The Night Mail

[Happy Hippo]

I have now converted 10 wagons and a brake van to the steel end links, in place of the factory fitted brass ones.

 

I may do some more in the morning before I depart for Llandrinio.

[New Haven Neil]

Yes thanks Richard - I have looked at them, but they look as ugly as tension locks.  As do many others.  Propelling is an issue as you will be aware with my 4 foot radius curves, so that is a plus point.....lots to think about.  TBH Kadees...which I have several hundred of, in HO size.....may do the job, if long enough.  O scale versions look rather huge.  I don't like handed couplings either, even though my layout will work fine with them of course - just a personal thing, I like to turn my locos around.  

[PhilJ W]

I've been experimenting with magnetic couplings, so far so good but I have quite a few older wagons without NEM pockets.

[Dave Hunt]

11 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

I am currently under a self imposed cake moratorium.

 

Funnily enough I heard today that Mr. Kipling's are going on to short time working.

 

Dave

[AndyID]

11 hours ago, Northmoor said:

ISTR a prominent Silicon Valley CEO commenting that if the UK hadn't been so embarrassed by Alan Turing's personal life (and the military/industrial establishment had less of a Not Invented By Us attitude), the world centre for software development would probably be Manchester and not the West Coast of California.

 

I met Charlie Bass of Zilog fame many years ago in the UK. I remember him saying that Zilog was finally hiring proper engineers rather than tractor drivers in Cupertino 😁

[AndyID]

14 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

I've been experimenting with magnetic couplings, so far so good but I have quite a few older wagons without NEM pockets.

 

Which couplings are you using Phil?

[PhilJ W]

2 minutes ago, AndyID said:

 

Which couplings are you using Phil?

Hunt couplings, I've purchased a couple of packs of various lengths and experimenting. Some stock is more suited to the shorter ones and some stock suits the longer ones.

[Dave Hunt]

Bit of a panic just after I had finished posting last night. We had the grandfather of all thunderstorms with the sort of rain I used to associate with living in Singapore in the wet season. Fortunately I had just popped down to the shed to get my phone, which I had left down there earlier on, when the deluge started so I decided to sit it out until I could get back into the house without drowning. It's a good job I did as the grid outside the shed door was partially blocked and the rain was so torrential that the well outside the door was filling up and the water was threatening to come over the door sill. Hence I had to go out and dredge the detritus out of the grid, whereupon the water level stopped rising and when the rain eased off to a mere downpour started receding. Result? Shed saved from flooding but DH soaked to the skin. Also lesson learned about monitoring the state of the grid more assiduously.

 

Dave 

[AndyID]

We just had a thunderstorm here and two of the lighting strikes must have been within a couple of hundred feet of the house. That got our attention

 😁

[pH]

53 minutes ago, AndyID said:

We just had a thunderstorm here and two of the lighting strikes must have been within a couple of hundred feet of the house. That got our attention

 😁

We used to live next to the church in an English village. In a thunderstorm one evening, lightning hit the church spire, maybe 25 yards from the front door of our house. As you say, that sort of thing is inclined to make you sit up and take notice. The stone cone on top of the spire was moved about a foot sideways after that.

Edited July 10, 2023 by pH

[pH]

Talking of lightning, the B.C. Wildfire Service reported 98 new fires in 24 hours over the weekend, blaming lightning strikes for three-quarters of them. By Sunday evening there were more than 300 fires burning in the province, most of them out of control. 

[J. S. Bach]

Night Owl from the Piedmont.

[jamie92208]

9 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

Being indoors it's more of a fireside line.

Isn't there an indoor smoking ban, so no Alco diesels.

 

I was once on a double decker bus when a chimney across the road was struck by lightning.  I thought that the bus had crashed,

 

JamIe

[polybear]

8 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

Funnily enough I heard today that Mr. Kipling's are going on to short time working.

 

Dave

 

Don't worry, Bear has launched a rescue bid.  The CEO tells me their order books have never looked so good.

 

[Happy Hippo]

The cake moratorium is only in place whilst I am accompanied by, or in the presence of my keeper(s).

 

Borders MRC is well known for the wonderful and plentiful selection of cake on offer at their monthly running days, which is why I am always so keen to go and run quality control checks.

 

[SM42]

19 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

The cake moratorium is only in place whilst I am accompanied by, or in the presence of my keeper(s).

 

Borders MRC is well known for the wonderful and plentiful selection of cake on offer at their monthly running days, which is why I am always so keen to go and run quality control checks.

 

 

So when the keeper's  away, the Hippo does play.

 

Nice

 

Andy

[Happy Hippo]

9 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

Bit of a panic just after I had finished posting last night. We had the grandfather of all thunderstorms with the sort of rain I used to associate with living in Singapore in the wet season. Fortunately I had just popped down to the shed to get my phone, which I had left down there earlier on, when the deluge started so I decided to sit it out until I could get back into the house without drowning. It's a good job I did as the grid outside the shed door was partially blocked and the rain was so torrential that the well outside the door was filling up and the water was threatening to come over the door sill. Hence I had to go out and dredge the detritus out of the grid, whereupon the water level stopped rising and when the rain eased off to a mere downpour started receding. Result? Shed saved from flooding but DH soaked to the skin. Also lesson learned about monitoring the state of the grid more assiduously.

 

Dave 

I laughed because this is the sort of thing that happens to me only too frequently.

 

However, at least I can roll in some earth once well soaked, and relive the glory days🤣.

[Happy Hippo]

29 minutes ago, SM42 said:

 

So when the keeper's  away, the Hippo does play.

 

Nice

 

Andy

I have foregone breakfast to balance the calorie count.

 

The only slight problem being that leaves more space for cake.

 

I suppose I could always push the car back home to compensate.

[SM42]

Just now, Happy Hippo said:

 

 

I suppose I could always push the car back home to compensate.

 

The other benefit of that is that people will think you have broken down and help you. 

 

Think of the money you'll save on fuel. 

 

Andy

[SM42]

13 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

 

 

I suppose I could always push the car back home to compensate.

 

I hope you've got a proper handbrake, not one of those electric thingies, otherwise you won't be pushing it anywhere. 

 

Going back to the recent rain. 

 

I noted the article on the news last night about a charity that was flooded when water came through the roof during a storm.

 

I suspect this is more to do with building maintenance.

 

Like DH's experience, keeping the drains clear, both at ground and roof level pays dividends

 

I suspect that the roof drainage channels were blocked with leaves, seagull nests and other detritus, with the result that water backed up on the roof until it found another way out. 

 

The way the news reported it, it was as if  it was just due to unprecedented ( happens every summer)  heavy rain and not a more fundamental issue of building maintenance.

 

Andy

[PupCam]

17 hours ago, Willie Whizz said:

There was also the issue in that era that too little money was being spread over too many poorly- focused projects by too many modestly-sized  companies that didn’t have the scale to compete internationally. The aviation industry being a classic case, but not the only one. So a lot of effort was wasted doing things for which there was insufficient market; or else the Government’s ambition was bigger than its budget; projects were scrapped, people lost their jobs and companies went bust or were compelled to merge; rinse and repeat …

 

And in recent years the "Small & Medium Enterprise"  companies have been seen by "customers" as the solution to all their woes created by those big, allegedly evil traditional companies like the GE.    It is of course complete folly and, just like cars, in many cases there's no substitute for cc's.      Of course, both the "all big" and "all small" philosophies are clearly and demonstrably too simplistic and flawed.  It's just another bandwagon jumped on by organisations clutching  at straws because they haven't really got a grip.    

 

In the last 10-15 years of my working life I was involved quite heavily with a very wide variety of SMEs many of whom were remarkable, innovative and one in particular (no names, no pact drill) punched far, far above it's weight achieved by some exceedingly good and novel work, more front than Sainsburys and helped no end by a humongous wedge of "the old boys network".    Whilst many SMEs are very (so called) agile and innovative operators, many actually lack the wider experience and background knowledge that is essential to operate in a heavily controlled and regulated traditional environment dictated by the customer's overall requirements.     I'm sure @polybear, @Barry O, @Dave Hunt and no doubt others will recognise those wider requirements to which I refer.

 

One size NEVER fits all .....

[pgcroc]

On Beans

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-12286693/No-proof-ultra-processed-foods-definitely-bad-Governments-dietary-advisers-say.html

 

So all the Bean lovers are safe!

[Hroth]

6 minutes ago, pgcroc said:

On Beans

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-12286693/No-proof-ultra-processed-foods-definitely-bad-Governments-dietary-advisers-say.html

 

So all the Bean lovers are safe!

 

As they say, "The more you eat, the more you fart".

 

[polybear]

14 minutes ago, Hroth said:

 

As they say, "The more you eat, the more you fart".

 

 

"Beans Beans are good for your Heart...the more you eat the more you f@rt"

 

That was the tune when Bear was a Cub.

 

 

 

[Happy Hippo]

It would appear that I only converted 9.5 wagons to steel links last night and not ten.

 

Don't ask me how I found out