Flickr

We've been flickr,,,ed,,, us usual I don't really understand what I'm doing but if your interested I'm attempting to download various shots taken over the year of Salmon Pastures.

Enjoy or Endure.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/salmonpastures/sets




SAD

Guatemala Central late train announcement.

Guatamala State Radio announced this morning that the 11.11am train from platform 3 to oblivion was unfortunately delayed due to the wrong type of volcanic ash on the line.

The Transportation Minister apologised for any inconvenience caused and also announced the majority of special flights from the eastern seaboard of the USA had landed safely where passengers were quickly seen through customs and on paying their $3250 immigration fee were then allowed to make the necessary arrangements for their return flights home.

Beckstein G Hamelnocka from Wheezeville North Carolina was arrested at the airport for being found in possession of a copy of Gideons Bible and language likely to endager life or cause a breach of the peace.

Cor that was close,,, I'm glad it's all over,,, I really did think for a minute that it was time to meet my maker, at least I can now get back up't shed and carry on completing Valour.

Oh and Merry Xmas to all our readers.

[that's as festive as we get here on the pastures]

MAYANSwer is,,,, it ain't going to happen!!!

Not wanting to offend any tribal Mexican or Guatemalan railway buff's [as in afficianado's,,,  not the working loin cloth's and banana leaf flipflops variety] but I am just a tad sceptical about us all falling into the abyss at around 11mins past 11 tomorrow morning,,,

Why,,,

1. Well I haven't been paid yet and experience leads me to believe that if we are all going to come to an unexpected end then I for one know as sure as eggs are ovoid that it will only happen whilst I am still heavily into the positives on the banking front,,, I'm just not that lucky or a "banker-w".
2. The missus won't have walked the dog by 11 mins past 11 and as the dog seems to sense all manner of strange happenings especially related to when that denizen of daily news,,, the postman,,, is about to arrive and he's never here before 11.30 earliest.
3. Are we really to believe the great creator  would allow it all to go pear shaped 4 days before the biggest shopping festival of the year,,, and and and,,, when our old pal Max Clifford is unfortunately otherwise engaged!!!

It just dosen't make any sense.

On the other hand,,,, if the Mayans are cannier lads than we've been led to believe then I'll be the first to remove my coconut shell hat,,, push an old chicken bone through my epiglotis and set off down the old Aboriginal trails chewing smoked caterpillars in total admiration of their superior knowledge.

I've thoroughly enjoyed it all,,, especially the railway bits,,, I have a few regrets like why nobody leaves a comment,,, but perhaps that's all part of the master plan,,,, we will all know soon enough!!!

Enjoy.

I leave you with a picture of 2 members of the Mayan "End of the World as we know it" organising committee having been informed that signed up members for the hideously expensive 1 way return ticket from New York State alone has topped the 2 million mark!!!!

They cannot be serious!!!!

If you get bored with scanning through all my drivel just click on the link below and you will discover that Salmon Pastures is not only a figment of my imagination but a REAL place!!!!! and having viewed this website the only things that are missing are cows [and there movements] bearded dons with sandals and leather elbow protectors from somewhere around Didcot applying flock through butterfly nets to anything that is not bolted down,,, push off will yer!! Your raising the tone of the whole place considerably.

http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/reserves/salmon-pastures   [I'd like to see what there stats are!!]

Now another rather creepy fact is that my great aunt Suzie, who I do remember as a child,, she used to live in a bed in my grandmothers front room!!! those were the days,,, she was well into her 90's at the time,, all wrinkles,,clicking false teeth and the all pervading aroma of mothballs,, was,, in an earlier life the headmistress of a Junior School in Sheffield,,, yes you all know what's coming,,,, Salmon Pastures School,,, now I didn't discover this until a conversation with my sister about 4 years after I started building the pastures we all know and love,,, mmm,,, strange,,, very strange.

From the website map if you scan up a bit you will see Carlisle Street,,, now most of my beloved black and white pictures of steelworks and pubs especially The Corner Pin are based in this area.

I wonder what they used to make in there!!! and nothing happened unless 95% of the workforce were smoking a Park Drive Cigarette,, My God they stank,,, the French and their Camel Dung Gitanes jobbies had nothing on a Park Drive,,,yes it's another from  Carlisle Street,, notice the absence of graffitti,,, nobody round there can write,,,,I just thought you'd like a bit of background info on what get's me up at 4.30am unable to sleep,,, it must be the excitement of Xmas and wondering if the 2nd O4 I got from Mr Hattons at a knock down price in October really will be delivered on Tuesday Morning!!!! I JUST CAN'T WAIT,, and by the way,,,the O4 runs beautifully!!

Posh soldered my X Factor brake shoes back to front!!

She didn't really but I am advised by our IT man if you get "posh" or "XMAS or X-Factor" into your heading your stats should rocket,,,, trust me if it dosen't work he'll get a rocket. [told you we were going to spice it all up,, ho ho lets get festive,, and having now seen her for the first time in her work clothes I will concede she really does brush up quite well,,, nice one missus,,,]

Not easy welding,,, all that argon and spurious gases and flashing blue lights,,, I do hope she realises she's not still on stage.

If it all go's wrong I'll plead political asylum & come down with an instant case of the Azzerbijohn Syndromes which manifested itself last night up't shed  whilst soldering brake shoes together for the D9,,, now the angle of dangle of the shoes is quite critical for the desired effect and after drilling a couple of tiny holes in my trusty bit of ply for an instant jig I was really quite please with myself,,,, what I thought would be a couple of hours job turned into just over 20 minutes,, ha ha wrong,,, not only is the desired angle critical but so is the fact that they are left and right handed,, and as the only other solution to maximising the recently jigged 4x left handed brake shoes was to build it as a monorail D9 express freight engine I immediately fell down the 1 hour 20 mins snake after earlier shooting up the 20 minute ladder,,, more haste less speed I think,,, perhaps that's the one downside of enjoyable scratch building,,, you have to make the instruction sheet up as you go along,, but believe me when I say my virtual exploded dimensional  drawings in the back of my head are to die for!!!! Everything fits exactly where I want it,,, eventually!!

For all you Lloyds certified types out there who are itching to advise the above is grinding not welding,,, well,,, as we all know the female of the species is very adept at multitasking and she is cleaning up the edges before she welds them together,,, which is why she's got her welders helmet on,,,, if not perhaps she does a bit of bull fighting in her spare time,,, 

Valour,,,, we really are getting there!!!!!

In response to the LNER model forum and a recently found fan of JG's finest,,,,, "Valour" I post a pic following cessation of today's efforts,,, [things todo] chimney, dome, steam pipes, couplings,  and a quick lick of paint and "Roberts your relative"  BUT as anyone who knows me will testify,,,,,just don't hold your breath,,,,

Also got a bit done on the D9,,, it now has beading round the cab windies, and a few washout plugs on the firebox,, and another bout of tingle finger brings a Saturday afternoon to a painful completion!!!! OUCH

3 legged Pop Idol ate my Guinea Pig Vindaloo??,,,,,,,

I've just had a quick squint at the stats and we have increased our market share by 25% since I went saucy with the images,,, I can now proudly pronounce that yesterday we had 8 viewers as against the regular 6 when I was boring you rigid with pictures of possibly ancient ancestors of mine,,,, I'm also convinced another good way of increasing  the blog's coverage could be to spice up the titles,,, just bear, or this that, bare with me on this one,, whatever,, and talking of stats we are currently at 30 posts for the year which is 2.5 per month,, and we have 20 days of Dezvmber[hic] left,,,,crickey I think I'd better go and have a lie down.

Talking of ancient ancestors I include a picture of Valour,,,, quite probably the most handsome express passenger engine JG Robinson ever designed. [ in my opinion]

Now this qualify's as an ancient ancestor in that I started building it in Jeddah in 1982,,, I'd like to advise that I started scratch building in Jeddah because there was little else to do!!!!!! Ho Ho but I'd be telling porky's,,, I've had the worst thick heads of my life in the country where laughing juice is officially illegal,, I still remember some old salt expat taking me on my first trip to a Saudi "supermarket",,, having been entertained by mother rat and a couple of her latest offspring scurrying around a mountain of Persil boxes in the main window display he then showed me where I could find an "anti insanity kit".

This consisted of 1 large can of Blue Ribband Malt,, next to that was 5kg bags of sugar,, and on the top shelf you could find baking yeast,,, all conveniently laid out next to each other in the same aisle just for the convenience of the local expats,,,,, we then proceeded to purchase a rather large plastic dustbin with lid,, most essential the lid,,, a bottle of Milton babyfood disinfectant stuff and there you have it,,, a Saudi Arabian  anti insanity kit.

About 10 days later the great unwashed appeared for the ceremonial opening of SAD's first brew and I never looked back,,, in fact with some of the beverages we were drinking out there at the time  we never looked anywhere in particular,,,, anyway I digress,,, back to Valour.

 I did have plenty of spare time with,,as described,, little much to do,,, and I also had several days usually at the start of a new working week where I was vowing I would never, ever, try somebody's home beverages ever again,,, and a bit of modelling would alleviate any such pain,,,, the problem was as I had converted the living room into an expats hostelry the bar also served as the workbench,,,,and a busy little place it was too,, I had lots of people popping in quite frequently,,, not for anything specific of course but just to see how I was getting on,, and on occasions some of them popped out about 36 hours after they had popped in,,, seriously  there is NO alcohol in Saudi Arabia,,, one day I'll tell the tale of the leaking grand piano!!!!

Valour came out of this time and when I returned to UK and sobered,,, sorry washed the sand from between my toes it found a conveniently dusty part of the shed storage system and slowly rooted itself to the spot,,,, at some point in it's travels I noticed it had acquired a small dent on the boiler,,, I was going to ignore  it and carry on,,, but quite frequently this strange gibbering thing appeared on my left shoulder & would squark into my left ear,,, "you can't do that it's Valour for chrissakes",,, a similar gibbering thing occasionally would squark in my right ear,,, "am I ever going to see Valour finished" and unfortunately he was right he never did,,, sorry father,, but at least you can now go for a ride behind the real one on Valhalla Railways,,,, so my new years resolution for the past 10 years,, including 2013 is to get the bloomin thing finished and WE HAVE started as Valour now has an undented boiler,,, in fact Valour now has a NEW boiler and all is well,,, as there are only about 35/40 bits of detailing I need to do to be happy it should be making an appearance somewhere near you in the next 5 to 7 years,,,, I really do want to get it finished as it will be worth much more to Helen when she has the pleasure of cashing it in at some point in the future!!!! [Now there's a cheerful thought]

But I cannot deny that it's already 30 years old and has never really turned a wheel in angst!!
I'm also terrified that as Valour is nearing completion Mr Hornby could well announce on 17th Dec that he is going to be bringing it out in 2013,,, Murphy's Law rules OK,,,, in 1973 I scratch built a Y7 in plasticard whilst on detachment in Sardinia,,, about 6 months later Nucast produced a kit for it,,, and in 74 I scratch built an A5 tank and then not only Nucast but Craftsman brought out there kit's,,, as the Who used to sing,,,,, "why don't y'all FFFFFade away"!!!!

I will give regular updates as to how we are progressing and the first one is now as I have just found the etched nameplates for it purchased from Millholme Models Nottingham for the princely sum of £1.85,,, HOW MUCH,,, do you think I'm made of money!!!!

Thanks for the mammory's

See last blog for explanation of what this is all about!!!

As you can see it's been censored,,, but the ratings should rocket after this effort!!!
I'll keep you informed.

Statistics,,, just thought I'd let you know.

Some pictures just don't need an explanation and this has to be one of them,,,,, it's from Australia,,, where else.

Now I could bore you with tales of a gentleman's social club I was once a very active member of but I'd better not,,, due to the fact that if anybody though it distasteful I probably could not attract the attention of Max Clifford should I need his assistance,,, THANK YOU for that whoever you are.

I am now considering the fact that their probably is a god.

Now the real reason for this edition is that I have just discovered the statistics page,,,, and I can confirm we are now global,,, we have viewers all over the world,,, say something please,,, leave a comment even if it isn't in English and I don't understand it,,, a comment is a comment,,, never mind the significance,, we get measured on these things!!

Now I don't know why but we appear to be popular in Israel,,, which is a bit of a shock somewhat for someone who has spent the best part of 25 years working on the Arabian Peninsula!!!!

It also strikes me that as we now need to get the ratings up I might have to make the pictures a bit more,,,mmm,,, shall we agree on saucy!!!!
Whilst the miners and steelworkers of south Yorkshire are very enlightening to me I'm afraid they are just not attracting the 1000's of strikes we need,,,,, ONLY JOKING,,, but perhaps you'll get an idea of where I'm coming from with the last pic for today's edition.

Now I know exactly where this is,,, it's not far from Sheffield's Comedy Playhouse [also known as Hillsborough]-[ and don't even try to get me going on what's happening or not happening there at the present moment in time!!!] anyway Hendersons Relish,,,it's a peculiarly special thing for Sheffield,,, don't ask me why,,, we were recently living in Huddersfield which is only 23 miles away and they had never heard of it,,,and on a good day when they are "concocting" the stuff the aroma is unbelievable,,, it also cleans alloy wheels very effectively,,ha ha only joking Mr Henderson!!!!

Tingle Finger Rules OK

Just thought I'd give you the first update in the final month of the year,,,,, we've been that busy up't shed that I just have not had time to offer meanderings on the blog.

Have heard nothing from Mr Wright or DJH ref the faux-pas on the Q7 front spectacle plate,,, typical,,, mine is now sporting brake gear and the aformentioned  Q7/2 cab arrangement,,, I won't mention it if you don't.
Mind you at one recent exhibition some learned scholar rolled up from the R.C.T.S stand and informed me the number on my J52 saddle tank was inaccurate.

Strikes me as that's all the RCTS lads do,,, it's like virtual trainspotting,,, when the show opens one of them trots round taking all the numbers of scratch or kit built models at the show,, they all then sit round in a steamy huddle and check all their reference books to see if the number is right,,, he really was pleased with himself, I duly congratulated him on his observation and he seemed somewhat bemused by my explanation that I often number things wrongly just to see if anybody notices!!!

In all fairness where would we be without the RCTS locomotive books,,, he was right and it was a fair cop, I didn't bother boring him that the J52 was built and painted around 1972 when I was an impoverished airman in Her Majesty's Royal Air Farce,,, and at the time my modelling expenditure just did not run to RCTS loco bibles!!!! Needless to say the J52 was in need of a refurbish on several fronts and that is in hand,,, mind you I am sorely tempted to give it the same number,,, just to see if he notices,,, another thing about the RCTS lads is why do they all look like me old technical drawing teacher,,, sports jacket, complete with leather elbow protectors, and the finest set of pencils and engineers rules Mr Staedtler ever invented, BLESS.

The tingle finger is back and whilst soldering some cab doors for the D2 I'm sure I got a whiff of burning
digit,,, now I'm on the digital type writer I can confirm that not only is my left hand index finger sore but I have the the shape of a left hand D2 cab door etched into the end of it.

Worth every grimace,,, the D2 was also started in approx 1994 whilst in Bahrain and like the 20 or 30 odd other half finished projects it deserves better,, so we are having a concerted effort to finish some of them.

I will close with a picture,,, and what a picture,,, Sheffield Steel Workers at the turn of the century,,, thats 1900 not the Y2K frolic,,, what I want to know is why can't you buy flat caps like that any more,,, there are 30 on show and at least 10 different varieties,,, wonderful,, and all these guy's were probably downing 10 pints every lunchtime!!!!!  [Back row 2nd from right looks very familiar,,, I wonder if we are related!!] and how old is the little chap seated bottom left!!!!! he could only do 5 pints a lunchtime!!!!

Can I get counselling????

Well you just can't trust anyone these days,,,,, I think I might be in need of some serious counselling!!!

After the delights of the Chelmsford exhibition, [and all that free tea] I adjourned to the shed full of enthusiasm and decided I would attempt to finish off at least 4 or 5 of the half built kits I have gathering dust on various shelves.

The one which took my eye was a DJH LNER Q7 kit which I had started probably around 16+ years ago when in Bahrain,,,,, my type of engine the Q7,,,, a boiler, 8 driving wheels, a no frills freight engine.

I then remembered in an old edition of Modelling Railways Illustrated there was a nice picture of a nearly completed one and was assuming that there might even be an article on how he'd done it and what sort of problems he had encountered.

My filing system is slowly improving as it only took me about 2 hours to locate the MORRILL concerned,,, [what a great magazine that was,,, full of useful info and plenty of Mr Rices quirky drawings to ponder over,,, a great shame it vanished,,, not so sure I miss the drawings though,,, and whatever happened to him]
Yes!!!!! there it is,,,, a nice pic of a Q7 just about to go to the paintshop on the front cover,,, I explore the 1996 mag and guess what this Q7 has been put together by Tony Wright,,, there is NO article on how he'd done it but it is a nice picture and it spurs me on further.

Out comes the kit bashing 25w soldering iron,,, I wipe away all the cobwebs and away we go,,, this is what rainy Saturdays are all about,,, a serious bout of "tingle finger" soldering white metal kits together.
After copious quantities of tea and a few visits from the cat I am making serious progress and am quite happy with the results,,, especially the cab which has gone together nice and square and I am particularly pleased with the solder joints from the cab sides to the roof.

The management advises dinner is ready and I wrap it up for the day,,, remembering whilst wandering across the lawn to the kitchen that I also have a Locomotives Illustrated mag of NER freight engines,,, that will need finding as well as I am getting close to doing a bit of detailing.

Now I knew where that one is and it is to hand within just 10 minutes,,,, after dinner I start flicking through the mag and am getting quite excited about finishing of this monster of Raven freightliness.

I'm getting so excited I even start browsing through the written bit at the front of the article and then it hit me,,, that horrible sinking in stomach feeling that I used to get quite frequently about 3 minutes before the old man read the school report!!!!! you know the feeling,,,, and I quote, " one of the distinctive features of this type is the stepped front spectacle plate recessed into the cab which was seen as the preferred option to extending the wheelbase of the loco",,, stepped spectacle plate,,, distinctive feature,,, my DJH kit hasn't got a stepped spectacle plate,,, and more to the point neither has the picture on the front cover either,,,, I flick through a couple of pics again and yes there is a step in the spectacle plate and it is quite distinctive!!!!!

The soldering of the cab was probably my best ever,,, and we all know that to try and undo it is going to result in scratch building the whole ensemble,,,, What to do!!!!

Now not many people know there was a Q7/2 which had a flat fronted spectacle plate and very few people have ever modelled one,,,, I know of only 2 me,,, and one other!!!

Was it Cyril Freezer that once said "only ever use the picture of the real thing,,, never use a picture of a model" now good old Cyril knew what he was talking about you could rely on him!!!!

Sink Plunger Strikes Again.

Well we all survived the Chelmsford do last weekend and what an exhibition it was.
Have done quite a few exhibitions over the years and I have NEVER experienced:
1, Before we had got out of the van some smiling gent called Andy insisted on helping us get all our gear into the hall!!!
Not only was he helpful but he appreared to be enjoying himself.

2, Smiling Andy departed to help someone else and then another gent appeared asking if we needed any assistance,,, and when it came to putting up the light box his assistance was invaluable.

3, FREE TEA all day!!!! [for residents of the pastures & it's humanoid operators that is a quite considerable investment!!!]

4, The Operators free SPAGBOL on the Saturday was wonderful,,, my only gripe would have to be there was about 3 times more than I could finish in the half hour allowed.

What a lovely club Chelmsford appear to have,,, loads of quality trade stands,, [luckily I was too busy to spend any dosh] loads of nice layouts & everyone appeared to be having a good time.

Our old friend Sink Plunger appeared with his fistful of cinematice wizardry and his efforts are well worth a look on YouTube,, just pump in Chelmsford Exhibition 2012 and you'll see what I mean.

Thanks to:
DTO for getting the great unwashed to Chelmsford.
Hasselblad for swanning all day in his inimitable fashion.
Druid Mike,,, be advised,,, for the first hour your expression appeared to be somewhere between panic and terrified,,,by 2.30pm you appeared to be enjoying yourself.
Mr Josh,,, I did notice the GWR Psychic B or whatever it was that you slipped onto the quiet end of the shed,,, as Herr Flick advised on frequent occasions,,, "Zer Vill be REPRIZALS".
AndyB,, the bed was warm although we could have done with being in it a bit longer, your choice of hostelry was excellent, and you have not lost your touch at humping on a Friday afternoon,,, very impressive,, especially after all these years!!!
Alan Davies the Chelmsford Exhibition Manager,,, Alan a wonderful day out,, organised to perfection and we all had a great time,, ti's a pity you cannot convince your chums to do a 2 day bash,, as these good 1 day shows are over too quickly.

Many thanks to all from SAD & Salmon Pastures.

A milk bottle is born!!!

As mentioned earlier this could well be the last blog before the Chelmsford bash this coming Saturday,,, see the last blog for the full address and date,, " sorry but I'm far too busy to include in this one"

Glad tidings are abounding,,, after 4 attempts, I repeat 4 attempts we have produced a passing excuse of a 4mm scale single milk bottle & it will be on full show at Chelmsford so all you lot have to do is find it!!! I'll give you a quick clue as your starter for ten and advise that it is full and upright!!!

I'd love to tell you what the successful formula for 4mm scale milk bottle production is but if I did Mr Yin in Hangzhou or wherever would be producing them in their millions by this time tomorrow so I won't.

But,, it isn't a cocktail stick,,, they break when you put them in the lathe and it isn't plastic rod as they turn into wet noodles when you try shaping them in a lathe,,, so you work it out.

The picture!!!!! what a cracker,,, another Sheffield shot of a Victorian school in the heart of the steel works,,, I wish I had gone there,, they must have had great fun climbing up that steel works water tower every break time,, & impossible to think of a finer example of co-operation between industry and collegiate life than building a water tower in a school playground,,, this was possibly how adventure playgrounds got started.

I remember school,, free milk,, & that semi-permanent sensation of stinging nettles on the back of my legs and knuckles,,, I really loved school,,, apart from the teachers and lessons,, but I have to admit I always preferred the summer holidays and away days with my Ian Allan bible,, now that was serious religious studies!!

Fresh Air

Well this will almost certainly be the last post before we head off south to strut our stuff at Chelmsford, [this coming Saturday, 20th October 2012 at the King Edward VI Grammar School, Broomfield Road, Chelmsford, Essex].

Now here's a particularly poignant shot of 2 of the pastures residents taking in a good blast of fresh air one Sunday morning in the mid 1930's, just before they ajourned to the hostelry of their choice for a quick game of pontoon and find out who won this mornings pigeon race.

The one with the bowler and well prepared brollie is our old friend Mr Murdoch,, he always like's to make an effort on Sunday's "as one never knows who one might bump into",, his drinking partner is actually married to one of the lady's pushing the pram in an earlier blog, if only he knew what Mr Murdoch gets up to whilst he is gainfully employed filleting cod at the chippie on Mafeking Terrace!!!!

If you put the photo to your ear you can hear the furnaces blasting away, and smell that wonderful aroma of profitable heavy industry,,, even on Sunday mornings,,, and if your particularly lucky you may even hear the clank of shunting coal wagons being pushed up the loading incline,,, a wonderful black and white world and not a flocker, pagoda roofed tin shack or cow pat in sight,,, but we do have horse pats,,, just ask at Chelmsford for full details!!!!

Elf & Safety "Pastures Fashion"

Now here's another little gem,,, [ and please click on it as it is worth studying in all it's monochrome glory] straight out of the Pastures Archive & if this one dosen't get the H&S commando's moisturising their briefs then I'm half Vietnamese

Personally I cannot see anything wrong in this picture!!!! here we are way back when in our very own Citadel Steels & that is a small but very active Bessemer Convertor and it's in action as there is a distinct Black & White glow emmanating from its main orifice.

I estimate approximately 6 feet away we have the Bessemer Operator fully protected in his dads string vest, vintage flat cap and braces, with him & kneeling whilst facing east and spying the largest flagon of cider I have ever seen in my life is the operator's assistant,,,he is kneeling as a sign of respect to his boss OR he has sampled too much of the cider.

Now that wind up device is to get the operators assistant back on his feet on the odd occasion he over imbibes on the cider,, it's either that or a very early Yorkshire cast iron wrist watch.

Now in an elevated position above the convertor there is obviously the shift superintendent as he is sporting a waistcoat and is allowed to avoid looking directly at the camera to underline his elevated position in the organisation and so as to confirm this the Lord almighty has blessed him with some direct sunlight.

Now above and beyond the Bessie Operator [as they were known] we have the pointsman,,,now he has seen so many people, maimed, fried, charboiled, roasted and basted that he is well beyond protective workwear and being a practising muslim he has decided if his time's up then it's up and there's now't he can do about it.

Now his job is to alter the direction of the spoil shoot to either the preformed sand ingots or if he is in playful mood & being a bit of a japer he has on occasions tried pouring the white hot metal into the Bessie Operators right ear,,, laugh,,, he nearly died,,, he's a card that pointsman.

Now then think on this little pearl,,,, when all this was going on as a matter of routine in most town's north of the trent and before Elf and Safety was invented we not only had an empire but we ruled the world as well!!!

This was the time when we were casting driving wheels above peoples heads 365 days a year not just as some sideshow to kick off the olympics,,, thats where the empires gone,,, the Elf & Safety battalions have made British industry so uncompetetive they have handed our heavy industry to the Chinese and Indians on a silver platter,,, and we used to make them as well.

See you in Chelmsford,,, bring the missus,,, I'll show her round our enchanted garden!!!!

Bathing on an industrial scale!!!

I just have to share this little gem with our burgeoning band of supporters,,, and it is taken from my rapidly expanding "life in the real world" album.

Not wanting to bore you with too much detail I actually remember bathing in something like this as a child,,, but I'm sure my experience was in a larger and more comfortable vessel than this poor devil.

It's another mine workers photo from 1931,,now he has probably just finished a shift down't pit and is need of some cleansing!!!! On completion of his very personal hygene regime he probably shot off round his local hostelry and downed 15 pints of Mansfield Best Bitter,,,, and rightly so if you ask me.

Unbelievable,,, not really that's the way things were,,, and everybody had a smile on their face,,, and I'm not surprised after 15 pints of Mansfield Best!!!!

Think on all you flockers,,think on!!!

EXCLUSIVE Shock-Gasp-Horror Mr Murdoch's at it again.

As mentioned in an earlier blog what we have in this picture is what with a casual glance may appear to be quite a normal scene of everyday life here at the pastures.

WRONG

This scene is far from normal and the intrigue is such that it can only be a matter of time before the RedTop Sunday excuses for journalists get a hold of this sordid little tale.

Two young mums pushing their dearest down Citadel Hill to do a bit of shopping to get something for tea,,, tripe and onions is a favourite or perhaps a nice 4 penneth of brisket,,[ho ho those were the days!!]

Coming up the hill is Mr Murdoch [the local hyperactive lothario] with one of his multitudinous offspring,,, just met at the tramstop opposite the shops.

Now the intrigue is that there are 3 children in this shot and Mr Murdoch is the biological father of all of them!!,,not to mention neither of the 2 mums realise that he is the father of the other's child.

He's a very busy boy this Mr Murdoch,,, and is there any wonder he is trying to interest his young son in anything rather than making eye contact with either of his two previous conquests,,, as if an 8 year old would be interested in bespoke hand made furniture.

There's more than meets the eye for the residents of Salmon Pastures,,, come and see us in all our sordid detail at Chelmsford on October 20th,,, you won't be disappointed,, and if you are it's too late as you will have already paid!!!

Swanning around.

Yes Yes,, I know I've changed the background photo again,,, this one was taken by our old friend Alan "Hasselblad" [that's welsh for Westerner] Davies and for me it sums up the essence of life on the pastures,,, it's murky, an uphill struggle, and the far distance is well out of focus,, wonderful,, nothing to do with me not having to pay him royalties for his very atmospheric image.
There is an interesting little tale about the pedestrians on the hill but I'll save that one for when I've found another close up shot of this little lot.
You are probably wondering what all this has to do with swan-upping and all that Thames Pageantry.
Well Mr Hasselblad will actually be joining us at Chelmsford and he is a very useful person to have alongside,,, when things get fraught Alan has this wonderful capability of serenely carrying on whilst the world falls apart around him,,, a bit like the swan going against the current,, very graceful on the surface whilst all hell is breaking loose in the engine room arena.
Now I'm not suggesting that we are in for a rough time at Chelmsford,, Oct 20th [just in case you forget] but if we do Alan is very adept at multifunctioning,,, he can drive the tram, smile, and hold a conversation with a member of the public all at the same time whilst out of view yours truly is unwittingly burning holes in his trouser legs with a soldering iron,,, I told you we have fun whilst exhibiting.
We look forward to meeting you all a week on Saturday!!

Whatever happened to Arthur Scargill !!

You may well ask,,, is he still with us or has he gone off on yet another wild eyed Maggie Hunt,, I have to say some 30 odd years later what he was getting so upset about turned out to be quite true but his methods left a bit to be desired. He made Ghengis look like a moderate, [I won't mention the racing combover & frothing at the mouth oratory!!] He never seemed to work out that nobody south of Sherwood Forest either cared or had the faintest idea of what he was getting so upset about as most of the pits were north of the Trent anyway,,, except Wales of course,, and dealing with them made it a balanced situation as he understood them as well as they understood him.

Now I am not a political animal,,, strategically juxtapositioned somewhere between Screaming Lord Sutch,,, [whatever happened to him as well] and Jeremy Thorpe [deceased I think,, he of the homburg and slightly unnerving smile,,, especially if you were a labrador!!] but the reason I am pondering on our Arthur is I have spent the past 10 days lathering certain area's of the pastures with coal dust,, I got so carried away I realise I now even smell like Orgreave,, and shock gasp horror,, guess what they are now starting to open cast coal again in Northumberland,, "whyeyemon let's get back doon the Bladon Races & git blathered on Newky Broon" and all that.
So we can all sleep soundly in our beds knowing that anyone else who wants to lather his engine shed in 4mm finescale coal dust will be able to do it with good old English Coal and not have to use inferior continental burning dust from Poland or wherever,,, perhaps that's where Arthur ended up,,, there's no end of coal in Poland for him to get excited about & perhaps they actually understand what he is ranting on about,, unlike them south of the Notts Leics border.

My great grandfather was a coal miner in Nottinghamshire,,, I don't know if he is in the picture,,, but if he is I hope he is either the one playing an Al Jolson number on his spade or the fella sitting next to him who has obviously secreted a flagon of something saucy down there,,, just to help him through the quieter moments,, and it's obviously strong stuff as his moustache has fallen off!!! It really is worth clicking on this picture to get it at full size,,, they might have been dirty but my god they were happy!! and I want a tash like the fella 3rd from the left,,,, I bet he played a Soozaphone in his spare time!!

Whatever you do don't forget Chelmsford 20th October,,, I won't try regailing them with tales of my coal mining heritage!!
"What did he say Daphne??"

Oh Happy Days!!!!

It could be me,,, it isn't but it could be,,, what a classic photo of your archetypal late 50's early 60's trainspotter!!! Short trousers, long socks, a school tank top jumper and school tie and your Mum always insisted you took a coat with you "just in case it rains" and it usually did not that I ever bothered to put my coat on I was always too busy!!! And the hair style says it all,,, the only thing missing is the pudding basin!!! I do hope he realises the shed foreman is lurking behind the tender of that Riddles Pacific,,, ha ha how the memories come flooding back. During the summer holidays I had an ongoing battle with some miserable old git who worked in Doncaster Crimpsall Works,,, thinking about it he can't have done much work as he always seemed hell bent on ruining the collegiate fun of yours truly and his ilk,,, I learnt most of my early swear words from him,,, if only he knew what he was responsible for. Seems a waste not to mention the Chelmsford Bash on October 20th,, we have a team of 4 wandering minstrels assisting on this one,,, A suvvern git,, & 3 disciples of Swinedon [GULP] comprising of 2 retired Welsh Wizards and a genuine prodigal Isambard,,, how did I get involved with that little lot,,ah well needs must and I have to admit at the Sheffield Bash in 2009 not only did we tolerate each other but we had copious quantities of fun as well. [and the very occasional bout of serious refreshments!!!] Come along and join in,,, we have lot's of new bits to show you.

Paint yer wagon!!!! Lee Marvin eat yer-heart out.

Ha ha,, the thought of Lee Marvin singing his Stanley Knife music round the backstreets of Sheffield has stimulated my imagination considerably,,, "I was born under an empty pint pot" or "I was born under our back stairs" perhaps,,, WHO needs Lee anyway,,, what's important is that the wagon is acutally painted!!!,,, I read an article in some old magazine extolling the virtues of painting plastic in acrylics!!!!! now I've tried,,,

I have to say "virtues" is not a word that springs to mind!!!! I've got some of them acrylics I thought,,, now then where did I put them,,, 40 minutes later and choking on about 3cwt of cobwebs that accompanied the Master Class Acrylic Paint set and easel I decided to give it a go!!!! Ultramarine Blue,,, that sounds nice and nautical,,, just what I want for a bit of light relief against the backdrop of murky streets and a smoke laden atmosphere,,, YES aquamarine will do fine!!! So I donned my beret,, and waited for the right type of light,, Ah there it is let's get the first coat on,,, now the accompanying literature with the paint set which really should be called "Noddy's guide for acrylic numpty's" advised that the neat paint would need thinning down a bit,,, so out comes the plastic pipette complete with diluted cobwebs and we thin it down a bit,,, I then noticed the paint was hiding in one corner of my round mixing pot and the thining agent was swashing about all round it but there appeared to be some form of genetic disorder in that they were very reluctant to mix!!!! After several attempts there was some cooperation from the paint and joy of joy's when transferring it from the mixing pot to the plastic wagon body it had second thoughts and the paint wanted to hide at one end of the body while the mixing agent was happy to splosh anywhere and everywhere except into the area's where the blue acrylic was lurking!!!! Perhaps I do need Lee Marvin crooning away in the background I was beginning to muse after the 4th coat,,, anyway never admit defeat,, after some timely assistance from Mr Humbrol and his tinnie pals I offer a picture of the finished article!!! Surprisingly I'm quite happy with it,,, but the next time I do one I'll leave Noddy and his pals to prat around with the acrylics on plastic,,, I'll be staying firmly in the humbrol camp. Anyway enough of all this modelling twaddle,,, don't forget we are really looking forward to the Chelmsford Bash,,, 20th October just look for the baldies having a good time. Please make yourself/selves known and you could win the Polo!!!

The Owl and the Pussycat

Now if you have time to scan around this pic you will find another blip into my murky past. In the close vacinity of the "Gents" [thats the cast iron green thing, complete with blocked drain far left of the picture] we have 2 members of Her Majesties "Royal Air Farce", a comedy act close to my heart. Feeling fully relieved is an officer of at least Air Rank,,, [he's got scrambled egg on is 'at] In need of relief is a Senior Aircraftsman [probably photographer] about to do the needful. Now the interesting thing is the Air Commodore [or whatever] is on his wife's pushbike,,, and the SAC is in a brand new Morris 8 tourer!!!!! Ha ha ha,,, you don't get such social discrepencies in real life,,, but when you're building your own world you can do what you like. Don't get me going on the Paralympics,,, I feel embarrassed to be able bodied!!! How do they do that!!!

Don't time fly !!!!

Just look at this we are nearly a quarter of the way through September and not a blog to be seen,,,,, but don't time fly when your bashing your head against a brick wall,,, and that lovely semi-conscious feeling and jibbering smile when you stop. What's the picture all about,,, well if you look closely you will see not only were we at the Great Dorset Steam Fair again,,, it's not an event it's an annual pilgrimage,,, but that is Winston Churchill in the background being pulled on and off,,,, it's trailer,,,, about every 2 hours. The Wednesday was a complete washout,,, the organisers stopped all movements of anything,, but one,, cars and caravans were sliding down hills at 45 degrees to each other,,, great fun,,, the somewhat soggy Dorset Constabulary were turning people away with gay abandon,,, 25 tonnes of groaning Burrells were making lovely trenches in somebody's corn field and the only movements that were allowed were pedestrians into the largest beer tent in Europe!!! and there were lots of them,,, all happy most soggy, damp, some were even moist,, perhaps nothing to do with the inclement weather but more related to my over active imagination. A sing song ensued,, the Garrett supporters trying to out do the Fowler types and everyone completely ignoring the usual bunch of Swinedon supporters with their manchy top hats and pewter tankards dangling from their waistcoat belts,,, wittering on about the benefits of 7' as against 4'8n half" Oh get a life will yer,,, yer curdling me beer. Anyway don't lets forget October the 20th where we will be strutting the Chelmsford boards just for a change,,, I'm looking forward to this one,,,, as I'm stopping with an old RAF Germany calling colleague from circa 1968-70. HO HO there be no blogging after that weekend for a bit. Enjoy,, and if you'd like to make yourself known you could win the Polo,,,, if you like mints that is.

Mr Brunel and his ilk!!!!

We've had quite an exciting time at the pastures,,,, the opening ceremony of the olympics didn't go unnoticed,,, perhaps not unexpectedly the GWR and all the disciples of Swinedon got some popular actor to dress up as IKB and hold court of the proceedings,,, they just can't help themselves can they!!!! Mind you the next bit with all them smokey chimneys and forging driving wheels 12 feet above the audience was much more aligned to what we see as entertainment here at the pastures,,, very impressive,,, and just think we used to be good at that sort of thing 7 days a week,,, not at some once in a lifetime sporting occasion!!!! Mind you I bet the H&S stormtroopers had a field day with that little lot. Anyway whilst rambling on things western I had the pleasure of helping Mr Josh Courtney on his GWR Potterbourne layout at the Southwold show yesterday,, you wouldn't have recognised me,, but I did find operating his layout with a paper bag on my head somewhat claustrauphobic and not conducive to smooth shunting,,, a thoroughly enjoyable day,,, and nothing to do with watching intently on what was going on in The Gresley Beats fiddle yard which was about 3 feet away. Then it suddenly occured to me that if someone could trap the aroma of a good vindaloo based cow pat in an aerosol can they could make a fortune selling it to GWR exhibition layouts,,, to add to the overall bucolic haze they could spray it all around just to add to the rustic pleasures of life they all seem to be addicted to,,, Mr Gaugemaster,,, if your reading I want 10% of the annual profits!!! And before the GWR society legal department start drowning me in writs pointing out that bucolic actually refers to sheep not cows then all I can say is GET A LIFE!!! Hopefully see you at the Chelmsford bash,,, don't forget Oct 20th!!! No paper bags required for that one!!

Chelmsford Exhibition Oct 20th 2012

Here we go again,,, it's time to giggle our way through another exhibition,,,, this time it's Chelmsford. A nice place with a lovely cathedral and it used to be famous for radio waves and a company called Marconi,,, who were at the cutting edge of all manner of radio development and then caught the uncompetetive disease and promptly followed the trend set by other well known British names,,, Matchless, Arial, Atkinson, British Leyland,,,yo ho,,why is it in the past we were good at all sorts of things!!! Better leave BL out of that profound statement,,, does anybody remember the all singing all dancing All AGGRO with the square steering wheel,,, what a hoot,,, no wonder they went broke. Anyway if anyone would like to join in the merryment just send a sae with a suitable financial inducement to yours truly and I'm sure we will be able to find you a couple of feet of spare floor space to stand in behind the pastures. You'll be surprised to know this is the first wireless driven blog,,, now you know why I was wittering on about Marconi,, so we should be able to blog much more frequently from the kitchen, lounge, bath [probably not a good idea] shed,, garage just look at the photo's,,, the possibility's are endless. T'other photo was taken whilst I was swanning about in my virtual

imaginery Mk16 photo recce Mosquito,, a different view of the pastures,,, thinking of you father!!!!

Out of chaos comes order!!

There's nothing Nietzsche couldn't teach yer about the benefits of Plastikard. Just take a look at the first digipic,,,, a very busy day in't shed!!! Having viewed the blog for the first time in a couple of months it became evident that it was some time since I had actually featured any actual modelling,,,not to mention I was in danger of falling behind my blogging targets for the year. So a couple of pictures to allay any fears that I had taken up basket weaving or philately,,, thats Phil's main trouble,,, he has a definite problem with punctuality. I woke up with a sudden urge one spring morning and experience told me I knew how to get rid of it,,, so off up the shed for a fiddle and rumage through my variety of scrap boxes. I occasioned upon some old PD Marsh horse drawn wagon wheels and various off cuts of plastikard. I then bumped into a picture in the GCR Album by the venerable George Dow of a GCR horse drawn 8 ton wagon. It then dawned on me that you see very few horse drawn wagons on layouts and that was it I had to have one. Its been amazing fun,,, especially the tarpaulin cover,,,, ho ho,, getting that to stick where you wanted it,,, and not sticking where you didn't want it was almost as good as 3 dimensional chess,,, but I am relatively happy with the results,,, so far,,, I would have preferred vertical as against horizontal creasing but at least I now know how to achieve it. Oh Dinners ready so I'll have to pull the chain on this one,,, and the D9 is rapidly cathching up with my Lord Faringdon in the quick start but slow finishing stakes. Hope you like the photo's. SAD

What happened there!!!

Apologies for the poor layout of the last one,,, I have no idea why it was all scrunched up into one breathless paragraph. Probably Jacques and the boys again. Anyway to compensate I offer another delightful shot of,,, yes another industrial scene,, but this one is actually quite interesting,,,that grimy Victorian school building in the background was actually once called Salmon Pastures School. So you see the pastures do exist,, they aren't just a figment of my overactive imagination,,, enjoy.

Edelweiss my posterior.

It's 04.56am,,, the birds are tweeting,,, the cat is cleaning itself for a bit of pre breakfast fun in the back garden and I'm sitting here head down on the blogging machine. I used to be able to sleep for England,,, I was good at it,,, now I find it not only difficult but a complete waste of time,,, there's far too much to do as an alternative,, like blogging. I do hope you all like this weeks picture,,, why would anyone want to model the pennines,, mendips,, or cows full of fields when you can turn your talents to something like this. Our EMPIRE was built in places like this,,, the fact that we decided to sell them all off to the Indians and Chinese and that supermarketeering was much better than manufacturing and heavy industry is for me one of life's mystery's but as I'm not a political animal so be it. All you need is a couple of photo's [preferably black and white,, see earlier blog] a couple of sheets of Plastikard and a bit of spare time and before you know it,,, Robert's your relative you have something that will be a worthwhile back drop to your industrial scene. I feel much better now I've got that off my chest,,, that's whats wrong with the youth of today,,, there's far too much flocking going on,,, everybody's at it,,, we'll all be building mountains and singing Edelweiss if we aren't careful. I personally think Jacques Santair and all his mates in Strasbourg are partly to blame,, the rest is just heresay. It's time for a cup of tea and to check up on that cat,,, she loves delving in the bushes in springtime!!!

Salmon Pastures the MOVIE

Now that we find we can blog with consumate ease it has been decided to offer a very nearly world premier of,,,,

[fanfare of trumptets] "Coming soon at a laptop near you AND in full screen Humbrocolour Cinematic form SALMON PASTURES THE MOVIE,,, well some You Tube shots taken of the pastures at a couple of recent exhibition

Firstly sincere thanks to the 2 guy's below

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlzEbeoQJYw
By vjoneslong ... for this one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0an4RnIZstQ
Wallace, Gromit and "sinkplunger" for his wonderful rendition.

If only we had known at the time we were to become famous we would have put on some form of special show,,,which usually means I fiddle about with all my favourite loco's!!!

So if you do have a video camera and would like to take shots which just might end up on YouTube then please let us know,,, we will roll out our very special 4mm to 1' scale carpet and give you every assistance. [[It would certainly help curtail yours truly from barging past the paying guests offering a somewhat turse apology!!!Once again Mr Jones sorry!!]]

Could even happen at Chelmsford this October 20th,,, just in case you forget!!

PS,,, Now the computer is back from it's 10,000 message service and oil change I have actually been on YouTube and I have to say there are some weird folk about!!! mind you they probably think the same about us!!!

Let's get back to the pastures,,, float backstream

Much to everyones suprise I really am getting the hang of this,,, and it's only taken 6 years.

But I really am to blogging what Herod was to babysitting,,, but it's better than going goggle eyed at the box.

Anyway,,, don't blink or you might miss the Pastures update!!!

Spotting a small window of opportunity in the recent Norfolk Monsoons I donned my bricklayers swimming trunks and shot out there to lay the required 28 bricks,,, and this time the consistancy of the dried mortar didn't resemble a stale Oxo cube,,, that's right folks the mortar has actually glued the bricks together,,, is this how Christopher Wren got started I mused.

So when this current batch of rain vanishes we are in serious danger of getting the base for the pastures new home laid and moving towards taking up residence in our soon to be permanent abode.

The management is sore impressed,,, we even had a brief conversation on the subject over breakfast just the other day.

On a much more interesting area of activity, just Tuesday evening this week I found absolutely nothing to interest me [yet again] on the lunatic lantern and so decided to go and potter about in the garage,,, I do find just looking at my efforts very therapeutic,,,the therapy lasts about 3o seconds and then starts remorphing itself into a list of things I could improve on,,,anyway I digress.

It's the first time I had thought about the pastures since before Xmas and without really thinking about it I decided to clean the track and a few loco wheels and before you could say Walshearts Conjugated Valve Gear I was lets be honest "Playing Trains".

It was wonderful,,, the loco's were a bit stiff and creaky,,they hadn't moved a wheel in anger since Aylsham exhibition last October but I was having fun,,, and after a bit of cleaning it was running well.

Before I knew it there was a knock on the garage door and it was an official announcement that the management was retiring!!! I had been in there since 7.15pm,,, 4 hours of sheer enjoyment.

I enjoyed myself so much I went in there again last night,,, and same again.

I've spent the best part of 15 years building the pastures and it is only now that I am getting some pay back.

Won't apologise for the coloured photo,,, it'a another Sheffield Boozer in the middle of the steelworks,,, the pint was to die for and a model may well appear at some point in the future.[Of the boozer not the creamy nectared refreshment]

Half a Blog

This one really dosen't count but it is a picture, [black and white of course] of a particularly stunning property.

Wonderful and what modelling is all about.

A pub in the middle of some pretty dramatic industrial buildings,,, [steel works] & the real bonus is,,,, you don't need any flock!!!!

I took my lovely wife in there one Sunday lunchtime for a pint,,, it was full of either working or retired steel workers,,, the language was nearly as strong as the bitter,,, wonderful,,, every other sentence came with an apology!!

Oh happy days,, you don't forget things like that in a black and white world.

SAD

That poor old cow's innards

Saturday night and it's on again,,, and all cleverly disguised as entertainment,,, that poor cow.

Anyway onto more enlightening subjects like,,,why are black and white photo's more interesting than coloured ones,,, or is it just me.

Perhaps I am of a generation where black and white is the norm,,, I offer a classic example of what I am on about,,, not only that,,, but the buildings when they were intact were about 1 mile from my favourite imaginary location,,, Salmon Pastures.

Which does actually exist,,, but is now a glorious technicolour annexe of one of europe's largest shopping malls,,, and you cannot move for mosque's and empty McDonut wrappers,,, yuch.

About 20 years ago I took a work colleague on a trip through industrial Yorks and Lancs,,, [what a lovely name for a railway] we were supposed to be visiting industrial battery manufacturers but spent most of our time looking at some pretty incredible scenery and victorian buildings.

My colleague was born in South Africa and lived in a particularly rural part of Hampshire near Basingstoke,,, on driving past a particularly run down area of Bolton he commented that he could not understand why anybody on gods earth would want to live in a terraced house!!!

I exploded and called him all manner of snobbish southern gits,,, and mentioned that I had been born and bred in a terraced house just like the one's he was scoffing at and it was wonderful.

He thought that answered all manner of things,,,he was a particularly colourful character,,, I on the other hand prefer black and white.

Not particularly interesting I suppose but better than watching that poor cow's innards yet again and it does give me an opportunity to mention the pastures will be displayed,,, colourful terraced houses and all at Chelmsford model railway exhibition in October 2012.

Suvvern Gits!!! I really do love em.

Look forward to seeing you there,,, whoever you are.

SAD and everyone else at the Pastures.

Fancy a Ramble.

Ramblings of a pasteurized mind,,,, Murphy's law is alive and kicking. Further to a visit to my local friendly builders merchant I am now fully equipped with bricks, mortar, wall plates and all manner of buildy type things so I can commence on the very overdue home for The Pasture's.
[now that the cattery no longer exists and the management has decided she really does need to put her car in the garage]
And despite the hosepipe ban and government sponsored official drought in East Anglia,,, since I took possession of the aformentioned builders bits it hasn't stopped bloomin raining,,,, I really am getting a bit precipitated off with all this.
Whilst living in Jeddah for 9 years, where it rains once a decade for about 3 hours, we never had a hosepipe ban or government sponsored droughts there,,, how do they do that.
All right the water was a bit salty that came out of the local desalination plant,,, but we wouldn't dream of drinking the stuff,,,, I'm sure if I handn't showered in it for 9 years I may still have some hair!!!
Well actually we did have a sponsored drought after the government discovered that some of the water the expats were drinking was decidedly alcoholic,, sorry,, fizzy.
Does this actually qualify as blog 4? Send us a comment please please please let me know your' still alive,, whoever you are.

Casualty!!!! That's not what Saturday night is for!!!

A new window of opportunity has occured to this most reluctant of bloggers,,, rather than sit and watch green clad mummies disecting some poor cow's innards whilst pretending it's a human being I can be much more productive by blogging to my known 4 followers,,, and perhaps many more,,, who perhaps understandably prefer to remain anonymous.

What a gay time we had at York exhibition last weekend,,,, Gresley Beat,, Stoke Summit and trade stands to die for.
I personally offered my thanks to the very kind man on the Bachmann stand,,, what a year for us confirmed North Country types,,,, is it Christmas already!!!
They had the Scottish Director D11/2 in the usual glass cases and in my opinion it looks tremendous,,, doubtless there will be myriads of rivet counters with serious consternations offering all manner of critique's as to why the round headed rivet on the back of the widget valve is pointing down as against slightly up but to be quite honest who cares,,, it's a GCR loco,,, just what The Pastures is all about promoting.

I had to offer my sincere thanks to smiley Bachmann man and thank him for the first GCR r-t-r passenger release and he like me was duly elated,,, we then swooned onto the possibilities of later releases of the D11/1,, D10's not to mention the NRM Butler version.

All this before we get round to the news on the Pom-Pom,,, a proper engine,,, YoHO who's afraid of Osama Brunel now!!! And all the copper clad disciples are already whingeing on various forums as to why anyone would consider anything other than a Swinedon loco could possibly be popular.

As I was on a euphoric "Directed" role I also suggested it wouldn't take a lot of effort to extend the boiler,,, drop another pair of driving wheels in and Sam's your Uncle.
His response,,, "We know,, we have to seriously consider all possibilities before we commit to any new models"

AND and and,,,they are also going to do a Yorks & Lanc's 2-4-2 tank,,, they used to run from Huddersfield [not lately madam] into Sheffield via Penistone and all those lovely stone clad viaducts so we will definitely be having one of those joining us down by the river.

What a year for The Pastures,,,,, I'll have to sell the recent ebay purchases of both an old Bec Director and LYR 2-4-2t as they will never hold a candle to the offerings from Barwell,,, I think it's called Murphy's Law.

Ah well,, Casualty has finished,,,they have sewn up the poor cow till next week and I need to fight my way past the dog and cat to get a front row seat for MOTD.

Is it May yet???? NO then only one to go,,,, watch this space.

Don't time fly when your having fun

As expected the much vaunted ambition to "avablogamonth" has already missed a couple of months BUT there have been mitigating circumstances.

The good news is we have been invited to Chelmsford Exhibition in October which will give me lots of things to tinkle with between now and then.

Could be a dangerous weekend as an old AirFarce chum lives just down the road and he has agreed to assist!!!!!,,,, he's never been near a model railway in his life so it could be
"tres intressant" as they say dans l'continant,,, as against incontinent!!!!

I have also been very bust on a top secret project just down the road,,, but as we are all sworn to secrecy best I leave it there,,, but SAD has been dabbling with N gauge,,, and "intit small,,,, cripes my digits are far too oversized for such twiddlings".

The quick dust over and track clean on fathers posthumous efforts have had to take a slow shunt to nowhere for the time being,,, but all is not lost,,,, it is now working after a fashion and I just need to sit and look at if for a bit before I decide where we go next. Watch this space.

The dog has taken up residence in the cats' box in't shed and that has created all manner of agro,,, but all is not lost as now we don't need the calor gas burner on full belt every session they are both quite content to sit outside and joust for position on the shed threshold.

Will have to leave it there as I'm fed up with all this,,, but only 2 more to go to get back on track.

TTFN

Smolt's or Baby Salmon to you

Nature is a wonderful thing,,,, after residing in various garage's for long enough the pastures has spawned,, son of Salmon Pastures,, yet another odyssey on the favourite "where there's brass there's broke finger nails" theme.

Actually started by father as his "final fling",,, unfortunately he flung before it was finished and in a moment of brandy induced sentimental madness I told him I'd finish it,, someday,, and after sitting in the garage loft for nearly 10 years gathering dust and contracting warpy baseboards disease I now wish I had kept my mouth shut.

What was sold to me as a quick whip round with a track rubber & a few buildings to finish to taste,, has become a life's work,,, oh what fun we are having,,,, now we have built new points & replaced all the track and made a concerted effort to instill some East Anglian level flatness to the woodwork and fathomed the wirey plugs et al we are slowly starting to enjoy ourselves.

[Well it's cheaper than spending endless hours in the local,,, but only just]

Cassette's are in,, inpractical but nonetheless IN,, otherwise it gets a bit cold having the shed door open for any form of running session,, and in an unexpected departure from normal SAD logic this one will probably be based on British Railways late 50's early 60's when yours truly was actually trainspotting, on the other hand I have so much LMS LNER stuff it might not to mention that my D9 is over 50% unfinished!!!

Thats all folks,,,, I just can't wait for February!!

Anyway this years resolution is to Blog-a-month,, but not necessarily in chronological order.