Early Risers.

[Gwiwer]

3 hours ago, southern42 said:

in which you "travel in the mind's eye on the footplate of the locomotive," in this instance, Clan Line from Padstow to Exeter.

In the mind’s eye is the only way one could travel behind a Merchant Navy west of Exeter. 
 

As Bill and Richard suggest they were too heavy for the road west of Coleford Junction so for practical purposes they almost never ventured beyond the Exeter Central loco change and were serviced / turned at the nearby Exmouth Junction shed. 
 

Only as-built West Country / Battle of Britain light Pacifics could venture farther. Once rebuilt they too were over-weight for Meldon Viaduct and possibly other structures but were permitted to Ilfracombe and Torrington. 
 

In other news the wind is slowly abating but still has violent gusts while the afternoon’s thundery showers have passed.  
 

Fusili Bolognese à la Maison tonight assissted the reduction of our pasta surplus and was declared particularly tasty.  The supermarket Bordeaux however was not so good and its mortal remains still in the bottle are destined only for cooking with. 
 

Tis time for an evening circumambulation of the Hill of Strawberries. I shall return. 

[roundhouse]

1 hour ago, bbishop said:

 

Richard,  without looking it up, Packets were allowed to Exeter, rebuilt LPs to Plymouth and unrebuilt to most places in Devon and Cornwall.  Everything took the Meldon Viaducts dead slow.

 

Bill

And rebuilt LP were barred via Okehampton to Plymouth till later on, only unrebuilt Lp on the line to Barnstaple, Padstow etc.

 

However rebuilts  did run to Appledore as did the APT-E

[New Haven Neil]

Evening orl.

 

I worked very hard to obtain membership of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, so take a lot of the comments above badly.  NHS HR at the time was a positive and supportive environment where I worked, yes there are nasty things to do at times, investigations into behaviours that were unacceptable, etc, that could lead to dismissals, but I don't think we ever sacked anyone that didn't deserve it.  Of course if you listened to their opinion it may be different.  Tribunals sorted that out on the rare occasion it happened.  Big biz HR is no doubt a different world, but let's not tar everyone with the same brush, eh?

 

Now, as for Bulleid Rebuilts, there WAS a red one - thanks to the well known Wizard, before it turned into a Hall.  My mate jointly owned it at the time.....Taw Valley.  Interweb is your friend, I can't find my photos!

 

Today was mostly spent helping the Field Archery club, installing the bridges I built yesterday.  Debs then shot a round, I find the going hard with my knackered foot and hip but had to act as safety person until others arrived.  The new course is shaping up well, according to the archers.  

[J. S. Bach]

12 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

T ...snip... I probably know more about Richmond VA, than the average American knows about Richmond upon Thames. ...snip...
iD

That describes me to a "T"! I have driven through Richmond, VA many times (even downtown once) and ridden Amtrak through many times but the closest  that I have been to Richmond upon Thames is 35,000 feet above the south of France.

[brianusa]

7 hours ago, Chris116 said:

Stupidity is probably the main reason. The other is that some of the "I have rights" brigade think they are above the law and follow certain government people (the world over) who think they can get away with anything.

 

There were few of these kinds of problems when Westminster ruled the parliamentary roost and it was all Great Britain and the United Kingdom was whole.  Not this separated state that exists today at the behest of a few ardent separatists that imagine that they can do better individually.  If their performance so far is any indication, then there is little future in their endeavour.  This latest 'invasion' example just adds to their folly!

    Brian.

[J. S. Bach]

11 hours ago, newbryford said:

 

I can only reply  ...snip... beginning with 'f'

and ending with a "K"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FIRE TRUCK

[J. S. Bach]

3 hours ago, roundhouse said:

All locos start off in primer but only some get a decent colour top coat

 

 

Not "some", but "few, very few"!

[Ozexpatriate]

3 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

"staffing". I've never heard anyone use "personning". 

 

2 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

Just you wait - it'll be along soon.  

I wonder. There is a great reluctance to use manufactured sounding (so-called "politically correct") terms in the US. It is largely moot despite being used as political leverage by dexterous media outlets and politicians as a wedge issue. 

 

Non-gender specific job titles were adopted years ago: police officer, firefighter, mail carrier, sailor (rather than seaman), flight attendant, etc. I don't think people see these as an example of "political correctness" any longer and they are fully accepted. Most corporate titles are not gender-specific: manager, director, vice-president etc. "Chairman" is the outlier. Chairperson still has an awkward sound. I find it ironic that we are uncomfortable using "chair". Historically people were happy to use "cathedra" (as in ex-cathedra and cathedral) for the seat of a bishopric.

 

The USAF uses "airman" for both male and female enlisted personnel.

 

Some gender-related trade titles persist like waiter/waitress, host/hostess (in a restaurant or catering context) but for the most part they too are moot.  All waitstaff will often be called waiters irrespective of gender. Even the term "actress" is largely buried, except at award ceremonies where there are gender-based award categories*. Generally trade titles are genderless anyway: electrician, plumber, builder, pilot, engineer, accountant, driver, scientist, doctor, nurse, cashier, whatever. No one bothers to cling to "doctress". 

 

* Which are becoming controversial in some circles.

 

A curious term that does have currency is Latinx (pronounced "latin ex") as a genderless catchall for Latino and Latina. That derives more from gendered forms in Spanish than anything else.

 

Broad adoption of feminist spellings 'herstory' 'womyn' 'wimmin' etc is not happening, though there are people trying to make 'womxn' a thing. I doubt it will happen.

[brianusa]

7 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

In my case it is ladies swimwear.

You should be so lucky!  All I get is a young, bearded techie type looking thoughtfully at something or other to satisfy his elevated ego, or at least thats what the ad implies!

     Brian.

[Coombe Barton]

Dominic leads, and those of lower intelligence will follow.

 

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2020/05/23/summer-on-hold/

[Ozexpatriate]

17 minutes ago, brianusa said:

All I get is a young, bearded techie type looking thoughtfully at something or other to satisfy his elevated ego

Today I am seeing hats and tropical linen beach attire.

[AndyID]

4 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

 Especially as they were even heavier after they had been rebuilt.

 

 

But isn't plywood quite heavy?

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Arthur Itis is trying to tell me that rain is a-comin'. Problem is he has been no more reliable than the regular seaweed twirlers. No tell a lie, he's been even less reliable lately. Got to plough on through Farcebook, slipped behind recently so trying to catch up.

[tigerburnie]

G'night all

[newbryford]

2 hours ago, New Haven Neil said:

 

 

Now, as for Bulleid Rebuilts, there WAS a red one - thanks to the well known Wizard, before it turned into a Hall.  My mate jointly owned it at the time.....Taw Valley.  Interweb is your friend, I can't find my photos!

 

 

 

Found via "Taw Valley Hogwarts" on flickr.com

 

And just to upset HH. I see that it was only capable of pulling two coaches.

 

 

 

 

[Erichill16]

Evening all,

Syd stopping  an extra night so more walking. Took my stick today even though it’s been less windy. Balance issues always make me more tired than usual. No modelling done but checked that motor will fit into loco I’m refurbing.

 Good night 

Robert

[Barry O]

Goodnight all!

Baz

[laurenceb]

Night awl

[Gwiwer]

Lest a search-party be called for I can confirm that I have returned from the earlier walk.  Just a short one around the block but enough to blow some cobwebs away.  

 

Returned home in time to share in a "live" feed of a friend performing his first concert in ten years and since he had a laryngectomy.  Over 230 others shared in the event by means of some seriously troubled electrons and air waves.  A nightcap of rum and shrub was enjoyed during the performance.  

 

Tis now time for bed.  No need to rush in the morning - it's Sunday the Second of Longweekend   

 

Sleep well.  Stay well.  

[newbryford]

Golf was golfed.

Many cries of "FORE!" around the course due to the very windy conditions. On one downwind hole, it was difficult to start the backswing against the breeze.

 

Pleasant surprise yesterday. I found out my new car - which was ordered [*] just before lockdown arrived at the dealership a few days ago. The delay in informing me was because the new registrations dept of the DVLA was as good as closed for 8 weeks and there was no guarantee of when the paperwork could be completed.

 

[*] My friendly car salesman, otherwise known as my non-ladder-falling-off middle brother, had located one with my preferred choice of factory fitments and colour in a compound at Dagenham and reserved it for delivery to his place. The lease on the present one is due in October, but as it needed a service and isn't too far off a set of rubber, then I started to look for an early replacement with no penalty on the original lease deal.

 

The numbers had been crunched weeks ago, apart from signing on the dotted line, but due to virtually zero car sales in the last few weeks, the manufacturers now have some stunning deals to entice car buyers back onto the forecourt. Because of these, it is highly likely that the lease deal for my new chariot will cost less than the current arrangement.

 

As it is the updated version of my current car, I shall probably be spending the latter part of Wednesday evening getting to grips with the new gadgets and gizmos on it.

 

I have an appointment under a duvet with a comfy pillow tomorrow morning.

Have a good Sunday folks.

 

Cheers,

Mick

 

 

 

[Happy Hippo]

27 minutes ago, newbryford said:

As it is the updated version of my current car, I shall probably be spending the latter part of Wednesday evening getting to grips with the new gadgets and gizmos on it.

Here's a picture of the new car being brought in by Ford's top delivery driver.

 

[newbryford]

1 minute ago, Happy Hippo said:

Here's a picture of the new car being brought in by Ford's top delivery driver.

 

 

Sorry- the colour of my new car is - contrary to popular misconceptions - not yellow. (And it certainly isn't green)

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone

 

This morning, before I’d made a start on my workshop activities, I watered the garden. Typically, an hour or so later it chuckinitdarn, quiet heavily, so I needn’t have bothered, but ho hum. 

 

I managed to get the all turntable and all the control components wired up and all connected together and tested for the first time, I’m pleased to say that everything worked, but with mixed results! The good news is that the indexing system worked flawlessly, the table bypassed all the positions that hadn’t been selected and stopped only at the selected position, in both directions. However, the indexing table was a little jerky as it rotated, (the indexing table is made from plywood which rests runs on a Perspex disc), so some sort of friction plate or bearing will need to be sourced to alleviate this problem. However, it also pauses momentarily whenever passing any of the limit switch which hadn’t been selected. Upon inspection, it seems the spring pressure required to overcome the micro switch’s contact spring seems to be the cause. I tried several different springs but these were either too weak to operate the micro switch, or made no difference, so I will try it all again tomorrow with slightly larger rollers, the current rollers are 6mm diameter, so I’ll change these to 8mm diameter and see if it makes any difference. If not, then I’ll try a different type of spring altogether. I’m currently using tension springs, so I’ll experiment with some compression springs in tubes, with a screw at the rear so I can adjust the spring pressure slightly. If that doesn’t work, then it’s back to the drawing board and looking again at opto-sensors/photo-interrupters. 

 

Tonight’s tea was a ‘Blue Peter’ meal, chicken curry (one I made earlier) all that was required was to dice and cook some chicken then add the sauce, easy peasy. The evening was rounded off with a nice bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon. 

 

Goodnight all 

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[southern42]

6 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

I always thought that the furthest west that a Merchant Navy would venture was the shed at Exmouth Junction.  Especially as they were even heavier after they had been rebuilt.

 

Certainly a trip along the original North Cornwall line would have been a bit iffy as the Meldon viaduct near Okehampton had a weight restriction that only allowed locos up to the size of an N class mogul to cross, plus there were no suitable turning facilities at Padstow.  This changed after WW2 when Padstow was kitted out with a larger turntable  and the smaller Bulleid light pacifics (WC/BB) were  permitted  to cross Meldon viaduct. 

 

I'll look forward to his next book:  North Star to  Snowdon summit.

 

Clan Line made the journey from Waterloo (not Padstow as posted - I realised the senior moment error but the laptop battery died before I could correct it, since put right).   WC 34033 Chard hauled the train from Exeter to Padstow.  Camel Quay was based on/inspired by Padstow and the North Cornwall Railway (c. late BR) and we originally intended to run West Countries on it but they did not look right going over parts of the track. So, we stuck with the smaller engines such as the N class, T9s and Beattie Well Tanks which better suited the curved run into the station as well as giving an impression of the NCR.  It equally saved us from incorporating the turntable you mention, or having another loco to take the train out while the WC typically returned to Wadebridge light engine which I had hoped to imitate...but there we are!  The layout has gone now, so no worries!  But I still love the old NCR!

 _________

Polly