is the second view, with the layout rotated in respect of the beam: Access is still in the south west corner. In my humble opinion, having drawn things out (no claims of being super-accurate), this is the only way things can work correctly as we now have improved headroom at the point where it is likely to be busiest. However, it will mean that at all times, the cellar door will need to be kept closed if there is more than one operator. At the other end, there is very little activity as it's mostly Ledbury tunnel and the Malvern Hills. The two points in the tunnel will be operated remotely anyway and should anything untoward happen (derailment or electrical) access would be underneath or via cut-outs in the side in any case (it's envisioned that the Malvern Hills will be hollow). The only real drawback of the big beam, is that whichever way I rotate the plan, one side of the sector plate will not be easily accessible. I don't think that I can move it northwards in the plan above as the big beam is not central with the floor - had it been, I would have placed the sector plate directly underneath it. I think here, we have a no-brainer instead of a 'no brain-er' (sorry!). If you're wondering why the layout is hovering in mid-air, I drew it so that datum 0 (OS 0 feet) was the floor (the lighter colouring on the plan) - it happened that way so that I could relate my scale feet from the floor and not an arbitrary 0 on the board. It won't hover once the scenery is placed. Cheers, Philip

@JeffP, @Stubby47 In response to your thoughts of Sunday, I went and took a few measurements and today I went back into my 3D drawing of the barn and came up with a drawing. It's not the final iteration as the opening is not properly square - nothing in the barn is! However it shows the sort of doors I was thinking of - I haven't shown any framing - that will come when building. I also need to make adjustments stair-end as the door frames touch the stair stringers and that too will need to be adjusted. If the doors are open, then I shan't need a handrail as the doors will protect anyone going across - but if anyone falls in the direction of the stairs - well you can't treat stupid as they say - the stairs are there. However, I may place a short length of handrail along the door underside to assist in starting off, rather than grabbing the doors themselves. Beyond the underside of the doors then I will have a proper pair of handrails so no-one should go overboard directly onto the barn floor. When the doors are closed, then the problem goes away. I need to be able the have doors closed as the layout will occupy all four walls. Depending how I turn the layout (drawing of the headache beam to be done), that corner will either be Ledbury viaduct or the entrance to Ledbury tunnel and the fiddle yard. Here is the drawing showing three views, the last one in context placing it within the flooring (shown as OSB but it's now planking): There are other details to consider such as chamfering of the flap that is to open first and shut last so there's no pinching, or type of hinge, as what I have drawn is not necessarily available here etc. Open and shut case? Cheers, Philip There definitely won't be any updates as tomorrow we're supposed to be staying with Mrs Philou's sister and BiL near gay Paree and Mrs Philou gets to see her week-old granddaughter (awww - only kidding about the awww!). No updates until about the 28th. Merry Christmas everyone!