luckymucklebackit

Lost For Words - Pink Floyd

Resurrecting this thread to add a word of caution - be careful what you ask for! Last week I was on business in Crewe and booked into the Crewe Arms Hotel, at reception I asked if there were any rooms with a view over the railway, after a check of the floor plan they gave me room 103. Bad, bad move, this room is the ultimate torture for a railway enthusiast, the main room window window does not have a view over the railway, it looks out over the road that crosses Crewe Station with no view of the tracks. Only if you stand on the toilet bowl and open the toilet window you can just about see some trains in and out of the station that are not hidden by the station canopy. What you can hear very clearly is every announcement made in the station, and if anything moves in or out of platform 1 you not only hear it, you feel it! Thankfully they moved me to another room at the other side of the hotel the second night an I got a nights sleep. Avoid 103 like the plague!!! Jim

Wonder if she was told that she had run-flat tyres fitted and took it literally

Link to now and then map shot https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by-side/#zoom=17&lat=53.7844&lon=-1.7484&layers=168&right=BingHyb Edit - according to the map the mill is "Lady Well Mill" Jim

NOTICE OF WITHDRAWAL OF PASSENGER AND GOODS SERVICES As from today 4th March 2019, all passenger and goods services between Gateside Buchanan St, Mavisbank and Northbridge are withdrawn, the stations at Gateside Buchanan St, Mavisbank and Northbridge are closed! Yes, all good things have to come to an end and due to the deteriorating health of Mrs Luckymucklbackit we will be downsizing our house to something smaller and on the level, so in preparation for the move the layout will be gradually dismantled and the stock and salvageable building put into storage. I have mixed feelings about this, it was a great layout to build, but it did have an increasing number of operating challenges, with problems running trains (dirty rails, points failures), usually in the most inaccessible positions round the back of the layout. The good news is that Allenshaw will continue to be developed as a portable standalone, and the St, Margaret's Depot module will be taken off the main layout intact with a probable future as a small depot layout. Thanks to everyone who have commented favorably about the layout in the past, the thread will continue to report on progress with the smaller chunks of layout, who knows what the future will bring. Jim

A Saucerful of Secrets - Pink Floyd

Neil Lennon in as caretaker at Parkhead until the end of the season, Steven Gerrard better get himself a gum shield

Looks as though Brendan Rodgers will be the next Leicester Manager, been given permission to talk to the club, has done all that he can at Celtic with the budget that they can provide him with (rumour that he has fallen out with the board) and is probably sick of the sectarian stuff that despite everyone's best intentions still goes on. Jim

No - just a door step

Odd observation! Traditionally when there is a new Scottish outline model released there are loads of them running on layouts at Model Rail Scotland, yet this year I genuinely did not see one on a layout. Rails of Sheffield were selling them heavily discounted at £109 though Jim

Got three as well, still logged in though Jim

Obviously a cock(er) spaniel

I'm with Scottish Widows, but my wife is still alive, is my cover likely to be compromised?

I had a good giggle when reading a bargain book that I obtained recently from the bargain bin in "The Works", for the princely sum of £1:50 I bought "False Starts, Near Misses and Dangerous Goods" by Geoff and Ian Body, a collection of interesting and sometimes funny tales of Railwaymen and their work. The tale that made me laugh was about various wildlife that had escaped onto the line into Liverpool Street station in London, how an Emu came to be loose on the tracks is not known, but as it was not captured, the signalman sent the bell code 4-5-5 to the next 'box. Why 4-5-5? Well an EMU running away in right direction of course!!!

I only ever complete these reviews if I has been something that is below my expected standard and I want them to know about it, I am probably not alone in this so it surely must skew their data

Except that time does not scale it is a constant, (as is gravity), I remember extensive correspondence in the Railway Modeller some while ago with various contributors trying to be Physicists instead of modellers, and getting it entirely wrong! jim

Run like Hell - Pink Floyd

Thanks Manna and Jim - pity you cant make the Glasgow show as I think it is going to be a good one again, would really like to see Crinan there someday! Who knows, if I get this one finished we could be there together (wishful thinking)!! Jim

I managed to finish off the vegetation on the embankments tonight which effectively finishes off 80% of the layout, I reprised the fence on the main layout and added a redundant signal, still some small details to add just to finish also some detail to the lower level, I am tempted to add the OHLE, but it needs to be the old Mk1 style, which means a scratchbuild job As previously mentioned I am at the show on Friday with a big shopping list for components for the buildings that are to go at the back. Couple of general views Cheers Jim

Blackberry Way - The Move

...and not taking photos like this (open if you dare) - What you really go to Thailand so see!!

In the past week I have completed the backscene boards, solved the issue of the flimsy backscene board by gluing a piece of hardboard onto the back of the board to make a tab, and on the adjacent board I fitted an upright with a hardboard spacer to provide a slot, works a treat. With that done it was back to scenic work, and the photographs show the progress so far. Returning to an old method that has been successful in the past, the embankments have been coated with PVA and hanging basket material pressed in place, this will give a base of scrub onto which static grass will be applied, the leftmost track has been given a liberal application of static grass to give that totally abandoned look. The yard on the right hand side of the "main lines" has been given a lesser application of static grass to give that "neglected but used" look. I have been experimenting with chalks to get that light rust look for the top of the rails that you see when traffic passes over the track but not enough to polish the top All left to set, off to Holland tomorrow, Model Rail Scotland on Friday! Jim

The ones I saw were of the last few workings over the branch, class 37s on container flats to and from the terminal Jim

Found this in my files, this was something that lasted into the 1970s, my childhood home overlooked the Airdrie to Glasgow line near to Coatdyke Station and this was one of the highlights of the summer, Monday to Friday there would be an excursion from AIrdrie to various destinations, this would be along the lines of Ayr one day, Gourock the next, Largs and possibly further afield (one went to Edinburgh). When I remember them, haulage was usually class 27 with five or six mark 1 coaches. Never went on one and I kick myself for missing them as they used the City Union line to get across Glasgow! Jim

With the container port now the berthing point of choice for the big cruise ships, if the track had remained in place it would have been brilliant to have connecting steam hauled excursions to various destinations. Coincidentally there was a fantastic set of photographs of the branch on a Facebook group the other day, can't for the life of me find them now! Legend - the follow up to "Illustrated History of Glasgow Railways" was "Glasgow Railway Memories", a smaller but no less valuable volume! Jim