leslie10646

David What caught my fun-loving eye was the bowling rink - don't think I've ever seen one on a layout! Or, for that matter the funeral on your Old Blarney!!! A superb layout - liked the Passenger station especially. Pity about all those strange "boxes" moving hither and yon………

Andy First of all, good luck with the project. The "Bandon" was a great favourite of English enthusiasts, who expended miles of film on it in the 1950s and 1960s. I have the collection of one such gent upstairs and will look and see if there's anything which would be of interest! Second, there NEVER was such a thing as the Trans Siberian Express - that name was conjured up by the marketeers of the travel companies. Train No. 1 The "Rossiya" (Russia) leaves Vladivostok each day, just as Train No.2 (same name!) leaves Moscow. I never travelled on the Bandon, but have made FOUR trips on the Trans Sib - TWO by steam all the way (one from Moscow and one from Leningrad)- one reason why I have travelled behind over 70 Russian L Class 2-10-0s. Leslie

Good luck in the future, Seamus. As long as your CAF set runs round the loft upstairs, the Toymaster will always be in mind! Thanks for your help over the past number of years. Leslie

Well, John, people can't do a lot better on the Book front than a copy of Barry's and your book - they've flown off my table at recent sales do's. Personally, my copy of David Maidment's "Urie and Maunsell 4-6-0s" was taken for Christmas - a Christmas present made in Heaven for a Timer like me - cover to cover logs of fast runs with Lord Nelsons etc. And, of course, Richard Maunsell was a Dubliner, educated at the Royal School Armagh. Personally, my Standard request for a pressie is TIME to read, model etc …… Still, I feel blessed to be still here Happy Christmas Leslie

For goodness sake, Beaumont, you could have worn a tie! It takes a gentleman like Barry to launch a book properly attired! Seriously, the Book was VERY well received at Warley - literally flying off our stand. I've had to order more for Thursday's meeting of the IRRS in London! Leslie

Good to meet you, too, Mick. In my opinion, the great thing about Warley IS the opportunity to meet loads of people you would not otherwise meet from one year's end to the next. Two close pals are very ill, so it was a joy to see them looking better and with an improved prognosis for their future well-being. Richard was kept busy talking about (and selling) his famous archival drawings, I sold out of John and Barry's great new book and between us, we signed up four new members for the IRRS. A weekend well spent! Leslie PS Of course, I had the fun of gloating a little when Colm and Co ran trains almost entirely consisting of my wagons!!!! Nice models of the Turf Burner and a Ballycastle Railway 2-4-2 tank where there to see, as well!

Indeed you did, Kieran! Well done Ken and Colm (Ian Sinclair was otherwise engaged! Leslie

John I hope the Launch went well. I think I sold my first copy at about 10am - people came up to my boxes of books, looked at nothing else and grabbed yours! They know that Barry and you goodself will have done a good job. I'll have to order more on Monday! Leslie

Nice pics ttc - you DID note that Bleach Green was opposite another flyover junction layout? As you've illustrated. Pity about all the knitting on the modern layout! But it did have the plus of lots of trains pouring through. As ever lots of good things on Bleach Green. I particularly liked Colm's depiction of Railcar No.4. Good to see some of you today. Nearly sold out of John's new book. Sad that David and Ivan have this jaded opinion of the show - the day to go is Sunday when it's much more civilised! Leslie

Hi Junction Broth's right - pace yourself. Best time to view layouts is usually later in the afternoon as things quieten down - it IS open until 5.30pm. Enjoy yourself and come and say Hi to us on Stand D056. Leslie

John Good luck with your launch - thanks to Hermes, I'll be launching your book at Warley a couple of hours earlier! For the rest of you - super book packed with an amazing variety of photos and traffic I didn't know the line carried! If you're at Warley, be among the first to own it! Stand D056, in case you've forgotten - Irish Railway Record Society. Come and see Richard's great loco, coach, wagon and building drawings - AND BUY THOSE TOO! Well done John and Barry - another winner. Leslie

So sorry, Steve, I am on a free Society stand - so only agreed commercial activity (Irish Books like John's North Kerry book, for example). Come and see me and we'll sort out a sale by post. Leslie

They ARE digitised, however, the drawings are not accessible through the Internet, Kevin, if that's what you mean. However, Richard does sell them on CD-ROM, so you can print whatever you need, however you need it. I'll e-mail you the catalogue. Leslie

I've just received my Class U back from Kevin and Co at Coastal DCC - they were putting a Stay Alive chip in No.205 - just over fifty quid, by the way. Result - I'm delighted - she crawls over my points without a flicker. Money well spent. The debate about weight still holds, of course. I have yet to add weight to the cab end. As she stands, she'll fly (even tender first) with three coaches, but take that up to five and 20 grams or so extra weight (Blu-Tak'd to the roof!!!!) is necessary. But it is a common problem with 4-4-0s. So the sooner Roderick, Rebecca and Zivan find a suitable motor - the better. One UG won't be enough! Leslie PS Thank you David (aka Lord White) for making me aware of Stay Alive chips!

Just another reminder that you can buy John and Barry's North Kerry book from me on Stand D056 (Irish Railway Record Society) at the NEC on Saturday and Sunday. The stock arrived today! Leslie

As John will tell you, there are several collections which give us an insight into Ireland in the early years of the Twentieth Century - Kelland Collection, Henry Casserley (from 1930s on), Ken Nunn Collection to name a few - all Englishmen, but they left us a Treasury - thank the Lord! The earliest photo from any of these three gents in my book Steaming in Three Centuries was taken in 1901. Leslie

As usual, the Irish Railway Record Society will have a stand at the NEC this weekend - Stand D056. Richard McLachlan will be showing his famed Carriage and Loco diagram books produced from the IRRS Archive - more than thirty sets now available. Invaluable to the Modeller. We will also be selling a wide range of Railway books - new and secondhand plus out of print delights. I will also have a supply of old, hard to get IRRS Journals. John Beaumont may be launching his eagerly-awaited North Kerry book in Foynes on Saturday, but if you come to my stand on Saturday morning, you'll see it before his audience does, as Colourpoint has managed to get a supply to me! It's at my "other address", otherwise, I'd tell you how good it is!!!! As well as the undoubted attraction of meeting Richard and I, there are not one but TWO Irish layouts to enjoy. Colm, Ken and Ian will be showing the remarkable Bleach Green (Stand C56). I understand that at enormous expense, Colm has engaged the services of Lord White of Old Blarney to regale the passers-by with tales of Bleach Green's Fairy Glen and other equally unbelievable "facts". If you haven't seen the layout, don't miss this rare opportunity to see it now. Finally, the affable Andy Cundick, Master Modeller of the Obscure Line will have Castlederg there - a brilliant depiction of the tramway which once joined that little town to the Great Northern Derry Line. Stand B16A. Do drop by and say "Hi". Leslie

Yes, I heard that the Friday "gig" was some 'in else when Des rang me this morning, just as I was completing my stroll by the Basingstoke Canal. Des expressed his envy at me for experiencing "real steam" and I was able to really wind him up by remarking that I had been under the bridge I was standing on at around 90mph behind a Bulleid Pacific (49 years ago!). Nice photos of Arigna Town - David has a very nice layout. Personally, I was at Tolworth (Surrey) admiring Andy Cundick's "Castlederg". It was compulsory viewing as I first went to school there in 1950 (aged four!). The tramway had succumbed in 1933. Andy has surpassed himself with this one! The Good News is that if you're coming to Warley, "Castlederg" will be at the show, along with a rather larger edifice in the form of Bleach Green. If I'm spared, I must think up an excuse for Ian to let me have a pitch at Cultra in two year's time. Leslie PS The Rank wagons are from Drew Donaldson's collection and are in 7mm scale. I was in his workshop when he was building them - the air was blue at times and not from solder smoke!

Eamon Thanks for putting that up. Back in the mists of time, the NCC steam engines had the Manson tablet catcher as a standard part of their equipment. I still remember a footplate ride on a 2-6-4 tank on the main line in the mid 1960s - the fireman, having placed the tablet in the catcher and swinging it out - planted his foot on it to make sure it was steady as possible as we exchanged at over 50mph! H&S eat your heart out. Of course, there are plenty of tales of the tablet being "dropped" - or to be more precise - flying off into the long grass! Leslie

Ah, I always knew you were really a Man of Letters, young David. Well remembered. Good to see you at the weekend. I hope that Chris and you had a good weekend. Leslie

Bren Now there's a TURN-up for the Books. Don't let my grandson see that either!!!! Impressive skills! Leslie

That's an interesting prototype in the aerial picture. If you modelled that, people would say it was your imagination! L

You're just fishing and you're far too young to remember a book first published in 1951, based on short stories first written in 1942! Leslie

There's no hope for you at all, Beaumont! I took my THREE year old son to see the original Star Wars when it came out and, as they say, we've never looked back! Now his son hunts for his Dad's Star Wars characters in the loft when he's supposed to running trains with his Grandfather. I did once build him a space station of sorts, but if he finds Bren's little toy on the Internet, I'm sunk! Can you do two - it's always easier to do a series? Now, JB, can you tell what book this is the first sentence of - definitely YOUR timeframe! "He was just a country boy who had never seen Trantor before ……" Leslie PS Bren, keep it up; May The Force guide your Light Sabre (pretty good on MDF, I'm told!)

I've really stuck my neck out and suggested to "00" that they source the motors and pass on the increase - better that THAN NO LOCO? Maybe those of us who have ordered them (and NOT PAID a penny, after all) should get our own motor and send it in? Anyone worked out which one it is? Spoiling ships for a ha'p worth of tar leaps to mind? Leslie