The Night Mail

[Adam88]

2 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

I hope you don't have visions of myself stripped to the waist and well oiled doing a J Arthur Rank impression.

 

It's cake time!!!

 

 

 

Bombardier Billy Wells surely, accompanied by James Blades.

 

[SM42]

Woohoo!

 

More failed cheese cake has been proposed by Mrs SM42

 

Imagine digestive biscuits with lemony custard.

 

Yum!

 

Andy

[Oldddudders]

3 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

 stripped to the waist and well oiled doing a J Arthur Rank impression.

Gone for a what?

[jamie92208]

48 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

Gone for a what?

I'm scarred for life at the thought.  

 

On a slightly better subject the domestic authorities have decided that the ginger cake will not have the very sugary topping added so we sampled a slice each after dinner.  It was scrumptious and moist.

 

Jamie

 

[newbryford]

On 14/11/2020 at 15:37, Happy Hippo said:

I've just watched the video on YouTube about the launch of the new 4 mm scale L&NWR  2-4-0 Precedent.

 

Now I'm very fortunate in not modelling the L&NWR in 4mm scale because I'd just have to get one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don't, but I have....

[Happy Hippo]

1 hour ago, newbryford said:

 

I don't, but I have....

In LMS red pulling a network rail test coach in Yellow and a Green GUV following up the rear.

[Florence Locomotive Works]

School inspected today, I have all next week off for thanksgiving break, so much running of the mogul will be done.

 

This arrived a few minutes ago, a brand new Goldenrod oil can. Very nice for only $12 on Amazon, with free next day delivery. Made in Nebraska as well. It should make filling the displacement lubricator on the mogul much easier. 
 

Douglas

 

Edited November 17, 2020 by Florence Locomotive Works

[pH]

I wondered about posting this in the 'Worst Looking Locomotive' topic:

 

https://www.railpictures.net/photo/754404/ 

[roundhouse]

7 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

In LMS red pulling a network rail test coach in Yellow and a Green GUV following up the rear.

 Its a good job that one of our layout operating team isnt on here as that would be very tempting for him. He painted a GWR railcar in NSE colours many years ago.

 

Yesterday I completed the wiring of the N / 009 gauge test circuit. I very carefully ran one of my Heljan L & B locos round it. Not how close it is to the edge of the boards and its a long way down. Luckily after various modifications these locos now stay on the track through the turnouts. The perspex edge protection is now being installed.

 

Edited November 17, 2020 by roundhouse

[polybear]

12 hours ago, SM42 said:

More failed cheese cake has been proposed by Mrs SM42

 

Imagine digestive biscuits with lemony custard.

 

Yum!

 

 

Ready.....

Just spoon the failures into a tupperware box and despatch to Bear Towers for safe environmental disposal, completely free of charge....

[SM42]

12 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

Ready.....

Just spoon the failures into a tupperware box and despatch to Bear Towers for safe environmental disposal, completely free of charge....

 

Thanks for the generous offer,  but we have our own on site recycling facility.

 

Andy

[Happy Hippo]

That little 009 loco runs very smoothly and is very tempting.

 

 This is not a boasting match, but more of a contrast. Many years ago I had one of these:

Picture from Roundhouse Engineering Archive.

 

 

 

It was a superb runner, built to 16 mm scale, it was live steam with a  gas fired boiler and slip eccentric valve gear.  It was sold on when I changed over to 7/8ths stuff with a more industrial theme.

 

It came as a bit of a shock when it sold for twice what I'd originally paid for it.

 

 

[Dave Hunt]

A pleasant morning in North Hipposhire so we are off for a walk once muggocoffee No. 2 has been consumed. Then I think I may have to prepare some heavy duty defences as later on I'll be making a lemon drizzle cake, which may result in plagues of bears if I'm not careful, not to mention visitations from the Muddy Hollow.

 

Note for those who like cake but can't always get the particular ones they like from shops - try making them yourselves from scratch; it really is quite easy and I have yet to try a shop-bought cake that is as nice as a home made one. For a start they tend to have far too much sugar in them for my liking. I can send well-proven recipes to anyone who wants to have a go.

 

We've just had a large hedge that had become too straggly and overgrown removed from our front garden and there is now just the bare boards of next door's fence down one side so Jill is surrounded by catalogues of plants, shrubs, bushes, dwarf trees etc. The prices of just a handful of bulbs or what looks like a twig are eye watering and are likely to threaten the stock of modelling tokens if she is allowed free rein but on the other hand if I don't co-operate in the project it could harm the accumulation of brownie points on which modelling time depends. Decisions, decisions.....

 

Have a good Tuesday people and as used to be said in Hill Street Blues, let's be careful out there. Roll on vaccination.

 

Dave

[Happy Hippo]

Around this neck of the woods there is a hedge war going on:

 

When we moved in and wanted to replace a hedge, it was decreed by the local authority that, it had to be replaced with a hedge that was representative of hedgerow in the area and should contain only plants that were indigenous species.

 

as a result any new development in the lane where the local authority is selling off land, those of us who had to abide by the rules then, are insisting that they are applied to all new builds as a condition of planning permission being granted.

 

Two new houses on the 'main road'  have grubbed out hedgerow along the full width of the plots, but so far, failed to reinstate the hedges. At present,  the completed house has a very nice post and rail fence, set back from the road with a lawn with a grass verge, but no sign of a thorn hedge being replaced.  It will be interesting to see what happens when the planning enforcement team arrive to check the planning caveats have been met.

 

One of the problems has been that there is a 30 year plus rule that protects hedgerows, but it does not protect them if they are a frontage of a residential property.  Hence the caveat that goes into the planning permission.  Since the land is being transferred from agricultural to residential use, it is the only way that the hedgerows can be protected.

 

They are, after all, a green highway for small animals and a natural nesting site for songbirds.

 

[Dave Hunt]

I agree completely, Richard, with the principle of maintaining hedges, for the benefit of wildlife apart from anything else. The problem we had was that the hedge had reached the stage where it was getting so straggly and devoid of leaf in the middle and was suffering loss of foliage near ground level but wasn't allowing anything else to establish there that the best option, on the advice of a landscape gardener, was to have it grubbed out and start again. Cutting it back to a more manageable width would only have resulted in a vista of dead wood. Hence Jill's planning frenzy for suitable replacements. I just hope that she can find a solution that will enable a reasonably fast growth rate with the avoidance of galloping takeover - no conifers! 

 

Dave

[jamie92208]

4 hours ago, roundhouse said:

 Its a good job that one of our layout operating team isnt on here as that would be very tempting for him. He painted a GWR railcar in NSE colours many years ago.

 

Yesterday I completed the wiring of the N / 009 gauge test circuit. I very carefully ran one of my Heljan L & B locos round it. Not how close it is to the edge of the boards and its a long way down. Luckily after various modifications these locos now stay on the track through the turnouts. The perspex edge protection is now being installed.

 

I have an etch for a Midland and North British Clerestory in stock, PC models obtained from Pete Waterman. My plan was to build it and then have it painted in varnished teak livery as they ended up with the Late and Never Early.  Just a comment on the test track, it looks great but I thought that DCC only needed two wires.

1 hour ago, Dave Hunt said:

I agree completely, Richard, with the principle of maintaining hedges, for the benefit of wildlife apart from anything else. The problem we had was that the hedge had reached the stage where it was getting so straggly and devoid of leaf in the middle and was suffering loss of foliage near ground level but wasn't allowing anything else to establish there that the best option, on the advice of a landscape gardener, was to have it grubbed out and start again. Cutting it back to a more manageable width would only have resulted in a vista of dead wood. Hence Jill's planning frenzy for suitable replacements. I just hope that she can find a solution that will enable a reasonably fast growth rate with the avoidance of galloping takeover - no conifers! 

 

Dave

Many years ago when my parents bought some land at the back of the house to preserve the view across the Ribble Valley to the Settle and Carlisle line, my father decided to plant a hedge round it and used a mixture of hornbeam and copper beech planted alternately.  It looked rather good and had to be kept in chevk for two reasons.   The first was so that my brother, my father and of course myself, could continue to watch the parade of steam hauled trains and secondly so that my mother could see who was walking past.  The land was a wise purchase as my parents were able to sell it with outline planning permission when they sold our house. A bungalow now has the view of the railway.

 

Jamie

Edited November 17, 2020 by jamie92208

[Happy Hippo]

38 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

I agree completely, Richard, with the principle of maintaining hedges, for the benefit of wildlife apart from anything else. The problem we had was that the hedge had reached the stage where it was getting so straggly and devoid of leaf in the middle and was suffering loss of foliage near ground level but wasn't allowing anything else to establish there that the best option, on the advice of a landscape gardener, was to have it grubbed out and start again. Cutting it back to a more manageable width would only have resulted in a vista of dead wood. Hence Jill's planning frenzy for suitable replacements. I just hope that she can find a solution that will enable a reasonably fast growth rate with the avoidance of galloping takeover - no conifers! 

 

Dave

Hedges are really only tightly planted trees which are controlled in their growth.  Once the hedge goes above about 8-10 feet in height, it will revert to tree with the more dominant species overpowering the smaller stuff.  That then dies off, and the lower growth of the stronger species then dies back as the energy is put into the top canopy.

 

It is possible to recover the hedge by cutting it right back and having it laid, but it is a costly and time consuming task that is well beyond the skill set of most. Grubbing out the hedge once it turns into trees is, to my mindset, the best option. Sympathetic replanting will result in a much more manageable option within a few years.

 

What you have done is exactly why we grubbed out the old and straggly hedgerow at the back of the property in conjunction with our neighbours. It was replaced with a post and rail fence, with rabbit proof green wire fencing as an insert and is a stop gap measure.  Over the next twenty years or so it will gently rot away.  In the meantime, the thorn and berries we planted on both sides of the fence in Spring 2019 have grown very quickly.  So much so that we were able to take a goodly crop of  fruit from them at the end of this last summer. 

 

By next year I suspect the fencing will be completely out of sight.

 

It will be interesting to see whether we get an increase of songbirds in the garden as a result of the extra cover. Although I suspect that will also encourage the grey squirrels, as they are prolific nest raiders.

 

Fortunately I have a solution for that little problem

[Winslow Boy]

It is interesting to read about the various opinions that contributors to this esteemed posting (other words are available) have about the provision of hedgerows. Having been on the 'other' side ie responsible for the enforcement I did smile at HH comments of 'enforcement team' as that would but exist. Rather a single officer having to cover any number of sites would be more true.

 

Ancient hedgerows are something that require a fair bit of skill to maintain to ensure that they continue to provide a suitable habitat. And as with most skilled things that requires funds. By the way how do you tell if a hedgerow is ancient- simplez you count the number of different types/species in it. The more there are, the more old it is.

 

[TheQ]

Unfortunately the previous owners of my place let the hedge grow out.. Now there's a line of 40 ft + sycamores down one side and some very decrepit Hawthorne down the other.

 

I'm just waiting for the field of Beet to be harvested, and I'll drop another sycamore onto the field.. Chop up and stack for burning..

[Happy Hippo]

1 hour ago, Winslow Boy said:

Having been on the 'other' side ie responsible for the enforcement I did smile at HH comments of 'enforcement team' as that would but exist. Rather a single officer having to cover any number of sites would be more true.

 

Ancient hedgerows are something that require a fair bit of skill to maintain to ensure that they continue to provide a suitable habitat. And as with most skilled things that requires funds. By the way how do you tell if a hedgerow is ancient- simplez you count the number of different types/species in it. The more there are, the more old it is.

 

They have a proper department at Telford for planning enforcement. If you knew Telfs, you'd know why.  Yes it might only be one person that visits but it could be one of a number of the team.

 

You're so right about hedgerow upkeep, it's an ongoing task.  Something that some of the newcomers into the village do not comprehend the importance of.

 

They tend not to understand the eco structure around them and as soon as they have settled in  are trying to convert their land and boundaries back to a style similar to what they were familiar with back in suburbia.  What they do within their boundaries is their business, but thinking about ripping out 40 yards of hedge and replacing it with fence panels does not get my vote.

 

As an aside, to give you some idea of how clean the air is around here, the posts which hold up the 30 mph speed restriction signs grow lichen!

Edited November 17, 2020 by Happy Hippo

[Northroader]

2 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

 

Fortunately I have a solution for that little problem

 

[Happy Hippo]

10 minutes ago, Northroader said:

 

 A ballista! 

 

My solution:

 

[Northroader]

Combine the two, test your skill, like clay pigeon shooting.

[roundhouse]

5 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

 Just a comment on the test track, it looks great but I thought that DCC only needed two wires.

 

Its wired for DC control aswell.. got out of that one didnt I ... I think 

[roundhouse]

2 hours ago, Northroader said:

 

Our local squirrel has been busy burying acorns in our lawn form next doors tree. In a few years we will have a forest of oaks