The Night Mail

[Happy Hippo]

6 minutes ago, AndyID said:

 

Wouldn't it also need to have a telephoto lens?

Depends on which SLR you were referring to:  In either case, a great shot can have very different consequences, but both will make the front page.

[jamie92208]

17 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

Depends on which SLR you were referring to:  In either case, a great shot can have very different consequences, but both will make the front page.

Yes, I believe that a shot from an SLR had great penetrative powers, right through Divis Street flats I believe. 

 

Jamie

[Dave Hunt]

I have just ordered a book about green locomotives. Right, now that HH has fainted I will reveal that it does not contain pornographic pictures of panniers but is David L. Smith's tome on locomotives of the Glasgow & South Western Railway. The G&SW was, after all, the Midland's ally in Scotland so my interest in it is not all that surprising. I have recently been obtaining books on the G&SWR and this is the third one.

 

Dave

[Compound2632]

 

Up "Pullman" near Etterby Junction headed by Manson 4-6-0 No. 386 (photo F.E. Mackay) [Ian Howard collection].

[Oldddudders]

Meanwhile, back on Planet Earth, Sherry & I spent much of the weekend in Crewe, where it drizzled a lot. Friday afternoon's taxi-ride to Travelodge was enhanced by discovering that our taxi-driver had been a gricer, to the extent of volunteering at Carnforth, where he seemed to have polished FS and Mallard. He got his tip!

 

Then in the evening we strolled across to the pub, named Duke of Gloucester. And no, not some unimportant noble, but 71000 itself! Railway pics abound, and some are of the eponymous 4-6-2. 

 

Saturday evening we were guests at a dance show in Stoke on Trent, where Sherry's grand-daughter (not yet 11) seemed to have more roles in the 30 or so dances than we might have expected. Best part of 100 girls, aged 3 (!) to 18. Favourite for us was Pirates, in which the lights went up to reveal a dozen girls lying on the floor, and in came Alice, dressed corsair-style, grim-faced and brandishing a cutlass! She scowled at the audience before rousing the girls, each of whom was similarly adorned and cutlass-equipped. Much dancing and prancing, with no smiles anywhere, before the girls, mostly older and larger than Alice, carried her off on their shoulders. 

 

Sunday saw us taken out to an early breakfast with Sherry's daughter and family, including Alice. We saw them for at least 75 minutes, and Sherry didn't get as much as a hug..... Daughter Caro is unbearable and distant since Sherry's abrupt self-discharge from hospital last November. She is also due to take over as Head of her skool in September. The family fly to Oz, to see Sherry's adopted older daughter and family, on Wednesday. Anecdotally, many mothers find Darling Daughter becomes a different and distant person, it seems. 

 

Caro and co dropped us at Crewe station, and we caught a Voyager as far as Llandudno Junction, where we had a swift drink in the Old Station Hotel, coincidentally run by the same people as 71000, and equally full of transport memorabilia. The trip back, in a new Transport For Wales 197 DMU, was memorable for far too many announcements - half of them in loud Welsh, as the law no doubt requires. Great way to discourage optional travel. Keep announcements to a minimum!

[newbryford]

3 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

We found that an SLR, pushed between a rioter's legs from behind, and then pulled back and up so that the foresight became embedded in the miscreant's bag of marbles quickly gave you a cooperative and compliant member of the public who had no further interest in what was going on around him.  

 

Wonders why a camera would be so effective.....................???

[newbryford]

1 hour ago, Dave Hunt said:

I have just ordered a book about green locomotives. Right, now that HH has fainted I will reveal that it does not contain pornographic pictures of panniers but is David L. Smith's tome on locomotives of the Glasgow & South Western Railway. The G&SW was, after all, the Midland's ally in Scotland so my interest in it is not all that surprising. I have recently been obtaining books on the G&SWR and this is the third one.

 

Dave

 

And there was me thinking you were going to refer to points of the compass other than west...

GNR, NER, SR etc, etc...

Edited July 24, 2023 by newbryford
typo

[Dave Hunt]

5 minutes ago, newbryford said:

 

And there was me thinking you were going to refer to pointts of the compass other than west...

GNR, NER, SR etc, etc...

 

Well, I'm also interested in the West Highland Rai..........

 

Oops

 

Dave

[jamie92208]

5 minutes ago, newbryford said:

ass other than west...

GNR, NER, SR etc, etc...

No he was referring to these types of green engines.

Scratchbuilt in O scale by a friend of Dave's stretching it's legs on Green Ayre.

 

Jamie

[Compound2632]

Just now, Dave Hunt said:

Well, I'm also interested in the West Highland Rai..........

 

Then there's the Midland Great Western.

 

And an interest in the G&SWR inevitably leads to accidentally discovering the delights of the GS&WR.

[Dave Hunt]

2 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

 

Then there's the Midland Great Western.

 

And an interest in the G&SWR inevitably leads to accidentally discovering the delights of the GS&WR.

 

I also like the County Donegal, which ran through the west of Irelan......

 

Oh, dear

 

Dave

[Dave Hunt]

7 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

No he was referring to these types of green engines.

Scratchbuilt in O scale by a friend of Dave's stretching it's legs on Green Ayre.

 

Jamie

 

Ah, yes, a lovely model by a great modeller. Please give Eddie my best Jamie.

 

Dave

[newbryford]

Many, many brownie points have been earned today [*]

 

The planned golf league game was called off due to the downpours of the past couple of days, so most of Monday's day off was spent drying out the gear from the Children's Village at the RLAS 2023 mudbath.

 

Then there was a detour to Warrington with Junior NB [*2] to trade in some older golf clubs that may result in aforementioned Brownie pints being ripped up/ burnt to a cinder and thrown away [*].

 

Return home for more drying out/packing away of stuff from RLAS, before taking it to the Guides County store and eventually returning my brother's motorhome that Mrs NB had used at the show (she's now at that age where she doesn't do under canvas/nylon camping if she can avoid it these days).

Eventually finishing my "day off" at about 7.30pm - thoroughly knackered.

 

[*] Whilst the Brownie points for shifting show stuff have been - as always - hard-earned, along with generating a few £s by selling my old golf clubs, Mrs NB hasn't yet seen my new driver that the trade-in partly paid for. I expect the BP to be quickly in the red for a few weeks when she finds out!

 

Junior NB is partly to blame as she did encourage me to buy the new driver...... Junior is home for 12 days from a two year contract in Dubai. I picked her up from MAN airport early Sunday am and we only got halfway home via the M61 before she said she'd seen enough rain and greenery and wanted to return ...... 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jamie92208]

16 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

Ah, yes, a lovely model by a great modeller. Please give Eddie my best Jamie.

 

Dave

Yes I wil do, Dave.

 

Jamiel

[SM42]

4 hours ago, bbishop said:

I read a couple of interesting articles today.  In The Grauniad, there is an article about four Welsh distilleries, including Penderyn, being awarded protected geographical indication status.  

More worrying for TNM members, one of our number has had an accident at a level crossing. The article in Today's Railway Europe states that it happened in Poland and it is entitled "SM42 verses SUV".

Bill

 

Although I dislike the SUV as a concept ( where do you put the luggage) and resent had self fulfilling prophecy that the manufacturers claim there is demand when it is about all they offer

 

It wasn't me. 

 

 

Andy

 

[Happy Hippo]

1 hour ago, newbryford said:

Mrs NB hasn't yet seen my new driver that the trade-in partly paid for.

 

We have!

 

 

 

 

 

BRRRM BRRRM!

Edited July 24, 2023 by Happy Hippo

[newbryford]

51 minutes ago, SM42 said:

 

Although I dislike the SUV as a concept ( where do you put the luggage)

 

 

60/40 split rear seats is my solution.

 

I just need to decide whether MrS NB will manage in the 40% bit for a 300 mile journey in a few days or do I have to repack the golf clubs. (Junior NB will claim the other front seat as co-driver)

[Dave Hunt]

41 minutes ago, newbryford said:

 

60/40 split rear seats is my solution.

 

I just need to decide whether MrS NB will manage in the 40% bit for a 300 mile journey in a few days or do I have to repack the golf clubs. (Junior NB will claim the other front seat as co-driver)

 

That’s a serious set of golf clubs if it needs 60% of the rear sets folded down. Just how many clubs do you have?

 

Dave

[J. S. Bach]

Night Owl from the Piedmont.

[AndyID]

6 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

I have just ordered a book about green locomotives. Right, now that HH has fainted I will reveal that it does not contain pornographic pictures of panniers but is David L. Smith's tome on locomotives of the Glasgow & South Western Railway. The G&SW was, after all, the Midland's ally in Scotland so my interest in it is not all that surprising. I have recently been obtaining books on the G&SWR and this is the third one.

 

Dave

 

Enjoy! The G&SWR line to Ayr from St Enoch station ran through Paisley in a cutting (formerly a canal) at the bottom of the gardens of the houses across the street from the house I grew up in. Sadly there were no G&SWR locomotives by then but there were still some former Caledonian locos. I used to spend hours watching Jumbos shunting the sidings from an over-bridge at the end of our street. The line is still there but it's singled and terminates a few hundred yards West now. All the goods traffic and sidings are long gone.

[AndyID]

A bit of shedporn for anyone who is into that sort of thing.

 

 

I will do a serious tidy-up just one of these days.

[jamie92208]

4 minutes ago, AndyID said:

A bit of shedporn for anyone who is into that sort of thing.

 

 

I will do a serious tidy-up just one of these days.

I'm going to leave the tidying up to my kids when they put me in a home along with an overdraft

Jamie

[Happy Hippo]

22 minutes ago, AndyID said:

A bit of shedporn for anyone who is into that sort of thing.

 

 

I will do a serious tidy-up just one of these days.

That might not qualify as a shed!

 

Although it has an enviable selection of tools and quite magnificent clutter, there are no large cobwebs in sight.

 

It is this attention to detail that matters in what makes a true shed.

[Happy Hippo]

10 hours ago, Oldddudders said:

The trip back, in a new Transport For Wales 197 DMU, was memorable for far too many announcements - half of them in loud Welsh, as the law no doubt requires. Great way to discourage optional travel. Keep announcements to a minimum!

If it were quiet Welsh,  a lot of travellers would think the train was talking about them🤣

 

You were very lucky as most regular users of TfW's services appear to make do with either a 153 or a 150/2. That includes the majority of the current Cardiff to Holyhead services.

 

Brian, (br2975)  can probably give you chapter and verse on TfW's woes and service issues.

[Dave Hunt]

My mate Crimson Rambler has to suffer the vicissitudes of TfW when he travels from Aberystwyth to Shrewsbury to stay with us or go to Derby for MRS meetings and he is, shall we say, less than complimentary about them.

 

Dave