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The Night Mail


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55 minutes ago, New Haven Neil said:

Tea?  Can't stand it, not even the smell of it!

 

 

 

I think the last time I had tea (several years back), it was the only option on the menu, which was "Afternoon Tea".  I had to go to the bar and get something else to drink to take the taste away.

 

At an emporium I frequented many years ago, a standard question was "Are you civilised, or do you drink tea ?"

 

Adrian

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I'm with Neil. Tea, yuk, invented by taking the essences of dishwater and fag ends and adding a touch of old socks. The only difference between Earl Grey, Lady Grey, Assam, Lapsang Suchong, English Breakfast et al is the amount of fag ends and old socks in the brew. When we were in America Jill maintained that no-one there could make a good cup of tea. I asked how you could tell. As far as I was concerned, the great advantage of being in America was that good coffee was almost always readily available. 

 

Today we had roast mutton, which was the first time I'd had it since being in the Falklands twenty years ago, and very toothsome it was too. jill slow roasted it for about four hours and it was lovely and tender. I think we will be having it again before too long. It was washed down with a rather good Shiraz.

 

I also managed to get a fair bit of modelling time in and made some progress on the coaling stage for my layout. The crane is on hold again as I've run out of both gloss black and red paint but at least it's crimson lake rather than bare brass. 

 

Dave    

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1 hour ago, Happy Hippo said:

You've seen that a brief mention about tea does, so best not mention pork scratchings or sponge puddings.

I would rather have them, I do not like tea. My mother would not let me drink tea or coffee as "it would stunt your growth"! I do, however, like an occasional coffee.

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Off to LAS soon.  I finished one of my projects yesterday, so the South Western Circle now has a set of station  images images sorted by route.  Pleased with myself because only three, out of a couple of thousand, defeated me.  Bill

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12 minutes ago, bbishop said:

Off to LAS soon.  I finished one of my projects yesterday, so the South Western Circle now has a set of station  images images sorted by route.  Pleased with myself because only three, out of a couple of thousand, defeated me.  Bill

I never realised that the South Western had so many stations.

 

Waterloo to Wadebridge must have taken a long time if it were a stopper

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The delivery of slabs and various other building materiel for extension of the veg plot paving has blocked the lane whilst they unload.

 

Since the lane is used as a rabbit run, there are a lot of rather frustrated drivers waiting to get past.

 

It's amazing how big the queue gets, even if the stoppage is only for a few minutes.

 

If only I could have a level crossing installed for the 7 1/4" gauge to get into the field opposite.

 

 

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I am a confirmed tea drinker; I've got one on the go as I type.   In the foundry, however, it was 100% coffee. The rationale was that coffee came to work in jars, and had a reasonable shelf life.  Before working there, I'd never, ever, drink tea without milk.  Doing a 12-hour night shift, where we've forgotten the milk? Oh dear....

 

The physiological benefits of a hot drink are paramount.  Little wonder that the standard-sized mug is entirely ergonomic.  The height of the mug is quite close  to the width of the palm, and the diameter is also close to a pair of cupped hands.  having returned from dog walking, I've now got an oxo cube, with Worcester  sauce & a liberal dose of black pepper.  

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I am now suffering from first world woes.

 

I have a sneaking feeling, as opposed to any substantial evidence that my Class 14 (D95xx) will arrive at about the same time as the Dapol Class 121 DMU I desire.

 

This could have a significant impact on my modelling funds, although since the 121 is not on order I can delay it somewhat.

 

The  Hymek's arrival at the beginning of the year, plus the two mentioned above will mean that Splott West Sidings will finally be able to operate in a diesel only mode.

 

This will make a pleasant change as when we first mooted a Cardiff docks area line there was only an 08 and a pannier.  Further additions to the fleet allowed for steam only or the transitional period.  

 

Of course, we'll have to draw up a slightly different timetable to match the changes that will have occurred.  Re arrangements on the traverser should take care of most of that, but it does give a definite stop and re-start and a chance to catch your breathe if exhibiting at a show.

 

Gordon Roden and I sat down with strips of paper marked out with the various locos, block trains and brake vans, and shuffled them around on a drawing of the track plan to work out the operating sequence.  This was then put on a spread sheet and printed out.

 

This might have sounded a bit extreme but it did mean we could hand the controls to virtually anyone and providing they knew at what point they were starting at, then could follow the instructions.  Previous to this  Gordon and I had handed off to the other two in the group with the instruction to 'just shuttle some wagons.  We ended up with all the locos at the ends of sidings with their trains behind them... They'd forgotten to run around the train prior to the shunting move.

 

At one show, we had a family come along who were looking to start railway modelling as a whole family hobby.  We started chatting, and eventually (after a few minutes) since it was quiet, we handed control over to the son and daughter who very quickly mastered shunting and coordinating the sequence with the controls and where trains needed to be.

 

In fact they stayed operating until the show closed about 90 minutes later.  Mother said she'd never seen them work so well together!

 

I do hope they took the hobby up.

 

 

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11 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

I never realised that the South Western had so many stations.

 

Waterloo to Wadebridge must have taken a long time if it were a stopper

In so far as this collection is concerned, you will need to change at Woking, Basingstoke, Salisbury, Yeovil, Exeter, Okehampton and Halwill Junction.  This is because we are basing the collection on the structure of the SWC portfolios.  Bill 

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29 minutes ago, bbishop said:

In so far as this collection is concerned, you will need to change at Woking, Basingstoke, Salisbury, Yeovil, Exeter, Okehampton and Halwill Junction.  This is because we are basing the collection on the structure of the SWC portfolios.  Bill 

Sorry Bill,

 

I was under the impression that the above was the most direct route by the Atlantic Coast Express:laugh_mini:.

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2 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

Just bought a bottle of Penderyn Legend.......................................

 

From Aldi!

 

(Dave, that's the one in the big red box!)

 

You're quite right Richard, but just to make sure I've opened the big red box, extracted the bottle, poured some liquid into a glass and tasted it; it is definitely Penderyn Legend. Just to make sure, though, I'll pour another....

 

Dave

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1 hour ago, Happy Hippo said:

Sorry Bill,

 

I was under the impression that the above was the most direct route by the Atlantic Coast Express:laugh_mini:.

Richard, I was being flippant!

 

The South Western Circle has about 150 portfolios, of which about 40 hold information on route histories.  Most of these have been digitalised.  We also inherited Mick Hutson's folders, which complement the portfolios as they concentrate on the metropolitan area, and several photographic collections.  Most of these have also been digitalised.  

A member gave his photographic collection of most LSWR stations to another society, but allowed the SWC to digitalise them and to use them for research.  Last week's task was to re-organise them into "routes" to complement our portfolios.

Bill

 

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12 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

Just bought a bottle of Penderyn Legend.......................................

 

From Aldi!

 

(Dave, that's the one in the big red box!)

I smell BS. You went to Aldi and didn't come home with an inflatable kayak, mig welder, gazebo, and a forklift? I don't believe you. :jester:

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47 minutes ago, AndrewC said:

I smell BS. You went to Aldi and didn't come home with an inflatable kayak, mig welder, gazebo, and a forklift? I don't believe you. :jester:

I was being what is termed 'economical with the truth'.

 

I didn't want to admit to giving myself a hernia getting all you mentioned to the car

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43 minutes ago, AndrewC said:

I smell BS. You went to Aldi and didn't come home with an inflatable kayak, mig welder, gazebo, and a forklift? I don't believe you. :jester:

 

No, the MiG welder offer was last week. Next week is a family pack of spirit levels,  3 phase inverters, Pogo sticks with added DAB facility, and Peruvian bus timetables.  

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