Jim had also brought along his FCAG Challenge diorama for inspection. It now has track laid and the weighbridge table in place. Just as well for the rest of us that it's not a competition!
Alisdair continued work on the styrene sheet platelayer's kit he started last month, adding brick paper and a whitemetal "granny" on the chimney. A pile of sleepers and a pair of ballast bins were also conjured up from black styrene. Quite a satisfying group.
Alistair did a bit of painting, Andy caught up on his reading (his excuse was the need to recover after his recent '"flitting" from Mid to East Lothian), and I struggled on with my Catfish kit - successfully executing the bit marked "fiddly" in Stephen Harris's instructions, much to my satisfaction.
As the light faded, mince pies caused a general downing of soldering irons: Jim's satisfaction at installing his second set of working ground signals was only slightly dented when Alisdair found the first set by treading on them. Alisdair's mass is about 16,000 times that of the ground signals, even without the mince pie, so the contest was uneven. All was not lost however: "I didn't put my full weight on them", he explained helpfully. Stupid boy! said the bubble above Jim's head. The poor wee ground signals will spend Christmas in hospital as a result. But we parted friends.
The latest statement issued by S & T repairs on the recently injured drop flap signals reports that, following initial triage in the A&E department (AKA giving them a good coat of looking at) they were tranferred to the orthopeadic department where they underwent manipulation (straightening out the bent bits) followed by fixation (supergluing where parts were coming adrift - a risk assesment ruled out soldering). They then received some physiotherapy (waggling them up and down to make sure they still worked) and are currently undergoing cosmetic rehabilitation (having the paintwork touched up - honest Gov, I didnae interfer wi' them). It is hoped that they will be passed as fit for active service within the next 24 hours, but it will be January before they can be assessed by the Occupational Therapist. There are no plans to issue further bulletins.
ReplyDeleteLessons for that new dancing craze, the Ground Signal Stomp, are advertised as being available at a select address in the West of Glasgow. Having said that, the teacher seems to have gone to ground himself over the past couple of weeks, having heard that The Mad Moothie has put out a contract on him.
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