The Night Mail

[AndyID]

35 minutes ago, pH said:

They don’t look too impressed:

 

https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/journeynorth.org/images/graphics/eagle/chicks_dave_menke.jpg

 

They are probably more into this sort of thing.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMC_Eagle

[monkeysarefun]

5 hours ago, AndyID said:

This is a proper sports car.

 

 

IDSIPDY only has a 1.4L engine but she also has a turbocharger to recover much of the energy that would otherwise be whizzed away at the exhaust.

 

It might not be the fastest thing on wheels but the local chicks really seem to love it.

 

(Oops, maybe I should not have posted that.)

 

And this is a proper SUV!

A 6L V8, handling package and Brembo Brakes cover the Sports bit, it's obviously a Utility (ute for short), and the Vehicle bit  goes without saying..

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 2, 2023 by monkeysarefun

[Happy Hippo]

4 hours ago, AndyID said:

 

OK but well err but.. 😄

I know what you mean, he got the wrong photo:

 

It should have been:

 

Quick girls!

 

Lets get a closer look at Andy in his Spyder!

 

 

 

 

[Happy Hippo]

In the same vein:

 

Come on girls, that's the fabled muddy hollow!

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 2, 2023 by Happy Hippo

[Tony_S]

49 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

And this is a proper SUV!

A 6L V8, handling package and Brembo Brakes cover the Sports bit, it's obviously a Utility (ute for short), and the Vehicle bit  goes without saying..

 

 

 

 

 

This is a van. Well it was transporting luggage home at the time the photo was taken. 

[Willie Whizz]

10 hours ago, Mike Bellamy said:

 

50 years ago when I started work at Lloyds, we received hundreds of cheques every morning and had to check them for payee, amount in words and figures agreed, date and signature - but even then we never actually checked the signature against the card index except for high value transactions. Due to the volume, in a branch in a small provincial town, it took four staff all day to perform this task and the banks soon realised that the number of cheques returned for a technicality was very small and so they introduced limits below which no examination took place. If a customer complained that a post dated or unsigned cheque had been paid in error, it was quicker and cheaper to accept the bank had made a mistake and refund the customer - so just one member of staff was looking at the higher value cheques. I have no idea how the process works these days as you can pay in a photograph of a cheque so the bank never see the actual cheque.

.

NatWest (ex-Westminster) was pretty much the same back then, and of course you could still opt to have your “paid cheques” returned with your bank statement  

 

It was a different world then, with different Customer Service standards (which by modern standards were “Rolls Royce”, though customers still somehow found plenty to complain about). What caused the change was the drive to change from people (not by any means just ‘blue-collar’ workers) from being paid weekly in cash, to having their own bank account complete with chequebook and cheque guarantee card. The number of people with bank current accounts, and the number of cheque transactions, rose exponentially, and the old standards and practices were simply no longer sustainable with those numbers. 
 

With hindsight, the start of a long slippery slope …

[jamie92208]

This might interest some readers. A couple of days ago the Union Pacific Big Boy (don't Google that,) was return g to Cheyenne from Omaha with a few passenger cars plus it's usual two extra tenders and diesel helper. Thstlisnow mandated to allow the Positive Train Control to work plus providing dynamic braking to save brakeshoe wear.  A regular freight ahead of it stalled on a hill and 4014 was asked to couple up and provide rear end assistance. 

It sounds superb.  7000hp seems to be enough to do the job.  The diesel seems to be in idle.  This is probably the first time it's been heard doing maximum effort since restoration.  Just crank your sound up. 

 

Jamie

[iL Dottore]

And whilst we are on the topic of automobiles, may I point out that this IS a Bentley:

 

whilst this is NOT a Bentley;

it's an abomination designed to be sold to the nouveau riche, petrosheiks and oligarchs and totally indistinguishable from many other boxy and incredibly expensive marques.

 

Unfortunately, all the cars that would be suitable for a modern gentleman of taste and refinement are no longer produced. I think that the last British car that would've been suitable for a true gentleman or an officer of HM forces would've been the Jaguar S:

 

Although long out of production, pristine examples can still be found  (I've seen excellent examples in Switzerland at almost  pocket money prices). And with the 2.5 L engine with the six speed automatic gearbox using 10.3 L/100 km, not that too terribly different from a large number of other makes of car in terms of consumption.

 

Although I wouldn't be able to persuade my CFO (Mrs iD) to fork out for a Bentley S1 or Bentley S2 for the company, I might be able to persuade her to approve the purchase of a Jaguar S 2.5L (preferably in British Racing Green with tan leather upholstery) for corporate executive transport!

Edited July 2, 2023 by iL Dottore

[rockershovel]

12 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

The thing is, whilst the IBAN code includes diverse banking information I can use them to only pay in. I can't use those details to get money out. I have the IBANS for quite a few large, wealthy, companies (like Swisscom, my phone provider)  so I can pay for services etc. but to get money out - that's a different story.

To get money out of my company account (whether to pay salaries or purchase something etc) requires 3 factor identification, one component of which is randomly generated every time and one component of which is sent to a personal device which in turn requires  both biometric and password 3 factor identification for access.
 

Plus at the bank we use for our private and company accounts it appears that they must have some sort of algorithm that analyses outgoing payments and flags and blocks any payments that fall outside the normal pattern. I once received a call from the bank enquiring about an unusual company payment and I'm glad that they did. An extra zero had been accidentally typed in when I authorised payment and the SFr 10,000 payment had become SFr 100,000. That was quickly corrected, I can tell you.

 

Whether ir not that is a service provided just for business customers, just for all customers at the bank we use or for all Swiss banks I don't know.

That was my point, although I couldn't quite remember the details. 

 

I can't remember when I last wrote a cheque. I can remember the last time I had an attempted fraudulent transaction using a cut-and-pasted "signature" to verify a supposed "customer present" transaction, though - a few months ago. The credit card company picked up that I had two "customer present" transactions in fairly short succession, in different countries...

 

The old voucher type credit card systems are still quite widespread, not least in some parts of Florida. 

[polybear]

35 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

 

 

Although long out of production, pristine examples can still be found  (I've seen excellent examples in Switzerland at almost  pocket money prices).

 

You're right - available in the UK rather cheaply too.  They tend to become less cheap when they go wrong though.

 

Bear here.....

Most of the Dado Rail is now attached to the walls 😁 - a few small bits remain to be fitted once some minor paintwork detailing has been completed.

 

In other news.....

Perhaps Iran might like to attend to their own Country first - the following is from the BBC News website:

 

On Sunday, however, authorities in Paris were castigated by a country that regularly attracts criticism over its own human rights record - Iran.

Iran's foreign ministry spokesman has been urging France to end violence and "respect principles of human dignity".

 

BG

[Flying Fox 34F]

2 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

And whilst we are on the topic of automobiles, may I point out that this IS a Bentley:

 

whilst this is NOT a Bentley;

it's an abomination designed to be sold to the nouveau riche, petrosheiks and oligarchs and totally indistinguishable from many other boxy and incredibly expensive marques.

 

Unfortunately, all the cars that would be suitable for a modern gentleman of taste and refinement are no longer produced. I think that the last British car that would've been suitable for a true gentleman or an officer of HM forces would've been the Jaguar S:

 

Although long out of production, pristine examples can still be found  (I've seen excellent examples in Switzerland at almost  pocket money prices). And with the 2.5 L engine with the six speed automatic gearbox using 10.3 L/100 km, not that too terribly different from a large number of other makes of car in terms of consumption.

 

Although I wouldn't be able to persuade my CFO (Mrs iD) to fork out for a Bentley S1 or Bentley S2 for the company, I might be able to persuade her to approve the purchase of a Jaguar S 2.5L (preferably in British Racing Green with tan leather upholstery) for corporate executive transport!

I.D., I agree with you about the Bentley.  The latest iterations are just loud noisy boxes that run at high speed and drink a lot of fuel.  The Jaguar is a nice car, but I wouldn’t swap my 2021 Toyota RAV4, when the fuel consumption is 5.7L / 100km.

 

Paul

[Tony_S]

2 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

I might be able to persuade her to approve the purchase of a Jaguar S 2.5L (preferably in British Racing Green with tan leather upholstery) for corporate executive transport!

Well don’t try taking such a vehicle to Geneva. My car at least has an approved emissions sticker for Geneva. We didn’t actually go into Switzerland on our recent jaunt to Savoie as our Swiss resident nephew was preparing an announcement from Google about the project he has been responsible for. Then of course my slip down a hillside did somewhat limit any excursions further than the restaurant or hotel terrace. It meant we had lunch at the hotel in addition to the half board breakfast and evening menu. This was the full menu and was accompanied by amuse bouche and sweeties with the coffee. I think if we return (highly likely) we won’t go half board, it will be a bit more expensive but lots more choice. The half board menu items were things from the main menu but the choice was only really the main course being fishy or meaty. 

[iL Dottore]

23 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

Well don’t try taking such a vehicle to Geneva. My car at least has an approved emissions sticker for Geneva. 

If I buy the Jaguar in Switzerland it will be a legal (and not parallel or "grey") import and thus meet all National emissions and safety standards. All the Jaguar S I've looked at so far have been/are Swiss Street Legal imports, so no worries there.

 

Edited July 2, 2023 by iL Dottore
Format, Typo

[monkeysarefun]

1 hour ago, Flying Fox 34F said:

The Jaguar is a nice car, but I wouldn’t swap my 2021 Toyota RAV4, when the fuel consumption is 5.7L / 100km.

 

Must try harder! The most impressive fuel consumption I've achieved was in a Ford Territory, a large SUV produced by Ford Australia with a 4.1litre straight 6. It was a rental car and sitting on  160 - 190kmh between Darwin and Katherine with aircon on full  the average fuel consumption gauge  said  24 litres / 100km over the 320km trip  and the instantaneous gauge would hit 60 to  80 litres/100km whenever I floored it to get past a road train.

 

Makes the ute, at 15 litres/100km average  seem like a teetotaler.

[Tony_S]

50 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

the instantaneous gauge would hit

I don’t display the instantaneous consumption option on my car. Too scary. All the autoroute cruising last month certainly improved the average mpg figures. My car isn’t very good on the urban cycle consumption figures. Aditi’s Fiesta (1.4 16v engine) doesn’t seem to make much difference hat you do.  To be honest we haven’t driven the Fiesta for a few hundred miles at about 80mph which seemed to suit the Evoque nicely. On previous French holidays we have spent ages in toll booth queues but that wasn’t a problem this time. Very few queues (not really holiday season, weekday) but despite all the internet warnings about how the Evoque was the worst car ever for toll tags not working it was fine. 

[cctransuk]

5 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

.... the last British car that would've been suitable for a true gentleman or an officer of HM forces would've been the Jaguar S:

 

 

I have to say that I have been extremely impressed by the three-year-old, three litre Jaguar XF-S that I purchased a year ago; (decision based on the fact that a new, now under-powered replacement for my previous Vauxhall Insignia would have cost the same price).

 

I was rather dreading the fuel consumption, but have been pleasantly surprised to find that it is less than with the old Insignia.

 

Jaguar for me every time now!

 

John Isherwood.

[polybear]

2 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

If I buy the Jaguar in Switzerland it will be a legal (and not parallel or "grey") import and thus meet all National emissions and safety standards. All the Jaguar S I've looked at so far have been/are Swiss Street Legal imports, so no worries there.

 

 

And here was Bear thinking that Capt. C had all relevant Gov. Departments and Politicians firmly "in their place" such that when CC whispers "jump" they all shout "how high, Sir?"

[New Haven Neil]

6 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

This might interest some readers. A couple of days ago the Union Pacific Big Boy (don't Google that,) was return g to Cheyenne from Omaha with a few passenger cars plus it's usual two extra tenders and diesel helper. Thstlisnow mandated to allow the Positive Train Control to work plus providing dynamic braking to save brakeshoe wear.  A regular freight ahead of it stalled on a hill and 4014 was asked to couple up and provide rear end assistance. 

It sounds superb.  7000hp seems to be enough to do the job.  The diesel seems to be in idle.  This is probably the first time it's been heard doing maximum effort since restoration.  Just crank your sound up. 

 

Jamie

 

Is it me, or is there a suspicious wet spot just where the front engine slipped after passing the videographer?

 

She was putting her back into it afterwards though, nice stack talk.

[New Haven Neil]

5 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

And whilst we are on the topic of automobiles, may I point out that this IS a Bentley:

 

whilst this is NOT a Bentley;

it's an abomination designed to be sold to the nouveau riche, petrosheiks and oligarchs and totally indistinguishable from many other boxy and incredibly expensive marques.

 

Unfortunately, all the cars that would be suitable for a modern gentleman of taste and refinement are no longer produced. I think that the last British car that would've been suitable for a true gentleman or an officer of HM forces would've been the Jaguar S:

 

Although long out of production, pristine examples can still be found  (I've seen excellent examples in Switzerland at almost  pocket money prices). And with the 2.5 L engine with the six speed automatic gearbox using 10.3 L/100 km, not that too terribly different from a large number of other makes of car in terms of consumption.

 

Although I wouldn't be able to persuade my CFO (Mrs iD) to fork out for a Bentley S1 or Bentley S2 for the company, I might be able to persuade her to approve the purchase of a Jaguar S 2.5L (preferably in British Racing Green with tan leather upholstery) for corporate executive transport!

 

Aren't they just prettied up Mondeos?  Edit - the Jaaag, not the Bentleys!

Edited July 2, 2023 by New Haven Neil

[skipepsi]

7 minutes ago, New Haven Neil said:

 

Aren't they just prettied up Mondeos?

Not that one.. the X is the modified Mondeo.

[jamie92208]

18 minutes ago, New Haven Neil said:

 

Is it me, or is there a suspicious wet spot just where the front engine slipped after passing the videographer?

 

She was putting her back into it afterwards though, nice stack talk.

Apparently the front engine is almost always the one that slips. There's less weight on it.it seemed to slijust after the grade crossing. Possibly some track geometry problem.  There have been comments as to why they didn't use the 4000 plus from the diesebut I suspect that Ed Dickens and his crew were enjoying g using their 7000 hp. 

 

Jamie

[polybear]

When Bear was last in Kuwait (late 2015) and bombin' about in a Dodge Charger, the fuel price was something like 22p/litre - and the Great Empire was paying.  For some strange reason the mpg wasn't a great concern.

And guess what?  Eight years later and the fuel price is exactly the same, apparently.  And a 1L bottle of Evian mineral water in a supermarket costs five times the price of a litre of petrol.

 

[Tony_S]

2 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

I buy the Jaguar in Switzerland it will be a legal (and not parallel or "grey") import and thus meet all National emissions and safety standards. All the Jaguar S I've looked at so far have been/are Swiss Street Legal imports, so no worries there.

But do you not think other cities in Switzerland will be following the example of the Geneva Canton and banning access to vehicles at certain times that don’t meet environmental limits? The Jaguar you mention whether it is an old Euro 3 or Euro 4 (Swiss use the EU definitions) model isn’t going to meet the requirements for  Geneva access. In the London ULEZ area you can still drive Euro 3 or less petrol or Euro 5 diesel but you have to pay a fee.  
My nephew and his partner live in Zurich and they are thinking of getting rid of their car. They can use a city car scheme or arrange to collect a hire car from a railway station if they have a longer journey. They don’t need a car for any journeys round Zurich and it just lives in a garage they pay rent on for most of the time. 

Edited July 2, 2023 by Tony_S

[Tony_S]

5 hours ago, polybear said:

You're right - available in the UK rather cheaply too.  They tend to become less cheap when they go wrong though.

Anyone in outer London with the diesel version will have probably got rid of it now that the ULEZ is expanding out from the North Circular to the M25 (but not including the M25 itself) If it is one of the later petrol engines ones they will be Euro4 engines and meet the minimum criteria for ULEZ exemption. 
People from Hertfordshire popping into Enfield or Essex residents going to Romford for a bit of shopping will need to check their compliance. 
I suspect the rules will get stricter in cities. 

[iL Dottore]

2 hours ago, polybear said:

 

And here was Bear thinking that Capt. C had all relevant Gov. Departments and Politicians firmly "in their place" such that when CC whispers "jump" they all shout "how high, Sir?"

That may well be, but it's a. good rule of thumb that when you are planning major villainy you DON'T bring any unwanted attention your way by committing any sort of minor infraction.

 

I understand that a similar approach is favoured by HM's Armed Forces....