Oldddudders

There are days that look simple, but go near-catastrophic. I went for my scan. Followed the set procedure of checking in at the accounts office, so charges can be raised, then off to the scanner. Reception there took my creatinine reading result (mid range, so utterly normal) and I waited. Young-ish tech took me into an office/treatment room, and after a few prelims inserted a canula inside the left elbow, with a drip. Off to the scanner, of the polo-mint variety. I got on the trolley, arranged my arms behind my head as instructed and we started, only to find my elbows were fouling the scanner, so my arms were being ripped out of their sockets. Ok, put your arms by your side. Much more comfy and scanning began. Sadly on the second pass the infusion tube must have fouled something, and I think the canula was ripped out of my arm, with fluid spraying everywhere. Tech and another chap quickly on the case but I now have an enormous swelling by the elbow. This was then x-rayed, and lady explained it is only fluid. Cold compress for 20 mins every hour, come back tomorrow for another x-ray. I was a bit shocked by the whole thing - and tomorrow my car gets its annual service! A grand, military FU.

317 Gerald Loder spent much of its early career as a Portsmouth engine, so this was obviously a special trial on Forest Hill bank with a challenging load - B2s were not a success at their intended task of replacing Gladstones. Oddly, the LBSCR shelter seen here was in use on other locos, and never seemed to get any windows. Since I imagine that location was important for the chaps manning the kit to understand how hard the loco needed to work at any given point this meant standing up. A pic in Jeremy English's Atlantic book shows two bowler-hatted individuals posing behind the screen - on a static No 39 - which didn't even come up to chest height. A challenging experience even at 50 mph!

That is sad indeed. In Torbay, Rowcroft, a leading local hospice, has several shops run by volunteers, with all the bonhomie you would hope for, but evidently has some sassy people in a back office who specialise in market segments. So folk CDs I donated after Deb died were in many cases put carefully on ebay, where the market is discerning, rather than lingering on a shop shelf on the off-chance of a sale. Professionalism has an important place in the multi-million pound charity sector, but needs to be the right sort, which this thread indicates may not be the case on every preserved railway.

I think Pacers can be jolly things, and on decent CWR the ride was more than adequate - stretches between St Davids and Newton Abbot for example. It was P&C that tended to trigger loss of composure, I felt. Some longitudinal seating helped the unique ambience. Gimcrack construction avoided any real sense of quality, but when the South West was woefully short of trains, the Pacers provided a service of sorts.

Not a bad place. 20 years ago this month I went on a date there with a lady. We married in 2015.

And that fits perfectly with something I have quoted before. Circa 1990, the man from Dupont was making his first visit to BRB. He walked into the Chairman's office with the words "Good morning Chairman - how many staff have you killed today?" Culture change did come about. If the pendulum seemed to sometimes swing too far, well that was to be expected.

That's a fair name! When a colleague was SM at Dorking, new signage was provided for his other station, Boxhill & Westhumble. Sadly the signs said Westhamble, so back they went. An engineering works poster in the mid-80s showed a map of East Coastway, including a station called Hampton Park. Like north of the Border, it should be Hampden Park. Those versed in Cockney rhyming slang will have had a particular giggle. EDIT - And surely the most shameful of all, when Wessex Trains was young and full of hope, the departure posters at the home station of Exeter Central included a destination at Barnstable.

I think it all depends upon how they entered railway property. If by the hole in the fence, the railway is responsible. If from a platform or a level crossing etc things are not so clear.

Sadly the law, for nearly 200 years, has not agreed with you, however unreasonable that may seem. If some scrote chooses to cut a hole in the fence to make a quick route across the railway, and something horrid happens, be it to an adult or child, the railway is held responsible every time. It is the railway's responsibility to maintain that fence regardless. I've no doubt plenty of beaks have recognised the impossibility of this situation in some urban environments, but that is the law and they have no choice but to prosecute accordingly.

Good question. By and large in the post-war era, serious S&T investment was inevitably applied to the most needy routes. So in the '50s, the Brighton Line got modernised, then there were several years of new schemes in Kent, to go with Kent Coast Electrification. Then Guildford in the '60s, together with schemes to contribute to Bournemouth Electrification. Mopping up of easy targets around Crystal Palace and Streatham/Tulse Hill took place in the late '60s, but the country termini were conspicuously not modernised in any great haste - Epsom Downs was early '70s - due to lack of savings in doing so. Plenty of S&T resources were thrown into level crossing modernisation in the '60s, both controlled and AHB - but the latter had a severe knockback in the wake of Hixon.

In The Groove - Rodney Franklin

An IMPudent suggestion!

Enough to drive a Dalek off its trolley.

The haunt of presidents and film stars in the days when it offered a photo op.

Most journos seem to have a specialist subject, and outside that only understand football.

I have a phobia about terminal stations without a run-round. I see operations beyond multiple-units or pull-push being awkward at best. Clearly I have missed something.

There was still a weekly freight trip to Merton Abbey, via Merton Park, into the very early '70s. I think it was SO. A friend had lived in the station house at Tooting Junction, where his dad was SM, 1960-ish. After that I think they were at Lenham, but dad (Roy) retired as SM at London Bridge.

https://rapidotrains.co.uk/product/d1347-5-plank-open-sr-no-14283/

Interesting choice of soundtrack. Jobim's classic by real Brazilians for a change, none of them known to me.

I don't spend much time watching such videos but really enjoyed that one. A distinct shortage of trombone-zooming and wild panning helped. And the railmotor looked brill, of course. So glad I bought #61.

Riders On The Storm - Doors

What other colour would such a Peter want?

Now look - like most straight males I'm partial to a bit of pussy but really.....

Yeah, but it was alright because he read them to us, so you knew there was no misinterpretation.

Including my aunt and uncle, who set sail on Canberra many years ago, only to come back some years later. Pity.