Sasquatch

It does have that kind of quaintness about it. Very easy to imagine popping in for a nice cuppa and a scone served by Rose or Violet in aprons and bonnets, a decent brew served in lovely old bone chinaware but it's not the case unfortunately. 😔 Incidentally, Lilly who works at Honeydukes tea rooms in Pottyshire was 92 when she started, 12 years ago! Might explain why it's hardly ever open. I'll let you do the math... Poor Lilly, she's fallen off her chair. (This why I will model all interiors as removeable separate models in the future!) Looks like some irk has made off with one of the tables as well. Quite a good menu, the steak and kidney is particularly good I've heard. Happy New Year! Regards Shaun.

A very happy New Year to you and Mrs. W. Station too Adrian. Another small bunch of guesses, not what I've got in mind though...However, I will be modeling a chippy in the future. Regards Shaun.

Managed to get the roof done, dormers, chimneys and all. The roof has been changed as well to that most common style found in the West Riding with gable coping stones (which still need fitting). This is being held back as I'm toying with the idea of making a lift out two-story interior and attaching the whole roof assembly to it. That way I can fully detail the shop! Still needs more weathering too.

I'm flattered. That's one heck of a long way for a luke warm cuppa. It's also a five-hour drive from Portland (probably six in this weather) You would be better off coming round here. Our Xmas guest has vacated the spare room, we've plenty of homemade leftovers such as boozy plum pudding, mint frosted cupcakes, baclava, rum balls, mince pies, cherry crumble, fudge ect. etc. and I can promise you a better cup of tea than you'll find anywhere else in Southern Oregon. Not a travel agent either... Regards Shaun.

Tea and sponge cake in a tea shop. Sounds wonderful and a tad old fashioned. There's a tea shope not too far from here where I go once in a while and do that. They always give you a timer for your tea. I find it really stupid being a Brit who drinks tea all day long! There sponge cake is far too flowery, so we get the cup cakes or tea buns. Enjoy your trip out tomorrow J. (not a tea rooms BTW). Regards Shaun.

Wow four guesses😲. All wrong of course, sorry!🥴 Must get back to slating that bloomin roof... Regards Shaun.

Now would make a cozy little boozer, couple of pints of Guiness next to the open fire with a cheese and pickle sandwich but not the case unfortunately.🙄

Was that conclusion derived from the colour, cos you're wrong. Anyone else??

Apologies for loosing you on here Don. Since the site went down and after my old computer croaked I kind of lost all the threads that I followed. Anyway, it's good to see that your enthusiasm hasn't waned in the slightest following last year's ailments. Just one thought on the L design. It would be twice as much to move and assemble for a show and you would probably need a corner spot. However, with careful planning and use of an off-scene Y point, the fiddly yard could well be reversed for shows. When I built Goathland, the whole scenic part was rotated 180 degrees when I took it to two local exhibitions! Ooh. another thought. You could employ the Y idea and have a shorter "show only" traverser. The home leg of the L would then be freed up for both a long run and fiddle yard, maybe even hidden behind an industrial branch. Regards Shaun.

Amongst the gifts under this year's tree were 3 rather splendid kits. Needless to say, with little else left to do after completing our guest's gift (a small nest of tables) and the new kitchen unit I got stuck into a bit of modeling. The kits in question came from Petite Properties. New to me being of laser cut MDF and dense card construction, we discovered their website purely by accident. I did fancy the church for the top end of the mill town but they are out of stock. First up was the Lynch Gate. Perfect for the entrance to any house of God and as a starting point in card kit building. These kits come as a kind of detailed shell, allowing the builder to finish the model in whatever guise he or she chooses. For the West Riding area, we require dirty millstone grit and thus I started by cladding the walling sections with some scraps of plastic card N scale random stonework. Finished with the tried and tested Sasquatch crafters acrylic method the rest was vert straight forward. Rooves are the same scribed thick paper strips I employed on the big warehouse etc. only this time I went with 4mm slate after finding the 3mm I used on the following build a bit too tedious. That following build involved having a bash at the little school. What a great looking finished model this builds up into. Again, I clad all the walls with 2mm scale stones. The model has some real depth to the window apertures giving the impression of nice thick stone walls. The third kit is the No.2 Station Road, double fronted shop. Still a work in progress, I have deviated away from the instructions slightly by way of reversing the rear aspect and adding an extra door, so that the scullery door will now open onto a side street. Again, the store front is exquisitely designed and went together beautifully. I went about the construction in two halves so as to ease painting. It has been finished in a light green. Any guesses as to what kind of business is going to occupy the corner shop??? Hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas. Regards Squatch.

Lovely models! Nice RTR too!! There was a similar rake that got left under our tree from Santa.🤔. Also, a full brake with lights albeit in boring LNER wartime brown. The only way to turn the lights out is to pop off the roof and remove the lighting unit by removal of the two screws. Alternatively, you could just buy 3 more lighting units when they become available. (Might be worth pre-ordering those, to avoid disappointment). Is it not possible to shim the outside radius just a tiny bit on that curve creating a sort of super elevation? Just a thought as it might be an easy fix. Regards Shaun.

Thank you Don, for thinking of us. Over here on the West coast we had a very mild Christmas followed by several days of much needed rain. There were high winds over night on Tuesday and our tallest tree came down. A fir that must have stood for nearly 200 years that succumbed to either old age plight or drought, it died last year. Fortunately, it fell across the creek onto our neighbors property. He's going to have plenty of firewood and need a bigger chainsaw. Regards Shaun.

Absolutely beautiful. Must get over there to visit you and see Boxer Bay in the flesh. Merry Christmas Felix, from our house to yours, wishing you a very happy new year. Regards Shaun.

Merry Christmas Felix. You're always welcome, our current visitor has made herself so comfortable she's , stuffed herself full of Xmas treats, polished off all the brandy, dozed off on the sofa in her lounge wear (grey shell suit), fallen in love with the cats, even done some laundry and folded my boxers! 😀

Belated good tidings to you Mr. Contractor. May the contracts keep being undertaken during the new year and we look forward to more tales from Traeth Mawr. Regards Shaun.

Having been very busy in my woodwork shop making stuff for Santa, I've not found the time for internet stuff at all until now. So, may I wish you all a very merry festive season and all the very best for the new year. Santa did come by and I managed to get a couple of actual pictures of him. 60007 was fired up specially for the occasion. Ho ho ho, Merry Christmas.

Hi Julian. Merry Christmas my friend. We're more than fine, thank you for asking. The storm totally missed us. Christmas day was actually one of the mildest Christmases I can remember; I had a log fire going which we let burn out because it became overwhelmingly stuffy, and we all ended up sleeping with the windows open! Hope that you had a wonderful day and best wishes for the new year. Regards Shaun.

Lewes on LBSC. These days it's much simplified. Trains to and from Haywards Heath (London to Brighton Main Line) and Brighton with trains From and to Eastbourne/Hastings, Newhaven/ Seaford branch and East Grinstead (what is now the Bluebelle line). Quite a busy station. An interesting station layout with the station forming a triangle to the West of the junctions as opposed to between them! There was also once a good loop that passed under the east Grinstead line which served a reasonable sized goods yard on the River Ouse. I used the station many times and on occasion would take the Eastbourne train down from Victoria and change for Brighton. Worth looking at even if the plan is a bit too ambitious. Lewes is an interesting station, one of my favorites.

Wow! Yes, very interesting. Thank you, Ed for passing on this information! I was not aware that passenger services originated and terminated at Queensbury! Passenger services only lasted until 1955 some of which were timed to arrive simultaneously at Queensbury allowing passengers to change there, ie; someone wishing to travel to Keighley from Bradford could take the Halifax train and change at Queensbury to the Halifax Keighley service and so forth! Some of the earlier trains were made up of ex-GN 6 wheel Holden stock that had been converted into 4 and 5 coach articulated sets. Replacement stock was built during the war for these services which consisted of Gresley artic. twins. It's very surprising that cattle was handled there. From what I can tell there seems not to have been any facilities to handle livestock at the station. Note taken though and there's plenty of cattle wagons available to recreate these workings. "Tranships", to my knowledge, were loads that were not worthy of rostering a whole wagon, such as 6 crates of fish or a few milk churns. Both full and empty crates etc. would have been loaded, unloaded, checked and signed for at the various stations along a route thus eliminating the need for shunting. However, looking at the timing of the Queensbury freight working I would think this train had to set back into the goods sidings. Some companies even built specific large vans for the purpose of tranships, but I believe guards utility vans (BY, BG, CCTs etc.) were also employed and sometimes even attached to passenger services although this practice would have meant appalling journey times and would have been reserved to branch lines with token working. The inclusion of tranships on layouts makes for quite interesting operation. Much appreciated. Regards Shaun.

J50 68940 still working short freights on the Great Northerns northern most outpost.

The old Humbrol paints are fabulous. Some I've had for 40 years and they're still good! When I moved over here, I smuggled quite a few through the postal service. Regrettably, I should have smuggled the lot and fear the stuff I left with my son ended up in the landfill. It's turned very cold here, 20F, so modeling has been restricted to the far end of the dining table (the end nearest the wood burner!). I too should be making buildings but am reduced to drilling holes in various brake van kits etc. to accept many handrails and lamp irons. Quite a mundane, time-consuming chore although I do rather enjoy it. Keep up the good work, we're all captivated with your figure modeling. You seem to have the knack of giving them defined characters, something quite unique on here. Looking forward to more! Regards Shaun.

That's the first time I think I've ever seen something painted in GWR chocolate and BR corporate blue. If that was an old tin of Humbrol enamel, then please keep your head down Chris. Some might smash a window to steal it or just out of spite for the sacrilege of use on a tabernacle. Having said that your choice of colour couldn't have been more perfect! If you need gents with their hats off try decapitating the male portion of the congregation and placing heads from doner Dapol workmen. After you can remove the lower head section from under the hats and place them on various knees and empty seats. Edit: the hats that is!!! Lovely piece of modeling. Regards Shaun. (oh no I'm late for church).

Sorry folks. To anyone who read/saw the post about the recent incident at the Sasquatch estate and found it either disheartening or worse Please accept my sincere apologies. In future I'll stick to modeling related subject a refrain from including anything that happens away from the garage or kitchen table! Regards Shaun

It was very sad. The problem is drought related. The animals such as the deer, rabbits, squirrels have mostly moved down out of the woods into human occupied areas where there's more food and water. (In the case of the deer they must feel safer also). It's only natural that the predators follow. They too find easy pickings and become aware that there's plenty more during daylight. Cougar sightings have gone through the roof, there's so many pictures of them on social media. Incidentally I spotted a Fisher cat over at my neighbors a few months back. A rare sighting indeed! regards Shaun

Another option might be to try the Bachmann screw on types 36-025 & 36-026. These are marketed as replacements for early Bachmann rolling stock but will fit most Mainline & Replica stock also. Only trouble is, they don't come with the screws. Suitable screws can be found on eBay etc. I have found cutting off the wings of the mounts sometimes is necessary and super glue works well too. Thus... Just remove the loop on the Lima bogies leaving enough plastic to mount the replacement on and drill a small pilot hole to accept the screw. The side-to-side motion provided by NEM mounts is only really needed on stock with long over hangs such as CCT vans and layouts with tight curves. When replacing tension lock couplings on any stock the rules to follow are approx. 9mm from rail top to hook shaft and somewhere around 2-3mm beyond the buffers. More if you have 1st radius curves! Good luck!