P4 Fryers Lane v2.0

[bcnPete]

22 hours ago, Mark Forrest said:

And relax ...

 

Is that at The Squirrel pub?!

 

Think I have had beers and food there a few times...

[Mark Forrest]

34 minutes ago, bcnPete said:

 

Is that at The Squirrel pub?!

 

Think I have had beers and food there a few times...

That was the Harvester by the M40.  Tonight's destination is Heidrun which, so far, appears to be well worth the walk into town (although not particularly looking forward to the uphill slog back to the hotel!).

What could possibly go wrong?

[Worsdell forever]

52 minutes ago, Mark Forrest said:

That was the Harvester by the M40.  Tonight's destination is Heidrun which, so far, appears to be well worth the walk into town (although not particularly looking forward to the uphill slog back to the hotel!).

What could possibly go wrong?

 

Ow much?!

[Mark Forrest]

10 minutes ago, Worsdell forever said:

 

Ow much?!

And no Old Peculier either!

[Worsdell forever]

13 minutes ago, Mark Forrest said:

And no Old Peculier either!

 

Shown that round the pub here, Gordon nearly had a heart attack, Tat fell off his seat but Mike the landlord was quite interested... 

[Mark Forrest]

2 minutes ago, Worsdell forever said:

 

Shown that round the pub here, Gordon nearly had a heart attack, Tat fell off his seat but Mike the landlord was quite interested... 

To be fair, it's only a matter of time before 2manypints also falls off his chair.

[bradfordbuffer]

1 hour ago, Mark Forrest said:

To be fair, it's only a matter of time before 2manypints also falls off his chair.

Bloody hell ....down south prices! To be fair don't know how much it is up north either! But seems ££££

[ELTEL]

The masterpiece looks great, enjoy the weekend.

 

Would have liked to come along to the exhibition, but I seem a bit busy with next weekends event.

 

You will pleased to know we have agreed to have the bar open, but probably not the selection of beers you have tonight.

 

Give my regards to CT and see you next weekend at our little bash at Stafford 

 

Eltel 

[2ManySpams]

1 hour ago, Mark Forrest said:

To be fair, it's only a matter of time before 2manypints also falls off his chair.

 

Not my fault that I ordered 2x ½pints and the bar staff brought pints of 6.2%. 

 

Sauve and sophisticated...

 

Lining them up.

 

[Mark Forrest]

29 minutes ago, ELTEL said:

You will pleased to know we have agreed to have the bar open, but probably not the selection of beers you have tonight

Looking forward to it, I'll have a selection of Fryers Lane wagons (along with quite a few others) on my demo stand at Stafford exhibition next weekend.

[Enterprisingwestern]

10 hours ago, bradfordbuffer said:

Bloody hell ....down south prices! To be fair don't know how much it is up north either! But seems ££££

 

Even worse for those of used to Benidorm prices!

Mind you, it is foreign lager pish.

 

Mike.

[TheSignalEngineer]

11 hours ago, bradfordbuffer said:

Bloody hell ....down south prices! To be fair don't know how much it is up north either! But seems ££££

Was at cricket at Old Trafford recently. Prices like those for machine dispensed chemical imitation beer. Hate to think what they charge at an International match now.

[Captain Kernow]

11 hours ago, 2ManySpams said:

 

 

Veggy burger, GF bun and parsnip wedges, I assume, Mr T?

[Mark Forrest]

 

We've had a visitor...

 

 

[2ManySpams]

A few more photos from this morning, including a new scenic addition.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nice bush.

[2ManySpams]

3 hours ago, Captain Kernow said:

Veggy burger, GF bun and parsnip wedges, I assume, Mr T?

 

Obviously yes CK. No chickens were harmed in the production of the burger.

[RayF]

It was nice to meet you mark. Thoroughly enjoyed spending time at the layout yesterday and this am. Your layout was worth the visit in it's own right. Really appreciate the chat and you spending some time showing me how you set up your wagons. Cheers, Ray, the baldy bloke from Teesside.

[Mark Forrest]

1 hour ago, RayF said:

It was nice to meet you mark. Thoroughly enjoyed spending time at the layout yesterday and this am. Your layout was worth the visit in it's own right. Really appreciate the chat and you spending some time showing me how you set up your wagons. Cheers, Ray, the baldy bloke from Teesside.

Thanks Ray, it was nice to meet you too.  Good luck with your layout.

[Mark Forrest]

Well, that was a thoroughly enjoyable way to spend a weekend!  Safely back home after a very wet journey up the M40/M42.

 

In the run up to the show I'd allowed myself to get a bit stressed about getting the layout ready, to the extent that at one point last week I was thinking this might be the last show I do.  I'm pleased to say that after two days of operating the layout and chatting to loads of people about the layout and modelling in general (and occasionally about bicycles) my enthusiasm is restored and I'm reminded that the effort is worth it.

 

Thanks to @2ManySpams for helping over the weekend and the consults on building and scenery matters in preparation for the show, it's much appreciated.  Thanks to the Scaleforum team for the invite and thanks to everyone who stopped to have a chat and look at the layout over the weekend.

 

Next on the agenda is a wagon demo at Stafford exhibition next weekend.  The next exhibition for Fryers Lane is the Define Modeller's Day in January.

[wagonbasher]

On 21/09/2024 at 19:20, Mark Forrest said:

That was the Harvester by the M40.  Tonight's destination is Heidrun which, so far, appears to be well worth the walk into town (although not particularly looking forward to the uphill slog back to the hotel!).

What could possibly go wrong?

Grapefruit, Black pepper, floral, vanilla, cocoa,  I just wonder if they had one that taste like beer.    I know that’s a bit old school.

 

Andy

[2ManySpams]

22 minutes ago, wagonbasher said:

Grapefruit, Black pepper, floral, vanilla, cocoa,  I just wonder if they had one that taste like beer.    I know that’s a bit old school.

 

Andy

 

That's a bit old school Andy...

 

(Thankfully none tasted like Pedigree, Banks, Doom Bar or the old Phes Ansell's).

[Mark Forrest]

2 hours ago, wagonbasher said:

Grapefruit, Black pepper, floral, vanilla, cocoa,  I just wonder if they had one that taste like beer.    I know that’s a bit old school.

 

Andy

Number 11 (Siren - The Flying Circus) was my favourite if that helps?  Not unlikely Iceberg but less hoppy.

[2ManySpams]

Enjoyed the weekend even though I had to look at them diesel thingies. Thankfully Mark made it easy for me and only had one each of the wheels, nose and window options. As an added bonus, the number on the loco side was mostly the same as the chip.

 

Lots of people thought the new shrubbery was an excellent addition to the overall ambiance of the layout, although I was reliability informed by Mark that a bird swooped down and removed it for nesting material. A sad loss. 

 

We did have a very naughty turnout, thankfully one that could be ignored. I did offer fine tuning with a large yomma, but sadly Mark not overly keen.

 

I also had a bit of a 'moment' with the long nose, flat front, two windows thingy. It decided to try and make a bid for freedom and not respond to commands or the stop button. After doing a manual stop, none of the locos would then start. Weird. Of course it was fully behaving as soon as I found Mark. 

 

I do like the new version of the layout, you can have hours of fun shunting and also hiding many wagons down the back road. The grot is starting to build scenically and I'm looking forward to a fence going in along the front that can be vegetated and abused. 

 

We had many, many chats with a lot of folk off various forums and it was good to put faces to names. Didn't spend much though, one book, 6 postcards and some knife blades. Strangely not much in the way of 7mm for sale. 

 

Great pub find on Saturday night. Just need the feet to recover now.

[Mark Forrest]

Thanks @2ManySpams that turnout is the main thing on my snagging list.  The DCC gremlins remain a mystery.

 

Here's my download of thoughts on how the layout performed...

 

As I think I've mentioned before, I've toyed with the idea of a fiddle yard/stick for the rear siding that is now hidden behind the new building.  Experience over the weekend left me thinking this isn't necessary - it'd just be one more thing to remember to take to a show (it would be of no use at home).  Access slots in the backscene might be useful.

 

The metal trestles are over engineered and take up a lot of space in the van.  Simple wooden three legged versions might be better.

 

I need to finish the buildings so they can be permanently fixed to the layout as we had one drop off on the way up the stairs to the sports hall.  It was always my intention that all buildings would be permanently fixed, but I've avoided doing it until they are finished.

 

The locos performed well, 37201 and 20108 seemed to be the ones we went for most, reflecting that these were the best runners (not that the others gave much trouble).  A visit from a Penbits bogie equipped Bachmann 37 on Saturday confirmed the superior running of these.  I regretted not having my SLW 25 and Cavalex 56 with me - both are awaiting coupling fitting and some weathering.

 

On the subject of couplings - we didn't use the uncoupling magnets all weekend it was easier to uncouple manually with a coffee stirrer.  The wagons which have had new buffers fitted need a minor adjustment to the coupling length due to the replacement buffers being slightly longer.

 

I could probably do with about 5 or 6 more wagons; just to provide a bit more variety over a weekend.  I probably have (more than) enough to add these, but it will require an additional stock box as the existing ones are now at capacity.

 

Edit to add: agree about lineside fences, I have some lined up ready for fitting but didn't have time to get it done this time.

[2ManySpams]

You forgot to mention the festival cart...