Deliberately Old-Fashioned 0 Scale - Chapter 1

[Northroader]

Err, Hemel Hempstead into SORRENTO !?!?!?

[Metropolitan H]

Nearholmer and I have at least one mutual fried who lives within one mile (surface distance) of the epicentres of 2 of the 4 Leighton Buzzard earthquakes - but they are all reckoned to be something like 10 miles down. He hasn't felt anything, but noted the birds take flight and one open internal door move without any wind or other assistance!

 

I had my feet on the ground at Woburn Sands (about 5 - 10 miles away) at lunch time, but didn't feel a thing.

 

It is interesting to note the locations from the maps on the British Geological Survey - see https://earthquakes.bgs.ac.uk/earthquakes/recent_uk_events.html

The first three were moving steadily ENE from near Wing to Leighton Buzzard Golf course - but the fourth has broken the pattern and is a little north of the second.

 

Regards

Chris H

[Nearholmer]

Yes.

 

The Circumvesuviana runs from Naples (MK in this context, although all the Italians I know locally are descendants of guys who were attracted to England by employment with the London Brick company directly after WW2, rather than mafiosi), passes Pompei (Leighton Buzzard),  and sends off a branch that loops round Vesuvius back to Naples, the main line continuing down the coast (Tring) to Sorrento (Hemel Hemstead).  Watford is on the Amalfi Coast now, don't you know?

 

Simple really.

[Compound2632]

In these minor earthquakes, one usually only feels the earth move of lying in bed. 

 

When standing up, one's legs act as rather effective dampers.

[Nearholmer]

For earthquakes of this sort of intensity, it seems that the ground accelerates at 0.0017g to 0.014g, and achieves velocities of  0.1 cm/s to 1.1cm/s, which explains why they are imperceptible during a bumpy bike ride, because slipping on a bit of loose surface would give figures far higher than those.

[Northroader]

Not questioning your equivalent placing, just my mind boggled at the chance of transforming one to the other. Must go to bed and try not to dream about it.

[Nearholmer]

 I thought this had no connection with toy trains. How wrong I was.

 

The BBC report contains a picture of Anthony Rosier, he of AGR Model Railways, in his shop surrounded by Peco points. His comment is rather understated compared to some: "A few things might have moved a couple of inches".

[Donw]

I remember one when I was on a motorcycle on the Telford Distributor road and it shook the bike quite unnerving but far less so than when I was working and had stopped by a pole by the Ridge Limestone works. There was a bang and the ground shook followed by a second bang as a lump of rock landed on the van roof. I realised it was the quarry doing a big blast. There were gates either end of the works and they would come out of the gates and stop the traffic from both ends. As the pole was midway between the two they hadn't realised I was in there good job I was having a cuppa and not up the pole.

Don

[St Enodoc]

1 hour ago, Metropolitan H said:

The first three were moving steadily ENE from near Wing to Leighton Buzzard Golf course - but the fourth has broken the pattern and is a little north of the second.

Probably because the golf course is private property and they woudl be trespassing.

[Edwardian]

10 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

 

And, I felt not a thing. The earth did not move noticeably.

 

We did have one c15 years ago during the middle of the night, and that was definitely noticeable, 

 

 

 

That's marriage for you.

[kernowtim]

10 hours ago, Northroader said:

That little two foot railway would be giving rides round the crater. Much more interesting than sandpits.

All those Leighton Buzzard sandpits are now housing estates!

 

[Nearholmer]

The pits towards Watling Street are still very active - although whether they are digging out sand or burying our furry friends in serious quantity I’m not sure.

 

[Ben B]

All this talk of mysterious seismic rumblings, and sand pits, puts me in mind of "War of the Worlds".  Would be very 2020 mindyou, Martian invasion...

[34006]

As if Covid wasn't enough to put up with!(Laughs hollowly)

 

 

Phil

[rockershovel]

16 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

In these minor earthquakes, one usually only feels the earth move of lying in bed. 

 

When standing up, one's legs act as rather effective dampers.

 

Hence the term, “knee trembler” 

[rockershovel]

17 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

The epicentre is nearer Leighton Buzzard, which, as you know, is already a tourist Mecca on a par with, well, Mecca.

 

What, the bingo hall chain? 

[Nearholmer]

So, to paraphase then: all the tourists who visit Leighton Buzzard in a year wouldn't fill a bingo hall.

 

I leave others to judge.

[Compound2632]

36 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

So, to paraphase then: all the tourists who visit Leighton Buzzard in a year wouldn't fill a bingo hall.

 

Well, no, of course they wouldn't. Why would they want to when there's the rival attraction of the light railway?

[Keith Addenbrooke]

17 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

 I thought this had no connection with toy trains. How wrong I was.

 

The BBC report contains a picture of Anthony Rosier, he of AGR Model Railways, in his shop surrounded by Peco points. His comment is rather understated compared to some: "A few things might have moved a couple of inches".

 

Was the earthquake perhaps caused by a stampede of Peco-starved Railway Modellers who'd heard AGR have a supply of track in store?  Or am I joining too many dots together... ... ...

[Edwardian]

1 hour ago, Nearholmer said:

So, to paraphase then: all the tourists who visit Leighton Buzzard in a year wouldn't fill a bingo hall.

 

 

 

Or, even, 

 

'All the tourists who visit Leighton Buzzard in a year wouldn't fill a socially-distanced bingo hall'

 

If, indeed, there are such things

[Nearholmer]

In fairness to Leighton Buzzard, I looked at trip advisor to see what the "top ten attractions" are.

 

Number one is a very pleasant and interesting NT house and gardens that I'm 99% sure actually aren't in Leighton Buzzard at all, the second is the narrow gauge railway, which is definitely worth travelling to visit, and the other eight are what might be termed "local places, for local people".

 

Mind you, the same sort of picture emerges for most other towns if you do the same thing.

 

So, here's the best thing in LB, to bring us back to small railways:

 

 

Edited September 23, 2020 by Nearholmer

[Donw]

4 hours ago, Edwardian said:

 

Or, even, 

 

'All the tourists who visit Leighton Buzzard in a year wouldn't fill a socially-distanced bingo hall'

 

If, indeed, there are such things

 

A surge in Covid infection was found by track and trace to have come from  a Bingo Hall in Wales  the news source did not reveal how well they had adhered to social distancing. Not well enough it would seem.

 

Don

[Nearholmer]

The trouble is that social distancing and hand-washing are probably insufficient protection against the bug in a not-so-well-ventilated indoor space, for the reasons explained here https://science.sciencemag.org/content/368/6498/1422.full  and here https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02058-1 .The problem is "aerosol transmission", which even our own "chief scientists" are now citing as part of the problem.

 

So the Welsh bingo fans may have social distanced well-enough, and still copped it.

Edited September 23, 2020 by Nearholmer

[Simond]

I suspect that being outdoors as much as possible, and being alone (or with only immediate family) when indoors, Is probably optimal for heath, if not the economy.

 

keep well

Simon

[St Enodoc]

3 hours ago, Donw said:

 

A surge in Covid infection was found by track and trace to have come from  a Bingo Hall in Wales  the news source did not reveal how well they had adhered to social distancing. Not well enough it would seem.

 

Don

New bingo call:

 

"Coronavirus - 1 and 9 - 19".