lapford34102

Cambrian OBA and OCAmore or less finished now, just think they need a bit more time on the interiors. Stu

Interesting stuff and I'll see if I can find a number for the bsyp unit Neil. A bit curious as to where the OP's got to. Stu

If they have a property here more likely someone who's moved down from the London area over the last year. The town Facebook page daily looks to have enquiries such as the best areas to live in, best estate agents, is the a deli in town and where are the good schools (as a retired teacher who spent his career in the area I find the answers to that a good read!) Local estate agents and not so local as we had a London one recently regularly post leaflets asking if we're thinking of moving as they have out-of-area buyers waiting. There's seems to be a definite trend. Stu

Quite so which is why I said "hardly foolproof" but a 70 plate LR Evoque with West London garage plates (other marques are available) on the clifftop is a great excuse to have a whinge :-) Well done on getting your 1st (?) jab done. Stu

The new coastal community pastime - spot the registration number. Yes, I know it's hardly foolproof but it passes the time whilst out :-) Stu

Possibly, Drove to visit the MiLaw for the first time in months end of last week. Had a few jobs to do at her place so before we went was sent to local DiY store for new doorbell, lightbulb, etc etc. Came home with some timber as well :-) Gone EM with this stock, partly as I might get away with it on Sheepcroft and partly because of the pointwork I'd built so something new? Quite possibly! Cheers Stu

Getting a bit introspectiveanyone looking at any of my posts probably realise my interests are all over the place. I’ll admit to three exhibition layouts that cover a few areas and and projects I write about are quite random to put it politely. I admire the many who doggedly pursue a single theme but I’m obviously not wired for that but it can make life interesting ! One thing I’m certain of is that modelling was an important part of my work/life balance when I was working and I’m damned certain it’s helped me in keeping both oars in the water over the last year and as a possible bonus dive into various aspects of modelling I might well never had time for. My latest stuff wasn’t really planned. Earlier this year I had an idea for a few projects but sadly the covid effect on certain products rather scuppered that. No problem as I can hopefully come back to them so had a look round for something to do. Stuck away in a box in the garage was a Hornby “dutch” Tope bought sometime but no recollection. Also had some other dutch era stuff laying around plus the aforesaid Bacchy 08 that was doing nothing. Have subsequently found a Hornby 08 stuck in he back of a workbench cupboard. I looked for it a couple of years ago and failing and convincing myself I’d got rid of it. Old age......!! So with a few wagons and one (maybe 2 now) loco what do you do? Go out and get more obviously. Well not so much go out as get disapproving looks for spending to much time apparently on the internet and muttering darkly about availability, prices, do I have the transfers and what buffers to use. All good to distract onefrom life’s vicissitudes. So got some decals, a couple of wagon kits and bits and a loco. Now today for anything under a £100 seems to get you little more than a nice small tank engine with the wheel arrangement of a recycling bin but I did eventually find an eminently suitable Dutch 33/2 for a similar price. As this had the original sideframes they’ve been modified plus some etched arrows and crew added but otherwise OOB. I have though had a go at the translucent glassfibreroof. Not really a coincidence that Pete Johnson has had a go over on EMGauge70’s but I have tried before as seen on Sheepcrofts blue 33. I discovered I had a plan of the loco showing the pattern to guide me masking up. Had a few attempts with different colours as no two pictures looked the same varying with the shot angle, lighting conditions plus they seemed to have aged over time. Finally settled on a grey/green base colour darkened down for the translucent panels. Not totally convincing but I’ll live with it for the moment though a different approach did occur to me after to might try a test with that. Modifying the sideframes, pretty self explanatory. A view of a 33's roof - Photo ©Paul Wade My attempts You can debate amongst yourselves whether I've succeded or not :-) I wanted the loco to be not quite ex-works so have done some light weathering to tone down the OOB look, I'll put some pictures up later. The two wagons were a Cambrian OBA and OCA. Bachmann do a decent OBA but the OCA is rather let down by it’s Panzer IV armourthickness sides. The kits were built largely as intended though the W irons were split into 3 parts then reassembled a plasticard strip to reinforcethe join. Removed the coupling and centreing arms and fixed them in place with the help of some chassis/W iron spacers to make sure they’re correctly lined up. If you’re doing EM you’ll need to carve a bit out the top toget free running. If I do more like to try some etched W irons such as the Stenson models ones. Replacement buffers improve things as does some small fettling to the underframe. All primed up and waiting for a paint job. I've enjoyed doing all this as some bits are new to me so it'll keep the interest going. SWMBO and I recently visited the garden centre. As went in I dutifully picked up a basket only to be told we'd need a trolley so off I trotted to get a supermarket sized one. This got the reply "we'll need a bigger one"......... I'm sure my credit card company will soon be offering me a substantial upgrade! Well if it's good enough for her it's good enough for me so got one of the two remaining Dapol Dutch 73's they had on offer :-) Thanks for wading through this. Stu

Before Weymouth shed closed at the end of steam they were often stabled and quite possibly fueled. Poor quality '67 shot of weymouth shed with an ex-works blue 121 with small panel and white cab roof. Definitely a 119 minus centre car. Stu

The Hobby Shop, Faversham have put this up OPENING HOURS Following new Government guidelines we are now CLOSED. We have temporarily suspended our mail order and Click & Collect services whilst we prepare for re-opening on 13th April. Our opening hours upon re-opening will be:- TUESDAY 10 - 4 WEDNESDAY 10 - 4 THURSDAY 10 - 2 FRIDAY 10 - 4 SATURDAY 10 - 4 SUNDAY closed MONDAY closed Stu

Welch's book Diesels on the Western pages 45/46. Class 122 W55015 on the branch. Surprised me as I wasn't aware any worked it. Generally it was a 121. My late father worked the branch often but then don't imagine he was too concerned by minor unit differences as I never recall him mentioning it. Stu

A couple of days old and some might have seen it but worth a read if not. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-55851074 Stu

Sadly think you may be right. Whether there is an issue or not it needs to resolved as soon as they can. But we have the Moderna vaccine nearly here and maybe they'll use that for the potentially at risk groups. Aware No. 2 daughter is keeping an eye on things. On upside complete surprise that SWMBO and I both got texts a couple of hours ago inviting us to book second jab. Appointment sorted and that'll be 8 weeks after the first. Stu

A fairly wild guess would be around 1960 when Standards moved from SE division to SW div. No hard evidence but early crests on pre 3rd rail Kent lines but don"t recall rhem on SW lines. Wild guess though Stu

No. you haven't misunderstood. The antibody test for people who have had covid checks for different things than the antibody test for the vaccinated. Otherwise those being tested in the trials for the vaccines might be showing antibodies that came from a asymptomatic covid infection rather than the vaccine. Hope that clears that up :-) Stu

Widespread testing in schools is likely to raise the infection numbers but providing the hospitalisations + deaths keep going down and/or level out at something acceptable (whatever that means) then it's largely academic. Whoever thought we'd be singing the common cold's praises ! Plus as mentioned elsewhere the US findings on the AZ vaccine should settle the nerves. Stu

A little difficult when you see the news from Bristol but..... According to Sky News a moment ago. In latest 24 hr period the USA managed to deliver 1.2 millions jabs, in roughly the same 24hrs the UK managed nearly 0.9 million. There will be significant ups and downs with the vaccine daily scores but I would hate to be here and saying And it was all going so well! Stu

Et al as others have said the same and it's certainlymy experience from the media I follow that they state first or second jab quite clearly. Reading back through Mike's post not really sure what he was driving at. Stu

Hobby's beaten me to it and said more or less what I would have said. If one dose keeps you out of hospital/ICU and reduces how infectious you might be then it will have done it's work until all are fully vaccinated. The numbers don't quite tell the story either as there was a group at the beginning who had two doses at a 3 week interval. The main tranche did really get going till mid Jan and will be running 12 weeks behind for their second shot some things should start ramping over the next week. Stu

Not sure aggressive, possibly more of the Devil's Advocate and maybe stems from a misunderstanding of our position vis-a-vis Europe. Perhaps this will help. Anything similar in Aus ? Lorries waiting at Manston so that drivers could be tested before crossing the Channel, probably a days worth there. Hopefully Brian (Fat Controller) will pop along with a few figures at some point. Stu

I'll have a go. We might be an island geographically but in practical terms we are no different from Denmark or Italy, just we have a bit of water between us and the rest of Europe. Go to Dover or Folkestone, both just down the road, and look at the volume of traffic. If that was stopped or even limited we would soon be on our knees. As our esteemed Foriegn Minister, Mr Raab, said when he (first?) visited Dover "didn't realise it was so busy!". I've taken day trips to Paris from here. Our day to day lives are/were inextricably linked with the European mainland. How many truck drivers turn up in Aus, deliver their load and then get back on the ferry to go home?Holiday - Shall we go to Malaga or Margate, probably cost the same. Yes, we could have imposed some level of tighter restrictions on travel, think everyone agrees that - but we didn't - though how much difference it would have made who knows. The real issue was that Covid was coming in from a direction no-one seems to have anticipated and the rest as they say is now history. Stu

Yes but when you get reports like this from a few days ago https://www.itv.com/news/2021-03-15/covid-vaccine-rollout-why-the-next-few-weeks-are-critical-if-we-are-to-stay-on-top-of-the-virus this does look to be unexpected. Perhaps the 10 million from India aren't up to scratch. Whatever the reason I'd prefer something better than "lumpy" Stu

Worth noting the NHS letter specifically mentions that it's first doses that are going to be delayed some presumably they've got enough to ensure the second dose programme continues. However it does take some swallowing that one week a minister says jabs are going to increase in number then a week later.......... Maybe it won't be as long as four weeks in the end. This country has been through a lot over the last year and I wonder whether a no bullship explanation would have been a better approach. Whatever the reason people would at least know why and we could all get on rather than speculate and probably point fingers. Stu

I wish I still had my original 60's copy, loaned it to someone and never got it back so it's the 2003 one. Back on topic somewhat, not quite what-iffery inthe usual sense though it is based in an independent Scotland Charles Stross's Halting State. Stu

Brilliant, good to know someone else found this book :-) See though it's now in the S.F. Masterworks where it belongs IMHO Stu

Pavane by Keith Roberts. Quite an old book now but it starts with the assassination of Elizabeth 1 and ends with hovercraft. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pavane-S-F-MASTERWORKS-Keith-Roberts/dp/1857989376 Stu