The UP's,,, the Zeppelin L1 Ugly Duckling is very nearly finished,,,
Salmon Pastures
A personal trip down memory lane to my trainspotting youth. A fictitious model railway of South Yorkshire in 4mm plus other spontaneous ramblings of an overactive imagination!!
Sunday 16 July 2023
Ups and Downs
Thursday 6 July 2023
GOOD NEWS....We are back on the exhibition circuit. September 2nd 2023.
Thursday 22 December 2022
A very Merry Xmas to all our readers.
Having spent a little time attempting to understand the STATS page on this blog,,, I discovered that after UK the most views are from Australia,,, and one of them even sent me an Xmas card which I thought I should share with you all.
Tuesday 13 December 2022
SPUDCO Rules OK
Further to the extra-ordinary business meeting which was called late yesterday evening by the Salmon Pastures Urban District Council I offer a brief appraisal of the outcome of the meeting.
Apologies were received from Mr S Klaus who understandably could not attend the meeting at such short notice.
Motion 1,
For affiliated members of the Salmon Pastures Operating Group to join in the current industrial action being taken by the RMT Union.
The members of the operating group decided against joining the action by 14 votes to nil, It was felt by all members that considering the difficult circumstances experienced over the 2020 and 2021 Festive Seasons that our paying passengers had quite probably experienced enough hardship in recent years and were in no position to take unpaid industrial action at the current time.
Motion 2,
For affiliated members of the Salmon Pastures Operating Group to offer support to the nursing staff with their industrial action at the Salmon Pastures Cottage Hospital.
The members of the operating group decided against joining the action by 14 votes to nil, it was felt by all members of the operating group that even if support was offered it probably would not fit or be of a size to be of any use.
It was agreed that a hefty portion of moral support be sent to Matron H Jacques with the condition that it is returned as and when they have no further use for it and providing it was still in a useable condition.
Motion 3,
That a testing sequence be instigated by the permanent way and motive power departments as soon as possible to ensure that a full Yuletide service can be carried out at short notice over the Festive Season.
This motion was passed by all members present and was then carried out of the chamber to be disposed of by the sanitary department.
As there were no further motions presented to the meeting all members ajourned to the Ball Cock Inn at approximately 21.45 hours.
Full minutes of the meeting are available for perusal at the council office's.
The Chairman [male] wished all present a Happy Xmas, Successful New Year and positive modelling during whichever trials and tribulations are likely to be thrown at it over the coming 12 months.
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PS: The World has gone absolutely mad,,, and we can't blame this one on Putin, Brexit, or any other spurious excuse our leaders are likely to come up with.
If in doubt, just smile and solder on,,,, and for any interested party my 25watt iron costs me 3p an hour [ I know co's I've now got a smart meter] which I see as damn good value for money,,, especially as Mr Hatton is trying very hard to sell me 3 x decidedly dodgy,,sorry "genesis" 6 wheel coaches for £150,,, as Mr Meldrew once said,,, "I just don't believe it" the world really has gone bonkers!!!
Have a Very Merry Xmas everybody,,, stay away from the sherry,, avoid,, the lager and just go full tilt into the single malt of your choice,,, you know it makes sense!!!
Sunday 6 November 2022
You don't have to be mad,,,, but,,,, it certainly helps.
A recent report published by the British Medical Journal advised that various recent "polls" [or should that be "poles" ] had concluded that living in UK over the past 10>12 years had seen a dramatic rise in the number of suicides and felt honour bound to advise all it's readers that committing suicide can seriously affect your health!!!
Do they really need to spend 5 years at Uni before coming out with such momentus insights,,, come on,,, even I, with my semi-addled brain remember the:
Financial crash
Tory Lib Dem coalition
Austerity,,, [made a lovely 0-6-0 saddle tank]"
Brexit
Jousting with Bruxelles,, [I've been and I know how to spell it properly]
Covid's 1, 2, and 3
Boris,, closely followed by Trussonomics,,,
and now just to round the square off we can all enjoy some "Politically Induced Poverty" just to keep our minds of it whilst we all go completely bonkers.
Suicide,, I considered it myself once but the date of choice clashed with an appointment at the hairdresser's so I gave it a miss,,, and I'm glad I did,, co's soon after I rediscovered railway modelling and just look at what I have been up to recently.
Yes the L1 has fought it's way through the cobwebs and is now being fitted with a new cab roof!!!
Yes,, you guessed it,, the caravan season is over and I am back at it in a rapidly cooling garage.
Still no exhibition's to report on,,, perhaps I should add that to the above list!!
Saturday 2 April 2022
Dad's Army gets another recruit.
Sunday 13 February 2022
and another thing,,, last post continued.
The world has gone mad,,, how do I know???,,it's easy,, I have this very morning received a written request for an update to the blog!!!
WHAT,,whatever happened to the freedom of information act,, I'll decide when the blog gets updated.
In fairness I may need a bit of reminder now and again that I haven't been active for some time,,mmm,,[and it's not only on the blog] but have you checked out the statistic's for this year,,, not to be sniffed at,,, especially when I'm in the garage!!
Where was I,, Oh yes,, the clandestine improvements to a foreign tank engine of questionable parentage and I forgot to mention,,, and let's be honest it should come as no surprise that this GW pannier is actually backward,,, I bet I shouldn't say things like that anymore so let's rephrase backward with erm,, special needs.
Why,,, well,,, if I put any of my LNER, GCR, GNR, NER, LYR, LMS engines [and I have a fair few] on the track and select reverse,,, they go in reverse,,, if I select forward,, believe it or not they go forward,, but not satan's chariot,, oh no,,, to fall in line with the ridiculous lamp iron scenario,, if you put this thing on the track and select forward it ignores you and go's in reverse,, and vicky verky.
It really is very hard to find any positives about working on this thing,, and believe me I have tried.
GOVERNMENT HEALTH WARNING.
The Ministry of Technical Advancement would like to advise any person using a digital soldering iron for either commercial or non commercial purposes that the pre-set temperature at the working end of the iron [that is the sizzly end for all railway modellers] is the same for all interchangeable tips,,,,,,,,,,,, SO BE WARNED.
What this means in practice is if you have a small spindly soldering tip in place and set the temp for working with 145 deg's solder and work nicely attaching lamp irons to unspecified white metal lumps,, then life is fine.
If you then change the tip to a more substantial item which retains heat much better than a spindly tip then life is not fine,,, especially if you do not change the temperature setting to compensate for this fact,, and so if you then go into action, full of confidence, based on past successes, with the bigger tip without lowering the temperature then you can very easily burn wacking great big holes in substantial parts of unspecified lumps of white metal,,,,, OH DEAR WHAT A SHAME!!!! just mentioning this for a friend.
PS: I do hope you all like the new header photo of the soon to be completed Jersey Lily.
Memo to manufacturing:
Either lengthen the stone guard irons or rename them as boulder guards,,, how the heck did I miss that!!