steveNCB7754 Posted June 22, 2020 Share Posted June 22, 2020 39 minutes ago, TEAMYAKIMA said: Haven't worked on the layout for a month now, no point as the next exhibition won't be until December at the earliest, but have organised dedicated team mugs. All the main operators have got their own ones .... Al, Gordon, Luke, Richard, but I'm not sure whom this one belongs to...................................... So, to be clear, this is a picture of China china? ;-) [Sorry, its been a slow day/week/several months - delete as applicable] Steve 2 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEAMYAKIMA Posted June 26, 2020 Author Share Posted June 26, 2020 Have just heard that my old layout (American ON3) has an eight page spread in this month's Continental Modeller. Must get a copy! 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEAMYAKIMA Posted June 27, 2020 Author Share Posted June 27, 2020 (edited) As previously posted, I haven't been working on the layout since I've been furloughed (how does that make sense???) What I have been doing is working on my photos from my trips to China and today I discovered that I have actually photographed one of the locos on the layout - SY 1770. Photo taken at Tiefa in 2002. I must dig the model out and post a photo for comparison purposes. Edited June 27, 2020 by TEAMYAKIMA 9 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEAMYAKIMA Posted June 27, 2020 Author Share Posted June 27, 2020 On 22/06/2020 at 16:10, Ian Morgan said: I have just replaced my 'Freshwater' mugs with printed 'travel' mugs, as more and more venues are now insisting on covered mugs for hot drinks taken into the halls. Good point Ian, thanks for that. Since your post I have had a cunning plan - more once ebay make a delivery! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold SHMD Posted June 27, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 27, 2020 3 hours ago, TEAMYAKIMA said: As previously posted, I haven't been working on the layout since I've been furloughed (how does that make sense???) What I have been doing is working on my photos from my trips to China and today I discovered that I have actually photographed one of the locos on the layout - SY 1770. Photo taken at Tiefa in 2002. I must dig the model out and post a photo for comparison purposes. Hi Paul I hope you don't mind if I attempt to translate, (from Mandarin), the slogan on the front of the loco... These two characters are "Ming" and "Tian" and are very common everywhere in China and Chinese literature. Ming means "bright" and Tian has many similar meanings such as "Heaven", "Day", "Sky", etc. Together they make MingTian (obviously) but this new word now has a meaning of "Tomorrow". This is pronounced "Yao", in Mandarin, and sort of means "will" or "is going to be" as in a sort of promise. (Mandarin does not have the same concepts, or usage, of "tense" or "gender" in its language - and uses them much much less, if at all.) This is "Mei" followed by "Hao". Mei means "beautiful", as in beautiful girl, and Hao means good and has to be one of the most recognisable Chinese characters going. Hao is a pictogram of two other Chinese characters for boy and girl. (You put a boy and girl together and that MUST be good!!!) Mei and Hao together means, literally, "beautiful good" but would morph more into something like "future good" or "promising future" or "promise better". So, all together we have something like "...tomorrow promise good future". Now we have the first three characters... These are written in "complex" Chinese as appose to "Simple" Chinese. Do not be mislead by the terms "Simple" and "Complex" here. After the second world war, the Chinese decided writing Chinese was too difficult and took too long, So they "removed" a lot of the brush-strokes from many characters and taught these new characters everywhere. The sound, grammar and meaning remained the same - it's just that few people can recognise/read them now. I have no idea what these complex characters say, (and would love to know), or what they mean, but I think they are crucial for full meaning of the phrase as they could/can change the meaning of the later characters. "Well, I'll go to the foot of our stairs!" (Translating phrases is much more difficult than translating individual words!) You see the problem? Kev. 3 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjenderby Posted June 27, 2020 Share Posted June 27, 2020 Kev, Referring to Robin Gibbons book on the SYs, the translation is "Wish Tiefa Coal an even better future". I always intended to attempt to learn Chinese as a retirement project. However, I got lazy and still rely on Google translate for my modelling needs. This, of course, relies on not letting Chinese speakers anywhere near my layouts ;) Cheers Mark 1 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold SHMD Posted June 27, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 27, 2020 Mark, you had earned a "informative/useful" feedback but the last few words I can definitely relate to! Kev. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium St Enodoc Posted June 27, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 27, 2020 4 hours ago, SHMD said: These are written in "complex" Chinese as appose to "Simple" Chinese. Do not be mislead by the terms "Simple" and "Complex" here. After the second world war, the Chinese decided writing Chinese was too difficult and took too long, So they "removed" a lot of the brush-strokes from many characters and taught these new characters everywhere. The sound, grammar and meaning remained the same - it's just that few people can recognise/read them now. Sometimes referred to as "traditional" or "simplified". Your final thought is not the case in Taiwan of course. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jukebox Posted June 28, 2020 Share Posted June 28, 2020 Curiously, the headboard shape does also seem to represent stairs... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEAMYAKIMA Posted June 28, 2020 Author Share Posted June 28, 2020 WOW! Respect and thanks to all of you Mandarin speakers. Just for the record I've found a better photo... I will post a model photo as soon as I've found one. 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEAMYAKIMA Posted June 28, 2020 Author Share Posted June 28, 2020 Found it! Photo by Andrew Burnham editor of Continental Modeller ..................... 9 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium St Enodoc Posted June 28, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 28, 2020 1 hour ago, TEAMYAKIMA said: Respect and thanks to all of you Mandarin speakers. For the avoidance of doubt, I'm not - but my partner, being Singaporean, is. I also travelled frequently to China on business from 2007 to 2014. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-UnitMad Posted July 1, 2020 Share Posted July 1, 2020 On 27/06/2020 at 20:27, SHMD said: So, all together we have something like "...tomorrow promise good future". That helps to explain the, ah, "interesting" English translation of instructions that come with a lot of Chinese goods..!! 2 1 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allegheny1600 Posted July 1, 2020 Share Posted July 1, 2020 Hello Teamyakima, Ref: your often mentioned lack of space at home which prevents you from enjoying operating this layout - which I do think is a real shame, an idea for you? How about one of these large 'party tents' or marquee that you could temporarily set up in the garden, assuming enough space there? The domestic authorities may not approve of such a thing permanently but for the occasional few days here and there? I'm thinking one day to set up, the next day operating then the third day, dismantle. That way, no stock need be left "outside" overnight, hopefully removing any security risks. My neighbours often have such things set up in their respective gardens as they seem to have regular events and it struck me that such a thing may be ideal for you and anyone else with a large layout that is too big to set up at home. Cheers, John. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEAMYAKIMA Posted July 1, 2020 Author Share Posted July 1, 2020 Hello John That is an idea I will chew over - thanks for taking an interest. Paul 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEAMYAKIMA Posted July 2, 2020 Author Share Posted July 2, 2020 On 22/06/2020 at 16:10, Ian Morgan said: I have just replaced my 'Freshwater' mugs with printed 'travel' mugs, as more and more venues are now insisting on covered mugs for hot drinks taken into the halls. Ebay have delivered! I have turned the mug over 90 degrees and no leakage - if only every layout problem was this easy to solve! 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Ian Morgan Posted July 3, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 3, 2020 Very clever. Almost a 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve W Posted July 3, 2020 Share Posted July 3, 2020 50 minutes ago, Ian Morgan said: Very clever. Almost a Having a quiet shore leave beer with the lads in Bugis Street in Singapore many years ago I bought 25 of these hats from a chap for about $8 (US). He was pestering us and it was a cheap price to pay for his entire stock, simply to get rid of him. We found out that they were great out on deck in the sunshine and heat and they became regular wear (hard hats were still several safety bureaucrats careers away) . The immigrant port workers in Kuwait wanted to buy them and I sold the 18 I still had for a very good profit. Regrettably I never managed to get any more on subsequent trips. Sorry to hijack your thread for a nostalgia reminisce Paul, I like the mug lid, clearly inspired by the similar things my kids drank from when they were very small. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium St Enodoc Posted July 3, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 3, 2020 48 minutes ago, steve W said: Having a quiet shore leave beer with the lads in Bugis Street in Singapore Yeah, right... 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEAMYAKIMA Posted July 3, 2020 Author Share Posted July 3, 2020 42 minutes ago, St Enodoc said: Yeah, right... I know you have links to Singapore, is there something we should know about Bugis Street???? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve W Posted July 3, 2020 Share Posted July 3, 2020 If you weren't there before they moved it due to the sanitisation and gentrification of the area, you wouldn't understand. Actually, you probably would. A vibrant place, good street food (most of the time) and potentially surprising company if you had too many bottles of Tiger. This may be useful: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfVIZ3yXgiU. Steve Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium St Enodoc Posted July 4, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 4, 2020 13 hours ago, TEAMYAKIMA said: I know you have links to Singapore, is there something we should know about Bugis Street???? 9 hours ago, steve W said: If you weren't there before they moved it due to the sanitisation and gentrification of the area, you wouldn't understand. Actually, you probably would. A vibrant place, good street food (most of the time) and potentially surprising company if you had too many bottles of Tiger. This may be useful: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfVIZ3yXgiU. Steve Steve's got it. It was probably cleaned up in the 1980s and by the time I first visited in the late 90s it had become little more than a touristy flea market. The last survivor of the old days was probably the Boom Boom Room but from what I gather even that was just a shadow of its former self. From your post, Paul, I guess your visit was before all those changes. For other readers, to get an idea of what we're talking about read Paul Theroux's "Saint Jack". Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEAMYAKIMA Posted July 30, 2020 Author Share Posted July 30, 2020 (edited) After a gap of nine weeks I have finally done some work on the layout today. I tidied up a bit in the shed and started checking every loco I use on the layout. I keep a log of faults/upgrades and have so far worked through all the SY's and JS's. I've managed 4/5 minor repairs and logged issues which need 'professional' attention - this includes two QJ's which got totally smashed in the post, they arrived at my house one hour before we set off in the van to Warley and TBH once I saw them (at Warley) I was so upset that I haven't dared look at them since. Well today I did and they are badly smashed - well one is anyway - and so they will be going off to Peter Morgan to see if he can put them back together. Other than that it's been a pretty positive day and I have been working with Peter on two new 'secret loco projects' - more on that soon. Edited July 31, 2020 by TEAMYAKIMA 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEAMYAKIMA Posted July 31, 2020 Author Share Posted July 31, 2020 'Secret loco projects' - did I say that out loud? Oops .... have let the cat out of the bag! Yes, I want to give my layout more of a 'wow' factor and have locos that are not straight out of the Bachmann catalogue, so I am working with Peter on two projects. I'm not saying what they are yet, but let me give you an idea. This is a project we looked at, but it needed too much work to be attempted at the moment. ROCO make an HO USA S160 2-8-0 ROCO have done various European versions ROCO were originally floating a Chinese version - known as the KD6 class - but they never went ahead as there were too few pre-orders When we looked into Peter doing a 'one-off' we discovered it needed a new cab which was a bridge too far at this stage - but maybe one day! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve45 Posted July 31, 2020 Share Posted July 31, 2020 16 hours ago, TEAMYAKIMA said: After a gap of nine weeks I have finally done some work on the layout today. I tidied up a bit in the shed and started checking every loco I use on the layout. I keep a log of faults/upgrades and have so far worked through all the SY's and JS's. I've managed 4/5 minor repairs and logged issues which need 'professional' attention - this includes two QJ's which got totally smashed in the post, they arrived at my house one hour before we set off in the van to Warley and TBH once I saw them (at Warley) I was so upset that I haven't dared look at them since. Well today I did and they are badly smashed - well one is anyway - and so they will be going off to Peter Morgan to see if he can put them back together. Other than that it's been a pretty positive day and I have been working with Peter on two new 'secret loco projects' - more on that soon. Could you make an insurance claim against the supplier/carrier - it maybe too late now? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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