The Night Mail

[polybear]

7 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

PS - wh....en we were building Dewsbury in S7 in Bob Essery's garage he realised like HH that it really needed a another ten feet so he had an extension built onto the garage. It then outgrew even the extende garage so a garden shed was added for the down fiddle yard and holes knocked in the walls of garage and shed connected by a short covered way. Regular visits were made to check on the down fiddle yard operator, who was otherwise cut off from the rest of the world except for the colour light signalling system, and provide sustenance in the form of coffee and cake. And to think that HH and Poly were probably available.....

 

Mighty impressive name-dropping there, Dave.....

Let's see now....Dewsbury + free cake......Bear was most certainly available, though you'd need to swap the Coffee for Tea

[rockershovel]

12 hours ago, New Haven Neil said:

If it is anything like here, the agitators will be the worst offenders.  A lot of 'Home Zone' 20mph limits in villages now, and those that get nicked, live there.....and own the names that used to appear in the letters pages a lot. 

 

Our next door neighbour as a 'for instance'.  We did larf.

 

I would have thought that the concept that only local residents ventured into cul de sacs, was a fairly safe bet? 

[Happy Hippo]

11 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

 I realise that with his layouts  HH has much more of a problem if he is to avoid overexertion (and having to resort to extra supplies of cake to save him from wasting away) and the only solution I could see is to employ some sort of  remote  coupling system such as the Alex Jackson type.

I already employ Dingham couplings on the locos, brake vans and at the end of the fixed rakes, more for the ability to shunt hands off at exhibitions.  The disadvantage is they are handed, so locos and stock need to keep facing the same direction, which is why the S Wales Valleys does appeal.  Not much in the way of turntables and most locos were orientated so they were always nose up the hill.  However, that was not a 100% certainty as there were diagrams that in the course of their daily duties may have used one of  the triangular junctions in the area to effect a reversal.

 

Certainly Abercynon's fleet were generally orientated 'up the hill', but for those that were used to bank the freight traffic on the southbound incline that connected the old TVR line to the Barry main line at Treforest, were turned so they were facing south for the short sharp slog up to Tonteg Junction.  The reversal of the bankers to  be facing south probably taking place at Pontypridd Junction just to the north of Ponty station.

 

PB will concur there is no such thing as 'extra' supplies of cake, as the mass consumption of cake is a required constant for certain classes of hippo and bear.

Edited December 13, 2020 by Happy Hippo

[Tony_S]

1 hour ago, rockershovel said:

 

I would have thought that the concept that only local residents ventured into cul de sacs, was a fairly safe bet? 

Our road is a cul de sac but is used for schoolchild  drop off and collection. For the first 20 years we lived here there wasn’t a sign to indicate it was a no through road so we did get people trying to avoid traffic on the main road. Perhaps sat nav has reduced that too. We don’t have a standard road name sign either. The road name is carved into a curved panel on  the brick garden walls of the first house.  Apparently the original developer had some scheme of building a gated community. That never happened but the brickwork remains.  

Edited December 13, 2020 by Tony_S

[polybear]

1 hour ago, Happy Hippo said:

PB will concur there is no such thing as 'extra' supplies of cake, as the mass consumption of cake is a required constant for certain classes of hippo and bear.

 

I do indeed; the cake consumption capability being "somewhat more" than is actually available.  This particular Bear has yet to determine just how large "somewhat" can actually be, as I've yet to be presented with sufficient cake to determine the limit.

However, there was a programme on TV last night that featured a fruit cake a full yard across, and perhaps the best part of six inches deep.  That would make a good starter for ten.

[New Haven Neil]

3 hours ago, rockershovel said:

 

I would have thought that the concept that only local residents ventured into cul de sacs, was a fairly safe bet? 

 

it wasn't our street where he got nicked!  His mate got done for drink driving 50 yards from his house though, after a party.  Local bobby had had enough of them......no sympathy, we're had to put up with the a$$hole for 17 years.

[coastalview]

Some good news. The sister in law of our neighbours has just had the coronavirus vaccine. She is shielding at the moment and is the first person we know to have had it. Everything was very well organised at the hospital and she was kept in for an hour to check she had no adverse reaction.

[PhilJ W]

1 hour ago, New Haven Neil said:

 

it wasn't our street where he got nicked!  His mate got done for drink driving 50 yards from his house though, after a party.  Local bobby had had enough of them......no sympathy, we're had to put up with the a$$hole for 17 years.

Reminds me of when I lived in Romford in a Cul-de-sac. The Cul-de-sac formed the base of a triangle approximately 80 metres on each side. Entry was via a street forming the left hand side of the triangle and a footpath made the other side. There was a pub at the Apex of the triangle. The end of the Cul-de-sac was a T shape so that cars and small vans could turn. However one guy living at the top of the road usually parked his car at an angle in the T rendering it unusable. He only ever used his car to go to the pub, 80 metres away by foot and 160 metres by car! When in the pub he usually had a skin full and a few cars parked in the Cul-de-sac bore witness to that with bumps and scratches along the sides. After a number of complaints the police were waiting for him to come out of the pub but they didn't catch him as the grim reaper got him first. He keeled over in the pub with a massive heart attack and was dead before he hit the ground.

[Dave Hunt]

5 hours ago, polybear said:

 

Mighty impressive name-dropping there, Dave.....

Let's see now....Dewsbury + free cake......Bear was most certainly available, though you'd need to swap the Coffee for Tea

 

Just to rub it in PB, Bob's wife Wynne used to make some of the most delicious cakes known to man and dish them out in liberal and frequent portions to the work force. When setting up for an exhibition Bob would always have a large tin full of cake provide by Wynne to keep us from fading away.

 

Dave

[PhilJ W]

Go on, rub it in.

Edited December 13, 2020 by PhilJ W

[Winslow Boy]

2 hours ago, polybear said:

 

I do indeed; the cake consumption capability being "somewhat more" than is actually available.  This particular Bear has yet to determine just how large "somewhat" can actually be, as I've yet to be presented with sufficient cake to determine the limit.

However, there was a programme on TV last night that featured a fruit cake a full yard across, and perhaps the best part of six inches deep.  That would make a good starter for ten.

A query please. Does the cake delivery operate on a just in time principal or rather is the cake delivered on mass. If the just in time approach is taken wouldn't there be the horrifying possibility of a snaff eroo occurring and Bear and Hippo being faced with no cake. Just a horrible thought.

Edited December 13, 2020 by Winslow Boy

[Florence Locomotive Works]

Woke up this morning, went to open my blinds, and a landscape of white greeted me. Very surprising, snow isn’t rare in Oklahoma but we don’t get it often, certainly not this early. 
 

Douglas

 

[Happy Hippo]

28 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

A query please. Does the cake delivery operate on a just in time principal or rather is the cake delivered on mass. If the just in time approach is taken wouldn't there be the horrifying possibility of a snaff eroo occurring and Bear and Hippo being faced with no cake. Just a horrible thought.

Provisioning  military style used to be a bit more complex than the just in time approach  beloved of industry.  You really don't want to be running out of 7.62 mm link half way through a section attack.  In a nut shell the replenishment comes at a point  just prior to you having to hit your reserve stocks.  PB and I hold about 3 months of cake as reserve stock, so the re-provision is probably being ordered on around a six monthly lead time.

 

The only time such a system falls down is if a new line of cake is brought out.

 

Fortunately PB and I are on a retainer from most major cake manufacturers for our internationally acclaimed taste and test facilities.

 

For instance I have a booking for the Easter 2022 Simnel cake prototype this coming June.

[Tony_S]

17 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

 

The only time such a system falls down is if a new line of cake is brought out.

My brother’s wife’s last non self employed job was in a cake business. She designed cakes for commercial production. But at home she would make some that weren’t commercially viable that were very tasty. My brother doesn’t really like cake. Her last project was to attempt a “diet” sticky toffee pudding. 

[Tony_S]

24 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

Provisioning  military style used to be a bit more complex

I am glad you explained that. Aditi’s ancestors were supposed to be from the warrior caste but she isn’t particularly martial. She is very good at organising food supplies though. 

[polybear]

1 hour ago, Winslow Boy said:

A query please. Does the cake delivery operate on a just in time principal or rather is the cake delivered on mass. If the just in time approach is taken wouldn't there be the horrifying possibility of a snaff eroo occurring and Bear and Hippo being faced with no cake. Just a horrible thought.

 

As Big H has pointed out the current reserve is for a 3 month reserve; however after 1st Jan it may be wise to increase this substantially (Bear has been panic buying for some months now) due to the risk of no deal.  Plans were being made for a friendly french fisherman (not easy to find, I can assure you) to smuggle regular supplies of raw materials across the Channel; however now that it seems the Royal Navy may well be sticking their oars in (probably literally, since the gradual demise of the fleet has pretty much reduced them to rowing boats - the fancy jobbies being tied up in port due to lack of trained crews as some bright spark decided to have a big clearout some years ago with no thought as to what trades we needed and what could be dumped) then such anglo-french co-operation smuggling antics are looking decidedly shaky.

[Happy Hippo]

One presumes that we will see PB suitably attired in a lace shirt, breeches and a tricorn hat, as he visits his suppliers.

 

No doubt the ladies will watch the wall as he passes by.

 

The use of rowing boats is not a problem until the skipper decides he wants to have an afternoon of water skiing.

 

The gradual demise of the RN has long been a bone of contention in this house.  I may be totally out of touch, but visiting the likes of Spain and Portugal on various cruises revealed that most ports had some form of naval presence in the form of what would probably been referred to in the past as a corvette, but is probably now referred to as a cutter.

 

I've long felt that the UK naval defence plan would have been better served with quite a few of this type of ship (about 40) and then backing them up with MTB/MGB types reminiscent of the Coastal Forces during WWII.

 

Large ships are all very well but they do tend to spend a lot of the time tied up alongside or worse, mothballed and swinging around a buoy at Portsmouth.

 

Please do not get me started on the fiasco and farce that was the demise of Joint Force Harrier and it's supporting ships.  Any one with an iota of sense gets the new ship(s) built and worked up before you decommission the old ones.

[Happy Hippo]

In less grumpy news, I spent some time this afternoon trying to work out why the table saw I have was incapable of keeping the rip fence parallel to the blade.  I've always got around this by lining up the fence with a square and then clamping it in place, but to be honest it was a right pain when you wanted to make a lot of cuts all of differing thicknesses.

 

For some unfathomable reason I thought it was the table of the saw that was the problem, so had planned on building a new table next year.  however, on closer examination I noticed that when locking the fence in place, it moved slightly so the fence then played out.  why I hadn't noticed this before is beyond me. So I stripped down the locking unit and to my surprise found that there was a slightly proud area at one end of the locking face.

 

When unlocked it was fine, but as the lock tightened...... It skewed.

 

I did consider setting up the errant component in the milling machine, but decided it was probably quicker to take a file to the offending area. I  worked on the principle that if it wasn't a success, I could mill it at a later date.

 

About 5 minutes with the file, stopping frequently to check how the alignment was shaping up has produced a fence that is parallel to the  blade.

 

The first job will be to cut all the timber for the mud kitchen, the timber of which is rather cluttering up the garage.

 

But before then I need to wire one of the footswitches I bought into the electrical circuit.  I work on the principle that if you have your hands full and you need to switch off in a hurry, trying to find the electromagnetic cut off with your knee, or letting go to hit it with your palm, is not as good as just raising your foot.

 

 

 

 

[Happy Hippo]

1 hour ago, Tony_S said:

I am glad you explained that. Aditi’s ancestors were supposed to be from the warrior caste but she isn’t particularly martial. She is very good at organising food supplies though. 

'Warriors, come out to play!  Chink chink chink.

[Tony_S]

9 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

'Warriors, come out to play!  Chink chink chink.

That sounds like a quote from “Camberwick Green” but probably isn’t. 

[Happy Hippo]

47 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

That sounds like a quote from “Camberwick Green” but probably isn’t. 

No, it was a 1979 film about gangs in Noo Yawk

[Florence Locomotive Works]

It’s now at least 2 inches thick on the ground, and not showing signs of stopping. My sister and I constructed the worlds only snow mongoose, why we chose that animal I’m not sure. 
 

I also managed to get my Lionel crossing gate wired up and working for the first time in 5 years, with the help of ancient Keyser outside frame axle to help the electromagnet lower the gate. The photo was taken yesterday and doesn’t show that addition. 
 

Douglas

 

[polybear]

1 hour ago, Happy Hippo said:

The gradual demise of the RN has long been a bone of contention in this house.  I may be totally out of touch, but visiting the likes of Spain and Portugal on various cruises revealed that most ports had some form of naval presence in the form of what would probably been referred to in the past as a corvette, but is probably now referred to as a cutter.

 

Two years ago next month Bear was treated to a tour of a certain S. Korean Naval Base; the number of vessels had to be seen to be believed - and that's without all those at other bases and on patrol at sea.  You may recall that their neighbour isn't the friendliest however...

 

1 hour ago, Happy Hippo said:

But before then I need to wire one of the footswitches I bought into the electrical circuit.  I work on the principle that if you have your hands full and you need to switch off in a hurry, trying to find the electromagnetic cut off with your knee, or letting go to hit it with your palm, is not as good as just raising your foot.

 

A means of ensuring that the footswitch isn't prone to being accidentally stood on (big feet, Hippo's...) whilst you are still setting up would be useful

 

[simontaylor484]

I had similar problems with th fence on my table saw its only a cheapo nasty one i replaced it with aluminium angle and some deep throat clamps

 

In response to the Bach organ piece earlier may i humbly suggest Wiridors 5th 

https://youtu.be/DKejfYzB3ak

[Happy Hippo]

4 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

 

A means of ensuring that the footswitch isn't prone to being accidentally stood on (big feet, Hippo's...) whilst you are still setting up would be useful

 

 

 

A very good point and it's worth explaining how I intend to apply the switch and how it will safely operate in a bit more detail:.

 

The footswitch is to be wired into a stand alone extension cable wired up as plug/footswitch/socket.

 

The footswitch will need to be depressed, to apply power to the socket end, but will not power up the saw.  That is still required to be switched on using the factory fitted on/off switch (little green button) to activate the motor.

 

The saw can be turned off by either: Pushing the big red button on the machine or, by lifting your foot off the pedal.

 

I have found on occasion that it would have been safer not to have let go of work to switch off the machine

 

This system can also be used on the router table, my pillar drill, belt sanders and the scroll saw, as they all have electro magnetic on/off switches.

 

I'm making up two as I might need to have to switch between machines for some tasks.