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Showing posts with label Canal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Canal. Show all posts

Saturday, May 31, 2025

Lack of rain!

I bike ride to the local canal revealed that the water has almost fully dried up despite the recent rain. 

Canal

Canal

Talking to a member of the Canal trust it does appear that despite the recent lane and a small leak further upstream, the lack of rain overall this year has meant that there is a shortage in the canal. Have to see how things go as the Summer arrives.

Back in the depths of the Man Cave at WMD HQ, more ballasting work has taken place. Not the quickest of jobs but very therapeutic! Wonder if I will finish it before the canal fills back up?

My Last Great Project,



Saturday, May 24, 2025

Surprises!

I was awoken at 1.30am by a sound that I had not heard for sometime - rain! It was good to see that everything in the garden had a good soaking this morning with plants recovering and looking greener. One thing that has not recovered despite the rain is the water level in the local canal. Those who have read this blog before may know that I am a regular visitor to the local canal whilst out on bike rides but to be truthful I have not seen the canal for some weeks so was a bit surprised to the water as low as it has got. It cant be leaks as those got fixed last year!

Grantham Canal

Another surprise on my ride was this.

Peacock

You don't see peacocks out in the wild usually so this was a bit of a rare spot. Not sure how it got to where I spotted it but it looked at home!

Yet more surprises with a long over due sort out of a box in the Man Cave from which this emerged.

Plasser OWB10 with crane

You may wonder what it is, but conveniently the box end carries the necessary information.

Plasser OWB10 with crane

I had forgotten about this model but the price ticket gives away that it was bought some time ago which I think was about 13 years ago! Anyway, I will have to delay further investigating my surprise find until tomorrow - lots of things to do on Mrs. Woody's job list for me in the meantime! It will be a surprise for her if I ever complete the jobs on that list!



 looking a b=but one thing that 

Saturday, April 26, 2025

Swan Cross Code!

There are occasions when we all see or experience something that takes us by surprise but gives us a great feeling afterwards. Today was one of those occasions for me when, whilst on a bike ride I came up towards an old disused canal which the road crossed over on a bridge built after the canal became disused and hence needed no headroom to allow for the passage of barges. Not only is there no headroom for barges to pass under the bridge but literally nothing can get under it. However, wild life has its ways of dealing with obstructions such as this as I quickly found out having to slam my brakes on as these three swans decided to cross the road to get from one side of the canal to the other and had obviously decided they had right of way under the Swan Cross Code (those of a certain age will remember the Green Cross Code road safety campaign) and I wasn't going to argue!

Canal

Canal

Having successfully and safely (for them), crossed the road they then glided off in the water to continue with their morning cruise!

Canal

I know I am lucky to live in the country where these sort of events happen and experiencing this gave me a great feeling afterwards even if they frightened the life out of me as they came out of the undergrowth!


Monday, March 3, 2025

Under thge weather 2!

Still not feeling great but well enough to cut the scrap wood from Phil the builders escapades in bringing WMD HQ up to date and use it to restock the log store for the log burner!

Cloak and bathroom rebuild

I found that the skip makes a great saw bench and the saw dust goes straight into it meaning less cleaning up! Working smarter not harder as I get older! 

With the warm weather I did feel that I should at least make a token gesture bike ride even if I was not feeling that well. Certainly gave me some fresh air but there was no power in my legs. I think local athletic snails would probably have over taken me at some stages. However I did at least get up to the local canal which I have not seen for some weeks now.  

Obviously things have been happening in those weeks with the Marie Celeste of the canal, AKA Earwig having returned and been parked (or is it moored?) in the middle of the canal. No idea why but no doubt the reason will reveal itself at some point if I can reinvigorate myself for another bike ride and indeed find the time to get back to some model amking!

Thursday, November 28, 2024

Cat art, canals and a boat called Earwig!

In repainting the hall I noted that a lot of the pictures that I took down and then rehung are related to cats which given the number who have lived their lives at WMD HQ over the years is perhaps not too surprising! I go have some personal favorites - the art that is , all cats are treated equally!

This first one is one that my Mum bought from a car boot sale about 40 years ago. She had it framed and I always loved it. Why? I don't really know but I just do! When I inherited it I wondered where to put it so it has leant up against a bedroom wall for some time but with the opportunity to re-arrange pictures during the repaint process it now hangs in the hall

Cat art,

This hangs by the front door and is another of those that just captures my heart!

Cat art,

Finally for today this one probably says it all. Any cat owners will more than likely understand the words!

Cat art,

Apart from admiring cat art I have also managed several bike rides over the past few days. You may recall from an earlier post that I had see the Marie Celeste of the local canal following its disappearance after being stranded when the canal water level subsided to trickle level! It was riding high in a lock but the glare of the sun made it difficult to see. Well another bike ride has found it hiding in the bottom of the lock but I ventured a different way to avoid the glare of the sun.

Canal

Canal

My venturing also allowed me to observe that its name is not Marie Celeste but Earwig! Now it takes some imagination to conjure up why it is called earwig. Any thoughts, please tell me!

Canal



Monday, November 25, 2024

The cat sat on the ......kitchen cupboard?

As is usual in the WMD household nothing is ever as you expect. Our cats do not sit on mats but they do find other strange places such as on the top of the kitchen cupboard where Marty sat himself.

Marty Cat

Why on top of there? Well I think he was fed up with the work on repainting the hall where I am now getting out of the corner with some paint on the walls and almost all the ceiling done. Mrs. Woody will be impressed - hopefully!

Hall repaint

There has been a little time to get in the Man Cave where corners still feature as I build the landform that I started the other day. First off another section of sub-base has been constructed from mounting card for the far end of the baseboard.

My Last Great Project,

The picture below shows the entire sub-base made up of three pieces.

My Last Great Project,

Then a large sheet of polystyrene was liberated from the WMD Stores - I knew it would come in handy! The idea of this is that by gluing it to the profile or upright of the sub-base it will join the three parts together making them one piece.

My Last Great Project,

With the polystyrene cut it was glued to the back of the sub-base with various handy tubs of things used to keep it in place whilst the glue dries. Whether the theory works remains to be seen but I need to give the glue a chance to dry so I am not moving it yet!

My Last Great Project,

In other news, the first bike ride for a week due to the weather, saw me passing the local canal where the water levels are really high - just about 6 inches off the top of the bank.

Canal

Interestingly, especially for those interested in such matters, the disappeared stranded Marie Celeste boat last seen about two weeks ago has reappeared - just as I said it would! Not a great picture as that large bright object in the sky decided to shine directly into the lens of my phone camera! However, the red arrow indicated where it is.

Canal

A close up gives a bit more clarity.

Canal

Will it stay there or disappear for several more weeks? Who knows but I will be keeping a watchful eye! Maybe that was reallly why Marty was on top of the cupboard to see the boat?

Wednesday, November 13, 2024

BOC tank wagon and the canal mystery continues!

 One of the things, or if Mrs. Woody is reading this, the only thing, that I bought at the Spalding Model Railway show last week was this rake of four Hornby BOC tank wagons at a bargain price. 

Hornby R667 OO Gauge Bogie Tank Wagon BOC

What caught my eye was not only the price but the livery. Not seen this before or more likely I cannot remember seeing it before. 

Hornby R667 OO Gauge Bogie Tank Wagon BOC

Hornby R667 OO Gauge Bogie Tank Wagon BOC

A bit of an internet search revealed that they were only manufactured between 1973 and 1974 meaning these models are now 50 years old and given their age they have survived well - better than me anyway!

Hornby R667 OO Gauge Bogie Tank Wagon BOC

They have obviously had some modifications done to them to improve running with someone trying to add weight by gluing two washers under each bogie - not seen that done before but it seems to work!

Hornby R667 OO Gauge Bogie Tank Wagon BOC

Also of interest is that these four may have been part of a larger rake as scratched into the under body are numbers. I have 1,2,5 and 8 which I presume referred to their position in the rake.

 Hornby R667 OO Gauge Bogie Tank Wagon BOC

On other matters a bike ride taking in the local canal revealed that its status has once again changed from babbling brook with stranded boat back to full size canal which is interesting to me and no doubt loyal blog reader Mrs. B! As to why it is yoyoing in this manner I have no ideas anymore! Its a mystery as Toya said in her hit from years ago! Perhaps the canal people read this blog and are just messing with me!

Canal

Canal



Tuesday, November 5, 2024

Stranded boat on the canal!

Lets start today with a bike ride which took me past a certain canal that I have posted about previously. My last post highlighted that the canal was back to normal with water filling it from bank to bank. I was therefore somewhat taken aback, as no doubt loyal blog reader Mrs. B will, that the previous trickle of a stream had returned leaving an expanse of mud and a stranded boat!

Canal

Canal

Canal

I have no idea why this has happened again as I thought that all the repair works had been done. I will visit again!

Meanwhile my visit to the Man Cave saw the wiring of  the baseboard that I am working on just about finished!

My Last Great Project

Whilst not being over pedantic about neatness in the wiring I have tried to keep it organised and tidyish!

My Last Great Project

This is where all the wires will join onto the control panel when it is eventually built! There are a lot of wires and there are three other baseboards so that control panel will need to be fairly large!

My Last Great Project

The point motors all have their own wiring using a 3 cabled ribbon wire that has made that job a lot easier!
My Last Great Project

I need to finish a few jobs on the rail alignment up top and then I might just run some trains - if it all works of course!


Tuesday, October 22, 2024

Canopy capers!

As I said yesterday the canopy to the Airfix Curtiss Tomahawk needs fitting but before that can happen it also needs to have the frame parts painted. Now the last time I did one of these I probably painted the frame with what would have been like a tar brush as a young lad with lots of imagination and keenness but no skill or patience! Things haven't changed much then in the passing years as Mrs Woody would no doubt say!

However, with this caper I did take my time and thought about the issue of painting fine lines on a clear canopy moulding. You can, if you hunt about on the internet, find firms who sell self adhesive masks that you can mask up the clear parts of the canopy with and from what I have seen most are really good. However my wallet is empty, I am not patient enough to wait for delivery and in my typical way I am sure I can manage without. Hence the mass of masking tape in the picture below. I did the vertical lines first and then masked off the horizontal once the paint had dried and....


Airfix Curtiss Tomahawk11B

...it turned out quite well in my view for a first attempt. The good thing about clear parts on a model is that you can generally clean unwanted paint off them using a soft blunt instrument such as a cocktail stick which is what I did.

Airfix Curtiss Tomahawk11B

I trial fitted the canopy which seems to fit and just need to fit the two rear canopy side pieces that are in front of the model in the picture below.

Airfix Curtiss Tomahawk11B

In other news, and of interest to those loyal blog readers with an interest in canals, a bike ride past the recently dried out canal has revealed that it is full again! Not sure if this is down to storm Ashley and its rain or whether some flow stopping device has failed or if all the repair works that required the drained canal have now been finished? 

Airfix Curtiss Tomahawk11B

Airfix Curtiss Tomahawk11B


Wednesday, October 9, 2024

Various arts!

It was the art of soldering for me and doing one of those long outstanding jobs that exist on my (not Mrs. Woody's list!) list of things to do. It was to solder up a phono plug to connect the power from my DCC controller to my 009 narrow gauge layout Chalkdon. Prior to this momentous moment I had used a pair of crocodile clips which was not really the best way to do things!

009 gauge layout

With this job done I can easily move the DCC controller from this layout to my USA switching layout for which I soldered up a similar plug some time ago. Amazing how time flies by!

009 gauge layout

Just out of interest, the Kato track that I posted about yesterday has a discrete means of plugging a power supply in with this socket under the track into which the ready wired power wires just plug into. That is an artful solution! 

More art on the canal which I have posted about recently in the form of the art of finding more wrong than you originally thought! Out on a bike ride I stopped off to see how things were going. More Hi Viz present and an overheard remark of 'well its rotten' which I presume is part of the lock gates which can now be inspected with the water level so low. No doubt more art will follow with the art of repairing!

Canal

Finally we have the art of realising it is just going to happen and perhaps sat navs are not that good! Whilst travelling through the Lincolnshire town of Grantham which has the East Coast Main Line railway bisecting it with several low bridges I got caught up in traffic which was at a standstill not because of the road works but due to that truck the other side of the bridge. The driver was trying to make a 180 degree turn onto a side road that goes under the arch on the far left of the picture below.

Grantham

He gained a bit of an audience over the five or so minutes that he tried to turn the truck but eventually he gave up and drove off probably with a health deposit in his dashboard sware jar!

Grantham

Right I am off to practice the art of making Mrs. W's dinner!