Early Risers.

[Ian Abel]

'ello, 'ello what's all this then!

 

Friday ER taking the day off and went to fix the plumbing at the cabin.

Successful completion, and return semi-scathed - just a few minor chunks of skin missing and some assorted scrapes - all in all pretty good for re-plumbing 20-30 feet of 3/4 brass line with about a dozen connectors/tees/couplings.

Very pleasant evening with our travelling companions attempting to celebrate Cinco-de-Mayo, mostly Mexican food, music and PLENTY of Margaritas... <hic>

 

Today;

Leaving soon for a dad-son baseball outing, first time seeing the Minnesota Twins this season. Advantage is they are doing well (top of their division) after several miserable seasons.

Mrs headed to cabin (now the water is working) to do some cleaning/season prep, will be gone overnight.

Jemma headed to St. Louis for three days for her six-month recurrence check.

Leaves ME all alone till tomorrow afternoon late.

Good news: -> Plenty of modeling time - YAY!!

Challenging news: -> I'm in charge of Whitney and Bob all on my own

 

Reached 21 yesterday - warmest since mid-November last year.

14 and sunny already today supposed to reach 20-21 again and remain sunny all day.

 

Enjoy the start of the weekend, mid-weekend for you Euro-centric inhabitants...

[BSW01]

Good afternoon everyone

 

A dull start to the day, but at least it's been dry.

 

Another busy day spent in the workshop, continuing to work on that 120 year old lock. Today has been spent getting the locking mechanism working smoothly, lots of crud, worn brass removed and everything cleaned up. I may well increase the amount of re-enforcement I fitted yesterday, as there is one particular part that looks very thin and there appears to be quite a bit of room to beef it up slightly.

 

I then started work on making the key, a suitable piece of brass bar was found for the shaft and another for the operating head. So now it was to play on my lathe once again.

First step, reduce the diameter of the shaft.

Second step, drill a hole down the centre so that it will go over the spigot in the frame a create a slot for the head.

Third step, make a blank head and solder it into a slot.

I then filed the teeth that lift the lever (there's only 1 lever) into the head and final adjustments were made to get everything working smoothly. I then realised that I had fitted the lever spring in upside down, once I'd corrected that, everything worked very smoothly. At this point I may have resembled a Cheshire Cat!

 

Tomorrow I will cut the shaft to length and make a handle for it, I might even try to make it look a bit decorative.

 

BR. Nice to see your op went well.

Edited May 6, 2017 by BSW01

[The Stationmaster]

Excellent show in Reading - it has the advantage of being large scale so one (or rather this particular one) is not over tempted to lash out three figure sums on trains and engines but not everything is big so there were still things to buy especially on Mr Lightmoor Press' stand.  Thea musing bit about the layouts are that the 0 gauge ones look small after looking at the other scales and Gauge 3 'micro' layout was something of a laugh at 23 feet in length.  But some of what was going one was definitely fun as much as trains and the Indian Hill railway tail chaser was great fun so I took some pics - 100% live steam and some of them were coal fired (not those in the pics).

 

Mrs Stationmaster meanwhile decided that Reading isn't even the place for shopping that it used to be - i.e. it really has gone (further) downhill in a big way.

 

 

 

 

 

[BoD]

Afternoon all.

 

This afternoon I eventually managed to make a mock up of a West Highland Swiss chalet style roof. I'd misread one measurement from the plan and could I heck spot where I had gone wrong. I finally found it, a silly, careless mistake, and the whole thing fell together quite easily. The station is looking good even if I say so myself.

Now to draw out and make one out of stiffer card to be actually used on the model.. I'm not looking forward to putting the slates on though.

 

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

[Coombe Barton]

We have been to IKEA and survived!!

[AndyID]

Morning guys.

 

Just a thought - the correct English term is 'post-mortem' - I just do not like the Americanisms that are creeping into our language.

 

Cheers, Peter

It's ironic that the words were borrowed from the ancient Italians.

[AndyID]

We have been to IKEA and survived!!

No meatballs then?

[New Haven Neil]

Very versatile actor. He was in some of the Roddy Doyle Trilogy films.

 

image.jpeg

 

Plus the Commitments of course!

[TheQ]

Evening Awl,

1/2 ton of concrete poured, well actually it is soilcrete, 50/50 sharp sand / soil mix, then the usual amounts of cement. This is the base level of the concrete, and poured fairly sloppy so if there are any holes I've missed in filling the patio area it runs in and reinforces the ground. Next week I hope to do the top 3 inch finishing layer.

 

While each mix was doing its stuff in the machine I started digging along the route of the garden line when the railway will escape the shed, the removed soil and turf was deposited, in the next section of the patio to be built.

 

Due to the rain earlier and the rain that turned up just after i set up, the bonfire will have to wait till tomorrow.

 

It was decided that i would move a concrete garden ornament, at that point my back said enough, it was painful for the rest of the day and still is.

 

Heavy work now suspended, I went into the shed and the sun attempted to come out. The previously painted ceiling planks were installed. More will be purchased soon .

 

Sadly I won't make the em gauge show I have too much to do here, although I enjoy the show at Bracknell, I wish it was back in MK. It adds an hour to my journey or two on the day being at Bracknell and takes me down to the ultimate cockwomble land, the M25.

 

There was a report in the papers this week, that alcohol is as good if not better pain reliever than paracetamol, I think I might test the theory.

 

Time for a Highland Park.

[Coombe Barton]

No meatballs then?

 

Actually yes - had them for lunch - and discovered that they now do chicken meatballs. They're just as bland.

[45156]

Afternoon All

 

Late on parade today, as I have had a lot on elsewhere.  Caloo Calay, while we were out on our second trip, the postman brought a parcel with the supply of microfilters which I'd ordered.  I decided that for a few quid it was better than the process of elimination which would otherwise have been needed, as this house has quite a few sockets all needing filtering.  I worked out that the hub was probably OK as the TV has never failed to work on the internet based functions, and when I checked its parameters, it was showing fully connected and with the correct IP address, even when the laptop was faltering.  Really, the moral is that when you've got copper broadband, it's useful to have a supply of new or known working microfilters to hand, so that a quick remedy is more likely.  As a former Broadband complaint handler, I really should have been more on the ball.

 

Anyhow, caught up, and all content read, rated, digested, and greetings are on offer where appropriate (or commiserations).  Great to get another of FLavio's erudite and informative posts, which are always more than welcome.  Well done of the diet, sir, and hope that the new more svelte you finds suitable employment soon.

 

Late again tomorrow as the car is loaded and ready to go first thing to a boot sale - A6 and Greenlands farm are all on tomorrow, Geoff if you read this.  If there are any other ERs who are around here and want a cheap railway book or a supply of back issues of Steam World, I'm your man tomorrow.

 

Back later tomorrow.

Regards to All

Stewart

[AndyID]

Very versatile actor. He was in some of the Roddy Doyle Trilogy films.

 

 

And his Irish accent is a lot more convincing than James Doohan's (RIP) bl00dy awful attempt at a Scottish accent

[New Haven Neil]

And his Irish accent is a lot more convincing than James Doohan's (RIP) bl00dy awful attempt at a Scottish accent

 

Should be - he's Irish.

 

Doing Martin McGuinness I understand....wow, hot potato role!

[AndyID]

Should be - he's Irish.

 

It was supposed to be a joke. Not a very good one I'll grant you....

[southern42]

' Evening all from red dragon land.

 

Bitter cold at West Shore - too cold to steam up, least ways, the long gaps between one group of passengers turning up and another clinched the decision to stick to the electric loco.  Kept driving / guarding sessions to a few at a time to stop the onset of hypothermia - it did not work though - still got cold!  Ray and I even had tea inside the cafe, today, instead of having take aways.

 

Warming up nicely, now.

 

Birthday, and belated birthday, greetings to those I have missed.

[PeterBB]

Derby Exhibition this weekend and Jacob decided to try and help his Grandad to get the admission tickets ready - I don't think I can use this roll now . . !!

 

 

IMG_20170505_135305697.jpg

 

 

IMG_20170505_135430122.jpg

 

 

.

 

Great toys = zero;  rolls of paper 1 000 000!  Really enjoyed the show today and now see why the tickets were brown.

 

Peter

[Coombe Barton]

OK, so who just caught himself opening the dishwasher to put the lasagne in to cook?

[New Haven Neil]

OK, so who just caught himself opening the dishwasher to put the lasagne in to cook?

 

 

 

 

Messyyyyy

[81C]

OK, so who just caught himself opening the dishwasher to put the lasagne in to cook?

Sounds Like a real "Senior Moment". 

[grandadbob]

Evenin' all,

Knackered of Sutton here. 

I've spent about 6 hours in the garden today digging, weeding, planting, fixing a bit of trellis and generally trying to cripple myself. My back and knee have suggested that I've somewhat succeeded in that endeavour.. Have now taken a couple of pints of amber and a large glass of red liquid anaesthetic which I often do when in pain and IMHO Q  this is far superior to parrots eat them all.   

 

Phil, I really like dogs but there's even less chance of one appearing here as Chris was bitten as a child and has been anti dog ever since. The silly thing is they seem to like her because whenever we visit friends with dogs they make a bee line for her. (without biting)

 

Watched one really great game of rugby earlier (Northampton v Quins) and have recorded Wasps v Sarries for later. 

 

As I'm still in a little bit of pain I may broach the Calvados or the Cognac (or even both) shortly.

Edited May 6, 2017 by grandadbob

[Coombe Barton]

Sounds Like a real "Senior Moment". 

 

Possibly Probably getting more frequent.

[New Haven Neil]

It was supposed to be a joke. Not a very good one I'll grant you....

 

Trans-atlantic failure!  Sorry.

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Made it to the show at Galleywood, quite an enjoyable show and quite a few layouts that are new to me. I saw and said hello to Tony but the nature of the exhibition, spread over two buildings and a marquee meant that we didn't see each other again. Purchased a few more Oxford diecasts and a second hand book on paddle steamers. Problem was when it was time to go home I found that I had a flat tyre so I called the RAC after a 25 minute wait they answered and after the details had been sorted they said it would be about three hours before a patrolman would be available. This was about 2:45 pm. So I settled to having to stay at the exhibition for the afternoon. However an hour or two later I was talking to a chap on one of the layouts when I told him I was waiting for the RAC he told me that he was a recently retired RAC man and he offered to help me change the tyre. I managed to get home just after six where there was a message on my answerphone from the RAC saying that they would not be able to attend to me before 6:30. I did call back and informed them that it was dealt with and cancelled the callout.

[AndyID]

Sounds Like a real "Senior Moment". 

 

Definitely not. It would only qualify if he had actually started the the dishwasher.

 

Lorna did put an electric kettle on the electric cooker instead of its connector base and turned on the hob. She claims it doesn't count because she was not fully awake at the time.

[Tony_S]

I didn't stay as long at the exhibition as Phil had to but it was a nice trip out. All the club members organising or exhibiting seemed very pleasant.

I haven't done much this afternoon and evening apart from starting to return the summerhouse to its proper use (which seems to be storing garden furniture) instead of being a dumping ground for stuff from the garage or loft.

Tony