people have definitely woken up after Xmas, now. The phone has been ringing all over the place and I've just picked up a couple of months' work in 12' = 1' scale, Quality Engineer for platform doors on the CrossRail project. It's only a short job, closing out at the end of the project as the original team move on - but I don't doubt that it will be very busy, these end-of-project roles always are and it's rather satisfying to have done some work on the CrossRail project after all.
Took both 2-8-2s to the Club test track this afternoon. Tried them on a NCE Powercab controller, the Gaugemaster was packed away as part of a general reorganisation that’s been in hand for some time.
Very impressed with the slow running, in particular. Very steady and controllable. The brakes need thinking about, as does the regulator - I’ll have to practice these. They definitely need driving, and have different characters.
The K27 is the more sure-footed of the two, over the occasion
I’ve just seen a piece on another forum, to the effect that the NYC PT Passenger Tender used with later Hudsons carried 18,000 gallons of water and 46 tons of coal. The UP Big Boy 4-8-8-4s towed 25 tons of coal and 25,000 gallons of water (all US measures, of course) with the Norfolk and Western Y class 2-8-8-2s in the same bracket.
That seems to be about as big as it came, although some South African and Australian locos seem to have towed additional water cart tenders or tankers f
I’ve just finished a rather depressing read, from the Chairman of a club of which I’m a (mostly absentee) member. I dare say that quite a few readers will already have gathered that the 2019 Exhibition was cancelled due to severe vandalism the night before opening.
I can’t really add to any of this. People directly involved have taken action to progress the situation, the police are involved and I’m sure that long correspondences with insurance adjusters will ensue. Clubs and indivi
I’ve been travelling the M6 the last twelve months, a motorway I knew little about.
Most motorways seem to have their own style of services, and on the M6 it’s those over-bridges containing noisy, cramped food outlets and at Forton, the (mostly abandoned) “observation lounge” reminiscent of a set for a Gerry Anderson puppet show. Whoever thought they were a good idea? The 1960s were truly, a different time...
One worthwhile innovation is that Travelodge have apparently
Last night I was returning from Wet Welsh Wales, the Cross Hands area to be precise. I’d rather hoped that the M6/M42 area might be somewhat improved by now, but the general confounding of that area at night by closures, lengthy roadworks and incompletely worked-our or signposted diversions continues apace. That added an hour to my journey...
Then the trailer destroyed a wheelbearing (it was, in fact made in Derby, so possibly some sort of meta-connection there?). So I spent another
Getting near the end of the project. I've done 90-odd days this year, done a couple of professional courses which I've been putting off for ages, dealt with an unexpected building job on the house and managed to do enough to steer No 1 Son through a reasonably successful first season of flat track racing. It's not been easy. A few more weeks work, No 1 Son gets married in October and then I think that's it for the year.
Looking forward to a long winter break again. Most of my long-delayed b
Just been down the A14 to Ipswich for a site visit; surprising amount of traffic on the roads, even early in the morning. Huge tailback of traffic N of Bury St Edmunds, at least it was on the other side.
Stopped at Starbucks on the way back, and needn’t have bothered. The signs might say “come in, we are OPEN!” but they aren’t, just as take-away and why bother with that?
Very various interpretations of procedures. Stopped for fuel at a major chain, and the cashiers were
I'm just having my first leave of any length for... Oh, a long while. My local club (Market Deeping MRC) have now got the DCC working on the test track, so I'm embarking on a winter project to get to grips with the whole subject, how it works and so forth.
The two MMI locos are scheduled to go to Paul Martin in the New Year to have DCC and sound fitted, these imposing models deserve it, I think.
Last Night Of The Proms tonight, which I always rather enjoy. The Guardian informs the world that "a secretive on-line campaign" (no, I don't understand that either) has raised the money to distribute 5,000 EU flags to prom-goers and opines wistfully that "tonight we may find what they really think", whether they are "jingoistic or ironic".
Personally, I suspect that all they will really learn is that if you had out freebies to a large crowd of excitable twenty somethings who have come to bo
Heard an unusual aircraft noise, went out into the garden and saw a Lancaster bomber approach from the North, bank and turn, and head off North again.
From BBMF at Coningsby, I suppose... quite something to see!
Over to the Three Pickerels at Mepal, for a good evenings music. I've been working on Katyusha on the mandolin during my last rotation, a classic Russian ear worm immediately recognised when heard... nearly as good as Thunderbirds, or Match Of The Day. Easily followed and well suited to accordions (Russians rarely play the balalaika, in my experience, but accordions and guitars are ubiquitous) so a good bouncy pub session tune, without the deceptively difficult fast fingering of that Pugwash tun
Out in Plymouth for some beer and music, with my much-travelled tenor banjo.
Someone I haven’t seen before, stood up when the “turn” came to him, and in a strong, slightly toneless baritone sang “Jerusalem” a Capella. The whole group followed on, it was quite tremendous.
Went to MDMRC on Monday evening. Low turnout, attributed to the time of year. Should have taken some rolling stock - usually I don't do this on Mondays because of the test track being in demand
Very interesting visit from three Australians who were staying with a member for a couple of days, part of a highly ambitious trip involving visiting no end of steam railways; it CAN be done, apparently! One produced various photos of his exhibition layout based on LMS practice in the 1930s.
I stopped at Birchanger Services today, not a thing I like to do but so it goes. It’s the services by Stansted so....
(whining child) NO, I WANT SOMETHING OUTSIDE!!
(stressed mother) well, you can’t! You’re back in England now!
What did surprise me, was the number of people wandering around a motorway services in what appeared to be pyjamas, teamed with hoodies or even dressing gowns on a wet, windy Saturday morning. Do they just fall out of bed in Costa Del Chav an
Seen in today’s news, Qantas are apparently offering 7hr flights including flypasts of locations like Great Barrier Reef and Uluru. How bored would you need to be, to do that?
Mind you, Singapore are now starting “covid-secure cruises” with ships half-full, masks mandatory at all times, increased cleaning regimes and “mingling discouraged”. Best of all, vessels make no port calls and passengers are confined to the ship at all times! Form an orderly queue, please...
So, here I am in sunny (occasionally) Lincolnshire. Road conditions mean that the 60 miles or so to work, can be anything from 1hr 40 to 2hrs drive, so I stay out two or three nights a week. I’d mercifully, largely forgotten about English notions of hotel keeping, so it’s all come as rather a shock to the system.
Mostly this means local hotels, booked by the company. These can charitably be described as “variable” and as a sort of bonus, tonight has produced a neighbouring room who
I’m not a great watcher of tv at Xmas or any other time, but I do enjoy it occasionally. This year’s unsung gem was Martin Clunes’ rather touching performance as the eponymous Mr Chips.
I first read the book long ago, when it was banned at the Perse School. The author had been a pupil at The Leys School, across town, and much of the setting (a rather outdated, High Church, minor public school in decaying, historic buildings amid an East Anglian setting) was a poke at the Perse Schoo
Just been to Cardiff for a client visit.
XC Plymouth to Bristol PW was its usual scruffy, short-formed disappointment (also grossly overcrowded past Taunton, XC being apparently oblivious or uncaring about Cheltenham Week). GWR produced a pleasing change of scene with a rather swish 800 class for the 45 minutes or so to Cardiff; the first time I recall travelling on one if these, and I was rather impressed.
Return journey started with a new-looking DMU from GWR, quite c
Clubroom afternoon, spent some time experimenting with the Gaugemaster controller setup. This seems to be becoming something of a club project now, next step is to reconfigure the wiring so the Gaugemaster and NEC spreads can be swapped over by changing plugs on the track power wires.
Interesting comparison. Personally I prefer the Gaugemaster on first acquaintance, the larger, backlit display is easier to read. Flicking straight from loco to loco with no fussing about with "recall" is hand
No 1 Son came round yesterday with No 1 Grand-daughter, who certainly has a good set of lungs, on the evidence. She was apparently wearing her latest “Christmas outfit”, I’ve seen whole Third World relief appeals with less kit than this child .....
Cleared my desk at Vossloh Kiepe, having run out of budget and headcount. Ho hum. I’ve been to a couple of interviews but the recruitment process these days seems hopelessly dysfunctional, no results yet. There seems to be a general crisis in prog
Spent a frustrating hour doodling about on a couple of those "find your family" websites, at my daughters' insistence. My late mothers' family tree was quite well known, at least the Cambridge end of it, given that they were quite a close family anyway. But my fathers' family.... after about an hour, I didn't have anything new except that my grandmothers' maiden name was Saunders. My fathers' military service was a blank, and I still have his medals, and know the outline of it. I didn't find oth
My good wife spelt the evening watching the blizzard of pyrotechnics and strobes which after a while, I realised was Eurovision... Ho hum, business as usual.
I did watch the voting, more or less, it’s no fun any more. The new voting format seems designed to gloss over the more obvious politicking and settling of old scores between “far-off countries of which we know little”. None of the hostesses QUITE fell out of her dress, and they all had ample supplies of cheesy, laboured “humour”. One
