The Johnster

Mode 1 or Mode 2? Hang on, Dan, I don't think I've got to that page of the instructions yet! It maintained altitude and attitude, but moved sideways and was difficult to correct (at least for someone of my level of inexperience). By the time I was able to bring it back down there were things in the way. This was in a patio area sheltered on all 4 sides by walls and buildings, and was flat calm earlier this evening, so it wasn't a wind problem. The turning worked but set off the other motion, the a/c drifting in the direction of the turn, and rapidly running out of fresh air; I definitely need more space next time... I got the impression that the trim deteriorated throughout the session, and next time I'll forget about practicing up/down takeoff/hover/land aren't I clever look what I can do, and once I'm up will try to stay up, and learn how to steer and control the thing. This will enable me to test the 'return home' feature.

Yup, you're right, all-up weight is 340g, needs registering and so do I irrespective of it's weight since it's got a camera, if I've read the regs right. I'd assumed it was less than 250g, but thanks to your comment have checked the specs to fine I'm wrong, or as I call it, 'differently right'. Insurance is clearly a sensible precaution in any case; though I don't think it could cause any more than minor damage it would be just my luck to encounter some a/hole looking to claim because they can. Clearance of structures and third parties is the reason I'm assuming flying over water is a good idea. It make obvious sense to stay clear of large groups of people, roads, railways, trees, and masts/cables/power lines of any sort, and clearly flying anywhere where you might interferew with other a/c, even other drones, is a major no-no. Another thing to take account of here in Wales is that many areas are used for miitary training, some of it for fast jets at low level; drone incidents on the Mach Loop have been in the news this week! But it's not just the Air Force, there are Army ranges where helicopters are frequently used and there may well be lumps of ordnance flying about. Bannau Brycheiniog is much used by the military even outside their ranges. I can't see me wanting to fly much higher than about 60 or 70 feet, the thing is small and will be difficult to keep properly in sight higher than that, so nowhere near the 400' limit. The good news is that Cardiff is blessed with extensive parklands which are mostly suitable when they are not being used for football/rugby (Saturday mornings), and the Bay Barrage, which offer good safe flying conditions, but I need to develop the skillsets needed to fly reliably over them. The foreshore and seawall along the Wentloog Levels should be suitable as well, apart from places like Peterstone Gout where birds gather as the tide rises; in fact this is a superby birding spot in winter and I wouldn't want to spoil the fun of those using it... I'm disappointed with the rotor guards, very flimsy and will come off if you look at them funny, and once they do come loose they are just about guaranteed to foul the rotors and cause a crash. I've already lost two, somewhere on the patio so they'll no doubt turn up but I doubt if I can rely on that outside my own territory. I'm going to try again with them superglued into place. So there will be a lull in activity while I get the legalites sorted and wait for next week's weather to blow over, doesn't look conducive to flying such a small a/c as a novice. I'll use the time to pair the app for the camera and smartphone control.

See, what happened was, I bought a drone. I’ve been chucking it around in my head for a while, for fun, photos, and vids. It’s a Simrex X500, off Amazon and less than half price, reviews well, is small, and allegedly easy to fly. The plan is to learn the ropes with it and see if I want to upgrade to something bigger and more powerful later. It arrived today and I’ve been going through the startup and pairing, and doing some very basic flying practice. I have an intersting history with remote control a/c, losing a helicopter in the river Taff and being completely unable to control a tiny thing that flew around like a demented bee that completely ignored anything I tried to persuade it to do. My basic problem was that I couldn’t progress beyond failing to preveny crashes because I usually crashed before I could learn anything beyond how to crash… So, a couple of hours studying the flying intructions and charging it’s battery, then out on the patio to have a go. Pairing was simple enough, then you got the props spinning. Next stage is to push a hover button, which makes the a/c lift about a metre and a half and, um hover. This went well and I was quite pleased with myself, a degree of control I’d never achieved before! Up and down few times, nailed it! It all went a bit wobbly after that, though. The next task was to use the joystck to turn the a/c, during which move it is supposed to remain in it’s hovering position but change the way it is facing. It didn’t, it sideslipped and the patio suddenly became a tiny area full of things to crash into. I think the trimming may need looking at, but the battery wanted charging (you get sbout 8 mins flying time) so I called it a day. If the park isn’t too crowded tomoz I’ll take it over there. It’s probably best to fly over open water out of everyone’s way and this is where the good fots/vids are likely to be had, but I want to be reasonably competent before I do that, and it would be good to know that it will float and be blown to shore in case it needs rescuing. We’ll see how we get on. It occurs to me that once the camera is paired with my phone, it can be used as a detachable lens, so ther may be a spate of photos of Cwmdimbath from hitherto unachievable angles and positions. I’ll try pairing the camera on Sunday or Monday when it’s raining.

We’re worrying about the size of our knobs now, then, are we? Quite right too…

Primer is always a good idea, esp. with acrylics which go on in thin coats and need to be buit up layer by layer to get the finish you want. They are primarily water based, and willnot ‘take’ readily to oily shiny plastic surfaces or polished metal without said surface being prepared by primer. In the case of window frames, this results in the paint flowing away from edges and obtuse angles, and pooling in ‘inside’ corners.

That would be brilliant as part of his pub set. My old man, Merchant Navy 4/o in 1938 and newly passed ouy from cadet, on a Liverpool-Baltimore passage, suffered under a tyrannical and spectacularly miserable 1/o. This universally disliked character was violently sick into the North Atlantic (it was possible that somebody had put something in his food) one evening, and while talking to hughie/ruth over the rail vommed his false teeth over the side. This was to everyone’s satisfaction and benefit, as without the dentures he looked like Popeye. The comic effect of this undermined his authority and no more trouble was had from that quarter. Dad said he laughed so much he nearly lost his own teeth, and they were real ones. I felt a little sorry for the bloke though, after an incident about 30 yeas ago on a Rosslare-Pembroke Dock crossing on Isle of Innisfree. It was like this, travelling with my chum Jim and his future wife Sue, ‘just friends’ (at least at the start of the crossing), couple of beers in the bar, and Sue suggested adjourning to the aft balcony deck for a spliff, which at the time I thought was a rather spendid idea. There we were, the three of us (my own girlf, Little Karen the Mighty Atom, who I’m sure BR2975 will remember, stayed in the bar), and Jim’s arm creeps around Sue’s waist. Her response is to cwtch in, and I was clearly becoming a spare wheel, so I quietly took myself off around the corner to starboard boat deck. This proved an ill-advised move, as we were banging along at 18 knots into a vicious southeasterly; it was freezing and I hung on to the rail as if I was rounding the Horn aboard a windjammer. Facing away from the howling gale, my specs took off, to never be seen again, last seen heading for Brazil on a great circle… So I could sympathise with the guy’s sense of hopelessness and despair. For a second my spliff-fuddled brain suggested yelling up to the bridge to see if we could stop and pick them up, but… I would like to record the sympathy and concern this disaster elicited from my companions and everyone else in the bar; I would also like world peace, cures for all diseases, and a million pounds. Treorchy Male Voice, no less, were returning from a gig in Ireland, and were sympathetic enough to my plight to treat me to a five-part harmony of ‘my eyes are dim I cannot see/my specs are in the Irish Sea’, to which all and sundry joined in, none with more enthusiasm than Little Karen the Mighty Atom. I was becoming philosophical by this time; I didn’t want them back. This was the Irish sea shortly after the Sea Empress spill (in fact we’d passed her still discharging at the berth on the way over), and I had no particular desire to retrieve oil-covered radioactive glasses; if some short-sighted halibut benefitted, I was happy with that! And I had the last laugh; Jim had to stop his beer because I could no longer do my Pembroke Dock-Cardiff driving turn, and since the way him & Sue were sucking face suggested he was definitely on a promise, good enough for the b*gger, too!

Sounds about right.

Qute invigorating in warm weather, especially up the Salubrious Passage…

Some of my victims probably saw stars… Incidents were rare, fortunately, but the heft of a Bardic was reassuring if things did cut up rough.

Not uncommon for sidings, loops, &c on the WR, and frequently wartime replacement for wooden sleepers destroyed by the Luftwaffe’s incendiaries. I built some once, back in the 80s, using plastic moulded chairs, forget now whe made them, and a home-made Milliput mould for the concrete block ‘sleepers’. The cross-bracing bars were straightened-out Rexel no.13 staples.

Watching NEWS24 in a ‘spoons pub can be a prettygood spectator sport as the AI tying the rolling subtitles fails to predict what is about to be said, leading to some doozies until a bloodbag corrects it about 5 seconds later. ‘Pearl, he meant’ (parliament) is par for the course. And there’s no audio in ‘spoons, so you have to tead the subtitles.

The designers think about how the loco is assembled in the assembly plant and keeping a lid on production costs, on the principle that the market wants low retail prices and once it's out of the factory it's your problem, not as a deliberate policy but simply because there is no profit in considering the ease with which consumers/customers can dismantle the model, and therefore this is not considered. Now, the following is bad engineering and purists will be rightly offended, but a bodge that works well for me is to re-assemble the loco without the screws (which may well have sacrificed themselves to the Carpet Monster God in the way that little important things do) is to fix the body to the chassis with cheap pound-shop superglue. This will hold for handling purposes but can be easily broken, cleaned off, and replaced should you need to get inside again later. Pure bodgery, but effective.

All the way from Newport, presumably with an Old Oak driver who signed the traction. My best memory of 1200 was watching it with loaded 35ton loose-coupled iron ore hoppers flat out through Newport High Street at about 20mph on the up relief middle road on a Newport Docks-Llanwern, ground trembling under me, proper thug of an engine. Impressive!

Back in the 70s, and seen on one of those menu boards with removable letters you saw in chippies in those days which were sometimes fun when letters were missing or had fallen off. The place offered, amongst other delights, 'urkeyburgers', and a can of 'cold grap'. This was up your Salubrious Passage in Swansea. I want an urkeyburger and a cold grap, please...

I stand corrected, tx, Rob. Ladmanlow is a superb layout, as is your own flock.

That’s not a Bardic, there’s nothing in the middle. No use at all when it gets a bit lively after a Cardiff-Newport derby (‘sorry, bwt, was that the back of your skull, fares please…). Where’s the heft?

Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water Jill came down with half a crown, but, not for fetching water... Half a crown, two shillings and six pence, and the largest sized and denomination silver coin of the old system in my memory, though the crown, 5 shillings, 25p, was larger in both senses but was withdrawn before my time.

The Bardic handlamp, made in Southamptorn and supplied to police and the armed forces as well as BR, was a splendid piece of kit. Cast aluminium body so the weight was not excessive and built to withstand a direct 50-megaton strike, they were bright enough for the job, reliable, and a re-assuring presence if you were working a rough Saturday night late train... I managed to drop mine off a 37 at 60mph, and when I recovered it it was barely scratched. The red-white-green aspect version was issued to locomen, guards, and shunters, and signalmen had an extra yellow aspect. One would have no qualms about clipping it to a loco headlamp bracket and running at high speed through torrential rain for a few hours; the lamp would have worked perfectly. This was part of the guards' personal equipment, carried in the leather satchel. I took a dislike to the satchel when I was issued with one, possibly because it was brand new and lacked the gravitas of the battered and stained bags that the old timers used. But mine got respectable dirty and scuffed soon enough, and I came to love it for it's sheer quality of construction and perfect suitability for the job. It was divided into two long compartments and a square end one. The long compartments held your publications (Rule Book, General & Sectional Appendices thereto, load tables, gradient profiles, notices & such on one side and everything else including the vital teacan, makings, and last night's Echo in the other, with the Bardic being strapped on by one of the closing straps. The end compartment was for detonators; first thing the guards' inspector would ask you if you encountered him was always 'are your dets in date' (and I'm pleased to say mine always were) Old dets were returned to stores for 'disposal' (never knew what that entailed) in exchange for new ones . They were, or should have been, replaced every 3 months and the cover had the 'use by' date stamped on to it. We were also issued with an Acme Thunderer pea whistle. I loved this thing, better than a horse, tear gas, or water cannon for crowd control and just the thing to hurry passengers up when it's getting close to departure time. The POWER!!! A man's whistle, used by the police.

No, the vans didn't carry spare lamps, but they did carry a supply of paraffin. When the van was not in use the lamp housings were kept on brackets inside the van, which may account for the impression that there were spares. Lamps, on a properly prepared train such as they had never encountered at Margam, the 'stards, were trimmed for a quarter inch wick and filled, which was enough for 24 hours in normal conditions. Normal conditions were not guaranteed with brake van work, with the lamps being poorly sealed against the 45mph wind and a bad rider, a rocker, being more than capable of knocking the lamps out, so that they had to be constantly relit. Plenty of matches in a sealed box, usually a tobacco tin, were essential. Other essential equipment supplied by the guard was last night's newspaper, used in rolled up balls soaked in paraffin to ignite the kindling. If matters were desparate, one would throw paraffin on to the struggling fire and stand back, while the pipe did a flamethrower impression; the stove would be going ok after that! The newspaper was also useful for giving the driver the 'tip', the right away handsignal that confirmed that you were safely aboard the van, which might be 60 wagons away from the loco, then, as you got under way, rolled into strips to seal the many draughts around the front door, window frames, and between the body planks. In between your other duties, this would occupy the first hour or so of the run, and once a decent seal had been achieved, the stove would be too hot and you'd have to open the back door, even on freezing cold nights sometimes! Thus one of my most pleasant memories is of a winter evening run up the Hereford road in falling snow, pure xmas card scenery, and out on the balcony for a good bit of the way! The final use for the newspaper was more prosaic. Guards, in the usual of things, sometimes felt the call of urgent nature, and on these occasions a decent supply was a lifesaver... The van's equipment was checked by the guard as part of his train preparation. It was:- .A shunting pole, stowed in brackets next to the non-stove-end door. .A brake stick, stowed in brackets next to the pole. .3 lamps, one tail and two side. Side lamps carried removable red shade slides, I'll come back to those in a minute. .A pair of track circuit clips, kept on wooden blocks on the side wall stove side opposite end to stove. .Paraffin, usually in a glass milk bottle held in a bracket on the side of the brake wheel side bench. Train preparers who took any sort of pride in their job wound ensure that there was a supply of kindling and coal in the stove bunker. At Radyr, the fire would be laid ready for you, the work of the legendary Johnny Chopsticks, friend to guards extraordiare. More about him in my 'Confessions of a Canton goods guard' topic. Side lamps carried removable red shades which, as Mr.Hodgson says were removed when the train was running on relief, slow, or goods lines parallel to main running lines on the side nearest said main running lines in order to re-assure drivers of overtaking trains that they weren't about to plough into the back... Anyone who has tried to decipher the perspective of lamps on curving tracks at night will understand the need for this. The lamps showed white to the front so that the locomen could look back and confirm that the van was still there and that therefore the train was complete and not divided (coupling breakages were a constant threat in the days before instanter couplings). The side lamps could be reversed to show red forward and white rear as a means of attracting the attention of signalmen, other traincrews, and anyone with knowledge on or about the railway, of a problem that necessitated your wanting the train stopped.

Goods brake vans never TTBOMK had any form of internal lighting; certainly I never came across or heard of such a thing during my career as a goods guard in the 70s. They carried three paraffin lamps, two sides and a tail, which were deployed outside the van on brackets, but there was nothing inside. The paperwork was done by the light of your Bardic handlamp, or oil handlamp in previous times. At night, a guard needs to develop night vision to see where he is, so internal lighting would be counterproductive. Tilley lamps were used by Per.Way, S & T, and similar staff working around the track at night, and in tunnels. They would have been useless to a guard, too large, heavy, and dangerous if tipped in a poor-riding van and much too bright to preserve night vision. The Bardic, a superb piece of kit, could easily be carried by your satchel straps, but it was important to not shine it in your eyes. One could destroy night vision by opening the stove door as well; those things went like blast furnaces and most had bulging midriffs where the cast iron had got red or orange hot and softened, then 'settled'. There would have been practical difficulties in providing internal lighting in brake vans. Gas or oil lighting would have been a fire risk, especially in a rear-end collision, and bottled gas or battery lighting would have been frequently stolen. This is before the extra work needed to provide gas bottles or batteries is considered, which would have been an added cost at a time when costs were being blamed for the haemorraghing of cash that plagued BR in those days. This was at a time when any repair or maintenance work costing more than 50p on a brake van would result in it being scrapped. ISTR that the short-lived container brake vans and converted non-gangway brake 3rds used for Freightliner and Cartic 4 trains, Class 4 freight, prior to the 1969 single manning agreement with the unions that allowed guards to ride on locomotives on fully fitted goods train, were provided with bottled gas heating and the B3rds had the standard dynamo/battery arrangement found on coaches and NPCCS for lighting. Presumably they had bottled gas heating for when they were at the rear of the trains and could not be connected to the loco steam-heating boiler. Heating in goods brake vans was from the stove, and they were very effective; given the draughtiness of the vans they had to be! I used to scribble notes, passing times, stuff from the Train Prep Certificate on a piece of scrap and copy it up on to the 'ticket', the daily guards' journal sheet and my own notebook when I was in a warm, lit, cabin with a table to write on. It was a waste of time trying to do paperwork in a moving van anyway, as writing was difficult when you had to wedge yourself in the seat to avoid being thrown about, though one could catch up in loops or if you knew you were going to be held at a signal for a while. The journal and the note book would contain similar information; driver's name, loco number headcode, load, brake force, maximum wagon speed, then passing point times en route and any other notes such as signal checks or reasons for delays. Delays had to be accounted for and there was a constant dichotomy between us, drivers, station staff, and signalmen as to who would be responsible for a particular delay (20 minutes Abergavenni loop, 7 minutes signal C125, 3 minutes TROS, 2 minutes station work, awaiting connection 28mins, &c). This was particularly pertinent if any train involved in the Royal Mail contract was involved, as there were stringent penalties imposed on both parties if the mails were late. Delaying a TPO was a hanging offence (quite literally according to some people as wilful delay of Her Majesty's Mails (then) was High Treason, and a gallows was kept funtional in Chelmsford prison should it be needed...). For modelling purposes, van lighting needs to be the running lamps and the stove. Stoves, if they were drawing properly, were intensely bright, and the tempatation is to have a bright flickering light illuminating all that lovely detail you've put inside it, and this did happen, but out in the country in the dark the stove door, a downward hinged flap, was either closed or on a latch, so the light in the van would be fairly subdued. With the door closed and the stove drawing hard, there is every excuse for sparks from the stove pipe! The stoves (IIRC they came from a company called 'Little Devil', which suited them) had a raised rim at the top which was the right size to hold a standard railwaymans' enamel tea can. I didn't do this much myself, not being a fan of stewed tea, but it was fine for coffee or simply boiling water up for a brew. But most of the places that you had to go to to get water for this purpose had boiling water available anyway, so most of the time the tea was not made in the van.

Had 'gator tail in the Old Orleans in Cardiff years ago, not bad but I'd prefer conger eel if we are talking about that sort of thing. Old Orleans was a great night out though, the sort of seriously messy stick your face in it eating I love, they give you a full length polythene bib at the start of proceedings so you know it's going to be good! The place is a Harvester now, and I've no objection to Harvester but Orleans was much more characterful. And they were a dab hand with gumbo.

Elves. Good at wine but can't hold their beer.

50-100million to have it designed and built by contractors, but a lot less if the railway uses it's goodwill and large membership to find in-house engineering design and uses members as far as possible to transport and deliver materials and to do the labouring of the build. It's still gonna be hideously expensive, but probably more comparable with the by-pass bridge or the river wall at Sterns. If we are talking about a Bridgnorth-Kidderminster railway, those expesnsive matters would have been in addition to the Victoria Bridge. But I would respectfully suggest that the Victoria Bridge would be unlikely to be demolished in the first place. It would cost a fair bit to remove, big cranes and heavy lifts to avoid it blocking the river, and would probably be left in situ. It is, after all, still happily carrying trains and was not really that likely to fall down 50 years ago! I would suggest that, as a sweeping generalisation, the UK has a surfeit of heritage railways, though, some of which do not really have much to offer in the sense of length, scenic value, or historical importance. I'm not sure what impression of the steam age modern youngsters pick up from riding in a mk1 open behind a Hunslet 'Austerity' along a 200 yard stretch of track at 5mph while looking at a line of part-restored Barry heaps.

Yes, absolutely, as I reccommended earlier, spend as much effort and money as you can on preparing the space, which needs proper insulation both at floor (ceiling below) and roof level, and proper ventilation, plus an easy access. Don't fool yourself that it's only a hobby and you'll be happy to put up with some discomfort and inconvenience, because, over time, you won't. The layout space needs to be as comfortable to be in as the main part of the home; you will be spending a good bit of time up there and it needs to be a nice place. My experience of a loft layout was that it tore itself to peices by expansion and contraction, and the humidity got to the chipboard floor and baseboards, worsened by dad's insistence that it could be heated by one of those silly little flying saucer paraffin heaters, which stank, managed to fail to cope with the cold, and caused condensation everywhere. The upshot was that I vowed to never again tolerate a layout in a space that was not equally heated and ventilated to the living area of the home, and ideally should be contained within it, and I have kept to this principle, eventually leaving a club I joined because of the freezing accommodation in winter amongst other reasons. I waited many years after losing my home in a vicious divorce, but have for the last seven years been able to have a railway in my rented flat by having a) a tolerant and supportive Squeeze, and b) a reasonably sized bedroom and planning permission to occupy one wall and half of two others.

First time I ever saw Jimmy Carr on tv I thought there was something off about him, he made my flesh crawl instinctively. I have to own that he is a superbly accomplished professional standup comic who has studied his craft hard and well; his academic knowledge of it is of a very high level. But, he seem to me to be sleaze personified, and I do not have the impression that this is a persona, it's him. Deeply unpleasant sexual innuendo, coupled with with arrogance and an overwhelming smugness, come-uppance long overdue. I don't like 'im,