The Night Mail

[Dave Hunt]

48 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

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.

 

I remember reading somewhere that an escaped POW in Paris (IIRC) during WW2 was detected by the police when he looked the wrong way before stepping out to cross the road and was nearly hit by a car, the resulting hooting of horns, fist waving etc. catching their attention.

 

Dave

[Happy Hippo]

I note that some of my comments about GWR branch lines have appeared under different authorship over on the GWR branch line coaches thread. 

 

I've no doubt my thoughts were not original, but at least you saw them here first!

[Winslow Boy]

4 hours 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'm surprised some enterprising young lawyer has used this as an excuse to get one of his footballers/waste of space/over paid clients off.

 

. Mind you it could also be used as an excuse by BMW drivers to explain their driving as well.

[Happy Hippo]

1 hour ago, Winslow Boy said:

 

I'm surprised some enterprising young lawyer has used this as an excuse to get one of his footballers/waste of space/over paid clients off.

 

. Mind you it could also be used as an excuse by BMW drivers to explain their driving as well.

I always thought it was more of the Yoof driving their clapped up Corsa and Saxo variants.

[simontaylor484]

5 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

I remember reading somewhere that an escaped POW in Paris (IIRC) during WW2 was detected by the police when he looked the wrong way before stepping out to cross the road and was nearly hit by a car, the resulting hooting of horns, fist waving etc. catching their attention.

 

Dave

It wasnt Gordon Jackson saying "Thank you "in English was it.

[simontaylor484]

Having read other's advice about winter tyres for my Swedish tank i think it is beyond my means at the prices for the tyres alone never mind a new set of wheels I have 20" wheels. The winter tyres I found are similar to the "normal " tyres fitted price wise its the wheels that kill the idea

Edited September 20, 2021 by simontaylor484
Further thoughts

[polybear]

12 minutes ago, simontaylor484 said:

Having read other's advice about winter tyres for my Swedish tank i think it is beyond my means at the prices for the tyres alone never mind a new set of wheels I have 20" wheels. The winter tyres I found are similar to the "normal " tyres fitted price wise its the wheels that kill the idea

 

Plus having to find somewhere to store them for 10 or 11 months a year...

[SM42]

I normally struggle with staying left after coming off The Shuttle. 

It doesn't help that the exit throws you right. 

 

It doesn't matter that much as I fit right in keeping right on  a motorway

 

Having a hire car rather than my own in August, I found myself looking for the seat belt over my right shoulder and trying to release it with my left hand. 

Occasionally I had to ask Mrs SM42 if she was driving as she tried to sit on my lap.

 

Andy

[tetsudofan]

Whilst driving abroad (from 1970 to 1999) I had a simple solution at the time. Before setting out on a trip I would always move my watch from my left wrist to my right wrist. The odd feeling I got on the right wrist always reminded me which was the correct side of the road to be on!

 

Very simple solution but probably would not work now as I have not owned/worn a watch for many a year.....

 

Keith

 

 

[jamie92208]

33 minutes ago, SM42 said:

 

Occasionally I had to ask Mrs SM42 if she was driving as she tried to sit on my lap.

 

Andy

There's always a bonus somewhere.

 

Jamie

[Happy Hippo]

32 minutes ago, tetsudofan said:

Whilst driving abroad (from 1970 to 1999) I had a simple solution at the time. Before setting out on a trip I would always move my watch from my left wrist to my right wrist. The odd feeling I got on the right wrist always reminded me which was the correct side of the road to be on!

 

Very simple solution but probably would not work now as I have not owned/worn a watch for many a year.....

 

Keith

 

 

I suppose my pocket watch sticking into the opposite nadger would remind me quite forcibly.

[Stubby47]

I am due to be passing Telford in the not too distant future - are there any special arrangements I ought to make to make the passage as smooth as possible ?

[Compound2632]

4 minutes ago, Stubby47 said:

I am due to be passing Telford in the not too distant future - are there any special arrangements I ought to make to make the passage as smooth as possible ?

 

On no account leave the M54 until well clear.

[TheQ]

The six years working in Saudi were the nightmare for wrong side driving, not out in Saudi because most of the roads were dual carriageway. But on return here every 15 weeks, most of the roads are single track locally, giving no clue as to which side to drive on when reaching the main roads. Coming out of car parks was also a problem.

[SM42]

12 minutes ago, Stubby47 said:

I am due to be passing Telford in the not too distant future - are there any special arrangements I ought to make to make the passage as smooth as possible ?

 

Leave the cake at home.

 

You don't want to be tempting Hippo Turpin

 

Andy

[Happy Hippo]

3 minutes ago, SM42 said:

 

Leave the cake at home.

 

You don't want to be tempting Hippo Turpin

 

Andy

Hippo Turpin sounds a jolly game!

 

18 minutes ago, Stubby47 said:

I am due to be passing Telford in the not too distant future - are there any special arrangements I ought to make to make the passage as smooth as possible ?

You're quite safe.

 

You are Welsh and like the GWR.

[J. S. Bach]

I once bought a right-hand drive (ex-US Post Office) International Scout but never got around to putting it on the road and soon sold it.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Harvester_Scout

 

Note that there is no mention of the Post Office ones in the Wiki article, but they did exist.

[AndyID]

I was watching a drama on Britbox the other night but it was in a foreign language with subtitles. I had no idea what language they were speaking or where it was filmed but the odd thing was they occasionally dropped into English and the cars seemed to have UK style number plates.

 

After about fifteen minutes I eventually twigged it was in Cardiff.

[J. S. Bach]

14 hours ago, Florence Locomotive Works said:

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.

I am familiar with panniers (green especially) but have no idea of what a Kirtley is so it is off to DuckDuckGo to find out.

 

EDIT: I see that Kirtley refers to the designer (William Kirtley) and not a specific locomotive.

Edited September 20, 2021 by J. S. Bach
To add some information.

[jamie92208]

19 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

Hippo Turpin sounds a jolly game!

 

Don't end up the same way as the other Richard Turpin, he had his neck stretched on a gibbett at York.

[Compound2632]

7 minutes ago, J. S. Bach said:

EDIT: I see that Kirtley refers to the designer (William Kirtley) and not a specific locomotive.

 

Matthew, please. William was his nephew and works manager, until he moved to become locomotive superintendent of a small line south of the Thames.

[jamie92208]

On 20/09/2021 at 17:43, J. S. Bach said:

I am familiar with panniers (green especially) but have no idea of what a Kirtley is so it is off to DuckDuckGo to find out.

 

EDIT: I see that Kirtley refers to the designer (William Kirtley) and not a specific locomotive.

You asked. The Phrase a Kirtley usually refers to one of Matthews, outside framed 0-6-0's such as this one.

The Midland had rather a lot of them, the last one lasted until just after nationalisation.

However he did produce other locos and his 2-4-0's looked rather nice.

This was built by my late friend Tony Bond, who saw the last goods 0-6-0 at Derby.  Apparently the crews liked using it as a shunting loco due to the lever reverse.  I am responsible for 2716.   No 14 excelled itself on my layout.   I had unwittingly built my platforms a little close to the track and no 14 walked along with it's outside cranks on the platform.

 

I believer that Matthew was the inventor of the brick arch that allowed locos to burn coal rather than coke.

 

Jamie

Edited April 23, 2022 by jamie92208

[Stubby47]

28 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

Don't end up the same way as the other Richard Turpin, he had his neck stretched on a gibbett at York.

 

What is Dick Turpin reputed to have said at the end of his infamous ride to York ?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Whoa!

[Compound2632]

12 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

I believer that Matthew was the inventor of the brick arch that allowed locos to burn coal rather than coke.

 

That is to say, it was developed by staff in his department - principally, it would appear, Charles Markham. 

 

More Kirtley facts. He and his elder bother Thomas (father of William) were Geordies both by birth - Tanfield - and apprenticeship - to Stephenson - and were, it is said, drivers on the Liverpool & Manchester at its opening; Matthew is also said to have driven the first locomotive into London on the London & Birmingham. He was locomotive foreman of the Birmingham & Derby Junction, while Thomas held the corresponding position on the larger North Midland. It's not entirely clear why Matthew was favoured over Thomas at the amalgamation that formed the Midland. Thomas was appointed to replace John Grey on the London Brighton & South Coast but died within a year.

[Dave Hunt]

4 hours ago, Winslow Boy said:

Mind you it could also be used as an excuse by BMW drivers to explain their driving as well.

As one of the many BMW drivers, including HH, who try to drive courteously and sensibly I don't find I need excuses. 

 

3 hours ago, simontaylor484 said:

It wasnt Gordon Jackson saying "Thank you "in English was it.

I don't think that the side of the road he was on at the time made much difference to the outcome .

 

19 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

 

That is to say, it was developed by staff in his department - principally, it would appear, Charles Markham. 

 Indeed. Markham was Outdoor Superintendent under Kirtley and oversaw many experiments on coal burning to enable locomotives to 'consume their own smoke', as the Parliamentary stricture demanded, before what became the standard brick arch was developed at Derby Works. The main driver for all the effort was that coal was far cheaper than coke, which since the Rainhill trials had been used as the only available smokeless fuel.

  

19 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

It's not entirely clear why Matthew was favoured over Thomas at the amalgamation that formed the Midland. 

From what I have gleaned from various sources, Matthew Kirtley was highly regarded by Robert Stephenson, who knew him during his employment on both the Liverpool & Manchester and the London & Birmingham, and RS used his influence with George Hudson to get Matthew the job.

 

Dave