Gwiwer

Gotta love the juxtaposition of posts in ERs sometimes. By contrast I have wood. Lots of it. The tree two fellers who attended our trees earlier have left something like a year's supply of firewood out front. Which needs to be carried around to the wood pile at the back. Guess what will occupy my next hour?

Thanks Mark. I have cured whining 50s by cutting the fan belt and I'll try it on the 31 to see if she speeds up. As you say having a rotating fan is a nice-to-have luxury which we can live without quite happily

I go to work for nine days and spend my spare time packing stuff up for the move and I miss a swag of pages! I will admit to never having been a 31 fan but I recognise good workmanship when I see it and I see it in the posts above. Sorry to hear you have been suffering chip and consisting problems Peter. Really not sure I can be any help on matters DCC other than to offer friendly support. I own a solitary Hornby 31 in standard blue which sees little use because they never ran in Cornwall and because it seems to be slower than necessary for a reason I have never discovered. It might be a candidate for reallocation to Llanbourne if you're interested.

The most externally-visible step so far in the removal process began at 8am when the tree fellers two arborists arrived. The pittosporums are having a hard cut but will bush back up very quickly. The paperbarks have had some weight cut out but remain large mature trees. The fig trees are badly overgrown for their situations and are coming out entirely which will allow the lemon to grow more happily and give light to the kaffir lime. It should also free up the apple trees which have become overshadowed. Inter alia it means I have to complete the repairs to the back fence which still has a fig tree growing through it for the next few minutes. We are leaving everything as safe as it can reasonably be and hopefully not in need of routine maintenance for many months. And I leave you with the wisdom of a five year-old whose language skills were not quite up to the mark when he overheard a conversation about executors. "If you don't kill them they don't die and you don't get left all the stuff to do". Executioners, boy. That's executioners.

Morning all. White Rabbits for those who indulge in such things. Today's supermarket run was enlivened by cockwomble (female, if it matters) driver of a medium-sized Subaru attempting to park. Nice orderly rows of parked cars and clear white lines leaving adequately generous space to manoeuvre were apparently of little assistance. Aforesaid cockwomble drove diagonally through the car park across the various parking lanes until she could go straight in that direction no more. She came to a stand athwart the marked bay and realised her error when her driver's door was so close to the adjacent car that it could not be opened. She reversed, turned and attempted what appeared to be a three-point face-another-way move. After around seven forward-and-reverse moves she abandoned hope of turning around and tried to enter the next bay. Again at an angle and astride the lines. And again unable to exit her car. The pantomime was repeated twice more until she came to a stop at about 45 degrees to all the marked lines, gave up all hope and reason and stepped out of the car to go shopping. Her "angle-parking" across the bays and the marked lane had blocked two other cars in completely but that mattered not a jot as she walked away. After that episode the ritual navigation around the senile citizens poking and prodding all the discounted bread to see if it was still fresh was somewhat less than interesting. Neighbours called in during the morning for a de-stressing cuppa while their shifters packed the container. They're happy with the way it's going. Based on their experience I am going to bring forward our packing date by a week in order to have a decent chance to clean an empty house. That will mean camping out in a near-empty place for a few nights as the budget won't run to a local hotel and frankly I don't need one. I can work dawn to dusk and even well into the night if there are no distractions. Off to bed now. It's been a lovely warm day here concluding with a stroll around the block discussing the various things we will and won't miss about here. Need a flying start in the morning and a good night's sleep. Back soon.

In 1984 we were under threat of having no trains beyond Plymouth. Or even Exeter. Some reports are best left gathering dust on forgotten shelves

Very useful indeed when there is a sudden and urgent need to alert others of a problem. Which might be anything from a traffic-jam by way of roadkill or livestock on the carriageway to perhaps a person straying where they shouldn't. I have both used hazard lights in such circumstances and been grateful that others have done so giving me a few critical seconds of extra time to respond. Having driven professionally in a semi-rural area we often encountered the local herd being taken across a road for milking; following vehicles might well not be able to see around a large double-decker bus and some would, from their positioning and indications, be about to overtake assuming the bus was braking for a stop. Use of hazard lights usually deterred such moves and thus an impact between cockwomble and bovine. In the UK it is unlawful to use the hazard lights to indicate a school bus stopped to pick up or set down children; in the USA and Australia this is perfectly normal and indeed a requirement in at least some states where it is also mandatory to stop behind such a vehicle. My driving technique is adapted accordingly. Very best wishes to Sherry and Ian.

Definitely not Sudden Fail.

Greetings to all. Absolutely no chance to catch up on recent events for which my sincere apologies but there are not enough hours in the day to sensibly browse to the extent I would wish. It seems rather trite to offer generic greetings when that might encompass joy, sadness, anger and routine tedium. Rest assured the thought is there and is genuine. An update. Relocation agent appointed and working for us - first contact made and will be an ongoing process until we are settled in London. Shipping agent appointed - we are compressing our lives into a 20-foot container and will be able to make final decisions on what comes once the new place in London has been measured up. Leasing agent appointed for the house here which we intend to retain ownership of - property values are sky-rocketing and while we could sell now and do well if we sell in two or three years there is every chance we can then use the capital to buy for cash in London or the south-west. That capital will be topped up by a 50% share of my parents estate which, sad to say, will not be too long a-coming though no-one knows how long their divine piece of string is. Both are doing remarkably well for their ages and considering we thought Dad might not last the week when I left him last year. Final "normal" running day for the model this coming Saturday with BR-WR stuff only. There will be a two-day open-house closer to the end when anything goes and I am already promised Australian and Chinese models among others. As much as possible of the layout will be shoe-horned into the container and come to London. New items continue to arrive here simply be cause it is cheaper; pay the VAT-exempt price, keep them here for 30 days then bring them back and it;s legal. They'll be weathered while here as well so no longer in "as new" condition. Sharon is frantically working on her PhD and has been directed to complete it before leaving which in her case is on 27th February. She thinks that is unlikely and that a month into the UK is a more realistic timeframe. I am watching the UK job market and specifically South West Trains though there are many other options. I shall apply when the listed vacancies offer start dates in June or later. It's still a bit too soon. Neighbours container arrives tomorrow. They leave in 10 days. We have a date set to meet again in London during July. We look forward to meeting some ERs in due course as well. One more Palace shift this week. Day nine of a nine-day run. Then five off. Seaweed forecast is good; mid 20s with sun and some cloud. I'll slip another shrimp on the barbie

Surely in this day and age a single track beyond St Budeaux to Penzance is all that is required?

Would that be self-guided horses or a Led Zeppelin

Shoppering Centres??? There can be only one suitable location though it puts the DLR out of the game for a few turns. STRATFORD

All posts have appeared here normally at all times. However I do know from experience that some other sites have some sort of background code which seems to be theme-related. If I type a post first for one forum then copy and paste it to another the text appears on the later forum shaded pale blue. If I do it the other way round the text is shaded in something I could best describe as puke green which - thinking about Jeff's comments - is probably yellow shading over a pale blue theme. What ever I type here first there is no problem on other boards and anything I type on other boards then copy and paste to here shows normally to me. As a rule I now type everything here first then copy and paste to other sites if I wish to. That requires me manually typing image tags at times but saves a lot of editing later.

As King 'arold said on the battlefield: " 'arrow? What 'arrow?" Twas one in the eye for the British that day.

Wonder if they come with glued parts this time. I hardly dare touch the blue 73 lest any more bits fall off it.

Off to the Piccalilli Wine for a restart SUDBURY HILL

Western Ambassador. With paint flakes, grime and a little dirt accumulated around the nameplate.

Is the Northern out of spoon? I do hope so. I don't fancy facing another shoot-out at the Blind Beggar. Let us all retire for safety to MORNINGTON CRESCENT

Ponsangwyn shed beneath Wheal Julia mine.

A return visit to this topic from Penhayle Bay which is closing down for dismantling in just 86 days and is enjoying some final photo-shoots.

With the Circle open for play I'll return to the previous theme as this obvious stop was inexplicably overlooked TEMPLE

I did wonder about the security of ORR's intellectual property but the seal would be a 3-D embossing on a real letter, surely. As for keeping the scenes much will depend upon our future home and we shall know where that is, and how much space there isn't, in around five weeks from now. What I can take I will. What I can't I hope can be securely stored at a family home in regional Victoria until such time as a better future can be found for it. The clay dries is a favourite identified by many people and with the recent photos of Ponsangwyn also attracting the attention of the most senior members of our hobby I certainly hope that doesn't end up in the skip. I surprised myself at how little work was required to simply brush off some dust and spider-threads then apply a little weathering powder to good effect. Natural sunlight helps with the photos of course and that has always been a variable. Ponsagwyn can only be photographed well with near-overhead sunlight. Any earlier and it's in deep shadow; much later and the only good views are against the lowering sun. I thought the light looked good, grabbed a series of shots and what you see posted are the better ones.

The GWR logo is in raised metal on the real things so could (should?) be an etch on the models to look correct.

The Chief Operating Officer and staff of Penhayle Bay Railway take due note of the aforementioned decision contained in the letter reproduced below. Alternatives to the closure are being investigated though none has yet offered a satisfactory outcome. The Chief Operating Officer advises that he will no longer have access to the Railway after 22nd April 2017 and with respect to the document below is not in a position to guarantee compliance with the decision made. He remains open to suitable offers which would result in the Railway remaining in operable condition in whole or in part.

PM sent