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The Grockle Garden Railway


grockle
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Hi Ian, yeah the Athearn big boys and challengers are quite dear over here too, in the $600 mark, I am after Athearn's UP FEF 4-8-4 steamy running number 844 as most of the members have either big boy, Challenger or the cab forward steamy, hopefully a con for early next year for 844, go well with my UP DD40AX 6936.

Should get hold of a rake of gray coaches so I can run them behind DD40AX 6900, in the 1969 Golden Spike celebrations 6900 did pull a special with those coaches and John Wayne was a guest on the train, have a video of that event, the trouble when modelling different era's can cost a bit with rolling stock.

Ever thought of looking on eBay especially US eBay as there is heaps of the F/7's a and B's at a good price, you could be luck on UK eBay as there is a lot of US trains on there, might be lucky to pick up a bargain.

I an slowly building up my American trains, like to have a mixture of different trains from other countries, would like a Irish passenger train like the orange colour scheme and their latest locos, got some Irish, Scottish and German heritage..

Tony.

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YIPPEE finally I found the camera buried under a load of paperwork that I should have sorted out about a month ago. Pictures taken of the Yank stock, no no yet as I was away this weekend watching Banger racing at Arena Essex Raceway. Couple of pictures of what its all about and of course yours truely.

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A friend of mine Dan raced this car paying respects to another banger driver, who was also a great mate of mine. His widow has seen the RIP on the boot of the Vauxhall Omega and has already passed her thanks onto Dan.

The next couple of shots are what it looks like after the first race had finished.

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After it was T-boned its now only fit for the crusher after the race tuned 2 litre Ford Pinto engine has been removed along with all the safety cage and the like that every driver must have fitted to his banger car before being allowed to race at all.

Ian

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Hi ian gee that car must of had a bad hit to be totalled like that, was your friend ok and lucky he had the metal frame in.

We call it demolition derby over here same as the US, neve been to one, have been to the small stock car racing, too noisy for me

While looking for a you tube link I came across another one on the steepest railway in th world they say in the Blue Mountains NSW, Katoomba Scenic railway.

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Starts of with a cable car first and the railway and finishes with a cable car, neve been on it, my dad has, pretty hairy they.

Good you are up and about now, starting to cool down with the clothes you are wearing, been dam hot over here cool change has come in but not for long back t the hot weather again by the weekend, mid 30's

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Hi Ian, here I the long waiting video on the duel tender Flying Scot, every time I run that train members are coming up and asking how am I ale to pull 11 coaches with a single tender drive steamy, well I said have a closer look between the two tenders, they thought the wires were air hoses, I said they are, had to hide the wires some how, said she will pull 16 coaches with ease.

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How are you going, coming into winter in the UK, bloody hot over here and not even summer witch is just around the corner , very hot weekend coming up 41 degrees for two days, be inside working on a new project wind turbine blade train, new blades will be 20inches long, modelled on the 45m blades, building the blades out of cardboard, keeping the cost down.

Tony.

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Afraid to say that the GGR is looking in a very sorry state. Nothing has been done now for nearly 2 years and its starting to show signs of neglect. Seems that I've misplaced my mojo for running it at present. Winter doesn't help either, as its rain rain and yet more rain.

Ian

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Hi Ian, sad to here you haven't done much to your layout in a cou0e of years , winter wont help much either, who knows you may get the urge to get do some maintenance and run a train even in winter, do you any working snow ploughs, I have seen model ones on you tube in action and they are vey impressive.

I bought last night on UK eBay a replacement 5pole tender drive motor to replace the 3pole tender drive motor on the Flying Scot, with both the duel motors the same matching pole , I will have no worried pulling 15+ cars, looking at getting five sleeping cars or four and a second dining car, how many sleeping cars have you on your 16 car train.

Planning to renumber and rename the second Flying Scot can get replacement decals, on a high will take ten the bloke said, cost me $71.35 posted, lucky to con that out of my wife.

How are you going, back to normal after the surgery.

Had a couple pretty wild storms at the end of November, the second one that hit Brisbane had winds up to 140k's an hour, worsted storm in 30 years, a neighbour was telling me he was caught out in it and saw the war o water coming his way was able to escape it, was thinking of the Toowoomba floods in 2010, he said 3 inches of rain in 15 minutes. We had much the same in the first storm had 2inches in the same time and had wind gusts from 60 to 90k's an hour, scary stuff, in the second storm the car hail damage is now up to 30,000 cars and half are right offs and there is storm predicted from Thursday into the weekend ,will find the news paper link.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-11-27/photos-show-full-scale-of-destructive-brisbane-storm/5923606" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Tony

5pole replacement motor.jpg

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The GGR has been taking a back seat for quite some time now. This is due to situations out of my control. They are however being actioned upon and should come the New Year have been all sorted out, or at least being actioned upon. To date I can't say anything more, but suffice to say, and with a bit of help I hope to have the GGR up and running again in 2015.

Apart from the Challenger and coaching stock bought I've also got another Tri-ang snow plough and again its a complete model. This is not common as they are usually missing either one or both of the side blades or the horns on the plough roof. It will be going towards the Thomas collection, along with the already owned Tri-ang snowplough, that I'm currently building on as I also managed to get 'Old Slowcoach' at a very good knock down price at a model railway exhibition in Bournemouth.

Hernia wise, its still giving me a bit of grief, but ha ho, no pain no gain.

The house revamp. Well the contractor finished back in September but due to the Hernia repair and not being able to lift anything, I'm still getting stuff back into the house. Yesterday was spent getting a few pictures rehung in the living room, hallway and stairs. Seem to have misplaced a couple of pictures so will be trying to find where I safely put them away.

Looks like my motobility car is also going back to whence it came from. As I'm now having problems getting in and out of it due to it being low and the door being smaller than that on my old Mazda 626 I have gone and purchased a much bigger motor. In this case its a Toyota Estima Enima, that should read Emina. Its a 7 seater 2.4l petrol engined with an LPG conversion done to it. With LPG costing only 66 pence per litre as opposed to £1-20p per litre its cheap to run as well. The LPG tank. a 60 litre one, has been situated where the spare wheel well was. A small price to pay for cheaper motoring and as its only a space saver spare it takes up hardly any room in the boot space. It also came with tinted side windows so I've had the rear window tinted as well. Makes it look even better looking than when I bought it. I've also added a few 'toys' for the rear seat passengers and of course myself as well. First was a new European Satnav, as I'm off to Germany and France next year. Also a top of the range stereo, that I'm still trying to work out todate all the facilities that it has.

Ian

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Hi Ian, be looking forward to trains running once again on your GGR layout in 2015 , especially your latest Challenger and those yellow coaches and the snow ploughs in action, seen some HO scale models work real snow on a layout pretty awesome.

THE NEW Toyota Emina you are getting we don't have them over in Australia, instead we have a Tarago , could be the same car, 8 seater, has a sliding door, same size motor as the Camry and your car, don't think I would go for LPG conversion, all the petrol taxies have LPG, pretty expensive well over 2 grand + to fit.

Pretty good start to summer, the last couple of days have been in the low and mid 30's, more storms rolling in and over the weekend, hope not as bad as the ones last week, need the rain and the grass has greened up a fair bit, still patchy grass.

Tony.

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Apart from mine having alloy wheels this is a near as damn it identical to my Toyota Estima Emina. I've also got 20% tinted windows as well and a factory fitted towbar, plus of course the LPG conversion and the filler cap is located below the petrol cap in the bumper.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1996-1999_Toyota_Estima_Emina.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Ian

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Hi Ian, yeah agree what you say very close to yours, the Tarago have a choice of two motors 4cyclinder and comes in a V6 which I didn't know, big price tag also.

http://www.toyota.com.au/tarago?WT.srch=1&WT.mc_id=SEM|GOO|SCH|Utes_Vans|Tarago|ETarago_Model_Toyota_Tarago&gclid=CKGSlva7rMICFVFwvAodqrQAFw#truepeoplemover" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

We had tinted windows put on also and should of had a tow bar fitted , kicking myself now, wife wont let have one put on now, bugger because one of the big hard ware mobs (Bunning) offer a free trailer with in the Kilometre zone and we are in that distance, could buy full sheets of 12 mm ply instead of having to get the sheet cut up to fit in the boot and the back seat foddered back.

Our old Van was perfect for that, was costing us money and my son wasn't going out much in it, had a hoist in for a wheel chair, got a good trade in for it when we bought the Camry, nice to own a new one, if we got the chance would go for a new Toyota Hi-ace van, they are pretty dear to buy on top of the hoist and flooring, about $70,000 all up, need to win the lotto.

Disability s very costly, my son's electric wheel so he can get around cost $15,000 on top of a ventilator he has on the back of the chair $15,000 also, he needs veneration 24/7 has a mask at night, this one on the chair is a sip and puff set up,, one hospital in Brisbane has that programme for that ventilator on the north side of Brisbane, takes 50 minutes to get there from our place in Ipswich.

Mild day tomorrow in the high 20's going to make the most of it and turn that nut cracker platter, rain coming in so long is it isn't windy.

Tony

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Well yesterday was hectic to say the least. Grand daughters 3rd birthday so it was up with the larks, get around to Mummies for about 8am with my presents for the birthday girl and then watch her open them all. Then off to see another of her 'nannies' for more birthday present opening. From there it was into Paignton to see her Daddy and yet another nanny and yes you've guessed it, more birthday presents and cards to unwrap. Man she has been spoilt rotten, bless her :):):)

This evening we,as in Mummy, grand daughter, grandson and Gandad (Me) then all went out for a meal at Gandad's exspence. Mummy bought puddings for all and then the pub staff bought out her birthday cake, supplied by Gandad, all singing happy birthday for her and a candle in the shape of No 3 alight on top. She was over the moon with that final treat. All in all a very good day was had by all.

Its now Saturday morning time 0530hrs and I've not been to bed yet, but that is another story as my daughter and the grandkids are now on their way to Bristol with their Uncle Gobert. I have some serious issue's that now need to be sorted. Can't say much more than that for now. Suffice to say I'm not in a good frame of mind and the persons involved in what happend last night are going to know about it. It might even have to involve the police this time around as I'm getting sick and tired of the crap they keep giving her, for their own misdoings. Lads think that they know it all, and when it all goes wrong they always seem to blame either their own mothers or ex girlfriends for the way they now act. Sorry to say lads this time your going to be dealing with the 'OLD MAN' this time around and I ain't taking no bloody prisoners now. You've had your chance and you screwed that up, now face the consequences like a real man, seeing that you think you are one.

What is that old saying about ''up and getting pair of *ALLS''.

Ian

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Sarah and the kids could be moving to the Bristol area. If Sarah decides to move I am going to miss the grandkids a hell of a lot as I do Mums college run also taking the grandkids to nursery at the college so will miss doing that as it give's me a purpose in life. It will leave me with no family at all in close proximity at all and Sarah will be the closest at just about 100 miles away. Of course I will make the effort to visit at least once a month, but if I'm ever travelling in that direction I will make a point of calling in unannounced as a nice surprise for all, especially the grandkids.

Being selfish I hope she decide's to stay put and not move to the Bristol area but ultimately its her decision and she must do what's best for her and the kids, and that is the MOST important thing. Of course I will do whatever she wants and I'll do it without question and except it with a smile and help.

Ian

Ian

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hi Ian that will be sad if your daughter does move to Bristol, how long would it take your to travel a 100 miles from Devon to Bristol, is it double WHY.

Must ask is Devon classed as a state like Queensland is or county, in Canada they are called some thing else.

That is one thing me and my wife will miss out in is having no grand kids, with my son being disabled and having Asperger's on top of it, not interested in girls, rather play computer games, guess that is his life and makes him happy and does give us a break when he set up on the computer, that's life as they say, you have to make the most of it too. Be a big surprise turning up unexpected, too true what you said on the last few words.

Couldn't believe it when I found out there was a BBC UK coast season 8 had to have and waiting for season 9 to come out have the whole series to season 7 and now 8, as close as I will get to seeing UK country side coast and cities is watching those doco's, pure awesome, BBC Australian Coast is worth while looking at too , have that one also, hope they do more.

Tony.

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Devon is one of many County's in the UK bordered by Cornwall on one side , Dorset, and I think Somerset on the other. Really need to have a look at a map.

After help a friend out yesterday taking her and her sone to the lads Dad's funeral Birmingham way, a round trip in excess of 350 miles, the Astra Tourer is now reading in excess of 12000 miles and its not even a year old yet.

Today its another road trip to Bristol to collect daughter and the grandkids and take them home to Torquay. 200 mile plus round trip, but this time I'm doing it using the Toyota. Should be able to do the complete round trip on LPG.

Tomorrow, Wednesday should be getting the amplifier fitted into the car for the DVD player and its auxillary speakers situated in the parcel shelf that I've built for them in the back of the Toyota as they don't come with one at all due to the seating confirguration and the way the rear seats fold away.

Hospital Thursday and then on Saturday its the Totnes group of the South Devon Railway's Xmas dinner for the volunteers and I'm attending. Social gathering of like minded railways nuts :)

Ian

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Hi Ian yeah I did have a look at a map on the UK and Bristol is in Somerset, do you live in Torquay too, we have 112,000K's on our Camry now, had 66,000 when we bought it.

You should do that no worries in the LPG, taxies over here have that fitted and the amount of driving they do in a day lasts them a whole day.

Nice DVD player in your Toyota are the screens behind both seats, getting an amplifier fitted, I find the sound system is pretty good in the Camry, has 6 speakers, had a Kenwood surround system fitted in the van when when we first bough it, cost $600 fitted back in 2000, it had some grunt, the bloke said do you want to spend more on adding an amp. The Kenwood had a cassette player in it could of got fitted 10 stacker CD player costing the same as a the system did, back then we had plenty of cassettes to play but they didn't last long was just moving into CD format.

Nice of your to help your friend out and take her and her son to his dads funeral, my dad passed away in the70's and I was 20 at the time, he had jut retired from the fire brigade 43 years service, only a few months was planning to paint the house.

I will be swapping the 5pole motor over from the 3pole today or tomorrow and rewire both power tenders together, this time will use black wires, be able to pull 15+ coaches with both tender drives with the matching poles, I have another rake of 6 blue and gray coaches mixed mark ones and threes, that will PI** off a few members, ha, ha does now pulling 11 coaches.

The train clubs Christmas party was last Saturday, I choose to do woodturning, turning a ships wheel nutcracker platter, the ships wheel is that good I am going to get one myself and just turn a stand for it, pics are on my post., that was for a friend Christmas birthday present, on its way to him now.

This Friday the Federal seat of Oxley MP I belong to (FEC Labor) is having a Christmas break up party, depends if I can get a taxi there and a lift home, will be able to have a few beers, wont if I have drive the car.

Heavy cloud cover here, hopping to mow the grass in the afternoon, trouble when it rains the grass grows, all to do with oxygen in the rain, can fertilize all you like but one storm can to wonders , grass green up over night.

What's your plans for Christmas ..

Tony

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Plans for Christmas.

I think having a few too many beers is on the cards as I'm spending Christmas at a mate of mines away from home. Daughter will be in Bristol with the kids staying with her brother for Christmas so I would have been 'home alone'.

After the few busy days driving here there and everywhere I decided that I needed some 'retail therapy' so popped over the Exmouth to visit Collets Models, owned by Leigh Collet and collected my Bachmann 'Ambulance Train No 40' set.

Also managed to pick up at a toy fair an Athearn F7A and a Stuart Hobbies F7B unit, both of which are all drive power units, Union Pacific liveried.

http://www.bachmann.co.uk/details.php?id=215" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Sorted

Ian

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Hi Ian, good you are going to a friend house for Christmas day, it is very hard for us to take our son to family for Christmas as non of their houses aren't wheel chair friendly and he can't eat solid food anyway and transport is an issue too, best having Christmas at home, we do ok.

I will be buying a dozen Crown larger beer for Christmas, nice beer.

Nice two UP F/A and F/B units , I would like to get a four Santa Fe F/7 locos with a set of 12 coaches to match,, nice to dream, did you get hat hospital train also, not sure if I would go that way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFjJF9AZlJU" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

Tony

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