The Night Mail

[Happy Hippo]

The are two WHR!

 

The first the WHR 1964 Ltd is a rather small affair, but owns 'Russell' the Hunslet 2-6-2t which was part of the WHR loco ensemble in pre preservation days. The other WHR is the Festiniog Railway version that runs all the way from Porthmadog,  to Caernarvon.

 

It's longer than the original because between Dinas Junction, the old terminus of the WHR, and Caernarvon it runs along the trackbed of the old ex LNWR standard gauge line that ran down to Afon Wen where it met up with the Cambrian Railway  on the Pwllheli line.

[Erichill16]

1 minute ago, Happy Hippo said:

The are two WHR!

 

The first the WHR 1964 Ltd is a rather small affair, but owns 'Russell' the Hunslet 2-6-2t which was part of the WHR loco ensemble in pre preservation days. The other WHR is the Festiniog Railway version that runs all the way from Porthmadog,  to Caernarvon.

 

It's longer than the original because between Dinas Junction, the old terminus of the WHR, and Caernarvon it runs along the trackbed of the old ex LNWR standard gauge line that ran down to Afon Wen where it met up with the Cambrian Railway  on the Pwllheli line.

No there are three!

Wentborough Holmfield Railway!

More details to follow.

[Dave Hunt]

Like HH I had two cataract operations under local anaesthetic and they were the easiest, least uncomfortable and most painless procedures I've ever been through. When I had a hip replacement under a spinal block the anaesthetist turned out to be a railway modeller so we spent a happy couple of hours chatting about layouts and railways while on the other side of the screen the sound of sawing and hammering went on.

 

My worst experience with a wasp was when I was the front seat passenger in a taxi in Crete with the window open and my arm resting on the opening. A wasp went up the short sleeve of my shirt and when it found itself round my lower chest region with no apparent means of escape decide to take its frustration out on me by trying for the Cretan multiple stinging speed record. I made appropriate yelping noises and started tearing my shirt off, much to the consternation of the driver who swerved to the side of the road and braked to a stop. When he realised what had happened he reached into the glovebox and came up with a tube of anti stinging cream. Whether this was just serendipity or because wasps flying up taxi passengers shirts is a common occurrence in Crete I never found out.

 

Today I did the plastering on the first bit of 1/43rd scale topography on my layout and even managed to get some of the plaster where it was wanted, even though the amount on the floor, my clothes and most of the rest of the railway room would suggest that it was only accidental. Tomorrow may see round 2 of my attempt to turn North Shropshire white.

 

Andy, I'm insanely jealous of your location.

 

And a belated many happy returns to Stubby.

 

So, it's goodnight from me and goodnight from him, as the well-known duo would say. Goodnight.

 

Dave

Edited July 5, 2020 by Dave Hunt

[AndyID]

Oh dear. We just found out that two small planes collided and went into the lake quite near here. One was a float plane. I'm hoping it wasn't the one that flies tours from the town.

 

 

[AndyID]

2 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

Andy, I'm insanely jealous of your location.

 

 

It is rather special. I wish I could say we ended up here due to extensive research and careful planning but nothing could be further from the truth. Unfortunately this area has been "discovered" and it's been developed a lot since we arrived. The climate here is pretty good too. Proper Winters and Summers but seldom very extreme.

[BR60103]

3 hours ago, AndyID said:

They may have made a mistake by failing to do something similar here. There was still track on it when we came here. It's now "The Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes"

 

I am part of an extremely small group that wants to convert hiking trails to railways.

So far we have no financial support.

 

[jamie92208]

Good morning from our acre in The Charente.  Andy's location looks fabulous and very obviously needs some sort of railway for transport from the house to the dock and that's not the type of dock that defendants sit in.  I'm sure that a 7.25"  steam hauled train would fit into the landscape perfectly.  Just think of all the benefits. A major one would be that there would be no need to put plaster on.

 

Jamie

[pH]

39 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

Andy's location looks fabulous and very obviously needs some sort of railway for transport from the house to the dock and that's not the type of dock that defendants sit in.  I'm sure that a 7.25"  steam hauled train would fit into the landscape perfectly. 

 

I believe there's a road in the way. Could generate more posts in the "Level crossing stupidity" topic.

[polybear]

On 05/07/2020 at 07:01, PatB said:

I'm not too bothered about the dentist, apart from the big bill at the end of the session, but the last significant work I had done was the extraction of a wisdom tooth which had been coming through horizontally in fits and starts for 20 years.

 

My last significant work was a dental implant; the worst bit being the eighteen hundred quid bill at the end.  Well worth it though.

 

20 hours ago, New Haven Neil said:

The thought of a needle in to the eye is a double word score. I'd pass out, or have a hearty.

 

 

 

I seem to recall my mate had to have his eyeballs taken out (for cleaning the socket or something?) under local....

[AndyID]

1 hour ago, jamie92208 said:

Good morning from our acre in The Charente.  Andy's location looks fabulous and very obviously needs some sort of railway for transport from the house to the dock and that's not the type of dock that defendants sit in.  I'm sure that a 7.25"  steam hauled train would fit into the landscape perfectly.  Just think of all the benefits. A major one would be that there would be no need to put plaster on.

 

Jamie

 

You are not kidding. It's quite a steep climb from the dock up to our house. Twenty years ago it didn't seem to affect me but now I have to stop a couple of times to get my wind.

 

News from the crash is not good. It's believed eight people perished and some were children. Recovery operations are planned for tomorrow.

[Happy Hippo]

1 hour ago, jamie92208 said:

Good morning from our acre in The Charente.  Andy's location looks fabulous and very obviously needs some sort of railway for transport from the house to the dock and that's not the type of dock that defendants sit in.  I'm sure that a 7.25"  steam hauled train would fit into the landscape perfectly.  Just think of all the benefits. A major one would be that there would be no need to put plaster on.

 

Jamie

At the risk of being branded a heretic, I'd suggest you'd get far more use out of a petrol electric/hydraulic/battery loco than you would a live steamer. In the USA, 7.5" gauge is the standard but we'll not quibble over .25".

 

Instant start up, so no preparation time. Switch it off and park up with no disposal time: Perhaps not as romantic, but far more practical.

 

When I started building my petrol electric loco, I decided to go down the minimal gauge railway rather than the miniature railway route. The railway is there to do a job and not just to look pretty.

 

When the Obergrumpenfuhrer gets  the garden remodelled, the track bed will be the first in and the loco and a couple of wagons will be put to work shifting, bags pots, cement and bricks, just as a real contractors railway would.

 

Of course if I had the space,then the likes of a B/E GP 38-2 would be a delight, but I think I'm stuck with my little 0-4-0.

 

 Or at least I will be when I finish putting it together!

[AndyID]

I suppose I could always disguise my tractor as Thomas The Train. Should be able to make a few quid hauling the kids around at Christmas.

[Happy Hippo]

I am currently reading 'Chastise' by Sir Max Hastings.

 

It has certainly unearthed some interesting facts about the Dambusters and the raid of 16/17 May  1943.

 

 

Of the nineteen that took off (one of which was the spare aircraft as the original had failed on run up) two were forced to turn back.

 

Five were lost before the attacks started, so that left only 12 aircraft available to attack. Of those, one was lost over the Mohne, and two were shot down on the return trip.

 

The death and destruction was out of proportion to the number of aircraft involved.  There was a higher  German casualty rate from this raid than from 500+ raids on large towns.

 

Another interesting facts was the false impression I had that all the crews involved on the raid were highly experienced.  Ken Brown who dropped one of two bombs on the Sorpe, had flown, wait for it........Five operational missions prior to the raid.  He was not alone.

 

Another interesting statistic was survival rates from downed bomber aircraft.  The USAAF  crew survival rate for downed crews was 50%.  From an RAF Lancaster it was 15%!  One of the few design flaws the Lancaster suffered with was extremely poor emergency exits. (The other was as a result of the aircraft's famed lifting capacity;  To achieve this there was very little in the way of armoured protection for the crew.)

 

 Although this egress issue was highlighted to manufacturers at the time, no modifications were ever made.  The cynic in me realises that this was also an error perpetuated in future Avro designs through to the jet age with the Vulcan bomber where, although the pilots had ejector seats, the three back seaters,  still had to hop and pop.

 

 

 

[Happy Hippo]

20 minutes ago, AndyID said:

I suppose I could always disguise my tractor as Thomas The Train. Should be able to make a few quid hauling the kids around at Christmas.

If you opted for the red livery, you'd probably get a visit from Jamie and Dave!

 

 

 

 

[Dave Hunt]

13 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

The cynic in me realises that this was also an error perpetuated in future Avro designs through to the jet age with the Vulcan bomber where, although the pilots had ejector seats, the three back seaters,  still had to hop and pop.

 

The Vulcan situation was not Avro's fault. The initial design was for one pilot and two rear crew, all with bang seats. It was at the RAF's insistence that it was changed to the five man set-up and because of that there wasn't sufficient room for all to have them.

 

Dave

[Dave Hunt]

13 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

If you opted for the red livery, you'd probably get a visit from Jamie and Dave!

 

James the Red Engine rules! Even as a kid James was my hero whereas Thomas was a wimp who let himself be influenced by his two moaning female coaches. And as for Henry the green one who let himself be walled up......

 

Dave

 

PS, I once met Wilbert Awdry very briefly but didn't get round to asking him which one was his favourite.

[Happy Hippo]

Just now, Dave Hunt said:

 

The Vulcan situation was not Avro's fault. The initial design was for one pilot and two rear crew, all with bang seats. It was at the RAF's insistence that it was changed to the five man set-up and because of that there wasn't sufficient room for all to have them.

 

Dave

Thanks for that info Dave.

 

I presume the RAF insistence was from senior officers who had cut their teeth on the BE2 and thought that a Fairey Battle and the Boulton Paul Defiant were total decadence; That enclosed cockpits made you less of a man and useful bang seats were for wimps. 

[Dave Hunt]

1 minute ago, Happy Hippo said:

Thanks for that info Dave.

 

I presume the RAF insistence was from senior officers who had cut their teeth on the BE2 and thought that a Fairey Battle and the Boulton Paul Defiant were total decadence; That enclosed cockpits made you less of a man and useful bang seats were for wimps. 

 

And don't forget that in WW1 the provision of parachutes was thought by some in the head shed to foster a lack of press on spirit, hence the age it took for them to appear except for balloon crews.

 

Dave

[Happy Hippo]

Well a bit of gunsmithery is on the cards this morning.

 

One of my air rifles had developed a leak:  The air tank which holds enough air for about 35 shots (Its recharged to 200bar via a divers air bottle) was leaking through the fill valve.

 

Having removed the offending item, it was soon obvious that the two silicone 'O' rings that form the seal had perished.  I await a set of replacement 'O' rings and will refurbish the valve and pop it into the spares box.

 

In the meantime, I ordered up a complete filler valve which arrived a few moments ago.

 

Once fitted the rifle will need rigorous testing to make sure it is ok.

 

I really hate jobs like that.

[SteveyDee68]

On 05/07/2020 at 06:56, Stubby47 said:

Thanks for the poetry links, lots there I've not seen before. 

 

Agreed! (And some look easier to set to music than "The Night Mail" too!)

 

Not a poem as such, but "The Last Train" by Flanders & Swann has marvelous lyrics ... and the listing of  stations at the end, with their mellifluous names, is just sublime.

 

Also, belated birthday wishes to you, sir!

 

Steve S

[Stubby47]

I thought air rifles had to be re-charged before each shot (part of the classification of them) ?

[Adam88]

5 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

And don't forget that in WW1 the provision of parachutes was thought by some in the head shed to foster a lack of press on spirit, hence the age it took for them to appear except for balloon crews.

 

Dave

 

Of course, light railway engineer E.R. Calthrop was an advocate of parachutes for aircew in the Great War but his efforts were blocked by "Their Airships".

[Florence Locomotive Works]

12 hours ago, AndyID said:

Oh dear. We just found out that two small planes collided and went into the lake quite near here. One was a float plane. I'm hoping it wasn't the one that flies tours from the town.

 

 

I’ve seen both those planes, I almost went for a ride in one this time last year. I believe they were DeHavilland Beavers? We have some friends who own a non working farm outside of Spokane, bear the town of Tekoa, so on occasion I venture north into the pacific Northwet.

Edited July 6, 2020 by Florence Locomotive Works

[Doncaster Green]

Good afternoon all,

 

Returning to the theme of needles and eye and dental surgery, if I may, I have experience of both.   About three years ago I had a cataract treated under a local anaesthetic;  drops approx 30 mins before to numb the area and a needle as the final solution.   It was quite surreal watching the surgeon out of one eye while listening to Pink Floyd on an ipod!   No drama at all, the drama was getting to and from the hospital.   My wife doesn't drive so I booked hospital transport to collect me in time for a 12.30 appointment.   I was collected at 12.35 with a half hour drive to the hospital!   Thankfully they were able to rejig the list and I was attended to at 16.00.   As the return transport was totally messed up I had to wait for a taxi home, to which I finally returned at around 21.00!

 

The dental experience occurred during a working visit to RAF Gutersloh when I was stationed in Germany.   I am told the Mess there was Herman Goering's favourite.   Anyway, after imbibing a number of glasses of the local produce, I awoke at about 3 in the morning with a raging toothache.   An emergency visit to the Wing Commander Dentist resulted in a diagnosis of an abcess under an impacted wisdom tooth for which the treatment was a course of antibiotics and strong painkillers followed. a week later, by extraction of the offending tooth and its upper compatriot with the proviso that he for one would not do it in the chair and would recommend his colleague at Rheindahlen not do it that way either.   Suffice to say, 10 days later I was admitted to the RAF hospital at Wegburg where all four wisdom teeth were removed under a general with the explanation that they were in there anyway and the other two would only cause problems in the future!   The slightly worrying aspect of all this was, while partaking of only lemonade at a street bbq the night before, a Squadron Leader Dentist, beer in hand, approached me and said he was glad to see I was off the alcohol  as he would be seeing to me on the morrow!

 

It's good you can laugh about it - afterwards!

 

Regards

 

John

[Happy Hippo]

2 hours ago, Stubby47 said:

I thought air rifles had to be re-charged before each shot (part of the classification of them) ?

That is a throwback to the days when an air rifle had to be re cocked (the piston which provided the jet of air pulled back compressing the driving spring and locked in position). after every shot.

 

this principle remains with traditional spring guns and their mord modern counterpart where the spring and piston is replaced with a gas-ram, which is very similar to a shock absorber on a car.

 

On a PCP rifle, the piston is replaced with an air tank and when the trigger is pulled a set amount of air is released into the gun to allow the pellet to be forced down the barrel.  You then have to re cock, but that really only means you reset the trigger ready to fire again.  By a ratchet system, you can drive a rotary magazine that feeds the next pellet into the breech.  It then becomes almost identical to firing a bolt action firearm.

 

Air rifles fall into two main categories for firearms law:

 

Those below 16 Joules of power, which do not require any licencing

 

Those which can be any power over 16 Joules but can only be owned providing you hold a full Fire Arms Licence.