dagrizz

I don't do facebook, are you able to post the relevant info? Cheers Graham

Whilst watching the trains on Heaton Lodge yesterday, large logo blue 47444 University of Nottingham caught my eye and I'd like one myself. However, I do 4mm scale so I wonder if anyone - Lima, VI, Hornby, Heljan or Bachmann has ever made this particular model? Anyone know? Thanks Oh and I'm not capable of repainting/renumbering one myself. Graham

We were there today too, absolutely stunning. SWMBO was raised-eyebrows on my suggestion for an extension to our home............ Graham

I saw two of them at Coventry within a few minutes of each other one day in May 1963. They'd worked specials from the north west and were both serviced at Rugby before returning north. Graham

We're having a family xmas meet-up in Wakefield on Wednesday. We'll be visiting this exhibition first before doing the family stuff. Looks stunning. Graham

We are going. I assume you just turn up and pay on the door. No pre-booking? Graham

Hmmm, this week I emailed Hornby about the delivery date for the Midland Pullman HST because the website said 'winter 2022'. I asked if this was Jan/Feb 2022 or Nov/Dec 2022 and the answer was 'Sep 2022'. Graham

I'm hoping for a pointer or two. We recently visited family in France and our 14 year old granddaughter has learned how to play chess at school, and after finding out I knew how to play I was challenged to a few games. Great fun but I was wondering if we could continue to play online. I play online Bridge regularly so I'd have thought playing chess online would be straightforward. Does anyone know of any affordable online chess sites that we could both join so we could play a few games? I'm not interested in playing anybody else or entering any sort of competition, just somewhere we can have a few private games of chess. Thanks in advance Graham

It will also explain the 'temporary' station building at La Tremblade - an old postal van, though they have also provided a modern toilet block, which is just as well as the round trip is a good 3 hours on a train without loos. Graham

I have been told that the line at La Tremblade is due to be extended to a new station in the redeveloped port area. Timescale is about 2-3 years. Graham

The end of the current line at La Tremblade is the loco turntable. Graham

Yesterday I thought it slightly odd that the line did not end at the waters edge and assumed it had been buried under roads and other developments so thanks for the extra info. I've now looked at streetview and can see the tracks. One of the things I did learn yesterday was the importance of the line to the oyster trade, allowing them to be transported further and quicker to the markets. Graham

Yesterday, we went for a ride on this line, a 12 mile preserved railway from Saujon to La Tremblade near Royan in western France. The train was hauled by this loco, which is apparently the oldest working steam loco in France, 130 years old this year. Very enjoyable. Graham

SWMBO suffers from earwax in hearing aid tubes. I get despatched upstairs to clear the blockage under the illuminated magnifier with a thin plastic coated wire that was originally bought for constructing 4mm fences. She appreciates the usefulness of model railways at times.

Well, SWMBO and myself enjoyed it. We went by rail (from Rugby), did the show in the morning then lunch and shopping in Brum afterwards. Strictly and Footie in the evening. A full day. Graham

duplicate

Yes I know what you are saying. But I was at GETS last week, Cradley Heath today and I've been to other events recently, including a concert in Newcastle. On the way back from Cradley Heath today me and SWMBO were in Brum city centre, which was very busy. Primark was worse than any model railway event. There was no social distancing at all in the Chinatown restaurants, nor in New St or Moor St stations. I'm not criticising anyone here, I'm just saying what I know and what I've seen. I just wonder if the ping thing has had its day given the high level of vaccination amongst us. Graham

So do you think if someone's child gets sent home from school because someone in their school bubble tested positive then the entire household has to isolate? It ain't happening. I know a childminder whose daughter was sent home and she carried on as normal. She sent their daughter upstairs to their bedroom while she tended the other kids she was minding downstairs. I also know an NHS nurse whose son was sent home from school and she carried on working as usual. Graham

Friends of mine got 'pinged'. They had been visiting friends whose daughter was isolating. The daughter was upstairs in her bedroom, they were downstairs in the lounge and they did not meet, but the app decided they were close enough to be contacts. Cost them a few days pay from work. I know quite a few people who have switched off the app because of false alerts. Graham

Having an oxide layer can improve corrosion resistance as long as it is even, continuous and unbroken. If the oxide layer is broken at any point then corrosion will then occur at a much faster rate because the point becomes an anode and all the corrosive potential is concentrated on that anode, resulting in pitting, which penetrates through the steel rather quicker than a general rust/oxide layer. This may explain why those cars showed up with rust problems after a few years. Graham

No, it seems from the posts above that the original batch of Clans were made in a different factory to the current batch. I'm suggesting that the paint suppliers might also be different. Graham

Furthermore to the above post, when we changed paint suppliers, the colour shift vanished. This was because the new paint supplier used a different formulation of paint, one in which the pigments were not as sensitive to the light source. I would suspect that the different Hornby factories have their own paint suppliers and this is causing the observed differences in shade under certain conditions. Graham

This reminds me of a 'problem' we had at work years ago. Some of our engines were painted green, but when they emerged from the paint shop under the factory lights (mercury lamps) they looked turquoise. When the engines were moved outside into daylight they appeared to be the correct green colour. It looks like Rays' LED lamps are causing a colour shift. Graham

I lost count the number of times I knocked the barriers and moved them a few inches. The barriers had 'feet' that stuck out and it was easy to nudge them.

It is more likely that the reduction in coughs/colds last winter was because we were mixing less in our warm and stuffy homes. Graham