chris p bacon

I’ve got this vision of a building starting off as a bungalow, a couple of evenings work and some plasticard and ‘hey presto’ it’s a modelling room with a large 2 storey house attached 😄

I’m guessing they just award full points to crashtappen as in previous years….

In simple terms the planner has overstepped his remit over the building. He cannot object just because he doesn’t like the thought of a different material being used. To try and give an idea of what a mess he’s got into, the internal courtyard roof which cannot be seen from anywhere outside of the building, has a pitched slated roof which intersects with a flat roof. For longevity I planned on having a new slate and a traditional code 6 lead roof. He has insisted on a secondhand slate for the pitch as he wants the roof to have ‘age’ but has also said he will only accept a modern standing seam zinc for the flat roof. This is against the advice from the listing agency but he is able to overrule. This has cost many months as he’s backed himself into a corner by introducing his own personal opinion rather than an interpretation of the law.

The issue here is that what the planner has decided, is that I can't fit solar panels because he doesn't like the 'thought' of them being on the building. Planning is defined within legislation, and although some is open to interpretation the planner has gone beyond his remit to apply such a restriction on a part of the building which is not visible to anyone outside of the Steading. I have challenged it and there is a certain amount of backtracking going on, but as he put it in writing it's going to be interesting to see how he goes back on his decision.

I forgot that part….as the internal roof cannot be seen from anywhere outside I applied to fit solar panels so we can offset some of our power bill (we have to be all electric) but the planning officer won’t allow them as he doesn’t like the ‘thought’ of them being there….I’m fitting brackets so that I can fit ‘snow boards’ they just happen to be similar measurements for the rails that carry solar panels.

And that is the way it should be...but this is Scotland 😀 To give another example, my neighbour lives in the farmhouse and has rotten windows, she needs to replace them as the sliding sashes are now screwed shut and taped up. The conservation officer wants a 'like for like' re-installed which can easily be done with the same pattern mouldings, double glazed units and high performance draught strip. Unfortunately the officer actually wants identical windows including single glazing. My buildings are 9 feet away and I have triple glazed high performance windows. I could understand if the listing was category A, but we're only a C. My neighbour has sent documentation to show just how much oil she is burning to keep the house at 18/19C (£3000 per year) but the officer says that the living conditions aren't part of her remit. Scots politicians want to be carbon neutral quicker than anywhere else, but haven't actually thought about what you need to do to get there.

Somewhere around 8 years ago, an edict was issued by the conservation dept of Central Beds/planning that any re-thatching carried out had to use local Bedfordshire river reed. In the words of the officer concerned it was so that any works 'stayed true to the building and reflected its status as a listed building' The only problem was that there is only enough reed produced each year that keeps one small scale business supplied that deals in traditional crafts. Needless to say that after several owners had pointed out that no reed was available did they alowother reed to be used. On a personal note with planning and conservation, I am currently rebuilding a listed Steading in the Scottish Borders and have come up against the immovable wall of the officers personal choice. The Steading was a mix of Slate on the exterior and pantiles on the interior, the interior can't be seen so the officers asked for the pantiles to be removed and be replaced with slate which went against the advice from Historic Scotland which wanted them kept. Now we are trying to pin down exactly what slate he wants and surprise surprise he wants the conservation officers favourite ' secondhand Welsh slate' I've argued that the pantiles which would be new would be much better than his option of 2nd hand slate which is going to be at least 50 year old and more likely 75-100 giving me a much shortened life for the roof covering. His opinion is that it will look much better and more 'in keeping' even though there are 3 sets of buildings in the listing with the other 2 having a mix of Welsh and Spanish and other farm buildings corrugated iron! After many years in this game I've learnt that it's not worth arguing, I just wait till he gets another job and the next one will have a different opinion 🙄

I'm guessing the box of 'LU Grany' biscuits is the equivalent of the buffet car.

Maybe it's 'cash for crash' where the cars all piled into the Allelys lorry......😀 I did wonder if there was a bit of a set up with the twitter vid, as if the incident had just happened then why wasn't there anyone on the lorry or nearby as they always run with a driver and helper. Also the person filming was offering to help but whilst still holding on to his phone.

Was it from the bottom of a German beer glass...😁

It hit the Borders in this mornings post 👍

Bet that ran like a tank 😄

Especially if one sock is different to the other...🙄

I just logged on and saw the bunting and this was the first topic ….. just for a second I thought ‘he’s not that bad surely’ 😂 Have a happy retirement, I’m told it’s harder than working as you’ve no time.

Makes a change from my experience of AA, on departure from London and climbing I noted that 3 of the stewards had dozed off in the jump seats. As the other stewards started to go about their tasks it took quite some time to realise that there we're some missing and they had to be woken. I tried my hardest to avoid the American carriers as we had problems with all of them except one, which was a first class flight from Newark to London.

He would have been at fault. You can only enter a road when it is clear. Highway code 5. Other vehicles (219 to 225) 219 Emergency and Incident Support vehicles. You should look and listen for ambulances, fire engines, police, doctors or other emergency vehicles using flashing blue, red or green lights and sirens or flashing headlights, or Highways Agency Traffic Officer and Incident Support vehicles using flashing amber lights. When one approaches do not panic. Consider the route of such a vehicle and take appropriate action to let it pass, while complying with all traffic signs. If necessary, pull to the side of the road and stop, but try to avoid stopping before the brow of a hill, a bend or narrow section of road. Do not endanger yourself, other road users or pedestrians and avoid mounting the kerb. Do not brake harshly on approach to a junction or roundabout, as a following vehicle may not have the same view as you.

We stayed in one of the Pullmans for a week last July and it was closed then. We ate in the Pennington one night and didn't think it too pricey, it was a very nice meal with good service.

So does that mean we have to hold the current generation of young Germans responsible for the actions of their forefathers.

More likely ignoring it 🙄

Highly unlikely, any painting scheme wouldn’t include the wheel tread as it would have to be cleaned off. looks more like a poor specification, if it wasn’t then it’s extremely poor QC to send these out.

For future ref, A easy way to contact John is to put his name in the post @hayfield this will send a notification to him about this topic. Tynemouth is an interesting prototype, I went there in 1977 aged 15 and thought I'd travelled to the 1950's 😀

Was it a parachute drop 😀

Not a problem, I was very sceptical about the working hence looking further into it. It does prove that even when those that were there at the time are adamant that it was only a 4 car set, there are practical obstacles that seem unlikely to have been overcome.

That was my first thought. But I was told it didn't present a problem, but was not ideal. Having worked on the railways in the late 70's/80's it was very common that what wasn't working practice at one place was completely different elsewhere, even within the same district. I was quite sceptical about the working, but conversations with ex railwaymen seemed to prove otherwise. I did try and find some of the train registers for Sandy, but those available did not cover the period or working in question.

They were designed to run in pairs but the article is quite a detailed document. It lists details of the services between KX and Grantham for the period Saturday 5th to Thursday the 10th July 1958, it has not only the locomotive and carriage numbers but also the drivers name. The Quad art sets are described as 'Brake 2nd plus three 2nds' The 16.06 Hitchin to Sandy is described as a '4 car set' with the relevant set number for each day. Having only moved from Sandy a couple of years ago I was certainly interested in this working when I received a copy of the document. My own research of speaking to those who frequented the station at the time as well as ex signalmen & drivers confirms that this working was just a 4 car. I learnt that the working arrived in the down platform then set back so the loco could use the down yard to run round, it then used the Down to Up slow series of slips and diamonds to return to Hitchin. Unfortunately no photographic evidence has come to light. I don't think I'm able to post the complete article here but here is just a short snippet from it. The 16.06 from Hitchin to Sandy provided a short foray along the main line for a four-car articulated suburban set. Three different sets were recorded during the study period. On Wednesday 9th July, the duty was covered by Set No .74, assembled in 1924 from vehicles to a GNR design, which survives in active preservation on the North Norfolk RailwaY. The document is also interesting for me with the information of what vehicles were attached at Sandy such as Horse & livestock.