NHY 581

Morning all, A busy but very enjoyable day yesterday. Lovely to meet up with @Nick C, @LDM34046, @Sitham Yard and the other members of both Rmweb and Western Thunder who stopped to chat. It's an excellent show and one I feel privileged to be part of. Didn't stop and I was definately a bit hoarse (!) by the end of the day. Ewe has been well received and I'm really pleased with the result of the reworking of the lighting etc. Well worth it. Looking forward to doing it all again today and hopefully putting more faces to names. Top stuff all round really. Rob.

And by way of reassurance..... . I thank you.

Indeed ! Odd angle caught the light. Strange, it doesn't seem THAT cold in there ! Rob

Ewe is all set up. Rob

Evening all, Apologies for the late posting but it's been a long day. As planned, Sheep One was loaded and on the road shortly after 10. However, we soon were caught up in the aftermath of the tragic events on the M4 and didn't arrive until after 5pm. However, Ewe is up and after a nice evening in the pub, one is about to retire...... Ewe in situ.

Pretty much done. Loading AM.

Progress............ Initial situation...... Ewe perched on china cabinet...work ongoing to the ends and roof Ends now fitted. They were extended both upwards, to hold the new roof/lights and outwards to afford some protection to the frontage... Roof now drops between the uprights. Still some snagging to take care of but moving on. Rob.

Afternoon, John, Rob. So sorry to read of your respective losses. My thoughts are with you both . John, I'll dig out the Bradford Bartons and look for some of your fathers images, accompanied by a small glass of Port, which I'll certainly raise to your dear Mother, Rob. Rob

Morning all, Rather a late one last night but some progress made. Noticed I'd forgotten the lighting baffles which sits in front of the middle strip light..........No suitable stripwood in stock to facilitate same and too late to nip to shop selling same. So off to the said shops after the school run. But, hopefully, layout reassembly this morning, starting about now actually. However, there will be a delay whilst I make and fit that pesky light baffle thing. Then clean, check and test the trainset. Then try and remember what I've forgotten before packing. Rob

Morning Dom, I'll keep on eye on how you do this. As you say, adds to the scene but I have no clue about point/signal rodding. Rob

Morning all, Suffice to say, the reconstruction of Ewe is maintaining it's molluscesque progress.......this is going to be a lot closer than I would have liked......an awful lot closer............. Rob.

Hi Andrew. It'll be lovely to see you. At present, Ewe is somewhat dismantled with the ends of the scenic box off and no 'roof' thanks to a bit of time before work this morning . There are a few things left to resolve so this evening is looking like a busy one. Rob.

Morning all. Things are are in a bit of a tail spin at Chateau Sheep. The 'simplified solution' to affixing the new revised lighting rig is causing concern and first thoughts are to default to plan A. Not where we want to be to be honest but I can see no other way. I'll ponder whilst working in the shop today before commencing anything this evening. So we potentially have a pretty damn busy time ahead...............not helped by the fact that I cannot use the garage to set all this out as it's full of wood for the 1:1 fencing project.............. Curses !

This is in fact Naughty George, the Mischievous Apprentice........... He was sighted keeping out of trouble in his tree house earlier today. Clearly not being very naughty in this photo, he was relaxing after a successful stealth attack on the Works Forecat as she breakfasted. End result, TWF left the area and GTMA snaffled her breakfast.

That sounds quite wrong, on a number of different levels.........

That's me told then.......what I meant to say was 'works' green, a lá Hornby’s original release of their 48DS... I should have been more careful with my wording. Rob

Interesting. However, as has been said already, I'll hold off for one in Ruston plain green livery. To see one that is.........not to buy, you understand....oh no...just to look at.......nope, not buying. Deffo....just curious, so I can tell my friend about it...... Rob

Do keep up at the back, Spams Minor.....

In other news, this morning....... The fence has proved troublesome but we are now making some progress. This has reduced the available time to resolve the lighting issue on Ewe..... But, card has been glued on, tubes refitted and wired. The light provided is deemed satisfactory. However, given the ever collapsing time frame, I'll compromising on the modifications to the existing layout to retain the lights in place. There'll also be no modifications made to the fiddle yard before the show. Efforts therefore will be centred on making things once more presentable. Throughout all of this, the Works Forecat has remained calm..... Rob.

I can see what you're doing here. Naughty Bungo. The Wissington Railway intrigues me, if only for the sheer junglesque unkemptness of it all at times. Pretty certain they tried a J70 or two on on it but they kept falling over so they weren't deemed to be a success. Rob

Mange Tout, John. That's doable, eminently sensible in fact..... but..............I like to have the layouts set up and playable if and when the mood takes me. I could only set up the 8ft scenic section which wouldn't be ideal as I couldn't attach the fiddle yard due to the size and geography ( location of window and door) of the Room of Doom. Therefore such a layout couldn't be played with. Not good ( for me at least) What I'm always thinking of is compromise. We all have grandiose schemes that we want and dream about, some schemes are more grandiose than others of course. However, the access to a readily available and usable space is really the crux of it all. There are those that frequent this chaotic menagerie that accept the compromise in the other direction and build their dream layout which is stored and either erected in sections for working on and exhibition. My view, adopted a long time ago now, is make do with what I have. I firmly believe that it's better to build something than nothing at all so working in a smaller space and accepting the compromise means you CAN build a usable layout. I've mentioned before ( probably ) the Room of Doom is nominally 8ft x 8ft, your typical box room in a 3 bed semi. I could plonk a decent BLT to fiddle yard layout around two walls, leaving space for a nicely sized Desk of Doing.........but going along in the manner that I do, allows me to contain three small layouts in the same space. A case in point.....which I learnt from...note the opening post re railway room....... Two years later, I'd abandoned that idea and built, finished and exhibited Sheep Lane which had a scenic section of just just over half the length and under half the width of Gurney Slade ..........and the rest, as they say, is history......... Anyone can build the type of layout I do. It's Winter. Look again at those spaces you have, however small they may appear to be. It takes just one loco, a few wagons and a couple of buildings. Embrace the constraints placed upon you and make it work. Build yourself a layout. Rob

Best wishes, Martyn. Rob

Morning all. Well, spinning plates is the order of the day today......well, week actually. Flu jab first thing then the small matter of erecting seven fence posts before I can drop back onto the lighting rig later today. Things were tidied up yesterday and tubes, wiring etc removed. Yesterday evening, the mounting card was glued onto the interior face and books left on top to weight things down. So that's the dining table written off for the day at least. If I can trim things back and replace the tubes by tomorrow evening then I'll be happy. Next job will be bring the layout down before doing the alterations to the ends to hold it all together. Massive bonus if that can be achieved by Tuesday evening as things need to be sorted in order to load the layout into the car on Thursday. And it needs cleaning and checking before that can happen not forgetting the fence building and work in between............busy time indeed. Oh........there's also a few potentially cracking games of rugby to try and dip into as well......... Can I do it all ? Rob.

Morning Paul. Always a fab moment. I always, subject to the electrics being avaiable of course, try to finish off every 'building session' by running a train. I find it helps provide a bit of focus if things haven't gone too well or you're doing a job you don't particularly enjoy. In my case ballasting ! Rob.

What a tremendous bit of carpentage, Nick. Top stuff ! Rob