The Night Mail

[Happy Hippo]

7 minutes ago, Northroader said:

The question arises what are you going to roll in it? I do hope it’s not, er, smoking requisites.

Returning from the North Wales Coast it was always considered a necessary part of the procedure to stop off at Long Lane, and partake of a refreshing beverage, was it called the Bush then? Now I see it’s the Ugly Duckling.

I passed there today both to and from my trip to the coast. It used to be called the Buck's Head.

 

It was quite confusing for some people as there was also a Buck's Head a few miles to the south on the Holyhead Road in Wellington, so locals would always need to clarify which one was meant.  The Holyhead Road version has now gone and become a Dominoes Pizza joint.

[Northroader]

You passed it?

[Happy Hippo]

5 minutes ago, Northroader said:

You passed it?

About 3.5 miles from home and if I  really want to go out for alcoholic beverage there is a pub 150 yards from the house:

 

https://www.thequeensathorton.co.uk/

[petethemole]

12 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

Once you start getting into the reals of digging deep trenches, you are back into the reals of heavy industry/mining, which is what the H&SE was originally set up to deal with.

 

 

In archaeological terms a "trench" is a hole in the ground dug deliberately for archaeological purposes, and may be quite shallow and cover a large area.  The fatality I referred to was in a deep trench, inside a church or cathedral* IIRC.  The collapse I was involved with was one side of a 3mx3m excavation in gravel and wasn't much more than a metre deep.  Regulations for shoring changed a lot over about 20 years and at one stage there was a notional depth beyond which shoring was required.  Shallower excavations were typically regarded as "safe" but soil conditions were not always taken into account.  Loose material such as gravel or old backfill is notoriously unstable. 

*The ground under the floor of a church or cathedral of medieval origin is usually full of old graves and tombs, as I found when working at Southampton's Holy Rood Church.

[Northroader]

That looks nice, alright, drink driving, etc, you’re pardoned. Nice evening for a pint, though.

[petethemole]

12 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

Once you start getting into the reals of digging deep trenches, you are back into the reals of heavy industry/mining, which is what the H&SE was originally set up to deal with.

 

 

In archaeological terms a "trench" is a hole in the ground dug deliberately for archaeological purposes, and may be quite shallow and cover a large area.  The fatality I referred to was in a deep trench, inside a church or cathedral* IIRC.  The collapse I was involved with was one side of a 3mx3m excavation in gravel and wasn't much more than a metre deep.  Regulations for shoring changed a lot over about 20 years and at one stage there was a notional depth beyond which shoring was required.  Shallower excavations were typically regarded as "safe" but soil conditions were not always taken into account.  Loose material such as gravel or old backfill is notoriously unstable. 

*The ground under the floor of a church or cathedral of medieval origin is usually full of old graves and tombs, as I found when working at Southampton's Holy Rood Church. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Southamptons-Holy-Rood-Church-Sailors/dp/0954394143

More recently part of the floor collapsed from the same cause :

 

[petethemole]

12 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

Once you start getting into the reals of digging deep trenches, you are back into the reals of heavy industry/mining, which is what the H&SE was originally set up to deal with.

 

 

In archaeological terms a "trench" is a hole in the ground dug deliberately for archaeological purposes, and may be quite shallow and cover a large area.  The fatality I referred to was in a deep trench, inside a church or cathedral* IIRC.  The collapse I was involved with was one side of a 3mx3m excavation in gravel and wasn't much more than a metre deep.  Regulations for shoring changed a lot over about 20 years and at one stage there was a notional depth beyond which shoring was required.  Shallower excavations were typically regarded as "safe" but soil conditions were not always taken into account.  Loose material such as gravel or old backfill is notoriously unstable. 

*The ground under the floor of a church or cathedral of medieval origin is usually full of old graves and tombs, as I found when working at Southampton's Holy Rood Church. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Southamptons-Holy-Rood-Church-Sailors/dp/0954394143

More recently part of the floor collapsed from the same cause :

 

[Happy Hippo]

My daughter studied Archaeology at Durham.

 

My father got her a summer placement at the Museum of Wales, where she was responsible for cataloguing various Roman artifacts.

 

After she left university she went and did a PGCE and went into primary education.

 

The Durham course was very academic with little field work compared to the course at Exeter.

 

We used to pull her leg somewhat when she was home between terms and we were building our vegetable garden.

 

'Yer Tony, come an ave a look at this.'

 

'What is it Phil?'

 

'It's another piece of flower pot.'

 

 

Edited July 28, 2020 by Happy Hippo

[Happy Hippo]

I have been misled by Dave Hunt.

 

When I visited his small hanger that passes for a workshop he assured me that he was building an aircraft carrier in the middle of the room on which to store his model aircraft collection.

 

I have found out, quite by chance, that according to another thread within RMWeb, the  faux aircraft carrier deck is actually the baseboard for an S7 Midland Railway engine shed.

 

What I thought was a ski jump style launching structure is actually a coaling stage.

 

Now what am I now going to do with the 1:48 Harrier GR9 I'm building?

Edited July 28, 2020 by Happy Hippo

[Florence Locomotive Works]

Evening chaps,

 

The second half of the rolling mill has been completed. I think. This side is fully gear driven might I add, and as a result is slightly faster than the left hand side. A bigger pulley has also been fitted, similar to that on the prototype. Various tie rods have also been added for strength.

 

Stay healthy, 

 

Douglas

[Florence Locomotive Works]

Goodnight all, from Greencountry.

 

Douglas

[bbishop]

8 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

I have been misled by Dave Hunt.

 

When I visited his small hanger that passes for a workshop he assured me that he was building an aircraft carrier in the middle of the room on which to store his model aircraft collection.

 

I have found out, quite by chance, that according to another thread within RMWeb, the  faux aircraft carrier deck is actually the baseboard for an S7 Midland Railway engine shed.

 

What I thought was a ski jump style launching structure is actually a coaling stage.

 

Now what am I now going to do with the 1:48 Harrier GR9 I'm building?

I hope you are using S7 wheels.  Bill

[Dave Hunt]

HH, the fault is in those dodgy hearing aids you bought from that bloke in the pub. When I said I was building some Park Royal wagons for the Shed you misheard it as the Ark Royal for the Med. Actually I think that you had also been distracted by me mentioning that there was cake available and it was probably over an hour since you had been given any.

 

And pardon me for being pernickety Bill but if Richard is making a 1/48th Harrier it can't really be suitable for fitting with 1/43.5 wheels. At that scale (American 0) it is probably a USMC AV8B so it must have Lionel wheels. Don't get him started, though, or he'll be making an ME 109 or something for Hochstadt (sorry - couldn't find the umlaut key) under the mistaken impression that since hoch means high it must be something to do with aviation. It's all that mud you know.

 

Enjoy the day everyone and stay safe.

 

Dave

Edited July 29, 2020 by Dave Hunt
Flamin' predictive text AGAIN!!

[jamie92208]

And of course 1:43.5 Wheels probably wouldn't fit into 1:48 wheel wells. Minor point. As you say Dave, the perceived rationing of cake together with muddy ears probably accounts for a lot.  By the way could my 1:48th Big Boy be serviced at your new shed.  For some peculiar reason it can't reach Green Ayre shed, some fool made the bridges too small so it can't get out of the fiddle yard.

 

Jamie

Edited July 29, 2020 by jamie92208

[Dave Hunt]

4 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

.........could my 1:48th Big Boy be serviced at your new shed.  For some peculiar reason it can't reach Green Ayre shed, some fool made the bridges too small so it can't get out of the fiddle yard.

 

I'm not sure it would fit, Jamie - the layout is only 26 feet long!

 

Dave

[TheQ]

12 hours ago, petethemole said:

In archaeological terms a "trench" is a hole in the ground dug deliberately for archaeological purposes, and may be quite shallow and cover a large area.  The fatality I referred to was in a deep trench, inside a church or cathedral* IIRC.  The collapse I was involved with was one side of a 3mx3m excavation in gravel and wasn't much more than a metre deep.  Regulations for shoring changed a lot over about 20 years and at one stage there was a notional depth beyond which shoring was required.  Shallower excavations were typically regarded as "safe" but soil conditions were not always taken into account.  Loose material such as gravel or old backfill is notoriously unstable. 

*The ground under the floor of a church or cathedral of medieval origin is usually full of old graves and tombs, as I found when working at Southampton's Holy Rood Church. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Southamptons-Holy-Rood-Church-Sailors/dp/0954394143

More recently part of the floor collapsed from the same cause :

 

I know at Ludgershall in the late 60's and early 70's we were working down pits in excess of 10 ft deep cut into the chalk with no shoring. These were historic pits inside a larger trench a couple of feet deep.. 

[bbishop]

21 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

And of course 1:43.5 Wheels probably wouldn't fit into 1:48 wheel wells. Minor point. As you say Dave, the perceived rationing of cake together with muddy ears probably accounts for a lot.  By the way could my 1:48th Big Boy be serviced at your new shed.  For some peculiar reason it can't reach Green Ayre shed, some fool made the bridges too small so it can't get out of the fiddle yard.

 

Jamie

 

It could run into Blindheim!    No stock, it couldn't fit in the headshunt.  Bill

[bbishop]

54 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

HH, the fault is in those dodgy hearing aids you bought from that bloke in the pub. When I said I was building some Park Royal wagons for the Shed you misheard it as the Ark Royal for the Med. Actually I think that you had also been distracted by me mentioning that there was cake available and it was probably over an hour since you had been given any.

 

And pardon me for being pernickety Bill but if Richard is making a 1/48th Harrier it can't really be suitable for fitting with 1/43.5 wheels. At that scale (American 0) it is probably a USMC AV8B so it must have Lionel wheels. Don't get him started, though, or he'll be making an ME 109 or something for Hochstadt (sorry - couldn't find the umlaut key) under the mistaken impression that since hoch means high it must be something to do with aviation. It's all that mud you know.

 

Enjoy the day everyone and stay safe.

 

Dave

 

I've no problem with an Me109, it would be a Mustang that would concern me.

 

For info: alt 0228 = ä; alt 0246 = ö; alt 0252 = ü; alt 0223 = ß

 

Bill 

Edited July 29, 2020 by bbishop

[Northroader]

Pete, if you were digging up the floor of Holyrood Church,  did you pop down the road for refreshment at the Red Lion, as that’s even older than the church, although they wouldn’t take to you digging holes in that?

[petethemole]

1 hour ago, TheQ said:

I know at Ludgershall in the late 60's and early 70's we were working down pits in excess of 10 ft deep cut into the chalk with no shoring. These were historic pits inside a larger trench a couple of feet deep.. 

 

I was in some of those in '69, but mainly down the stone lined garderobe (cesspit).  The pits in solid chalk would have been stable  when freshly opened in summer conditions.  That was before the Act, and it did take a while for it to affect archaeological work.  I think in the early years of the legislation enforcement concentrated on heavy industry and construction.  It wasn't until the mid-80s that we started doing risk assessments, shoring courses, and issuing Hi-viz and other PPE.  Of course some excavation work is very similar to construction industry in terms of risk, plus a large amount of it takes place on construction sites, though not always when actual construction is taking place.

 

1 hour ago, Northroader said:

Pete, if you were digging up the floor of Holyrood Church,  did you pop down the road for refreshment at the Red Lion, as that’s even older than the church, although they wouldn’t take to you digging holes in that?

 

I wasn't drinking much at that time and rarely at lunchtime, but our office was only a short walk away and I did go in there occasionally.  It still features a medieval hall.  When I was single, up to '99, our preferred watering hole was The Duke of Wellington, another medieval establishment.

[Happy Hippo]

12 hours ago, Florence Locomotive Works said:

Evening chaps,

 

The second half of the rolling mill has been completed. I think. This side is fully gear driven might I add, and as a result is slightly faster than the left hand side. A bigger pulley has also been fitted, similar to that on the prototype. Various tie rods have also been added for strength.

 

Stay healthy, 

 

Douglas

That is extremely Heath Robinson in it's structural viewpoint.

 

Once it starts going will it thrash itself to death in a welter of gears, rods and spring clips.

 

Seriously you might wish to reinforce the  beams which carry the axles/rods as they look a tad precarious.

 

 

Edited July 29, 2020 by Happy Hippo

[Compound2632]

These very elderly pubs pre-date their adjacent church but only by a little bit - they were built by the masons and carpenters brought in to build the church. A site amenity, if you will.

[Florence Locomotive Works]

17 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

That is extremely Heath Robinson in it's structural viewpoint.

 

Once it starts going will it thrash itself to death in a welter of gears, rods and spring clips.

 

Seriously you might wish to reinforce the  beams which carry the axles/rods as they look a tad precarious.

 

 

That will be one my tasks today, I certainly agree with you. 

[Northroader]

3 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

These very elderly pubs pre-date their adjacent church but only by a little bit - they were built by the masons and carpenters brought in to build the church. A site amenity, if you will.

Still, the Luftwaffe did manage to hit the church and not the pub, count our blessings, I suppose.

[Happy Hippo]

1 hour ago, Northroader said:

Still, the Luftwaffe did manage to hit the church and not the pub, count our blessings, I suppose.

I think after the church was hit, the blessings were unable to be counted as they were all over the place!