big jim

I've been pondering that bit to be honest, I'll probably end up cutting the wood away behind the girder bridge leaving a strip of wood along the rear wall wide enough for a single track girder bridge to the fuel plant, I will have to 'cut' the girder bridge into the board anyway but I'm leaving that until late on and I'm happy with the set up

And a bit more.... corked the last bit of the incline And laid the track, sprayed the cork with spray mount glue as track pins don't work on there, that track is going nowhere!! Laid it a bit wider than I needed to avoid contact between coaches on adjacent lines (I miscalculated the old incline and had it happen quite frequently), the other end has it coming back in to a more prototypical distance apart Not noticeable with the bridge above, also lined up the points and added a set to what will be a single platform station (Heljan tackley halt) Still to be corked, not much room for the shed though, looking at it if I placed it right at the back I'd have a heck of a lot of wasted track being used as the approach so I'm going to move it towards the centre of the layout slightly and have a fuel line on the approach with by pass point work and space behind for stabling locos, before I think about that lot though I will add a length of skirting board to the layout edge to avoid any locos taking a tumble One of the options I looked as was putting the Hornby oil terminal tanks and unloading rig where the low level station/depot is situated but with a bit of jigging it will fit nicely in the top corner where I was going to put the town buildings, I'm very impressed with the Hornby tanks, certainly look good looming over the track Access will be from behind the bridge with enough room for 4 x 100t tankers Certainly coming on, a general overview again with the shed moved forward a touch, next job is to get the wiring done on the low level bit so I can crack on with securing the high level boards and get the last of the track laying done

It's a handy little line to get in my card, yet another way out of Birmingham if there are issues in the mainline, hat a shame the line to Walsall isn't still in any more Got my maiden voyage on it Friday night (as long as I'm happy with it and am signed off) thankfully it's only at 30mph so I will have plenty of time to take it all in!!

As long as it's a proper Staffordshire one not those stupid hard Scottish biscuits

Don't even start on what an oatcake is!

Defiantly a bap

Bit of road learning today, cross city line from Lichfield to Aston, managed a couple of trips over it, not too taxing, lots of up and down speeds and badly sighted signals though! Lichfield TV Looking towards Lichfield city from the high level platform, there is only one platform on the top line and trains reverse there to head back to Birmingham, the line to the left is the up line from Alrewas that I already sign The staple of the line, the humble class 323 unit Down there again tomorrow and Thursday to get to signed off

its more than capable of moving the loads i have to, its almost in retirement mode now

08417 has it but we've been told not to use it, not much point with a few mk2s really

I must admit I do like how 08s sound under load, also the lovely electrical 'clunk' they make when you go from notch 1 to Off I'm quite lucky that as well as signing 08s i get to go out on the mainline with one now and again, ok it's only in derby station limits but it's great fun!

Just got home from Cumbria, did a few hours DJing at a holiday park in Silloth last night, really good night, great atmosphere and about 800 people in there, did an hour and a half set just after midnight playing some big dance tunes from the last 12 months and another 'happy hardcore' set for the Glaswegians

Some from this morning, derby shunt 37116 37421, 37601 and 08417 37025 And my last loco of the year! Happy new year everyone!!

One of my colleagues talks about a former guard at snow hill known as 'stocking tops' coz he's the closest thing to a t**t he knows

couple of hours earlier, first job was to finish laying the hidden sidings which will hold decent lengths of trains, i will put some foam at the ends in the event of any rough shunts, the line with the WAG on will take another 2 coaches next was a bit of cork laying on the mainline and under the scissor crossing, also cut back the goods line to join to the points looking back towards the tunnel the track widens out a touch to allow for overhang on the 3rd and 4th radius curve it will actually run 'into' the wall as such so i can ease the curve a little bit but with the bridge in place it wont be at all noticable and looking back from the door with the removable section removed you can see the new bit i have added (under the 3 way point), next job is wire the hidden sidings up (which ill do above baseboard level as it wont be seen) then i need to add some ply to the risers at the far end of the layout to allow me to join the new lower level set up to the existing incline, then its the headache of the removable section

Lost track of day tbh but I did that derby to Leicester job (and onward to cricklewood) on Wednesday night

There isn't much IM stuff about over the holidays, so he's having a rest along with most of the other colas IM fleet, I'm in tomorrow morning in derby on the shunt getting the trains for the first week of new year together

Some from this evening, nice short job, derby to Leicester with a UTU/SGT combo Just camera phone pics again 08417 basking in the UTU lights 37421, unusually a DBSO both ends of the train 37025 and 37254 This one to wind my dad up as he needs this Laira based 08!! Out onto the pilot line, changed ends and away to Leicester That was that, apart from a foggy drive home from Leicester

I Couldn't be doing with that! Even the drive in during the early hours wound me up

I think a lot of it may be being accepted for use by NR, they have built in ear defender/speaker/mic/Bluetooth etc for back to back talking but if you are wearing that lot how can you hear a train approach!

I'll see what I can do! There isn't much difference but I noticed the other week the movable laser covers are different, one is like a band (985) and the other is a clamp type

As a Acko says you can't see them normally but they are picked up by certain cameras, I certainly wouldn't bother modelling them

It's the colas logo The helmet is actually called 'Oscar' and is a fancy hard hat that they use on the continent, I think it's supposed to have been issued in this country but no doubt there is some red tape stopping us getting them https://issuu.com/railmedia/docs/tre-may-15/38

is the "guess what it is yet" the PLP measuring equipment also ref the SGT you do know there are 2 different types of "dusty bin" lasers?

thats a Hornby, ex airfix one though

Absolutely no need for this but at £20 it wasn't staying there!! https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/112249226586