big jim

But more done on the spiral, smoothed out the levels a bit as it was rough across the join between the flexi track, then I experimented with more magnets first up was the L&B loco which as you can see from the video wouldn’t get up the hill, magnets added and leading wheels removed as they were causing friction and it went up lovely I then added weight and magnets to the colas class 70

It’s the one I always end up with and it’s a bit of a nail, no go in it!

I’ve just done a 009 class 70 which uses a kato chassis and I had a similar issue, chassis run fine, body on and it didn’t go anywhere near my spiral, I ordered some DCC Concepts lead shot which I’ve poured into the top of the body shell while upside down and secured with rocket glue pva,, also added a piece of card below for added security but not really needed add to that a tiny magnet on the drive side of the chassis to work with the power bases I have and it now breezes up the hill Edit: video added

Only taken one pic this week, 37025 in manchester oxford rd last night ive got a 37 tonight on an IM job round the north Mersey rail network, 37254 again unfortunately!

£6155 in our money so far with a few days to go

my eldest lad is an apprentice butcher and has just got his first girlfriend who is a vegan!!

The first few batches of wagons we had at fast line were branded HYA then the final few batches came as IIA, about the same time the GE logos appeared on the sides iirc

So the rest of my job today was to move 66794 to derby After backing out of longport we waited the signal to head toward Stoke and ultimately derby, EMR 170 passing by derby, 66709 leading we then had a taxi to toton to work a train back to bescot which turned out was light engine, 66781 this time tomorrows job cancelled so could end up with anything (but hopefully nothing!)

Class 69 on its way!

EDIT: just realised this is my 10000 post on RMWeb! Some from last night, seems like ages since I’ve updated anything, medical wednesday then 2 days off and a cancelled job Saturday! last night was a possession near daw mill 66741 one end of the train Which moved up the line as ballast was removed for the opposite line and 66747 on the other end to haul the train back to bescot and in bescot after pushing the train back into the yard moving 66794 from longport tomorrow then doing a toton to bescot job straight afterwards

similar concept to the white stripes on a mini bonnet

The last car I had a peco back box on was a ford focus in 2002, I think they went bust in 2008 (along with magnex) Of course I had one on my Austin mini too!

Couple of day worth of work, mainly around the castle area preparing to secure the top town board First up was for a baton to the wall and strengthen the board to stop it warping Then it was adjusting the height so the 009 line wasn’t too steep, the board will be slightly angled forward to keep the incline smooth ive had to cut a bit more wood away behind the folly as it’s not got quite enough depth for the line below, I will simply put a piece of card over the edge of the hole when I come to fit the track above it the final part of the spiral incline will also be card from the riser to the folly so that was a few days ago, I forgot to upload the pics, so on to last night first up was to secure the power plate bases down with pva glue Then once dry i fixed down the track with pva and track pins I can now finally see it with proper narrow gauge tracks in place And with the castle back in place I’ve shortened the tunnel mouth building down a bit so it sits on the top board with the tunnel mouth sides over the edge, doing that means I can have a bridge over the heritage line I’m glad I put the power bases in as they make a huge difference, only been experimenting with magnet placement but on the roco 009 shunter it is brilliant just with the magnets held by tape They will obviously be swapped for smaller ones as and when I do them properly Here is a video of the powerbase in action I did start experimenting with the Bachmann Baldwin but the tiny pin/screw came out of the driving rod so it’s unusable, I will most likely have to send it for repair as I can’t find the screw! a good evenings progress, couple of bits of wood to cut again, the main thing is the track is in under the town board so I can crack on with securing that, maybe Saturday,

Well the 69 is moving Monday but I’m not doing it unfortunately, despite me being booked to work it the job ended up in the vacancy list and was taken by someone else before I realised the mistake I am going to longport on Monday though to collect, I believe, 66794 to take as far as derby where it continues to Doncaster, varied week coming up, longport, possessions, Trafford park, and 37 IM train on the north Mersey amongst other things

Just found this on Twitter Opening sequence of K9 and Co featuring sarah Jane with her metro convertible

i must admit i tried the critical worker angle to get out of jury duty but that fell on deaf ears as for age, there were 4 on our jury 70+ and this was pre jab days at the start of november

I know you say it’s resolved but I did jury duty during Covid and the court service were superb at making sure you weren’t out at risk, masks, social distancing etc, it was something I was worried about but needn’t have been (also discovered yesterday that the peadophile we found guilty was put away for 15 years which was nice!)

It’s been cancelled again, looking like Monday now

Don’t know, it’s having a lot of testing done there I believe so will be a while

some from today, first up a quick trip crewe to trafford park with a wagon from maintainance crewe trafford park then a tram back into town cornbrook exchange which is on the start of the old midland railway viaduct into manchester central and back to crewe, the new order on the derby service, class 170s class 90 road learner then my train to leicester LIP, 47739 with 4 barriers and 56081 on the rear and into leicester after a diversion via the west mids fired up the 56 to shunt the coaches out of the way 47739 after uncoupling and that was that, showing someone round shrewsbury tomorrow, then class 69 move on thursday all being well

I’ve just succumbed and ordered 55009 in current condition, those pics have done it for me!

2 from yesterday, returning the wagons back to bescot from site, the job was actually cancelled after we arrived on site so the wagons returned in the same loaded condition as they had arrived! kingsbury bescot

That’s why I’m waiting for it to dry well between coats and be fully cured before I refit them, I’m in no rush so they can stay out of the car for a few weeks anyway admittedly I am a bit wary of it not working properly!

To go with the new front seats I managed to get me a set of rear leather seats for the mini, unfortunately the wrong colour but after a trawl of google and YouTube I have had a go at changing the colour of the leather using dye, so far so good, only one coat so far, after a good clean with wet and dry pads to remove the original leather sealer and some of the colour, then a thorough IPA clean, the first coat is then applied by a sponge before I add another couple of coats via my spray gun original blue seats after the wet and dry stage dye added around the seams then the rest with a sponge too, also with the first coated seat backs They are currently drying/curing in the man cave ready for the next couple of coats, it actually dries in about 5 mins but I’d rather leave it a while between coats to be sure seans are dry etc

Well PIBS is off to his new home later today, really gonna miss this little fella, going to a work colleague and rmwebber so hopefully I’ll see lots of updates..... he’s an absolute b*get for nicking socks from the washing pile or as in the pics above going into the kids glove bag and taking a glove out to chew on as he’s teething, he does look sweet carrying it round like prey!