PhilJ W

Goodnight all.

The only drawback with the old Airfix kit is the wheel hubs, especially when compared with the pics of the prototype. Matador models produce resin replacements with the correct centres for both front and rear.

Many years ago one of the model railway magazines featured a tram layout. The trams were kitbashed from the Airfix (now Dapol) railcar kit. As far as remember they were shortened slightly and were mounted on a pair of small wheeled bogies

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Bright but cold here this morning but the predicted fog for tomorrow becomes more widespread with every forecast. Many years ago I worked with a chap who was a meteorologist with the RAF in WW2. He explained the fog is caused when relatively warmer damp air is overlaid by a layer of cold air (called an inversion). Unless there is something to move the cold air the warmer air becomes trapped and the moisture in that air forms larger droplets leading to fog.

Goodnight all.

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Rick, I hope you received permission from SWMBO before you went to the assistance of the young lady upstairs. Best of luck for tomorrow. The internet went dead slow again immediately SPOTY finished but I was expecting something like that to happen so I went and put the kettle on and made a pot of tea, having consumed one mug of tea I switched the computer on again about 20 minutes later and everything was fine.

They are very good, extreamly fine etchings far better than Langley, would even give TPM a run for his money. The only problem is that they are very delicate and a bit fiddley. The wheels are brilliant but being HO scale are only suitable for smaller cars such as Triumph Heralds, Hillman Imps and other cars with 12 or 13 inch wheels. The wing mirrors are very similar to those fitted to the 105E Anglia and the early Cortina.

External mirrors on ordinary cars were not compulsory until the 1970's, the one exception was estate cars were a load could obscure the view through the interior mirror. At least one external mirror was compulsory on all commercials. This was often only a small single mirror that would be pretty useless in todays traffic conditions. A German company called Automobilia produce an etch in HO scale of mirrors, wipers and other fittings that can be ordered direct as there are no dealers in the UK. http://automobilia.de

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Tragic news from Birmingham today, thoughts are with those involved and their families. Weather forecast is there is unlikely to be a white Christmas but watch out for fog Monday night/Tuesday morning.

So thats why Horsetan got a Citroen.

Morning from Estuary-Land (again). Mention of the Jaywick miniature railway reminded me of a bit of its history. It only operated for a few years up until the war when it was closed 'for the duration'. It was however in such a poor state after the war that it never re-opened. Some items of rolling stock survived right up to today principally the miniature Sterling Single and one at least of the coaches. A couple of the coaches (out of three) went to the Ratty where as they were fully enclosed with upholstered seats they were used for a few years for a luxury service. The only problem was they only seated eight persons each and so were withdrawn.

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Very early riser this morning and off for a soak in the bath shortly. Fost and frog this morning at least I don't have to go out until later. However much I tried I couldn't avoid Strictley last night, at about 8:30 my internet suddenly went dead slow so I had to find something else to do. Twenty minutes later everything was back to normal, I presume all those interested were casting their votes at the time. I think I'll go back to bed now before taking my bath, be back later.

Goodnight all.

My dad joined the local TA unit (Romford/Hornchurch) in 1938/39 before the balloon went up. This meant that although the TA were mobilised on the first of September he remained stationed locally until late the following summer. He was still 'local' during the Battle of Britain and as his unit was an artillery unit he found himself and a couple of his comrades having to manually lug an Orlikon gun up onto the roof of the local Odeon which was only a few yards from Romford station. During the B-o-B they didn't fire a single shell as no enemy aircraft came into range. Instead the Luftwaffe concentrated on the carriage sidings at Gidea Park a couple of miles to the east and Goodmayes marshalling yard three miles to the west. He was afterwards sent to Yorkshire where he spent the eve of his 21st. birthday on guard duty during a blizzard.

Morning all from Estuary-Land. A bit late on parade, spent a bit longer soaking in the bath this morning. Yesterday I spoke to one of the guys at Tesco's who collects the trolleys. The henwomble (for it was a she) who parked her Mercedes in the trolley bay came back to find someone had placed a trolley in said bay. Problem was that the space between her drivers door and the railings was about a centimetre less than the width of a trolley so someone had used a bit of force to push the trolley in. It took two people to remove the trolley before she could enter her car issuing threats to sue Tesco's. As a routine the security take photographs of such incidents and as the attendant told me that all thats likely to happen will be a bill for a new trolley.

Goodnight all.

Ask Ryanair.

Did you give the bottle of Klear a good shake before using it?

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Not a lot to report today so off to the supermarket early to beat the rush. A lot of the congestion at lunchtimes is tradesmens vans calling in for lunch so I should avoid them.

Goodnight all.

My apologies, very small 55 year old print can be very difficult to read, indeed OFM was issued 1959/60. This highlights the reason for not issuing four digit/two letter numbers with a zero on the end as it could be confused with the letter O.

All on the level with very long escalators?

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Is there a prize for the best Christmas cockwomble? If there is the one I saw in Tesco's car park is a sure contender. Opposite the store beneath a flyover are some parking bays and usually towards the end of the week and even more so at this time of year they are full. I did think I'd found a space but it was occupied by a small car hidden by a van. As I went to leave the bay I took a quick check of the next bay but that was full as well. Despite that I saw a rather large Mercedes pull into the bay and reverse into the trolley park. The trolley park is marked out by railings but somehow he managed to squeeze his (her?) car in.

From my copy of Glass's Index 1929-1965. This is a guide to registrations and when they were issued published by the same company that produced the price guides for car dealerships. As they were only loaned to car dealers and would normally be returned when replaced by an updated copy very few got into the public domain. The 1965 edition was the last published as the age of a car registered after that year was readily identifiable by the year letter. A few copies 'escaped' and are now much sought after, often changing hands for a three figure sum. UAE was Bristol issued Jan to Mar 1955 and UAR was Hertfordshire Mar to Apl 1955. Sorry but my book only shows registrations up to 1965. That is what was recorded in the index mentioned above. OFM reversed with the numbers preceding the letters was never issued. EDIT Could the registrations be 9040 FM and 9130 FM? Two letter registrations were also used by some authorities. FM was one such issue from 1960-62. My father had a Thames 400E 12-seater registered 8535 VX in 1960.

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