PhilJ W

Goodnight all.

The British Railway Journal GER special has drawings of a GER dray.

Gabe, thanks for the update and I hope to hear from Mal soon.

Most tractors of the period were unsprung, the front axle was pivoted in the centre to keep all four wheels on the ground in rough country. Universal Hobbies produce a Fordson Major tractor attached to a key ring! In fact it is so close to the Oxford model in detail and scale I at first took it to be the same casting. The most important difference is that it doesn't have the shiny front axle, the front wheels are held in by two plastic pins. The other difference is that it only has a rudimentry exhaust stack and the attachment for the keyring which is a tab with a hole where the drawgear would be. It might be possible to modify the tab to represent the drawgear. There are 3 other tractors in the range, a grey Fergie and a later M-F that are overscale for 00 and an un-named tractor that looks like a mid 50's Massey-Harris with grey instead of yellow wheels that also looks very close to 1:76 scale. EDIT Arthur just beat me to it re. tractor springing, or lack of it. The Universal Hobbies models mentioned above can be found on E-bay. They produce models of more modern tractors in smaller scales as well as other farming machinery some of which can be used with 00 models without being too obvious.

Oxford are bringing out a 1950's loader based on Fordson Major very soon.

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Overslept a bit this morning, woke up at 07:15 decided to lay in for 15 minutes and an hour later... Baz, I assume the tea you had was in a filter teapot, far less mess than using a strainer. I have been using one for a couple of years and its no less convenient than tea bags. We should try to use fewer tea bags anyway as most if not all of the bags are now made from plastic. I don't like these fancy fruity teas either but I found a tin of Ruwanda black tea with saffron petals in the cupboard, I'm giving it a try and its quite a pleasant taste.

Most of the Airfix 1:76 military range is being withdrawn and manufacture will me stopped so get them while you can.

Great to hear from Debs, goodnight all.

There was also a Volvo 245 van version with blank rear side doors.

The hedgehog should be hibernating this time of year. They do need to be a certain weight though if they are going to survive the winter.

Morning all from Estuary-Land. It got cold early last night, I had to scrape the ice off of the car windows at just past seven o'clock before going to the model railway club. I also put the bin bags out when I get home from the club so they are not forgotten. I didn't notice the bin wagons normal dawn chorus so they must be using the stealth bin wagons again. Time to get on now, best wishes to Debs and other ailing ER's, be back later.

Goodnight all.

Morning all from Estuary-Land. GDB mentioned TV at the time of the Coronation, we didn't have any TV until about 1957 but my paternal grandparents did rent one for the Coronation. They lived in Abbey Wood in south east London almost opposite Lesnes Abbey. The problem was that they were on a busy trolleybus route and every time one went past there was a snowstorm on the screen. About 1957 my dad was on the telly, he was a contestant on 'Take Your Pick', he failed miserably on the yes/no interlude but fared better having picked out the box for the £50 treasure chest. It might not sound very much today but that was a lot of money in 1957.

Goodnight all.

It was indeed rail connected though not directly. It was connected to the LMS goods yard in Victoria Road by a spur running parallel to the branch on the south side and underneath the Victoria Road bridge to Halls yard in Manor Road. Halls yard itself was once a gravel pit but later became a storage yard. I am not aware of any locomotives stationed there, shunting was probably by hand or horse though the tracks and sidings appear to be capable of carrying a locomotive.

The On Track Plant website has a narrow gauge section. I do recall there was a photograph of a narrow gauge crane on a preserved line. The crane was a Hiab type as fitted to some lorries mounted on a bogie flat truck, apparently it was used to assist in track laying.

I read a book on the subject of the Barbary pirates. Although the south west of England did suffer somewhat from their attacks southern Ireland suffered even more, the raiders taking the entire population of some villages.

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Sorry I got that wrong Chris. I do remember the street party held for us kids to commemorate the Coronation mainly because it poured down with rain. The street party was actually in someones front garden and although a tarpaulin was rapidly thrown up I still remember someones front lawn becoming a sea of mud, much to the delight of us kids but to the horror of our mums. That was a couple of months before I was five and is by no means my earliest memory. That particular honour goes to when I was a year to fifteen months old when I was learning to walk and is of my dad encouraging me to walk to him. My next oldest memory is a trip to visit relatives in Nottingham which must have been towards the end of 1950. My dad had borrowed or hired an old Ford van for the trip and I remember some of the journey though as a two year old I probably slept most of the way. The next memory would be about springtime 1951 and includes riding on a London tram, I can be pretty certain of the date because my sister had been born in February that year and was in my mums arms wrapped in a shawl. Do any other ER's have such memories?

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Great to hear that Debs is on the up and best wishes to other ailing ER's. Chris, your mentioning 66 years since her maj was crowned reminded me that I am only a few months older than Prince Charles. I have also been retired for 10 years next month so the prospect of starting my first job at 70+ makes me glad that I am one of the common herd. Jamie, there was an item this morning on the BBC breakfast show where the Suffragists got a good mention. They interviewed the grandaughter of a Suffragist who said that her grandmother was one of several sisters bought up by their architect father who encouraged them. This was between 6 and 6:30.

You don't seem to see certain German makes on the banger track very often, perhaps its because they've already had the life thrashed out of them.

Goodnight all.

I have one of these locos and it runs well with the Tenshodo. I purchased it for £50 'ready to go' last year apart from a bit of paintwork. My problem is it is only fitted for 3-link couplings and I want to fit automatic couplings.

Someone mentioned Malta near the beginning of this thread, if that is chosen I would like to put my name down please. (But not in mid-summer TOO darn hot) spring or autumn would be best.

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Woke up this morning at six, when I looked out the streets were clear and were still clear half an hour later after I had checked out the news and weather reports. I then went back to bed and when I woke up an hour later and looked out everything was covered with a sprinkling of snow, the snow has now almost disappeared. Best wishes to Debs and all other ER's who are under the weather.

Goodnight all.