big jim

Got the cooper back from the mechanic on New Year’s Eve and it’s running so much better with it’s new gearbox, clutch and street cam, it’s booked in Thursday for a rolling road power run at lohen (as annoyed as I am about the standard of work they carried out on my car im taking it to them as I’ve used the rolling road before I can get a consistent result with the new bits added I’m hoping for a 10bhp gain, anything more will be a bonus, anything less then I’ll stick to el cheapo eBay tuning bits! earlier this afternoon I decided to finish my stereo install by tidying up the boot area, made a false floor to mount the amp on then fitted a 3 piece carpeted platform, one part for the amp to sit on, the middle for the amp to poke through and the 3rd a filler got too dark to carry on so I’ve got to re-connect the wires to the amp tomorrow as well as maybe sound deadening under the seats and boot area

Some from last night, autoballaster ballast drop between crewe and chester 66623 in basford hall loco for the night before going on the train job done, into Chester to run round and head back to crewe and back into basford hall a week of Trafford park coming up, going to be a long one!

My lad found a watch when he was About 10 years old while out shopping with his mum and took it to the police station, gave his details etc then a few days later he got a thank you card through the post from an elderly woman who had dropped it after taking it for a new battery, included in the card was a £10 m&s gift voucher which went on Percy pig sweets! As for the OP, yes a reward would be a nice for the cleaner, £20 is a dip in the ocean compared to a £1300 piece of Lizzie duke, must admit though if it was me and I had a wearable item that was sentimental and valuable (I consider £1300 to be more than ‘fairly’ valuable) I’d leave it at home and only get it out on special occasions not on clothes shopping trips

The only thing the op didn’t mention was whether he’s running analog or DCC if running DCC then the lights won’t go out when stopped or vary in brightness if you fancy the battery powered route and want an easy off the shelf fix then train tech lighting bars are a good option, they are motion sensitive so once you start the train moving they come on and once stopped they stay illuminated for a number of minutes

Just a couple from trafford park last night poor shot of the resident freightliner 08 running round and coupled up ready to draw out and split the train possession tonight at Beeston castle

Not me! (Stupidly didn’t order any)

I thought the same thing when I took the photo, I actually cropped a meridian out on the right to just get the older traction in the frame

Downloaded a few games to various consoles while the sales were on for the Xbox one I got COD modern warfare deluxe edition and Wreckfest With season pass and DLC on the switch I got myself tabletop racing (Micro machine type game) and rally racers (cartoon type racing) as they were 2 for £15 from Argos, I then downloaded Moto rush GT (motorbike game) and Afterburner (airplane game) as they both came to less than £10 for the pair also been playing luigi’s mansion 3 with Gethin on his switch which is all he wanted for Christmas, he also used his Christmas money to get Mario and sonic at the 2020 Olympics which is actually quite a good game ive set up our old front room TV in his room so he now has his switch plugged in as well as his Wii-u and an old Xbox 360 so we have been revisiting mariokart 7 and mario party on the Wii-u too

I’ve got 025, 057, 099, 254, 421 and 521 Lined up for when I eventually get trains running again as well as the colas 67s

I’ve used the DCC concept springs with Hornby disc coach wheels on my NMT coaches, absolutely superb, just needs one spring on each bogie fitting and they run with no flickering i have also added a coach lighting circuit board with capacitor too, I’ll have to have a look what make they are though

its likely to be painted in colas colours soon too, it’s starting to look a bit scabby now compared to when it first went on the mainline And it’s a pain to get a decent photo of at night as it is now!

Yeah nice to get a 37 on a plp train so I can give it the beans at 90mph instead of trundling round at 30mph!

First job of the new year, derby to Hendon with 37099 and 37057 on a plp train derby new EMR livery meridian 37099 on the traverser 37057 on the other end, new domino head code boxes after the blinds got damaged a busy moment while I waited to leave, DCR 60s, 156, NMT and 37612 minions 37612 and NMT 37099 now leading from the station to Hendon DCR 60 passing through the station and into Hendon where it carried on to Woking 37057 on the rear and off I went to St Pancras, over to Euston and home trafford park tomorrow

Once all the pre orders have been accounted for will the website be updated with the ones that are available to us who didn’t pre order (I’m after a DRS triple pack)

couple on eBay today from rails of Sheffield (of Sheffield) https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F193282803832

that one paragraph just prompted me to actually order 97301 rather than my usual ‘maybe next week, another week won’t matter’ attitude which is normally when I find I’m too late to order one

imagine not being able to order your Maccy D breakfast from your app, have it delivered by deliveroo, book a table on line at the local microbrewery pub and get an Uber to get you there then use the phone to order your food from the table and pay for it on the app too, you can’t check the train times on the phone and have to actually ask someone for directions to the station where you visit an over priced cafe to get a goats milk vegan chai latte with ethically sourced coffee beans in a reuseable cup with a paper straw before checking Facebook to see what your friends think of the TV show you want to watch on your smart tv before going on twitter and ranting that there wasn’t enough LGBT content in ‘the worlds most dangerous ice road lumberjacks deadly catches’ then retiring to bed, switching your heating down on the phone and asking alexa to play you calming music as you haven’t had enough time to trim your hipster beard that day and you feel offended that someone laughed at your rolled up jeans and crocs and shamed you on YouTube oh the horror However for a similar experience I believe you could just move to the isle of white

2nd day of road learning, starting in hams hall this time with 66752 over to bescot then back to water Orton And back to bescot to stable while we were there one of DRS new acquisitions rolled in to work a train to Toton, nice weathering on it

not ordered any yet, when I do it will be 66789 But only once the testing troubles of loose axle boxes etc are ironed out

here is the ‘lug’ on a real class 66 bogie it basically stops the bogies falling off should a giant try and pick up the loco

Some from today, driving a road learning loco bescot to hams hall and Landor st, a few trips Back and forth Bescot with 66751 Whitacre jn to turn back into hams hall, I do like 66751 with its extra pipes, huge horn housing, weird lights and square buffers! It’s also a non low emission loco Outside hams hall where we swapped with 66737 (it’s certainly been a busy loco over Christmas, it’s been to Clitheroe, Wolverhampton, penyffordd amongst other places! You can just about make out 3 66s in the yard as well as the 2 on the reception! and back to bescot before heading off again to water Orton and back to bescot

Nice sunset earlier going to disappear into the man cave in a bit to cut some wood for the layout the head to bed as I’m in work tomorrow, road learning loco from bescot to hams hall for a couple of other drivers

Don’t mention unboxing videos, I mentioned it once and I think I got away with it!

That Smoke looks awful!

Went to see ‘Cats’ at the cinema today, if you have seen the reviews for it they will have you believe it’s an absolute dog of a movie whereas it was actually not a bad film at all, worth a watch if your at a loose end one afternoon! for the railway enthusiasts there is a dance routine with them railway cat’ that sees a CGI GWR engine sat under a station roof that looks like kings cross But facing south over the Thames next to Big Ben! I put my foot through the screen and sent Andrew Lloyd Webber the bill seriously though it’s not a bad film at all