The Night Mail

[Oldddudders]

11 hours ago, AndyID said:

That's it. I give up with NAS (Network Attached Storage). I bought a Seagate NAS box a few years ago thinking it would be great for back-up and also allow me to access files regardless of which computer I was using.

 

In reality it's just a gigantic PITA. Windows makes it incredibly difficult to attach a PC to the file server and to put the tin lid on it Seagate has stopped updating their product to be compatible with the latest OS versions.

 

Thanks a lot guys!

How much data are you trying to store and access? I know Windows vs Apple is done to death, but I stopped worrying much about backups since I have 200Gb of iCloud, costing about £30 p.a. It is all accessible on my iMac, MacBooks, iPad and iPhone. If I take a photo of the sunset on my iPhone, within minutes it is accessible on all the other devices that are switched on. Which means I can then send it via email or WhatsApp to Sherry. Or print it A3. 

[pH]

2 hours ago, polybear said:

 

Royal Marines, by any chance?  I recall an incident some years ago, whereby one of the recruits on the survival course phoned his missus (reverse charges) and got her to book him into a local hotel, full board & bar bill.  His downfall was he was too big with the gob in the bar, and one of the locals bubbled him to the RM.  Unsurprisingly, they were none to impressed but no disciplinary action was due as he was instructed to "survive on his wits".  However, they did point out that he would be repeating the course again, properly this time....

It made the nationals, and I don't suppose it did his career prospects much good.

I know someone who went on one of those courses with an advantage - he had been an Outward Bound instructor! He also said that senior RM NCOs followed the participants around (unseen of course) paying for the various things they stole to survive.

[bbishop]

Had myself a haircut today - almost look human.  Bill

[jamie92208]

4 minutes ago, bbishop said:

Had myself a haircut today - almost look human.  Bill

I'm very glad you said Almost Bill.

 

Jamie

[Happy Hippo]

18 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

I'm very glad you said Almost Bill.

 

Jamie

Lucky he's known as Bill:

 

[Erichill16]

Evening, 

WHR layout will not be going on exhibition duties this year, our exhibition has been cancelled. If I’m not careful I’ll put all the stuff away until I get another invite but I really want to get it properly finished. As I’m waiting for more transfers I’ve decided to do a bit of work on a model I built many years ago. There’s not much to do but I want to get some models finished and but away. I’ll post some pictures when it’s done.

Goodnight,

Robert

[Dave Hunt]

3 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

Lucky he's known as Bill:

 

 

I think you are being very cruel to Bill, HH. That photograph was taken at the Warley show last year when he'd just been told it was his turn to get the coffees.

 

Dave

[AndyID]

6 hours ago, Oldddudders said:

How much data are you trying to store and access? I know Windows vs Apple is done to death, but I stopped worrying much about backups since I have 200Gb of iCloud, costing about £30 p.a. It is all accessible on my iMac, MacBooks, iPad and iPhone. If I take a photo of the sunset on my iPhone, within minutes it is accessible on all the other devices that are switched on. Which means I can then send it via email or WhatsApp to Sherry. Or print it A3. 

 

Thanks for that Ian. I may resort to that yet.

 

Meanwhile, as I had no desire to chuck a perfectly good 2 Terabyte drive in the bin I had another go at the problem and by a series of lucky accidents I determined that I could actually manage the Seagate storage box if I attached my PC to the network via Ethernet. It does not work over Wi-Fi! Wi the eff not I do not know   Microsoft paranoia perhaps?

 

The good news is the new PC is lightning fast. I can flick through photos stored on its solid-state drive with no perceptible delay and some quite large CAD programs load almost instantaneously.

 

Andy

[Happy Hippo]

 

This picture shows the bridge at Splott West once we'd added some embossed brick and some vegetation.

 

The facing point now looks a little less bare with a cover for the lock and a locking bar now fitted.

 

I really need to sort out the ground cover between the head shunt and the No 1 siding in the foreground as well as fit the point rodding.

Edited July 9, 2020 by Happy Hippo

[bbishop]

Richard,  is that your home layout?  Bill

[Happy Hippo]

Bill,

 

The answer to that is both yes and no!

 

I'm just on my way out, but will give a fuller answer later on today.

 

The anticipation of what will be revealed will now be excruciating!

[Happy Hippo]

A terribly long winded account of Splott West Sidings

 

Further to my somewhat ambiguous reply to Bill about Splott West being my home layout, here is further elaboration.

 

After many years of outdoor garden railways, I decided that although I liked the mainly freelance approach of narrow gauge garden railways, I was still hankering after a BR(W) secondary route.  Ideally this would be based in Wales, and the die was firmly cast when my wife brought home a Railway modeller which contained an article on the Brecon and Merthyr Railway.  fired up with enthusiasm I started planning a G3 line in the garden, but quickly realised that it would end up being nearly 100% scratch built.

 

Practically this was not an option, so I opted for doing the same in 4mm to the foot.  However, the next realisation was that my eyes were failing, and 4 mm was probably just a bit too small, so I started looking at 7 mm as a suitable substitute.

 

The eye saga got sorted, initially very quickly as I was diagnosed with cataracts.  I jumped the usually long waiting list for surgery as they prevented my driving  Class C + D  vehicles.  Shortly after I was diagnosed with a detaching retina, so that involved more surgery.

 

Ironically, the repair to the retina left a small blind spot close to the centre of my vision, which meant that the DVLA medical branch had to revoke both my C + D licences.

 

By this time was all over, my eyesight was much improved, and although capable of working in 4 mm once more, the 7 mm bug had bitten.  So when the Dapol announced their 08 diesel shunter, I bought one of the first batch along with 6 Lionheart 16 ton mineral wagons.

 

The plan was to build a small shunting plank, but the purchase coincided with leaving the Telford Model Railway Group, and setting up an informal modelling team.  They took to the 08 and minerals running along the conservatory window sill, and decided that a  rather grander affair was required than what I had planned.

 

So it was agreed that I would provide a location and any assistance that I needed would be given.  suddenly the loco fleet expanded exponentially as the others started buying  7 mm stuff, so the die was cast and planning commenced.

 

Much of this took place on the kitchen and hallway floors which were tiled, and this gave us a very good ready reckoner for length and width.  Baseboard edges and joints were 'drawn out' using masking tape, and the dimensional date transferred to the CAD program on the computer.

 

We ended up with a set of boards totalling 16' x 2' 6", but we ended up with 2 x 4' boards, 1 x 5' board for the fiddle yard, and a short 3' board for the headshunt area.

 

The track plan was originally planned to mimic some of the rail operations at Ferry Road in Cardiff, but space constraints prevented this (although Brian has since sent me a very suitable plan that might yet see the light of day).

 

Still wanting to remain in the Cardiff area, I moved the supposed site further east and imagined a line somewhere to the south of the South Wales main line.

 

The design of this layout owed a lot to Brian Rolley's 'Rosamund Street Sidings' but we added a vestigal passenger service to increase interest.

 

Since the original plan was drawn, the track plan has been both rationalised and extended.  the rationalisation came about because the traverser in the fiddle yard could not cope with the 4 track feed it had to deal with.  A reduction to three entry/exits cured the problem.  the extension was installed to create a 'hidden siding for the DMU/auto train shuttle,  which meant that passenger trains can  now run through rather than terminate at the platform.

 

More importantly, this extension brought the short board up to 5' in length which meant that all the boards could now be bolted face to face for storage/transportation purposes.

 

However, this now means that it is impossible to leave the model fully erected in the garage, as it is too long.

 

Hence, yes it is my home layout, but as it has to be fully portable, it doubles as an exhibition line as well.  In fact it has been to 5 shows so far, and has gone in a very unfinished state to show 'work in progress'.  This has proved very popular with show visitors as they could see how things were being done, rather than just viewing the finished product.

 

I mentioned earlier the influence that Brian Rolley has exerted, involuntarily I hasten to add, but it should come as no surprise to find that Splott West. although not finished, may be close to scrapping in favour of another design based on a Rolley design. (I emphasise MAY and not WILL).

 

Since I am having to erect and dismantle part of the layout between operating sessions, I've been looking at making all the boards up to 5 feet in length, and creating a line based on various locations further up the South Wales Valleys.  Like Splott West, a though passenger service will operate, although the station area  will probably be the limit of freight workings. whether 20' will be enough is open to debate, and perhaps 6 x 4' boards would be even better!

 

Certainly the work done of the G0G small Layout Competition Layout 'Pantmawr Sidings', will influence any future baseboard design, and will see the current traverser system we have on Splott West replaced with cassettes of various lengths in the main fiddle yard.  If anything the cassettes add a brake to the speed at which operations currently take place when a slick traverser operator is in control of the off scene operations.  But I'd prefer to use a small traverser in place of a sector plate for the loco run around when the replacement is built.

 

This is onlt hand picked major points about SW, and there is a lot more to say, but having  written all that , my brain hurts so I'll cease.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[bbishop]

And so my holiday to East German Narrow Gauge Steam has been cancelled.

 

Bill

[Happy Hippo]

What is so disappointing for Bill is the fact he must have booked a trip to see East German Narrow gauge Steam a long time ago........................

 

We have to remember that reunification  of Germany took place in 1990!

 

During my time in Germany the nearest we could get to the Harz system was to go down and peer whistfully at the Brocken.

 

At the time I was probably more interested in what the radio towers had in the way of receiving capacity rather than the simpler pleasures of steam.

 

Since the Obergrumpenfuhrer is now slightly enthused about purchasing a camper van so we can go to the next Rugby World Cup in France, I can see a few touring holidays on the horizon. Perhaps a trip to the Harz would be in order.

Edited July 10, 2020 by Happy Hippo

[bbishop]

I doubt there will be a vaccine until around next Easter, and even then it won't be 100% effective.  The best we can hope for is Influenza Plus.  

 

Then there is the control of the pandemic.  It is out of control in some countries to the extent it can only be left to run its course.  Other countries are maintaining tight controls but there is increasing resistance when lockdowns are re-imposed.  Then there is England.  From the behaviour that I have seen in London, I cannot expect other than a massive surge in the R rate.  Not that we will know for a while because there is minimal testing, then track and trace is a joke.  It may stay in the under 40 group, in which the cynic in me will say "good, herd immunity"; but will more likely move back to the hospital, care home and home care environments.  The last mentioned is a significant and under reported area.  At which point Boris will look for someone to blame. [next sentence self quarantined].

 

Many of us are fore warned and will minimise our risk by maintaining our protocols.

 

Which leads on to my holiday plans.  The Spur Null Tage is set for Gießen in March.  It should go ahead, but whether the Continent will permit travellers from England is another matter.  Then I have booked the East German Narrow Gauge Steam holiday in September 2021, staying in Dresden, Stralsund and the Harz; mainly railways but the chance to do some sightseeing and culture as well.  Again, will the Continent think our Government is managing the pandemic or will it still be waffling.

 

Bill

 

[jamie92208]

A poor day and a great morning has been had.   The new pool sprang two leaks as we started to fill it, Only 6cms of depth but water was running out from two places.   So this afternoon I am off to the dealership to talk about warranty claims.

 

However this morning was great.  Emily aged 6 and her sister Tilly, 7, appeared with their grandparents and spent two hours playing trains on Green Ayre.   They both wanted to come again tomorrow.  Cake was supplied by the boss.

Trains, cake and happy people, I can hear a Hippo thundering over to France as I type.  Isn't this what the hobby should be about.

 

Jamie

 

[Happy Hippo]

I have been busy track planning. Cake is not on offer! 

[Happy Hippo]

17 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

However this morning was great.  Emily aged 6 and her sister Tilly, 7, appeared with their grandparents and spent two hours playing trains on Green Ayre.   They both wanted to come again tomorrow.  Cake was supplied by the boss.

 

Trains, cake and happy people, I can hear a Hippo thundering over to France as I type.  Isn't this what the hobby should be about.

 

Jamie

 

As you will see from my earlier picture, thundering in search of cake is not an option.

 

Your photo does show what railway modelling is all about.  I just hope E&T have both had their (M)MR jab.

[jamie92208]

8 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

As you will see from my earlier picture, thundering in search of cake is not an option.

 

Your photo does show what railway modelling is all about.  I just hope E&T have both had their (M)MR jab.

By the time they left they knew that passenger engines should be red.  However Edith liked the coal trucks best.

 

Jamie

Edited July 10, 2020 by jamie92208

[Happy Hippo]

One of the advantages of a self imposed moratorium on actually doing any railway modelling is the amount of time it has freed up to enable a considerable amount of focused thought on moving forward with my modelling.

 

As this moratorium has now expired, I'm looking forward to restarting the hobby, but the time spent in thought has allowed me to consider the way in which I want to move forward.  This is especially important as next year I will be half way though my sixth decade, and I appreciate that I don't really want to be in the rather rocky boat where schemes are continually chopped and changed.

 

I recently pulled up my line in the garden.  It was not in an ideal place, being sited under an oak tree with the resultant droppings, both from the tree and it's residents as a constant chore.  Having had a number of lines outside over the years, I know that maintenance is heavier, and the lines that have been elevated have been easier to work with.  This last line was at ground level, and although enjoyable was hard work.  My knees and back are not what they used to be.

 

So the  onward plan for the garden line is to build a set of outdoor baseboards and locate these in the quiet area behind the garage.  It will not be as pretty, but it will be functional and allow trains to perambulate at elbow height.  It is also very convenient for the workshop where all the stock is stored when not in use.  The other advantage, is that by making the boards portable, it enables the line to be moved simply when we move from here.

 

Of course the removal of the garden line, coincides with a major garden overhaul, with a lot of new landscaping and re-profiling planned.  This planning and rebuild will allow me to finally lay the 7.25" line in the garden. 

 

Now before we get carried away, this is a minimal gauge line and will not emulate the North Wales quarries, nor will it try to copy any elements of the WCML.

 

It will be a simple section of single line travelling along one side of the garden and enabling the loco and wagon(s) to shift stuff  as required.  I consider it a rather fanciful wheelbarrow.  But it does stop the itch I have had for many years.

 

However, although they sound grandiose plans, they are  both simple in planning and execution.  The smaller line is effectively relaying track on some baseboards, whilst the second is a 40 yard length of track, with a slight curve at one end. 

 

More thought has been needed in the 7 mm department, which I think is better covered later on.

 

 

 

 

[bbishop]

I'm on duty tomorrow and, after the initial rush, things may not be too busy for the rest of the day.  I can access RMWeb but can't log in, which means I can read but can't post (good thing, some of you might think).  Anyway, I won't be bored if you can all keep chatting.

Bill

[Happy Hippo]

Bill, Thanks for letting us know.

 

I hope things don't flare up now that the pubs are back on tap

 

I'll  now save my next major instalment for tomorrow.

 

The family depart tomorrow after lunch, so we'll both be having needing a free afternoon to recover.

[AndyID]

9 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

A poor day and a great morning has been had.   The new pool sprang two leaks as we started to fill it, Only 6cms of depth but water was running out from two places.   So this afternoon I am off to the dealership to talk about warranty claims.

 

 

Swimming pools and boats have a lot in common. A boat is a hole in the water into which you p!ss money whereas you p!ss money into a pool to keep water in it.

[AndyID]

Under a Western Sky.

 

The view from behind my shed. A beautiful evening but this weather can't last.

 

 

 

[Happy Hippo]

After the last week we have had, a couple of days of blue sky and sunshine would be a welcome break.

 

Even if it were only for the sake of the tomato plants and the greengages, who need ripening off.