Gwiwer

All very well Tony but from Strawberry Hill our nearest Tesco means going all the way to Ivybridge . OK it's not the Ivybridge atop a famous railway gradient in Devon but a recently-named locality just north of Twickenham. Tesco has occupied some previously-used land an inconvenient distance from anywhere without a car. The only buses passing by do not serve Twickenham but wander around the by-ways of Whitton. It's far easier to get Tesco to deliver. As indeed we do with Sainsburys and Waitrose. They do have Tribute listed but not always in stock but not HSD. It's also cheaper direct from the brewery. Hic! 'scuse me.

Not a good night at London Bridge but full marks all round for all who stood against the nutters. From drinkers armed with bar stools and a BTP officer who took on all three with just a truncheon for self defence. Police took just 90 seconds to arrive and 8 minutes to locate and "neutralise" (their word) the idiots. I'm not sure the Vic Police would have been so quick and decisive at Brighton. All's well here. Just the occasional random armed plod where you don't expect to see one. Teddington station at school time this afternoon fir instance. Or patrolling the aisles in Waitrose.

FedEx has delivered the beer. 12 bottles each of St. Austell's Tribute and HSD. I may be some time ...........

Hi Peter. We should have had this conversation a few weeks back as I have a Bachy modern shed surplus to my needs and currently at sea off Colombo headed to London. Ah well. I always thought of Llanbourne as having once had a shed which had been demolished with just the fuelling point left as a reminder of what used to be there.

Morning all. Awaiting delivery of ales from St. Austell and pasties from Hayle. Otherwise all is well. Best wishes to all.

I would call myself a runner rather than a collector but have amassed a collection which has been described as quite substantial. Every box has been dutifully kept. When they began to overflow the workroom they went into plastic crates in the loft. What I never did was to keep track of what was where so when a few items were sold on the boxes could not readily be found. Life moves on and early this year I was obliged to make some hard decisions. Seventeen years in Australia was about to end and I had to dispose of or ship all the stock. Not even boxed British stock sells easily there: the marketplace is too small and the cost of mailing prohibitive. Aside from a few more items which I sold to friends everything was packed for shipping. The need to minimise volume for the container and the potential time required to re-box everything means that I had to make the decision to dispose of the coaching stock and wagon boxes. Only locomotives, multiple units and limited-edition commission wagons were boxed. While that potentially devalues the stock I continue to be a runner rather than a collector and resale value is of minimal importance to me.

Morning all Domestic Engineering complete. Wind is troubling the birds more than me (nothing to do with last night's lamb roast) and the extreme wetness seems imminent. Friend in Cornwall suggested she might need to don the wetsuit for the afternoon school run. Mike's comments from not-far-away duly noted. A "full breakfast" requires, to my mind, toast and fried bread, fried eggs (plural), bacon (definitely plural), sausage (probably plural), cooked tomato, chat or hash-brown potatoes and hog's or white pudding. I'm open-minded on baked beans. Happy if they are present so long as they aren't the major component used to fill the plate cheaply. No mushrooms thanks. And most definitely nothing green - I endured 17 years of Australian "full English" breakfasts which always seemed to include a large serve of steamed spinach. Herself has Gumtreed a wardrobe which is due tonight so sitting home awaiting van man in foul weather is not an unreasonable impost. Must mail off my pension forms though. Shoes on - key in pocket - envelope in hand. Best wishes to all. I'll see you later unless I get drowned or blown away.

Bus upholstery was often quite vivid in that era. The East Kent pattern would sit comfortably alongside its neighbours from Maidstone & District or Southdown, Green Line coaches and many others. And with real leather trim too. It's only taken 50-odd years to realise leather seats are actually a Good Thing.

I'm guessing the location at Hayes & Harlington might have something connection with the Western class 52 which finished about then. The RF buses continued on the 218 and 219 as you say but also made rare and unofficial forays onto the 216 right up until the final day. That was done to cover defective BL type Bristol LHs. I managed a trip out to Staines on the 218 and back on the very last RF-worked 216 on their final afternoon and was surprised to find no other enthusiasts had spotted that substitution. Most were too busy wandering around Kingston bus station or were out photographing on the pretty bits around Weybridge. I eventually did manage to board the very last RF working which in traditional style performed several laps of the roundabouts and was late back due to unscheduled photo stops. It was also triplicated by two other well loaded RFs which ran the service more normally.

Morning all Alerted by my IoW-based nephew to the news as it happened last night. There are some very sad sick-minded people out there though three fewer this morning. Thoughts go to all those closely involved. Upstairs (top floor) neighbour is a paramedic. We chatted briefly as she left for a 12-hour overnight shift, her last before two weeks leave. I wished her a safe and quiet night. 15 hours later and she isn't home yet. Followed events unfolding as I was unable to sleep anyway. Mrs. Fox was outside crying for company and upstaires neighbours (middle floor) have a house-full of kids staying for half-term who might have all been playing football in the bedroom above mine until around 2am. Finally woken at 10.30am by next-door neighbour's toast alarm. New students just moved in seem a good bunch but haven't yet mastered the toaster setting. Besf wishes to all. In true London tradition Keep Calm and Carry On.

Thank you Andy. Yes we miss Jock just as those of us who have lost loved ones miss them. He was very much a part of our family here. This topic, created with the support of his family, exists to offer friendship and support to those bereaved by, suffering from, recovered from or in any way affected by cancer. You are not alone. We are free to speak here among friends.

The Reading stop could have been serviced via Winnersh and Bramley between Waterloo and Salisbury but as you say crewing poses a problem over the LSWR route east of Yeovil. Booked stops on the NR have varied over the years. It once included Swindon, Bath and Bristol before losing the first two then the last. It still runs via Bristol as required by overnight works but without a booked stop, without a need to change men and with no guarantee of it being on a platform road let alone actually stopping the chance of nipping on or off unchallenged has gone. That and central locking fouling what was o ce considered part of the art of railrovermanship.

During various works I have made scheduled trips between Glasgow Queen St LL and HL (West Highland train arriving via Springburn) and Glasgow Queen St LL to Central HL (WHL again but when Queen St HL was closed).

The current timetable includes booked Sunday services between Waterloo - Hounslow and Kingston reversing at Twickenham. When the route via Richmond is closed for engineering the Readings and Windsors operate via Wimbledon and Twickenham reversing at the latter. Rare diversion or planned / booked for route knowledge purposes? Some weird things happen late at night to retain knowledge over unusual routings.

A few contenders B'ham New St - Bescot - Adderley Park - Coventry - Nuneaton - Leicester due to engineering work on the direct route and a signal failure preventing exit at the south end of New Street as booked direct to Coventry. Kings Cross - Hertford North - Peterborough - Spalding - Doncaster - York - Durham - Leamside - Gateshead - Kin Edward Bridge - Newcastle. Talk about round the houses but all booked due to electrification works. Worthing - Brighton - Littlehampton (through but not stopping at Worthing!) - Crawley - Quarry Line - Victoria. Because the Balcombr derailment prevented the train I connected onto at Brighton taking the main line. Waterloo - Ashford - Reading - Swindon - Melksham - Frome Avoiding Line - Yeovil Pen Mill & Junction - Exeter - Penzance. Waterloo was the booked Night Riviera London terminal for a short time but why did we not go via Salusbury?

One of those Green Line SMA-class Swifts was based at Crawley nominally for route 479 to Broadfields which, when it began, was a single-vehicle standalone duty. That left the 725 allocation short of a maintenance spare which in turn often required the use of an RF or the cancellation of one of the peak-hour Dartford - Croydon extras. The 725 was the original southern orbital route which did not serve the obvious destination of Heathrow Airport. When London Country woke up (perhaps too late) to the possibility of routing the service this way every other journey on the half-hourly service became a 726 via the airport instead of via Staines. The western half of the route is one of very few recognisable vestiges of the Green Line network today. LCBS withdrew the Gravesend - Croydon section, all journeys via Staines and the Heathrow - Windsor leg. West Croydon - Heathrow continues today as TfL (red bus) route X26. It still runs every half hour and has just gained double-deckers for the first time. The fare is TfL's standard £1.50 anywhere which is somewhat cheaper than would have been the case when Green Line finished.

I am reliably informed that a Tornado has swept through Cornwall today. Funny thing, this internet. I've had dozens of messages from the good folk of Hayle (who know, or who know of, my interests) asking for times. A simple post of the RTT link wasn't quite enough so this London-based Cornishman has been idly refreshing the page and messaging the progress to folks down west. It seems the kettle performed rather well. Time regained ovef the big Devon banks after a delay at Exeter but that cost the path and she was stuck behind the HST she should have been ahead of. Video from Treverrin shows her storming up in fine style.

Yes. I must have had my twenty-something head on when I applied for a place in the 2018 London Marathon. In October I shall know the result and whether I get to prove my long-held assertion that I could still run one. I've done three London's as a rather younger chap.

Good morning Debs and John. Good to hear from you. Good morning to all other ERs. Welcome to Ban Collar Day. Sleep must have been adequate as I don't seem to require more. Now what is a chap to to with a day which has dawned grey and damper than the average piece of seaweed? Breakast! That's what. Everyone should celebrate breakfast at least once a day.

Morning all from a warm, humid and currently damp Hill of Strawberries. Not aware of any thunderstorms here but there has been thundery rain at times. Warm nights not conducive to sleep mean that the Good Lady has been on eyelid inspection duty practically all day so far. Visited mother yesterday. Went through the first of father's things. Returned with two good shirts and three jackets which if any has been worn it could only have been once. Also inherited a modest collection of alcohol. Father always had bottles of Famous Grouse and Remy Martin "in case". We found several of each unopened and stashed in dark corners he had probably forgotten about. Avoided the egg-chasing hordes up the road yesterday and today. Arrived back around midnight last night and learned that our noisy-f****r neighbours were also home. All movements of the The Love Symphony were being performed quite audibly once more. Thoughts with Baz and Andy in particular. And any I've missed scanning email replies on the phone.

Finchley Central opens the New Vaudeville Gambit for three turns only I claim bonus points for a terminal-shuffle to MILL HILL EAST

As some will know I currently lack any means of running or testing anything. However with the questions regarding tbe 71 speed in mind an opportunity arose yesterday to both give it a test run and discuss with my nephew who is far wiser in the electronics aspect than I am ever likely to be. So E5010 travelled aboard South Western and Southern trains to meet nephew in Worthing. He had come over from the Isle of Ancient Tube Trains with enough track and some basic testing kit and tools First let me stress this has not been done under "factory conditions" and was a DC table-top test. Comments may not apply to DCC users. The loco was placed on straight track with no load coupled, was powered by a Gaugemaster Combi and achieved a shade under 60mph (scaled as per posts above) after some running in. A little slow as others have found. Nephew then probed and tested the innards for quite some time and suggested I could make a easy change on the DCC dummy board bypassing six diodes as shown below . But the motor and LEDs would not start up at the same time. Something to do with the way everything works in together. It appeared that to short out these two points on R10 would bypass six diodes and the loco should run at normal speed. Not something I was terribly comfortable about but trusting nephew's skill and understanding we proceeded and found that the loco then achieved a scale speed closer to 72mph Very much a case of I don't know how but it works. And offered here as a thought for anyone troubled by low top speeds.

Hi Peter and welcome. There are numerous ways to upload and display images. The site recently upgraded its own hosting to allow a single image up to 32mb (was just 1mb) so any image file can now be hosted directly here. In your layout topic you will need the full reply window (Reply with Attachments) open which has the button below to attach files. 1. Click "Choose file" then select one at a time from your image library (should also work straight from the camera) and upload. 2. Click "Attach this file" The completed upload then creates a clickable link labelled "Insert file" 3. Place the cursor on the reply pane where you want your image displayed and click "Insert file" The reply pane will display a short link. To check before posting click on Preview Post. That displays the image.

Ban Collar Day weekend has arrived. So have the weather warnings though today was breezy anda comfortably sunny 25C. Escorted Mrs G. to a dermatology appointment at Kingston-upon-Hospital. Can't fault the NHS as she was only seen by a GP here three weeks ago, was referred to the specialist who not only saw her far sooner than GP suggested but also right on time. Lovely chap. And it turns out all is well and the problem is age-related more than medical. An embuggerance of life. Off to the Costa Geriatrica tomorrow as the time has come to start sorting through father's things. Not entirely looking forward but bullet bitten as such things must be done. Down the road in Strawberry Vale the Thames has been spilt. Yesterday and today on the Spring tides the lower paths and gardens were just under water. It's normal. Up here upon Strawberry Hill it was Lebanese style dining tonight courtesy of Mr. Deliveroo. Thoughts with those specifically affected by recent events up north. The wash-up has seen armed police on the streets of small Cornish towns where even an unarmed officer is a rarity.

Prize for the first to board at Snerth? That's new.