PhilJ W

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Found the bottle of PVA without having to purchase another one, needless to say when looking for something else. I can now get on with assembling the 'flat pack' baseboard. The planned layout is still flexible and I am awaiting delivery of a new publication 'Plymouths Hidden Railways' even one of the cover pics looks like a micro layout. http://www.twelveheads.com/t925.htm hopefully it will give me more ideas.

Goodnight all.

I've ordered a copy, even the front cover has given me ideas for my 3' by 1' micro-layout.

The Leyland National body is extremely strong as the bus itself is chassisless. It should be no worse than a standard Mk.I to withstanding high speed collisions, indeed being 'stiffer' would probably be safer than a Mk.I.

Morning all from Estuary-Land. A bit late this morning, partly due to having an extra soak in the bath and partly due to catching up on Facebook. One thing that really shocked me on Facebook this morning. A chaps 89-year-old grandmother is in a care home, yesterday he visited her at lunchtime. The old ladys Sunday dinner consisted of two slices of corned beef, a bowl of soup and a can of fizzy pop! He took a picture of this 'dinner' and posted it on Facebook and I passed it on, I would ask my Facebook friends to do the same. The lady (or her family) are paying £600 a week for her care. A more amusing item was on Facebook but I don't want to get banned.

Goodnight all.

Morning all from Estuary-Land. A bit dull, damp and grey here this morning so that means no excuse for not doing some chores around the house so I'll have to think of some, excuses that is. (Any suggestions welcome.) I have still to start on the flat-pack layout, I've still got to find where I put the PVA glue the only sure way to find it is to go out and buy some more. Thats it for now, be back later.

Great news Andy and Goodnight all.

I've been looking for a suitable chassis still, I've found that the GE 44-tonner is a bit too short. The overall wheelbase (outer axle to outer axle) of the BTH is 25 feet, 100mm in 00 scale. On checking the dimensions of various locomotives I see that many American switcher locomotives have an overall wheelbase of 30 feet which works out at 105mm in HO scale. I fortunately have the chassis from one such locomotive so I offered it up to the 3D printed body and was surprised how well it fitted. If you are willing to overlook the extra 5mm in the wheelbase this seems the way to go. There is no problem with the bogies fouling the steps as looking at the drawings of the BTH locomotive it has what looks like sandboxes on the ends of the bogies which extends them by a few inches. The switcher locomotive that I intend to use the chassis of is the SW-7/SW9/SW12 and SW1200 types models of which are available from various makers such as Atlas, Bachmann and Tycho. Depending on which chassis is used some slight modifications may be required to both body and chassis. On the body a slot will be required in the buffer beam to accomodate the coupling sockets and the chassis might require the removal of some details.

I'll be going to this. http://www.castlepointtransportmuseum.co.uk/annual-show-2017

Makes the Sun* look sedate. *The title of what is laughingly called a newspaper here in the UK.

Morning all from Estuary-Land. That broken bottle of wine was no great loss, I intended to pour it down the sink anyway, at least I could have saved on sink unblocker. Bright and sunny at the moment, hope it lasts. Quiet weekend this weekend, just as well with almost back to back shows for the next couple of months. Bye for now, be back later.

Goodnight all.

The Ford motor company had a spare parts store at Aveley, Essex. Up until it was closed in the 1980's it was rumoured to hold enough parts to build a couple of model T's.

Actually going by the smell it had mostly turned to vinegar.

Morning all from Estuary-Land. A bit grey this morning but dry and predicted to brighten up. Got to start on the new baseboard in the next week or so, but I will have to de-clutter the spare room. Had a bit of a mess in the kitchen to clear up last night, I managed to knock a half used bottle of wine off of a high shelf and the bottle shattered. Fortunately the label held most of the broken glass together but the contents spread far and wide including underneath the units and washing machine. The wine itself was no loss, I'd tried it a couple of Christmases ago and decided I didn't like it and was going to throw it away but forgot all about it. I must admit that the kitchen floor looks a lot cleaner in the area where the bottle fell. Congratulations and commiserations where neccessary, be back later. PS Birthday greetings to Mrs. Baz and Mrs. GDB.

Here it is:- http://www.andrewgrantham.co.uk/the-museum-of-army-transport-rail-ripper/

Goodnight all.

One captured by the British army still exists. It was on display at Longmoor until it closed.

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. I love sweet potatoes and black olives but advocados I'm not so keen on. I first tasted black olives when I holidayed in Greece 40 years ago, only thing is that the Greeks must keep the best for themselves, the ones I had in Greece were as big as plums and very juicy. I can't help thinking that if an Alien saw that lot from outer space he (or she or it) would not want to visit this planet, and thats before they've met the residents.

Morning all from Estuary-Land. The dawn chorus of the bin men seems to be absent this morning but the pink re-cycling bags have gone. Stealth bin wagons? or just that I might not have been listening. Will have to start construction of the new baseboard soon, might be showing it next year if I get a move on. Commiserations to Smiffy, friends you can choose but family!!!! to Debs as well as she has reported on Facebook, John had to be rushed back into hospital last night. Thats it for now, be back later.

Goodnight all.

Truth can be stranger than fiction. I have just received the October edition of Railway Bylines. On page 526 is a locomotive that I couldn't imagine in my wildest dreams. Its an 0-6-0F with the cab mounted about ten feet above the running plate making it about twenty feet high. It was built to operate in the NCB coking plant at Glasshoughton.

That reminds me of this incident. http://www.boakandbailey.com/2015/08/the-strange-death-of-ronny-fincham/

Probably would have used a 37 or Baby Deltic cab/nose.