Broithe

From the Wanderer's earlier comments, it looks like 8209 was a passive 'passenger'.

"Spinning the disc" sounds so Olde Worlde now....

As stated above, I didn't - in fact, I was well gone 50 when I got my first 'real' railway model - I had had a Lone Star die-cast set (or parts thereof), but that barely counts, I think. Few of the other military kids had one either, for the same logistical reasons. Living in England for most of the '60s, I don't actually remember more than one of the civilian kids having one - and his father was a solicitor. It was seen as a "posh kids" toy, I think, certainly in my circles. And houses were that bloody cold that, for six months of the year, you only really had the one habitable room.

Times change - going in a car, or, even more so, a train, used to be a 'special' thing, now it's nothing, if not actually a chore. Fiddling with things in general used to be necessary, if you wanted them to work - now, I know people that don't even know how to open the bonnet on their car. If we had been offered the option of a train set or a helicopter that you could learn to fly in a couple of minutes...?

There's a shop like that near me, very hard to find, in a yard down a back-alley, but it's been there for twenty two years now and ticks along nicely (I presume). https://www.facebook.com/Too-Fat-Goblinz-173030496092045/?hc_location=ufi He deals in comics, as well, which seems to attract a group that has a big overlap with the wargamers.

Shake-up - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-35576892 ..!

We used to move almost every year - so, I never had any trains as a kid. The first railway thing I bought for myself was a Murphy 141, when I went to get stuff for a BR layout that I had been roped into building. I didn't even know such niche objects existed...

Bridge strike north of Malahide.

The odd one still turns up. http://www.abebooks.co.uk/9780906591000/Locomotives-Rolling-Stock-Coras-Iompair-0906591007/plp

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-35568975

Bengali, I presume. They don't waste time inventing words, just borrow them straight. Most 'Indian' radio stations here give phone numbers in English... .. and they haven't bothered making up a word for 'double-glazing' ..

I wondered if it might be pronounced Bally gun ge - but, no, it is Ballygunge. [video=youtube;-m2n4legqHk] Start at 1:24....

And, if you want to make a layout, this is Ballygunge Junction railway station.

If you make a layout for it, be careful what you call the station.

Day release.

Most certainly, it is, Sir. It's in Kolkata - what 'we' used to call Calcutta.

Rolf is currently residing "at Her Majesty's pleasure" about a quarter of a mile from where I am...

This restaurant appears to be real - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/6_Ballygunge_Place - even if it sounds like it might be run by Podge and Rodge. From today's Did You Know on Wikipedia...

I could imagine a Downton doll's house selling.

It would be really fiddly to put that tiny black square on the window....

If there was a Father Ted train set, I would buy it.

Indeed. Under their various names (Austin/BMC/Leyland...) the A-Series engine was used from 1951 to 2000. And look what happened....

Hornby exhibits many of the traits that we saw in British industry in general - traits that got rid of the motor industry, shipbuilding, motorcycles, most of the aircraft industry, etc. - even Tri-Ang and Chad Valley, that were once world leaders in toys. People often coast along with the belief that they "should exist", just because they do.

Where I live, we have what is officially Market Square, but is generally known as BTTF Square... The temptation to 'shop' Deloreans into pictures is too great for some - frequently... ..other, more technically adept versions also exist.