Mrkirtley800

To everyone on RMW, my best wishes for Christmas and the New Year. Thank you for all the pleasant moments spent reading your contributions Derek

Thank you for the inspiring modelling over the year Adrian. All the very best wishes to you and yours. Derek

Good luck with the kit Al. Just take your time. The hardest part is making a start, after that everything just follows. Derek

I am not bad thanks, and Olga is recovering slowly. So have been doing a bit of modelling over recent weeks. I can’t stand to operate Kirkby Malham yet but I can sit at my bench for an hour or two. Derek

Those piccies of yours are really superb Al, and a real source of inspiration. Derek

Naw !! They’ve turned it into a static water tank.

I bought a chair that rises and lowers by lever and also has a seat that pivots. I managed to make an idiot of myself two years ago when I sat on this chair as the seat moved. I ended up falling on to the concrete floor and lacerated my arm, even though the floor was carpeted. Result was a week in the James Cook hospital. Fortunately had a good lady surgeon who did a super job on the damage. So I dare not mention about getting another chair to Olga. The layout is about four feet from the floor, so the chair has to be able to rise enough for me to see what I am doing when working or operating. Derek

I understand that Forster Square station was being built in 1897. It was just “round the corner” from the Market Street station, and, as far as I know wasn’t finished until some time in the first decade of the twentieth century. I don’t have any reference material so I could not guarantee the accuracy. Perhaps we could find a real expert on the railways of Bradford to keep us right. Thankyou for your nice comments fellas. The layout has come back to life in a fairly low key way. My operating sessions are dependent on how long my arthritic knees allow me to stand, or move to set the points and signals. Frustrating or what!! Derek

After lying idle for nearly a year and a half Kirkby Malham saw some life last week. I ran some of my outside framed engines and even after all that time they ran surprisingly well. you might say ‘another busy day at the office’ With a quiet bit of shunting. Finally the stopping passenger departs for Bradford (Market Street) behind Kirtley 2-4-0. L These three locos ages total over 150 years. The 0-6-0 and 0-4-4 well tanks were built in 1966 and the 2-4-0 in 1972 during my intensive engine building phase The engines and carriages, except the four wheeled brake behind the tender, were painted and lined by my good friend Larry Goddard. The quality of his painting has stood the test of time. Derek

Just superb Al. You do possess an enviable talent for creating realism in your models. Derek

Do you mean the Wellington Road PS Barry. That was right next to Wellington Station, but as far as I know, was hardly used in 1960. The line did bisect the newer (1928) PS at Kirkstall, a bit further out. The two parts of this PS were joined by a rickety footbridge over the railway, which was four tracks then. The southern part of the PS was the coal wharf where coal came by barge on the Leeds Liverpool canal. The other, larger part of the site contained the PS proper and the offices (and laboratory where I worked until 1959) and where most of the coal came by rail or road. The lab staff had to go across to the canal side every day to check the coal being delivered by the barges. It could be a cold job and was unpopular with the staff. However, since it crossed the main Midland line out of Leeds, and trains were in view right from Armley Canal Road station in one direction and in the other right out to Kirkstall station. So, I used to volunteer for the job, but it was soon noticed I took longer than anyone else. One day the boss followed me and caught me hanging over the bridge waiting for the Bradford part of the “Devonian”. to appear. As it turned out, he was also interested in the railway and stood with me. He told he started his working life in the railway laboratories at Derby, but preferred the GWR engines. I was too junior to suggest he washed his mouth out. Derek

Yes, I think Johnster has got it right. When I saw the photo of that incorrectly set turnout, it jarred, and spoiled what I would call an excellent view. The drooping arm, well I haven’t yet met anyone who hasn’t taken pictures of model railways wheresomething is not right. I am the worlds worst. If I get all the point settings right, I often find a telegraph pole growing out of the loco chimney. Good model photography is an art in itself. However, I have to hand it to Kevin for creating a beautiful model of a railway, even if it is GWR. .........................only joking Derek ..

Cheeky!!! Or as Dick Emery would have said, “you are awful, but I like you” Derek

After well over a year completely abandoned, Kirkby Malham saw a train. Running it was an exhausting business. I cannot clean the track very well, so we did have a couple of unscheduled stops. On the whole it wasn’t too bad, but my knees told me enough was enough. but, at least it does still work. Derek

Here is a pic of my efforts at painting and lining. I might add, I don’t marshal Larrys paint jobs next to mine Derek

Sorry for my late arrival, due to family health problems. I do not open up RMW so often. Regarding the lining on crimson stock, I use Humbrol No 74. It is to my eyes fairly near to the lining on the Midland 6 wheeler in the York museum. Having said that,I am no painter and most of my models were painted by Larry Goddard. I don’t seem to be able to attach any of the pics on my iPad sowill have to try my old ‘puter. Derek

No, Al, your backscene could do with a repaint. Only joking That is wonderful Derek

Hello Fellas, No, I haven’t gone down the plug hole. I am still here = do I hear groans coming from a certain person of North Eastern bent Late last summer, Olga was diagnosed with lymphoma, and started a course of chemotherapy in early October. The chemo wiped her out completely and all she could do was to sit and sleep. The course went on until mid January. It is a dreadful treatment and she is only just coming round, but it will be months before she is anywhere near normality. I promised to stay with her, and have sat with her in our extension overlooking the garden for nearly eight months. It wasn’t too bad until lockdown, as we had frequent visits from family and our lovely friends and neighbours. Olga is very vulnerable, so since lockdown it has been very quier in midland towers. My mojo has been somewhat lacking, but I am sure it will return. Finally, the good news. A scan showed the cancer to have been killed off. Derek

Did the authorities mean social separation on 2 metres or 2 miles?

Perhaps they had got themsivles made up for a night out. Derek

Al, you missed the stray cows going into the field as the sheep came out. The perversity of animals. Derek

Of course you are dead right about the construction of dry stone walling, a very skilled occupation. But in model form a few displaced stones, carefully painted will give the impression of a wall needing some TLC. Derek

Very nice Al, but is all the walling in such good condition in Derbyshire, or do you need some that has fallen down or is being rebuilt. it certainly is effective Derek

We live in a popular holiday area, and proposals for a new housing development near us were allowed to go ahead by Scarborough Council. It is the most hideous development I have seen, yet the houses are being bought as second homes. At least one of the second homes is owned by some people who live in London, and they suddenly appeared one day last week, I might say, to the displeasure of the locals. However, the owners have disappeared, so we think there might have been words exchanged. Derek