DavidB-AU

This is why a lot of military turboprops have a red line around the fuselage, inside and out.

Two photos at Weymouth Quay with a plate next to the points. Was there any embedded pointwork at Trafford Park?

A few ideas with similar themes. The Lynn and Hunstanton Railway. Let's say John Betjeman and Bill Pertwee support an early 1970s campaign to make it a heritage railway. It built a new southern terminus called North Lynn and retained a main line connection. From the early 21st century it is able to run into King's Lynn (c.f. Whitby). Witney to Fairford. Let's say it starts with a heritage railway based at Fairford in the 1960s. Before goods traffic to Witney ceases, the MOD decides it needs sidings at RAF Brize Norton. The heritage railway eventually extends to Brize Norton & Bampton (pretend there is no taxiway across the railway) and gets a main line connection. Eventually it is able to run through to Witney and formally takes over that portion of the line, with MOD trains running over it as required (c.f. Wensleydale Railway). After a few years of GWR summer weekend services, a regular passenger service from Oxford to Witney is restored. "Fordham Town" to Mildenhall with a main line connection at Fordham. "Harpenden Town" to Hemel Hempstead with a main line connection at Harpenden. The Sidmouth line with a new Feniton terminus about here.

It's worth noting that Fremo and Freemo are related but different standards from Europe and North America respectively. There are pros and cons to both. Any exterior ply should be suitable. Interior ply isn't structural and will eventually absorb moisture from the atmosphere. The end plate standards for industrial modules ("americaN industries") are deliberately vague. The standard says "There is no explicit faceplate with a given width or a specified track position on the module. The track is laid directly to the “ground” without roadbed." There are lots of photos of such modules online but I can't find any of them under construction!

Richard Digance did a whole series of these. A couple of tamer ones he even did at a Royal Variety Performance. One I remember is... Rock a bye baby, on the tree top, When the wind blows, the cradle will rock. I was that baby and what bothers me, Is why mum and dad stuck me up a tree. He also said he did one about the Grand Old Duke of York but added "nah, you'll tell".

Very interesting! It's curious there don't seem to be any photos of it actually in use even in the later years. Some bits of track even got concrete sleepers so they must have needed it for something. The grooved rail is also curious. I can understand using it across the apron and level crossings, but it seems to have been used in a lot of other places.

I recently watched a documentary about the Berlin Airlift and one photo jumped out at me, showing a railway around the apron at Tempelhof. Fortunately there are many high quality versions of this photo online. I also found plans drawn up by the US Army in 1945 which show the extent of the railway. Presumably it was to supply the underground fuel tanks? But I haven't been able to find out any more information about when in the airport's life it was built, when it was removed or any photos of it in use. The track across the apron seems to have been removed by 1953. The stub end and the track/siding outside the terminal building still seem to be there around 1980. Some of the track is still there today. https://maps.app.goo.gl/x8CQJTnLdEAoHemz5 https://maps.app.goo.gl/L6pPhypfKgboUVb56 https://maps.app.goo.gl/1m6ejDrfh7QCh9rQ8 Google searching isn't coming up with much. Most results are about the S-Bahn/U-Bahn station.

I've tried crocodile which was quite nice. It was farmed and the guide at the crocodile farm explained that it tastes like whatever they feed them. If they feed them on fish, it tastes like fish. If they feed them on chickens, it tastes like chicken. Then completely deadpan he said "so the wild ones out there taste like American tourist".

An actual Ukrainian would say Chornobyl (Чорнобиль).

The real story is even funnier. The man in the picture is George (later Sir George) Shearing, the blind British jazz pianist who pulled this prank several times in the late 1960s.

If only somebody could have predicted this would be a bad idea! Queensland’s state library launched an AI war veteran chatbot. Pranksters immediately tried to break it https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/apr/24/queensland-state-library-ai-war-veteran-chatbot-charlie

Bring ale and pie!

It was an open secret in the industry but not widely known to the public until he died. He include some disguised hints in BB, if anyone remembers the "Cyril said" questions where he would put on a camp voice. Cyril was his middle name.

Another Bety almost ready to return to service. Restoration after being relocated from Mackay taken only 14 months. Main line testing should start in a few weeks.