TheSignalEngineer

Not enough doors for a D113? Looks more like one of the 52'6" shorties. As it has a guard's ducket I would guess D154 or D282. Many of these LNER vans look to have been on bogies recovered from upgraded stock or from the condemned vehicles which they replaced.

Definitely Gresley, the one on Steve's site is planked rather than panelled and the Thompsons have a different profile.

I don't know the present limit but when I filled up my fund it was 17.5% of salary for total pension contributions. I started mine when the children went to Uni as pension contributions were deducted from parental income for grant purposes. (Oh yes, back in the days when students got free tuition and maintenance grants). My children both got grants as I managed to get my taxable income below the cut off point an as BR were encouraging people to plan for early retirement or redundancy they were matchong the additional contributions. By the time I got to 56 I was about to bust the limit on how much pension and tax free lump sum I could take so the tax man started to get interested. I worked out when to give notice so I could finish on 1st January but because of annual leave owing, Bank holidays and lieu days I only did 5 days in December.

No. Her technique was most delightful.

I think you will need more than just filling with water and draining off. I've got two containers which held engine oil about 20 years ago. Despite washing and use for collecting drain-off water during plumbing jobs they still smell of oil. You will probably need a detergent and some mechanical means of washing to get rid of it completely.

My situation was similar. I got to the point where the Revenue were taking an interest in my pension pot and my job had gone from lots of engineering and a little admin to spending most of the week justifying my decisions and doing paperwork to show we were complying with all and sundry conditions being imposed on us. I worked out that after paying my mortgage off and the general reduction in the expenses incurred in going to work I was making about £1 profit per hour. I had offers for other jobs but decided to do ad hoc consultancy on technical matters for my old office via an agency they used for one or two days most weeks. I ended up with nett 30% more cash and only about 10% of the previous hassle.

St Ives was a marvellous place when we had family holidays there in the 1960s and early 1970s. About 50 years ago I had set off on my own one afternoon to do a bit of scrambling around the rocks away from the crowds on the beach. I could hear some quite good violin music as I scaled one cliff. Suddenly when I reached a ledge there was a young lady in her mid 20s sitting there in all her glory playing it. Not much more climbing took place that afternoon as she entertained me with her repertoire.

I can do both states, but have quite enjoyed the side of lockdown which means I don't have to appear to be enjoying the company of certain individuals who should have been put down a long time ago.

I remember there being a picture which I think got posted to this site some years ago showing a Hawksworth vehicle at Kyle of Lochalsh.

Assembled my Pigeon Van over the weekend. Only took a few minutes to clean up the usual moulding join lines and check everything was going to fit OK. No problems with assembling, all went together first time, one of the easiest van kits I have put together. I will certainly be back for at least two more wagons from my wants list. Painting and glazing to finish then It will be a nice addition to NPCCS for the layout.

I was doing a bit of research on this for my other coaching stock. I don't know when the design originated but fitting seems to have become the norm for passenger stock in the late 1920s which would have coincided with the the demise of gas lighting. There were a few exceptions to provision of jumpers such as some GWR Autocoaches. LMS Pull-Push stock usually had additional jumpers for the driver to give bell signals to the fireman on the loco. Regarding NPCCS, the fitting seemed to have been a bit less clear. As a general comment, four-wheel stock didn't get jumpers in most cases, although there is evidence of at least two of the Diagram 170 LNER 4-wheel brakes being fitted from 1960s pictures. The SR vans don't seem to have been fitted. The only 6-wheel NPCCS fitted as far as I can see were the Thompson BZ and Stanier Stove R. Gangwayed bogie brake vans seem to have been fitted as they could be in the middle of a train. On other bogie vans the only ones originally seeming to have been fitted were Post Office vans then later the Siphon Gs used for newspaper traffic and BR Mk1 GUV Newspaper conversions. For lighting controls, gangwayed stock usually had a control unit in each coach, There had push buttons to control the lights in that vehicle and a switch operated by a carriage key to control the train lights. Non-gangwayed vehicles without a guard's compartment had a sliding switch on one end operated by a metal bar with a stirrup handle at each side to operate the lights. Non gangwayed DMU centre coaches also had a lighting control switch on one end.

On Tuesday we had freshly harvested broad beans and Charlotte potatoes from the allotment. Eaten just two hours after gathering. Definitely the best way to get the full flavour.

Hopefully get a ride round to the East Mines and Depot soon. Last two visits to the area they have been working on the track below Blakey Ridge. I did it a few years ago but had to carry the bike a lot of the way. When I tried a repeat run I got blown off the track by the wind and ended up at York hospital.

Have a look at the completed listings for 'Hornby Live Steam Rocket' on Ebay. Seems to be quite a market for them, price depending very much on condition and contents, but a good boxed one can reach three figures.

The first years of the electric services were a bit of a mixture. Still lots of maroon stock amongst the blue/grey and a lot of mixed Mk1 / Mk2 rakes especially when the Manchester / Liverpool via Birminghams were introduced in 1967. There was a shortage of BSOs on the LMR which is what resulted in 90mph Porthole BSKs being painted blue/grey as a stopgap measure. Very entertaining downhill through Betley Road when the driver forgot he had one on the train.

My printer would print about the first inch then go into gobbledygook on some jobs sent from my desktop but was OK from my wife's computer. I uninstalled and reinstalled it and no problems now.

It started from Euston so was probably one of the Euston/Manchester/Liverpool sets that was spare at the weekend. From the late 1960s through to the 1980s we used to get them on our holiday trains, including the Pullman sets to Devon and Cornwall.

Following a tip from @Merfyn Jones I did some digging and found two more pictures which confirm the body side layout of the mystery coach at Blaenau Ffestiniog. It does appear to be an early P2 open coach with panel beading. 42574/42644 Blaenau Ffestiniog 24.9.66 by George Woods, on Flickr Photo by John M Cramp, 30937 Transport Photograph Database on Flickr

Fishplates on jointed track were shimmed to cater for uneven wear on the rail ends. The type of shim required was determined by putting a three foot straight edge across the joint and inserting a graduated wedge under the low side to determine the shim required on top of the fishplates. According to the old Permanent Way Institution book the available shims were up to 1/8" thick which at 4mm scale would I think be about 0.04mm.

The window position relative the bogie would I think points towards the D1721/1722/1738/1795. If your picture shows the toilet window that would narrow down the possibles.

The Jenkinson and Essery 'LMS Coaches an Illustrated History' has a full list of the push-pull fitted stock and what they were converted from or which were new build.

On Flickr Robert Carroll shows the date as 24-9-66 which would make it the LCGB Conwy Valley Railtour. https://www.sixbellsjunction.co.uk/60s/660924lc.html. Regarding the LMS coach, all of the post-grouping restaurant cars were flush sided, not beaded panelling, so it isn't one of those. I am drawn to the possibility of it being one of the D1707 Royal Scot semi-open firsts which went into departmental stock c1957/58. Some LMR departmentals were finished in unlined maroon.

Same problem with mine. The one on the far side in the picture is definitely not square on. I think that was the one that didn't survive 'adjusting' and was refitted last after the roof was in place.

That may have been the cause, it just seemed that as you went along some of the bits didn't line up right but the usual cheats with a fine file and a tube of filler got it together at the second attempt. I find that with some kits a bit of evergreen angle tack welded inside the first corner helps to get things going. Just has to be carefully removed if you do it on open wagons

These are my main Cambrian constructions so far, in chronological order of completion except for the one on the bottom right. Pillbox brake. LNER 16T Mineral. Bought from the scrap box at an old model shop for £1, mainly because it had a set of metal wheels. Addition of weight with unsuitable adhesive had wrecked the floor but the rest seemed to be ok. Carefully dismantled and rebuilt on a bit of styrene sheet. SR 8-plank merchandise wagon ex-works from being vac fitted by BR. SECR design Dance Hall Brake. This one needed a bit of work to get it to fit together well but pleased with the overall result. Boplate E. This went together pretty well. Lanarkshire buffers used as I couldn't get the Cambrian ones to stay together. My first successful attempt at home made transfers. Finally a Starfish which was the first Cambrian kit I built longer ago than I care to remember. May get a bit of an upgrade when I have finished off a few more projects.