Early Risers.

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[J. S. Bach]

19 minutes ago, The Stationmaster said:

 ...snip...Talking about real railways - if still allowed there were some comparative trials of various classes carried out in early LMS days and the results of those trials were used to justify the continued building of various MR designs instead of any from other constituents ...snip...

Were those the ones that I have read about at Rainhill?

[AndyID]

9 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

Ladies and gents, 

 

As some of you with whom I keep in contact via other channels will know I have been taking a short break from ERs.  I felt my comments were becoming a little repetitive and were not offering empathy and support to others.  I shall probably continue with the break for a few more days.

 

There has been increasing strain evident within the Hill of Strawberries as SWMBO endures her anxiety-driven self-imposed exile within these four walls.  Working from home is one thing but she is increasingly fearful of catching something outside even without returning to work.  She does perhaps over-study the science but she is a scientist and analyses figures, trends and data in a way only she seems to understand.  In that respect we are very opposite; I go with the flow and the vibe.  I am much more comfortable being out and about though she isn't at ease with me going to work never mind anything else.  

 

Two things.

 

Yesterday she began a series of counselling sessions aimed at helping her to manage her anxiety and the stresses it is placing upon her and upon us.  It went fairly well by her somewhat limited account.  There are five more weekly sessions booked.  At least this should help both of us and - I very much hope - help her to feel a little easier about leaving the house.  The repeated mantra "I'm not going out until there's a vaccine" is becoming very hard to cope with because it also places limits upon me which I am uncomfortable with.  We shall see how things go.  

 

Early this morning she received the email she had been waiting for following eight years of PhD research and writing.  The assessment is complete.  The result is in.  Subject to making a few largely grammatical and typographical corrections she has been awarded the Doctorate she has worked for all this time.  The final submission with corrections will probably go in later this summer with the award formally bestowed by Christmas at the latest.  That has brought a huge relief to her - and to me - and she is now in the process of thanking all who have supported her throughout this challenging time.  I shall echo those thanks to all here who have in turn offered friendship, support and encouragement.  Her assessments, reviews and feedback are outstanding.  Having read through them I feel something in my eye.  Her work is being hailed as one that future environmental historians will turn to for years and as the Gold Standard for her field.  

 

Dr. SWMBO PhD.  About time - and thoroughly deserved I must say.  This will take her a long way.  She is already top hit on Google when her name is entered and this will only enhance her visibility and reputation around this rock we live on.  I suspect there will be a little alcofrolic refreshment taken over dinner tonight.  

 

Stay well one and all.  

 

Congrats to Dr G! Just getting beyond that must help to reduce the stress a bit.

 

I've never had to write a thesis or do a dissertation (thank goodness) but I have written a couple of patents and they can be a gigantic PITA . It doesn't take long before you start asking yourself why on Earth you are doing it.

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone 

 

This morning I managed to get about 1 1/2 hours work done on the beach sides before it started to rain. So I packed everything away in the shed and headed back into the cellar. I then gave the 6 slats I painted yesterday a second coat of primer, once that was done I cleaned my brush and packed away all my painting paraphernalia.

 

As I still had a couple of hours to kill before dinner, I carried on with the circuit board I’d built yesterday. I connected it up, switched on the power and tested it, disappointingly it didn’t work. A few tests were carried out and I found a duff crimp connected to the lead (I’d crimped the insulation) going to the photo interrupter. This was replaced and I retested the board, still nothing. So using the breadboard, I built a second one using the same circuit diagram and similar components, when that was powered up it worked fine. My next step was connect both the working and non working boards to the power supply and take test readings from all the joints/junctions on each board to compare to two, that’s when I discovered I’d fitted a faulty transistor to the first circuit board! This was duly removed and replaced with another transistor and when I retested it, it worked perfectly! So now that I know everything is working fine, I can carry on and build the rest of them over the next few days or so, if the weather continues as it is at the moment, I may get some built tomorrow! Once there done, they’ll be ready for installing on the turntable and do some proper testing can then begin. 

 

After dinner the sun returned, so I went back outside and continued working on the bench sides. They both had quite a bit of ‘flash’ that needed removing, so far one side has had it all removed and made a start on sanding it down. I sanded down the 2 stays that are fitted to the underside of the slats and fasten, one to each sides and I’ve also support strap that is fitted underneath the each slat in the centre. At this point, my back was starting to complain, so I decided to call it a day and packed up.

 

At about 9 o’clock tonight, it started chuckinitdarn again, it’s still chuckinitdarn now and due to continue through the night. 

 

Rick. Congratulations to Sharon for obtaining her well deserved PhD. I also enjoy reading your posts and have missed them over the last week or two. 

 

Goodnight all 

[The Stationmaster]

G'night all

[J. S. Bach]

Good night owl from the Piedmont.

[AndyID]

7 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

 

Tractive effort isn't the whole story, I'm reliably informed. The Highland's idea of express timings wasn't quite on a par with the Midland's and I don't think a Jones Goods - or any other Highland engine - could run at 92 mph. The W.M. Smith 3-cylinder compound design wasn't a "stupid complication" but an attempt to advance steam locomotive design. Chapelon's locomotives were compounds and are generally regarded as the pinnacle of steam locomotive design. The Smith-Johnson compounds were designed with a 100-mile non-stop run in mind, ideal conditions for compounding.

 

As a yoot I was fortunate enough to see some 241P's hammering up and down the Rhone Valley. Very impressive they were too. Unfortunately I didn't get any pics. I was in a car at the time and my Agfa Box camera and my photographic skills were not equal to the task.

[Florence Locomotive Works]

Goodnight all, from Greencountry.

 

Douglas

[BR60103]

Canada's national holiday today. The Village bands were "rehearsing" in somebody's driveway. They are not allowed to announce "performances" as that might attract a crowd. We listened to the Easy Listening combo for 1.5 hours; they were going to be followed by the Elderly Brothers and another outfit. 

I wonder at the wisdom of opening places that help to impair judgement and dexterity in these times.

(I am also in sympathy with the fellow who said of the internet "Who thought it was a good idea to put all the idiots in the world in touch with each other?"

 

And congratulations to Mrs. Gwiwer.

Edited July 2, 2020 by BR60103

[TheQ]

10 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

 

Tractive effort isn't the whole story, I'm reliably informed. The Highland's idea of express timings wasn't quite on a par with the Midland's and I don't think a Jones Goods - or any other Highland engine - could run at 92 mph. The W.M. Smith 3-cylinder compound design wasn't a "stupid complication" but an attempt to advance steam locomotive design. Chapelon's locomotives were compounds and are generally regarded as the pinnacle of steam locomotive design. The Smith-Johnson compounds were designed with a 100-mile non-stop run in mind, ideal conditions for compounding.

I don't think the compounds would be doing 92mph up hill to Drumochter summit.. 

Locomotives were designed for where they had to run. 

Top speed is more a measure of how free running a locomotive is going down hill. 

The saint class locomotive prototype was first built 1902,  it's sister was in testing in 1906 noted doing 120mph ..down hill.. 

Edited July 2, 2020 by TheQ

[iL Dottore]

13 hours ago, Barry O said:

Right you lot....

 

NO More Model Railways in the thread...it is as per why the thread was set up...

 

Otherwise the newly tested Intercontinental multiple warheaded flinging teady ( accurate to 1mm over 10,000 km will be fired!!

Its is called Chuck

 

 

The red item is noted as "remove before use"...

Baz

Ah, but but can it penetrate the 7 meter thick reinforced bunker walls of an Alpine Redoubt? Just asking for a friend. Captain Cynical, Switzerland.

11 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. The wheelbarrow saga continues. I started putting the wheelbarrow from the second vendor and guess what, the parts don't fit! ...

A remembrance service will be held this Sunday to honour the recently departed Mr Competence, late of this parish. He will be sorely missed.

7 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

I suspect that the 'better living through chemistry' people at Big Pharma ...

As I recall, “better living through chemistry” was one of DuPont‘s advertising slogans (50s, I believe). If I were to create a catchy phrase for the pharma (and now also biotech) industry it would “make life liveable, take drugs” (which you can interpret in many ways...)

7 hours ago, Erichill16 said:

...I’m not sure my posts are relevant, sympathetic, informative or humorous...

> frequently

> always

> usefully so

> err, can I get back to you on that? 

6 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

...her pizza over.  

Neapolitan Cricket?

 

It’s chucking it down over here and in a little while I will have to take the Wolfpack out to “savage” the neighbourhood. After which it’s supply run time (and I am fortunate in that I can go to this “trade shop“ where there are not many people at any one time  [“trade” customers tend to be fewer in number than at the supermarkets but big spenders - frequently dropping a few grand on meat and booze in one shopping expedition] and where good social distancing and hand hygiene is practiced).

 

And then, I start working for my client   Muddling tokens in abundance are foreseen (or at least what’s left over after Mrs iD - my CFO - has had her say...)

 

Have fun, boys and girls!

 

iD

Edited July 2, 2020 by iL Dottore

[chrisf]

Greetings one and all!  Welcome back to Rick and congratulations to Mrs Rick

 

Yesterday morning was not the best, even though the fodder run was over and done by 9 am.  Awaiting my pleasure at home was the ironing, followed by one of my least favourite jobs – changing the bed linen.  Even the normally trusty cuppa did not do much to help.  From time to time, usually after spending the weekend at a show such as Scalefour North,  I feel unfitted for fine scale m*d*ll*ng because of clumsiness.  My recent impromptu and inelegant descent of the stairs has done nothing to dispel that feeling.

 

Help, of a sort, was at hand.  As some know, I have a certain fondness for koalas despite never having seen one.  By good fortune there are several clips on YouTube at the moment.  There is something about a baby koala bouncing around or being cradled in the hands of a human which melts even the stoniest heart.  After the bush fires in Australia the army was deployed to help in a number of ways, including animal welfare.  One of my favourite clips shows a row of chairs, each occupied by a soldier bottle-feeding a baby koala.  Call me a soppy date if you will but 20 minutes or so in the company of these gorgeous marsupials did much to restore my flagging spirits.

 

Today is likely to be unproductive.  My gas boiler is due to be serviced.  The British Gas webshite was having a bad day when the visit was booked and could only offer me a window from 12 to 6.  The last thing I need is to be kept in suspense.  Oh well.     

 

Best wishes to all

 

Chris

Edited July 2, 2020 by chrisf

[AndyID]

Some o' them pesky Texans is gettin' a mite testy. (I better say no more.)

[AndyID]

9 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Some CAD applications are very suitable for multi-threading, but of course is up to the developers to 'make it so'. Efficient multi-threaded application development is a particular skill.

 

In the end I settled for a box with a four core Intel i3, 512GB SSD plus an external 2TB HDD. Not exactly state-of-the-art but not terribly spendy either.

[Barry O]

Ey up!

@iL Dottore.  Erm I doubt it!

 

Chuckinitdarn here.

 

Off to see Sister Dracs littlest helper.. rather than an hours walk this will involve driving the car.

 

TtFN

 

Baz

[grandadbob]

Good morning all,

Sunny start but heavy thundery showers are a possibility later.

First bin lorry was here at 6.25, two more to come. That's most of my excitement for the morning apart from a Sainsbury's delivery later. 

Things will improve after lunch as Nicki, Joe and Gemma are visiting and Abbie will be here after she's finished WFH.

I may need to do a Sun Dance to try and keep the rain away.

Have a good one,

Bob.

 

P.S. I'm thinking of organising a new union:- The Society Opposing Desecration Of Furry Friends or SODOFF for short!

Thinking of asking  Mr Polybear to act as President  and ChrisF as Secretary.

Edited July 2, 2020 by grandadbob

[jamie92208]

Good moaning all from the Charente.  It's cloudy but not too cold or too warm. 

First off congratulations to Dr Mrs Gwiwer.  Very glad to see that the hard work has paid off.  I hope that the anxiety levels drop though.

 

Beth arrived back in time for lunch yesterday and I even managed to provide a lunch for her. Margaret, who she'd been staying with and myself.  A rather nice Golden retriever  called Teddy also came and visited. The bench was moved across from the shed and was duly sat upon.  

 

The big news here is that we now have a 37 yr old pony living in the garden next door. It's a long story but hopefully it will make less noise than the cockerel which used to live on the other side.  After Margaret left we had just got sorted when an expat couple called. Wine was consumed and much chat and banter was had. They have come to across without health insurance. Another two couples that we know are taking the same risk this weekend. Mushrooms on toast were then eaten followed by a pleasant evening visiting some more friends.

This morning I'm heading to the loft hunting for the dratted relay. I may be some time.

 

As to moss and roofs. It's a pain. The moss builds up means standing water on the flat undertiles. If there is a frost that leads to spalling and eventual cracking. After 45 years that's why we've had to have the roof redone.  Hopefully  the new one will last us out.

 

Regards to all.

 

Jamie

Edited July 2, 2020 by jamie92208

[TheQ]

Mooring awl, Inner Temple Hare, 885/553

Fell asleep early got 3 hours... then 5 hours of very intermittant dozing.. ugh..

 

Brain kept thinking about the sailing boat again, this time about the Kicking strap or Vang. "Vang" from the Dutch "Vangen" meaning to catch. Many sailing terms are from Dutch, since the Dutch gave Charles the Second the First Royal Yacht the HMY Mary in 1660, that started the fashion for yachting as a hobby rather than sailing as work in the

UK..

Anyway for the non sailers, the Vang, is normally a bit of string (often blocks and tackle for more power) from the base of the mast to partly along the boom (the horizontal bit of wood beneath the sail). This stops the sail rising uncontrollably if hit by a gust of wind, and also causes a better sail shape..

On my boat however, there is little room for a conventional Vang, So I've been looking at all sorts of solutions, the Temple Vang, the lever vang, the Gnav (vang spelt backwards  it's rods that push down on the boom instead). and the ultimate an all carbon fiber L shaped boom, with the foot pointing down near the mast acting as a lever..

Sadly the carbon fibre solution would be the best but the price is ouch,.

Further research will continue..

 

I belong to a couple of American web sites, it's noticeable that they often have to replace rooves at around 30 years, yet on one site I saw someone taking the micky because our rooves are heavier and stronger...  

I did point out that our rooves don't often need replacing, mine had the tiles taken off and a new membrane fitted 40 years ago then the tiles put back on, it was about 80 at the time..some rooves in the UK go on for centuries.. (and one or two woodworm eaten battens replaced)

 

The Broads hire fleet are now booked almost solid from 4th July till October, although they've had no hiring since the start of season which is normally the week before Easter, it could turn out to be a bumper year overall..

 

Strange, when the spread sheet i'm using boots up I can see it saying "  linking to : XXXXXX new Cert 9-29",   XXXXXX being another department this spreadsheet has nothing to do with. So I go to the file page "inspect document " and it comes up with there are links... I follow the instructions to use the data tab at the top of the spread sheet ... no links show... so I can't edit them and get rid of it...

 

The next measurement awaits.

Time to do some work..

 

 

 

[roundhouse]

Morning form a Sunny Surrey.

 

Just been on the TV ' I look like the lone Ranger with a black mask on' - I have a few alternative phrases that I can think of for number 45.

 

I hope all our ER's across the pond are keeping safe and just aswell that our flights were cancelled the way things are being reported over here.

 

Yesterday the penny dropped that when the news said that Gloucestershire is amongst the 36 areas with high infection rate that Bristol is now part of Gloucestershire. Luckily we haven't prepaid the hotels and can cancel at short notice on our upcoming travels.

Edited July 2, 2020 by roundhouse

[jamie92208]

Just a quick update.  I mentioned the bench that I've been working on. Here's one I took just before I started work on it, missing latts and rust.

This is it now.

It has received the royal seal of approval. I'm quite pleased with the result.  Now it's off towards the loft hunting relays.

 

Jamie

 

[Compound2632]

8 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

French running conditions were also very different, and remain so, from practice in many other European countries anf d taht affected loco handling and economy.

 

Indeed, which is why I was careful to point out that the Smith-Johnson compounds and the Deeley compounds were designed for 100 mile non-stop runs. That did have the consequence that they could no offer the full benefit of compounding once they were relegated from the best expresses. Likewise the Robinson compound atlantics, which were also on the Smith principle.

 

3 hours ago, TheQ said:

Top speed is more a measure of how free running a locomotive is going down hill. 

 

One might posthumously take that up with Richard Wagner, whose baltic sustained 125 mph over a considerable distance on the level. But certainly, a well-designed express passenger locomotive must be free-running downhill.

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

It’s raining, it wasn’t when I sat down for breakfast, pah! Anyway, once I’ve finished my breakfast I’ll dead downstairs to the cellar and continue painting the slats of the bench. The condition of this particular bench I’m working on was in a very similar way to the first photo that Jamie showed in his post. When finished it too will sit below a window, the workshop window. 

 

Stay safe, stay sane, enjoy whatever you have planned for the day, back later 

[TheQ]

1 hour ago, Compound2632 said:

 

Indeed, which is why I was careful to point out that the Smith-Johnson compounds and the Deeley compounds were designed for 100 mile non-stop runs. That did have the consequence that they could no offer the full benefit of compounding once they were relegated from the best expresses. Likewise the Robinson compound atlantics, which were also on the Smith principle.

 

 

One might posthumously take that up with Richard Wagner, whose baltic sustained 125 mph over a considerable distance on the level. But certainly, a well-designed express passenger locomotive must be free-running downhill.

even if the big end melts..

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

1 hour ago, Compound2632 said:

...One might posthumously take that up with Richard Wagner, whose baltic sustained 125 mph over a considerable distance on the level. But certainly, a well-designed express passenger locomotive must be free-running downhill.

There's a remarkable convergence of recorded peak speeds for reciprocating drive steam locos, at circa 125mph, (the US example, the F7 4-6-4 never officially timed but the evidence of ability on a start to stop section scheduled at an end to end speed over 80mph pretty much requires this). I suspect the vibrational environment for the crews may have been an influence.

[Happy Hippo]

2 hours ago, TheQ said:

 

Anyway for the non sailers, the Vang, is normally a bit of string (often blocks and tackle for more power) from the base of the mast to partly along the boom (the horizontal bit of wood beneath the sail). This stops the sail rising uncontrollably if hit by a gust of wind, and also causes a better sail shape..

On my boat however, there is little room for a conventional Vang, So I've been looking at all sorts of solutions, the Temple Vang, the lever vang, the Gnav (vang spelt backwards  it's rods that push down on the boom instead). and the ultimate an all carbon fiber L shaped boom, with the foot pointing down near the mast acting as a lever..

Sadly the carbon fibre solution would be the best but the price is ouch,.

Further research will continue..

The use of a vang is really more important where you have a shaped sail that requires battening.  On a flat sail, such as a gaff rig they are less important.  If you've ever sailed a Drascombe with a boomless  mainsail then a vang is missing from the equation.  I never found much of a problem sailing a Drascombe lugger in gusts,  mainsheet  and tiller coordination being far more effective.  Likewise you won't find a vang on a lug rig.  It would be yet another control device to slacken off and the re-tension when going about.  the boomless sail, the gaffer and the lug will all require a downhaul attached to the tack of the sail, or the bottom of the boom  but that is completely different operation to that of a vang.

 

I'd suggest that the real risk of uncontrollable sail lift  comes at the end of a fast run before the wind and then having to gybe and then continuing the run on an opposite tack. On a boat with a rear mounted main traveller there is a large amount of mainsheet to control, so loosing control at the point you gybe could  be quite exciting.   In these circumstances the vang will limit the amount of sail lift.