luckymucklebackit

Two of the missing ones I think, just general to get Jim

It's an "H" (photo) bomb

Mississippi Queen - Mountain

In World War 1 the "Jellicoe Specials" ran from various mines across Britain to the north of Scotland to feed the Ships of the Royal Navy based at Scapa Flow, there were stories of 100 wagon trains of coal, but I am not sure if they worked the whole route with that length. Jim

Shine On You Crazy Diamond - Pink Floyd

We used to call them Duckhams (20/50), as in looks 20 from the back an 50 from the front!

Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun - Pink Floyd

Thanks Rich - The one thing I don't have is a current track plan, the plans were originally drawn using Star Office Drawing Software which generated files with the extension .art. Unfortunately the software was designed for WIndows 95 and does not work with WIndows 97. The original plan has evolved substantially since the layout was conceived. I need to find software to open these files. Jim

Do You Really Want to Hurt Me - Culture Club

Thanks for the kind comments guys. Recently I have been concentrating my posts on individual projects, time for some general views of the layout!! Panoramic Views of Gateside and Northbridge are very difficult due to the beams in the loft, tried a few with the phone camera, working round the layout.... Busy Gateside Northbridge Approaches Northbridge Station Mavisbank Station Jim

The problem for the lower tier teams in Scotland is that we no longer appear on the pools coupons, the coupons that remain now prefer to include the fifth tier of the Football League in preference to the lower Scottish Leagues. Indeed the teams in the lower Scottish leagues suffer from very limited coverage by the BBC at regional level and none at National Level, as a result the attendances have declined over the years. My team, Airdrie, plays in the third tier of Scottish Football, our average gate is 850, which in a 10,000 all seater stadium provides very little atmosphere. In the 1970s we could attract an average of 3000, with bigger crowds for cup ties. I have fond memories of that period with victories in the Texaco cup over Nottingham Forest, Manchester City and today's heroes Huddersfield Town, beaten by an aggregate score of 7-2!! There are actually many more Semi Professional Clubs in Scotland, there are 16 clubs in the Lowland League, 18 in the Highland League and no less than 159 clubs in the Scottish Junior League, many of whom are better supported than the senior clubs but are almost unknown outside of their own supporters. Jim

Barry returned from a doctor's visit one day and told his wife, Carolyn that the doctor said he only had 24 hours to live. Wiping away her tears, he asked her to with him. Of course she agreed and they made passionate love. Six hours later, Barry went to her again, and said, 'Honey, now I only have... 18 hours left to live maybe we could again?' Carolyn agreed and again they made love. Later, Barry was getting into bed when he realized he now had only eight hours of life left. He touched Carolyn's shoulder and said, 'Honey? Please? Just one more time before I die.' She agreed, then afterward she rolled over and fell asleep. Barry, however, heard the clock ticking in his head, and he tossed and turned until he was down to only four more hours. He tapped his wife on the shoulder to wake her up. 'Honey, I only have four hours left! Could we...?' His wife sat up abruptly, turned to him and said, 'Listen Barry, I'm not being funny... ..but I have to get up in the morning and you don't.'

Hate to spoil your joke, but you will have a long wait, worms don't have anywhere to fart from, they have two heads.

Hi Stephen - Thanks for your kind comments, I don't post that often and with the volume of traffic on this forum it doesn't take long for the topic to get buried, I take it from your user name that you are a member of Ayr Model Railway Club, I used to be good friends with the late Bill Petrie when I was at Cumbernauld MRG, he was also a member at Ayr a good few years back. I will be going to the show in September as I have a caravan at Prestwick so it is just down the road. Jim

Always nice to get your models outside in the good weather, the natural light shows everything up well (and in my case highlights the flaws!) Pity I can't fold back the roof of the loft on a nice day Jim

One last job completed over the weekend was the installation of a cable run, there was one at the east end of Edinburgh Waverley, although on the prototype it was on the goods station side of the running lines. To build this I used Radley Models LU cable hangers filed down a bit to be wall mounted (I bought these two years ago), For the wire I tried the thin solder and it didn't work out for me, but I found hanks of embroidery thread in a pound shop which looked about the right diameter, I soaked cut lengths in PVA and allowed them to dry, they worked well and look OK once weathered down a bit. . Another wee task completed!!! Jim

OK the buses are not under a bridge, but are down at a lower level than the railway Next an EMU Jim

The main progress today was finishing off the carriage inspection platform and overhead lights at Northbridge. The base was made from card, supports were plasticard and a butchered old Hornby signal gantry, surface of the platform was painted coffee stirrers H&S have been informed about the state of the access steps and remedial action taken!! Taking these photos highlights the defects that you would not normally spot, such as the horrible gap between the bottom of the retaining wall and the baseboard, need to pack in some ballast to hide that!! General view of the area, the bit of white card was holding the post vertical while the glue dried. Jim

If anyone is wondering about my method for making the trees they could not be simpler or cheaper to make. The "trunk and branches" started live as last years Hydrangea flowers, once the flowers die the structure remains and it is actually good gardening practise to remove these. I had some from the year below so I had not pruned all of the old flowers off. Once the old flowers are pruned off you can see the similarity to the structure of a tree First I apply some carefully teased hanging basket material, make sure it is over all the "branches" but take care as the thinnest parts of the old flower are quite brittle and easily broken. Spray the hanging basket material with a liberal amount of cheap hairspray, (I used Morrison's own brand), then scatter your scenic materials on. The broad leaf material I bought last year at the Glasgow show from a stand specialising in model trees, this bag was on offer and only cost £2.99 and will probably last me a lifetime. To tone down the broader leaves I sprayed more hairspray on and dusted with a fine dark green scatter Leave to dry , drill a hole in the layout and plant. Total time to make about 15mins, cost - less than £5 for the bought materials and there will be enough for a forest full of trees. Hope this is of interest Jim

So everything has been on hold once again due to continuing problems with my left eye, ended up in Gartnavel Hospital two weeks ago, (first ever overnight in a hospital bed) and had to have surgery on my problematic left eye due to a retinal detachment, thought at one point it was a goner. Thankfully due to the skill of the surgeon it is on the mend and I have some sight back. I have a gas bubble in the eye which makes close work very difficult and I have just returned to work this week. Really annoyed as I have the house to myself this weekend and was hoping to get a lot of work done on the layout, just need to see how I get on! I did complete one job this evening, I had a stock of hydrangea flower heads from last year which I had cropped off at the end of the season. They make very convincing trees when you apply hanging basket material and scenic scatter. I felt the embankment behind Mavisbank was too pristine, so this is the result Before After Jim

D6332 still exists (well the power plant does). Power Generation conpany Aggreko bought the engine (and others?) from BR and fitted it in a container. It has been rescued by the SRPS and is now at Bo'ness - see here https://realrail.smugmug.com/Trains/NBL-Type-2-Power-Unit/i-QghxLbs Jim

Barry Station. Next something from South West Scotland Jim

There was a SR seaside branch terminus that used to exhibit at the Glasgow show that had audio of seagulls "to give it atmosphere" - as someone operating a nearby layout it became exceedingly annoying as the weekend proceeded, to the point of conspiracy to sabotage the audio unit:-). Jim

Nice description of the Fairfields Tram Loco and the gauge issue here http://www.srpsmuseum.org.uk/10014.htm Jim