Oldddudders

Plastic curtain rail with adhesive copper strip for conductor.

A five-minute job for a chap like you with Patiala under his belt!

Streetwave - Brothers Johnson

In fairness, the shop proprietor said he'd run one on his layout and found it to be exactly as you say. He also sold me a decoder, so once back in France we should be good to go.

Harlem Shuffle - Bob & Earl

Bizarre true story. Many years ago, when I worked shifts in the Control at Croydon, the caretaker's office was next to ours. One of the caretakers was an old boy called Enoch. He seemed to be a diligent user of the electric floor polisher. Some time after I moved on to other tasks Enoch was found dead in his flat - it was found he'd been drinking the polish! And it emerged he was 78, and should have been 'let go' many years before.......

A pleasure to see this in the flesh at Taunton, and to have a decent chat with Ray. Cracking layout!

her rum and her ribena

The Birmingham Train - Cleveland Eaton

There are limits. We wouldn't want the Finching Sisters showing too much, now would we?

Looking for their braces?

Taunton was good. We met a lot of people, including Chris F, and had a high old time. I bought a couple of things in the auction, the food was excellent and very affordable, and Sherry met the brother of the skoolboy she was in love with more than 50 years ago. Time well spent.

I have to say I did see the loco move of its own volition. Not very far, but it did move. Stu has indeed developed a method of propelling with only one contact rail. Even Brian Harrap was impressed, so perhaps Stu needs to patent it now!

Morning all Congrats to Mr & Mrs SM. Marriage is an honourable institution, even if some bounders play dishonourably! Yesterday was a different directions day. Sherry was at the South West Convention of the Red Hat Ladies, which was being hosted by the local Riviera Royals Chapter of that august sorority. Basically nearly 200 mature and older ladies, wearing a lot of red and purple, having a day together in a hotel! Sherry had been down to be operating a Punch & Judy show, but her recent incapacity meant she had had to withdraw, having been too ill to rehearse. She had, however, written the script, and was suitably pleased when the thing was a huge success. Left to my own devices I cluttered off by train to Camborne. An HST through Cornwall is not a bad way to spend the day, and I returned with a couple of purchases from Kernow, of course. Texting Alison, she was reporting dire events back in France with a rogue stray cat spending the night in my place, and leaving his mark. I mentioned Brunel's Tamar Bridge, and she said it was one of her late father's favourite structures. Today we hope to darken Captain Kernow's final Taunton Extravaganza. Sherry will meet some RMwebbers for the first time and be introduced to modelling at a high level. She can hardly wait. Hope your day goes well, and we may see one or two of you later.

Oh, Stu! Posting at 03.29 is not a good sign on the day! I hope you survive and we see you later!

TMI!

Mister Briefcase - Lee Ritenour

Could It Be Magic - Billy Griffin

I scored 17 on the Asperger's test, 47 for empathy. More than 50 years after most were scrapped, I can still more or less recite the names and numbers in order of the 40 members of the Schools Class. Useful, eh? OTOH I have one younger female friend, who, while not finding me at all physically attractive, has effectively appointed me as her girlfriend, so much detail of her life does she find she can discuss with me. I once found myself in a bonding exercise with others, including a few engineers who had reason not to adore me. When my Myers Briggs score came in at ISTJ, indicating a classic engineering temperament, at least one of them was mortified. He used to organise a major model exhibition, had real talent as a modeller himself. I believe that many in our hobby are less than truly gregarious, although some of us like meeting similarly-minded souls, who we see as safe company. These days the Internet has provided a new environment for loners of all sorts, although there is at least a choice of making virtual friends, contributing to a forum, or becoming a troll/keyboard warrior. There must be some who manage all three. Some friends have a son who they thought had tourettes. This has since been refined into something more rare, the name sadly escaping me. The father, living in Scotland, went to symposia on the syndrome in the USA, organised a symposium in Edinburgh, which his employer helped sponsor. Last year the family visited India, twice, and Jack is almost cured, his mother tells me, as a result of those visits. I didn't dare ask if it was medicine or mysticism that had prevailed. My new wife, having been a teacher all her working life, met the boy socially before the India visits and noticed no abnormality. Some people look for problems and can't wait to find a label, it seems. With 7 billion of us on the planet, it is no surprise that we enjoy a wide range of physical and mental strengths and weaknesses. If identifying where you are on a spectrum helps you to cope with difficult things and makes life a little easier, then that's fine with me.

So I walked into Paignton Model Shop and there was 30584. Last one, said the proprietor, so that clinched it! You wouldn't want the poor little thing to be lonely, after all. We joked about how hard he'd had to try to make the sale. The shop had also sold a number of the first release, and none had come back, so people must be broadly pleased. I can't test this before I get home in early May, but it looks lovely. The visible motor-block is not a deal-breaker for me. I have no doubt the Hornby model will be spiffing, too, but Oxford got there first and I am pleased with my purchase.

Brown Ballad - Quincy Jones

Morning all A damp day in Torbay. Sherry is off to Joint School, which is not about whacky baccy but simply a primer for her hip replacement later this year. Last night we were in the Palace Theatre, Paignton, for Ladies in Lavender. A smashing evening. I still find it surreal that I end up in the bar standing with the entire cast and director. Easily pleased or what? The weekend looks busy. Saturday Sherry has the Red Hatters Convention, a load of mature ladies decked out in red and purple. She should have been part of the cabaret - being a Punch & Judy operator, but has stood down due to the flu. But she did write the script. Then Sunday we expect to be at Captain Kernow's Taunton Extravaganza. Really looking forward to meeting and remeeting RMweb luminaries and seeing some quality modelling. Prince? Not entirely my bag, but The Ballad of Dorothy Parker hit the spot for me. The Grim Reaper is having a good/bad year. Hope your week winds up well, and kudos to those trying to gain news from Clacton.

We may think that now, but we have had a fair explanation from various sources in this thread to show why it wasn't. The need to change supplier early on, and extended time to come to market, will not have helped the commissioning shop to get its money back, still less make a quick buck. A 3-car might be what we think we want, but how many of us would go past the £200 point? And the quick disposal of the early-liveried versions also indicates that 2-cars in the right colours were a shrewd original decision.

Unfortunately so. I do not know what form of the disease took the poor lady, nor whether it was primary or secondary, but one photo I have seen suggested to me that she had had chemo-therapy. And let's not forget that survival rates continue to improve as science gets to grips. A number of RMwebbers can testify to that.

New York City - Miroslav Vitous