shortliner

John - probably a bit late now - but some of the float bridges had a pontoon on/under the "damp" end, so that it rose and fell with the tide automatically, rather than towers with counterweights.

Bushes - lichen or rubberised horsehair teased out a LITTLE,with the cheapest stickiest hair-spray sprayed ont it, and holding it at the base with tweezers dumped in a box of flock - sprayed a second time and dumped in again, then left to dry thoroughly

The self adhesive tile idea is brilliant!

The Dark-side obviously suits you!

Love that Yreka Western box car

Neat way of doing a barge, John. Another usefull substance is the Teflon coated baking sheet sold by Morrisons - very slippery!

Painting the Church There was a Scottish painter named Hamish MacGregor who was very interested in making a penny where he could, so he often thinned down his paint to make it go a wee bit further. As it happened, he got away with this for some time, but eventually the local Church decided to do a big restoration job on the outside of one of their biggest buildings. Hamish put in a bid, and, because his price was so low, he got the job. So he set about erecting the scaffolding and setting up the planks, and buying the paint and, yes, I am sorry to say, thinning it down with turpentine.. Well, Hamish was up on the scaffolding, painting away, the job nearly completed, when suddenly there was a horrendous clap of thunder, the sky opened, and the rain poured down washing the thinned paint from all over the church and knocking Hamish clear off the scaffold to land on the lawn among the gravestones, surrounded by telltale puddles of the thinned and useless paint. Hamish was no fool. He knew this was a judgment from the Almighty, so he got down on his knees and cried: "Oh, God, Oh God, forgive me; what should I do?" And from the thunder, a mighty voice spoke.. (you're going to love this) v v v v v v v v "Repaint! Repaint! And thin no more!"

If you do manage to find one, I think you will suddenly decide that it is a LOT cheaper to make your own! The prices of any that are bigger than A4 (when you can find them)are HORRENDOUS!

Too good to miss http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1317763/Richard-Bensons-new-book-school-childrens-lesson-blunders.html

Two Australian businessmen in Brisbane were sitting down for a break in their soon-to-be new store. As yet, the store wasn't ready, with no stock and only a few shelves set up. One said to the other, 'I bet any minute now some idiot tourist is going to walk by, put his face to the window, and ask what we're selling. No sooner were the words out of his mouth when, sure enough, a curious Japanese tourist walked to the window, had a peek, and in a thick Japanese accent asked 'What you sell?' One of the men replied sarcastically, 'We're selling ass-holes.' Without skipping a beat, the Japanese man said, 'You doing velly well, only two left!'

John - if it helps, there is some more on that one here starting about half way down page 10 http://www.railroad-...chTerms=shoebox and here http://www.rmweb.co....ngleferry+wharf Welcome to the Dark Side- there are plenty of us with torches! If you use XTrkCad email me and I'll burn you a load of designs - be aware that I may have to head south at short notice, and may not be available for a while Jack

I'm looking forward to "Bodge City" (great name)! - Another incipient Darksider - the influence is spreading insidiously as time passes - there will be calls for people to be innoculated against this virus!

Just noticed this - TWO genuine 2008 TWENTY pence pieces without dates so how does he know they are genuine 2008?

The "Wellie Boot's" (Anyone who has ever dressed a child will love this one!) Did you hear about the Pre-School teacher who was helping one of the children put on his "Wellie boot's"? He asked for help and she could see why.. Even with her pulling and him pushing, the little "Wellie's" still didn't want to go on. By the time they got the second "Wellie" on, she had worked up a sweat.. She almost cried when the little boy said, "Miss, they're on the wrong feet." She looked, and sure enough, they were. It wasn't any easier pulling the "Wellie's" off than it was putting them on. She managed to keep her cool as together they worked to get the "Wellie's" back on, this time on the right feet.. He then announced, "These aren't my Wellies." She bit her tongue rather than get right in his face and scream, 'Why didn't you say so?' like she wanted to. Once again, she struggled to help him pull the ill-fitting "Wellie's" off his little feet. No sooner had they gotten the "Wellie's" off when he said, "They're my brother's "Wellie's", my mum made me wear 'them.' Now she didn't know if she should laugh or cry. But, she mustered up what grace and courage she had left to wrestle the "Wellie's" on his feet again. Helping him into his coat, she asked, "Now, where are your gloves?" He said, "I stuffed 'them in the toes of my Wellie's". She will be eligible for parole in three years!

A group of 40 year old girlfriends discussed where they should meet for dinner. Finally it was agreed upon that they should meet at the Ocean View Restaurant because the waiters there had tight pants and nice bums. 10 years later at 50 years of age, the group once again discussed where they should meet for dinner. Finally it was agreed that they should meet at the Ocean View Restaurant because the food there was very good and the wine selection was good also. 10 years later at 60 years of age, the group once again discussed where they should meet for dinner. Finally it was agreed that they should meet at the Ocean View Restaurant because they could eat there in peace and quiet and the restaurant had a beautiful view of the ocean. 10 years later, at 70 years of age, the group once again discussed where they should meet for dinner. Finally it was agreed that they should meet at the Ocean View Restaurant because the restaurant was wheel chair accessible and they even had an elevator. 10 years later, at 80 years of age, the group once again discussed where they should meet for dinner. Finally it was agreed that they should meet at the Ocean View Restaurant because they had never been there before.

Remember this the next time you have major surgery and need a blood transfusion!! This is good to know!! MEDICAL RESEARCH Australian Medical Association researchers have found that patients needing blood transfusions may benefit from receiving chicken blood rather than human blood. It tends to make the men cocky and the women lay better.... Just thought you'd like to know. BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO ARE CRACKED, FOR THEY ARE THE ONES WHO LET IN THE LIGHT! OK, I'll be going to my room now.

T his guy was lonely and so he decided life would be more fun if he had a pet. He went to the pet shop and told the owner that he wanted to buy an unusual pet. After some discussion he finally bought a rare talking centipede which came in a little box to use for it's house. He took it home, found a good spot for the box, and decided he would take his new pet to the bar for a drink. He asked the centipede in the box, 'Would you like to go to Frank's place with me and have a beer?' Silence; there was no answer from his new Pet. This bothered him a bit, so he waited a few minutes and then asked it again, 'How about going to the bar and having a beer with me?' Again there was no answer, nothing but silence came from his new pet. So he waited a few minutes more, thinking about the situation. He decided to ask one more time. This time putting his face up against the centipede's house and shouting, 'Hey, in there! Would you like to go to Frank's place and have a beer with me?' (YOU'RE GOING TO LOVE THIS) A little voice came out of the box: 'I heard you the first time.... I'm just putting my f****ing shoes on!'

Regretttably, here in UK he'd probably have had a pair of fingers waved at him - or received a mouthfull of language that the off-spring really shouldn't hear!

Tom - you have to be a member!

It might be worth contacting http://www.gardentra.../#Announcements and inquiring if they still have any Gnomy Carriages - they had when they were at Perth - Those are very "convertable" (there was even a bus and a lorry at one time in the range) and it would be fairly easy to bash a suitable railcar from a couple to fit over a cheap USA or Underground Ernie chassis to run as On30 on 16.5mm track - a poke about on ebay may even find some. I did an article away back in MTI about doing it - I could dig if it would be of use - PM me your email addy if you want it, and I'll hunt! EDIT - There are some on here http://shop.ebay.co.uk/i.html?LH_AvailTo=3&_nkw=LGB+gnomy&_arm=1&_armm=63&_ruu=http%3A%2F%2Fshop.ebay.co.uk%2Fi.html%3F_nkw%3DLGB%2Bgnomy%26_arr%3D1&_rdc=1 and here http://shop.ebay.com...-All-Categories and here http://www.grsuk.com...t.asp?list=LGNO video here This site may be of use http://on30center.co...y/on30arts.html

I was in my local Morrisons this morning, and noticed this http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=A+Macbrayne+album Full of b/w and colour photos of the Western Isles Fleet - if you haven't a;ready seen it it might be of interest - in Morrisons it was full price!

Lloyds TSB are a total waste of space - It appears that there Scottish Branches cannot access accounts south of Birmingham, and their branches south of Birminghan can't acces those in Scotland|! - When my mother died, I needed to have the money in her account transfereed to Inverness - wrong! I eventually had to get the whole series of accounts closed (by POST) and the total transfered to my RBS account - UTTER MADNESS!

Very nice job on those roads, Warren