BoD

A good question. Apparently quite a number have been culled over the last decade or so. If you have a few minutes of your life that you don't want to get back there is a list of all Non departmental government bodies (quangos) and their expenditure here https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/public-bodies-2016 I can see the point of quite a lot of them actually.

Where do dash cams fit in? Edit: Mike beat me to it.

What would be the point? Problems would be just shunted around. It might provide a platform for some but the rest of us know our station.

If past form is anything to go by, I wouldn't bother learning his name.

Wrong type of snow. Better of with some of these

Morning all. Snowing here but it is very wet snow, as is its wont, being close to the coast. Yesterday, on returning home from work, Mrs BoD asked what I had been up to. Taking a leaf out of ChrisF's book I said "Oh....just unspecified pottering" To which she replied "Yes, it really needed doing didn't it" Sarcastic bu$$er.

PaulT: I'm afraid I can't offer you much in the way of helping you to choose. Whilst I use JMRI's decoder pro I plumped straight for Rocrail rather than looking at alternatives. The reason I did this was that, after reading the documentation and downloading and 'playing about' with it a little bit, I found it reasonably easy to use and that it did exactly what I wanted it to. It gave me a screen mimic of my layout and allowed me to choose between fully manual, semi automatic and fully automatic operation. It could automatically run sections of the layout or trains whilst I could operate other sections or drive the trains it wasn't operating. If you have any specific questions regarding Rocrail I may be able to help. I'm sure that these basic facilities will be offered by all the other programs too and I wish you well in your decision making.

Afternoon all. Only a handful of snowflakes here earlier this morning although it is feeling much colder. We are forecast snow tomorrow though. I was up in the loft earlier but rather than putting heatin on I decided to come downstairs and sit in the warm and fit some 3 link couplings. Talking of temperature really must look at our central heating control. May I pick your collective brains? The CH system is fine but the thermostat is an older one of the rotary dial type. The bimetal strip seems to switch over a range of about 6oC and so either leaves the heating on for too long or it gets quite cold before it turns on again. Does any one know if these can be directly replaced with a more modern digital thermostat. All of the cabling is in place although I doubt that there will be any power of any sort to the thermostat as it doesn't have any timer on it. Does anyone have experience of these 'hive' type systems where the thermostat is a standalone device communicating with a control device connected to the central heating boiler. Apparently you can talk to them via a mobile phone app too. I definitely think something more up-to-date may be more efficient rather than us simply turning the dial on the thermostat to switch the heating on and off.

Never has a word been more welcome.

Re prostate testing. Does it kick in when you reach a certain age? If not will they do it on request or do you have to have grounds for suspicion?

I will make you some signals if you will come and do some of your beautiful scenery for me.

Taken at the Highland Folk Museum at Newtonmore. Well worth a visit if you ever get the chance. Next: More along the same lines. (You can take that whichever way you want).

BG's? I thought it was the Track Shack staff Xmas do. Still trying to work out which is Neil. Today was a one step forward, two steps back day on the layout. If we keep talking trains, Debs will be here soon. We can but hope.

Another bank (from Spain) pays the same interest on their current account as the best I could get for committing to a fixed bond ISA for 18 months. Plus cash back on certain direct debits. Someone, somewhere is taking the pee.

6666 Scary

Not by Crapita, I hope.

More Scottish stuff..... Kyle of Lochalsh train crossing the River Ness. It has a snowplough too. Next. Another train on a bridge over a Scottish river.

Ah Capita, or as they are known around here (and no doubt elsewhere) Utter Crapita. Their incompetent hardware/software installation meant that my Yr11 GCSE ICT classes could not do any coursework for best part of a term. Funnily enough the whole project, a rebuild of our school under a project called Building Schools for the Future, was managed by...... you've guessed it... Carillion. The effect on the youngsters still angers me even after 6 years

Many happy returns Laurence. Good morning* the rest of you. *other times of day are available.

I have often wondered if there is a place for, or a way to manage, one off questions where the answer comes within the first post or two and that is all that is needed.

As he put a starting price of 1p on them I think he's in for a pleasant surprise.

Why was the VAR not used in this match but was in others shown this weekend?

Reading Mal's post reminded me of a book I read by, I think, one of the well known travel writers although I don't recall which. As a youngster he had ended up in a French hospital where neither he or the doctor spoke each other's language. He was prescribed a suppository and having never met these before the doctor had to mime its application. After a night of severe discomfort the doctor came back the next day and mimed how to remove the foil.

Morning all Best wishes to all who ail in any way. I sit having coffee in one of the town centre chains. Mrs BoD and I are off out for Sunday lunch. Whist Mrs BoD was at church I browsed in Waterstone's. I could quite easily spend as much there as in a model shop. Speaking of which, I must place an order at that we'll known off shore emporium. They have at the moment items in stock that are difficult to source elsewhere. Edit: That last bit doesn't sound good at all. It sounds as if I only go there when things are out of stock elsewhere. Not so, after excellent service in the past it is now the first port of call.

I can assure you that these particular wagons are not going to go anywhere on their own. The more I think about it the more disappointed I am that a relatively recent model should be designed in such a way thet they require 'treatment' before they will run freely enough to make a rake of more than a couple of them viable.