wagonbasher

Apologies if this has been covered earlier, I didn’t find anything through the search feature. WW1 munitions, specifically bullets and Granades. Where they moved around mainland Uk in gunpowder vans or did the demand require other forms of vehicle. Specifically I am thinking about supplies to the WW1 training camps on Cannock Chase (Staffs). I presume pooling means that anything goes Andy

So, what have we got in the forth photo. MK1 fiesta and is that an allegro? very atmospheric shots. Andy

Please humour my ignorance. I have used Bill Bedfords products, mostly sprung wagon under frames. Are we saying that Bill does not sell direct? Andy

PMT Bristol RE PVT207L (currently owned by Potteries Omnibus Preservation Society) attended the funeral last week of Clem Smith at Eccleshall Parish Church Near Stafford Clem had interests in railways and buses and for years Clem was secretary of the Stafford Railway Circle and potteries Omnibus Preservation Society POPS. Clems first choice would have been PMT 766EVT but cuerrently off the road. 766 is an Atlantean and Clem wrote Potteries Atlanteans: worth £1.75 of anyone's money. Note EVT 766 on the front cover, In my teenage years I had many days away with POPS attending rallies with 766 or PMT PD2 466. Photographs by David Hughes Andy

I was travelling South from Edinburgh on the A702 through Biggar on the 30th. The rain fall in Edinburgh the previous night and on Friday until about 12.00 was relentless. As we came through biggar which is not far from Carstairs we were diverted North as the A702 was closed. Our journey was constantly interrupted by one way working through surface water floods on the road. All the way to the A74(M) massive queues were joining our road diverted off the A720 (I think) which had also closed for flooding. Then the news that the A74(M) was closed for flooding. Lucky for us, heading South, we joined just South of the closure although we had to thread through massive North bound queues to get to the motorway and the river which may be the juvenile Clyde looked very swollen. Dumfries also flooded that night further South so it was very very wet. Andy

Apparently it’s not hard to play the bag pipes, the hard part is getting the cat in the bag. Andy

Are they not sign written, hand painted anymore?? Andy

I am a supply chain manager with Tarmc, the UK’s biggest quarrying company. My speciality is bagged aggregates and bagged cement sands may be the bottom of some ancient sea bed, sand and gravel may be the result of 10s of 1000s of years of river deposits, sands and gravels may be the spoil and waste left from melting glaciers, aggregates like Limestone, hard stones like granites can be blasted and crushed. Today they are all called quarries. I think the pit reference is from a different age The only aggregate source that would not be referred to as a quarry is marine aggregates like sands and gravels dredged from our estuaries and landed at docks. it is just terminology and the passing of time. It’s odd but I have no involvement in Clay extraction for bricks but I think I would say clay pit…. Maybe today they would be quarries? Andy

Sorry, my ignorance, what is a ballast pit. Is that the ‘quarry’ the ballast came from BTW, I also don’t think i can tell a naturally rounded from a crushed / angular particle of sand that is 0.5mm at normal viewing distance, even with my best glasses on. Andy

Ok, some insider knowledge. Tarmac branded Kiln dried sand (B&Q and Wickes), Tarmac Play Pit Sand (B&Q, Wickes and Smyths Toys). All use a very light coloured quartz sand quarried in Cheshire. The partial grading is as follows: 31% below 0.25mm 66% between 0.25 and 0.5mm 3% over 0.5mm Andy

Is there something wrong with what the ballast in the first photographs. I don’t know what colour / texture the OP is trying to achieve? if you can find a good texture then the colour can be changed. If you take smallish batches of the material (kiln dried sand, chinchilla dust) dampen it and add some cement colour. Cement colours come in Yellows, Browns, Reds and Black. Mix to get the colour(s) you are trying to achieve (note, the colour will be darker because it is wet, it will dry lighter). Once mixed, spread out thinly on a board to allow it to dry. Once dry, bag it up and apply using your preferred ballasting system. Cement colours are used to change the colour of mortars and concrete and are available at Builders merchants and some DIY stores. Andy

CE is a European declaration of a pre determined standard. CA/Uk is the new replacement for products sold in the UK, A product May show both if offered for sale in both. There are products that must conform to these standards to be offered for sale in either the EU or the Uk and there are products that are not required to meet these standards. In our case model railways are required to carry that standard for the safety of toys and electrical equipment. These are predetermined standards specific to that category. They are not a measure of general quality only that the product conforms to the requirement of those standards. So the quality of a locomotives paint finish, accuracy of colour will not be covered but that the paint would be free from toxins etc would. Hope that helps, it’s a big topic. Andy

Years ago I was part of the Stafford exhibition team and both my girls from the earliest age would experience something of the show depending on age. What they couldn’t get their heads around was that come Monday, it’s gone. Not one bit remains. They are both grown up now and get it. Andy

I didn’t type that…l. Oh dear SorryMr Spams A

From The vantage point that me and Mrs Spams commanded on the balcony, we looked down on the hall, from the grand national style tape cutting to let the show growers in on Saturday morning to the Sunday afternoon shufflers that don’t want to go home. Chris said there is a real buzz. I said there are four of them running to the station and back. Great show, Stafford for a long time boxed with the big boys, they have just stepped up to the heavy weights. Well done Stafford Andy

If I were coming to Stafford, I wouldn’t start in Shrewsbury.. Andy

I was only teasing, see you at the show Andy

What’s that, advanced Warley tickets are £1 ? Andy

As I have to sit next to you for a whole weekend, I vote ‘easy on the eye’. Just saying. Pleased to learn you will have trousers. Almost a given, I thought. Andy

It’s sounds like you have put it on a courier? Yodel, Hermes, maybe? Andy

If it’s not running by any chance…. The good news is that the new hall is 50, maybe 60 yards nearer than the old hall. Always looking for a positive. Andy

cliffs got the RT as far as Athens, I think, it’s just a ferry and the length of a continent from there. Cliffe and his chums sang a lot on the way, a pre requisite maybe. Andy

I am curious, where is your country? If you don’t mind me asking. Andy

Just looked it up Cliff went touring in an RT, an AEC Regent III. Andy

Is there a specific reason it has to be a routemaster? The RM’s carry an purchase price premium due to their fame. There are lots of double deckers that cost a lot less. Single deckers as well. I suppose it matters what you want, a practical motor home or a vehicle with some significant provenance? Rule 1 respect as ever. I know that you didn’t say it was, but…. Cliffs summer holiday transport was not a route master, the RM’s were the new kids on the block and Cliffs and his chums restored (on screen anyway) a bus that was being withdrawn. I’m going to stick my neck out and say it was an AEC Regent 5 but I suspect that is a too simplistic observation. Andy