SteveyDee68

Now, if I won the lottery (🙄) I’d snap that up in an instant and then pay someone to do a really top notch weathering job on the whole set (the presentation box as well, just for the sheer hell of it). Then sit back and watch the collectors weep! 🤣 Steve S

I’m catching up (not visited for a few days and there’s pages and pages to read!) so possibly a little late but … If you type in the phrase “Fix damaged doors around hinges” into Google then rest assured even if you don’t look at the results you will shortly thereafter see advert posts in FaceBook* for rather neat little metal plates that fix over the damaged area and allow your hinges to once again securely hold your cupboard doors. Might be something to consider if the epoxy doesn’t work. I’m speaking from experience!, by the way - those bl@@dy adverts kept appearing for weeks afterwards!! Steve S * How does FB know?! 🤔🫢🤣

Just seen that someone got themselves a bargain W&U set for £175. As others have stated, if the buyer picked that up in a mystery box and is selling on the stuff s/he wasn’t interested in, I am sure they are very happy (7/10 of their outlay for a £250 box) and the buyer must be very chuffed, too! Looking forward to what Rapido come up with next!* Steve S * No I’m not**, because if it is anything small and industrial I can see myself buying it! 🤣 ** I am really!!

Update … 120 Watchers £155 bid 6 hours to go! Train Pack Could still be a bargain! 😁

I’m wondering if an early buyer has put the complete W&U train pack from their mystery box up on eBay already! GER W&U Train Pack To be fair, the price right now (with 16 hours left) is approximately what I paid for my two coaches - so someone may get themselves a bargain but there are 116 watchers so possibly not! Phew, me too! 🤣 Mind, if they run the promotion again I might not show as much resistance! Steve S

Exactly what happened when I took up the hobby again in 2016 - spotted an Austerity 0-6-0 on eBay that I had wanted as a kid and bought it (to cheer myself up - 2016 was not a good year for me). Next thing I know, I see a blue Hornby sentinel loco - zap! Got that, too! No connection between them at all (different eras etc) but I liked them. I had a grand plan for the stuff I buy/collect, except that as different things have caught my eye I end up with several more scenarios to justify the purchases! So I say - Good on ya! Scratch that itch! If you want to model something to use it, grab one of those IKEA shelves like wot Sheepbloke @NHY 581 does and create yourself a micro to run your 168 on to (and off again!) Steve S

What is the currency that is talked about here? Deltic tokens? Have just had to splash out possibly a couple of Deltics on a replacement (second hand) iMac to replace the one that suffered a hard drive failure. Mainly because right now I cannot access the internet etc from the old iMac (running off an external hard drive) because the Operating System is too old, and both the App Store and web browser (Safari) are locked out from providing upgrades as the OS I am using does not match current security levels.* Which is doubly frustrating because if I am able to update the OS/browser I will probably be then able to browse etc and it will not necessitate sending the old iMac to landfill! Argh! 🤬 So, I found myself a ‘new’ iMac on eBay today, at a very reasonable price (for a 27” screen computer) and local (half hour drive away) so Deltic tokens were exchanged and I collected it tonight. The rest of the evening has been spent finding access to old OS installers and downloading them in readiness for yet more Mac-wrangling tomorrow! All this to provide me with a workspace which is warm and not detrimental to my health! Why not just bring down the iMac in the loft? Well, that’s attached to a keyboard for doing music arranging, and there’s not room in the dining room to set that up, so music arranging will have to remain in the loft. I can live with that. State of play as of 1:00am … 2007 20” iMac - internal hard drive dead, external hard drive loaded with “Snow Leopard” and unable to be upgraded** due to security issues 2009 13” MacBook Pro - running “El Capitan” 2011 27” iMac - in loft running “El Capitan” (can be upgraded to “High Sierra”, necessitating upgrading of music software 🫢💷💷💷) 2014 iPad - bent casing and dead as a dodo 😔 - was stored upright on a shelf and recently discovered had bent like a banana - no idea why! 2015 27” iMac - in dining room/office running “High Sierra” and awaiting upgrade to “Monterey” and 32GB RAM 2021 iPad Pro - in case ready for day to day use when teaching Maybe I have too much Apple stuff (like I have too many shunting locos)? Sigh HOURS & HOURS OF F…..UN! * In danger of writing lots of words that are recognisably English but meaningless to the vast majority of readers! ** That may change tomorrow, thanks to the new iMac letting me download upgrade installers! (Which is ironic, cos if able to browse etc with updated OS on an external hard drive, I didn’t need the new one!)

Someone on eBay was selling a 3D printed W&U type class 04 tram - I think the chimney was a separate print* to be glued on: perhaps ask about purchasing that separately? Steve S * I may be misremembering, but I think it came with both conical and straight chimneys in case you wished to model an Ipswich 04 etc

I see that in this instance the AI generated description has completely missed the mark to the point of “Mis-selling”! Steve S

Mention of handbrakes and lane guidance systems makes me think of a van I was briefly acquainted with - thankfully only as a passenger - in the late 1990s… My brass ensemble had starting performing regularly at Salford Catholic Cathedral, but we needed to borrow timpani (kettle drums) and transport them there. The Musical Director at the cathedral arranged to borrow the van that belonged to the nuns resident at the cathedral… I’m not sure if it was a Suzuki, but it was relatively tiny and blue! The first time it rolled up to be loaded, I remember thinking there was no way three timpani were going to fit inside. They did - just. Jumping into the passenger seat, I remember Martin turning to me and saying - with a dead pan face - that he thought the nun’s van might be possessed! I think (but I may be remembering this wrong) that the handbrake came out from the dashboard like an umbrella handle (someone more familiar with small commercial vans in the 1980s/90s may be able to correct me) but I do remember that Martin needed two hands to release it! We then set off in the van, and it was a while before I realised that the side to side motion was nothing to do with Martin’s driving - we’d be driving down a straight piece of road and the van weaved back and forth like it had partaken of one too many communion wines a little beforehand. However, worse was turning corners at junctions - Martin would swing the wheel over many times (no power steering) and we would set off more or less in a straight line. He’d then apply several more turns and the van would suddenly lurch the way he wanted. Once that happened, he would be rapidly turning the wheel the opposite way before we’d even got halfway around the turn - invariably as we completed the turn we would continue turning into the curve before suddenly lurching the opposite way and driving straight again. Finishing that first journey, Martin took at least a dozen attempts to get the van into reverse and finally parked by putting the hand brake on with two hands once again. He was a very cool customer indeed, and over time I’d watched him direct the music for a live TV broadcast, for an international choir festival service and any number of grand occasions and never look in the slightest bit ruffled. But when he turned the engine off, there was sweat on his brow. He repeated his thought that it was possessed, and we got out to unload but before we had finished doing so there was a loud ‘crack’ and the gear stick leapt into the middle of the gate from wherever he had left it, making us both jump. The return journey was equally hair-raising, and every time we made use of the van it was as if it was going out of its way to scare the living daylights out of anyone riding in it! On one occasion, I couldn’t assist and Dr Dave - a tall, strapping chap of immense intellect and a phenomenal trombonist to boot - took my place. Never again, he swore when I arrived for the concert. Martin told me he had brought up the issue of the nun’s van behaving erratically with the Cathedral administrator, suggesting maybe it needed a major overhaul; he was duly presented with full service records and MOTs where it never mentioned any issues. Likewise when he asked the nuns, they said it drove perfectly. Spooooooky!!! Thankfully, we found a percussionist who had her own timpani, and we no longer had to use the nun’s van. I’m sure it was a Suzuki but am happy to be corrected - but it was small, narrow, had a side door on runners, and passenger and driver almost rubbed shoulders when sat in their respective seats (it was that narrow). Steve S

I applaud you, sir! Amazingly, we are running “endangered instruments” bursary schemes in conjunction with the Chetham’s School of Music (a very prestigious music school in Manchester that trains incredibly gifted and talented youngsters) to target instruments that are not being taken up such as bassoon, oboe, viola and contrabass, in the hopes of finding new players of those instruments. Whether this works long term we are yet to find out. Now, I really must let this thread get back to talking about railways, cakes, sheds (and lack thereof) and missing digits. Steve S

Yes, very impressed! My colleagues who are violinists also twitch when tuning ukuleles - it definitely seems to offend their sensibilities! “My Dog Has Fleas” has been used as a mnemonic device for tuning ukulele strings since the ukulele was first introduced to the world at the Pan Pacific Expo in 1915, although it doesn’t actually tell you the pitch names - interestingly, though, “ukulele” in Hawaiian literally means “jumping flea” so maybe that’s a tenuous link to the origin of the phrase? My kids are singing a version of that song in their end of project concert (there’s various versions of it knocking about) but they actually remember the string names with the phrase “Gorillas Can Eat Anything”… I have fun with them by singing it (whilst plucking the relevant strings) and then adding on some extra asides at the end, phrase by phrase, which they copy back, and which gradually gets longer and longer 🤣 … I think I am up to “Gorillas Can Eat Anything - they want to - I’m not going to stop them - I’m not daft - I don’t want to end up in hospital - with broken arms and broken legs - sucking jelly through a straw - no, not me - I’ll just let those Gorillas eat anything they want!” I’d suggest persisting with the ukulele playing - recent research has shown that playing an instrument (any instrument*) stimulates all parts of the brain in the process (and not just one area as was previously thought), plus encourages manual dexterity. I’d do C chord (one finger), A minor chord (also 1 finger, albeit a different one), then F chord (two fingers); the next one I teach is trickier as it used three fingers in a triangular pattern - G7. At that point I stop teaching chords because I don’t know any more! If you find the ukulele a little small for your fingers, you might want to see about getting a larger version - I’ve seen at least the sizes on Amazon, for example, and plan on getting myself a larger one to help with my own fat fingers! Steve S * except one previously mentioned in an earlier post that does not bear investigating! 🫢🤣

I don’t know if this helps, but I remember Paul Lunn did a plan for a layout where a fiddlestick/train cartridge hung off the front of the layout (at each side, as it happens); the layout was for home operation with the operator in front, so having the fiddlesticks at the front made sense as they were easier to access. Could you have your line enter on a curve from the right hand at the front, leaving on a diagonal (90° would be too sharp a curve). You would need to think hard about the interface to the cassette, as you’d want the track/cassette to be square at the ends to allow it to be turned. You’d also have to think about how the stick would be supported in use. How long a train do you plan for? That would determine the length of your cassette. Coming in from the front edge would leave space for goods sidings where you currently show fiddle sidings. If I can find a reference for Paul’s plan, I’ll post it here for you. Steve S

Glad I didn’t bid, then - well outside my timeframe of interest! Steve S

My intention is to sort them out and then sell them on as viable kits - for one thing, my sister and I are taking my mum on a canal boat holiday this summer (something she and my dad had always wanted to do) and that is a lot more expensive than we expected, so if I can sell those kits on at a reasonable price* it can offset some of that cost. As a job lot of parts we would not get a fraction of their value (these kits selling new at between £135-£195 each!) Steve S * I would not expect to match as new prices

That’s because the government we’ve been inflicted with this past decade don’t give a flying monkey about the Arts! Remember the “cyber” adverts around the time of the pandemic? Steve S

Thank you for restoring the photos - I will make sure to (somehow) download and save your blog entries to assist improving the couple of Lima vans I have in my possession. Steve S

You are not the only one! 🤣 That’s the problem with whole class music instrumental tuition - there’s no ‘differentiation’ for ability, usually because there is a fixed “end point” (usually a performance) towards which the class is working and which the tuition is judged by. And how sad that you would have been left feeling ‘left behind’ by your experience learning the recorder. But if you started with “C” (probably middle C) then it is no wonder that was the case! I have to teach Year 2 children and we start with B (first finger and thumb of left hand) as that is the easiest note to play on the recorder in terms of fingering - but with a wrist band on their left wrist to remind them which is their left hand! Steve S

Especially sports fans. Because they individually wait to follow other singers, which develops cumulative delays the larger the group. The “sheep” effect. Problem is, the “sheep” gene is already strong in sports fans already - look at how they all follow a team and mob together into a great big flock. Baaaaa! 😉🤣 (Am guessing that will ruffle a few fleeces feathers!) Steve S

Much like many traditional hymns - play them at “Church of England” tempo and they are dirges! However, play them at Methodist or Salvation Army tempo and they have life and are much more uplifting! Personally, I have a major issue with the continued use of badly written hymns (those which only the lyrics of the first verse properly fit the melody, and thereafter are “best fit” guesses for the congregation). In classical music, for example, the majority of surviving music is “good quality” as anything of poor quality was discarded long ago. Pop music could likewise “discard” poor tunes when recorded songs were deleted from the publishers catalogue of recordings. (Sadly, digital recording means that far too much dross is now with us forever, but that is another argument!) But hymns seem to be sacrosanct (no pun intended) because they praise God! For example, this particular hymn has no discernible structure to its melody, meandering along until suddenly we discover the verse has ended, and the second verse starts up and we vaguely remember the melody of the first phrase but then afterwards are back into “hunt the note” territory (because it has no discernible melodic structure so is difficult to remember) compounded by the syllables no longer fitting the melody properly. Oh, hang on, its verse three - I know that because I recognise the first line again but once again it’s like finding your way through a forest with no map (satnav to younger readers) to guide you. Now, if the above were a pop song or even an instrumental piece of music, it would die a natural death in due course (I’m not singing/playing that - it’s carp!) but because it is a hymn then it is held in reverence and - like the undead in horror movies - refuses to lie down and die! I’ve had this argument about scrapping bad hymns many times, and am often faced with the argument “but you miss the liturgical point it makes!” Yes, you are right, I do, because I am concentrating on trying to bl@@dy well sing the tune right and somehow fit the lyrics! The hymns that are well written allow the congregation to sing together easily and gets its message across because the words fit the tune! (Best examples - although there are usually the odd exception - carols!) But sing them at Church of England tempo and you kill all the life in them! Steve S

I seem to remember a brief discussion in the first year of my degree by “Clever Trevor” (so named because he did music analysis with us) about some experiments done in the late 1960s/early ‘70s with non-music-reading children which showed that the human eye/brain could “chunk” graphic information presented on a five line stave but adding additional lines (as opposed to ledger lines) almost immediately reduced the efficiency. I don’t remember any real details, but do remember it came about due to a question from our year’s resident genius composer Matthew Hind (who had been writing music since the age of 6) along the same lines as yourself. He wrote music you could enjoy listening to, but could also do “experimental” stuff and his question arose I think from some ideas he had about notating the latter. He even wrote something using coloured music notes to represent dynamics (volume) to see if that worked better than traditional ways of notating (it didn’t, but was fun trying it out!) Matt should have won the Composition Prize in our final year, but his music was simply too melodic (he refused to write anything other than what he wanted to hear himself) and it was instead awarded to someone who wrote avant garde “stuff”* that had no melody, discernible aural structure or point (to most listeners) but her efforts “fitted” with the academic leanings of the composition department. (Myself and my best mate similarly wrote “tunes” instead of “plinky plonk bang crash” monstrosities, and were marked down for that!) Yes, there is a mathematical/physics basis to the “octave” which is a fascinating rabbit hole to dive into for a few hours, especially now that some very good YouTube videos explain it all in an entertaining and far less academically dusty manner! You are quite right about the old Joanna’s white keys being confusing starting on A but everything referencing middle C, but that is because “middle C” sits on the ledger line exactly half way between treble and bass clefs! Seen separately, middle C in the treble clef sits on the first ledger line below the stave. Middle C in the bass clef sits on the first ledger line above the stave. Place the treble stave above the bass stave (as for piano) and there is just one ledger line separating the two staves - write a note on that line and in treble clef it is the middle C and in bass clef it is also the middle C … hence the name “Middle C”. (In practice in order to show which hand is playing which notes, notes can be shown on more ledger lines above the bass or below the treble stave that could/should be easier to read written on the appropriate clef!) On a traditional piano, middle C was close to the centrally placed keyhole for locking the lid, so once the pattern of white/black keys was established, it was easy to direct anyone learning to the middle C key - “Look for the keyhole, now look for the closest pair of black keys, and middle C is the white key directly to the left of the lower of the two black keys” (plus, of course, being physically shown that whilst being explained and most people can find a middle C on a piano!) Of course, keyboards don’t have a keyhole … 🫢🤣 Steve S * Personally, I simply can’t call such assemblages of apparently random notes “music” even if it meets the philosophical criteria of “organised sounds”

May I ask how you made the filler handles on the top of the wagon? I have zoomed in on your photos but cannot tell if these are a single piece of wire or made up from multiple pieces! EXCELLENT upgrade - am following keenly! Steve S

Thanks for showing your work on upgrading the Presflo wagon - I picked up several made up versions cheaply off eBay a while ago with intentions to improve them, and invested in a Bachmann model to act as a ‘template’ to aim for, but seeing how you are doing it step by step is far more helpful than me simply staring at the Bachmann model and saying to myself “That’s different … and that … and that!” Is there a way for me to save/download your blog entry? (Was well and truly bitten by the RMWeb Server Disaster as many ‘upgrade’ threads I was following lost all their images and haven’t been restored!) Steve S

From the comments it would seem you have clearly shown how you went about upgrading the Lima GUV/CCT but the RMWeb Server Disaster has left your blog entries without images! Is there any possibility that you might restore them through your blog entries, please? (I have no idea if that is possible on blogs - sorting out missing images on threads is difficult enough!) Steve S

I’ve found this thread really interesting but also inspiring. My dad suffered from dementia and Alzheimer’s towards the end of his life and one of the results of this was discovering that he had “organised” a number of 7mm coach kits into boxes of similar parts, ie all bogie parts in one box, coach sides in another, sprues full of whitemetal castings in another etc This “sorting” is a common side effect of dementia and he had done this in his early stages so in all likelihood before we became aware of his condition. So it all went on “under the radar” so to speak. It was only once he had died that I discovered what he had done, as all the kit boxes were together neatly in a storage box with no clue as to the mess inside! Furthermore, no instructions or part lists to assist gathering kits together! So I guess when a listing appears for a ‘deceased relative’s estate’ there is always a chance that those sorting through the remains of their relative’s hobby are faced not only with dealing with things beyond their knowledge, but also which may have been further complicated by the effects of dementia etc - and as that is apparently an ever-growing and more common issue, I suspect we shall see more evidence of it as time goes by. The inspiration in my first statement comes from the fact you are managing to sort your boxes of bits out - and as I now have the part lists downloaded, I should be able to do the same as you and gather my dad’s kits back together once again. Steve S