Broithe

"Years ago", there was 'Metalskin', sort of adhesive foil, that did give a fine effect. I'm not sure if it's still around, Google comes up with all sorts of "matches" that aren't it - the aircraft boys may know? Humbrol also did some 'burnishable' paints, that were pretty good, but took some work to get right, especially on large areas.

A handy reference for those thinking of populating their carriages.

A common issue in the weeks after Christmas...

A friend walks past this in Birmingham most days, and finally knows what it is now. A building clearly inspired by Gerry Anderson. https://ichoosebirmingham.com/inside-new-street-signal-box?fbclid=IwAR2BWPTe70mwa-Pc39mQjFBAgXS5wZv8GgGa3qYS5vnJGbR-RK7Mr__w4O8

Talk elsewhere about supplying military bases by rail, has reminded me of an event in the 80s. The Stafford-Uttoxeter line was closed to 'public' traffic in the 50s, but a spur remained, connecting RAF Stafford to the main line, just north of Stafford station - this ran on into the mid-70s, and the station had a fairly extensive internal rail system. RAF Stafford was built in the 30s, just in time for the main event and was a supply site - amusingly, for an RAF Station, it had no runways, any air transport in or out was by helicopters only. This led to an amusing event at an air display there in the late 80s. Various aircraft performed their activities much as would be expected, except for one... A USAF KC-135 tanker was due to whizz by over the crowd a few times, but he didn't seem to be arriving on cue, then people realised that he could be seen, four or five miles away, beyond the top of the hill, performing his display, at the end of which he trundled off southwards, back to Fairford. It was clear what had happened, although there were very strenuous official denials of this. He had drifted up from Fairford, to where this Stafford place should be, but had then been misled by spotting the runways of ex-RAF Hixon, clearly visible below and in 'nearly the right place', this, plus the full car parks of the adjacent industrial estate had convinced him that this was the intended venue. I presume he got home alright...

"How have you sinned, my son?" "I painted the chassis of a wagon with black paint." "That is a mortal sin, for which you will burn in the fires of Hell for eternity. - but, at least you haven't posted photos upside down..."

And there would need to be the right number of stations on the layout.

The pictures were always better on the radio... https://www.rte.ie/archives/2022/1206/1340239-amiens-street-at-christmas/

Some people have started on the cake here, already.

A friend's father had an old Zephyr - old, even in the late 1970s, but he loved it. It needed some new sills and it was going to be done by a mate of his, who ran a back-street garage behind his house in Stoke on Trent. The work was dragging on and he decided to call in when he was passing, to chivvy things along a bit. As he entered the back gate, he saw his car being worked on, just at the moment that the torch went through the fuel line, and the whole thing escalated quickly... Rather than enter into any pointless discussions, he ran to a phone box to summon the fire brigade, as the yard was full of 'potential fuel', other cars, acetylene cylinders, etc. This was in the early days of computerisation and, as he described the location of the fire as 'a garage', he was asked "Is this a domestic garage or a commercial one?" As he was going to pay for the work he said "Commercial" This caused the system to identify the location as a Texaco petrol station a hundred yards away and despatched every appliance in the city, plus a couple for back-up from Chester...

Cars on lifts always reminds me of a friend's Escort van. It was a bit 'rough' and, when it went for its MOT, the chap refused to even stand under it... He took advantage of the local paper's cheap small ads promotion, to try to sell it for £50. It was a four-week run of adverts, but he had not a single call after three weeks. Almost as a joke, I suggested putting it in at £300 for the last advert, to see if there was a "you get what you pay for" customer out there. On the day the final advert appeared, the phone was ringing as he got home. "Is the van still available?:" "Yes." "Great, I'll be round in half an hour!" He arrived, had a quick look at the van - it was driveable, but it was clear that its days were numbered. "That doesn't matter, I've taken on a six week contract and it only needs to last that long", he said, as he handed over £300 in cash. "I'm glad I got here in time, I've been looking for a month, but there's only been rubbish for fifty quid."

There is a clock in Belgium that will take 25,800 years for one of the dials to rotate once. http://discoveringbelgium.blogspot.com/2012/06/zimmer-tower-in-lier-worlds-slowest.html

And Meccano, of course, although I had the Trix system - similar enough, but presumably metric...

I bought my nephew a 'generic non-Lego building set' in the mid 80s. It was supposed to be suitable for creating various ship models, impressively featured in pictures on the top of the box. Realising that I was likely to be required to 'assist' in the construction, I decided to have a few practice runs beforehand, carefully perusing the instructions, so as to appear competent on the day. Upon opening the box, I discovered that the instructions were only in Spanish... Luckily, we had a chap in the factory who had arrived in England as a child refugee from the Spanish Civil War. I gave him a 'working number' for one of my projects and put up some 'danger' barriers, so that we could work unmolested on a more important project, hidden behind some cabinets. I often wonder what would have happened, if we'd been caught building Lego ships...

And there's this thread. This remains my all time favourite Guinness tanker picture, albeit a road vehicle. The chap with the washing-up bowl is just superb. To be fair, it is delivering water during a supply issue - allegedly.

We still have time to form a band... My sole excursion into the world of public performance involved playing a triangle. When the bit where I was required to 'play' it arrived, I struck it at exactly the right moment... ... and the string broke.

Not really what you're looking for, but there was this, too. https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/irnirishrailwaynews/guinness-darts-t1227.html

Ah, I did have the Lego motor unit and the individual rails. Lego had the advantage of packing down with little airspace and not being very fragile. With traction tyres and ridged rails, it would ascend a fair slope and rather extreme bridges could be constructed. The batteries fitted in the larger box, above the motor housing. You could, of course, make all sorts of things with the motor as the basis, not just railway-related items.

I don't remember him ever smoking, but he managed an occasional pint...

If you look at the houses along the southern section of Cardiff Castle Road in Finglas, you will notice the similarity in style, but that doesn't give away the full history. They were built by a 'commune' of building workers, for themselves. My uncle was one, he was the carpenter of the multi-skilled group. The roofs still look OK. He died in 2021, aged 103.

I've tried raising one finger after they ask me for the money. That doesn't work. Neither does raising two fingers...

That's an 'example picture', not my actual stuff.