Downendian

Just had a Barn owl fly over the cottage and is circling around outside now gently calling in flight! Amazing stuff, must be nesting nearby.

better shots of the Orange tips a couple of days ago. Managed some close up shots with the aid of a telephoto. also saw fresh hatched peacocks and a few small tortoiseshells, and a solitary Brimstone Phil! Neil

Thanks Simon It does very much look like a Dunnock when the streaks appear on it's back when you lightened the image. It certainly looked much bigger than a Dunnock (Song Thrush size), but I'm willing to listen to more skilled ornithologists. Neil

No Brimstones spotted yet - but also plenty of female orange tips (well without orange tips!) less photogenic. Will be out tomorrow with camera spotting birds and butterflies in the South Devon hedgerows. Neil

In Devon this Easter weekend - some walks the last few days in glorious sunshine. Orange tips out yesterday, saw four separate insects in about 30 minutes. Always a sign that summer has arrived- one of my favourite butterflies. lovely! Neil

Ok for the twitchers out there - what is this? my first thought a slender but medium/large sized, thrush shaped songbird was this was a redstart. I didn't have my telephoto with me, but captured some shots, so apologies for the low res. Went out today with telephoto, and guess what nothing. Thoughts are now based on markings on zoomed in image, a Nightingale? Neil ps not in the back garden but about a mile away!

A man walked into a record shop. "Do you have any recordings of wasps?" he asked. "Oh sir, i believe we have just the one, would you like to go and listen in booth 1" responded the assistant. After 10 seconds or so the man responded - "thats not wasps, its bees!" Assistant " oh really sorry sir i must have put the B-side on" Neil

These are absolutely wonderful, thanks for posting Dave. You should try and get them published somewhere. Neil

Amazing last night, unmistakable call of Barn owl flying around my Hamlet, then it sat in a tree about 50 feet away from the cottage calling. Just too dark to see @2am. Neil

I've just been out watering the greenhouse, some annoyed blackbirds obviously nesting close by. There's plenty of Chiffchaffs calling around the garden so coupled with yellowhammers up the hill the summer influx has begun in earnest in the South Hams. Neil

some photos from this mornings amble in the South Hams Primroses are out everywhere in the hedgerows We saw at least four different peacocks, plus tortoiseshells and a single red admiral The heather and other plants are crawling with bumble bees and honey bees from the local hives. Taken in the back garden 20 minutes ago The twin oaks, about 200 yards away from our cottage, a good marker of the seasons- buds showing Neil

Just got in from a 5 mile walk in the deepest South Hams. Loads of butterflies, many peacocks, small tortoiseshells and a lone red admiral. Unusual for this time of year. On the bird front the yellowhammers have arrived (saw at least three pairs) and many skylarks were up. Lambs also in the field behind the cottage. Thank goodness spring is at last here. Neil

Passed 43004 travelling South this lunchtime on the A38, I was driving to Exeter. Outstanding work from NR colleagues on this forum and others. My business trips to London will be much better soon! Neil

Thanks Ivan for the PDFs Superb article on the Mostyn 40 fleet, and the ultimate 4mm 40. Neil

Hi Sean will do - but will need to wait until the weekend, locos here with me in Plymouth, camera in Bristol. Neil

Nope I don't own it Ivan! What does it say? Neil

Some progress on my Lima 40s. Despite buying a couple of the new Bachmann split-box 40 141, I have a number of Lima bodyshells that are receiving Shawplan bits and other detailing. All have new windscreen etches, and fit very well when correctly bent to shape and cutting a small notch with a razorsaw into the bonnet. The fiddly bit is the roof fan as it needs to look just right. A hyperactive dremel necessitated some filling on one fan (not shown here), but eventually it sat down correctly. Care is needed not to get filler between the grids on the fan cover, and the nickel-silver etch from Shawplan needed trimming to fit the surround. Three of these have been fitted with Bachmann chassis, which needs just a bit shaved off the front to fit. The split and centre head code versions (this one is a Scottish 40 x6x)appear to mask the over height nose much better than the disc headcode variants. I have one Hornby railroad chassis which is inferior to the Bachmann, so still looking for a further two of the latter power unit. Neil

Intrigued by the Olivia's trains custom builds of the Tinsley triplets the class 13, I decided to give one a go.At almost £300 a go for this model- I reckon a bit of modelling is called for. Always parochial, the 13s never roamed from Tinsley, except to Derby works of course for general overhaul, but I wanted a model of at least one, to bring back the memories of 1970s trips to "child to Brinsworth three magpies", 2p return! Having gradually accrued outside frame Bachmann 08s from eBay since Christmas and armed with the excellent RT models kit I put together this little lot in two weekends. The Bachmann slave chassis needed quite a bit of surgery, carved off excess mazak with hacksaw, and lots of careful filing to make sure all fitted. Everything was fixed in place by rapid epoxy adhesive. The RT models etches and whitemetal parts are excellent- but take great care with the handrail at the rear of the slave unit - very very fragile. The RT etches are designed to fit the Hornby model (no surgery required), but these are much more expensive than the Bachy model (at least secondhand). One 08 had a split nylon drive gear (why it was cheap), bought a new wheelset from Bachmann spares for £12 - all done in three days. My Master unit will get yellow con rods donated from a blue 08- this pair will become 13 002. Still to do - perma-couple, chipping, fit buffers and paint shops. A pretty enjoyable exercise and this little lot cost no more than £90, well plus a few hours of my expensive spare time! Neil

Huge amount of interest in this thread 49 users currently. I use this line regularly working in Plymouth and family in Bristol. Several posters in this thread clearly have no idea what it is to live in the South West. The railway is critical, and it is now severed, and only thanks to Captain K and his colleagues have we a line of rescue. The South West involves large distances to go anywhere, Devon is a huge county, one poster even relating the population of Devon to the annual rail trips from Plymouth (the biggest city in Devon). Most Northern and Eastern areas of Devon would take more than an hour by road to get to Plymouth. The South West is in crisis, sure the rest of the country have problems, but my thoughts are with those that use the railway on a daily basis in Devon/Cornwall, and my ancestral home, the Somerset levels. My paternal grandfather is buried just a few miles from the worst of the flooding there, and my mothers family are SomLev born and bred. The South West is not a bunch of country bumpkins but a vibrant important part of the UK which because of adverse weather (appears part of our long term future) needs better infrastructure. Talk of singling lines, and huge subsidies for SW travellers have clearly not lived here outside the summer months. Let's hope the severed artery gets sorted - we have seen here updates from our NR colleagues and I have no doubt in their professionalism in sorting this. What we need in the South West is more investment, and this winter has clearly focussed minds and it appears the attention of Westminster. Neil

No still post here occasionally Alastair, but as you say much time elsewhere too. Still check RMW on a daily basis. Neil

Having waited eons for the new Bachmann 40 was concerned by reports here of errant running. One of my two was cleaned of excess grease and thoroughly checked before her first test run -all fine to date but fingers crossed. One thing i have done is to compare it to the earlier split-box release (ten years ago, D325) green full yellow ends. By putting both models side by side the incorrect ride height on the mark I tooling was blindingly obvious, so I at last carried out Ken Gibbon's ride height modification by getting rid of the chassis ribs that the bogie towers sit on and replace them with 0.7mm wire- makes a remarkable difference- and both models have now similar ride height. Ken described this modification in September 2005 Railway modeller. Oversize Mazak ribs on bogie tower mount Ribs removed with a grinder attachment on a Dremel - 0.7mm wire epoxied in place. Lowered mark 1 tooling RH GFYE compared to recent mark 2 tooling release, BFYE.

My two replacements for Mazak rotten 31 270s were these weathered 31 268s, so these aren't as far as I know affected. Neil

A quick reprise of fitting precision labels codes, which I've been gradually doing to my Dapol fleet. I would say under no circumstances try and gain access to the box by removing the flimsy light stalks and their mounts - they will invariably snap off. I simply peeled back the foam light baffle directly ontop of the headcode box. sufficient space can be created to do the fittings, and can simply be tucked back in place. In any case, replacement foam baffles can be obtained from DCC supplies if you screw them up a bit. Neil

Another thanks to Tim V for his 1970s central Bristol pics. Schoolboy trips to Temple Meads by bike were almost a weekly event, and what has struck me is how quiet the roads were. The same areas now would have at least ten times the traffic. Neil

Those are releases in N-gauge though. Edit - these have just appeared in OO. A welcome release from Dapol for more BFYEs. Neil