PhilJ W

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Dry but a bit sticky so I don't feel like doing much except drink more tea. I haven't done much on the young mans layout recently but I have obtained a controller for it at our show from a reliable source. Now to drink even more tea, be back later.

They made that one in 1/43 scale. They made a Mk. II Escort van in 1/72 scale Trackside series.

The Vauxhall ambulance is based on the D type. It is better than the model T if you want to use it as a delivery van as the body is plain just like a van.

Morning all from Estuary-Land. The cloud seems to be breaking up now and bits of blue seem to be poking through. Not a lot to do today but club night tonight but that will be taken up by the inquest on the exhibition. The exhibition seems to have gone well if the temperament of the exhibition manager is anything to go by.

Its a 1/72 scale WW1 ambulance plastic kit. There is also a similar Vauxhall ambulance model kit in the same scale made by Rodin. Both kits can be found on E-bay.

Goodnight all.

Evening all from Estuary-Land. I don't know what happened to my comments this morning, I hadn't finished when I must have had a brain fart and pressed the 'Submit reply' button. I now cannot remember what I was going to say. Mostly recovered from the weekends exertions, nothing planned for this weekend but planning excursions for the school holidays, hoping to drag a certain young man away from his x-box. Time to put the kettle on, be back later.

There was a Viking named Ulf. He was ginger haired and had a bad temper to match. One fine Christmas morning he looked out of the window and said to his wife "Its cloudy so it looks like rain today." His wife just ignored him so he says. "I said its going to rain today you deaf old bitch!" His wife still ignores him so he shouts "Its going to rain today you moron." His wife looks up, smiles sweetly and says. "How do you know that smart@rse?" He answers through gritted teeth. "Because Rude Ulf the Red knows rain dear." Hat and coat already on...

Last night I was sitting in the lounge with SWMBO when I said "I don't want to live in a vegative state dependent on machines and bottles of liquids to keep me alive." So she unplugged my computer and poured my whisky down the sink.

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Chris, thats a good idea to get yourself a companion but it should be someone with similar interests. For the last 2-3 years I have often taken my (railway and modelling) friend and his young son with me and there has been several events that we attended that I would have not attended on my own especially those some distance from home.

Goodnight all.

At the Dagenham Town Show back in the 80's portable toilets were provided by a company called Cox Cabins.

Good question, many steam road vehicles were compounded. Possibly because the restricted British loading gauge limited the size of the lp cylinders?

Apparently its the same vehicle, built originally for the Steyrtalbahn and built/converted by them.

Evening all from Estuary-Land. I spoke too soon, the van is back again but at least theres no sign of the car that parks on the pavement opposite my drive. I do know that complaints have been made about it and one chap was taking pics of it so hopefully the authorities will be coming down on the driver. At the weekend I purchased a strange 009 wagon. Its basically a garden shed and a large barrel mounted on a wagon chassis so presumably it was some sort of water carrier. The strange bit is that the end of the barrel has a small window installed complete with shutters. Its not a home made concoction as the inner packaging is shed/barrel shaped. It is made by Lilliput and the end is marked Fasslwagen Steyrtalbahn, epoch V. I googled Fasslwagen and it is a tank wagon.

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Looks as if the parking situation is sorted but its early days yet. My friends young lad has gone on a school trip until Friday, the first time he has gone away on his own. It involves sleeping in a (docked) lightship for the duration, never had anything like that when I was his age.

The only hope is now that enough birds with resistance to the fungal infection survive to breed but the chances of that are slim. A good example of how devastating a fungal infection can be is Dutch Elm Disease, the few remaining Elms are now in the equivalent of intensive care.

Antiseptics will not deal with a fungal infection such as this. A fungicide is the answer but many fungicides can cause even more problems and could even prove fatal to small creatures such as birds.

Morning all from Estuary-Land. The parking problem appears to be resolved now that one of the two couples living next door has gone. Their landlady telephoned me a couple of weeks ago on another matter (too much noise, didn't affect me much but complaints had been made). I did mention that there was two couples living there and it turns out that the original tenants were in breach of their agreement by letting the second couple live there. The second couple departed at the weekend together with the large Transit van. Hopefully this has sorted matters.

Goodnight all.

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Thanks to you all for the birthday wishes. I dug out a few bits for the club stall as did the exhibition manager. The items that he found were some original Hornby Zero-1 controllers in their boxes and a 1950's/60's building toy. The building toy consisted of individual bricks similar to ceramic tiles with wood card and plastic roofing doors and windows. The whole thing was held together by PVA and the intention was that after soaking to release the components they could be re-used for another building. I had a similar set when I was about 9 years old, the problem was the cardboard components didn't take kindly to the frequent soakings. This was what made the one donated to the club stand unusual that in spite of the fact that it had obviously been used the wood and cardboard components were intact. One of the exhibitors pointed out that this could make it quite valuable so its going on e-bay instead. I experimented with an 'honesty box' for the sale of magazines, I just told people to put what they liked into the box for any magazines that they wanted. Mixed results, more cash was received but we were left with more magazines to put in the recycling than usual, work that one out?

Where's that GROAN button.

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Managed to find a few more bits for the club sales stand which after yesterday is looking a bit thin on goodies and just the usual carp, coffee table railway (so called) books and ancient rolling stock with pizza cutter wheels. I have arranged to dispose of said coffee table books after the show so that they dont have to be taken back. Must go now, be back later.

Goodnight all.

Oops, I nearly forgot. When I returned home from the exhibition I deliberately parked the car across my own drive meaning that next door would not be able to park their bl@@dy great Transit van. As I was getting out of the car another large van turned up to collect one of the couples living in the house and their belongings. They were forced to park further down the road. So it looks as if the driver of the said Transit has departed with family and his belongings.