The Night Mail

[Happy Hippo]

The sun has come and gone, and now occasionally peeps through the cloud.

 

Today should see a shopping trip, preferably conducted by Nyda; a trip to the recycling centre, and more work in the garden.

 

The work in the garden will involve either ladders and power tools, or down on my hands and knees grubbing around in various beds or borders.

 

On the railway front, I am partially through the building of the steps for the signal box and the painting of the brick work for the chimney of the platelayer's hut. 

 

I've also finalised the signal box diagram for Pantmawr North. The reason for this is the interior of the kit does have a rudimentary 11 lever frame which can be seen through the windows, so the levers need to be painted appropriately.  Failure to do this will have Mike the Stationmaster pouring boiling tar on my back.  In order not to have too many white (spare) levers, I decided that the two (off scene) distant signals which were originally to be fixed at caution, will now become working signals, and the box has the ability to be switched out when not required. 

 

This means that if (when) a show is very quiet, we can pull off both the up and down home signals and just run a DMU shuttle back and fore.

 

Fitting an auto shuttle unit would enable us to turn up, set it going, and then retire to the pub for the rest of the day🤣.

 

 

 

Edited July 30, 2023 by Happy Hippo

[Dave Hunt]

15 hours ago, Northmoor said:

It's also just occurred to me that someone searching the Web using a selection of terms used in the above, for reasons we're probably best off not knowing, will get in amongst their list of hits, a page of RMWeb, specifically an entry in TNM.  What sort of impression do you think they'll get of the frequent contributors to this forum?

 

That they are all slippery customers who crack on whenever they can?

 

Dave

[Dave Hunt]

14 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

Glücklich was a member of the SOE.  As far as I was aware his exploits were supposed to be sealed from public view until 2045.

 

Glücklich (AKA Lucky) was the first hippo to have a wooden leg, false teeth, a glass eye and hearing aids following a series of unfortunate accidents.

 

Dave

[Dave Hunt]

The great weathering powder catastrophe is now sorted. After washing the affected area I applied some fine green scatter material followed by another light layer of grass and apart from the fact that the grass is now a bit longer all is OK. Oh, and there is a rather attractive dark patch on the rug by the corner of the layout.

 

Dave

[Dave Hunt]

2 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

Fitting an auto shuttle unit would enable us to turn up, set it going, and then retire to the pub for the rest of the day🤣.

 

I meant to say the other day that when you take Pantmawr North to shows I'll be glad to come and help.

 

Dave

[SM42]

12 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

I meant to say the other day that when you take Pantmawr North to shows I'll be glad to come and help.

 

Dave

 

Not sure if that's the lure of panniers or the pub  at work there. 

 

Andy

[Happy Hippo]

20 minutes ago, SM42 said:

 

Not sure if that's the lure of panniers or the pub  at work there. 

 

Andy

Dave need not worry to much about the panniers.  

 

The operating Schedule only has the potential for one pannier in view at any given time, and none at all if we are operating as a post steam railway.

 

 

[PhilJ W]

I was at a toy fair yesterday and one of the stallholders who specialised in diecast aircraft had on display a 1/72 Fairy Gannet. Alongside was a Dragon Rapide to the same scale that was dwarfed by the FG. I never realised that the Fairy Gannet was that big.

[petethemole]

17 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

Glücklich was a member of the SOE.  As far as I was aware his exploits were supposed to be sealed from public view until 2045.

Sadly his handler was a Cambridge graduate.  Garbled details of his missions were discovered several years ago in released KGB archives and published on a web page that has since become unavailable.

[AndyID]

2 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

I was at a toy fair yesterday and one of the stallholders who specialised in diecast aircraft had on display a 1/72 Fairy Gannet. Alongside was a Dragon Rapide to the same scale that was dwarfed by the FG. I never realised that the Fairy Gannet was that big.

 

Yes, big and pretty ugly too 😀   We used to see then at RNAS Abbotsinch before it became Glasgow Airport and replaced Renfrew Airport.

 

I flew from Renfrew to Palma via Manchester in a Vanguard on one occasion. Took ages!

[AndyID]

2 hours ago, petethemole said:

Sadly his handler was a Cambridge graduate.  Garbled details of his missions were discovered several years ago in released KGB archives and published on a web page that has since become unavailable.

 

I think that's where I read that he was also a master of disguise. Pretty amazing when you think about it.

[Happy Hippo]

43 minutes ago, AndyID said:

 

Yes, big and pretty ugly too 😀   We used to see then at RNAS Abbotsinch before it became Glasgow Airport and replaced Renfrew Airport.

 

I flew from Renfrew to Palma via Manchester in a Vanguard on one occasion. Took ages!

My father always referred to the Vickers Vanguard as a flying cattle truck.

[Dave Hunt]

6 hours ago, SM42 said:

 

Not sure if that's the lure of panniers or the pub  at work there. 

 

Andy

 

You can have three guesses.

 

Clue - it isn't the panniers

 

Dave

[Dave Hunt]

6 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

Dave need not worry to much about the panniers.  

 

The operating Schedule only has the potential for one pannier in view at any given time, and none at all if we are operating as a post steam railway.

 

 

 

And none that can be seen from the pub.

 

Dave

[Happy Hippo]

21 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

And none that can be seen from the pub.

 

Dave

We'd take the panniers to the pub as a talking point:

 

All six of them.

[Dave Hunt]

1 hour ago, Happy Hippo said:

My father always referred to the Vickers Vanguard as a flying cattle truck.

 

I remember in the late '70s parking next to a Vanguard at Brindisi that turned out to be a purely cargo aircraft. Until then I didn't know such a thing existed.

 

Dave

[Happy Hippo]

17 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

I remember in the late '70s parking next to a Vanguard at Brindisi that turned out to be a purely cargo aircraft. Until then I didn't know such a thing existed.

 

Dave

A lot of them went straight into the air freight sector. as the passenger work dried up in favour of turbo jets.

 

 

[AndyID]

21 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

A lot of them went straight into the air freight sector. as the passenger work dried up in favour of turbo jets.

 

 

 

I seem to remember they were quite "roomy". Did they also have some opposed seating with tables like a railway carriage or am I confused, again? (It was getting on for 65 years ago 😀).

 

The Palma run was much much quicker in the Dan Dare Comets.

[AndyID]

11 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

The sun has come and gone, and now occasionally peeps through the cloud.

 

 

Not a lot of cloud here. July and August are pretty much non-stop clear skies with occasional thunderstorms. One rolled through last night and did dump a bit of rain but that all dried out by morning.

[Happy Hippo]

58 minutes ago, AndyID said:

 

I seem to remember they were quite "roomy". Did they also have some opposed seating with tables like a railway carriage or am I confused, again? (It was getting on for 65 years ago 😀).

 

The Palma run was much much quicker in the Dan Dare Comets.

The Viscount was 2 + 2 seating with tables.  The Vanguard went to 2 + 3 seating with fold down table.  A bit like the difference between 1st class rail and standard class.

 

My mother's cousin finished his flying career as  a Comet Captain for BEA.  Whenever possible he did like to use the maximum climb rate to altitude which was far superior to the Trident.

 

Apparently Comet pilots with RAF Transport Command (as it was back then) had been warned to tone down these high climb rates when on Medivac flights as the angle they were achieving were making it difficult for the nursing staff to move around the cabin, and allegedly, intravenous drips would not function properly as the patient was about 60 degrees from the horizontal!

 

I think the only other 'elderly' jet that could achieve such sustained high rates of climb was the venerable Canberra.

Edited July 30, 2023 by Happy Hippo

[AndyID]

3 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

The Viscount was 2 + 2 seating with tables.  The Vanguard went to 2 + 3 seating with fold down table.  A bit like the difference between 1st class rail and standard class.

 

My mother's cousin finished his flying career as  a Comet Captain for BEA.  Whenever possible he did like to use the maximum climb rate to altitude which was far superior to the Trident.

 

Apparently Comet pilots with RAF Transport Command (as it was back then) had been warned to tone down these high climb rates when on Medivac flights as the angle they were achieving were making it difficult for the nursing staff to move around the cabin, and allegedly, intravenous drips would not function properly as the patient was about 60 degrees from the horizontal!

 

I think the only other 'elderly' jet that could achieve such sustained high rates of climb was the venerable Canberra.

 

Thanks HH! I wasn't sure if I was imagining  the seating or not 😀

 

The Comets were all Dan Air by the time I flew on them bit remember very well the rate of climb. Literally like a rocket. I've never flown on anything else that could match it.

[SM42]

We have recently returned from the birthday party. 

 

This was held on a 3000 sq m garden that the family owns,  separate from their home, but with a small  building for overnight accommodation with basic facilities. 

 

A bit like an allotment, but with a lawn

 

It was crying out for a narrow gauge railway to facilitate moving stuff about, like firewood for the fire pit and veg from the various beds 

 

Cake was very much in evidence

 

 

Like Cake, owning a separate garden to enjoy at weekends, drink beer in, entertain in,  or maybe grow some stuff, is quite popular. 

 

Andy

Edited July 30, 2023 by SM42

[J. S. Bach]

Night Owl from the Piedmont.

[jamie92208]

It:s grey and overcast here but fresh scones were consumed last night along with some meringue from our local pattissier, Celine.   Life is hard as my only assigned task today is to go for an afternoon and evening session of trainspotting at Angouleme. No doubt a fee for this pass out will be presented in due course.  The shed was alsvisited yesterday and the great fence repair is going well.

 

Jamie

[polybear]

9 hours ago, AndyID said:

 

Thanks HH! I wasn't sure if I was imagining  the seating or not 😀

 

The Comets were all Dan Air by the time I flew on them bit remember very well the rate of climb. Literally like a rocket. I've never flown on anything else that could match it.

 

Hatfield was Rather Good at building Excellent Aircraft.  Now?  It's a fuggin' Housing Estate 🤬

The last time I looked, the (listed) Flight Hangar was a Gym, and the Main Gatehouse a Maccy D's.....

As for all the skills and experience - lost forever.

There may be a Very Large Rant Indeed there somewhere....