jamie92208

Good morning Richard. Your post a couple of days ago was thought provoking. I have been involved in the disposal of several estates and it can ge a hard task physically, in time and also emotionally. As you mention, several societies have run executor and trustee services forca fee ranging from 10 to 20%. I believe that commercial firms work on at least 40%. Certainly I have seen, widiws short changed, including by one of the London auction houses who the deceased had acted as an advisor for. The best way is the slow drip feed ofva collection via Ebay, and sales stands at shows, particularly the specialist gauge/scale shows. Dumping the whole collection on the market gets nowhere. Bereaved partners generally fit into 2 categories, the first just wants rid and isn't bothered about the value. The other usually has a hugely inflated idea of what the items are worth, based on their purchase price. The hardest I had to deal with was a bereaved daughter who had a huge emotional attachment to many of the items. Certainly some sort of pre organisation of the items, with an inventory is a great help, along with realistic valuations. I based mine on average sale prices on the Bring and Buy stand at GOG events. A quick and easy way for part built vehicles, was to count the number of wheelsets and them multiply by the current Slaters price. Things weren't left on the stand and a surprising amount was raised. Certainly a document giving guidance about disposal is well worth doing. It could be called 'Operation Hope Not' which was the code name for Churchill's funeral plan. It was apparently at a meeting to review it, that the question of where the funeral train should leave from was discussed. The attendees of course said Paddington. Winston demurred and said something along the lines of " It will leave from Waterloo unless Charles DecGaulle has died before me." Jamie

Good morning from The Charente. I haven't posted here for a while but have had two sightings recently that I thought might interest you. We have had the usual garden birds of sparrows, various Tits and Robins around all winter. Starlings are also seen and the Buzzards and Harriers seem to be doing well on the roads out of the village. The buzzards roost on the telephone poles. Over the past two weeks, this gentleman has been wandering round our garden and the neighbouring truffle orchard (Not ours). He seems to like walking around Also yesterday a neighbour rang us to tell us that the Cranes were coming, not construction machinery, but what I think are Common Cranes, migrating from their winter feeding grounds in Spain/Portugal to Scandinavia for the summer. Apparently well over 100,000 of them do this and you can hear the flocks coming from some distance due to the honking. They seem to circle over our village and then head north quite fast. Here's a close up from the first flock. Then a few minutes later another flock came over The locals say that their passing marks the end of winter. We've seen them in 2019 and this year going north but don't see them going south. However we do get storks some years that roost overnight on the grain silo and any electricity poles they can find, in September. Jamie

Good morning from the Charente. It's a bit grey here but not damp. It was great to take part in the Zoom yesterday and to see old and new faces, and to be able to put faces and names to several avatars. A big thank you to Baz for organising it all. It was a good day her for other reasons as it was officially, at least according to our French neighbours, the last day of winter. How do we know this, simples, we saw and heard flocks of migrating common cranes going over us at lunchtime, many hundreds of them, sounding like a Parisian traffic jam with all the honking they made. This was the first flock with some in close up. App apparently they are heading from Spain/Portugal/Morocco, to Northern Germany and Scandinavia A few minutes later another large flock went over, moving very fast with wind assistance. We saw them in 2019 but missed them last year. We don't see them come south but in September do get Storks which roost on the electricity poles. Anyway after tea we watched TV. I had managed a bit of time in the shed, changing the colour of some things that move. This morning it's market day and after that who knows. Regards to all. Jamie

Good evening from the Charente. However it's still the 6th of June at Doncaster. First off a rather better shot of a 331 in the sidings in front of the Plant. Then a 66 heading south in yet another livery. And another livery in the sidings, plus the resident Thunderbird in the shape of a 67. The 331 was one of a pair that were involved in driver training doing coupling training in the siding. Then an HST headed south. And a Hull Trains 180 came north. Then an IET came in in works grey, it was one of the Trans Pennine ones on test/training Coupled to a class mate that had it's livery applied. What a variety of types of motive power on display. More tomorrow I hope. Jamie

For some obscure reason the editor put up a postbof mine from a few days ago. Random. Good moaning to all and of course Sundry. Despite the best efforts of the wind machine wecare still a long way from Ikea. It's dry but windy and relatively warm. First off, happy birthday for Chris. Simon, hope the DVT gets sorted. A very good and long lunch was had yesterday at some friends in the village. Thusxweconly had a small rather late supper. Prawns in butter and garlic. 6 of each that needed eating. Today it's our usual conversation with young Emily. I wonder what new word shevis going to delight us with this morning, then coffee with some friends a couple of miles away, some shed time this afternoon then certain Zoom session, will we all be singing Happy Birthday. Regards to all. Jamie

As I remember it, if the language/behaiviour got to that level they were deemed to have failed The Attitude Test. This resulted in a trip to the charge desk. The exact naturevof the test and syllabus were closely gaurded secrets but a fail was instantly recognisable. Hope things go on well Mick. Hopefully you should be OK. We've done the maths for Beth's friend and unfortunately the only place she could have got the infection is in Pinderfields. She was in 10 days though. Tested negative whilst there. Then got transferred to Dewsbury and was found to be positive. Discharged to isolate at home and 2 weksclater died at home. Her daughter was isolating with her as she was in her 80's and lived alone. The daughter then tested positive and still has to isolate whilst dealing with the death. Not good. Jamie

Thanks for that Ian, my mistake, duly corrected. Jamie

Good evening, it's getting warmer down here but there are still some photos to come. 2019 was our Ruby wedding and whilst we were in the middle of the Pacific our first grandchild was born. I wasn't totally bereft of trains as I'd managed to see trains in Australia, Fiji and one of the Hawaiian islands as well as Canada and the US. However as soon as we got home we had a quick turn around and set off for the UK. Our first stop on arrival was of course to see young Emily, then 4 weeks old. I tried very very hard to be grumpy. Whilst over there for a few weeks I did manage to get out now and again and got down to Leeds on 31st May to see 66770 heading through the station. I think it was the stone working from Swinden. Thanks to Beast this is working a Hull to Rylstone empties. The east end of Leeds keeps changing and here a 185 and 158 are on the Huddersfield line. I also saw my last 37, 37424 aka 558 that came through on a test train. A few days later on 6th June I got to Morley and caught a 185 heading west. Then caught a train down into Leeds where 91's were still in action. From there a trip to Doncaster and back was enlivened by seeing my first 331 in the loop at Wrenthorpe. A 319, I think, though it could have been a 369 was outside the Plant at Donny. And .this brightly painted 66 headed north from Doncaster Decoy to Drax. Plenty to see. Jamie

Good moaning from down ere, or 2 kilometres from Romaziers to be precise. We got various things done in the morning yesterday and a couple more in the afternoon before it was fish and chip time. I managed some shed time, the alernative was having Dancing on Ice playing in the background whilst Beth watched it. During the day Beth gotba message to say that a friend had died of Covid, apparently acquired in Pinderfields hospital. Not good. Today some wood will be chopped this morning then we are off to some friends in the village for lunch. It could take some time and we will not be driving. At some point we will try and complete the 6 pages of paperwork needed to get some stuff thatvBeth got from her former family home, over from the UK. Blame the B word. Regards to all. Jamie

Thanks, very much for the info. It would appear that I've got another GW open wagon to add to a through freight. As I said in my post, the only missing part appears to be an end. That shouldn't be difficult to fabricate. Thanks to SM42's generosity I've enough transfers as well. Happy days ahead. Jamie

Good ,evening, more shed time tonight to escape having to watch Dancing on Ice, which Beth was watching on catch up. First some details were added to the brake van and it's starting to come on. I then looked through some paints and by chance came across a tin of GWR freight stock grey. Guess what I did. It's in the top left corner of the photo. It isn't quite as dark as it looks The end is on the brake van and several holes have been drilled for handrails and lamp brackets. I then had a look at some other wagons on the shelf of shame. One box was marked assorted. When I unpacked it there appeared to be various bags of bits plus most of a Coopercraft 4 plank wagon, complete apart from 1 end. It shouldn't be too difficult to fabricate an end. Does anyone know what wagon the 4 plank kit represents please. Jamie

That makes sensevof a lot of what was shown in the Chilterns group video. Jamie

The model shop is Station Minimodels just outside Civray. It's in the backyard of a bungalow. It's a plastic kit shop but has a good range of Humbrol and Revell paints plus modelling accessories and some scenic stuff. Nice fellow that runs it, and he has a facebook presence. Jamie

Editor cleared, Good moaning to one and all. I had a successful trip out with my mate Giovanni. He's a Brit with dual Italian/British citizenship. He doesn't speak much French and has tried to get by speaking Italian. He'd been to his Mairie to try and get planning permission to put some extra windows in the front wall of the house that they've bought. Speaking Italian had not gone down well. Anyway I went with him and threatened to fit him with a muzzle if he opened his mouth. We do know the mayor as she's a neighbour of some friends of ours. Ayway the meeting went well and I think we've got it sorted. He's going to help me fit the shower door when it arrives. The afternoon was warm and sunny and several ginger biscuits were consumed. This morning it's a trip ou to stock up on liquid essentials at the vineyard/distillery and pay a couple of bills. This afternoon may involve some time in the shed. Regards to all. Jamie

Good moaning from down here. We stay in 2018 for now and after settling in here in France we had a trip back to see the family. Our base was Lincoln and I managed a day out to London to meet some friends and also see some trains. However not all traces of UK railways had been left behind. However back to 20th December and the London trip courtesy of LNER. One place i went to was Paddington and saw some 345's working out to Hayes and Harlington. The new order was definitely here as no HST's and lots of 800's. Another one arrives. A far cry from my first visits there in 1971 when there were Western's various prototype 47 lookalikes and blue pullmans. More to come from 2019. Jamie

Good morning, not a lot of chance to get out and watch trains recently for various reasons, but I have managed to get out a couple of times. 11th of Feb I had a short trip out to find a model shop and buy some paint. This was a couple of miles east of St Saviol. St Saviol is on the Main Line to Bordeaux between Poitiers and Angouleme north of Ruffec. There is a branch that heads east and there used to be a minor line that came down past our village towards St Jean d'Angely. I crossed the branch line track en route to the model shop and it looked pretty much disused with some track still in situ. North east of the station however there are some very large grain silos. I had a drive round them and found that they were still rail connected and the connection was actually electrified. I think that there were 3 electrified spurs, all serving a row of silos. There was a level crossing that gave this view . The tracks have obviously been used relatively recently. Then a couple of days ago I managed some more time near the tracks. I started at Ruffec and there was trackwork ongoing. This finished at 13.00 in time for the north and southbound local trains. The northbound one pulled into the usual platform but the southbound one arrived, running wrong line and was put into the up loop which has a normally unused platform face. I just managed to get a shot that included both trains. After that I went and met Andy and we parked up a little north of our usual spot. First up was a long cereal train with Millet Rail hoppers heading north hauled by two Regio Rail class DE18's. These are identical to the new class 79XXX's that are coming into service with SNCF. The leading loco was DE18 2178 but I can't find any roster details for Regio Rail, they apparently have 6 of them. Then a class 186 came north with a train of cars from Spain. Not a lot but still nice to get out. Jamie

Good morning. First of all a big thankyou to Andy (SM42) as some GWR transfers arrived yesterday. I will have to get the wagons painted. I have made a first stab at mixing the paint for the 6 plank wagon. The first trial wasn't right and my colour advisor (wife) has now got involved. The main work has been getting the fiddly brake gear fitted to the 6 wheel brake. Lots of fiddly work and the air nearly turned blue. I ended up having to remove the wheels, then do one axle's worth of brake gear per evening. Anyway it has been done and I need to get the van finished. I have also researched the van in Midland record and Essery's wagon book. I have also been consulting the freight Working timetable and intend the brake to be attached to a Leeds to Heysham freight. I plan to have the necessary letters installed on the tablet racks on the exterior. I will have to experiment with the printer to produce them. Jamie

It did actually run on the main line but struggled on some of the pointwork. The problem was that there's a brakeman's shelter on top of the tender that wouldn't go under the bridges. It's nice to see the Gresley gear working on it though. Jamie

Good evening, pancakes, homemade again, have been had for the 2nd time in a fortnight and were much enjoyed, as have some homemade ginger biscuits which have a real kick. Music, I dread to think what my year is going to be like, no 1 on my 7th birthday was Mack the Knife by Bobby Darrin. Favourite cover version is California Dreamin by the Beach Boys with Roger McGuin doing a great continuo on his 12 string. Goodnight all. Jamie

I had detachable scenic sections on the rear of Long Preston, they were the sides of a relatively shallow cutting. They did work and were quite substantial as the backscenes were bolted to them. At the layout side the front edge was 1" vertical which sat nicely behind a shallow piece of scenery behind the goods/coal yard and the joint was almost invisible to the punters. The four sections all bolted into 1 crate. They can be seen in this picture behind the O1a and the 9000. Jamie

There was a layout in the Wakefield club based on Towyn, called Eastgate. It was about 24' long straight at exhibitions. In the clubroons a small square board with a 90 degree bend was used to erect it spaced at roughly the 16' point. That worked well but of course being 7mm NG the corner radius was about 15". You would need board with whatever your minimum radius is. On thevother points, why go for coal loads. Most coal near to puts would cone in via landsale in riad vehicles. However your goods yard would deal with general goods traffic. This would be dealt with in the goods shed where a magnet could take loads out. You could also have a loading chute where local opencast coal is tipped into empty wagons, using some sort if powder valve or conveyor belt. This of course would be removed off scene. Similarly a local factory could send goods out by rail. Certainly arrange the controls for one person operation. Have fun. Jamie

I believe that the radiologist who did the report has made an appointment at Specsavers, at least according to certain so called friends. Chrisf, Majorca does indeed have Railways. The Soller line and Tramway are a must. The rest of the network, looks interesting and the termini are near to each other. Good moaning to all. It's grey and misty outside. Yesterday it was sunny enough for me to stand outside watching trains. Not a bad day. Off to a local townhall with a friend this morning to try and help out a planning problem. The chimney sweep is due this afternoon, so no fire. Pete, good to see you visit, hope the recovery continues. I also have happy memories of Broad Street and the barred window stock from 1971 in my case. Ttfn Jamie

My brain is officially normal as last werks scan showed no abnormalities. ER' that know me may beg to differ. Beth certainly does. Jamie

Good evening again, some more from 2018 for tonight. It's still 12th May and here are a couple more taken at Claughton Mnor brick works. And another close up of the plaque. Then it was back towards the dales with a stop at Long Preston to have a last look at my old layout in the village hall. Then a couple of miles to the south alongside the line from Hellifield to Blackburn and another chance to see 35018 as she came up the bank after a water stop. Then she was really going for it. And another for good measure. Here's a video link to the shots I got. 35018 on Shap 12 5 18 - YouTube And finally I got the chance to see the Rolling Stones for the first time, 4 days before we moved so here is a shot of what must be the greatest Rock and Roll Band in the world. I hope I'm as fit as Jagger is when I'm 73 My first ever visit to Old Trafford, There are more to come from visits back to the UK Jamie

Good moaning. It's Chewsday so it's supermarket visit this morning. I got the last joints made on the gate frame yesterday and then assembled it. Progress,just need to finish cutting the slats and buy new screws and bolts, then paint it. Today after the shopping I'm off to Rufec to buy the above mentioned bolts, then an hour or so trackside with Andy. Sounds like a 8good plan. Yesterday I also used the French Vaccine date predictor, Anytime between September 21 and March 22. C'est la vie. Jamie