Bert Cheese

Another happy customer here, my plain black 1504 arrived yesterday from RoS and I've since taken a good look at it after watching a few online reviews... Nothing bad to report really aside from a couple of potential glue marks that turned out to be lube of sorts and wiped off with a cotton bud. All detail is fixed and aligned properly, drain cocks, lamp irons the lot. The only thing I would say is that the paint on the side tanks is a little thin looking...perhaps a consequence of the die-cast construction though? I've only got a 3 metre length of straight test track at present. but a quick run up & down with my fairly vintage Gaugemaster controller revealed no running issues either. Well worth the wait as far as I'm concerned at least.

Here's Boris the Cavvy, not mine unfortunatly but I do treasure spending time with the little fella...he's recently turned 4 and of course I sent him birthday wishes as usual...

You still see a few regulars at Eastleigh...not entirely sure why but they seem happy enough. I may have become a bit jaded though...if I'm passing by when Arlington release the latest shiny class 50 etc I'm usually happy but temper it with "Ah, saw one of them years ago when they were proper" 🤓

The husband of a woman at work has just had a total knee replacement...think of Thor...a 6" plus biker type who spent most of his career fixing plant/mobile generators and very much a salt of the earth type/no nonsense character though recently retired. After waking from his op and being asked for any comment's he did mentioned that ear defenders would have been nice considering they'd recomended an epidural, so he could basically hear his leg being sawn through and reassembled in plastic/stainless...not a pleasant experience apparently.

I have to confess to only ever having endured "playing" rugby once at senior school back in 1984...the local bullies seemed to enjoy it more than the rest of us and and a bad back/calf strain note was produced therafter much to the disgust of my P.E ""teacher" As for the Haka...I find it a somewhat cringeworthy spectacle myself, but if the Andy Duncombe's of this world derive some sort of manly pleasure from it so be it for their sake...NZ Morris dancing indeed and long may it continue as such...

Hi John, Yes, in brief he started as a cleaner at Eastleigh shed in 1953 and was out firing fairly quickly with it being a busy depot but done his 18 months national service in Germany just before the photo was taken...being in the catering corps it was a fairly easy posting and I've still got a couple of Marklin 3-rail locos and a load of photos of German steam from the time. On returning to UK he was back firing at 71A until passing for driving in 1964 whereupon he took a move to Basingstoke in order to stay on express work (Eastleigh being a big depot meant as a junior driver he had to start at the bottom in the tank gang and it was obvious steam was nearing its end) He stayed at Basingstoke for the next thirty or so years commuting from Eastleigh every day, seeing out the end of steam on Bulleid pacifics and the BR Standards that remained for the most part before learning the usual 33/47/73 EMU/DEMU fayre alongside the Swindon Warships & Hymeks while they lasted, being a mixed traction depot the work was varied and took him all over the place. A return to mainline steam working in the 80's saw him out on about on various Bulleids & Standards as well as a couple of A4's, the S15 (828) M7 Tank, Sir Lamiel and of course the ubiquitous Flying Scotsman on the Blackmoor Vale Express workings of the time. I was frequently out & about with him at this time at weekends back then, many a happy day spent pootling about in the cabs of Hampshire units or on cross-country turns on 47's and such. Of course nothing lasts forever and when privatisation came along he went to SWT and finished up on mostly EMU work before taking voluntary redundancy when offered as he'd had enough of the job by that time and was strongly opposed to privatisation anyway. Sadly he died at 71 a few years ago...

Very nice, there's something about a Lord Nelson...my Dad thought they were fantastic machines and loved working on them unlike some at the time. I remember him telling me they were "a real fireman's engine" as the long partially sloping firebox wasn't easy to keep in good nick on a run and there were around 120 oiling points on prep. I've doubtless posted this before, but here he is fresh from national service demob while still an Eastleigh based fireman, I haven't got the details to hand but am guessing around 1958...

Cornwall eh, I worked on the Eden Project for a couple of months prior to opening and loved the area, lodged at the Ship inn at Mevagissey week on/week off...very basic but a good laugh in the evenings...some local sort used to shout obcenities at passing cars outside our bedroom in the small hours and so on. If you go there and have any food it'll perhaps through my (and 3 others) endeavours putting a load of walk in coldrooms and one blast freezer in...not sure why they wanted the BF to be honest. Haven't been back since, always makes me laugh as we were told it was an MOD project to move important plants and stuff from Kew Gardens for some reason and the penny only dropped when we saw the newly erected brown tourist signs as we approached site...we did get involved in some weird stuff back then to be fair, even my boss fell for it until we told him on arrival. On the flip side, for reasons I cannot fathom my aunt moved to some remote village down there years ago, perhaps because my uncle sailed out of Plymouth as part of the RN for many years although he was far from being a native...anyway she's in her late 80's now, last year fell over in the street and was walked past by people she recognised as being neighbours as such but offered no assistance or even conversation until an ambulance arrived 3 hours later. She now wants to move back to Southampton as she's never been made to feel welcome despite moving there in 1987...she's quite down to earth too so I'm wondering what sort of place it must be?

I used to get to my first job at the newly built Hedge End station fom Eastleigh around 1990 and having aquired a few spare keys from my father had a carriage key on my keyring for some reason at the time...the EP, SUB S-Key, BR1 and others were left at home and I still have them now. One morning I got on the 07:30-ish Hampshire unit from EH Platform 3 as usual, but on arrival at Hedge End had to get out the other side upon much to my surprise the door wouldn't open, not wanting to end up in Fareham/be late for work instinct took over and I alighted with a few others behind me using my carriage key...there was then a bit of shouting as it appeared most of the other doors on that side were locked too. Not sure what happened these, I was only 16 at the time and obviously shouldn't have had the key on me so just legged it out the station and up Shamblehurst Lane trying not to look suspicious as the guard and such were getting agitated from the sounds of things...was this the first trip off depot, I never knew the diagrams as such?

Sounds plausible, and that I got off lightly when visiting some interesting locations around Berkshire & Wiltshire as a youngish refrigeration engineer back in the early 2000's... The usual routine involved having your vehicle searched then driven to site by a pair of armed types with me being very quiet in the passenger seat, I was of course cleared and booked in already. "Follow your escort, look at the back of his head not left or right and certainly not through any windows and do not speak" was something I got used to after a while. I once mistakenly opened a door for a scientist coming the other way in a corridor before my guide could stop me, just being polite but this bloke dropped to the floor and huddled behind the door...seriously! Realising I'd messed up I apologised profusely and things were sorted, I was told that some people in this place were very clever but on the edge of sanity which was quite reassuring... A few stories fom other places best not mentioned too...all this usually just to service a water cooler or paint aluminium fan blades black on outdoor units so they didn't reflect sunlight.

I've not been drinking much beer in recent months as it all started tasting too samey/familiar, and I've rediscovered a neglected taste for wine...even bought a decanter for the big reds recently! Having said that I wandered up the local Sainsburys beer & cider aisle recently in the normal resigned fashion, not expecting to buy anything when this caught my eye. Brewdog are long past being my brewery of choice but they've always been good with dark ales and stouts in particular, so I swallowed my pride and picked up a pair of these Rattle & Rum jobs. Not bad at all I have to say, quite sweet as I sort of expected but decent at 7.4%....why they don't concentrate on stuff like this instead of the rubbish "IPA's" that all taste alike (and nothing like proper India IPA) is one of those mysteries I'll probably never understand...Candy Kittens & Urban Fog be gone with you 😩

No photo I'm afraid as the only one I've seen will presumably be copyrighted (or faked!), but apparently 73134 "Woking Homes 1885 - 1985" has been cut up recently, after spending many years up on jacks at Brush Loughborough? It just struck a chord with me as many of the late 1980's BR events around Basingstoke/Salisbury/Winchfield etc were fundraisers for this place under the guidance of Gerald Daniels, who was a true gentleman and probably the only area manager to have the respect of most of the staff in BR days.

Stay Out limited edition marshmallow porter from Tiny Rebel of Newport...at 18% ABV this is the ultimate version of their Stay Puft marshmallow porter...brewed at the back end of 2021 to celebrate the end of lockdown in Wales....I think this must be the strongest beer I've had to date aside from a couple of nips of the freeze distilled "beers" that Brewdog done a few years ago. This the final of 3 cans I bought when it was released, I'd like to know how they got the ABV so high but have found no information so far...most brewing or wine yeasts will only run to 15% at most and I don't think freeze distillation was involved for various reasons. Very smooth and drinkable anyway condsidering the slightly daft strength...and no more alcohol burn than the readily available Imperial Amplified Stay Puft at 12.8%

With regard to the post above I suppose its apt to put this up...something I picked up in Sainsburys recently purely because it made me chuckle as some of the girls at work occasionally rave on about the cocktail... In truth it was nowt special...fruity as the can said and quite well rounded, not something I'd bother with again though.

A wee drop of the hard stuff tonight I picked this up during a week on Islay back in 2019....at £35 for 20cl I stood there looking at it in the distillery shop for a while before taking the plunge! Having only recently opened it to sort of celebrate my 51st birthday I'm glad I picked it up now...somewhat sadly the last dram tonight is that shown in the photo...

This could be interesting, it says best before the end of 2013 on the bottle, but John Keeling himself assured us it would be good well past then when we purchased this and various other Fullers bottlings at an ale show many years ago...they've been sitting in the dark & cool ageing cupboard undistubed ever since... Brewers Reserve No2...as I understand it this is basically ESB that was aged for a couple of years in ex-Cognac oak casks and emerged at 8.2% eventually for bottling. *On tasting...very nice indeed, quite vinous in some respects...I'm trying to rid myself of "collectors bottles" at present but feel I may miss this one.

Seeing the above I recall seeing photos online of a driver in the Kent area dressed in wellington boots & a bowler hat on a class 71/HA.. bit of a local character? Back in the 80's there was a Woking/Guildford based driver who had inherited a large country house and whose parents had always dissaproved of his career choice but he simply loved the job...he was jokingly referred to as "Lord Snooty" but was in fact very down to earth (Phil ?)...pointed out to me one day on a 80's cab ride by my Dad (a Basingstoke driver)

I am hoping this will be over soon? I filled up the previous Thurday morning as per usual and hope to wring the recent average of 600 miles out of my Golf GT doing around 50 mph as the M27 is very slowly ruined into a "smart motorway" these days? By the afternoon the local radio was awash with reports of panic buying at fuel stations which led to me feeling slightly smug for an hour or so... That aside, I've now got enough diesel left for another 5 days in theory...the queues at fuel points locally seem ridiculous when passing so if it comes to it I'll brave getting the train from Eastleigh to Hilsea and back for a couple of weeks or so...might need a dram of Scotch for the returns though?

A rather overblown title perhaps having read this thread? I used to run a small workshop (refrigeration engineering) in a large factory in Fareham (Hants) which should be obvious to any in the Newgate Lane area... I'd worked there previously and when asked to return 8 years after leaving only agreed after a month of negotiations regarding pay and such i.e I got salary and overtime plus bonus etc. On my 1st day back I found my "line manager" as such was a 23 y/o girl with an engineering masters degree...nice enough and clearly very clever but very much out of her depth in the real world as the job had been given to her following fallout from a business trip to Germany where one of the directors had made a very unsubtle pass at her regarding her promotion from the sales office...ah, the benefits of power? Anyway, on my return I mostly just found myself wandering about site with my boilersuit tied around my waist, cup of tea in one hand and bacon sandwich in the other as supervisors seemed to do...claimed 50 plus hours a week and reported directly to the site MD who thought I was marvellous and seemed quite surprised when I resigned 5 years later to move into wholesale.

Some recent arrivals from Vocation Brewery of Hebden Bridge...I was in Saltaire recently so very close...but time never allowed a much hoped visit down the road as intended... we did do a trip on the KWVR behind their big WD American loco though if that helps hereabouts? In order of L-R ABV we have 6.9% 7% 11% & 11.4% for the utterly fantastic if rather sweet chocolate & banana imperial stout. I should mention that these are a collective work over the last fortnight along with the rather good Ledaig 18 y/o behind which was opened around 18 months ago...I couldn't do this lot in one sitting!

Aah...just seen this and of course not paying complete attention though it was a second run of the oo scale version...until I saw the price! Is there any chance of the above, pristine ones are hard to come by on eBay and I'd like one to pair up with 73109 in NSE to recreate the pairing that visiting Paington for the 1993 diesel gala as my father was one of the drivers who brought them down from Eastleigh for the weekend.

Big old things and dodgy to run in to all jokes aside...remember Polmont anyone? My Dad hit one back in the early 80's somewhere near Oxford while driving a 47 on a cross country so not hanging about, I remember him saying there was a hell of a bang even with a 47 going at near full chat. Being fond of animals I think he was quite emootional at the time...

These ought to fit in nicely here, even if a couple are at 10% ABV... Some truly smashing brews from Fallen Brewery...based on the site of Kippen Station on the old Forth & Clyde railway line in Stirlingshire which closed in 1934 (thats the extent of my railway knowledge) How this lot have escaped my notice before is beyond me as the beers have been truly excellent and the brewery has been going since 2014. Quite a few of their brews have railway themes and those I've tried here are well above average quality and innovation wise...easily on a par with some of the big names in craft brewing. L-R in the photo: *Blackhouse Reserve - Islay cask aged cask porter - 10% ABV - Very easy drinking with little alcohol burn...I'm guessing Caol Ila casks were used as its quite sweet but could be wrong. *Chew Chew - Milk Stout - 6% ABV - Soft and pleasant drinking - I believe they used to do a salted caramel version of this but now offer the "pure" version. *Big Raspberry Dog Chew - Salted Caramel & raspberry milk stout - 10% ABV - Based on Chew Chew above but with raspberries and ramped up ABV...probably my Fallen favourite and I may just buy a whole crate next time its available online. *End of the Line: Peach & Hibiscous Saison - 5.5% - I'm mostly a "stout man" but conversely have a liking for Saisons, Gose & Sours if of decent quality...this was very quaffable.

Ah I forgot that stuff..."Visitors Beer" as our hostel owner told us...I still proudly wore my t-shirt once back in UK until it disintergrated though....the lesser seen MB or Melbourne Bitter was like watered down VB btw. The only place we really settled was Perth where we found work for around 3 months, made some good friends and explored the local facilities...The Moon & Sixpence was a haven of British ales if a bit of a novelty place, and we spent many evenings in The Bog which had an Irish theme...most of the barmaids seemed to live in our hostel too which was handy at times... Over in the sometimes seedy Northbridge area there was The Sail & Anchor pub which served locally brewed Brass Monkey Stout...was very sweet but made a nice change from lager at the time. Freemantle was very different in comparison with a "yachty" feel but we still enjoyed going there on the train every now and then...some quite waterside drinkeries to be had there.

We were amazed by the drive through bottle shops when travelling around in 1998-99...I think we mentioned them more than any other subject when sending postcards home. It took a couple of weeks to get over our English reserve, but we soon got to relish taking our Ford Falcon XE wagon down to the grog shop for a couple of slabs of chilled pi$$. Most of it all tasted fairly similar to be honest whichever state we were in, our standout favourite was Emu Export from Swan Brewery though...very popular with the indiginous population we discovered so quite a recommendation...the tins had a large opening for quicker consumption and we were told this was banned in other states at the time hence not seeing it in SA or the NT on our travels. I'd love to go back, but have friends over there who say I wouldn't recognise the coast north of Perth now due to development etc ...probably best I treasure my drunken memories...?