BR60103

We had a heavy enough shower that the crabapple that was in full flower yesterday is now solid green. A man was invited over to quote on re-doing the driveway. Quote was accepted by SWMBO. Tried a few places to find replacement electric fireplaces. None suitable in stock; any further action deferred by item 2) above. No significant muddling managed.

We are having a sorting of the back room where my spare stuff is located. SWMBO is looking at my magazines again -- 40 years worth disappeared when we moved. I noticed today that the "curtains" in one of the basement windows had big black marks on them. These were taken down and washed (they are actually big towels) and I found major black stuff along the window sill. So the rest of the afternoon was spentwashing that by leaning over the shelves while standing on a ladder. Black stuff dissolved in water and could be wiped off. Trying to replace a couple of electric fires that went "poof". Circuit board for one is no longer available. I haven't found a new one that fits the bookshelf unit. We have been promised thunderstorms every day this week. We did get a bit of rain today.

Does the evacuation include a mystery tour of the town or just a visit to the depot yard?

We managed early shopping for plants and then to the bookstore (first time in months) for the February copy of BRM which I hadn't picked up the last time I was there. We were kitted out in mask and rubber gloves and BRM was duly washed down with soap and water. Then we added some plants to the front garden, im between the tree roots. SWMBO is a dismayed that the bird seed has started to sprout there. Then some re-arranging in my storage room. We think our neighbour may have had a flood (various recamation trucks out front) and she is worried that I have stuff on low open shelves. The reason that there are so many more songs about unrequited love is that those with requited love are too busy moving the furniture.

Our copy of the book (Pocket Books, 1940, printed 1974) has a diagram of the coach. Is that what you need? Page 56, start of Part II. The layout is side corridor. Looked at from the corridor side, a WC at the left end and WC and conductor's seat at the right end. From the left 4 double rooms (bunk beds?), pairs sharing a washroom. Single room (Poirot), 3 paired rooms with partition & door, single room at the end. All have a T in the corner. Numbering is weird. Starts with 1 for H.P, then 2,3. 4/5 is left end going up to 10/11. then 12 to 16 beyond 3 to the right.

Can you bring up the thread and click on Ignore this topic? That should take it out of any searches you do.

I don't have the info here, but could Mike's answer be Cabinet Ministers (either general or specific)? We had to go out today -- printer ink. Bookshops are re-opening. I must see if they still have that copy of the January BRM. SWMBO says it will get wiped down with a disinfectant cloth if I get it.

Thanks for an interesting thread. I've started on my store of Kirk kits during this Isolating. I'm very short of good documentation and it's tricky to find in Canada. I've completed (but not lettered) a pair of full brakes and have the 3rd, semi-corridor composite, and 3rd-3rd twin in process. I think the twin was second hand as the floors were missing.

My version of The Bird Fancyer's Delight looks like Polly's but with a bit less colour. I can't find it now, but I've seen it this year. I've bookmarked John's page for later listening. I was going to watch a celestial conjunction or something at sunset tonight but tomorrow's partly cloudy has come in early. Today seemed like the hottest day yet this year even if we did have snow 2 weeks ago. We had a walk iin the woods through glades of trilliums. Sunday is Queen Victoria's birthday but it was celebrated last Monday. It's the monarch's official birthday in Canada. "The twenty-fourth of May Is the Queen's birthday And if you don't give us a holiday We'll all run away." And looking for the music book, I found my notebook for the extra, hard math course (called Problems) that I took last year of high school to get out of Pys Ed.

There was a recall here of plug in rechargers or adapters. The ones listed all came from dollar stores.

When I had a removable section on my DC powered layout, I wired it so that the north rail was fed on one side and the south rail was fed on the other side and the connection was made through the removeable bit. I had the rail joiners but they were backed up with phone plugs that came apart when not required. If the middle bit was out, one rail on each side was dead. There's still a risk if you have a DMU with the power car trailing or are backing a train.

IIRC, there is footage of the inside of a brake coach near the beginning of the film A Hard Day's Night.

Rob: You can come close to a multimeter with a small bulb and a 9V battery.

When Ontario had a "socialist" government, the finance minister was nicknamed "Pink Floyd" because his name was Floyd something. But I don't think that's who you're referring to.

Polly: Have you run into The Bird Fancyer's Delight? Tunes to be taught to your pet bird. Work well on most whistles. A friend had it on LP a (half a century?) ago but I only have the music.

My father did the family tree research for his retirement project -- applying for a coat of arms. I have all the paperwork in the basement, somewhere. I was told that a couple of my mother's aunts had some genealogy done. They were looking for a link to Bonnie Prince Charlie or a claim to the Scottish throne. They stopped when they came to Rob Roy and the Black Douglas.

You mean, they actually have to push cars through that contraption? It was bad enough when I thought it would be a trailing switch.

Rob: I'm slightly worried by the old fix. The point looks like an old electrofrog. Do you have an ohmmeter? Test all the rails in the frog to see if they're all connected -- everything inside the circle -- and see if they're connected to the rails to the left of the plastic breaks. Test with points in both positions. Is there a point motor? Does it have a switch to the frog? Is there a wire coming out under the frog? I can be over there in 18 months when the quarantine ends.

Rob: I haven't. But a couple of the Platelayers have. A spreadsheet would be best. Separate pages by scale, manufacturer, other criteria? Don't worry about blank cells, but try to have enough info that things can be identified. Otherwise:

Day started with light, fluffy snow -- possibly 2". Most was gone by noon. We may be off to a hardware store again tomorrow. Dayle was up early enough that she now knows our newspapers are delivered by 3:30 a.m. We have a policy of not putting solid material down the toilet in the RV. Not even RVTP; there's a container for it. Other jobs go to the campground facilities.

I'm building some old Ian Kirk LNER coaches. I have an articulated twin suburban coach, 3/3, that I must have bought second hand. The floors are missing. Can someone confirm what the floor is like. I'm assuming that it will be like the other suburbans except for the articulation. I would also like to know how long it should be. Thanks. Later I'll be asking how to fix the roof where one corner has broken off.

Today's excitement was a flyover by the Snowbirds, the PR wing of the RCAF. They're doing a tour in support of frontline/hospital workers and flew over Guelph. It was supposed to be yesterday, but postponed due to weather. A very brief pass through the skies. The biggest nearby city apparently set a record low last night. I dig out an old kit today -- Kirk LNER suburban twin. Checking the parts, one roof has a corner broken off and both floors are missing. If I read the stickers right, the dealer has changed hands twice; I may have bought it second hand. Well, on to the semi-corridor composite.

I have a double junction using 2 long wyes. But it would also work with regular points. I think that the short wyes would need the short crossing, but I haven't tried it.

We had snow today, several times. We live in Canada: last snow of the winter on June 30; first snow of winter on July 1. Garden shops opened yesterday. Dayle didn't find the plants she wanted but we bought 4 face masks. Today the hardware stores opened and we tried out the masks. I managed to get a replacement for a light socket that went weird earlier in the week.