All Activity

Interesting article here: https://www.ft.com/content/9f7f044e-1f16-11e9-b2f7-97e4dbd3580d

You have to be careful about analgesic cocktails as liver, kidneys and gut are all affected by such drugs and any existing known (or hitherto unknown) vulnerabilities in these organs could be amplified or affected. Perhaps a better approach to pain management could be changing the doses of each of the individual drugs in the existing cocktail of analgesics rather than adding yet another on top of the existing mixture. As an example of some the side effects of analgesics: now, opiates are very useful drugs indeed - but amongst the side effects of opiate use can be severe constipation. I when I say severe, I mean severe to the point that faeces have to be disimpacted (manually removed) before something like an enema or a stool softener can do its job. Changing the administration timings of the individual drugs may also provide better pain relief.

A long shot, but try swapping the output wires from the CDU - remember CDU output is DC.

Good Morning All, A belated HB to our tame Air Commodore @Dave Hunt. I hope the usual fighter-jock “wild and crazy” birthday bash shenanigans were a bit tamer this year - allowing our boy in blue to continue to recover from his surgery (he has a sick note and all). Thanks to @jjb1970 for mentioning Eva Air - I remember them, are they still going? Anyway, before I book my flights I have to get a new passport as my current passport will expire right in the middle of my trip and airlines get MOST unhappy about changes in documentation (even when completely legit). Off to view the penthouse flat this morning - with a long list of things to note/measure/photograph. We also need to make a list of the changes we will make before we move in (the place is currently empty). New curtains are a must, as well as upgrading kitchen equipment and shower installations. I also reckon I need to get an embroidered dressing gown and silk pyjamas (and a buxom mistress) for that whole Bob Guccione/Penthouse Pet/retro 70s man-about-town penthouse dweller vibe 🤣😁 Then back to work. The “bright young thing” (who is moving on to “other things”) has not been either meticulous or thorough. To be fair, this youngster doesn’t have the decades of experience that I have, but even when I was a “bright young thing” (back at the dawn of time) I was never less than meticulous. Although - professionally - it irks me that this BYT was so lax, financially the tidying up and moving forward will be a fiscal boon (and we all need a good boon now and then). Off to do Lucy’s breakfast (stir fried chicken and rice - lucky girl) Ciao for Now iD

I tend to use some thick rectangular or square styrene rod (Evergreen call theirs "strips").

Good moaning from the cool Charente. Hospital was visited yesterday and Beth has come through the op. But was in a lot of pain. I had to get a tad assertive to sort that out but some extra pain relief did arrive. The usual hospital problem arose. Due to her overall condition she is already on a cocktail of painkillers and staff don't believe that she needs extra on top of that. Hopefully things will improve. Today I'm off shopping. We have three medium sized Intermarche's alabout 1miles away then two much larger Leclercs0land a big Intermarche 2miles away. Online shopping does exist but is not hugely used. We do patronise the local market and have a fruit and veg van that calls round every fortnight. Much to do so Ttfn. Jamie

Talking of back streets here's the back of the engine shed!!

Look at all those details. Hours and hours of modelling potential. Years, even.

Thanks for sharing, Mike. And nice to read how these evolved over time.

Thanks Bill, yes I went yesterday afternoon. Nearly 6 hours in theatre and in a lot of pain. However it seems to have gone OK. I sorted out a couple of things for her re her meds, I'm going again today. Hopefully things wilbe settling down. Jamiel

The problem isn't so much privatization as the way governments have managed railways and allowed DfT to micromanage. As with any idea, it can be done well or done badly, Japan privatized JR before BR was privatized and made a much better job of it than we did (which in fairness isn't unique to railways, Japan did did and does a lot of things better than the UK).

Some time ago there was a layout called, IIRC, Teetering-by-the-Well where the owner got around exactly that problem by removing the visible bits of every other sleeper. He left the web beneath the rails untouched so the structural integrity of the points was retained. When the layout's owner (Dave Balcombe?) died a few years back his family kept his website, on which he detailed what he did and how, going but it now seems to have disappeared into history. Perhaps someone with a better memory than me can recall what he did in better detail? I'm not sure if he improved the somewhat skinny appearance of the remaining 4mm scale sleepers by adding a wider, cosmetic 'sleeper' of thin plasticard or if that was something I thought of/suggested.

Usually one of the first things taught in statistics 101, and then universally ignored by politicians, the media, commentariat etc.

UP’s Cane Creek branch, again: https://www.railpictures.net/photo/855773/

Wow! It has actually left Eastleigh, I thought it was a permanent addition to the works.

I think that this is the problem item. I don't know what it is, but you need to replace it with something that gives out at least 24V DC or at least 16V AC. 16V DC is not enough input to a CDU.

I guess the question might be what size of ship could allide with the bridge without resulting in a catastrophic structural failure? The Dali is a big ship, but a smaller feeder ship is still a big object. The 2500TEU boats of the early 70's had a deadweight of around 50,000T, I'm not sure that would have made much difference to the consequences of allision with the bridge compared to the much bigger boats of today.

Having listened to the Green Signals special edition I am rather more positive about the future, if things happen as planned. I would imagine that everyone - of whatever political persuasion - must agree that the current situation of micro-management (or is it macro-mismanagement?) by DfT has to be done away with. If successful rail professionals are allowed more control, that has to be a good thing. One disadvantage with the current structure is the duplication of posts that are essential in the structure of the operating companies but must yield savings when combined. Head of Safety, Chief Engineer, Head of Finance, Head of HR etc. If removal of some of these frees up money for front line posts that is good. But I do see some difficulties especially if there are currently different conditions of service for staff doing similar jobs in different companies. The ASLEF dispute needs to be settled. Drivers deserve to be rewarded well for their job, but they also need to realise that it is a 24/7 railway. It is clearly a nonsense when Sunday working is entirely voluntary. So get everyone round the table and work out what the industry can afford and how staff can benefit.

The ability to absorb a missile strike without total loss is subject to multiple variables, but as with almost any engineered system the risk controls for warship design aren't based on worst possible scenario (which tends to be impracticable) but either worst credible scenario or a scenarios defined by regulation or user. Documents like the naval ship code/ANEP77 basically call out the concept of operations to define the degree of damage and functionality but most damage incidents aren't missile strikes but regular accidents such as allision and collision.

In the film “The Long Drag” - 1963 - the Appleby Dairy cheese drying shed and its chimney are shown along with the attachment of ?six? 6-wheelers full of milk to the rear of a stopping train of about 4 coaches bound for Carlisle. The commentary says that they would there join the train to London. The Express Dairies sign says “Milk for London”.

A belated happy birthday to Dave Hunt! I'm back off to Singapore today, it's been nice to visit Brussels and enjoy Belgian food (I love filet americain, the local version of steak tatare) and some cool fresh weather but equally I'll be happy to head back East.

Thanks Rob. Probably the hardest part is getting enough weight into the loco. If your 2-4-2T is a normal white metal kit then you will be fine. It looks as if the leading bogie needs more weight adding to it, so that’s going to be a plasticard box made up with lead shot added. The idea being to stop the leading wheel riding up on the double slips!

Singapore AL are much more competitive for overseas users, it seems to be quite common that airlines work a lot harder to entice overseas. My son once managed to go on their UK site using a VPN and found fares half what they were offering on their local website but they have very good VPN detection and he was kicked off and redirected to the Singapore site within about a minute. The European airlines often offer cheaper fares to users in other European countries than local customers. Ditto to destinations other than local ones. For example, it's often much cheaper to fly Luftahsa Singapore - UK than Singapore - Germany, ditto with KLM, AF, BA et al for destinations other than their local points of arival. The RoC airlines (China AL, Eva Air and Starlux) are superb, among the best. You won't go wrong with business class on any of them. China AL have one of my favourite liveries.

Too Good To Be Forgotten.....The Chi-Lites

I wonder why? Darius