Andrew

Summer comes soonest in the South This week David H. brought ten very handsome locomotives from his large Southern collection to enjoy the fresh air and sunshine in Dorking. First up was a double headed ensemble of King Arthurs, with Sir Meliagrance piloting Pendragon: After running successfully for some time, we noticed that Sir Meliagrance had nevertheless sustained an earlier injury. Visible in this next photo is the dislodged off-side slidebar assembly. So he is now in the shops for care and attention. Number 30915 Schools class "Brighton" ran well, seen here running off the Northern Viaduct with a very light load. But she then shed a traction tyre, so also had to be removed from service for later attention. Deciding a beauty contest can be hard, but Dugald Drummond's T9s, nicknamed "Greyhounds", will always be strong contenders: The last photo shows an Adams Radial tank as the train engine with an M7 as pilot, passing Northdown Sidings:

Thomas, Your civil engineering skills are fantastic. All the new infrastructure looks great, and I'm really looking forward to seeing photos of the trains running on it soon. Please make sure you post lots of pictures after the grand opening ceremony takes place (which must be quite soon, I think). Well done, and keep up the good work.

That's Entertainment Today the DGR was delighted to welcome Hal and Joe to see the trains. As neither has reached their third birthday yet, it was an excuse to run some older, less delicate stock, so I dug out the battered Tri-ang BR green Class 37 no. D6830 and some Tri-ang Mk I coaches (very passable models for their day) - which seemed to keep the visitors happy. Afterwards, as everything was up and running, I decided to exercise the BR Standard 4MT and relax while watching it trundle past with a coal train. First the 37. Someone seems to have taken a bite out of its bodywork: Then the Class 4, here running onto Sycamore Curve: I noticed this year that the mind-your-own-business has managed to cross the line and is now growing on both sides of the track: Looks as if the fireman is taking a well-earned breather...

Then The Grange paused with some coaches in the headshunt, admiring the signal controlling access to the main line... ...as King William IV ran past with an express to Paddington from the west Midlands and the Principality beyond: and later the King showed up again on another of those parcels trains:

Going Great Western Visiting locomotives and rolling stock aren't exactly unusual on the DGR, but today was a bit of a first with some visiting signals. More specifically, some beautifully finished lower quadrant Ratio signals arrived (helpfully tailored to the DGR track plan), along with Julian's ever growing stock of realistically grubby GW-origin rolling stock. So we planted the signals and ran some trains. First out of the box is Resolven Grange, seen here just about to pull away from the Foxdale Bank distant: and here she is on a parcels train passing some fine signals somewhere west of Shrewsbury (note the bucket on the tender footplate)

That's it! "Mind-your-own-business or baby’s tears, Soleirolia soleirolii (syn. Helxine soleirolii) is a creeping perennial with tiny rounded leaves. Despite looking pretty in cracks in paving, it re-grows from the smallest stem sections and can soon get out of control. It is especially difficult to control in the lawn."

Thomas, Unfortunately I don't know what it is. I saw it in a friend's garden some years ago. It was growing in a dry and sunny spot, but I brought some home and, surprisingly, it has flourished in this mostly shady area too. It may be some kind of thyme. Sorry I can't help. Andrew

Not Forgotten My great uncle Ralph Lloyd passed away in Ontario this week. He seems to have had a long, full and happy life. This included a large HO layout in his basement. When he was 65 he started to lose his eyesight, so changed to G scale modelling, and he gave me a demonstration of the current layout in his basement in December 2017. The staff of the Dorking Garden Railway honour his departure.

Goods Vibrations To celebrate fine weather I decided to have a freight train day. Recently I've been buying up secondhand 16 ton mineral wagons wherever possible, which has produced a nicely differentiated (and battered) rake. A few more wouldn't go amiss though. So it was out with the 8F and the 9F and plenty of wagons to shoot. First, the 9F on a coal train: Crossing the Northern Viaduct Running along Foxdale Bank On Sycamore Curve Sycamore Curve again Passing Throstlebeck Sidings signalbox and running along Bamboo Curtain Straight Then came the 8F on a pick-up goods train: First running past Throstlebeck Signalbox anticlockwise Then on Foxdale Bank And finally both trains at Throstlebeck

That photo of the building site with crane and digger is top class, Chris. Really superb.

Thomas, I think people will be interested to see that you don't appear to be using fisplates/rail-joiners. My limited experience is that sometimes the two rails can move apart laterally after some time, so I hope that won't be a problem for you. As for the soldering, it can be easier if you solder one end of the jumper wire before laying the track. And of course the wire doesn't have to go exactly at the end of the rail; in fact, if you are using fishplates, it is much easier to put the jumper a couple of cm from the end of the rail.

I've just been over in Norway, Mick, doing quite a bit of railway mileage. Some spectacular rides, including the branch to Flam which has a maximum gradient of 1 in 18 - running on adhesion, not rack. Elsewhere, I caught a glimpse of a Class 66 in a continental blue livery of some sort. But at Myrdal in particular there was rather a lot of weather around:

No running recently, but just to keep things alive here's an old photo from six years ago when the ivy ground cover was less dense than now...

Those are great photos, Thomas. You are doing very well, and are helped by having some nice weather for working outside. Now we can see the full length of your layout - and it looks impressive. I'm looking forward to seeing some high speed trains zooming down that long straight section - so keep up the good work! All the best.