BoD

PC Dixon will be spinning in his grave.

You know that in a recent post you said ‘and I thought we were friends’ ? Well I can assure we that we are. Now, if I send you my address ….

Evening all I have spent most of today playing with our grandson. The ‘family’ were away for a few days and then we were away. We haven’t seen him for a fortnight and boy, we missed him. We have him for the next two days whilst both parents are at work, again something we really look forward to. This week’s big conundrum though, is for long to invest an ISA that is due to mature? Interest rates are as good as I remember them so do I invest at a higher rate for longer or do I invest for only a year, say, at a lower rate and hope the rates are higher again at the end of that year. I guess anyone who can successfully forecast things like that would be quite rich by now. I suppose it selfish of me wishing higher interest rates now that I am a saver rather than a borrower.

Every Toby Carvery breakfast comes with a free Peppa Pig Jigsaw.

It’s just as well you aren’t paying a lot for this software or relying on it to carry out critical tasks controlling your layout.

Many happy returns, Ian.

See also …

Humankind over time has invented many things, with each new group of scientists and engineers learning from and being more educated and more productive than the generation before, their inventions being quite unimaginable to those gone before. This incredible pace of development over centuries of effort and hard work has finally led to … the selfie stick.

Just imagine though, if you bought tickets with the same numbers rather than lucky dip, forgot one week, and … … ouch. Sorry to hear of your various trials and tribulations. Hang on in there.

You mean you were once out of idiot mode?

Funnily enough I've just passed Ardlui Station. Crianlarich was busy with a couple of track machines in. Sadly weather this week not suitable at all for photos for backscene. Still, it’s an excuse to come back again.

I’m away for a few days and so may not be up to date with ERs or even life in general. I will try to catch up on return. Where are you? I here you ask. Or perhaps not. Here’s a clue anyway …

Tony, please wish Aditi many happy returns from Oop North.

Nope, but my sprouts are well on the way.

I appreciate that you don’t what to significantly modify the 4TC but how much of it is ‘bridging the gap’? If it is just one set of wheels or one bogie could you somehow isolate those pickups. You say it has pickups on all other wheels and, after all, pickups get ‘isolated’ all the time when we don’t want them too.

Or use a proscenium arch for its proper purpose and hang curtains from it. At the end of a movement, close the front of house tabs (curtains), make the necessary changes and then open the curtains for the next scene. Playing an intermezzo or singing something is optional. Sorted.

I’m off to watch Falcons play Bath tomorrow - which somehow expands to fill most of the day - and then on Sunday is the last day of the year volunteering at the NT so I will miss most of it. A pity as there look to be some good games.

Is it just me? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-63488059

You can’t all be members of the flat earth society.

A cracker joke is not just for Christmas.

What are the winning numbers in tomorrow night’s lottery?

One issue with the Lima chassis might be pickups. I seem to remember they pick up current from just one side on one bogie and from the opposite side on the other bogie. It is possible to add extra pickups but be very careful and check for continuity and shorts as you do this before you connect the decoder which would have to be hard wired to the pickups. The motor is part of one bogie but if you don’t connect it to the decoder and remove some of the gears the bogie should freewheel. The alternative as I implied earlier is to leave the motor as is and consist the two locos. If you disconnect the motor you would have problems reading or programming the decoder as a ‘load’ is needed. Adding a resistor or putting on the programming track with another loco solves this. The class 47 body would not be DCC ready. It is the chassis that is DCC ready. You would have to see what the body includes when you buy it. If the LEDs are there you would need to see how they originally connected to the chassis’ onboard circuit board/decoder. It may involve soldering various connections between the LEDs and the outputs from the decoder. It certainly won’t be just ‘plug and play’. You would not be able to work out what to do until you have the body in front of you. If the body has no LEDs it is possible to buy and fit them yourself. Not a particularly difficult task but involves drilling the ‘plastic lights’ out and ensuring you have suitable LEDs. Hope this gives you some idea of what might be involved.

Wayhey. Something we can beat Australia at. Stick that in your kangaroo’s pouch and smoke it.

Lady to uniformed gentleman on railway station: My word sir, what a very long compensator you have.

Afternoon all 15cm short of five way point rodding runs. Curdyturses!! How did that happen? Still, I've got plenty of parts and compared to some woes on here it is a very minor inconvenience. Look after yourselves and my thoughts are with those who need them.