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A Ripping Yarn!

 

Bravo!

 

I am beginning to look upon Mr O'Doolight as something of a cross between Sandy Arbuthnot and Flurry Knox, if such a thing can be imagined!

 

Will Our Heroes survive the Dasterdly Oakcake Poisoner?

 

Will the mysterious Albert/Albertina make her, or possibly his, escape?

 

Who has the plans for the secret naval base at Shepherd's Port?

 

What are the thirty-nine steps to success and happiness according to T O'Doolight's best selling guide How to Get Ahead in Railway Contracting?

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Sine there has been no response to the photo I posted, except Edwardian admitting to a lapse of memory, I can reveal that he is not a member of a secret society, but the Queen's Remembrancer. The relevance is that he is responsible for the work of the county High Sheriffs who are in turn responsible for the work of the county bailiffs. I believe that in fact 95% of the time he wears a perfectly normal set of clothes and is a middle ranking civil servant. I m only aware of this because the High Sheriffs have a society (the Shrievalty Association - or is it Shreivalty, the spell check objects to both) and for about a year I put together the magazine for the publisher.

Anyway, back to the perspicacious Mr O'Doolight and the "Mystery of the Poisoned Oakcakes". Are we calling in the 1905 equivalent of Sherlock Holmes or Poirot?

Jonathan

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As usual, if one doesn't keep up one becomes very confused. I thought this thread was about the West Norfolk Railway, not the Norfolk & Western Railway? What country are we in? And what was that about Rodeo Norfolk? Or was that just a typo? 

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Now we know he’s called a rememberancer, what are the bits he’s holding in his hand? and if he’s a special civil servant chosen by the Lords anointed, why doesn’t he look more assured, rather than as if he knows he looks like a total pillock?Then there’s those black and white chequers, what’s that about? Kevin’s story is far more convincing...

Edited by Northroader
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Sine there has been no response to the photo I posted, except Edwardian admitting to a lapse of memory, I can reveal that he is not a member of a secret society, but the Queen's Remembrancer. The relevance is that he is responsible for the work of the county High Sheriffs who are in turn responsible for the work of the county bailiffs. I believe that in fact 95% of the time he wears a perfectly normal set of clothes and is a middle ranking civil servant. I m only aware of this because the High Sheriffs have a society (the Shrievalty Association - or is it Shreivalty, the spell check objects to both) and for about a year I put together the magazine for the publisher.

Anyway, back to the perspicacious Mr O'Doolight and the "Mystery of the Poisoned Oakcakes". Are we calling in the 1905 equivalent of Sherlock Holmes or Poirot?

Jonathan

I would have thought that the 1905 equivalent of Sherlock Holmes WOULD be Sherlock Holmes!  Though as he habitually headed for Paddington and also used the SE&CR and its predecessors, Norfolk would have resulted in taking Bradshaw down and looking at some unfamiliar pages...

 

As for the Little Belgian, he came to England as a refugee during the Great War. (see "The Mysterious Affair at Styles").

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I would have thought that the 1905 equivalent of Sherlock Holmes WOULD be Sherlock Holmes!

 

As for the Little Belgian, he came to England as a refugee during the Great War. (see "The Mysterious Affair at Styles").

 

Actually, Chesterton's Father Brown is contemporary, and he from time to time visited the houses of the prominent lay catholic families, judging from the stories.  It is entirely possible that he would have visited Smoxburgh Hall.

 

The problem with many of these detectives, Brown and Poirot among them, is that wherever they go, some blighter gets killed.

 

And I won't have the peace of CA disturbed in this way! 

 

With Holmes, some of the best stories don't involve anyone dying at all!

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Actually, Chesterton's Father Brown is contemporary, and he from time to time visited the houses of the prominent lay catholic families, judging from the stories.  It is entirely possible that he would have visited Smoxburgh Hall.

 

The problem with many of these detectives, Brown and Poirot among them, is that wherever they go, some blighter gets killed.

 

And I won't have the peace of CA disturbed in this way! 

 

With Holmes, some of the best stories don't involve anyone dying at all!

Though some do, and some intimately involve railways in the plot, as in The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans, where "After an examination of the track near Aldgate, Holmes reaches an astonishing and unusual conclusion: West had been killed elsewhere, was deposited on the roof of an Underground train, and fell off when the jarring action of going over the points at Aldgate shook the coach.".*

 

* Extract from Wikipedia:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventure_of_the_Bruce-Partington_Plans

Edited by Hroth
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Digesting Jonathan Meades is like eating my (pretend) Aunty Freda's fiercely dense and dark Christmas cake.

 

Country and Western music is of course as Norfolk as Lakenheath and Mildenhall US airbases. We always enjoyed Norfolk GP Hank Wangford with his   "I'd like to patronize you as you patronize me" welcome.

dh

 

Recently watched his latest – on Jargon. Very toothsome as usual but worth the effort. As for the Lincolnshire fens – I usually try to get through them as quickly as  the wretched A17 will allow as you don't want to dawdle in the Badlands... Real redneck country.

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Though some do, and some intimately involve railways in the plot, as in The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans, where "After an examination of the track near Aldgate, Holmes reaches an astonishing and unusual conclusion: West had been killed elsewhere, was deposited on the roof of an Underground train, and fell off when the jarring action of going over the points at Aldgate shook the coach.".*

 

* Extract from Wikipedia:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventure_of_the_Bruce-Partington_Plans

 

You see Holmes, but you do not observe!

 

He observed nothing of importance, it seems. He failed to note the type or weight of the rail, how it was secured to the sleepers, numbers of bolts on chairs or rail-joiners etc.  That's before we get on to point-work.  We don't even know whether he examined bull head or vignoles rail, or whether the turnouts had interlaced sleepers or through timbers.

 

If he represents the level of scrutiny to which track-work is to be exposed, I may as well lay HO set track at CA and be done with it!

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You see Holmes, but you do not observe!

 

He observed nothing of importance, it seems. He failed to note the type or weight of the rail, how it was secured to the sleepers, numbers of bolts on chairs or rail-joiners etc. That's before we get on to point-work. We don't even know whether he examined bull head or vignoles rail, or whether the turnouts had interlaced sleepers or through timbers.

 

If he represents the level of scrutiny to which track-work is to be exposed, I may as well lay HO set track at CA and be done with it!

... Which is probably something similar to what I'll be doing as I am NOT making my own track. Too much hassle.
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Recently watched his latest – on Jargon. Very toothsome as usual but worth the effort. As for the Lincolnshire fens – I usually try to get through them as quickly as  the wretched A17 will allow as you don't want to dawdle in the Badlands... Real redneck country.

 

But there is one rather nice feature of the A17, theres a house along it that has a rather nice telegraph pole head in the font garden. Lots of arms and insulators. I have a source for one, but I'm sure the present Mrs Uax wouldn't let me have it....

 

Andy G

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But there is one rather nice feature of the A17, theres a house along it that has a rather nice telegraph pole head in the font garden. Lots of arms and insulators. I have a source for one, but I'm sure the present Mrs Uax wouldn't let me have it....

 

Andy G

 

 

Mmmm. Must have missed that one. Too busy scanning for stetson wearing pick-up drivers...

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But there is one rather nice feature of the A17, theres a house along it that has a rather nice telegraph pole head in the font garden. Lots of arms and insulators. I have a source for one, but I'm sure the present Mrs Uax wouldn't let me have it....

 

Andy G

I seem to remember that's somewhere around Fosdyke on the left as you drive west.

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The cable remained in use until 1909. Trains leaving Queen Street slipped the cable at the top of the incline. Arriving trains did not go down the cable; the engine was detached and replaced by incline brakes. There's a description in John Thomas, The Springburn Story (David & Charles, 1964). What he doesn't explain is how the engines for departing trains were worked down the incline from Cowlairs.

 

I hope you noticed Edwardian himself indulging in a bit of train-spotting.

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I do get around.

 

I was on the steps of a stock exchange in Denmark at one point, IIRC, and now here I am again.

 

It's like some elaborate game of Where's Wally?

 

Still, I have to remain one step ahead of the Shadowy Missenden.

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Edited by Edwardian
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I did give you an Edinboro' Holmes too - along with an alternative mode of transport...

 

There are many Holmes.

 

One of my favourites is Holmes under the Hammer

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Edited by Edwardian
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