Castle Aching

[Edwardian]

41 minutes ago, Tom Burnham said:

Not like Holman F Stephens, another collector of old unloved enginbes, then!

 

Ah, now I see what Brother Nearholmer was driving at. Not for the first time his subtlety evaded me!

 

As befits a dilettante, a mere dabbler, I have never achieved the higher in anything, as I was reminded by a recent conversation with Miss T about etiquette. 

 

Had I achieved field rank, even in retirement I would be entitled to use my rank socially, e.g. Colonel Stephens, or 'the Major' in Fawllty Towers. Likewise, had I obtained a doctorate, I would be known as Dr .... . However, just as a Bachelors or a Masters are lower degrees, and thus not to be used outside the context of an academic profession, it is de trop to use junior military rank  socially or post retirement. Likewise, as the bar is a vocation that sees no need for titles or letters after one's name unless and until one reaches the inner bar as a King's Counsel, I am doomed always to be a rather plain 'Mr'!

 

And to remain ever so humble!

 

 

 

     

[Compound2632]

20 minutes ago, Edwardian said:

I am doomed always to be a rather plain 'Mr'!

 

I recall a talk given by a senior person in a university physics department who did not have a higher degree. He said he took some pleasure in being able to say he was the only member of the department who had not been doctored.

Edited April 18, 2023 by Compound2632

[Northroader]

https://actuary.com.au/future-lost-earnings/

[Edwardian]

24 minutes ago, Northroader said:

https://actuary.com.au/future-lost-earnings/

 

The Bourbons, whom, we recall, proved on their restoration in 1814 that they had learnt nothing but forget nothing, had a compensation programme for returning aristocratic émigrés.

 

One such had been a midshipman in the French royal navy when the revolution curtailed his career. He claimed high rank and considerable back pay on the basis that, had he been able to remain in the Navy, he would by now have reached the rank of full admiral.

 

"Ah, sadly no," said the apologetic public servant handling his compensation claim, "you would have died at Trafalgar." 

[Clearwater]

5 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

 

I recall a talk given by a senior person in a university physics department who did not have a higher degree. He said he took some pleasure in being able to say he was the only member of the department who had not been doctored.

I only hope he didn't profess his ignorance.

[Schooner]

33 minutes ago, Clearwater said:

I only hope he didn't profess his ignorance.

 

I thought such titles could only be awarded by the University of Life?

[Edwardian]

6 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

 

I recall a talk given by a senior person in a university physics department who did not have a higher degree. He said he took some pleasure in being able to say he was the only member of the department who had not been doctored.

 

In baiting his colleagues, he was doubtless fortunate in his choice of subject; if a chemist he might have received a rude retort.

[Tom Burnham]

10 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

 

I recall a talk given by a senior person in a university physics department who did not have a higher degree. He said he took some pleasure in being able to say he was the only member of the department who had not been doctored.

I believe in the Edwardian period, PhDs were rather looked down on at the older universities as an upstart American invention. An eminent physicist would have been quite happy to be MA FRS.

[Caley Jim]

A parish minister of my acquaintance has a Doctorate in Practical Theology and is therefore entitled to call himself Rev. Dr ......    he takes great delight in reminding his son, who has an MB ChB and is a medical practitioner, that he (the minister) is a 'proper' Doctor!  As a dental surgeon I was latterly entitled to use the courtesy title 'doctor', but never did, arguing that in the UK surgeons were addressed as 'Mr'!

 

Jim

[Compound2632]

48 minutes ago, Tom Burnham said:

I believe in the Edwardian period, PhDs were rather looked down on at the older universities as an upstart American invention. An eminent physicist would have been quite happy to be MA FRS.

 

Indeed. As far as the university is concerned, my MA (for which I paid £20) is a higher-ranking degree than my D.Phil.

[Edwardian]

17 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

 

Indeed. As far as the university is concerned, my MA (for which I paid £20) is a higher-ranking degree than my D.Phil.

 

Mine was free, and they threw in lunch 😁

 

 

[Hroth]

5 hours ago, Edwardian said:

 

In baiting his colleagues, he was doubtless fortunate in his choice of subject; if a chemist he might have received a rude retort.

 

If he really annoyed them they might have chucked it at him.  Then it would have been a sharp retort...

 

tippytoes out

[DonB]

my C.Eng title came after many years of practical application following day release college and distance learning.

Of course I had to surrender the title on retirement and stopping the annual fee charge to retain it.

Having the distinction never affected my salary level !! 

[ChrisN]

When I went to Uni I was most impressed with the people on the sheet they gave us who had multiple letters after their name, I thought that they must be very clever.  When I had worked quite a while I had a similar number of letters after my name and had realised that most of the letters I had seen had been paid for, and with one you got two sets.  Of course having retired and not paying the fees they have all gone.

[Edwardian]

2 hours ago, ChrisN said:

When I went to Uni I was most impressed with the people on the sheet they gave us who had multiple letters after their name, I thought that they must be very clever.  When I had worked quite a while I had a similar number of letters after my name and had realised that most of the letters I had seen had been paid for, and with one you got two sets.  Of course having retired and not paying the fees they have all gone.

 

It is, indeed, possible to pay for letters and, presumably, then to add them after one's name.

 

 

I, and Miss T, have an exceptionally low tolerance for what we call 'second hand embarrassment'. We have been known to fast-forward through some of Mrs Maisel's more excruciatingly self-destructive sets because we just cannot bear to see someone, even a fictional someone, embarrass themselves so utterly. 

 

In my salad days I recall appearing in a moot at Lincoln's Inn. It was a property dispute of some sort. I recall nothing about it after so many years save that it took place in the library and my opponent consistently referred to the fictional surveyor who was the expert witness as "Mr Frics", indeed, I seem to recall at one point, quite horrifyingly for me, he even said "Mr Frics, or possibly Herr Frics, his name does sound rather German".

 

Evidently the fact that FRICS was in capitals had not meant anything to my learned friend. The Judge did not correct him, so I did not presume to do so. I did refer to the witness as "Mr [Actual Surname]" but even that did not seem to cause any pennies to drop for my opponent. I wonder to this day if he thought I was talking about some entirely different surveyor, however, for whatever reason, my opponent soldiered on with Mr Frics apparently oblivious to his mistake. And his every mention of "Mr Frics" was a fresh hammer-blow of cringe.

 

Oh, I may recall something else, as it happens, I rather think I won, but my enduring and painfully etched memory is of my mortification over the embarrassment he appeared not to feel. I guess in that sense, I was the loser!

 

 

Edited April 19, 2023 by Edwardian
spelling

[Worsdell forever]

Reminds me of one Arnold Rimmer BSC, SSC. 

[Edwardian]

Well, it's here.

 

I love this model. It has a charm that neither the seller's photographs or mine quite capture.

 

 

It's a large loco by WNR standards, and, as I mentioned before, takes us back to the debate over the proposed Sharp Stewart 2-4-2T based on the Bachmann L&Y Radial model, and the issue of axle loading.

 

One might say that the relatively modern line to Norwich would sustain them, but they only really fill a gap in the roster if you imagine a lot of stopping trains in and out of Norwich, essentially a suburban service. I suspect that, however many stations I proposed on the eastern end of the WNR, this is not probable. Other than places (in England) such as London, Birmingham, Manchester, the West Riding conurbation around Leeds, and some other very large places, I wonder how much of a purely suburban railway service was much of a thing in the early 1900s. 

 

I think the nearest I'm likely to get on the proposed layout might be a Biroverham Market - Birchoverham-Next-the-Sea shuttle to supplement the expresses and the local trains to Aching Constable and Castle Aching. 

 

Anyway, sometimes you just buy things because you really like them and worry about it later! 

 

 

 

 

 

[nick_bastable]

2 hours ago, Edwardian said:

Well, it's here.

 

I love this model. It has a charm that neither the seller's photographs or mine quite capture.

 

 

 

Anyway, sometimes you just buy things because you really like them and worry about it later! 

 

 

 

 

 

Buy to enjoy and use not to collect

[Michael Crofts]

I smiled at the anecdote about Mr. Frics but I impute an ulterior motive to counsel's use of that moniker. 

 

After working quite hard as a mature student at Kingston Polytechnic (age 33 when enrolled on the course) I achieved a bachelor's degree in estate management which exempted me from the written examinations of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, and in 1989 I became BSc ARICS. By the time I got the letters I had given up all ideas of prestige being associated with them - there was none - and throughout my career when in court I found the black-robed types very dismissive of me and my qualifications even when it was blindingly obvious that I knew more about the law relating to the dispute at issue than they did. I met some very clever barristers and a lot of twits. 

 

I never felt like paying the extra subscription to be FRICS rather than ARICS and when I retired, at the earliest possible date, determined entirely by financial considerations, I refused to pay the £450 p.a. demanded by my Institution for continued use of their letters (you see it's the institution that owns the letters, not the person who has earned them). So I was never FRICS, only ARICS, and now I am ARICS (rtd.) but only every now and then when I feel like it.

 

Nowadays of course even the BSc doesn't count for much. But I will say that the polytechnics did a marvellous job in their day, teaching some important vocational courses, and I think it was a terrible mistake to turn them all into quasi universities.

 

Here's a picture of an Edwardian engine in Norfolk to lighten the tone - the first run under steam in preservation of the J15 - my photo.

 

[ianathompson]

7 hours ago, Edwardian said:

I wonder how much of a purely suburban railway service was much of a thing in the early 1900s. 

 

The Great North of Scotland managed to sustain a suburban operation out of Aberdeen both on the mainline and the Ballater branch.

I have just ordered a couple of M7s to convert to the 0-4-4Ts used on their Invereness Citadel services (as if!).

Hope that they are better than the MK I versions!

 

Ian T

[ianathompson]

On 22/04/2023 at 00:07, ianathompson said:

I have just ordered a couple of M7s to convert to the 0-4-4Ts used on their Invereness Citadel services (as if!).

 

Probably the wrong place to post but the "donor" models have arrived.

 

 

This is the first tank, pulled straight from the box, along with GNS 6 wheelers, (don't look too closely!)

First impressions?

It runs much better than its predecessors but still has a weight problem on the drivers.

 

I would leave the West Norfolk in peace but could not resist this view of the Great North's Edwardian Inverness electrification scheme in passing.

 

 

I'll stop hi-kjakcing your thread there.

 

Ian T

[Compound2632]

 

Would not the Bachmann 1532 Class model make a better donor than the M7? I can see that it has larger drivers than the GNoSR engine, but so does the M7, doesn't it?

[Buhar]

13 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

Would not the Bachmann 1532 Class model make a better donor than the M7? I can see that it has larger drivers than the GNoSR engine, but so does the M7, doesn't it?

Rather expensive donor, although the body might be worth a bit to a P4 modeller.  Older M7s are more readily available and comparatively cheap.

Alan

[ianathompson]

I don't want to derail this topic too much but neither of the suggested donors appear to be available in N gauge.

Basically beggars can't be choosers.

It has the wrong diameter wheels but it is the right wheel arrangement.

 

The coaches are similar fudges, hence the commment about not looking too closely!

 

Ian T

Edited April 24, 2023 by ianathompson
inaccuracy

[Compound2632]

1 hour ago, ianathompson said:

in N gauge.

 

Ah!

 

I need to go on that training course about diversity and not making assumptions.