Hroth

Probably the best solution would be to try and get the "train" from Fort William to Fort Augustus via Gairlochy (at least the Victorians misguidedly built a real railway as far as Fort Augustus!), then build a miniature train ferry and float it along Loch Ness to Inverness. I should imagine some civil engineering would be required.... I'll keep an eye on the weather for The Great Glen for the last two weeks in June with interest!

According to Time Team, navvies lived in self-constructed turf huts on inhospitable moorland tops. I suppose that if the participants get peckish they might go on a hunt for Nessie to supplement the haggis. Evidently you snare haggis in a similar manner to rabbits.

Only TWO Dean Goods? Thats testing the water with a vengance! Oh. Of course you mean unspecified quantities of the first two variants..... I've just come back from a Barn Dance and I still feel a bit dizzy...... Twirls away.....

I miss those OU programmes when Men With Beards explained how a vector has direction and magnitude with a piece of string on a board, or rambled through conic sections with added algebra... On the other hand, it wasn't to do with railways, but last night the BBC rebroadcast a programme about the 50th anniversary of the building of the first Severn road bridge in the Timeshift series, which I bumped into through exasperation with the "Election Debate", the tedium of Britain Has "Talent" and various other unmemorable stuff. It celebrated engineering, it interviewed engineers and workers who were there, it showed how it was made, it had human interest by the Olympic Swimming Pool, it was gripping, informative television. But because it didn't have thrills and teasing dramatic suspension, I'm sure it would be seen as dull and uninteresting. I think the problem is that everything is now recorded in colour. If everything was filmed in grainy black and white, it would all seem so much more authentic and authoritative. I won't even comment on the mimsy narrators they employ nowadays.....

A carborundum cut-off disc in a Dremel (other mini power tools are available) will go through a SEEP pin in about 3 seconds. I usually leave the pin overlength by a couple of mm and grind down any excess using the disc when the SEEP is in situ. Its better than cutting off too much! When initially trimming the pin, wear eye protection and hold the free end of the pin in a pair of pliers to prevent it pinging off into the void when cut through. Those metal trestles are a good idea, I've a couple of sets coming for a new project. I'm going to bolt a length of wood (about half the depth of your framing) to the top so I can insert locating dowels into trestle top and the framing to positively locate the baseboards on top of the trestles.

Not so much politeness, but an eye to future preferment in the Church, especially when the curate was at the Bishops table...

I'm keeping my powder dry (and managing my expectations too). Lets see what the revised date will be come Friday, but if the general release is moving in tandem with the Locomotion release, then it'll still be months rather than the current weeks. Hey ho! Edwardian: The curate was a slimy creeping toad, so he deserved his egg. Talking about Toads...

Very ecclesiastical! Industrial design has gone backward since those times! I suppose the gong is in that natty little cupola on top, and the cupboard beneath contains a supply of hassocks and cassocks and a surplus of surplices. It looks pretty High........ Les: We used to say that sort of thing about Lasers. And as for Jenny, according to the filename, she's holding a rifle, 'snot, its a 12 bore double-barrelled shotgun with hammer action, and unless there's extreme forshortening, its been sawn off... Rifle or not, it would still make a comprehensive mess of anyone in front of it. Phil: Isn't that green tub a motor-sailer? Thats CHEATING!!!

Definition. Yacht (n): A hole in the water into which large quantities of money can be thrown.

You might have done both - my paternal grandfather was a ships engineer and when he came ashore became a tramways engineer..... As for lifejackets, we always wore them when thrashing around in dingheys, but the only time I really needed one (and naturally wasn't wearing one), was when I stepped onto the end of a landing stage that immediately gave way and precipitated me feet first into the rather murky depths of the Shropshire Union Canal. Just thinking about it, nowadays I could have sued BWB for their lousy infrastructure, but then, we didn't have a clue. And anyway it was something only an American would have done....

Americans had Rube Goldberg, who followed similar musings on mechanical matters as Heath Robinson, at much the same time. The thing is, Heath Robinson devices tend to be practical and understated, while Rube Goldberg machines tend to have odd things put in purely for effect. Its entirely possibe that although the designers of the UP 4-8-8-4 thought Goldberg, they applied Robinson! Thats a definitely TRIPLEPlusGood engine, although it might look a bit out of place on a GWR branchline and get stuck under the bridges... I wonder how many volumes the Haynes Manual for the 4-8-8-4 would extend to?

Well, with him having an airsmoothed head, handrails would be a perfectly reasonable response..... At least they didn't try to modify the profile with plasticene too!

I'm sure that there's some high-level contact, if only to "beat the bounds", as it were. I fear that that "Team Building" is something foisted on them by some touchy-feely twit on the board. Other large organisations have similar problems when Human Resources and Accounts end up at the same events. The feelings of visceral hatred, fear and loathing between the participants are eerily similar..... Naturally I'd heard of the "Horsley Incident". I believe that some of the attendees still walk like John Wayne. Its to be deplored, but what do you expect? Of course, the Swindonistas tend to look down their noses at such brawling...

Funnily enough, the last tin of LNWR Black I had came from a member of the EBC (Elucidated Bretheren of Crewe). Mind you, it was New Stock, not the Old Stores Reference Blackberry Black - a paint that needs to be steamed out of the tin to be useful.... I don't see a MiM wanting to go anywhere near the EBC, I believe the shriving rituals are prolonged and very painful..... Nice D16/3 btw! just noticed acronymic transliteration - now corrected.....

My LNWR livery Coal Tank arrived this morning. As I don't have any code 75 track, I can't comment on clearances, but it runs very well around the 2nd radius circuit and settrack points of my roundy test layout, both forward and backward. What a brilliant little loco!

The old "Have Your Say" had a "Letters to the Editor" feel that flowed freely with every issue. It was something I enjoyed reading through thrice weekly. The forum format forces comments into pigeonholes and there is the probability that something of interest will be missed because its ended up in a classification that does not attract the interest of the browser. Of course, the forum format has been chosen because it does not need the hands-on effort that the former HYS needed. And that was the killer for the old HYS. I suppose I'll keep an eye on it (Though it took almost a month before I realised that the revamp had finally gone online), but I don't think I'll register as a contributor .

Perhaps not the most aesthetically satisfying soldered joint, but: It looks functional If the wire doesn't fall off when you tug at it, its a good joint and won't be "dry" It can be hidden using a good splodge of rust coloured paint To avoid blobbiness, strip a little more insulation off the wire than you have, then "tin" it (heat the wire and apply a bit of solder), bend the tinned wire so approx 5mm of the tinned end is horizontal. Tin the place where the wire is to be joined to the rail and then heat the bent end of the wire whilst holding it to the tinned portion of rail. You don't need to apply more solder so you don't need a third hand.... The solder will flow and bond the rail to the wire. Practice makes less blobby! Good luck, but don't beat yourself up - that joint will work, and thats the main thing! edit for a bit more clarification...

Looks like the set for one of those late night TV programmes on Freeview....

The spread of the MiM is getting like a plague of ladybirds - I've decided, if I see any near me, they're* going to get sprayed LNWR BLACK.... Ha! * For the sake of clarity, I mean the MiM, not any ladybirds.

A carflat with sound options would be interesting....... I mean, if we're going to have locomotives with sound, the rest of the train needs it too, with all the squeaks, bangs, buffers clashing, couplings rattling and wheels on rail. Of course, with the increasing price of rolling stock, added sound would be "say goodbye to your wallet" territory. Oh wait, we're there already, added sound would be any two appendages of your choice in addition.......

Makes it sound that despite TWO class 37's, it took a couple of weeks for the train to get from Carlisle to Ais Gill. The wrong kind of leaves, I suppose.... Ok, ok... I know what you meant.... Hat, coat, outski....

The link for "BYVOMTMR" ( http://www.milltownmodelrailway.com/ ) now redirects to the Hachette main page, where there are opportunities to purchase many fine Oxford Diecast 1:76 scale motor vehicles and fire engines! Perhaps after the test release and comments on social media, ahem!, they've had a rethink.

What next? Well, Oxford seem to be supplying a number of 1:76 scale cars and fire engines to Hachette Partworks, available on their site ( https://www.hachettepartworks.com/oxford-diecast-176-automobiles ) I don't think there's a magazine involved, just the individual vehicles. Perhaps there's going to be further collaboration with Oxford, the link for the "Build Your Very Own Milltown Model Railway" ( http://www.milltownmodelrailway.com ) now redirects to the Hachette main page; Perhaps it'll become "Build Your Very Own GWR Branch Line Station", with an offer of a Dean Goods....

Going on that, publication of the GWRJ has always been more or less "occasional".... It'll be there when it's there!

What with the continuing Dean Goods debacle, I'd hold off on getting too excited by the N7. I'd certainly take the Nov/Dec 2017 delivery time that Hattons are quoting with a pinch of salt! It'd be nice to be wrong, but for 2017, probably read 2018 ...