The Night Mail

[Tony_S]

I know when he comes here Aditi's Californian uncle hires an automatic . However at home he has a BMW manual and a Volvo automatic. Do US drivers licences restrict what UK car hire companies let Americans drive here?

[pH]

28 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

I know when he comes here Aditi's Californian uncle hires an automatic . However at home he has a BMW manual and a Volvo automatic. Do US drivers licences restrict what UK car hire companies let Americans drive here?

No. But I hire automatics in the UK for the same reason we bought our first automatic when we immigrated to Canada - when you’re going to drive on the opposite site of the road to the one you’re accustomed to, having one thing less to think about allows you to concentrate on the actual ‘driving’.

[AndyID]

I sometimes think it's just as well they didn't decide to swap the pedals around when they moved steering wheel over . That would make things extremely difficult. Try driving an automatic using your left foot and you'll see what I mean.

 

BTW, don't go looking for the hand brake on US cars and trucks. You set the "parking" or "E-brake" with your left foot and release it by pulling a handle under the dashboard.

[simontaylor484]

The only automatic i have driven is a pavement sweeper and it was left hand drive too.They have hydrostatic drive too basically built on a forklift chassis. Trouble with the Johnson sweeper was if you hit the brakes it pulled you to the right which could get scary.

My Volvo xc60 has hill descent control stability control and traction control. It's 2wd I haven't had it long only getting my licence back after a seizure. I am wondering what its going to be like in winter as our street is a nightmare with snow. From our drive its a fairly sharp gradient up to a virtually 90° corner a short run then another 90° the problem is that on these corners it is block paved it looks nice but its treacherous in snow with no grip at all. I do have 2 bags of grit in the garage just in case.

[simontaylor484]

4 minutes ago, AndyID said:

I sometimes think it's just as well they didn't decide to swap the pedals around when they moved steering wheel over . That would make things extremely difficult. Try driving an automatic using your left foot and you'll see what I mean.

 

BTW, don't go looking for the hand brake on US cars and trucks. You set the "parking" or "E-brake" with your left foot and release it by pulling a handle under the dashboard.

My car and the last have electric parking brake. The number of times I reach down to the left for the handbrake.

The Mrs who doesn't drive thought there was something wrong with the 1st car with e brake she said what was I having to fiddle with all the time

[Tony_S]

4 minutes ago, simontaylor484 said:

I am wondering what its going to be like in winter as our street is a nightmare with snow.

If it were my car and I lived there I would get a set of winter tyres. Aditi has a set for her Fiesta and they make quite a difference. This is just our opinion. A lot of people who don’t have them think differently. The first winter tyres (a budget brand) we had for a Clio did affect the fuel economy significantly but the ones on the Ford are the same make as the original standard tyres and don’t affect fuel consumption to any degree we notice.  
Tony

[AndyID]

10 minutes ago, simontaylor484 said:

I am wondering what its going to be like in winter as our street is a nightmare with snow. From our drive its a fairly sharp gradient up to a virtually 90° corner a short run then another 90° the problem is that on these corners it is block paved it looks nice but its treacherous in snow with no grip at all. I do have 2 bags of grit in the garage just in case.

 

If it turns out to be a problem you could invest in studless snow-tyres. They do work well but they don't last very long.

[Tony_S]

6 minutes ago, simontaylor484 said:

My car and the last have electric parking brake. The number of times I reach down to the left for the handbrake.

The Mrs who doesn't drive thought there was something wrong with the 1st car with e brake she said what was I having to fiddle with all the time

Our Fiesta has a classic handbrake. The Evoque has an electronic brake that does something to the rear disc brakes. It does work well. I had a manual Renault Scenic hire car once  with a very on/off electric handbrake. I didn’t like it. I didn’t have it long enough to be confident about hill starts. 

[jamie92208]

What HH said about braking is correct. Go into a corner at a speed that you can go round it safely and in the correct gear for the speed. Then accelerate enough through the bend to maintain your speed. This maintains stability. We were taught not to come down through the gears but to brake the select an appropriate  gear. Slow in fast out. It worked.

 

I drive a RH drive manual and a LH drive automatic interchangeably and because I swap regularly have no problem.  It us a little strange going back to the UK. The worst time is pulling out of somewhere like a garage where there are no road marks to guide you. 

 

Jamie

[Florence Locomotive Works]

15 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

I wish you luck with the exterior piping.  It loks like a plumbers nightmare.

 

Jamie

I won't be doing most of the piping as it wouldn't make sense to have it on a model from the era that I am trying to represent. However the main steam pipes to the cylinders will done and maybe a faugh injector, or 3.

 

Most of the piping on the engines pictured is for the injector, which may be a early ACFI water treatment system to but I can't tell and don't speak french so am unable to find out.  

 

Moving towards the front the larger diameter stuff will be steam lines and the smaller stuff will be for the Westinghouse pump. These engines do have more steam piping than usual as I believe they are 4 or 3 cylinder compounds, and the ones pictured (which are early models) appear to be using some crazy mashup of Walschaerts and Joy valve gear, making them look rather chaotic.

 

The rectangle between the dome and chimney is split in half, with one side being part of the steam dome (hence the HP cylinder piping) and the other is a sandbox. They also were all fitted with external regulator linkages for ease of maintenance (rather disturbing IMO), which you can see going from the dome and into the "sharpened" spectacle plate.

 

[J. S. Bach]

All that I will say about that one that it is sooooo ugly! However, there is another similar one that is even worse; just picture Jimmy Durante's nose on a steamer!

[Florence Locomotive Works]

23 minutes ago, J. S. Bach said:

All that I will say about that one that it is sooooo ugly! However, there is another similar one that is even worse; just picture Jimmy Durante's nose on a steamer!

Yes people seem to either think they look fantastic or are wholly unworthy of aesthetic note, in some cases being below both panniers and Kirtleys.

[SM42]

When  I first drove to The Motherland, I made a little cardboard arrow that stood on top of the binnacle that said "Drive on the right." 

 

When I got back to the UK I turned it round and it said "Drive on the left, fool"

 

Now I don't need it but I still have to think about turning left sometimes when I am out there if I am first off the lights or, indeed, anywhere where I can't follow someone else. 

 

Andy

Edited September 20, 2021 by SM42

[AndyID]

30 minutes ago, SM42 said:

When  I first drove to The Motherland, I made a little cardboard arrow that stood on top of the binnacle that said "Drive on the right." 

 

When I got back to the UK I turned it round and it said "Drive on the left, fool"

 

Now I don't need it but I still have to think about turning left sometimes when I am out there if I am first off the lights or, indeed, anywhere where I can't follow someone else. 

 

Andy

 

MrsID and I do the same thing with an arrow. The little car hire company we use in Scotland provides us with an arrow. I've caught myself on the wrong side a couple of times. Only takes a moment of inattention on an unfamiliar road.

 

It's good to remember that 30 MPH is more that two car lengths PER SECOND and two cars closing at 30 MPH is double that. There's very little time to react.

[polybear]

7 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

It us a little strange going back to the UK. The worst time is pulling out of somewhere like a garage where there are no road marks to guide you. 

 

 

Been there, done that.  I often find that, several weeks after a holiday in Italy, I'm back in the UK and will pull out of a junction (assuming there are no other cars to guide me) and suddenly think "Oh sh1t - what side of the road should I be on??"

[rockershovel]

I've never really found it a problem, but I've driven in various countries for many years. The main problem I find is the habit, common in the ME of driving on whichever part of the road seems to be most convenient or has the best surface. 

[Northmoor]

A good friend of ours was hurt when she pulled out of her workplace in Derbyshire and drove on the right, being hit head-on.  She was in her LHD Peugeot 106 from Switzerland; it must be very easy to momentarily forget which combination of car/country you're in.

They were very unlucky; only a few years later while living in the Pacific NW of the USA, they were hit by a drunk driver and their car then was totalled as well, but fortunately apart from a little whiplash they and the children were OK.

[jamie92208]

38 minutes ago, Northmoor said:

A good friend of ours was hurt when she pulled out of her workplace in Derbyshire and drove on the right, being hit head-on.  She was in her LHD Peugeot 106 from Switzerland; it must be very easy to momentarily forget which combination of car/country you're in.

They were very unlucky; only a few years later while living in the Pacific NW of the USA, they were hit by a drunk driver and their car then was totalled as well, but fortunately apart from a little whiplash they and the children were OK.

Yes it is the right turns out of unsigned junctions in LH drive countries and left turns in RH drive ones that are the problem.  There is quite a bit of anger in parts of Scotland over accidents with hire cars on the wrong side of the road. There is also the ongoing and tragic saga of the US woman and the young motorcyclist that she killed in Northants.

 

Jamie

Edited September 20, 2021 by jamie92208

[Happy Hippo]

14 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

Yes it is the right turns out of unsigned junctions in LH drive countries and left turns in RH drive ones that are the problem.  There is quite a bitbof anger in parts of Scotland over accients with hire cars on the wrong side of the road. There is also the ongoing a tragic saga of the US woman and the young motorcyclist that she killed in Northants.

 

Jamie

The tragedy of that particular incident might have been avoided with strategically placed road furniture and improved signage on the exit from the base.

 

However, I'm also well aware that familiarity can breed contempt.

 

When they made the temporary closure of the lane we live in (as an experiment in traffic management) I painted a large arrow onto a board and put it on the fence opposite our driveway so that the arrow pointed towards the active exit.

 

It was very useful and acted as a welcome prompt to ourselves and our neighbours who share the drive.  The number of residents who did turn towards the closed end, and then had to retrace their route when the system first came into operation was staggering.

 

But now I am so used to turning left out of the drive, although I am still observant on the emerge, I don't think I consciously register the presence of the sign.

[PhilJ W]

I've never had issues when driving on the 'wrong' side of the road. Apparently the most common road accidents with Americans visiting the UK is among pedestrians, caused by them looking the wrong way before stepping off the kerb.

[jamie92208]

Despite the constant changes between left and right hand drive cars, I still frequently go the the wrong side of either car to drive off and am surprised by the lack of a steering wheel.  It must be an age thing.

 

Jamie

[Happy Hippo]

23 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

Despite the constant changes between left and right hand drive cars, I still frequently go the the wrong side of either car to drive off and am surprised by the lack of a steering wheel.  It must be an age thing.

 

Jamie

Allegedly he sat on Dave Hunt's driveway in the wrong seat, trying to make the car move.

 

Dave knew something was up when Jamie started going: Brrrrmmm, Brrrrmmm.

[simontaylor484]

27 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

Despite the constant changes between left and right hand drive cars, I still frequently go the the wrong side of either car to drive off and am surprised by the lack of a steering wheel.  It must be an age thing.

 

Jamie

Who moved the steering wheel?

 

Reminds me of Thora Hirds character in Last of the Summer Wine blaming her bad driving on "Your Father's been moving the pedals again"

[Dave Hunt]

Having spent most of my adult life flitting about various countries and driving both left- and right-hand drive vehicles on both sides of the road (and before you lot start funny comments, I mean whichever side of the road was the correct one) I have only twice made mistakes. Fortunately neither has resulted in accidents and both were when pulling out of petrol stations. The first was in Dover in about 1973 when I'd just come off an early morning ferry from Calais and stopped to refuel and as I pulled out a policeman shouted, " Drive on the left," and waved me over whilst the second was a similar situation in Australia after arriving from the USA and picking up a hire car. Interesting that both involved driving right-hand drive cars on the left-hand side of the road, which you would think would be the less likely to be problematic for someone brought up and taught to drive in the U.K. 

 

Dave

[Dave Hunt]

14 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

Allegedly he sat on Dave Hunt's driveway in the wrong seat, trying to make the car move.

 

Dave knew something was up when Jamie started going: Brrrrmmm, Brrrrmmm.

 

I think that mistake was excusable as he was probably blinded by the brilliantly fluorescent pink wrapping that you had used for the lead shot he was picking up.

 

Dave

Edited September 20, 2021 by Dave Hunt