PhilJ W

I wonder if EFE Rail is Bachmann's response to Oxford Rail?

There's another 1/43 part-work series that although only sold in France includes many British prototypes. That is a series of motor caravans/camper vans. Very good models with about a dozen British models including three Bedfords, a couple of Transits as well as such rarities as a Land Rover Dormobile and a Mini Wildgoose. Most have right hand drive and British registrations with the exception of the Commer PB which although RHD has modern German number plates and the Sherpa with LHD and French registration.

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Thoughts are with the citizens of Beirut this morning. It appears that it is an accident, there was a fire in or near the warehouse where the ammonium nitrate was stored. The G word beckons, only zapping a few weeds, I've decided that the new shed can wait until this evening when its a bit cooler. It stands on the patio which faces almost due south and can get a bit warm in the sunshine so I'll wait until its cooler.

Goodnight all.

The tube stock is far smaller than the S stock and its too small for the S stock mechanism.

Indeed, I would like to see what kind of mechanism is fitted to the tube stock. A centrally mounted motor with cardan drive would be the ideal. Also there is the restricted bogie movement due to the bogies being partially enclosed within the body shell. A problem with stock motorised using such as the Tenshodo spud.

The other 1/43 ET6 I have seen is the Malta bus from the Atlas part-work. A lovely model with translucent tail lights as well as the usual clear headlights. I do believe this is also produced by IXO.

Evening all from Estuary-Land. All this talk of nudist beaches reminds me that there was or is one not far from Hastings. I'm not sure how far away from Bo-Peep Junction it was. Tea is brewing and then to tackle Farcebook, be back later.

I have just come across the news of the motorised EFE tube stock. I wonder if the bodies are the same as the 'static' stock or modified/adapted to take the power units. If they are unmodified it should be easy to swap the motor units over to the existing EFE tube stock. Hopefully EFE Rail will see fit to offer the motorised chassis alone to enable existing stock to be motorised.

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Not much done re. the shed today, it does help if I remember to charge the drill battery. Its now time to put the dinner on, be back later.

My wife's reaction when she see's a spider.

There is several 1/43 models about of the ET6. I have one, an articulated unit with an airport passenger trailer.

Oo-er https://www.gpfans.com/en/articles/55211/ferrari-suffer-very-sizeable-financial-hit-in-high-tens-of-millions/ Not exactly surprising news.

Almost forgot, the shelves for the new shed have dried out without warping so I hope to install them sometime today. Then to make a start on the old shed (dismantling) but before I do there is the brambles at the side and behind the shed to be dealt with.

Morning all from Estuary-Land. In case I missed them condolences to Neil and to Trackshack. I take it that there wasn't any chance of one of the staff or even an outsider taking it over as a going concern. I wanted to take redundancy, and it was offered a few years before I did go. The only reason I didn't was that I was not high enough on the hit list. Instead we all had to re-apply for our jobs and the two who were pushed out of the door made it obvious that it was a put up job. Redundancy was hard to come by as the senior managers had it all worked out in their favour. Senior management was top heavy anyway and it was announced that some senior posts were to be done away with. The incumbents due to their salaries collected a big wodge of redundancy/lump sum and other payments and retirement in their mid 50's. A few months later 'new' senior posts were created that were the same as the 'redundant' posts with a different job title. A couple of years later these posts would be made redundant.

Goodnight all.

Evening all from Estuary-Land. I took early retirement over 12 years ago just short of my 60th birthday and it was the best thing I ever did. Of course all of our individual circumstances are different but in my case the lunatics cockwombles had started to take over the asylum and I was glad to get out. Simon, I hope you are in a good pension scheme that will give you an adequate income. I spent most of my working life in a busy payroll department and it was noticeable that those who stayed on till they were 65 did not last as long as those who went earlier, even those who went on ill health retirement lasted a lot longer.

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Made a little bit of progress today re. the shed. I dismantled the wooden box and recovered enough boards to make a couple of shelves, the rest of the box was as rotten as a pear. I'll be installing the shelves in a couple of days as I'm leaving them to dry out, fingers crossed that they don't warp. Still a bit of fettling to do to the wheelbarrow, I've noticed that the bolt through the wheel keeps loosening so I'm going to take it out and turn it round so that the bolt head is on the other side. I had to abandon doing anything else this afternoon due to the hay fever.

Just spotted outside of my kitchen window, a dragonfly. Rather unusual as to my knowledge there are no ponds or streams within 500 metres. Quite possible that its been blown off course by the strong breeze. Sorry I was unable to take photographs but it was a reddish brown colour.

Most if not all tyre manufacturers sell more tyres under names other than their own. Its only when you compare the tyres side by side that you will see that the only difference is the name on the sidewall. And the price, the 'big name' tyre will be the more expensive. I think that the FIA should drop the limited life tyres idea anyway as most teams try to push the envelope and sooner or later there's going to be an accident due to tyre failure.

Bats are quite common around our MRC clubroom which is adjacent to a cricket field surrounded by thick hedges.

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Arthur Itis went to sleep last night so so did I. He made a bit of a fuss this morning but then was quiet. Hopefully as its cooler I can get on with the sorting of the sheds. A wooden storage box that was in the old shed will provide some of the shelving in the new shed. The box is of tongue and groove construction and rotten in places due to the damp but it looks as if some of the boards are recoverable, they are just the right size to make shelves for the new shed. Now to get started (after another muggatee).

That reminds me of when I visited a friend in rural Connecticut many years ago. I was awoken by gunshots in the local woods and my friend informed me that it was the start of the deer shooting season. He also told me that there was often fatalities due to hunters mistaking other hunters for deer. The target species was white tail deer and many of the shooting accidents occurred when people emulated what the bears did in the woods. Camouflage toilet paper was very popular.