50 Years of Ceefax

I loved Ceefax. Once a birthday present of a Ceefax capable TV has been set up, I'd come back home from work every day, and tune in to the latest ramblings on Page 145 - the letters page! In retrospect, this was early training for looking after internet forums. 

The news was also better on Ceefax. Everything was organised by the importance of the story, not whether the TV company had some juicy video. 

Basically, it was brilliant, and I fully support Count Binface's campaign to bring it back.  

The good news is that there are several working versions out there - try this one from Nathan Media Services.

Two Hornbys

 

A bit of fun. Hornby has released a 70th Anniversary of Margate Manufacture range of products. One of those items is R7395, Hornby's Office Building. 

This amused me, as back in 2015, I refurbished a 50p plastic kit of the Hornby offices!

They haven't done a bad job with the new version either. 

Although the goods in and out doors at the ends of the building are works of fiction, the main entrance is pretty good.

Baseboards, dirty Nellie and hammering in BRM

 

Progress continues on my NG7 layout in November's BRM. This time I'm over-engineering the baseboard using my very limited woodworking skills. 

Of course, baseboard building involved hammering nails, so on BRM TV, I'm taking a look at this most common process. 

Away from the layout, there is some weathering, using a new Hornby "Nellie" as my subject. Well, none other than Terrance Cuneo did the same back in 1963, so I'm following in his footsteps. 

Finally, a quick bit of stock building, with a Peco O16.5 wagon. 

The camera has been out again, pointed at the O gauge layout "Harbourne St Mary". 

And the wonderful O16.5 layout "Roundhay", the one that inspired my NG7 efforts. 

All this in the November 2024 issue of British Railway Modelling magazine.

Warehouse Wednesday: Battersea Power Station

Derelict for many years, Battersea Power station has been restored, and converted into a posh shopping centre. 

Up close, this iconic building really is stunning, both inside and out. I'd always assumed that it has been constructed in one go, but in fact, Turbine Hall A, with two chimneys fore and aft, was finished first. Hall B, with one chimney followed, and the final corner, with its fake chimney, came last.

Hall A is lavishly appointed with Art Decco tiles, which survived all the years or dereliction in the 1980s. Built as the blitz raged, it's amazing that anyone cosidered a building as utilitarian as this worth the effort. A bit of a a hangover from the Victorian decoration of pumping stations?

Hall B is plainer, but still a far cry from the unadorned brickwork you might expect. Incidentally, there is some brick still on show at the front and back of the building, so its industrial origins can still be appreciated, and throw the posh shops and walkways into sharp relief.

Of course, I wasn't there to visit the shops, they are far too push for the likes of me! I wanted to go up the chimney, in Lift 109. 

After a short (and pointless IMHO) light show, it's time for the main attraction. We get in the lift, head up through a series of lights (not pointless) and pop out the top for a superb, panoramic view of the capital. 

I was lucky with the weather, and all I can say is, £17 (booking ahead) for 7 minutes, doesn't seem like too bad a deal. This sort of thing must be horrifically expensive to set up and operate. Yes, a bit longer would be nice, but it's long enough to take photos, and then to realise you just need to drink in the view without looking though a camera or phone screen. Some things are just too big for a photo.

You can see the rest of my photos from the trip on Flickr.

A good idea, that doesn't work

 

Adding pickups to the Ghillie kit ought to be simple. There is a nicely moulded plastic part that just needs the wires slid through it, before being stuck to the bottom of the slab-like chassis, and the connecting wires to the motor soldering on. 

Now, I only need one wire as this loco has a live chassis, but I fitted it as expected. And there the trouble started dear reader. You see the problem with this system, is that the pickup wire (phosphor-bronze in this case) rotates in the hole. So, you carefully bend the ends to brush agains the back ot the wheels, and the end up pointing up or down. 

I tried superglue. I tried melting the plastic around the wire. Neither helped. 

In the end, I make a new plate from copper-clad, glued it to the bottom of the chassis, and soldered the wire to it. No more spinning in place, and the model now runs pretty well on the rolling road.