big jim

thanks tender, i was going to lay it the other way (width ways) the correct "brick" way and had originally started doing it that way but it meant a lot more cutting and waste and i figured that laying it the opposite way to the existing flooring planks would distribute the weight a bit too, although yes admittedly i should have still layed it in a brick fashion too, if i really wanted to i could lift it and relay it as i still have spare panels and have not secured it fully yet but its only the shed which will be seeing minimal use anyway, ive got a nice big rug that i can put down on the floor too which should prolong its life there is a gap round the edge which will go under the skirting i will be adding soon, i think it will hold out ok, most of it will be under the baseboards anyway with no weight on it as the boards will be screwed to the wall with the legs fixed in a manner similar to the ones in artizens link above

the sloping legs on that layout is something i thought about doing for the reason you said, so as not to knock them but i was worried that they may not be strong enough however that link shows it can be done, i will put timbers (or even proper skirting) around the edge instead of beading and go with that method for the legs, thanks for the link regards the flooring i dont know if your under the impression that its loose panels but it is "clicklock" flooring so each panel is locked to the other, its basically one big piece of laminate! i had trouble closing the last gap as you need to hammer it on the long edge to close the long gap between the panels then gently podge it at the short end to close the gap between the existing laid panels however the last run is virtually up against the shed wall so it was difficult to get a podger in to move it, i may well lift the final few bits i did and relay them as i think i can see a way of closing the gaps a bit as i think the whole final run may be being thrown out slightly by the first sheet of flooring and how it is sitting against the wall, i.e. not completly square

ive got to put some beading round the edge of the flooring yet to hold it in place, hopefully it should be secure once thats done

If you have been following my previous "birmingham central" thread you may have noticed that it is now locked as there is nothing more to add as the layout has been dismantled and the baseboards sold on, the later part of the thread dealt with the new shed i had had built and the work i had done to it since delivery in early december, that shed is going to be home to the new layout which i am building from scratch. here is a basic rundown of what i have done in the last 4 months...... cleared the area behind the garage put a base in being built and 45 mins later, all finished, the perks of having professionals install it for you! insulated it with kingspan insulation and lined couple of coats of paint and that brings me up to today.................................. i decided that today would be a "woodwork" day, still need to give the lining another coat of paint but i didnt feel like doing that today! earlier in the week i bought myself a few new power tools, a plunge router from cash generator for £15 and a makita circular saw from the local flea market for £10 to go with my new jigsaw, i have decided to have a go at doing my own base boards, no mean feat for someone who got banned from woodwork in school because he used to break everything, they gave up and gave me metal to work with instead!! without going too far into the ins and outs of the baseboard construction first up i had a go with the router and cut 12mm wide groove 9mm deep into the wood i planned to use for the long edges just to see how it worked, it worked fine thankfully so i then did the same groove the other end and a couple more at regular spaces along the plank to give me 4 crossmembers, i actually lined up 2 planks flat side by side so the groove would be in exactly the same place on both sides when the cross member went in next up i drilled pilot holes for the screws that would hold the cross members in place before adding the cross members (59cm long) between the planks and screwing them into place then i added ends to the boards and screwing them in place too this is the end result, just over 7ft long and 2ft wide and that was the end of that for today, going to be screwing it to the walls of the shed with legs on the outer side which i will add when i decide on how high i should build the layout, the next baseboard on that side will only be 18" wide to fit at the edge of the door hole, i will then add a curved baseboard top for nice flowing lines, not decided on how im going to do the door area yet, make it fixed or removable, will decide as i get to that bit!! so next up i decided to have a go at putting the wood laminate flooring in, something i've never done and having done it will hopefully never do again, awful job and my back is killing me now!! picked up 4 packs of the flooring from the flea market for £8 the lot the other week too so if i made a balls of it it wouldnt be too much of a loss! so onto it, one pack covered a full width of the shed with the outer piece needing slightly trimming (5mm off), here it is without the last piece in 3 packs later... the join on the final pack was a pain though, couldn't get it to line up right but no huge problem i put the frame i made back in to see how it went size wise, should get away with doing a mirror image size frame for the other side but i wont leave me with much room to manouver at that end so i will put all the important gubbins like sockets and the controller at the door end the piece of wood at the front is 18" from the wall to get an idea of how wide it will be similarly the loose plank is 2ft from the right wall to get an idea of how much room will be between the parallel boards so there we go, a new thread for a new build, will be added to as i get time to do stuff

i wonder if the closure of daw mill (and hatfield) is the first stage of me turning into an "old hand" driver now? when i drive out with old drivers they sometimes say "i used to go into there with such and such a job" pointing at some long defunct sidings or new housing estate next to the track, daw mill and hatfield are the first couple places on my route card that are likely to not be there soon!

who is the joker who decided to put a subway on the bridge!

Filming going on this morning at marylebone with the associated film crews and extras Just seen johnny vegas but the true star was doing his scene just as i was about to leave MONKEY!!

my last 3 cars have be aquired that way, got an LPG fitted mondeo for £400 back in december which is back up for sale, finishing tonight, currently at over £650, only selling as i dont need an lpg car to commute to work any more. the replacement car, a 2001 PT cruiser, which im picking up later, cost me £440 purely as the seller didnt put any pics of the outside of the car other than the spoiler but from that picture i worked out where they lived and went up to have a look at it before the auction ended and it didnt look too bad for the money so ive taken a chance on it

no, i was annual leave last week couple more prototype pics for you..... 60063 crawling through warwick parkway, sounded nice! and one of banbury, unusually 67010 was parked in the up bay, i was on 82302/67014 combo

just worked a train into london and passing over the A41 blackthorn bridge i noticed Met No 1 on an alleys low loader stopped and blocking the road with a bloke sat on top eyeing up the gap between the chimney and bridge! hope it fits

another uk colliery in trouble http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-21571790 if fastline were still going they would be in trouble now, both uk collieries they served shut within a couple of weeks of each other!

this turtle had my little un's laughing like mad in the sealife centre in weymouth yesterday, apparently it "looks like grandpa", and now we are out of the will when i sent a picture to him

Probably go well with these

i hope i dont manage to do that when i get on the sinfin tanks!!

There was definatly a substantial tip in 2009/2010 when i worked into there, cant really remember how big it was compared to how big it was when it slipped This is the area back in hte early 2000s though http://stevestrainpics.weebly.com/uploads/6/9/0/5/6905506/4240274_orig.jpg

looks like its still on the move http://www.flickr.com/photos/loose_grip_99/8480298108/in/photostream

Railway related as i took it from the train passing corfe castle

spent many an hour in that cabin nidge, is the toilet systern still filled from the colliery waste water? one from the other day in the snow at stafford, couple of guys photographing the GBRf biomass train....

the joys of the MDTR (modern dynamic thrusting railway)

one lasting memory of working into hatfield one "enduring" memory of working out of hatfield colliery was sleeping on the loco one day, pouring with rain, i was woken by the sound of something being dragged towards me, i open my eyes to see a guy pulling a wheely bin along from the platform end of the sidings, as he got closer i got down to see what he was up to, now to say he was a neandathal would have been an understatment, i think the missing link was live and well and living in stainforth, no disrespect to the guy but lets just say his forehead certainly stopped him getting rain in his eyes, that look coupled with dirty oil skin jacket and rain lashing him certainly made for a look of the local serial killer. turned out he was picking up scrap metal from the colliery site and more worryingly the tracks, and anything i said wasn't going to stop him so i called donny box who called out the BTP, the scary guy simply carried on picking up scrap from between the loading line and goods right up to the foot crossing that is just south of the landslip before wheeling his bin over all 4 tracks but not before dropping most of the scrap between the mainlines and stopping to pick it up, he was eventually picked up by BTP heading back towards the town, frightning!!

the most shocking thing about tall this is i've just learnt that stainforth has a mayor!

Over the rainbow

surely from the Doncaster end they could run a passenger service up to Hatfield and Stainforth and run a rail replacement from there, there are ground signals and a crossover to allow trains to cross over from the down to up line, that way the replacement buses would not be fighting/struggling to get into and out of Doncaster town centre?

i think you may be missing the joke here, WCR are getting a lot of stick on various rail forums over various recent events from people who think thy know best, so why not blame them for this as they passed by a few days before

when i used to work into hatfield i always got some shut eye on the loco up by the ground frame end during loading (not a large bunker so generally 3 fills to load a train), i bet if the slip happened while i was sat there i probably wouldn't have noticed!!