The Night Mail

[Happy Hippo]

6 minutes ago, AndyID said:

But it is getting late here and as I don't want an ugly mob wielding pitch forks showing up here I will reveal the answer before I retire.

Timber strips!

 

Two lengths of timber that are cut to the width of the cupboard that are pushed in and force the opposite clips down.  done twice it only leavey you with one clip to depress to remove the shelf.

 

[Happy Hippo]

Or remove the door and just pull the shelf towards you...

[AndyID]

4 minutes ago, Northmoor said:

Put a second shelf (assuming same size) on top of the first, pushing the springs back?

 

That's a very clever Idea. Can't see why it wouldn't work but that's not how I did it.

[Stubby47]

Get 3 leprechauns to sit inside on the shelf pushing the springs back?

[Stubby47]

Lengths of brass strip instead of the blades ?

[Stubby47]

"Use the Force, Luke".

[AndyID]

OK, enough already. (You are not going to like this!)

 

The solution is "rotation".

 

You depress the spring then rotate the clip so that the edge of the shelf holds the spring depressed.

[iL Dottore]

6 minutes ago, AndyID said:

OK, enough already. (You are not going to like this!)

 

The solution is "rotation".

 

You depress the spring then rotate the clip so that the edge of the shelf holds the spring depressed.

Ingenious, as were some of the other solutions.

 

Well Done That Man!

[rant mode ON] - why is it on most commercially available cabinets and bookshelves you are forced to only have a certain number of shelves with a limited choice of shelf spacing for the few shelves permitted. Don’t they realise that books, kitchen equipment, food containers, etc.come in all sorts of sizes and thus need different shelving spacing and numbers thereof? [rant mode OFF]
 

Thank you for taking the effort to list all the various animal named locomotives (and GWR wagons). Is it a coincidence that all these named locomotives have both character and soul - something that seems to elude most diesels and > 95% of EMUs.

 

The only ones of the latter two types that I think have character are:

• BR Class 50 Diesel
• Class 302, 304, 305, 306, 307, 308 EMUs
• London Underground 1938 Tube Stock
• London Underground P Stock and Q Stock

All the rest are so eminently soulless and forgettable, that they are indistinguishable from one another….

 

I rest my case, M’Lud.

[rockershovel]

Its Xmas! Well, I've just seen the first Xmas ad on tv, and it's not even Bonfire Night (Halloween is reserved for visiting American relatives, chez Rocker). So, we are looking for a carol service, being "Christmas and Easter Christians" of a particularly devout sort. I did think that Last Night of the Proms might have jolted the C of E out of its self-imposed purdah and reminded it of its supposed role, indeed I took Communion in a village Church a while ago, even engaged in a curious pantomime of gathering in tne transept a few feet from the pews to sing a hymn "for safety" .......but seemingly not. The Cathedral is playing a dead bat, simply omitting all mention of it from its scheduled services and pretending that the local choir recital (a regular event anyway) takes its place. 

[PhilJ W]

My bookshelves are adjustable but the biggest problem is sagging shelves. Books are very heavy but most bookshelves aren't up to the job. 

[Winslow Boy]

 

It is my understanding that 'our correspondent from abroad' aka the Isle of Man has a new 'boss man, head honcho other epitaphs are available, in charge. Only he isn't as he was the chap in charge of collecting the pennies. So much for his fiendish and cunning plan to bring the whole edifice crumbling down. Are well I suppose there's always next time. Long live the revolution.

59 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

 

Edited October 13, 2021 by Winslow Boy
Not certain why but I seem to have included iL Dottore submission for some reason.c

[SM42]

19 minutes ago, rockershovel said:

Its Xmas! Well, I've just seen the first Xmas ad on tv, and it's not even Bonfire Night 

 

73 days to go 

 

Andy

[BSW01]

Don’t remind me 

[rockershovel]

I've just looked at the Cathedral website. Both their pre-Christmas "celebrations" (one, including "seasonal favourites to sing along to") require pre-booking and cost between £15-35 a ticket. 

[jamie92208]

2 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

IThe only ones of the latter two types that I think have character are:

• BR Class 50 Diesel
• Class 302, 304, 305, 306, 307, 308 EMUs
• London Underground 1938 Tube Stock
• London Underground P Stock and Q Stock

All the rest are so eminently soulless and forgettable, that they are indistinguishable from one another….

 

I rest my case, M’Lud.

You've missed out the fabulous Deltics, Class 55 and their electric voudins the 4REP's, how careless.

1 hour ago, PhilJ W said:

My bookshelves are adjustable but the biggest problem is sagging shelves. Books are very heavy but most bookshelves aren't up to the job. 

That is often becsuse they are made of some form of chipboard or mdf. Proper timber is needed.  

 

You can get some stuff called library strip or sonething similar that is let into the uprights and the little dogs that the shelves sit on can go in anywhere.

 

Jamie

Edited October 13, 2021 by jamie92208

[Happy Hippo]

2 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

You've missed out the fabulous Deltics, Class 55 and their electric voudins the 4REP's, how careless.

 

And the Class  08, 20 and Class 37 which have now been in service for much longer than our beloved Kings/A4/Princess Coronation/King Arthur ever were.

 

I presume the Mad Doctor neglected to mention the BR(W) fleet of hydraulic locos on the grounds that they are honorary steam locomotives.

 

Shelving can be much strengthened by using the old engineering technique of adding a brace, which is why girders are never flat bar but are I, T or U sections.

[coastalview]

Well that was an expensive morning. Just been to the opticians and my wallet feels like it has purchased a complete optical factory.....

 

Must say the sight test and examination was probably the most thorough I have ever had and its reassuring to know that the cataracts have not changed significantly. 

 

Already saving for next year's visit 

[New Haven Neil]

16 minutes ago, coastalview said:

Well that was an expensive morning. Just been to the opticians and my wallet feels like it has purchased a complete optical factory.....

 

Must say the sight test and examination was probably the most thorough I have ever had and its reassuring to know that the cataracts have not changed significantly. 

 

Already saving for next year's visit 

 

I often feel like that, but as a diabetic you cannot be too careful.  My eyesight has decided to change quite rapidly (actually improving my near vision!) over the last couple of years which prompted my young and keen optician to refer me for closer investigations, but that has revealed no retinopathy thankfully, just 'age related' change - but I'm on 6 month checks with the Consultant now as well as the annual check (free here for diabetics, not sure about the UK). Any suggestion that it is just a ploy to see the young and keen and rather pleasant optician more often are denied strongly....ish. 

[Oldddudders]

I hope to see my optician in Torquay next week. I will need new specs. Two years ago Linda told me the alteration in my prescription was so minor that she could not justify selling me new lenses. So these have gone more than four years which is pleasing, but now my close vision is getting worse and that's that. Fortunately my blood tests continue to show I am some distance from diabetic, but pride comes before.....

[iL Dottore]

1 hour ago, jamie92208 said:

You've missed out the fabulous Deltics, Class 55 and their electric voudins the 4REP's, how careless.

(as the Christmas festivities seem to have started early in the UK, let's go to Panto Mode... [thank you @rockershovel for the inspiration])

iD "Oh No I haven't"

Jamie92208 "Oh yes you have"

iD "Oh No I haven't"

Jamie92208 "Oh yes you have"

iD "Oh No I haven't"

Jamie92208 "Oh yes you have"

Other Night Mail Posters "Look out behind you"

iD and Jamie92208 get flattened by a hurled Deltic (a Deus Ex Machina if there ever was one)

 

Certainly the Class 55 Deltics are impressive beasts - but somehow they just don't connect with me. The 4REP/Class 430/432 are certainly interesting, but never having the experience in travelling in them there's no connection. Whereas the units out of Liverpool St Station and the District Line P Stock and Q Stock (as well as the 1938 Tube Stock) were all part of my mispent childhood (and, yes, I am old enough to have travelled on the London Underground Q Stock before it was withdrawn in 1971).

 

I know there's good reasons for the materials used nowadays to build rolling stock, but for sheer class and comfort (at least in terms of mass transport) you can't beat the 1938 Tube Stock or the Q Stock (both with considerable Art Deco influences).

 

You may be interested in this: https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/restoring-q-stock-london-transport-museum/2gIigAwNicVSKQ?hl=en

[TheQ]

I can confirm to NHN that Diabetic eye tests are free on the mainland.. Mine done at the local surgery is much more thorough than the opticians..  He /she  even hand's me a note with the specification of glasses I need, should I wish to and get some

[J. S. Bach]

8 hours ago, polybear said:

 

......and a ball pein hammer.....

Actually, I would want to use a spike maul.

[J. S. Bach]

6 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

 ...snip..

Thank you for taking the effort to list all the various animal named locomotives (and GWR wagons). Is it a coincidence that all these named locomotives have both character and soul - something that seems to elude most diesels and > 95% of EMUs.

 

The only ones of the latter two types that I think have character are:

• BR Class 50 Diesel
• Class 302, 304, 305, 306, 307, 308 EMUs
• London Underground 1938 Tube Stock
• London Underground P Stock and Q Stock

All the rest are so eminently soulless and forgettable, that they are indistinguishable from one another….

 

I rest my case, M’Lud.

Another is the narrow-gauge Galloping Goose on one of the Colorado lines and the Skunk in California. Sorry if these were mentioned before but I did not see them; casual, quick reading maybe.

 

 

Edited October 13, 2021 by J. S. Bach
To correct a typing error.

[bbishop]

I would add a couple of EMUs.  From the age of seven, I was commuting in the (almost) Southern Railway EPBs (later class 415/1).  Comfortable seats and as regular users, we knew the foibles of individual sets - like the two sets with the wider compartments, more fun in an impromptu game of "carriage he".

 

Then the class 442, or "Wessex electrics".  Not wonderful to look at, but they were smooth, smooth runners.  I was recently catching them from London Bridge to East Croydon in the rush hour.  Utterly hopeless as outer suburban stock (they doubled the official dwell time) but the utter contempt at which they treated the dodgy trackwork at Norwood Junction .....

Bill

[Oldddudders]

27 minutes ago, J. S. Bach said:

Another is the narrow-gauge Galloping Goose on one of the Colorado lines 

Rio Grande Southern. Deceased 1951. Jamie knows a bit about them, no doubt, having visited their bailiwick.