The Night Mail

[Dave Hunt]

1 hour ago, polybear said:

 

Nooo.......Donald.......

 

Duck or Trump?

 

I suppose you've heard the one about when Trump was POTUS and one day a would-be assassin tried to shoot him, whereupon one of his bodyguards yelled, "Mickey Mouse, Mickey Mouse!" After the fuss had died down the chief bodyguard asked the one who had shouted what the hell he'd been playing at. "Sorry boss," he replied, " I meant to say 'Donald, duck!' but got confused."

 

Dave

[Happy Hippo]

6 hours ago, Florence Locomotive Works said:

Air rifles? Don't think so. Most boys round here have the real thing, and most will be darn good duck hunters by the time their 18.

There's a massive following for air rifles in the USA.

 

Probably down to the fact that they are not constrained by the same laws regarding power output we have here in the UK.

 

However, over here we do not have the same constraints regarding noise suppression.  My three favourite rifles all have sound moderators (silencers) fitted. In fact two of them have a 'bull barrel' where the  moderator is built around the barrel rather than screwed onto the end.  The sound can be further suppressed by the addition of a second moderator screwed onto the end of the barrel.

 

 

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives states that:

The term "firearm" is defined in the Gun Control Act of 1968, 18 U.S.C. Section 921(a)(3), to include "(A) any weapon (including a starter gun), which will, or is designed to or may readily be converted to expel a projectile by the action of an explosive; (B) the frame or receiver of any such weapon...." Based on Section 921(a)(3), air guns, because they use compressed air and not an explosive to expel a projectile, do not constitute firearms under Federal law — unless they are manufactured with the frames or receivers of an actual firearm. Accordingly, the domestic sale and possession of air guns is normally unregulated under the Federal firearms laws enforced by ATF.

 

Of course there are are local laws at State and county level about the ownership of such. Certainly when compared to the UK it's more of an administrative minefield.

 

However, we also have 'odd' bits of law which refer to all firearms. (An air rifle in the UK is considered a firearm for the purposes of the law.)

 

I should not take my air rifle out of the cabinet, and take it across the road to one of my shooting permissions unless it is secured in a case, as my route involves crossing a public highway.

 

Although there is no specific part of the firearms act that prevents this, and I can probably get away with it in rural Shropshire, doing the same in a city centre would have serious repercussions.   The argument is that having a rifle and being carried openly infers I am going to use it....immediately.

 

To save any grief and anxiety it's much easier to bag the rifle and carry my shooting box containing all the ancillaries (magazines, pellets, charging equipment) over the road and then get set up.  A couple of years ago, I'd probably have just walked over the road with the rifle and a tin full of pellets, but since the building of the new houses and the influx of ex-city dwellers, some of whom are not as aware of the countryside and what is considered 'normal', I play it safe. 

 

Likewise, I am not allowed to carry a loaded magazine upon my person or in a vehicle, even without the air rifle being present!

 

Using them on public property is illegal unless specific authority has been given. (For certain pest control activities for example.)

 

I have seen video of Iguana (invasive species) control being carried out in Florida quite openly in public places, so I assume that those involved are either authorised by the local authorities or are not constrained by the law in the same way we are in this country.

 

 

Edited November 8, 2021 by Happy Hippo

[Dave Hunt]

1 hour ago, jamie92208 said:

We have similar ones here in La Belle France. I found out by accident that smoking a pipe has a totally different meaning.

I suspect thst the phrase meant the same as a pipe in France.

 

Jamie

 

Many years ago when I was on Hunters at Chivenor in Devon we had some French navy Crusader pilots over for a week or so.  One evening we took them out to a bar in Croyde Bay and at one point a group of surfers came in, a couple of whom were wearing tee shirts with CON SURFERS emblazoned on them, which apparently referred to a make of surfboards. One of the French pilots, though, brought them to the attention of his colleagues, who all started falling about laughing. They then told us that con was a slang French word meaning a delicate part of the female anatomy.

 

Dave

[SM42]

"Make an ice cream" has a totally different meaning in Poland

 

One also has to be very careful of so called "false friends" in foreign languages.

 

You certainly wouldn't want to find any prezerwatyw in your food. 

 

I suspect this also applies in a few other European languages. 

 

Andy

[Happy Hippo]

30 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

Many years ago when I was on Hunters at Chivenor in Devon we had some French navy Crusader pilots over for a week or so.  One evening we took them out to a bar in Croyde Bay and at one point a group of surfers came in, a couple of whom were wearing tee shirts with CON SURFERS emblazoned on them, which apparently referred to a make of surfboards. One of the French pilots, though, brought them to the attention of his colleagues, who all started falling about laughing. They then told us that con was a slang French word meaning a delicate part of the female anatomy.

 

Dave

When I was in a Cessna 206 spotting the exit point for a parachute drop in Belgium,I made the pulling my head back in through the door, and yelling forward  to the the pilot, 'Cut'. Which is the accepted call for the pilot to reduce power as you have reached your exit point.

 

The looks on the faces of my fellow jumpers were pictures of horror as I had committed the same faux pas as the surfers!

 

We'll not go into the sales of Silk Cut ciggies in the various Messes!

[rockershovel]

2 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

When I was in a Cessna 206 spotting the exit point for a parachute drop in Belgium,I made the pulling my head back in through the door, and yelling forward  to the the pilot, 'Cut'. Which is the accepted call for the pilot to reduce power as you have reached your exit point.

 

The looks on the faces of my fellow jumpers were pictures of horror as I had committed the same faux pas as the surfers!

 

We'll not go into the sales of Silk Cut ciggies in the various Messes!

It was originally the same word in English; cf Malvolio's identification of handwriting in Twelfth Night 

[iL Dottore]

18 hours ago, Oldddudders said:

A skill Stu honed in his sympathetic renditions of vitreous china....

Ah, yes. The infamous Stubbs Portabog™

 

How could one forget (though one does try….)

[Happy Hippo]

The 'fan' whose actions of running onto the pitch possibly cost Wales a winning try on Saturday has been receiving death threats.

 

We Welsh must be getting soft in our dotage, because a few years back he would not have left the stadium in a walking condition.

 

I do hope he is banned from the Principality stadium, for life as pitch invasions are so soccer.

[Dave Hunt]

If he was a Welsh 'fan' he must be among those with the IQs of sausages - perhaps he was a Telf on holiday? Back in the Arms Park days I don't think he would have walked out.

 

Do you have his contact details? Just asking for a friend you understand.

 

Dave

Edited November 8, 2021 by Dave Hunt

[PhilJ W]

Could be worse.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-59189967

If they'd caught him in Arms Park the rocket would have been inserted and then the blue touch paper lit.

[rockershovel]

1 hour ago, PhilJ W said:

Could be worse.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-59189967

If they'd caught him in Arms Park the rocket would have been inserted and then the blue touch paper lit.

Didn't someone do something of the sort as part of the frolics attendant upon the recent game at Wembley? 

[rockershovel]

3 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Ah, yes. The infamous Stubbs Portabog™

 

How could one forget (though one does try….)

"Biffed" said Apthorpe, dolefully...

[Happy Hippo]

3 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

If he was a Welsh 'fan' he must be among those with the IQs of sausages - perhaps he was a Telford on holiday? Back in the Arms Park days I don't think he would have walked out.

 

Do you have his contact details? Just asking for a friend you understand.

 

Dave

He lives in Caerphilly, allegedly.

 

Danemouth can probably tell you more about the inhabitants of 'filthi' as he lives just over the hill.

[Tony_S]

Just as a change from soldering decoders into locos, I needed to take a hacksaw to one today. I fitted one in another early BR blue loco, this one probably was genuinely blue. I saw a bargain price TTS sound decoder for the loco on eBay and bought it. The Hornby loco tender did have a space for a speaker but interestingly not for the TTS speaker! It did after I modified (!) the tender weight with the hacksaw and file and everything fits and works nicely. 
Tony

 

Edited November 8, 2021 by Tony_S

[Florence Locomotive Works]

Morning all,

 

Today I turned 16. (No I don’t get my license till January)

 

But, I did get this.

 

 

An 1839 pocket watch movement made by Joseph Bretherton of Liverpool, and I will be restoring it slowly.

 

The balance pivot is broken so it certainly needs a lot of work.

 

details later.

 

 

 

 

Douglas

[Stubby47]

Many congratulations. 

[Dave Hunt]

Happy Birthday Douglas. A present made in Liverpool! Great stuff!

 

Dave (not born in but dragged up from age 3 to 13 in Liverpool)

 

 

[PhilJ W]

Happy birthday Douglas.

[coastalview]

Have a wonderful birthday Douglas

[Florence Locomotive Works]

19 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

Happy Birthday Douglas. A present made in Liverpool! Great stuff!

 

Dave (not born in but dragged up from age 3 to 13 in Liverpool)

 

 

The watch was made at No 2 York street, now a very fancy hair salon. We can’t find anything about Joseph Bretherton though. Most watches made in Liverpool were simply movements and dials, and these were then shipped en masse on the LNWR to London where they were cased and sold. So the makers were often not recorded.

[Florence Locomotive Works]

So, the watch.

 

Its a standard fusee movement with seconds subdial. A fusee is conical barrel that has a chain wrapped around it, the other end attaches to the mainspring barrel. As the barrel unwinds the chain moves up the cone, adjusting the torque and speed of the watch over time automatically. 
 

However, it also appears to be some sort of a chronograph. During the brief inspection I gave it this morning, I noticed that it has a brake acting on the seconds wheel. More shall be revealed soon.

 

 

It does need a good bit of work though.  The main problem is that the top pivot on the balance wheel (the one that rotates back and forth on top of the top plate) is broken, a job I do not have the skills or equipment to tackle. It is also a fusee watch, meaning there is a 190 year old 1mm wide chain holding the spring in tension. If it brakes then it will destroy the movement, so I probably will just be cleaning the movement as a whole and repairing the dial, and then I hope to send he actually movement off to a watchmaker in Cardiff.

 

 

Its a fully jeweled movement, but they are the largest jewels I’ve ever seen. They look more like glass blobs than jewels. Typically they’re lab grown Sapphires. It currently doesn’t have a case.

 

Douglas

Edited November 8, 2021 by Florence Locomotive Works

[J. S. Bach]

And a happy birthday to you; Douglass.

[jamie92208]

Bon anniversaire Douglas as my neighbours would say. When I learned my law 16 allowed you to do all sorts of things such as use a shotgun and drive a moped, plus orher activities that I better not talk about.

 

Jamie

Edited November 8, 2021 by jamie92208

[New Haven Neil]

Many Happy Returns, Douglas.  Interesting present!  Have a great day.

[Happy Hippo]

I'm sure everyone here will raise a glass to Douglas this evening to wish him many happy returns of the day.

 

However, due to his tender years, he will only be able to think of our merriment on his behalf with his tongue hanging out.