PhilJ W

A member of our model railway club managed to saw one in two. Welcome back Pete. It doesn't say much for the pizza if customers can't distinguish it from the cardboard box it came in.

I think its the word 'off' after Jack that causes the problem.

No, that company is called Tiny and is based in Hong Kong. Epoch is a brand belonging to Real-X, which is the more commonly used name.

Oops, duly amended.

Evening all from Estuary-Land. My next door neighbours have sold up and are moving next week. For the purpose of clearing out they hired a skip which (with their permission) I added to the contents. As I was doing so I espied in the skip a heavy duty Black and Decker Workmate. I asked what was wrong with it to be told that its a bit rusty and I could take it if I wanted it. Upon inspection it turned out to be a bit of surface rust on a couple of the feet, needless to say I now have another Workmate.

Another annoyance is people who do not use capital letters. There is a different meaning to 'Helping your Uncle a horse' and 'helping your uncle a horse'.

There have been instances were wood burning stoves have set off carbon monoxide alarms. On one instance the fire brigade was called to find the source of the gas. It was near the wood burner, a bucket of hot ash recently removed from the burner. Apparently the hot ash gives off enormous ammounts of CO and should be removed from the house ASAP.

Perhaps a couple of guest judges would help raise the profile? Maybe Chris Leigh and our own Andy Y.

I wonder what the ride was like especially over pointwork?

I watched that one as well, the only thing is that some were fatal, such as the cyclist who dodged through the barriers and behind the train only to be hit by one coming the other way.

Morning all from Estuary-Land. ChrisF, the amount of ale you drank at the beer festival its no surprise that your liver was overcooked. Talking of which, my first proper experience of 'real ale' was when my father and I discoved the Bricklayers Arms at Stondon Massey. This was a Grays house in the days before death duties forced them to sell off their brewery in Chelmsford and the eventual takeover by Green King. The beer wasn't pumped up from the cellar, it was drawn straight from the (wooden) barrel behind the bar. There was at least a dozen barrels racked behind the bar though only two or three beers were on offer, the other barrels were being allowed to settle after being tapped. Alas, when I returned to the pub about ten years later it was all flashing lights and blaring music. As I said I drink very little if any alcohol nowadays but I am surprised how much booze I have in the house, ranging from bottles of Belgian Trappist beer to Bajan rum, I'm going to have one hell of a wake. C & C's to all that require them, be back later.

Goodnight all.

Any better pics of the coach in the first two pics?

A few years ago I obtained a photo-etched fret of spectacles in 1/72 scale from a military modelling specialist. This is something you very rarely see modelled on railway layouts despite a good number of the population wearing them.

Evening all from Estuary-Land. I've had several friend requests lately on Facebook from complete strangers and a couple of people that I do know have requested that you ignore any friend requests (most of them are Facebook friends already). Apparently its a result of Facebook being hacked, I'm not sure of the exact details but it seems to be via an app. But you've got to try all seven haven't you?

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Bright and sunny here this morning but a tad chilly but predicted to hit the mid 20's by Wednesday. I hope you enjoyed 'Mr. Holmes' Tony, I certainly did even if it was a bit pedestrian at times. Not a lot else to report so its be back later.

Goodnight all.

Why do elephants paint the soles of their feet yellow. So they can hide upside down in a bowl of custard.

Evening all from Estuary-Land. I seem to have watched more TV in the last couple of days than I have in the last couple of months. Last night it was TGMRC with Walking Britains Lost Railways following and this evening it was Mr. Holmes followed by a repeat of a house through time, both on BBC2.

Hard to believe that the layout must be at least 25 years old. I remember seeing it a couple of times and speaking to Tony. One feature I do remember is the JCB (Airfix) with the realistically working backhoe, I hope you can get that up and running.

They are rail vehicles on two six wheel bogies visible in many photos/films of the guns.

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. A book that I ordered a couple of weeks ago just landed on the mat lunchtime, 'The East End in Colour 1960-1980'. Just had a flick through and found plenty of interesting pics with plenty of detail useful for modelling.

Very good reads, helped by the author being very knowledgable about the Victorian railways or being extremely thorough in his research.

I also spotted the 1960's gas cooker dials attached to the crew seats. (From 1:30)

It stayed pretty much 'on-line' as it were and it covered railway linked industry along the line such as Meldon quarry and the creamery that produces Ambrosia creamed rice. I thought it kept to the railway theme better than the BBC did.