BoD

Today saw the funeral of my brother in law and great friend after he lost his long, long battle against cancer. It was a strange subdued affair in these constrained times but as the cortège drove past the GP surgery he started and where he practised there were scores and scores of people by the roadside paying their respects. A most emotional moment. I sit now with a particular single malt in my hand, in memory of the times we have shared one together over the years.

Given that the original post was drawing attention to the difference in pricing for UK customers, what would you like the topic to discuss?

What? ABBA was set up by the Labour party?

Breaking news: All Covid-19 test centres have been closed. From now on the government will estimate your test result. If ABBA had gone to a state School in England they would have been called CDDC.

A local lockdown has been put in place on Friday as a precaution. Enjoy your week.

By the time he got to his ninth he was singing loudly.

That Nicola has a lot to answer for .......

Ah, but it’s not your bog standard 6x4. It’s 6ft6in by 4. They say an extra six inches can make all the difference.

The policy is that all of Britain’s station operators welcome enthusiasts and photographers and have gone as far as publishing advice in a number of places. I am not sure if this applies in this year’s constrained situation. I have printed out a copy and keep it in the depths of the camera bag. https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations_destinations/51952.aspx https://www.btp.police.uk/advice_and_information/safety_on_and_near_the_railway/rail_enthusiasts.aspx https://www.networkrail.co.uk/communities/railway-enthusiasts/guidelines-for-taking-photos-at-stations/ edit: post composed as previous posted. Apologies for diverting things away from the model.

I can’t say when it actually was but it would possible have been a few years ago now. Memory plays tricks and it is always surprising how things you remember as recent are further back than you imagine. We did have an interesting chat about what you were doing. I’m glad to hear that you suffered no further ‘inconvenience’ because of your efforts.

A while ago I was on Carlisle Station, probably for one of the steam excursions, and there was a modeller complete with tape measure and note pad taking a whole series of measurements. He was last seen being escorted away from the platforms by an officer of the Transport Police. I hope he managed to convince them of his honourable intentions. Perhaps it was someone on RMweb and who reads this. If so how did you get on?

Bandits at 10 o’clock.

In this case it was the door spring fairy. Or as they say in Germany.... Dorsprung Furch Offnick At least they can easily be replicated.

Yes, just working out the best way to recreate it. As you say, it is on the railway side so it can wait until the house is permanently in place and I’m working on the lineside/ballast.

In my opinion one of the beauties of this hobby of hours is the variety of skills needed and tasks to be undertaken. I was getting a little bored with scenery so decided, using the old adage that a change is as good as a rest, to make up a couple of wagons from the pile of kits that lurks at the back of the railway room. I had forgotten the hours of fun to be had hunting for the small parts that you drop. A couple of engineer's wagons to be added to and made into a train later - or just to sit in one of the sidings. With a grateful nod to Mr Bartlett's site which is such a wonderful resource when diagrams are not entirely clear. If I get really bored I've a fleet of Bachmann Mk1s that need their roof ribs reducing.

Am I been a little harsh in thinking that is, at best, appalling customer support and at worst, treating his customer base with contempt.

Thanks. The background helps a lot, even if it is, as you can see, just the background I have on my computer screen. Unfortunately it is far too low a resolution to make into a full size backscene. I must take a trip up soon to do some serious backscene photography.

Elswhere, someone was complaining that they mostly got two types of advert. The first for a medication to prevent snoring so their wife could get a good night’s sleep. (Can you guess what’s coming next?) The second for a different type of medicine designed to prevent his wife getting that good night’s sleep.

How is the I.O.M. Postal service going to survive this? Seriously, the fantastic service will be a great miss. Best wishes to all of the staff.

I haven't posted for a while but I have been working, honest. I am creating the various contours out of any old material that I have lying around - so some are formed with polystyrene, some with ply formers and chicken wire and some with ply formers and cardboard lattice. All will be covered with modroc/plaster bandage and some green stuff. I did realise though that when I put the stationmaster's house in place that I really would need to finish the landscape around it before I could put any more formers and the road bed in. So that is what I have recently worked on....... The householder has been busy in the garden.

There may well be similar ones in Brittany but that particular one, as I said in my post, is local to me on the Durham coast.

No, but the sea anglers fishing off the pier got a bit damp.

As already said it’s probably just laziness on the part of the journalists. Whenever it is windy a photograph of our local lighthouses and pier, with waves crashing over them, appears in many of the national newspapers, not withstanding that it only happens when we have a strong north easterly wind. There must be a lot of stock photos of it out there. Admittedly it is pretty spectacular when it does happen......

Quite amazing how many of those ‘brass parts’ have been made to look like plastic.