PhilJ W

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Looks like a fine day so another toddle into town beckons, got to pick up a prescription anyway. Enjoy your day, be back later.

The buckets on the prototype are interchangable.

I have examples of both, the Atlas one has white hand rails and those on the Oxford one are black.

Thats not the Oxford Diecast one, its the 'starter' from the Atlas 'World of Stobart' series. Oxford are making a model of the same prototype but there are differences, the Oxford one has far better tracks but IMHO the digger arm of the Atlas one is better. The best way to tell them apart is the Atlas model has white handrails whereas the Oxford ones are black.

My thoughts are with you Dave and Is.

I was thinking of posting the pic here.

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Great to see Debs back again though she has been on Facebook quite often, commenting on a pic I posted showing some of the pitfalls of home design, you could say keeping abreast of things. Like Daves pics of the scarecrows but it looks as if someones been stealing from my wardrobe but I wish they wouldn't keep taking the best stuff.

Goodnight all.

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. The toddle into town today paid off. The second hand book stall in the market had a couple of books, GWR coaches and LNER carriages at £5 each, you just have to buy them don't you.

Dom's pic of Baltimore (Cork) reminded me of this http://www.baltimore.ie/heritage-history/the-sack-of-baltimore-1631.html

Morning all from the land of the estuary. Fingers crossed for Is and Dave and Johns FiL and any others ailing or missing or otherwise indisposed. Bright and sunny here at the moment so a toddle into town beckons, also to stock up on supplies. Thats it for now, be back later.

Goodnight all.

At least you can't injure yourself jet washing, or can you?

The use of the Surrey Iron Railway wagons on the road was indeed envisioned but it proved impractical not only for the reasons stated but the wheels which in most or all cases would have been one piece cast or wrought iron would have been too fragile. They would also require some sort of surfaced roads which in the period concerned would have most likely been stone setts or cobbles, the noise created by the wheels on such a surface would be horrendous.

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Hoping for some good news about Is, fingers crossed and all that. One little problem with being retired is that bank holidays seem to pass by without registering, after all when retired every day is a bank holiday. What happens is that I see a report of an event and think 'I would like to have been there.' followed by 'I could have been there had I known.' So as this coming weekend is a bank holiday weekend I am going to look for events within an hour to hour and a half drive that might take my fancy.

Goodnight all.

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Hoping for good/better news from Dave and John later, John perhaps it would be an idea to get some of FiL's old cloths for Tommy to sleep on or at least something familiar from his home.

Goodnight all.

Evening from Estuary-Land. Managed to pick up a few bargains at Brentwood today, a brace of plastic bus kits for £9 and some EFE lorries at £2.50 each. I also got a copy of a book about the Aldwych branch of the London underground. I hope things turn out OK for Is and John's FiL and best wishes to them both.

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Off to the toy fair at Brentwood shortly, have a good day all, be back later.

Goodnight all.

I have a couple of sets that I obtained via e-bay quite cheaply as a few pieces were missing. Numbers of odd pieces do also appear on e-bay from time to time, I have used these to make the sets complete. Best look out for incomplete sets or components as they would probably be much cheaper.

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Will have to wait in this morning for a delivery from Hermes, I was in yesterday but the delivery person apparently does not know what a door knocker is for as he/she just shoved a 'can't deliver' notice through the door. We lost a couple of club members this week, one to pancreatic cancer that was only diagnosed a few weeks ago. The other one was also recently diagnosed with cancer but was told that he had another 5 years, but as he was in his 80's and had been in bad health for several years it might not be the cancer that took him. On a more cheerful note my Tesco vouchers arrived so its out for a big shop this afternoon.

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Thoughts are with Dave and Is at the moment and any other ER's who are ailing or otherwise indisposed. Now its time for bed, goodnight all.

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Happy birthday Sherry and many more of them. I'm not sure what exactly I will do today, a trip into town is on the cards but I might head for Tesco's instead.