MrWolf

Maybe it's a typo? Maybe the lockdown is affecting his sanity? Maybe the seller is hoping that the lockdown has affected our sanity? The only thing I know for sure is that if I bought it, my girlfriend would chase me round the garden with a sword...

He should have numbered it 37670 and swore it was an accurate model after the crash at Tavistock in 1987. Might have gotten away with it...

Evidently someone thinks it worthy of a bid. This topic is eBay madness after all.

I can sympathise with you there, I have a similar problem with numeracy. I have to check the figures three or four times. Didn't stop me becoming an engineer, but I prefer being an artist and maker / fixer of random relics.

The mechanics of it all is fairly simple, it's all the variables and the prototype accuracy that does my crust in. I think I need to get reading more books... BTW, you're not going to be modelling the lever frame interlocking mechanism are you? ARE YOU???

Is that the kind of Chinese Junk that isn't a boat?

Good grief, made £43.05. How much for an N gauge motor bogie?

Thanks Pete, got a copy on the way. It will be a first for me to build a signal box that has point rodding coming out of the base. Good old OCD strikes again. But then again it will justify the money that I already spent on dummy point rodding.

Thanks for the information, I did consider handpainting a backscene based on photographs I took around Aston on Clun, but in the time it would take me to produce something close to a photographic likeness ten feet long, I could paint something to sell that would pay the bills for a month!

That sounds like you have planned a good deal of plausible flexibility into the layout, which will keep it interesting. Setting it in the period you have allows for more complex track arrangements, long and short trains and a greater range of freight working. It has occurred to me that despite building a pre-war layout, British Railways didn't get around to repainting stations in backwaters (probably because closure was the plan from day one) but that does allow me flexibility of time period for what I am running. Equally, you have the opportunity to backdate if you wanted to. I was interested in the backscenes that you have installed. Are they a commercially available item? So many modellers talk about stitching photos together on X computer program and printing off on some specialist printer. The assumption being that everyone has a computer (or lately it seems their own 3d printer as well) I used to use them for engineering drawings, don't need one now. SWMBO uses one all the time at work so hates the things. Any information you can offer would be much appreciated.

Funnily enough, I often think that in some ways I was stupid going to uni, as what I really wanted to do is basically a case of practice and no employer has ever asked to see written evidence of my degree. A friend quit being a teacher because he could make £25k more per year driving trains so you're definitely not stupid! My daily driver motorcycle is 71 and I try not to fall off it. I'm 51 and SWMBO is 25. I consider myself very lucky that the numbers are in that order! When we met, she had me pegged at 40 which was most flattering!

Ancient motorcycles age better, your mates are impressed by their looks and they are just as much fun to ride as when they were young motorcycles. Did you have some kind of Mrs Robinson / Stiffler's mom thing going on at university?

I have only just come across this topic and will be following with interest as I am also modelling a Shropshire branch line. My proposal is that a line was built with running powers into the LNW/GW joint line station at Craven arms, southwest into the Clun valley handling mostly agricultural and timber traffic. Unlike the BCR to the northwest of Craven arms, this initially independent line was baled out by it's neighbours and continued on until the late 50s. I have set it at just before the outbreak of WW2 so I have an excuse to run the sort of antiquated stock that appeals to me. It's my first venture into railway modelling for about 20 years. I spent most of my money as a student on girls, beer and ancient motorcycles. But it turned out okay. I make my living from art and antiques, don't drink much anymore, have only the one girl (who loves motorcycles, trains and strange bits of junk) and several ancient motorcycles. It's kind of like winning the lottery. Keep doing what you do, people in life will tell you to 'be yourself' then get all freaked out when you do. So you might as well just get on with it!

I have obtained the parts needed to install point rodding and have been putting it off because I don't have much idea how it should be. Looks like I must take the bull by the horns and install it as soon as I have completed the track. Next job, followed by signalling, then the joy of ballast! Thanks all, hearing of your progress is helping me to seriously prioritize jobs on a layout probably for the first time ever! RW

I'll let this one slide for the sake of someone using their imagination. Even though my inner Grammar Nazi baulks at the word "convertion" instead of "conversion". Reminds me of when I was a kid and acquired a lima 4 wheeled DR coach in rough shape. Being HO it looked even dafter against my OO coaches, so the body ended up as a shed and the chassis ended up as a vaguely OPEN C with a load of logs. I painted it grey with GW on the sides. Close enough when you're 12 and broke!

That's some deluxe looking greasy crud on those cranks, just as it should be. A regular task I recall was checking fishplate bolts and coating the whole thing with used engine oil to prevent seizing.

I think that you might have been over generous with your comments. It looks like £20 worth of junk to me.

Damn! I forgot descriptives such as 'retro', 'rat look' and 'patina' plus I have full provenance on it. That's another £1500 !

If it's worth £10, that opens up another possibility. I could make like a lot of people I have met who have a vintage car lying around. Leave it outside until it falls apart and tell anyone interested in buying it that I want £2000, because "somebody" told me it's one of only three left and worth a fortune. That "somebody" also spoke to the bloke down the road trying to sell you a box full of knackered Triang Flying Scotsman bits out of his garden shed.

Thanks for your advice, it's going on eBay then. It WAS built from a kit of parts. It IS rare. (most of them had fallen apart by 1986) I forgot to mention that it is PROFESSIONALLY HEAVILY WEATHERED. (nobody needs to know what profession that might be, nobody ever says on eBay) There are WHITE METAL FITTINGS (well, monkey metal that has gone white with the damp) There are some marks and wear commensurate with age (one drawer front has been ripped off and there are splodges of BSA Devon red paint all over the top) On second thoughts, I'll burn it.

Gentlemen, I need your considered opinions: Whilst putting the Herald's battery on charge, my eye was drawn to one of those cr#ppy old self assembly chests of drawers which is sitting in the garage that I have been meaning to dispose of for some time. My question is - do I: A: Burn it. B: Put it by the kerb with a hastily scrawled "Free sh#t!" notice attached. C: List it on eBay with the words "kit built" in the title. Your thoughts on the matter would be much appreciated.

Obviously a great deal of research, market expertise and thought has gone into the pricing of this locomotive. £, 2, 3, 4, . 5, 0 If I could be bothered, I would have a look look at his other items for sale and see if there's anything for sale for say: £12.34, £23.45, £34.56 etc. etc. But I have more pressing issues to attend to, chiefly, swearing at the battery on Miss Riding Hood's Triumph Herald. It's sulking at lack of use.

Agreed, but that wasn't quite the point I was making. Many of these minor lines ran trains in such a way that would never have been tolerated on the main lines. I think it is a pretty brave thing you're doing to try and define a tramway, especially when so many of the original operators couldn't seem to decide either, such as the Selsey Tramway. Did the definition somehow allow them to operate outside of the regular railway rules as did the light railway act? It seems many had a foot in both camps. If I think tramway, the first thought is some horse drawn plateway, followed by electric powered mobile Victorian conservatories. ( I actually like them, I would definitely use public transport if we still had those things)

Hey! Keep it down! Don't want Joe Schmoe realising where we get em! Due to the lockdown we have a real glut, I mean bargain bundle of scale pit props / telephone poles (aka barbecue skewers)

PSSST! I've got a limited supply of black market coffee stirrers liberated from Wetherspoons before the lockdown if anybody's interested? £25. No questions asked.