big jim

Not a railway item but Aldi are selling off one of their previous “isle of wonder” items cheaply In car DAB player, Bluetooth hands free, fm modulator reduced to £9.99, picked one up yesterday for my car and picked another up today for my wife’s car today as it’s pretty impressive, you will find them in the locked cabinet for high value items Exactly The same item is currently on amazon for £60! FirstE 5 in 1 Car DAB/DAB+ Radio Portable FM Transmitter (Crystal Digital Sound+ 2.3" Big LCD Screen Bluetooth Receiver+ Micro SD/TF Card Play+Handsfree Call+5V 2.1A/1.0A Dual USB Car Charger), 3M Antenna Digital Audio Broadcasting Adapter with Wireless 3.5mm Aux Output Bluetooth Car Kits https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B074KY6XG1/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_ks39Ab80FNDCN

To be honest Tom you could get away with no signals in the yard itself, ratcliffe has signals controlling movements towards the unloading hoppers, “Toton” signals for unloading and signals to exit the merry go round loop towards the mainline whereas ironbridge power station had nothing at all once you passed the stopboard from the end of the single line

Caldew bridge jn?

Absolute bargain today, picked up a gaming chair from of all places a flower shop in Northwich, he had a number of them all factory returns/repairs so I got us an x-rocker pedestal type (as opposed to the type which sit directly on the floor) forbthe princley sum of £10 One little rip in the armrest but other than that I got it Home, found a suitable power supply and aux cable and hey presto, worked first time, speakers built into the head rest and seat as well as a vibration function, gonna go back and hopefully get a couple more off him for when I’ve done the garage conversion and we fit a projector in there!

Without going into the signalling the inner line to me would be part of the power station tracks and the outer line the mainline (which could be a single line) I would also suggest there be another set of points facing the opposite way to allow trains out of the merry go round loop from right to left as well, if you look at the train with the 66 on (despite facing the wrong direction for normal 2 track running) there is no way it can get into the power station without setting back over the points, similarly leaving would involve a set back out of the place If possible I’d also put 2 more loops in the hidden area long enough to accommodate both trains as at some point they will both be on the same line facing opposite ways either wanting to get into or out of the power station so need to pass Ideally you also need another discharge shed for your stone train, I’d say mirroring the other one in the ‘green line’ as they wouldn’t get stone and coal mixed up in the same hopper

No logs running today, I took it north this morning though

The eldest has just downloaded GTA V to my pc from the steam website for £5, it’s actually very impressive but I keep winding him up and telling him the graphics are no different to the original top down release

Right, so a different building inspector turned up today and has given me contradictory advice to the first one! As teaky suspected the bond to the wall method I wanted to go down also involved having to add battens to the wall so with that in mind the job is not cost effective so I’ve decided to back to the original plan of fully battening it out and adding the insulation separate to the plasterboard However the bit that has thoroughly p’d me off is the roof, after the first guy said it wouldn’t need insulating as it’s jot covered by building regs this one has said it does, I was planning on doing it anyway so not a huge hardship I thought “i’ll Plasterboard it up but add rock wool in the void” I said, “oh no it’s got to be 125mm thick insulation with a 25mm airgap! So what was a simple(ish) board and fill job is now needing 100mm thick insulation between the beams and 25mm/12.5mm insulated plasterboard below the beams to allow there to be the air gap Probably just added a good £200 of materials to the job! He has suggested a floating floor 25mm kingspan insulation with boards on top, also mentioned adding a membrane when I do it but also a thin strip of DPC to the bottom of the battening as I fix it in place, as well as of course the wall membrane Also picked up the double opaque glass panels for the doors

the chirk logs runs that way every weekday southbound, it follows DRS' 6K05 too, so 2 in quick succession at hellifield(ish) it passes a northbound DRS hauled stone train from mountsorrel to kingmoor

TBH that last sentence is sort of how I feel, but it’s more to do with price than anything, don’t get me wrong I love the Bachmann 66 (I think I have about 15 of them, standard and ltds ed ones) and as I say I don’t have an issue with them at all but when the ad flashes up at the top of the page for LTD ED rails 66s at £250+ (ok with sound) then ‘whim’ buys of liveries I fancy just don’t happen any more be it ltd ed or standard release, there are certainly a good half dozen 66s I’ve passed up on the last 12 months purely coz I can’t afford them, the last couple I bought were the LUL livery pair and paying £150+ for those was through gritted teeth, hence why I’m only going to order a singular hattons one (for now) which let’s face it If it was released as a Bachmann ltd ed by a retailer would probably be £25 more than the current asking price

How can you say hattons have a grasp on the modern diesel loco market after a single announcement? And off the back of that announcement the one ‘extra’ loco people are clambering to order and has shown the most interest more than the others is one that has been bolted on to the run after numerous suggestions and requests on here (and other places no doubt) I’m certainly looking forward to getting a hattons 66 (large logo one when I order it) but I certainly won’t be replacing my Bachmann items with them as personally I don’t see anything wrong with them

Some from today, had a couple of days class 67 training for another driver Had a couple of runs out, some pics from today Got em all set up, knuckle couplings sorted, multied up then discovered we were just taking one loco so had to uncouple and reset the buffers etc And away with 027 Crewe West coast 33 and 37 combo, 57601 was also in the station as were 2 DRS 37s! Then once back in derby I got the loco stables and caught the train home 153 and meridian New signal gantry You can see how much of a pinch point the station is from this view 20s passing through with S-Stock to banbury And that was that, Home I went

It was there, way works 3 behind 73101 I may be able to make derby this weekend if a change of job happens tomorrow, supposedly on the logs but may be on the 67s instead round buxton and back to derby then back out to swinton or Sheffield with them

Of the 4 cambrian ERTMS fitted locos there aren’t even 2 the same in that sub class!

Ha ha, me too!

Honest to god the roof and floor bit is what baffles me too, why go to the expense and compliance of doing the walls but not have to do those! As I say he’s coming out tomorrow to have a look at the roof (even though on his initial visit he said I didn’t need to see him until the batterning was up) but from my point of view I want clarification of what I do and do not need to do should I go down the insulated board route Going back to the wall insulation then the builder said its 50-55mm insulation (depending on brand) PLUS the 12.5mm plasterboard, similarly the thicker stuff is 75mm plus the 12.5mm board

just had a look at insulation for less again, the building guy said i'd need 75mm thick if i go for the batten option, that is priced as £31.45 plus vat, (£37.74) my bulder can get the 55mm bonded plasterboard sheets for around the £50 mark so around £13 difference, if as im hoping the building guy says the bonded stuff can go straight on the wall without battens i will save around £300 on wood but more crucially i will save a hell off a lot of time the crazy thing is he's currently going on about the wall insulation maybe not being up to standard but i dont have to do anything about the ceiling, i could leave it as bare beams if i wanted and similarly the floor i dont need to do anything about that either! its now being classed as a 'habitable room' by the council, rather than a 'comfortable hobby room'

im not what you would call a gamer by any means, much rather be playing model trains but now with a teenage and 8 year old son we have a selection of consoles dotted around various rooms in the house! back in the early 90s i used to have a snes and game gear then gave it a break until the late 90s getting a playstation which i upgraded to a ps2 in 2001 i also got a psp shortly afterwards as for my 13 year old he has a ps1, ps2, ps2 slim, ps3, ps4 and psvr, psp, xbox 360 (x2), nintendo 3DS xl, most of those bar the ps4 and vr he has bought himself from car boot sales and charity shops the 8 year old has use of a DS, 2DS, Wii U and a couple of old Wii's which are far more age appropriate for him game wise, he is mario obsessed and is actually quite adept at coding thanks to apps such as bloxworld, he has made some pretty good games that are shared via the community the only game ive bought in the last god knows how many years for myself was a digital download of grand tourismo for the ps4, combined with the VR its an absoloute scream! as you may know im doing a garage conversion for a new layout and my eldest has suggested we fit a projector to the ceiling with a pulldown screen and we put a PS4 and VR in there which i think is actually quite a good suggestion picked up a nice couple of bargains from oxfam earler for less than £4 the pair

Your not wrong there, I’ve got to do class 67 handling tomorrow and we are struggling to find any stock for me to take out, so far it’s looking like we can muster a pair of DVTs to plonk between the locos!

And TRU

I’ve just got off the phone with the building inspector, he seems to think 75mm insulated plasterboard would be fine but he’s not so sure about 55mm off hand He’s coming to inspect the work done so far on Friday so will see what happens then I did wonder about the airgap too but he sees happy enough bonding or the wall Teaky: price wise there doesn’t appear to be much difference in the price of the insulated stuff compared to plain insulation where I’ve looked

Some from yesterday, logs carlisle to warrington Kingmoor Settle Jn, the signal that is ‘off’ is on the lower line from Carnforth As can be seen here Warrington Class 67 training later today in derby

So the roof is done, just going to have to watch where water has settled at the near corner but it’s looking good Guttering to refit to the one side as well You can just make out an extra beam in the doorway, that’s where the bi fold door will sit below, about 1/2 a brick back from the front of the garage, the void between the top of the door and that beam will be filled with facia board and insulated Had a builder round earlier who I’ve used before who is going to fit the door for me, is in fact a neighbour, and I mentioned about the battening out inside and he mentioned using insulated plasterboard instead which will mean it won’t need battening as it is bonded directly to the wall, says he could do it in a day or two including fitting the door, I’m going to speak to the building inspector tomorrow and see if that idea is ok, what depth of insulation is needed etc, the builder suggested 50mm should be enough but depends on what the inspector says, looking at the cost of the boards they are not much more than plain insulation sheets and what i will save in additional wood and plasterboard costs I can put towards labour to do the job right first time

Some pics Etches Yoyager bogies Etches in place Together Painted in chiltern livery It was only a few years back but I can’t remember what I did with that unit, I may have sold it on or stripped it down and used the etches on the LM gangwayed 172 I converted (which I know I sold on)

Pete did the 172 window etches for me when I did a LM 172/3, I think you can order them from him still, they basically replace the complete window ribbon for a brass etch with individual windows Swapping the bogies is simple enough if you can get hold of any voyager bogies that is!