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About this blog

trial and error....

Entries in this blog

Star in the East...

Just spent a tiresome night in a Premier Inn in Grimsby. Why does a modern hotel chain at the upper end of the “business and overnight” sector think it’s acceptable to have no air-conditioning? Stuffy and unpleasant. Food was downright poor and the cider tasted watery, didn’t finish my pint (which is most unusual). Typical location on a nondescript light industrial estate made for constant traffic noise through the night.    I’m also finding that the whole “working in the U.K. to slow
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rockershovel

10

Stan and Ollie

Whiling away a miserable wet weekend in Plymouth (I don’t go home every weekend because of the time and cost), went to the pictures for the first time in a long time.   Much impressed with the new layout at the cinema, big semi-reclining airline style seats with ample legroom. Being 4:30 in the afternoon, only 7 or 8 in the auditorium... the film was Stan and Ollie, and I loved it.   I was never a huge fan of Laurel and Hardy, being (I suppose) the generation that “didn’t want to see a Lau
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rockershovel

7

Speedway...

Just spent an unexpected day with No 1 Son, reassembling a Jawa speedway bike from parts in the workshop, we are both going to have an end-of-season canter tomorrow (Sunday). I haven't ridden for a LONG time and he rarely rides these days, and we haven't ridden with the club before... what can possibly go wrong?
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rockershovel

1

Smoke me a kipper....

Well, I enjoyed Red Dwarf last night. Good, formulaic knock-about stuff from the show that once included Blade Runner and Coronation Street pastiches in a single episode... the “erase your memory” set-up was pure old-school double-act, the usual silly sight gags and “Crossroads”- quality sets, the general Steptoe and Son IN SPACE! script... Holly's return, and the sort-of reprise of Ace Rimmer. I almost  felt sorry for Rimmer, but then I didn’t in a neat bait-and-switch. The “Boys from The Dwarf
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rockershovel

2

Shopping, if that’s the word for it...

Dropped into Morrison’s on the way home from work the other night, an educational experience.....   If you’d ever wondered who watches the Jeremy Kyle show, go to Morrison’s! It was an education... whole aisles completely stripped, with unkempt and occasionally, downright ragged people wandering the aisles like some sort of zombie plague. Curiously enough, white trainers seemed to be ubiquitous.. tinned fish doesn’t seem to be in vogue with the current panic-buyers. Unintelligible conv
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rockershovel

1

RWC and Flying Scotsman - a good day!

Started the day watching Wales’ win over Australia. I do like to see dropgoals in open play, they change the whole defensive way of thinking and keep everyone on their toes, and a well-worked drop goal is a thing of beauty. Australia’s (eventual) try from goal line attack was rather tremendous, as was the Welsh interception try... in fact the whole game was a real advert for both the sport, and the tournament.    If England qualify from the pool, they will meet one of those two in the
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0

Rolling Stock rosters...

Having (mostly) sorted out the couplers, I've turned my attention to the various rolling stock.   The Bachmann stock is really TOO mismatched in size, to coexist with the SJCC and AMS stock. Plus, I can't see any use for the logging bogies.   So, I've decided to clear out any remaining logging stuff, and the small Bachmann bogie tank cars. I have two AMS tank cars which can be fettled to serve with the Bachmann couplers, and a box of bits which started as a project to build Bachmann compat
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rockershovel

0

Rolling road..

Had the Williams USRA Light Pacific on the rolling road! I bought this loco for £80 in need of a little fettling, runs nicely now   https://www.dropbox.com/s/xwvo3r7ff1jmsiu/Video 26-04-2020%2C 12 25 31.mov?dl=0
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rockershovel

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Rockershovels!

For anyone unfamiliar with these brutes..  https://m.facebook.com/pages/category/Mining-Company/Geevor-Muckers-Loco-Restoration-Group-1529683350637528/posts/   I’m somehow, rather ambiguous about this. It’s good to see them survive but ... I worked there in my student days.... I went to Geevor as a museum and somehow....
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rockershovel

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Blog

Reality sandwich

I've just been thrown out of the living room.   My good wife has finally undergone what we hope to be the last round of the surgery resulting from the problems caused by lockdown, and she is sitting on the sofa catching up the weeks'-worth of soaps she missed    I simply couldn't keep a straight face. I havent seen anything so grotesquely absurd, so completely unfounded in any recognisable version of reality since... well, I can't remember.    I've left her to it...
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rockershovel in Blog

1

Railway job... maybe...

Just had an interesting job come in from an agency I haven't worked for before. Basically, clearing an accumulated backlog of NCR and related paperwork, with a possible extension to drive and implement improvements.   So far it has only produced various excuses and delays, the start date having slipped by about ten days so far. A common problem with jobs for European companies, theres a contractors joke to the effect that the most important meeting with a German company is the one at which th
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rockershovel

2

Porterhouse Blue

I’ve just had an exchange with another member which reminded me of my years in Cambridge. It brought to mind the Tom Sharpe novel, and subsequent David Jason vehicle, Porterhouse Blue.   Most of Sharpe’s locations around Cambridge are easily identified, if you know the place. Porterhouse College notionally stands on a site now known as All Saints Garden, at the junction of St John’s Street and Trinity Street, near the Round Church. Skullion lives in the Gwydir Street / Sturton Street a
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rockershovel

0

Pipe trains..

Had a spell at the clubroom this afternoon, fettling and experimenting.   Sorted out the unhappy running on the Bachmann 2-8-0 by closely examining the motion; located a couple of possible pinch points, tweaked them slightly with a jewellers screwdriver. Running like a good 'un now. Must have distorted them when handling the loco, or maybe not boxed it correctly (this loco doesn't have its original box but lives in a 1L plastic box)   After various experimentation, located one, or possibly
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0

Peterborough show

Got a gate pass from helping No 1 Son sort out his house and walked round to the Showground.   Very enjoyable, good show and worth the money. Interesting to see the trade stands.   Some very good layouts, some impressing by sheer size. Loved the Fn3 Colorado one, and Lough MPD. Bought a couple of copies of SL&NG Gazette. Spent some time at the Hornby OO Live Steam Group stand, fascinating things but I can see why they missed the mark commercially.   Had a most instructive chat at th
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rockershovel

1

On3 and On30 couplers..

Another long-delayed job has been sorting out the couplers. My stock having mostly come as three job lots from abandoned projects, I have every coupler and coupler height known to man amongst them.   To get round this I bought two AMS flat cars fitted with couplers to serve as "match trucks" to allow Bachmann locos to pull consists fitted with SJCC or other On3 couplers, these now seem to be reliable after a certain amount of fettling and track trials (the various Bachmann and Kaydee couplers
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rockershovel

2

On the buses....

My good wife appears to be plumbing new depths in her doze-in-front-of-ancient-sitcoms marathons, three consecutive episodes of On The Buses ... astonishing to think of Reg Varney’s sometime popularity...
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rockershovel

3

Oh dear, it's Christmas...

Some quite versatile multi-tasking on display tonight. My good wife is snoring like a tractor on the sofa, having turned the tv to a Michael Buble "Christmas Special" which gives me an overpowering impression of being trapped inside a lift, or hotel reception.   Whenever the snoring reaches a crescendo I turn it over, or just turn the sound down... at which point, she stirs, and turns it back on...
rockershovel

rockershovel

2

Offside, ref!

After various discussion with my sons about the curious coincidence by which the TMO controversially intervened to disallow home tries against the All Blacks two weeks running, No 2 Son produced the following:   “It should be noted that the World Rugby Laws apply equally to Players and Match Officials. Thus the Match officials Law 6 sits side by side in the Law book with the May 2018 amended Tackle Law 14.10 re the new offside line (which is open to a number of interpretations of consistency w
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0

Northward Ho! In which divers misadventures befall our correspondent..

Well, that was fun. For family reasons, a long and difficult journey at a difficult time, in which some showed to better advantage than others.   First leg, Cross Country, Plymouth to BNS. Cross Country consistently fail to impress, and this was no exception; a crowded, short-formation train (4 car Voyager instead of 7-car HST; reservations in disorder, charging sockets not working despite the new overhead reservation displays). The diversion for the incident on the line was just one of those
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rockershovel

4

New normal...

I was deeply suspicious of this term, considering how rapidly it appeared, so where in fact are we?    - judging by a recent day trip to Wells-next-the-Sea, ongoing observations at Ferry Meadows and occasional lunch out, “social distancing” appears to be falling into widespread disrepute and increasingly, observed in token form only, probably due to its inherent unworkability - do we still have police? Apart from the occasional squad car screaming round the Parkway, I don’t recall
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rockershovel

4
Slice of life..

New normal, tv version..

Glancing at the ever-present soaps, a difficult thing to avoid as my good wife’s knee surgery is no nearer taking place and a combination of deteriorating weather and my WFH means she is now largely housebound again, I notice a new convention in tv presentation.    The cast enter wearing masks, mumble behind them for a few moments then take them off or leave them hanging from one ear in the (presumed) interests of being heard. They will briefly pose in tableaux of social distancing, re
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rockershovel in Slice of life..

9

New digs, new boots...

I’ve just signed a lease for a new (well, different) flat in Plymouth, as I’m still working there. I definitely wanted to escape the student areas... students are a blight on the accommodation market. I was also looking for a furnished let, which most owners don’t offer, and a “break clause” and automatic rollover to rolling status - this is supposedly legally guaranteed, but try to achieve it!    So, I move in a fortnight. The new landlords seem to have picked on the market for contra
rockershovel

rockershovel

1

Names and tags..

..it occurs to me that I've taken to giving my name as Ben, when asked for a name. This is mostly because there is actually a trader in the hobby with the same name, albeit a slightly different spelling, and I don't wish there to be any implied connection or misunderstanding.   Any relationships involving transactions, I introduce myself by the name on my credit card, passport or any other documents which may be involved, because life's too short to do otherwise. Same goes for anything I write
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