Buhar

On the drive in you can see where the road was bridged and there's still one of the station buildings in the park (nearly) in quite good nick.

Thank you for your kind thoughts. My wife's aunt and cousin were rescued from their collapsed houses in Antakya, fortunately unharmed and are now safely with other relatives. I have just come back from Turkey myself and families from the affected areas are everywhere trying to pick up the pieces of their lives. A scandal at the moment is that there are probably several thousand bodies still under rubble and many unidentified casualties in hospitals with no national register of the missing. People are touring the country to try and find relatives. Yes, triage is of French origin. But don't hold that against it. It came here legally during the Great War. Alan

Exiting the EU ended the UK's recourse to the Dublin Agreement that facilitated return to another EU country if someone should have claimed asylum there. It wasn't used a heck of a lot as we are talking about Home Office operations here. My take is to set up Initial Claim Offices abroad, near Calais initially, to triage applicants; family ties (quite widely drawn), UK ties (studied here, BBC stringer, army translator) plus a quota of simply just in need. Then let them work while they're waiting and process their claims quickly and without the current bias to rejection. Dinghy over La Manche or queuing for half a day at a grubby office in St Omer, I know which I'd choose. There was a survey in the last few days that indicates the general population is not against asylum, but objects to people circumventing the rules. The trouble is the rules have been carp for years and this lot are making it worse. Alan

That 450mm with 1mm gaps is helpful to me, extra droppers are not really a problem but cutting my track to that length means it'll fit in the suitcase for transport to Istanbul. Obviously there's the extra heat issue there as mentioned by other contributors.

Four or five of those loaded and the running foreman will be looking to double head the train.

I have posted this on the topic about the closure of Eileen's Emporium, but as this thread is the spiritual home of chassis wranglers I thought it would be worth a mention here. I know Tony is content with the Poppy's wooden jig, but for those who want something a bit more engineered the options were those from either Avonside or Hobby Holidays. I think we've lost the Avonside one along with Eileen's and the Master Chassis isn't currently available. I have been in touch with Phil at Hobby Holidays and he says he's had a few enquiries about the Master Chassis jig and is now compiling a waiting list to see if it's viable to do a production run. A message to phil@hobbyholidays.co.uk would register your interest.

'Snot to be sniffed at.

I was looking to invest in a chassis jig and with Eileen's going that seems to be the end of the Avonside one. I then asked Phil at Hobby Holidays about the Master Chassis which isn't on the website at the moment. Phil tells me he's had a couple of enquiries and is considering producing some if there is sufficient interest. He's compiling a waiting list so from enlightened self-interest (I want one) anyone considering a purchase could drop Phil an email to phil@hobbyholidays.co.uk

Either is possible, but I suspect you're closer.

So like the colour of Strathclyde Passenger Transport, but that was never actually orange, oh no, never, perish the thought.

Just popped onto Hobby Holidays' website and they say they're hopeful of being able to get hold of some of the Eileen's Emporium stock. However, the same page indicates a running down of the business and a determination to sell. Not really good news.

Operation, currently the topic with the most recent post https://www.crassoc.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=1929&sid=779de6cab973bb2f8d40d3d59efc834a

There's discussion about sheets and ropes on the Caledonian forum (accessible to non-members) which includes scans of some older articles. The LMS had five years as the life of a sheet. Can't get rid of this quote box. Stephen is always worth quoting, though.

Gerard Hoffnung and the barrel springs to mind. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zZUJLO6lMhI

The foundations of the once famous Glasgow football club, Third Lanark. From my Subbuteo team colours chart memories, red jerseys white shorts. Fleeced by a dodgy owner. Alan

Bogie brakes and the cross-head pump were standard fittings when built but both were removed in the early thirties. I don't know of any supplier of these. 247 Developments might do a plate for you.

Currently at Tebay waiting for electric banking assistance. Alan

Peter Drummond wasn't born or raised in Ayrshire, the family had moved to near Falkirk, I think, shortly after Dugald's birth. Due to their father's work they moved about a fair bit.

They've obviously put a 3mm scale wagon in the scene just to the left of the mast. Doesn't really work as forced perspective. Alan

'fraid not. We don't have any hypotheticated taxes, it all goes into one big pot, NI and green levies included, then gets spent where the treasury sees fit. Alan

It's nice to hear Brian's wife is pleased to know her husband's models are going where they will be appreciated. I hope Brian himself is able to take that in too at some point. Hopefully they are bringing in more funds than a commercial sale would, it looks like it so far. Care home costs are terrible, as I recently experienced, although can be worth it if matched by the service provided. Regrettably that's not always the case, especially where offshore companies and hedge funds are behind things. I hope Brian is comfortable and that Barbara feels he's in good hands. Alan

I went to a talk on energy conservation and the bloke said home turbines are very sensitive to the local geography, hills especially. He ended up dismantling his which was in the west of Scotland, which is windy. Air source heat pumps are not noisy at all. I usually have to check the blades to see if mine's working.

The other issue with joining two previously separate DCC layouts will occur with points or other accessories which have been allocated addresses or are involved in pre-set routes. Obviously you don't want more than one item on an address, but re-programming to eliminate conflicts would not prevent you returning to operating them as independent layouts in the future. As others have said, for loco control only, ditch one powercab connect the buses and you should be away. Making the join with a plug allows a quick return to separate layouts and will assist with fault finding. Alan

As I understand it, if it's an (M) motorway it replaced the old A road, often built on top (the A74(M) in places). Ordinary motorways ran in roughly the same orientation as the A road which remained. There's a wee bit of A74 south of Glasgow, the rest got single carriage-wayed and designated a B road or a B road was built alongside for local journeys and non-motorway traffic. I think the M6 M74 naming issue was to do with which budget it came out of and also trying to appease the Scots by building the southern stretch with 3 lanes.

The Travelodge in Durham, a little walk from the centre, is on the site of Durham Gilesgate Station and you check in in the original station building. Most of its existence was as a goods only facility.