Jenny Emily

The problem is when you have more than one expensive hobby! Aside from railway modelling, there's collecting fine art, sailing, vinyl record collecting, book collecting and vintage lingerie collecting. Oh, and a mortgage - that's a real drain every month too. And I've discovered whiskies; lots of whiskies. In my defence I drive a 17 year old car with 205,000 miles on the clock so at least there's one expensive hobby averted.

I used to run in locomotives on an oval of old Hornby Dublo 2-rail track on the dining table. That was before I built my continuous run layout. The cat took an interest though, and could be found, head poking out above table height, on top of one of the chairs watching the trains go by. However when she thought I wasn't looking she managed to bat an N class off the track, which promptly derailwed and ploughed into the rather stunned cat.

I've been contemplating these models closely today, comparing the photos of the model with photos of the real things. The pony truck wheels are the only area of the model that I don't particularly like, and I wonder whether anyone knows where replacements could be sourced from?

I seem to recall 2000/2001 as a date for the last trains up to the Cerestar plant. For a few years afterwards a Thomas Hill shunter was dumped on the double track section on the road up to the plant. I presume it was the loco used to shunt trains in and out of the works? I have a photograph somewhere of it in around 2004. The line up to the Cerestar plant still exists in its entirety, with a section even relaid recently after a new development. There are also still lines linking to where the TDG cold store is, though these haven't been used in a long time as far as I can tell. The name Holden transport services rings a bell as the last company to deal with rail at this site. There is also a link line down to a scrap yard down one of the adjacent roads, and this may have generated the scrap traffic in the 1990s. There used to be a line that headed straight across the park from a triangle with the line to Cerestar which then ran as double track adjacent to where MEN used to have its printworks. The connecting line was lifted sometime after 2004, and the double track section adjacent to the road was lifted in the last couple of years. Off this there is still a line that went to a chemical plant, though this doesn't look like it has received any traffic since at the latest the 1990s. There used to be an abandoned wagon on a set of sidings hidden away between the factories, but this I presume was cut up on site when the rails were lifted. The level crossing still exists across Mosely Road, but has no track either side of the road. I vaguely remember other disused bits hidden away. On the opposite side of the road from the currently extant line to the container terminal by the Trafford centre there is/was lines hidden in the undergrowth. I haven't looked to see if they are still there. The level crossing heading out from by the Kellogs plant existed IIRC in 2004, but has since been removed. I think that you can/could see where it was by a strip of newer tarmac heading across that road junction. The line to the container terminal still crosses here. I also remember in around 2000/2001 rail lines that ran down one other road by where Business Post at the time had a depot. I have not been able to locate where this was, as it is a long time since I had cause to go to that company there.

The shed door is getting replaced this week by one built from solid wood floorboarding. I am building a metal cage inside the shed to stop the walls being kicked through. It's going to be made from square section metal tubing that is the remains of the legs and supports of my Father's old Hornby Dublo exhibition layout. I'm going to brace it across the floor to make it stronger. Another point worth noting is that I have identified that the roof could be a weak spot on most sheds. I reinforced mine with two substantial A frames, but given the force used to smash through the door, I have decided that it would be prudent to use some coachbolts to thoroughly secore the roof to both the A frames and the shed walls. This should stop some-one from just ripping the roof off at a corner to gain entry. I like the idea of tagging all my stock. Before anything ever goes back into the shed I'm going to tag everything. I want a two-pronged approach with hidden ID as well as something visible on the underside to make ownership by me obvious.

Very light and spacious with everything on display in glass cabinets so you can see what an item looks like in the flesh before you order. Plenty of staff too. Never had an issue on the occasions that I've been into the shop. Much better than the dingy little place they used to have when I was a frequent visitor in the early 1990s!

So does anyone on here admit to be one of the three people shooting the breeze with Tim when the scruffy little oink that is me wandered in on Friday?

It was 20058 (box code 32-025A), and was one of six that had been traded in apparently. Some-one else in the shop at the same time had bagged one of the others, and he let me have his couplings as he was going to be fitting Kadees to his. The loco runs sweetly and has been given a good home on Trinity Road where it joins two other Bachmann 20s that I bought when Bachmann first brought out the model.

I paid a visit here yesterday, because the company I was working for wasn't expecting me back to base so early, and I didn't want to disappoint them. I've been here lots of times before, and true to form I was offered a cup of tea within less than five minutes through the door! Always a very extensive range of rolling stock and locomotives. I also enjoy looking at the continental locos to see the exquisite level of detail modellers in Europe can get, though they certainly do pay for it. Good selection of secondhand stuff at very good prices. I got a weathered Bachmann class 20, boxed, for £30. Tim even tests it to show you all is well mechanically without having to be asked. Parking can be tricky, but I tend to try my luck in Glebe street, which is a little past the shop on the opposite side by the former Warburtons bakery. I was able to park a 44ton behemoth down there, though turning it around was a little tricky.