RMweb Gold Regularity Posted January 24, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 24, 2018 Oh, I trust him alright. I trust him to make a b@lls of anything he goes near. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Regularity Posted January 24, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 24, 2018 I wasTo quote Mr. Lennon, “They hate you if you’re clever, and despise a fool.” I learned 3 things. How far I could push things without getting into (serious) trouble. How to wing it. How to be a git*. Well, and some O and A levels along the way. I’m not proud of those three things, by the way. * Also known as getting through sixth form. A friend calls it, “Learning to stand on your own two feet,” but I still think it was about being verbally dexterous and coming up with put-downs, or more simply, being a git. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Regularity Posted January 24, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 24, 2018 While we are on education, the constant squeezing of funds to schools, and the privatisation of the education system (by making schools Acadamies) is actually going to cause an even more disjointed education system. Replace “education” with “health” and “Academies” with “NHS Trusts” and no other editing us required to that sentence. The current despair dominating the news cycle is rather late in the day, as this is the result of years of underfunding and wastage (everyone said that PPI as enacted in the NHS would be more expensive in the long run), But, we overspent (as a nation and government) when we should have been saving during the mid noughties and have overreacted since. I think Gordon Brown had forgotten about Pharaoh’s dream with seven fat cows and seven lean cows... (If you prefer to avoid religion, then turn to Tim Rice’s lyrics!) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium uax6 Posted January 24, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 24, 2018 I think it boils down to the 'we want every service to be perfect, but we don't want to put our hand in our pocket and pay higher taxes to achieve this' issue. I'm leaving it there as that's far to close to politics for my liking.... Andy G Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Regularity Posted January 24, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 24, 2018 I think it boils down to the 'we want every service to be perfect, but we don't want to put our hand in our pocket and pay higher taxes to achieve this' issue. Yep. Just like many expectations modellers have of manufacturers! I'm leaving it there as that's far to close to politics for my liking.... With a small p, yes. I was careful to be even-handed with my condemnation of the two major parties, but ultimately maybe we get the services we deserve, given that we elect a government every so often? (We don’t actually live in a democracy, we live in a republic with an hereditary monarch as head of state. Not saying that I have any problems with either of those, just the short-termism inherent in a popularly-mandated republic with regular elections.) 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poggy1165 Posted January 24, 2018 Share Posted January 24, 2018 Imagine you own a house with a mortgage. You need an extension for your growing family, but for some strange reason you think your mortgage is already large enough. So you put the cost of the extension on your credit card instead. That, in essence, is PFI. Except you are conned into taking out a credit card with 36% interest and are daft enough to be talked into putting all the extra running costs onto it as well. The economics of the madhouse. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Regularity Posted January 24, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 24, 2018 Imagine you own a house with a mortgage. You need an extension for your growing family, but for some strange reason you think your mortgage is already large enough. So you put the cost of the extension on your credit card instead. That, in essence, is PFI. Except you are conned into taking out a credit card with 36% interest and are daft enough to be talked into putting all the extra running costs onto it as well. The economics of the madhouse. Quite possibly, but the best explanation I have seen of it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium TheQ Posted January 24, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 24, 2018 Imagine you own a house with a mortgage. You need an extension for your growing family, but for some strange reason you think your mortgage is already large enough. So you put the cost of the extension on your credit card instead. That, in essence, is PFI. Except you are conned into taking out a credit card with 36% interest and are daft enough to be talked into putting all the extra running costs onto it as well. The economics of the madhouse. Watching a money programme on TV, it was pointed out that many of the companies running these PFI schemes are not doing well, the opinion of the financial world, is they are not charging enough, but are stuck with these fixed price contracts. Of course the companies that built these buildings didn't have the money to build them, So they took out the loans, expect more PFI running companies to get into trouble, as interest rates slowly increase.. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edwardian Posted January 24, 2018 Author Share Posted January 24, 2018 I did hear the interesting comment, on R4, so not quite drowned by the clicking of the jerking knees of those trying to kick the contractors, that it was those who put the finance together, not those who built the projects, who made a killing. Given what I have seen of how the world works, that has the ring of truth about it, and certainly comes as no surprise. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nearholmer Posted January 24, 2018 Share Posted January 24, 2018 I've had far too much involvement in both setting-up and terminating some of these sorts of arrangements to be in a position to express an uninformed opinion. Safer then, that I express no opinions at all on the topic! K Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edwardian Posted January 24, 2018 Author Share Posted January 24, 2018 I've had far too much involvement in both setting-up and terminating some of these sorts of arrangements to be in a position to express an uninformed opinion. Safer then, that I express no opinions at all on the topic! K Oh I don't know, the requirement for opinions to be uniformed is not so rigorously enforced in the pre-Grouping section as it might be elsewhere on the site! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hroth Posted January 24, 2018 Share Posted January 24, 2018 Oh I don't know, the requirement for opinions to be uniformed is not so rigorously enforced in the pre-Grouping section as it might be elsewhere on the site! Quite so! One should always respect the opinion of a uniformed person, especially when they're inviting you to get out of your car and blow down this tube, sir.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edwardian Posted January 24, 2018 Author Share Posted January 24, 2018 Quite so! One should always respect the opinion of a uniformed person, especially when they're inviting you to get out of your car and blow down this tube, sir.... B8gger! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nearholmer Posted January 24, 2018 Share Posted January 24, 2018 Anyone with half a lifetime to spare who wants an informed opinion on the topic of PFI can find lots of interesting (if you like that sort of thing) reports via the National Audit Office website. As a matter of railway-related trivia, the NAO HQ is in what was the Imperial Airways terminal building, adjacent Victoria station. There used to be a back passage(!) from the terminal to a tiny platform at the station, from which a train consisting of a T9, a brake third (for the guard) a Pullman car, and a bogie luggage van would whisk you and your portmanteau to a wind-whipped stretch of the Solent, where your Empire Flying Boat awaited. I'm sure that they had uniformed, but never uninformed, staff in those days. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sem34090 Posted January 24, 2018 Share Posted January 24, 2018 So Hornby's Train Pack actually represented a realistic length... I thought the 'Pullman + Brake 3rd + Luggage Van' combination was a drastically shortened version for train pack purposes! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hroth Posted January 24, 2018 Share Posted January 24, 2018 Talking about realistic lengths (Keep the noise down at the back there!), I pondered how long a realistic platform should be. On our local suburban line, the platforms just about cope with two 3 car EMUs, which gives a minimum length of about 400 feet which in 4mm land is something like 1.6 metres long, or about 5 foot 3 inches in real money. Then you've got to have room for points and, if its a steam railway, clearance for run-round loops and the loco too. Its all too much!!! No wonder pre-grouping BLTs make sense! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caley Jim Posted January 24, 2018 Share Posted January 24, 2018 Having spent 38 years working for the health service as a GDP, all I would say is that 1) the Government expects a Rolls-Royce service for the price of a Mini and 2) politicians are adroit at putting someone between themselves and the general public on whom they can foist the blame for any shortcomings. Jim Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nearholmer Posted January 24, 2018 Share Posted January 24, 2018 SIr Eustace Pictures of these trains are a tad rare, probably because the trains themselves were few and far between, but there is this well-known snap, and another taken at the same time, which confirm that Hornsby got it roughly right, as least for the inaugural service. https://www.gettyimages.ae/detail/news-photo/the-first-imperial-airways-rail-special-leaving-a-specially-news-photo/57066785?#the-first-imperial-airways-rail-special-leaving-a-terminus-at-for-picture-id57066785 Kevin 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Compound2632 Posted January 24, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 24, 2018 I did hear the interesting comment, on R4, so not quite drowned by the clicking of the jerking knees of those trying to kick the contractors, that it was those who put the finance together, not those who built the projects, who made a killing. Given what I have seen of how the world works, that has the ring of truth about it, and certainly comes as no surprise. The only one I've been in any way connected with ruined the contractor. Of course the firm that then took the contract on proceeded to do well enough. Rather like one of those independent branch lines built at the expense of the local folk, worked and eventually taken over by one of the big companies. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wagonman Posted January 24, 2018 Share Posted January 24, 2018 Which is worse, I wonder, God or Gove? So far as I know belief in Gove has not led to any deaths. Yet. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Regularity Posted January 24, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 24, 2018 Well, talking about contracts... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
robmcg Posted January 24, 2018 Share Posted January 24, 2018 (edited) Anyone with half a lifetime to spare who wants an informed opinion on the topic of PFI can find lots of interesting (if you like that sort of thing) reports via the National Audit Office website. As a matter of railway-related trivia, the NAO HQ is in what was the Imperial Airways terminal building, adjacent Victoria station. There used to be a back passage(!) from the terminal to a tiny platform at the station, from which a train consisting of a T9, a brake third (for the guard) a Pullman car, and a bogie luggage van would whisk you and your portmanteau to a wind-whipped stretch of the Solent, where your Empire Flying Boat awaited. I'm sure that they had uniformed, but never uninformed, staff in those days. The days when flying was rather special! Apart from my parents' generation and various roles in wartime Britain we in NZ also had a flying boat service, no T9 and Pullman connecting service though. I recall in the 1950s that flying anywhere was fairly expensive and you were 'looked after'. In further digression, we are having an unusually warm summer, records of all sorts, mostly sustained high temps, still quite nice mid-20s. I have been re-creating the summer of '67... no not the film, the most important historical event ever, the end of regular scheduled main line express steam on BR, on the SR at least, with 105.77mph-authenticated 35003... it had a minor overhaul in 1/1967 which in itself was almost unheard-of. Withdrawn in 7/1967 with the other survivors of SR steam. I was embarking on a 6th-form year of success, upon which I have successfully built, well, nothing... here is 35003 Time you gentlemen modernised! Edwardian I do hope you can now move around and attend to that which must be attended-to. p.s. 105mph is what I saw momentarily on my AJS CSR 650cc bike once.... Then I bought a Norton Commando and gas-flowed the head. Digression, what is that? Edited January 24, 2018 by robmcg 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sem34090 Posted January 24, 2018 Share Posted January 24, 2018 Withdrawn the same month as my (user!) namesake... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
robmcg Posted January 24, 2018 Share Posted January 24, 2018 Withdrawn the same month as my (user!) namesake... As were about 80 SR engines in 71967, two unrebuilt Bulleids among them? Don't tell Edwardian, he might go all funny....prolonged cold can do strange things... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadow Posted January 24, 2018 Share Posted January 24, 2018 (edited) Just to try and cheer things up a bit, looks like spring is here. Taken yesterday afternoon in the garden and also congratulations on 300 pages!!! Edited January 24, 2018 by Shadow 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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