The Property Market!!!!! [Don't get me started on another legal fiasco]

I've not forgotten any of you,,, I'm not ignoring you either,,, we are moving!!!!
Oh Joy of Joy's!!!!
To be honest I'd rather be boring you rigid with the usual twaddle about the pastures but,,, mmm,,, let's just call it priorities.
If I see another cardboard box in the next couple of months it will suffer.
Normal service will be exhumed as soon as possible.
Oh Happy Xmas and a prosperous New Year as well.

I never realised "we" had so much JUNK,,, where do's it all come from.
Believe me I'd rather be modelling than playing 3 dimensional chess with all the crap that has been hidden away in the shed for many a year.

As McArthur said as he paddled down some beach near Manilla,,,,, "I will return"

The Great British Back to Back Gauging!!!

Oh no,,, here we go again,,, as if the great bake off wasn't enough we now have to suffer the great british pot throwers contest,,,,

"And the winner is,,,, " just nip out and make a cup of tea,,, your not going to miss anything of any significance  Percy Thrower" 
Wrong hobby I know but you know what I mean.

Anyway as a vehicle for the hobby of our choice to fight back I think we ought to have our own contests,,
so hows about:

The Great British Back to Back Gauging
The Great British Point Filing
The Great British Check Rail setting
The Great British Lead Weight Adding
The Great British Chassis Oiling
The Great British Real Coaling
The Great British coupling height setting

Somebody has obviously told our friends at the media that if you accidentally hit on a successful formula then the best thing you can do is flog the life out of it for the next 5 years.

Strictly Dancing,, Ice Skating,, Britains got talent [really,,, not from what I've seen] The X Factor,, they don't want to actually achieve anything they just want to be a celebrity,,,,imho,,, lets be politically correct.

I give in,, honest,, but I do have one suggestion which could be really good fun,,, you fill a studio with a complete cross section of modellers and some Jeremy Kyle type obnoxious git and start any one of the following conversations:

What is the real point of a 4 coupled sprung chassis,
Is P4 really Scalefour but on the cheap
Why can't we all revert to the old Hornby coupling
Is it really a valid railway if it's been built by 25 experts through some form of 4mm/1ft backscratching excercise.
Is Zepp Blatter actually a member of BRMSB,,, [I'm perhaps showing my age with that one,,, British Railway Modelling Standards Bureau,,,, what an august body that was,,, you didn't stand a chance of becoming a member if you didn't have a 6" engineers rule, & 3 x 3H Staedtler Pencils in your top pocket and leather patches on your sports jacket elbows]
Should kit manufacturers be deported if their instructions are not clear to a 6 year old with at least 4 clinically identified isms.
Was Iain Rice related to John the Baptist

You get the idea,,, the good news is we don't need a studio we can all do it on the web,,,, or even throught these pages,,, now what an august body this is!!!

I really feel much better now and the impending house move is progressing apace!!

SAD

Winters Coming!!!!

Well here we go again for another session of freezing sheds,,,, niagra noses,,, and being temperature controlled fun,,, this year I'm playing hard to get so have started while it is still relatively comfortable in't shed.

Now what we have here is the basic bones of the L1 Zeppelin / Crab chassis.

I've decided life's too short to be messing about with the monster motor in the bunker and drives shafts etc etc,, I did play with it and ended up with a VERY unbalanced chassis,,, which is not a good starting point for something I want to run nicely,,, so I apologise for wasting all your time but I have taken the easy option and thrown a Portescap RG4 into the big hole in the chassis and,, toot sweet,, voila,, Roberts your relative,,, half an hour later I had wheels spinning round at amazing speed.

Thats the technical bit sorted all I have to do now is throw a body together and we have one of my favourite Monster Tanks to grace the pastures.

We had a great time last Sunday the Potter Heigham finescale group all crammed into the car and we shot off to see Grantham at Grantham [there's a terrible echo in here] on it's first full show to the public,,,, it's going to be lovely,,, 35 odd feet of fiddle yard and some serious modelling of Grantham station,,, can't fail really,,, nice prototype,, a proper railway to base it on and some serious modellers pulling the strings,,, one to watch for sure.

I hope I've got time for a quick rant while I'm here,,, have you noticed that the news programmes and Blue Peter are merging together,,,, not only do they have to go to the dairy,, the farm,, the garage,, the shop,, the whatever,, and report on the latest development BUT they can't just tell us about the particular problem they have to get dressed up and have a GO,,,welding,, making liquorice sticks,,, putting sod off down the middle of a stick of rock,,, milking the goats,,, you name it they have to have a go,,, give it a rest will yer,,, you like a right pillock in that apron and the dayglo hairnet just is not you,,,, read the news then bugger off,,, for me that really will do.
I really am turning into the old man,,, bloody kids,,,,

Oh and by the way before I forget,,, I'm afraid we will not be at the Chelmsford show next month,,, it's a long story which I won't bore you with but let's just say it wasn't to be. I hope you don't miss us too much,,, there will be another one but I can't remember where or when,,, but don't worry I will and will post it at the top of the page as normal.

Night Night

Thank you Scarborough.

Well this shot just about sum's the Scarborough exhibition up for me.
By the time we were finished we were all pretty grubby,, happy,, and in good company.
In all the clubs exhibition promotions they keep telling everyone it is a "friendly" show.

That SDMRC has to be the understatement of the year.

Exhibition hall is less than 5 mins walk from Pickering station on the North Yorks Moor Railway.
In short we had a great time,,,great company,, lovely exhibition,,, nice venue,,, free Tea all day,,, high standard of exhibits and demonstrators and the night life in Pickering is not to be underestimated.

The highlight for me is a split decision,,, it could have been Madame Darling at the local chinese restaurant,, goodnight darling,, on the other hand it could have been discovering that Django Rheinhardt was not dead but playing in a pub in Pickering!!! Unbelievable but true!!

The lowlight was having to leave and drive through a monsoon on the A1 near Grantham,,, what is it about taking Salmon Pastures to shows and having to drive through monsoons,,, we had exactly the same last year at Tonbridge,,, it must be the dreaded global warming again,, and I blame all these factory's in Jangzhuan province having to make thousands of tons of flock every year to keep the GWR fans happy.

The liver & kidneys are slowly creeping back into their usual positions and unlike this time last week if I put my glasses on it actually makes a difference,,,,, what a weekend,,, if you didn't make it then you only have yourselves to blame.

What a CRACKER,,, and many thanks to all the lads at Scarborough & District MRC.

We will remember that one!!!! and just to get right up Swinedon's nose just look at what we rode on from Goathland to Pickering,,,,, it's true there really is a god.

There's more to life than buffers and shunting round Scarborough!!!!

You may well be wondering what this image is all about!!!!

A Good question,,,,, and bare with me on the answer,,, tomorrow we are off to set up for exhibiting at the Scarborough and District Show in Yorkshire this weekend 22nd & 23rd,,, now the first time I met the lads from Scarborough was at Barrow Hill Live a couple of years ago and I had the pleasure of watching them play pool,,, their take on playing pool is so,,,mmm,,, different,,,, that you had to be there to witness it.

I have not laughed so much for many years,,,, we watched them for so long that we lost time,,, and also forgot how many refreshments we had consumed,,, and by the time we crawled off to our pit's I am convinced the table was the same shape as above.

I am hoping that at some point during the coming weekend we will be treated to a re-run on how to play pool in a distinctive style,,,, if pool is not your thing then why not come and watch us play trains for the weekend instead,,,, I have packed my industrial strength Anadin and I know I will probably need copious amounts of them.

The roar of the crowd and the smell of a good stiff hangover,,,,,can't wait!!!!

My grandfather used to advise,,, "there's more to life than beer and skittles" and he was quite right,,, co's pool hadn't been invented.

Needless to say for those of a certain persuasion you can always play on a frilly masterpiece like this one,,,, it's known as the Swindedon!!!

Get a life WILL YER!!!!

Will the world please get get a grip and get some modelling done,,, what is with mobile phones,,, it drives me barmy,,, the art of conversation is rapidly becoming a thing of the past,,, I don't give a damn how handy they are they are starting to rule your lives,,, what is the fascination????

Couldn't sleep last night and found this article on't web which was basically advising if you want to increase your blog statistics you could try becoming a bit more controversial,,, I'll give em controversial,,,, "dear lady in local newsagents... this morning I would have probably purchased several things if you had found the time to put your phone down and actually speak to me!!! Ha Ha take that your rude person!!!!! 

Don't want to steal your thunder Albert but I think we are already there mate,,, credit where it's due,,, he came out with this one years ago,,  he was that clever he could probably have enjoyed P4. I wonder if he has leather elbow patches on that jumper!!!

Now this weekend we will be burning the midnight oil in preparation for the Scarborough Bash [you all knew it was coming] I can't wait,,, treading the boards in God's own back garden on Saturday the 22nd Aug and Sunday the 23rd,,,, I've been up't north 2wice already in the last 4 weeks,,, a Bahrain Reunion in York and then the caravan in the Yorkshire Dales,,, the omens tell me the Scarborough Show could knock the other 2 into a cocked hat,,,,, a game of pool is also threatened!!!!!

I know exactly how you feel pal,, lovely,, contented,, at ease with the world,,, which reminds me I really must replace the bit of string between them 2 old tin cans!!! For the technical afficianado's please be advised I've been fannying about with my new airbrush,,, so why not come along and see if it's made a difference!!

Are you going to Scarborough Fair!!!!

Well we are,,, it's actually in Pickering but no matter,, rumour has it that it's a nice compact quality laden show,,, how the heck did we,,, no,, let's just enjoy it for what it is.

One of the main reasons we are going is to see if we can challenge Geoff of the Scarborough & District club to another game of pool,,, for those of you who missed our write up on the Barrow Hill bash in 2013 you have not lived until you have seen Geoff play pool,,, to say his cue action is an acquired art is probably the understatement of the blog,,, NOT TO BE MISSED.

Now that picture above which looks like the jigsaw you got from your Gran in 1965 is the Scarborough Spa Express,,, now when we were recently living in Huddersfield [ have you ever had yours felt,,, no not lately] the Scarborough Spa used to leave from Hudds station,,, and what a sight it was,,, now Hudds station is also worth a visit for anyone who fancy's having a nice pint and doing a bit of trainspotting at the same time,,, there is this incredible bar on the station which is jam packed with Railwayana,,, name plates,, number plates,, pictures,, lamps,, beer mats,, all manner of things related to our favourite form of propulsion.

Anyway 5 weeks this weekend we will be entertaining the masses yet again,,, with a few weathered old souls and a couple of boxes full of engines,,,, I went up to York last weekend just to check things out and I had forgotten how beautiful my home county really is,,, once again,,, can't wait for the Scarborough Bash.

Come and joins us,, it's in the holidays and good weather is guaranteed in North Yorkshire in August!!!!

What a loverly Jubbly pic of the Scarborough Spa Express,,, I do hope it is still running.