Warehouse Wednesday: Chris's mower repairs

Regular readers will know my enthusiasm for corrugated iron, or wobbly tin, buildings. 

This beauty is found on the edge of the posh Midlands town of Knowle. Sitting on what must be prime building land 5 minutes walk from the high street and it's excellent artisan bakery, how this slightly shabby structure survives is a mystery, but I'm glad it does. 

Peeling green (of course) paint doesn't go down well with the residents I'm sure, but it works for me. I'm sure that in a few years time there will be an identikit executive house here with a BMW on the drive, but for the moments we celebrate a building of character.. 

Have a look on Google Street View.  It looked a lot smarter in 2008!

Banbury North signal box

On Sunday I visited Banbury North signal box. Pretty interesting you'd think and you would be right.

However, the visit was because the box is due to be demolished in a couple of weeks thanks to an upgrade of the line through the station. The semaphore signals have gone and the box will follow. 

As it was, the good people at Chiltern Railways had arranged to let visitors in. High-vis was issued to those booked on, but as it was we were surrounded by specially placed fences between the end of the platform and the stairs up to the box. 

Built in 1899, this is a Type 7 box. Large, but still operated by a single signaller. It's stood largely unaltered for all these years, apart from a few modern additions inside to make the operators lives a little more comfortable. That and a fax machine that looks like it dates back to Brunell. 

Anyway, the reason for this sudden post is that you might just be able to book on a free tour yourself.

Visit banburynorth.youcanbook.me right now.

or head to www.facebook.com/groups/banburynorthsignalbox on Facebook to find out more.

I've also posted more photos over on Flickr. 

Most People Constructing Aircraft Models world record attempt

Do you like making plastic kits?

Do you fancy being a world record holder?

If so, you need to head to the Shuttleworth Collection who have teamed up with IPMS Brampton Scale Model Club to set a new scale modelling related Official Guinness World Record on Sunday 20th November 2016. 

They need over 250 people with sticky fingers to make it. 

Fins out more at the website. 

(Hat tip to John Clark for this)

Making model aeroplanes

Hat tip to Scale Model News for this fascinating film:



I've always wondered what it's like working somewhere like this.All the work is so clean and precise, not like my bodgery at all!

When you arrive at your first job, one of the first things that strikes you is that unlike school, everyone appears to get everything right. You don't often get to go an have another go.

This sort of model making is a bit like that. They just seem to produce stuff with no fuss or fiddling. Wish I could do that.