Out and about

Life remains busy, I'm spending the bank holiday reviewing a spreadsheet, because the client doesn't recognise English holidays...

I did get to go to a conference in Manchester last week. As well as some good sessions on AI, it was a chance to meet up with some friends in the industry.

I rounded the week off with a quick dash to London to have dinner with friends and a meeting on Friday morning, followed by lunch for one at a little Italian restaurant around the corner from Euston.

Busy Bee

Spring finally feels like it here, though the bumble bees have already been about for a few weeks.

Not that I'm getting much chance to enjoy it, since I'm sitting an endless stream of exams - eight so far with more to come, all to renew a qualification I first earned in 1992. It is not something I was expecting to be doing in my mid-sixties. 

So why am I doing it?

It is a classic case of the unintended consequences of a sensible regulation. Because the exam papers are highly controlled, the only way I can review them, and the textbooks they are based on, is by taking the exams myself.

I also found myself delivering a webinar to the biggest audience I've ever had, over 2,600 people. No pressure at all!

I've got a tight deadline to write a book, whose publication date has been announced without anyone asking me whether it was feasible. It will involve trips to Athens, so it isn't all bad news.

Oddly, the busier I am, the more likely I am to get on with some model making. Don't ask me how that works.

I've been making another attempt to clear some space in the office/workshop. I'm hoping it will let me get on with the three existing projects in sync, which is how I like to work. 

Meanwhile, I'm still dipping my toes into the sometimes murky world of TT:120. It is a strange place. It still feels like a toy train world rather than a serious modelling scale, but it is early days.

I used an Easter discount to get the Branchline set.

The B4 is actually better than I expected. Obviously, it could be better below the footplate, and the printing of the name is abysmal.

It is seen here alongside the excellent Caldon Low Tramway TT:120n9 (Is that right?) loco and wagon from Gubbin Box Models . The tramway ran a few miles a way from here, to the wharf at what is now the end of the Caldon Canal, and home to a rather wonderful tea shop.

Needless to say, the scene was much more industrial back in those days.

Whilst I do have Tusgawa chassis that it is designed to fit, I can't see much scope for an operating layout, but I have a small box somewhere that I could fit a diorama into.

Normally today I would be at the 16mm AGM, but despite the date being in the family calendar for nearly a year, my wife decided it would be a good weekend to meet up with her friend in Wales. So I'm sat at home, looking after Mum and our last two dogs, listening to our old, rotten conservatory being demolished, and charging my e-bike in the hope of an early-morning ride tomorrow.

Oh yes, and I have two beds to build by Monday as well.

Big Macc 2

 In Part 2 there is a lot of ground still to cover. And by this stage the hall was definitely getting very crowded.

Aldgate Hill and Norton Folgate

It must be some 55 years since I first came across Minories, and it was already an established classic. I've never seen a version of I didn't like, and this was no exception. I particularly wanted to see it, because this is pretty close to the original concept, down to the use of some old Triang TT.

Small Dale Quarry

I like N gauge, I like quarries, and I like layouts set in the Peak District. So this scores highly. It seemed popular with many other people. Children seemed to like that there was always something happening.

 Incidentally, it never ceases to amaze me how small N appears in a big exhibition hall.

Gillow Heath Exchange Sidings

A layout based on a location very close to where we live. A major attraction for me was the Knotty stock, although, sadly, I only saw it in the fiddleyard. I rather liked the simple cassette system they were using. For some reason, possibly the crowds, I didn't get a more general photo of it, I think partly because I found the low perspex used to protect the layout got in the way.

 

Gunthorpe Junction.

A bit odd, this one. Based on a fictional disused station close to our old cottage, it is an interesting and brave layout. I was unimpressed at first, not least because they were having major operational issues, but I found myself drifting back to it several times.

Swiss Pass

Very impressive, very popular with family visitors. It is hard to convey how long and high it is, with multiple trains in view at different levels.

Rolvenden

You can always spot something you haven't noticed before. Children loved looking for small animals. Few layouts do such a good job of recreating a time and a place. Not many photos, because I've seen it a few times before. 

Old Parrock

Even though I'd seen it recently at the Manchester show, I still enjoyed a lot of time watching this. Even if a train hadn't moved I think would have stood and stared. as it is, it was a great example of how a layout should be operated from the front, a lesson a few other layouts here could have learned from.

Kerrinhead

Another layout I just came coming back to so many times. so many nice touches, like the pigeon loft, and all built to a consistently high standard.

Eaton Arches

another superb and large pre-grouping layout , again I kept coming back to. The bridge is the centrepiece but the buildings were full of life.

I hopped back on the usual excellent free vintage bus service back to Macclesfield itself, just in time for opening time at The Castle, a truly brilliant pub, and a suitable way to round off such an enjoable visit.