The Night Mail

[AndyID]

3 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

I drove to Oakham and back today to take our friend home after her stay. I went through light rain, sunshine, heavy rain, hail, sleet, torrential downpours and gales. All in all a fairly average English November day -

 

 

Not that different from San Diego then?

[AndyID]

19 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

This is a common misperception. Britain was actually the largest recipient of Marshall Plan money (see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_Plan#United_Kingdom) but basically used a lot of the money to repay Lend-Lease and (according to modern historians) to prop up the pound instead of letting Sterling find its’ own level. As one historian caustically said (and you may or may not agree with him) Europe used the Marshall Plan to rebuild, Britain used the Marshall Plan to delay the end of an Empire

 

Oh great! Wikipedia.

 

It was far more complicated than that but I strongly suggest we leave it there otherwise TNM will descend into the tar pit of political revisionist history.

[AndyID]

19 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

Aka Gauge 1.

 

Lovely stuff, price tag to match.

 

Thank you, your Hipponess,

 

But see, my cunning plan is to print what I would call "impressionistic" models on my 3D FDM printer. They might not bear scrutiny at close quarters but they will have the advantage that they are dirt cheap (well, OK, fairly inexpensive.) The relative coarseness of FDM printing favors the larger scales.

 

Case in point, the wheels that I printed for Douglas cost peanuts in material and wheels are typically the most expensive, and sometimes the most difficult components, of a model locomotive to source. Why not just print your own? (I accept that might be an over-simplification.)

 

Just food for thought.

 

Andy

[iL Dottore]

1 hour ago, AndyID said:

…Oh great! Wikipedia.

It was far more complicated than that….

I would certainly agree there. The historian David Kynaston (amongst others) has written a 700page + history just covering 1945-1948. This and other histories of the period certainly makes for interesting and provocative reading.

 

It’s funny, though, how people often don’t regard the period they have lived through as “history”. I lived through the 60s and to me it’s experience not history; yet looked at objectively, the Swinging 60s is just as much a historical event as the Spanish Armada.

I’m not sure what do make about your comment on Wikipedia, Andy - it seemed exasperated. In my line of work, Wikipedia is informative, accurate (although sometimes behind the times) and hardly the stuff of polemic or contention.  It does seem, though, Wikipedia is like the little girl in the nursery rhyme:

There was a little girl,

who had a little curl,

right in the middle of her forehead;

when she was good she was very, very good,

when she was bad she was horrid.

 

I do envy @AndyID 3D printer. I have been toying with the idea of getting one for quite some time, but I’ve been waiting for the price/quality ratio to come down to (for me) an acceptable level. Modelling in 4mm does mean that any 3D printer that I’d buy would have to be able to produce a suitable level of fine detail something - I believe - not yet available for 3D printers in the price range I’m considering.

 

Finally, and still on the subject of 3D printers, I recently read that you can get 3D food printers, which means you really could have the proverbial chocolate teapot…

[AndyID]

4 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

I would certainly agree there. The historian David Kynaston (amongst others) has written a 700page + history just covering 1945-1948. This and other histories of the period certainly makes for interesting and provocative reading.

 

It’s funny, though, how people often don’t regard the period they have lived through as “history”. I lived through the 60s and to me it’s experience not history; yet looked at objectively, the Swinging 60s is just as much a historical event as the Spanish Armada.

I’m not sure what do make about your comment on Wikipedia, Andy - it seemed exasperated. In my line of work, Wikipedia is informative, accurate (although sometimes behind the times) and hardly the stuff of polemic or contention.  It does seem, though, Wikipedia is like the little girl in the nursery rhyme:

There was a little girl,

who had a little curl,

right in the middle of her forehead;

when she was good she was very, very good,

when she was bad she was horrid.

 

I do envy @AndyID 3D printer. I have been toying with the idea of getting one for quite some time, but I’ve been waiting for the price/quality ratio to come down to (for me) an acceptable level. Modelling in 4mm does mean that any 3D printer that I’d buy would have to be able to produce a suitable level of fine detail something - I believe - not yet available for 3D printers in the price range I’m considering.

 

Finally, and still on the subject of 3D printers, I recently read that you can get 3D food printers, which means you really could have the proverbial chocolate teapot…

 

Wikipedia can be OK for current events. Its interpretations of historical events, like all interpretations of history can be slanted. My point was that, despite being a UK and a US Citizen, the treatment of the US towards the UK post WW2 was anything but even handed. The US saw an opportunity and it grabbed it.

 

We can wrap all of this up in legalese but the reality is the UK gave the US a gigantic "leg-up". It was probably the UK's fault for allowing itself to be put into that position in the first place but after WW1 who could blame the UK? The US was only a sort of ally until one day after my brother's birthday (which reminds me I better give him a call).

[Dave Hunt]

45 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

There was a little girl,

who had a little curl,

right in the middle of her forehead;

when she was good she was very, very good,

when she was bad she............

 

........got a fur coat, a Ferrari and a house in Bermuda.

 

Dave

[AndyID]

15 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

........got a fur coat, a Ferrari and a house in Bermuda.

 

Dave

 

How dare you!

 

That's my (ex) wife.

[rockershovel]

I'd certainly regard the period 1945-57 as "history". It is (pretty much) the current limit of "living memory" since anyone with any coherent memory of the period is now well North of three-score-and-ten, and all the formative actors have left the stage. 

 

The whole landscape has changed. It was the period during which the British political class were forced to confront the end of Empire, and the end of Sterling as an international reserve currency, which certainly wasn't realised or acknowledged in 1945. 

 

It was the time of the greatest transfer of wealth (mainly from the lower tiers of the upper classes to the lower middle and aspiring working classes) in our history. It was a time when the aspiring working classes and professional and technical middle classes "voted with their feet" as never before - over a million emigrated between 1945-55, almost 1.8 million by the early 80s, the greatest possible vote of no confidence in British management and government. 

 

Suez and the currency crisis of the late 1950s were the definitive end of Empire (some might argue that Nigerian independence and UDI in Rhodes marked the end, but I've always regarded this as hair-splitting)

 

 

 

[AndyID]

23 minutes ago, rockershovel said:

I'd certainly regard the period 1945-57 as "history". It is (pretty much) the current limit of "living memory" since anyone with any coherent memory of the period is now well North of three-score-and-ten, and all the formative actors have left the stage.

 

 

Excuse me laddie but presumably you are applying some sort of "new arithmetic". Some of us are not ready to be written-off just quite yet.

[PhilJ W]

2 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

........got a fur coat, a Ferrari and a house in Bermuda.

 

Dave

 

2 hours ago, AndyID said:

 

How dare you!

 

That's my (ex) wife.

John was returning from work when he remembered that today was his daughter's birthday...

There was still time so he decided to quickly drive and buy a gift for her.
He went to the local supermarket and headed straight to the toys section in search of a toy his daughter would cherish.

He found employee there and asked his advise on which Barbie doll would make the best gift.

"Well sir we have various Barbie's here," the employee went on, "this is Barbie goes to the Mall for $14.99, Barbie goes to the beach for $14.99, Barbie goes to the parlour for $14.99, Barbie bakes a cake for $14.99, Divorced Barbie for $399.99, Barbie goes to college for $14.99, Barbie goes to..."

"Wait a second ! Why does Divorced Barbie cost so much while others are only $14.99", John asked.

"That's because Divorced Barbie comes with Ken's mansion, Ken's car, Ken's dog, Ken's boat, and half of Ken's money..."

[iL Dottore]

19 minutes ago, AndyID said:

 

Excuse me laddie but presumably you are applying some sort of "new arithmetic". Some of us are not ready to be written-off just quite yet.

Well, quite. I, for one, remember the (late) 1950s and as creaky as I am, I’m NOT a write-off yet!

[Happy Hippo]

43 minutes ago, AndyID said:

 

Excuse me laddie but presumably you are applying some sort of "new arithmetic". Some of us are not ready to be written-off just quite yet.

I was written off purely for tax purposes. 

[Tony_S]

When the National Currciculum/GCSE was introduced there was a specific date for what counted as history. At the time it was often thought (perhaps not totally seriously) to make sure anything the then government had done didn’t get discussed in history lessons. I don’t know if history in the curriculum is still stuck at about 1948 or it moved on. 

[DenysW]

I did "O" level History 1870-1939. As a result I've very worried about Mr. Chamberlain's declaration of war against Herr Hitler, but I'm reassured that it's all phoney war so far.

[jamie92208]

History ended in 1914 according to Sellars and Yeatman, authors of the best hitory book ever written.

 

Jamie

Edited November 27, 2021 by jamie92208

[Northmoor]

For ease of recall, the American comic Dave Barry wrote that all historic events took place on October the 8th.

[Happy Hippo]

I was looking up various historical events this morning when my tablet said 'I'm history' and now refuses to work. I suspect a Black Friday replacement may be on the cards. I am reduced to bleating on via my semi smart phone

[PhilJ W]

2 hours ago, Tony_S said:

When the National Currciculum/GCSE was introduced there was a specific date for what counted as history. At the time it was often thought (perhaps not totally seriously) to make sure anything the then government had done didn’t get discussed in history lessons. I don’t know if history in the curriculum is still stuck at about 1948 or it moved on. 

When I was at school history 'ended' in 1914.

[Happy Hippo]

1 hour ago, PhilJ W said:

When I was at school history 'ended' in 1914.

I thought you were still in school in 1914......

 

Incoming!......

[Tony_S]

The O level ( taken in 1969) history I did was British Economic and Social History 1700-1948. 

[Dunsignalling]

12 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

The O level ( taken in 1969) history I did was British Economic and Social History 1700-1948. 

Mine, too, but taken a year earlier.

[Happy Hippo]

I seem to have resurrected my errant tablet.

 

I suspect my grandchildren may have pressed some hidden switch on the touch screen as it now appears to be working as it should once more.

 

In other more railway related news, I am now figuring how to wire up analogue cab control.

 

The last time I did this was in my early teens.  Live steam requires no wires and DCC only a few compared to a spaghetti (Great) western. I was quite pleased with my initial effort until I realised I also needed separate isolating sections.

 

I may rethink the plan and opt for a single controller, although I think that having two would reduce the possibility of grandchildren squabbling over whose turn it is to drive....

 

I mean, when do I get a chance......

[TheQ]

In about 1972, I was issued with a new history book O grades (Scottish) for the use of, it's last dates enclosed.... 1970!!!!

[Dave Hunt]

4 hours ago, Tony_S said:

The O level ( taken in 1969) history I did was British Economic and Social History 1700-1948. 

 

Did it mention me being born in 1947?

 

Dave

[Happy Hippo]

18 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

Did it mention me being born in 1947?

 

Dave

And promptly nationalized?