Broithe

It's easily done - I recently had a job to stop two doors clashing - the handles were chipping the paint - one was a fire door, so the closer actually stopped that hitting the other door, when it was closed, but the other door was 'free' and kept knocking the paint off the fire door. All it needed was something like one of those sliding bar things you sometimes see on cupboard doors and folding bureau desks, but a bit more substantial. Luckily for both of us, as it turned out, the elderly customer didn't have the internet on hand in her new flat, so I had to wait until I got home to search for a suitable item. I decided to Google an image search, to find a strong-looking one, but I couldn't think of what the 'official' term might be. My first guess was 'door restraint' - this was a mistake. About a quarter of the images involve young ladies tied to doors, definitely without adequate PPE...

This - https://www.hornby.com/uk-en/rolling-road.html - ?

If you're local, or have access to a local 'agent', there may be an 'evacuation plan' on display somewhere - this is the one at Ballybrophy - it'll be based on a current layout plan and, thus, could be expected to be using a fairly recent layout. That one is from 2009...

To be honest - Phew! I can eat again for a while....

Widespread rumours have started that it's not just the UK at risk, but the entire world. Expect announcements shortly along the following lines. Elon Musk to run Locomotive Drive Train Development. Bill Gates overseeing DCC matters. Jeff Bezos controlling Distribution. People weren't too concerned about Genghis Khan when he first started out with a few mates - but, once he got going...

I'm not at all attracted. In fact, I think the concept is a bit repulsive...

Beware of those who have lured you in here. They are known to be dealers and rely on the addictions that they create in their innocent victims.

Welcome. I'm sure I've seen Thorne Yard - probably in a magazine, but possibly even in 'real life'.

I thought it looked sort of familiar - I think this was at Warley the time I went - possibly 2011?

More shots have arrived.

To be honest, I don't actually know his real name, but I'm fairly sure that isn't one of them.

A friend, with a more-than-amateur interest in railways, has been on holiday in Devon. He's just posted some pictures, so I have stolen them. They might be of interest to anyone with an L&B obsession? Apparently, there may be some more to come - I think he's waiting to get the film back from the chemist.

Try not to park on a level crossing - especially if you actually opened the line... https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-54234207

Reminds me of a project that I got roped into years ago - a Duple Commander IV on a Leopard. It was in a barn just outside Dover and we had a couple of trips down to work on it for a few days, getting it in a fit state for the 200 mile trip back here. I remain amazed that we got away with it. In the end, he didn't proceed very far with the project and it was moved on. I last saw it when we left it in a local haulage yard, as seen in the last picture. He may have had a soft spot for this sort of thing, as the one on the left was already there, but I don't know anything about that one I will always remember changing the radiator hoses....

Mention in "Exhibition Memories" of Sidro's allotment has reminded me of another thing about him. Strange traditions could become very important, yet remain mysterious to outsiders. In those days, smoking in the workshops was still normal and Sidro, being the elegant Spaniard that he was, always used a cigarette holder, to avoid possible nicotine stains. These holders were hand-carved by himself, from a suitable branch - he kept a small supply seasoning for future use. He had a new one every year and it would appear about half-way through Lent. The day of Sidro's new cigarette holder was defined to be The First Day of Spring and word would soon get round when it appeared. One year, I happened to mention to someone that the Great Event had been witnessed earlier that day (it was the chap with the hydraulic pump above) and he seemed very disappointed and depressed by this news. I asked him why and he told me that he still had to finish fixing his lawn mower. This confused me until he told me that he was obliged to cut his grass on The First Day of Spring - actually obliged to, although he couldn't really explain why...

When I had a proper job, there was a chap in the factory, which backed onto the WCML, who had come over as a child during the Spanish Civil War. Sidro, as he was known, was a very interesting character in a great many ways, but one of his major interests was his allotment, which bordered the other side of the track, about half a mile away. Over the years, the odd plant had 'escaped' over the fence and the 'additional area in use' eventually reached right to the edge of the ballast. One day, a driver I knew, who lived about twenty miles away, just happened to mention that he would be weedkilling through the town in a couple of night's time. I asked him if he knew about Sidro's allotment, as it was around this time of year and there was a harvest to lose. He told me that he'd done that route a few times and there was a "pencilled note in the book" about it and everybody was very careful to miss it. I look forward to criticising a layout one day.

Tell people it's weathering - black areas on aircraft are rarely fully 'flat' in reality.

A simple matter - to turn up at the MRSI in a suitable regalia, surely?

There's a couple of pictures of a 'single' at Ballybrophy on eBay now. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ORIGINAL-COLOUR-SLIDE-GM168-1645-LIMERICK-BALLYBROPHY-AT-BALLYBROPHY-2-4-96/402434640232 https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ORIGINAL-COLOUR-SLIDE-GM168-BALLYBROPHY-LIMERICK-BALLYBROPHY-IRELAND-2-4-96/402434640221

In the Old Testament days, there were a great many prophets who maintained the faith of the True Believers - MIR, Silver Fox and many others. But, it took the revelations of St Patrick to convert many more to the faith. The 141/181s and the Cravens showed many of those of us with a weaker faith that they simply needed to follow the correct path to salvation.

Without the selfless divine intervention of St Patrick, and him saving his four, now five (?), apostles from the wilderness, we would not be where we are today. I remember seeing my first 141 - it was on a DC Kits stand at Stafford Exhibition, at the back - it was really the orangeness that I spotted first - I had gone to get some bits for a chap I'd built a layout for - I had no idea anything so exotic as an actual Irish model would even exist - I bought it and was astounded (still am) at how good it was.

Generally the same, but different. I did notice, during the multiple cock-ups of me trying to put the petrol station picture on, that my ability to edit a post afterwards has gone, though. The 'Notification' bell is less prominent when it's 'alive', it used to be 'coloured in', now it just gets a tiny number next to it. Otherwise, @BosKonaycan put his feet up for another year.