PGC

I have a board that has a plywood track base, and I will be putting cork on it (bought in my local model shop on a roll) before laying track. For glue, however, I will using an aerosol of carpet fixing glue - don't know what the constituents are, so it's a little bit of an experiment for me, but I reckon if it works for carpets, it will work for cork. Phil

Just taken delivery of a package from Andy Reichert of Proto87. Inside are two samples of stretcher bars (he calls them throw bars), one with plastic tie bar material and one with copper clad, both have etched tie bar details and I suggest would be worth looking at. In addition, I've also received one of Andy's point motors "The Mole" and will be taking it to the club tomorrow evening. I would suggest these are also worth a look as an alternative to a Tortoise. I'm not totally certain what the exchange rates are but according to Google, $12.95 equates to £8.75 which, even plus shipping, is a lot less than a tortoise. Phil

I wish I could put more than one agree with your last statement, Jock. It wasn't only the sacred music that Finzi wrote which I find amazing, it's his music generally. For example, a little known piece, Eclogue. As I write I'm listening to it, and loving every second. It's so gorgeous. As you say at the end of your post, Jock, anyone who doesn't know Finzi's music should research and listen to it. You'll be amazed by it's beauty for the rest of your life. Phil https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkQbzZgwfl0

Not put much on this thread recently, as I've been busy elsewhere. However, today I had the great delight of singing "Lo, the full final sacrifice" by Gerald Finzi in a devotional service for Palm Sunday at Chelmsford Cathedral. A simply stunning piece of music that really caught the emotion of the day. For the text, see here. One wonders how many composers could write "O soft self-wounding Pelican!" and make it sound wonderful rather than stupid. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7h8v_-QiCH4 Phil

Best one liner of the year? "If we can manage to convince the Chinese that Jihadists' testicles are aphrodisiacs, within ten years they'll have all disappeared..."

The first photo shows your chassis sides. How did you cut those out? I assume the top is the cut edge of the stock used, so the bottom edge would have to be cut, and it's a very straight line and neat edge. I always have trouble getting a straight line when cutting something like this, so any tips you can offer would be appreciated. Phil

Since uploading the first two videos, I have now uploaded more, some of which show my J15 (No, it's not a Hornby one! :-) ) and N7, as well as other members stock including the club J15 (No, that's not Hornby, either! :-) ) I hope you enjoy. Phil

Thanks both for the comments about the smooth running - the quality of loco performance is highly important to me. I'm afraid you do see the Youtube stabilisation feature in action - Youtube suggested the videos needed it and not knowing what effect it would have I accepted the suggestion. I'm not sure if that's a good idea or not? I will upload the same video and leave it unstabilised so you can pass comment. Phil

At the East Anglian model railway exhibition over 14th and 15th March, 2015, I had the opportunity to take some videos of the layout, two of which show locomotives that I have built (but not quite finished yet!). The first video shows my J17. It is built from a Stelfox kit, powered by a Mashima 1224 motor through a High Level gear box at 54:1. I have yet to add crew and cab glazing, two faults that are quite obvious when watching the end of the video! At the start of the video, there is also a quick clip of my Y7 0-4-0T that was being used as a shunter in the exchange sidings and appears in earlier blog entries.. The second video shows my E4 which is built from a NuCast (ex Stephen Poole) white metal kit. The chassis, however, is built from Alan Gibson milled brass main frames with a Mashima 1024 with a flywheel motor driving through a High Level gear box, again at 54:1 ratio. I took the videos on my 'phone, so the quality is not bad, but it's not as good as it could be if I had taken in on a proper video camera. One of the results of the exhibition was 5 invites to future exhibitions, so I will be taking a video camera to those and see if I can get some good video footage. I hope you enjoy the videos, I certainly do. Not that I'm biased! :-) Phil Edit added 27 March 2015 In view of the comments from other RMwebbers, I have now uploaded unstabilised versions of the videos so you can see the difference the Youtube stabilisation function makes. I would welcome comments on whether it's worth stabilising the videos or not. Thanks Phil

A man walks into his bedroom and sees his wife packing a suitcase. He asks, 'What are you doing?' She answers, 'I'm moving to London . I heard prostitutes there get paid £400 for doing what I do for you for free. Later that night, on her way out, the wife passes the bedroom and sees her husband packing his suitcase. When she asks him where he's going, he replies, 'I'm coming too. I want to see how you live on £800 a year ..

A SMALL GLIMMER OF HOPE IN THE POST-BUDGET GLOOM! 'Viagra' is now available in powder form for your tea. It doesn't enhance your sexual performance but it does stop your biscuit going soft.

I'd be most interested to know your thoughts when you get round to them I'm trying to find some stretcher bars, and am thinking of Ambis or Masokits, but the Masokits one only seem to be available as P4, which for an EM modeller doesn't help much! Phil

Knowing you are a bit of an innovator, how are you going to do the stretcher bars (tie bars), Mike? Phil

If only the Knaresborough viaduct could talk, then we'd know for sure whether they purr or thump!!!! Phil

Depressed? Don't let the bottom fall out of your world, have a vindaloo and let the world fall out of your bottom!

Thanks Tony - I couldn't imagine A4's would have worked over Knaresborough viaduct in regular service, from the thumping of the exhaust beat etc., I would have expected the viaduct to fall down! Phil

As a Southerner, I don't know the geography of the Northern rails too well, and assuming the layout is based in the days prior to the end of steam, in reality, would an A4 ever have appeared anywhere near Knaresborough? I know it would have been possible after dieselisation as I've seen at least one special run over the viaduct with a streak at the head, but before then? Phil

Until today, I didn't realise this early existed! Off to set up for the East Anglian MRC show - if you're there, come and say Hello, I'll be with the Blackwells Brewery layout from Mid Essex MRC. Phil

Just spent the last two hours at the modelling bench, during which I listened, among other things, to Cyril Scott's piano quintet No 1, Symphony No 3 (The Muses) and Aubade (Morning Sun). The more I hear, the more he's becoming a favourite composer. Phil https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aDhAgQ5KNw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tR4WvxfgfSE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZqWk6a_qwM

As you can see on my Saxlingham thread, I tried to spend some time at the modelling bench yesterday, but because our boiler had failed (it's fixed now!) the room was like an ice box so I couldn't do much modelling and ended up working in the lounge while listening to the Schubert Winterreise recording with hurdy-gurdy that was mentioned quite early in this thread. It's a great recording and one I've recommended to a friend who likes this type of music. Before I warmed up in the lounge, I did, however, manage to get a few jobs done at the bench, during which I listened to Symphony No 2 by Richard Weitz from the Unsungmasterworks channel on YouTube, which has very quickly become my favourite listening source. I thoroughly enjoyed the piece and will listen to it again. I've also noticed that on the channel there's a mass setting by Ethel Smyth on there. I've listened to the Kyrie - it sounds really good so next time I have a modelling session, guess what I'm going to listen to! Phil https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhVbZt41sJg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_gdRUcwlQg

Just had a further thought and done a search on Google. Apparently I can buy the complete series of Orchestra! (didn't know that was what the programme was called until I started talking about it on this thread) on DVD and CD from Amazon. I am going to do this. Then, when the clip I posted above had finished, in the selection, there was one about the metronome and this is fascinating. It's not he clip I talked about, but shows what he was talking about and what I believe, don't believe the metronome! Phil Oh, and if it's good enough for George Solti, it's good enough for me!

Just had a thought, did a search on YouTube and Lo and behold, a clip of the Dudley Moore and George Solti programme I was talking about. I don't know if the quote I heard is in the clip - I'm watching and listening as I write. Phil

When young, Dudley Moore was the organist at a church in Dagenham. My Father, who was Deacon for a Baptist church in Barking, went to an ecumenical meeting at the church where DM played - my Father commented on how the hymn singing was very well led with accurate rhythms and all the notes correct, but he was most amused by the improvisations that were most decidedly not of a classical nature! :-) Les Dawson was a trained concert pianist, and there has been a documentary in which he was recorded playing something such as one of the Rachmaninov preludes, and you don't play those unless you're good. Rather than trust Wiki or CD notes, does anyone have access to Grove? I'd believe that over either of the other sources! Phil

I trust she was hard but fair about your fingering! Phil

I haven't yet tried running locos on the layout, so I won't say for certain that the pointwork's perfect, but it certainly looks good (have to say that in case Dave finds me and does a Jeremy Clarkson on me!!!!! ) For the last 10 days we've had no central heating in the house so it's sometimes been quite cold at the modelling bench, and today was one of those days. So, rather than doing any work on stock, I spent time in the lounge (where we had a couple of halogen heaters, so it was warm!) I finished off the template for the new bridge to disguise the fiddle yard entrance. Once I'd got the dimensions right, I got out my supply of plasticard, chose some plain 40 thou and cut the two sides and some stretchers to create the basic frame you can see in the photos. The next bits I'll build will be the wing walls, after which I'll use embossed plasticard to put a finish on. I'm hoping that I can buy 40 thou brick embossed so single layers either side of the 40 thou plain make a wall 3mm thick which is the scale equivalent of a real 9" wall. If I can't get 40 thou, I'll use a layer of 20 thou either side of the 40 thou and then embossed brick; either way, I'll get what I want! Until next week, however, no more work will be done on the layout as the boilers been fixed, the office where the modelling bench lives is no longer an ice box and I've got the finishing touches to put to stock for the St Neots exhibition at the weekend. Phil