Broithe

I found this sticking out of a spoil heap after some work at the Quakers' Bridge level crossing on the Nenagh branch a couple of years ago.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/narrowgauge/posts/24987831507468875/

Neat work. It's not easy to re-gauge those to 5'3".

I remember dealing with some French students in Stafford in the 90s. Asked for their general impression of the area, they had a chat amongst themselves and, overwhelmed by the amount of brickwork everywhere, the answer was "It is very brown".

Further - on the way to Iceland... This just popped up for me. I've not seen it before, but others probably have. 1911, apparently. I thought Guinness used to have a smokier taste years ago...

Top left corner - edge of the known world.

HS2 is Hydrogen Sulphide - the smell of rotten eggs - and few things are more rotten than HS2... Last time I worked out the cost on the declared amounts at the time, it was around £1,000 per centimetre, barely enough space to write my name on my bit.

It was going to be, but Brexit killed it.

http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/c/clare/index5.shtml Filming for a Shell advert - on the Stour Valley Line, as it was closed on Sundays.

Rough ground, tyre tracks, stored machinery, a heap of ballast, sleepers, odd off-cuts of rail, track panels, a little shed for the lads,...

Permanent way yard?

Good move! "There's no point keeping stuff that you can't find".

https://modelrail-scotland.co.uk/

I'm hoping that he hasn't got one of JHB's thongs... ...but, that would be better than nothing, I suppose...

No electric locos will be supplied, except third-rail.

Offer them as 'weathered', at no extra charge.

I won some tickets in 2013, so I felt obliged to go. I found it to be a bit of an ordeal, but it certainly was worth going - and I would be regretting never having gone now, if I hadn't gone then...

When I said "car rallies" above, it wasn't really people charging along dirt tracks, it was more old motors parked up in fields and being tutted at by the "better owners"...

For reasons of The Plague and other logistical things, I haven't been to many exhibitions in the last five years - just two Stafford ones, probably - but, it's very clear that model railways is, essentially, a retirement hobby now. You will see families with young kids, but they are largely just there 'to look' at the exhibits. I don't personally know anybody without a pension book who has a layout. There are a good few youngsters on here, though, which is encouraging. Also, people, in the UK in particular, live in smaller houses filled with loads more 'other stuff' these days, and a layout of any size would be difficult. Evolution happens.

Things change all the time, especially if you're relying on sponsorship, or just goodwill, from commercial interests, who may well have their own problems on the horizon. Sometimes, one single issue can make things on the whole just practically impossible - I gave up with one place because His Lordship's new estate manager was just too difficult and unreliable. They've had a good run and it may be time to 'quit whilst they're ahead'. The alternative may be to give themselves a harder and harder time, until the inevitable happens..? Costs have a habit of steadily increasing, without a great willingness from the paying public to fill the gaps. The last ones I did were at an MoD site, where I had a tame 2i/c and few costs...

It is hard to do these things, especially on a voluntary basis, and they sometimes just do have a 'life-cycle'. I used to do fairly large outdoor events at various stately homes - car rallies. The number of people who would actually turn up and do something, both before and during the event would steadily drop over time and it eventually became clear that we (that were left) just couldn't do it all ourselves, even though we got better and more efficient. If you're wise enough, you will stop before it all falls to pieces on the day... The events get bigger and the active personnel dwindle. After the Covid disruption, Stafford has drifted back into the autumn and may take up some of the slack, but it's generally fairly full anyway. For people arriving by road, it's probably better, and they run a bus from the station, but it's nowhere near as convenient as the NEC for the rail-borne visitor. Trade vehicle access to the halls may be less convenient than the NEC, but it's not too bad.

It is nice that they are able to provide a systematic run-down, this is very rarely the case. I remember the worldwide shock when Mr Mashima decided that retirement loomed in the future and his efforts to lessen the problems for his customers.