Satan's Goldfish

Yes, always been interested. Mostly cold and tropical freshwater rather than marine. Growing up we had progressively larger garden ponds, ended up with 5,000gal koi pond built into the parents patio... I got more into tropical fish after leaving home and they got larger over time too. Back in 2009 I built a 1,000gal indoor pond with windows for my catfish, a friend of mine added a video of it to YouTube. when you have something that size you end up rehoming unwanted fish too so we ended up with some very nice large Cichlids and Peacock Bass over time. Sadly it didn't survive a work related house move, but was built robust enough that a chainsaw was needed to get the frame apart. We only had space for tanks after that and slowly reduced the number we had. Never easy moving house with big fish tanks! Now it's just one 5ft bow front with uninspiring tinfoil barbs which were a victim of an office closing for Covid. (All the big Cats were suitably rehomed many years ago, I was very attached to them, they had great personalities and would eat gently from my hand so wanted to make sure they went to large homes). Currently in the process of building/digging an outdoor pond at the current house (never moving house again... hopefully!) which will fit in around the garden railway, still got lots of digging to do though: Big deep raised pond (Koi) which will flow over to a ground level stream (Bridges for LGB!) that runs to a lower pond (we've lots of frogs and Goldfish that came with the house :/ ) before being pumped back up to the raised pond. Raised pond, walls up but earth works still ongoing, route of the stream is at the top left: We may go for larger tropicals again in the future, but I've enough ongoing building projects for the moment!

Had a quick play about with the 2 track goods idea and came up with the below (All turnouts are Peco medium apart from a Hornby Y). If movements are only likely off-peak then I assume goods arriving in a platform then being shunted by the pilot into the shed via the departure line is acceptable. I did originally draw it with a double slip creating the 2 goods track and a trap before the running line, but changed it to a simple point and 2x traps to help with the cramped appearance. I also added a siding trailing onto the arrivals line. I did ponder on whether to use this as mentioned by others as the end of a bigger yard, or end of a docks branch to allow more freight activity. But to keep the track work as simple as possible and keeping in mind the urban location, reasoned a milk tank unloading platform with the co-op/warehouse/distribution building on top of the retaining wall above would match the location and hide the tracks going off scene below. Even though it's drawn at 24" wide, it should fit in an 18" width.

A message from Tim; “There are other suppliers but they don't seem to be of the same standard” And that is why you can’t order my boards online at present. I have to design, cut, sand, tidy, clean, and pack to make everything, I don’t open a container from china to stock my shelves 😊 I get moaned at on a daily basis about not being online or difficult to reach, ironically by e-mails which I receive. I can fully understand the frustration but I’m not in the position to offer internet sales, pretty much everything I make is cut to order unless I have the time to make a bit of extra stock at the same time as the order I’m cutting. Making stock just pushes everyone else’s order further back though. Like so many small companies (not just model railways) if the main person is stuck on replying to e-mails, quotes, queries, phone calls, walk in customers, being ill, personal/family problems/dramas etc etc then the work isn’t going to get done. I can spend every single day making money, but I’m only sitting on the money until the order goes out the door. It’s an impossible task to please everyone and after 9 years in business it’s one I’ll never get right. I’m not a businessman, I’m somebody who’s passionate about making baseboards and models, I just happen to sell what I make. I’m not VAT registered so that will give you an indication as to how small my business really is and it’s not worth employing people direct as a business. I try to reply to emails in a timely fashion, normally on a Monday and Friday, some quotes take an hour or two to work out with many e-mail conversations back and forth until the person decides they will leave it and ask the same questions a year later, again and again. I always try to be positive but at this moment in time it the worst time ever to be in business with spiralling costs and material supply issues and courier fees. My main e-mail address is timhornlasercut@gmail.com although my usual tim@timhorn.co.uk still works as well. I don’t have a price list as prices are changing far too frequently and I hold very little in stock, but I’m happy to give quotes at the moment if I feel I can complete the work within a 3/4 month time frame. Best wishes, Tim

All orders to Tim are via email. I've shown him the recent comments here and he'll compose a reply for me to share when he has the time to.

I assumed that would probably be their way of doing it. Get quiet interesting doing it with loose stock and locos/allegras!

If I'm translating that right in my head; 100 coaches for a 1.9km train running on the twisty Albula stretch between Preda and Bergun?

Yes, that... still can't find a picture of the damn thing though.

Not quite the same but I can remember seeing a picture of an engine (0-6-0?) where the piston rod was inside the connecting rod for the wheels. It joined on the middle wheel, but to clear the leading driven wheel the piston rod was formed into a circle where the connecting rod pin went through. So not a straight rod, but also I'd guess a circle with even loads would have more strength than a one-sided jiggle. By being inside the connecting rod iit would probably allow an extra couple of inches of cylinder diameter. I've no idea how successful it was, but I'll try and find a picture.

🤣 I think it would be classed as a working week away, no breaks for Tim! He was with Heaton Lodge...

*you're I'll get my coat...... (Appologies sir Douglas, all done in jest, that's just the perfect opening line for a spelling pedant 🤣)

Quote: Ta, he’s best to email me at timhornlasercut@gmail.com 👍🏻 but having been a week away I’ve got lots to catchup on!

He'll have had a busy weekend.... email is normally a safe bet but have patience as he's a busy man.

Nice interlopers!

Nice work. Those sets sound like they're longer than 6 coaches

PM sent

Cheers Gordon. Yes it was more of a DB question than SBB! I know there must have been a crossover period with mixed sets, but I don't recall ever seeing any pictures. I've sent you a pm

Cheers for the info Gordon. The picture didn't appear. But DB blue/cream 2nd class coaches as per below along side the red/white DB IC/EC as per the model a couple of posts back. Image from this website: https://www.jadlamracingmodels.com/minitrix-db-ic611-gutenburg-express-coach-set-3-iv-n-gauge-15460/ On one of the many YouTube videos I did see the SBB using a DB 2nd class predominantly red coach (same type as the bottom coach of the above 3) to make up the numbers in their grey EC sets. But I've yet to see a model of those in N, they're all interegio blue.

Johann Marsbar beat me to it! Great Yarmouth Vauxhall station finishes where the river Bure meets the river Yare. Just to the side of the station crossing the river Bure is the bridge that carried freight trains to Great Yarmouth docks further along the river. All nicely visible on Google earth half of the old river bridge has received some TLC and is in use as a foot path from the station.

Next up I think I'll be looking for blue sleeper coaches. Any advice on what they would usually run with? YouTube research seems to suggest 2 or 3 blue coaches tacked onto what otherwise seems like a normal service.

Some recent purchases. A Kato buffet in Eurofima orange for eurocity service. Matches nicely. Although the stripe is white compared to Roco's silver, are they both correct? A Minitrix DB IC/EC 2nd has appeared. Lots of longer plan options here, but for now it will make up for the lack of SBB EC 2nds in the box. When did the 2nd class IC/EC coaches change from Cream/Blue to Red/White? And could the 2 liveries been seen running together in Switzerland? (On YouTube I've seen videos of both liveries, but not at the same time) Fleischmann BLS iv 2nd. Again, lots of future options here, but for now I'm fairly sure I've seen BLS iv in SBB push/pull sets... I hope I didn't imagine that... I am going to have to do a livery check though as the beige stripe at the top is thicker than the stripe on the Fleischmann SBB green coach. I wanted some more comfort stripe EW i/ii coaches, so naturally I've ended up with more parrot coloured ones instead. Replacing the AB with the comfort stripe A and adding an extra plain B on the rear really looks the part IR service. Plus also proves that the wife's new mantelpiece is a good size for full length trains

It's good that it finally found a use, even if it's not it's the one originally intended. I believe the 2 container cranes never saw a ship there (were they sold and moved to Venice?) It's also seen use as the loading point for the big off shore wind farms. The prospects of the town might have been very different if they'd started building it in the 60s/70s when it was most needed.

I know the time scales of the outer harbour and it's facilities being discussed can be measured in decades before it was actually built. Norfolk Line was transporting cargo from Great Yarmouth in the early 60s, with their ro-ro operations not starting until the late 60s so it's possible containers could have been considered back then.

Blakeney could be vastly improved with a container terminal they didn't get the one built in Great Yarmouth in the right time frame...

Very nice. For a truly Norfolk 'freightliner' train; what branding where the containers built in North Walsham?

Big thank you to Clive for hosting a very tired Goldfish today at Sheffield Exchange. Trains were run, chats were had, and it was good to escape the normal daily Stresss for a few hours