MarkC

Wise words indeed 😎 Mark

Caveat Emptor...

It is, yes. However, unlike Romfords, you can't guarantee the security of the wheels on the axles if you have to subsequently remove the wheels & refit them. That would be the time to break out the Loctite... I tend to use a set of Romfords to check that all is square with the chassis, then remove them & fit the AG wheels. I do have a GW Models press, but have done without in the past, setting up 2 sets of wheels by eye & checking that all was OK by trying the wheels with the coupling rods on, before fitting the 3rd set if it was a 6-coupled loco. Obviously if it was an 8-coupled loco then I'd have the 3 sets proved OK before fitting the 4th... Mark

And with good reason, I think 😎

Is This Love? - Bob Marley & The Wailers

Golden Age? Kirk built A4? Really? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/276181431898?hash=item404db2365a:g:2SUAAOSwBMZlXIZT&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAAwEWnsY2hLfEIQ4yyzkL9VAYPXIB6mIuBFEbw4Igg9belliBWY7IDM6BpjDPhQwXpzBRgHhGKoWBGmXpe61ZsghezPfdOEk24cCsEvT1QAn4OXplvpGR%2Bajsri75rHp4eSqLLDkaqni%2FJmJ5oZksKc3b0Hp7qgmFRhcd6fVNPWNSIIsgvp8gqJItcPcJ6y5HCqbXgST3dGi1lO%2FhZr5h8af5THYF8xkQurL3OR5rQ%2BoJxyUYVWUKxZSwwScMMehACIg%3D%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR46Qqt7-Yg

Run for Home - Lindesfarne

I can vouch for that mechanism - I use one to power a Fox, Walker 0-6-0T, which has a Hardy's Hobbies body. Lovely bit of kit 👍 Mark

Sadly back then it was all faxed, plus one did still expect some honourable behaviour from others... Mark (Becoming ever more cynical as time passes...)

Ooh, interesting. Thank you very much. Cheers Mark

That's rather splendid! Does anyone know if these were these vehicles built for a particular service, or could they be seen across the NER network? Mark

I feel your pain. About 25 years ago, my ship's incinerator control panel died, and the maker advised that the unit was obsolete. They offered a different item; this was received on board with no specific instructions for installation. I worked out a suitable scheme, which took a couple of days to do properly, wired it up & tested it. All OK. I sent a copy of my drawing, with details of necessary modifications to the machine & its cabling, to my Superintendent for filing in the Office documentation. 2 months later, a circular from the makers was received, advising that the control panel on incinerator Type xxx was now obsolete, but a suitable replacement was available from them, and here was a copy of the modifications you would need to do... yes, my drawing & notes, verbatim... I called the Superintendent. Oh, he says, I just forwarded your stuff to the makers to see if they had any comments to make. Sorry... I was NOT impressed... Mark

Man management - frankly, you either have it or you don't. It's even more important, I suggest, to possess these skills when working with volunteers than in the conventional, paid, workplace. When you're not being paid, then some oik basically saying "It's my way or the gangway" is a pretty good way of saying "sod it" and walking away, particularly when said oik isn't leading by example. It becomes even more critical when you have a mixture of paid staff and volunteers. Mark

Ain't no Sunshine - Bill Withers

Nothing Compares 2 U - Sinead O'Connor

Soul Man - Sam & Dave (Also Blues Brothers!)

Your work continues to inspire, John. Your sentiment that I've quoted rings very true with me as well; my own collecting of locomotives & stock which ran on the Scarborough & Whitby line has turned up some fascinating oddities. Not sure that my wallet would agree, but that's another matter! Mark

More than This - Roxy Music

Ah, but this bloke was an IT expert - he told everybody that, so it must have been true. Oh, wait...

Good Vibrations - Beach Boys

Mmm, About 25 years ago, one of my then company's senior officers decided to install a game on his ship's comms computer. Totally against all rules and, indeed, common sense. Unfortunately, he'd been given this (pirated) game by someone else, and the installation disc had more viruses in it than a South American house of ill repute, as the story goes... Not only did it knock out the ship's comms; it also got into the shore systems, and took a LOT of sorting out to get everything clean again... Mark

I had a major issue recently with my Debit Card. My F-i-L managed, through his own stupidity, to get a <parking invoice>. "But I've parked there for years & never had a problem" is no defence against those shysters - and as we all should know, unfortunately these things ARE legally enforceable these days; the days of simply ignoring them, in England at least, are long gone. He took some persuading that this was the case... As he was also short of funds until pension day, my wife asked me to help out & just pay the thing at the *discounted level*. So, OK, open the URL per the invoice, quote the given reference and job done. The parking bandits, by the way, were Parkmaven. Now, when I got the payment confirmation, a brief pop-up came up, saying that "We cannot guarantee the safety of your data". This disappeared before I could screenshot the damn thing. This was about 3pm on Sunday. At 10pm, a text appears, claiming to be from the bank, and to call them on a given number. Aye, right - we know how this goes, don't we? Nevertheless, I log in to my banking app, and sure enough, there's a message from them. So, I call the bank on the number that I already have, go through the security questions and discover that someone had tried, twice, to charge GBP20 to my card at a sporting goods store in the Leeds/Bradford area. I assured the very helpful person on the other end of the call that these were NOT transactions by myself, so I was then told that the card would be stopped immediately and a new one sent out. Fortunately I do have other cards, but it was 4 days before my new card arrived, & then I had the hassle of changing payment details on things like PayPal, Amazon etc etc... I gave as much detail as possible to the bank, & also Action Fraud. Parkmaven weren't interested - I got told to do something anatomically impossible to myself & they then hung up. THAT got reported to AF too. Be careful out there, folks... Mark

As ever, it will all come down to money, of course. Those pesky BCR calculations... Mark

They would propel into the sidings/loop, run round & then propel back into the platform prior to departure. Mark

The Daily Wail, as with the other rags, loves stories like this 😒