Another mobile phone app I would recommend for travelling is Toilet Finder

More like "How to knacker up a perfectly good stretch of tarmac"

Yes, he's still trading - I have a set of wagons from him which should be in the post.

Not sure about quality compared to Fox - I suspect Robbie uses transfer paper which is thicker than Fox's products. You pay your money and make your choice!

Hi,

Is Robbies still trading please?

If yes, has anyone made a purchase recently?
And finally, how do his decals compare to Fox?

I am thinking of creating a rake of oil tankers.
 
Thanks guys
Steve.

Fire!

Talking of firewood, there actually was a fire in the car park of the local swimming pool today. Fire brigade in attendance. The pool staff reckoned it was industrial waste.

There is a waste disposal truck in the background, and my daughter suggests it was  a deliberate training exercise.

Anyway, the GrandBealette, there with Mrs B, thought it was great 

The Epilogue

Anyone contemplating a trip abroad by train would do well to see what The Man in Seat 61 (Mark Smith-no relation) has to say at www.seat61.com .
 
Having decided where and when you wish to go, there are various websites where you can book train tickets and hotels. We decided to use a specialist travel agent and chose Tailor Made Rail (tailormaderail.com). I rang them up shortly after 9am and explained what we wanted to do and when we wished to travel. That afternoon I received an e-mail with a suggested itinerary with dates and times, names of hotels and a price which covered all train rides and hotels on a B&B basis. We accepted this and in due course received tickets. Everything worked out very well with no early starts, late finishes or absurdly long waits, and both hotels were good. I had the impression they were familiar with the hotels they chose; whether this was from personal experience or customers' reports I couldn't say.

For advice about Paris there are any number of channels on Youtube. I particularly liked 'Les Frenchies' and 'Paris in my Pocket', but others are useful too. These will tell you where to go (or not), what to eat, restaurant etiquette, how to dodge pickpockets and other brigands and how to use the Métro. There are dire warnings of large fines for failing to 'validate' your ticket; I can only recommend you seek out the most up-to-date advice you can find as the rules seem to change frequently.
There is far less information on Youtube for Mulhouse apart from some tours; the best bet is probably the tourist office www.tourisme-mulhouse.com . Mulhouse is far smaller than Paris and not as busy so you are unlikely to get into difficulty.

The various train operators have mobile 'phone apps so you can see if your trains are on time, as do RATP who run the public transport in Paris. An app that proved to be a life (well pants really) saver was WiFi Map. This is primarily a source of information on WiFi hot-spots, but it also shows you where the public lavatories are. As one gets older, the need to have this at one's fingertips immediately becomes ever more valuable.

I hope some of the above is of some help to someone, and thank you for following what turned out to be a much longer narrative than I had intended.

Have fun/ amuse-toi bien (I hope that's right)

Ali

My layout is very basic - 2 small circuits and runs on DC. I look in on the forum about 3-4 times daily , but there are many topics that I don't understand (DCC , wiring). I usually contribute when I need an answer, but I do tend to skip topics that I don't understand . There appears to a core of contributors. Is the viewing  number based on number of members logging on or of members viewing the individual post.  But for me the forum is always there and usually has the answer.

When CHRISM mentioned "ancillary parts" such as ejectors, he did me a big favour as I misread the word "ejectors" as "injectors", which jogged my memory, and I immediately picked up the phone and booked a 'flu jab...!
The Forum's a wonderful thing in quite unexpected ways...!

Quote from: grumbeast on November 30, 2025, 08:10:28 PMI still check in daily, and it has been a bit quiet.  I don't know if FB is a is taking traffic away (I don't do the social media thing.. its just digital poison).  I haven't been posting because my life is beyond stressful right now (in a bad rather than busy way ) I guess this is when I should post more but my mojo is pretty low.

Still I did force myself to get a few trains, that haven't run in decades out onto the new European extension to Aberffilli.  Track is temporary at the moment but I needed to just watch some trains run and just let nostalgia take me.

Left to Right, the TEE Rhinegold, TEE Rhinepfeil, TEE Ligure, I just let them run and drifted off into Oblivion

Oddly, that European extension is what my Foreign Muck layout will look like when I start it next year. What a great line up of TEEs, and I love the townhouses. I'm gutted that Top Slots & Trains closed down, they were a great resource for Faller kits.

Quote from: Malc-c on December 02, 2025, 10:49:05 AMI must admit I did find the way Kimi Antonelli let Norris pass - Shows where his loyalties are :-)

I can't agree with that. Antonelli had a bad case of understeer in the corner so ran off the circuit and had to slow. If it had been me I'd have stopped to shovel all the  out of the cockpit