PhilJ W

Don't whatever you do announce that its just been released.

Thats a well trained dog you have there.

Greg Dyke has been quoted as saying there is more revelations to come.

I had a car of a similar colour, someone shot out of a side turning into the side of it, and yes he said SMIDSY.

Morning all from a windy Estuary-Land. Not much news this morning except on the skip that is still sitting in my front garden. A short while ago I placed in the skip a sack of old insulation from wire and cable from which the copper had been stripped, At the weekend some travellers were in the area and I noticed the sack of old insulation had disappeared.

They made a monkey of him.

The largest Indian community outside India is in Vancouver, Canada.

I had five jobs in six years between leaving school at 16 and when I got the final job at 22 years of age which I stuck with until retirement. In fact two of the jobs I resigned without having any job to go too, but in both cases I was able to leave a job on the Friday and by Monday had found a new position, I can't see anyone doing that today.

Could have been worse, his boss wanted it shredded and could have been standing by the fax machine.

And it was to HO scale as well which one thought might have limited sales but apparently not so. They also had a very limited run of modern tube stock that was hand made. I saw one of the last ones left at an Acton Town open day about five years ago and I was debating whether or not to purchase it but by the time I had decided someone had beaten me to it. It might have been this that inspired the LTM to go for the 'S' unit models.

As someone said earlier, it would have added £60+ to the price. Hopefully there will be provision for purchasers to add interior lighting.

Morning all from a sunny if blustery Estuary-Land. Today is 80 years since the driving test was introduced, there was a piece about it on the breakfast program featuring films of the time and also of the 'Cardrome' at Hornchurch from about fifty years ago. I recognised the Cardrome as I only lived about half a mile away at the time. When I lived at Burnham-on-Crouch in the mid 80's many of the locals were quite elderly and few had ever taken a driving test and they frequently found themselves up before the magistrates for various driving offences. The magistrates answer to the problem was to suspend their licences until they'd passed a test which few if any could. One elderly gentleman of my acquaintance told me that he did take driving lessons back in the 1920's after he'd bought his first car which had tiller steering. Eventually he developed dementia and his doctor told him to stop driving but he was later seen driving about as he had forgotten his doctors orders.

Thats what happens when your used to 00 track.

Here is the latest 1/76 offerings http://www.oxforddiecast.co.uk/eras/1_76_0__Current.htm Just click on 'home' to look at other scales.

Taff also pointed out on Facebook that often the licensing will only cover a specific scale and further negotiations are often neccessary.

This brings up another problem created by our use of out of scale gauge in 00. This becomes obvious when you look at the EFE tube stock on the plinth that every one comes on, the collector shoe is suspended in mid air nowhere near the outside third rail. This is due to the third rail being the correct distance from the running rail, but as the running rails are incorrect they are not beneath the shoe. If the third rail was the correct distance from the centre line of the track it would to far from the running rails. Unless you are using P4 or EM gauge this must be a problem.

Morning all from a dull and overcast Estuary-Land. I must have left the Benfleet show not long before Tony arrived, being such a small show with half a dozen or so layouts means that you only stay for an hour/hour and a half at best. The Canvey bus museum is open to visitors today, I might pop along there if I can find the time. A lot of road accidents involving visitors to the UK involve those from countries where driving on the right is the rule. There was a spate of accidents near to the US air base a few years ago, a few of them fatal, mostly down to drivers simply looking the wrong way. I have sometimes done the same myself when driving on the continent and in the US, extra concentration is required. Having driven on the German Autobahns the speeds can be alarming countered a bit by the high standard of driving (higher than in the UK IMHO). I put this down to the tougher German driving test, but high speed of course makes accidents when they do happen far more severe.

Some of the S8 units had a car removed to operate as S7's. There will probably eventually be a choice of destinations/numbers for both S7's and S8's with the appropriate numbered additional cars.

An interesting train for Sarah Siddons (prototype for anything department)>> Looks like Mk.IId's Its been confirmed that its four Mk IId's and a Mk IIe.

Yes, he is on the missing list as is Trevor. IIRC Anthony Quinn had an Irish father and a Mexican mother.

IIRC there are some MU's that share the 'S' type body shell. There are variations in such things as cabs, type of passenger door and interior etc. but these can be overcome.

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Popped down to the small exhibition at Benfleet today. Being a local exhibition I'd seen most of the layouts before but one that was new to me was 'Port Elkin' a 00 scale 12 mm gauge Isle-of-Man layout with a short tramway as well. Bumped into a few people I know including some fellow club members but I didn't see Tony who said he'd be there.

Any chance of 'A' stock in the future?

Great pics Ian, I noticed that a couple of the chairs in the pub are former church pews, you can tell by the 'bible box' on the back. I have a couple of similar chairs, they were purchased by my father well over sixty years ago from a church that was being rebuilt. I think my dad bought four or six and the two I have are the last survivors. They are now covered in several coats of paint and I am considering having them stripped and re-varnished. I can just about remember my dad bringing them home and removing the 'bible boxes' and they were used as dining chairs for several years afterwards. They probably date from the mid twenties when the original church was opened, the reason my dad purchased them was that at the time new furniture was still rationed and hard to come by.

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Bright and sunny this morning, hope it stays that way. Debs has been looking into ER's this morning so we have to be on our best behavior.