The Night Mail

[Dave Hunt]

On 19/08/2022 at 16:29, Happy Hippo said:

As you can see, the good old Army poncho is still getting used🤣

 

 

 

I thought that you would have removed the finger guards as now being an unnecessary accoutrement?

 

Dave

[Dave Hunt]

Returned last night from an excellent long weekend based in Oakham starting last Friday with some members of the Midland Railway Society looking at parts of the Midland system in Rutland and nearby, both still in use and derelict. It was led by one of our members who had done an amazing job planning an itinerary and even producing an eighteen page booklet covering the history of the lines as well as maps and diagrams together with the detailed itinerary. Each morning and afternoon included a tea and cakes stop at an appropriate venue, which he had assiduously tested beforehand, and all of them offered LDC! Our evenings were spent in the brewery bar and eatery next to Oakham station where several real ales were consumed and rated whilst, on the Friday anyway, we were entertained by quite a few Class 66s hauling trains of hopper wagons trundling past. 

 

Since returning I have been trying to catch up with TNM, which in my absence has been enlarged by a huge amount of traffic that has taken ages to get through but eventually here we are.

 

 Dave

[SM42]

5 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

 

Since returning I have been trying to catch up with TNM, which in my absence has been enlarged by a huge amount of traffic that has taken ages to get through but eventually here we are.

 

 Dave

 

I think it gained  a couple of pages whilst I  was batting across  Europe so a whole weekend's worth, you've done well to catch up with this quick

 

Andy

[Dave Hunt]

3 minutes ago, SM42 said:

 

I think it gained  a couple of pages whilst I  was batting across  Europe so a whole weekend's worth, you've done well to catch up with this quick

 

Andy

 

Enabled largely by Jill and friend taking my ten year old granddaughter, who is staying with us, out shopping, thus leaving me to my own devices for the afternoon.

 

They've gone to Telford and I was thinking of giving them directions to HH's residence but then thought that there are some acts that are beyond common decency.

 

Dave

[DenysW]

21 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

... Midland Railway Society looking at parts of the Midland system in Rutland and nearby, both still in use and derelict. ...

Not quite Rutland, but a few years back it was VERY disconcerting to see moving London Underground trains crossing the A46 using the (former) Midland Mainline Melton/Nottingham route. It appears still to exist from Melton to the outskirts of Nottingham, and to be used for testing odd ideas. The section over the A46 has two substantially different overhead electrification implementations, for example. They also used to park the Tube trains just to one side of the bridge, hence the inclusion of 'moving'.

 

As for common decency, I assume you are trying to shield the granddaughter not HH?

Edited August 22, 2022 by DenysW
typo

[Oldddudders]

Still recovering from 13 performances of 'Allo 'Allo, two on Saturday. Dinner every evening has had to be over well before 6, and we were seldom home much before 11. 

 

Here, a reluctant René is accepting the parrot cage, in which is a cleverly-disguised radio to talk to London, which he doesn't relish doing. My costume is one of four I had to wear for each performance. And every time I am on stage, René tells me to get out!

 

[DaveF]

 

Yesterday was the usual monthly meeting of the Northumberland area group of the n gauge society in Longhirst Village Hall, some distance inland from my house.  I decided to go, having been looking after Mum until she died it was the first time I've been since early 2019, it was very good to catch up with everyone again - though a number are away on holiday.  I had to go by a different route from normal as the road I normally use had been blocked by a serious accident.  My alternative route via Morpeth took no longer. so I must remember that in future.

 

The meeting was to test the group's large modular layout ready for an exhibition at Alnwick next month.  I helped assemble it and then saw it working.  I don't take any stock as I model Switzerland in n gauge.  I haven't built a module for it, I gave up building exhibition layouts with friends in another group back in the 1990s, after which I worked on trade stands until shortly before Covid.

 

It was a very enjoyable afternoon, I enjoyed seeing some of the most recent n gauge releases running.  The layout was not at its full size yesterday, just about 18'x10' allowing full length trains to be run and acommodated in the fiddle yard.   

 

I had to leave a bit early as one of my neigbhbours was having a tea in aid of a cancer charity and I had said I'd call in.  I got there after the actual food so I was given a plate of sandwiches, cakes and scones to take home.  They were delicious.

 

David

[Happy Hippo]

1 hour ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

I thought that you would have removed the finger guards as now being an unnecessary accoutrement?

 

Dave

For me maybe, but other users might still find them 'handy'.

[Happy Hippo]

This morning's task was to have a bash at some brick and block work using EPS foam as the building materiel.

 

The first attempt was some 'brick work'.  I painted the bricks in random colours to see how the foam looked.

 

Pock marked springs to mind. From a distance it doesn't look to bad, but the photo highlights every nook and cranny.

 

The next attempt was a dressed stone.  Again it would propably look better in tones of grey/green, but sandstone was suitable for the test.

 

This time once I'd scribed the courses, I went over the foam, compressing it with a small piece of stone, which also impressed bumps and crevices into the foam. I suspect this compression method would work even better if done prior to scribing the courses into the foam.

 

 

Obviously room for improvement, but the  initial practice would indicate that this method works well and will improve as I get used to working with the EPS.

 

This stuff is quite coarse compared to the likes of Florist's foam, but it is quite robust, whilst the florist's foam tends to be a bit crumbly.

 

It will probably get more time consuming once I have to start inserting the mortar courses using dry plaster and a touch of fine sand (applied dry and then wetted with dilute pva in much the same way as ballast is stuck down.

 

Edited August 22, 2022 by Happy Hippo

[Winslow Boy]

4 hours ago, SM42 said:

 

I said hello in French 

 

He replied in English and Polish 

 

After that it was all in English 

 

My O level French only gets to hello, please, thank you, numbers, buying an ice cream and a few others words that are useful, like identifying a cake shop.

 

It doesn't extend to current affairs

 

Andy

 

So doesn't include - how much is that cake please?

[simontaylor484]

What got me when studying French at school wete the phrases you would never use 

Eg La sange dans le abre

The monkey is in the tree , seriously when is that phrase going to come up. 

 

[Winslow Boy]

3 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

I'd be happy with eight fingers like most normal people.

 

It's the opposing thumbs that make all the difference isn't it Big H.

[SM42]

Back to the grindstone tonight ☹️

 

It has just been announced that major decoration work ( removing artex ceiling and re plastering ) will commence in the lounge in the second week of September. 

 

This will require the complete emptying of said room and sealing off from rest of house for the  duration. 

 

The new west wing railway room will therefore start its  period of use as furniture store but means the stuff chucked in to accommodate the in laws  at the end of July will have to be sorted first. 

 

I also have received details on the number of new shelves required in the airing cupboard now the water tank has gone.

 

It's gong to get busy again around here.

 

Andy

[Winslow Boy]

3 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

I thought that you would have removed the finger guards as now being an unnecessary accoutrement?

 

Dave

 

Keeps them for old time sake.

[Happy Hippo]

2 minutes ago, SM42 said:

 

 

I also have received details on the number of new shelves required in the airing cupboard now the water tank has gone.

 

 

This would seem to be the ideal opportunity to completely overestimate the ply, timber strips, glues and screws required for the shelving, and use what's accidentally left over on railway room structures.

Edited August 22, 2022 by Happy Hippo

[SM42]

9 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

 

So doesn't include - how much is that cake please?

 

When it comes to cake, who cares?

 

9 minutes ago, simontaylor484 said:

What got me when studying French at school wete the phrases you would never use 

Eg La sange dans le abre

The monkey is in the tree , seriously when is that phrase going to come up. 

 

 

 

The one phrase I remember from the dictionary found in the back of the text book ( I remember the English, not the French) is

 

" I have a nose bleed. Where is the hospital"

 

I can't really see that you would need to explain such a predicament in any language. 

 

Andy

[Winslow Boy]

I'm curious @SM42 when an announcement is made is it like the Royals ie is it posted at a strategic location ( such as the entrance to SM42 Towers on a piece of paper or is it more a Town Crier you know Alya Alya all who wish to know the forthcoming are be done.

 

yours in anticipation

 

Ian no sheds but jammed garage.

[SM42]

4 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

I'm curious @SM42 when an announcement is made is it like the Royals ie is it posted at a strategic location ( such as the entrance to SM42 Towers on a piece of paper or is it more a Town Crier you know Alya Alya all who wish to know the forthcoming are be done.

 

yours in anticipation

 

Ian no sheds but jammed garage.

 

It normally comes randomly during a conversation 

 

Occasionally it starts with " Oh I forgot to tell you " followed by a pronouncement that includes "tomorrow"

 

Written instructions are rare so plausible deniability can come into play. 

 

Andy

Two sheds and about to be rammed railway room.

[jamie92208]

4 hours ago, Oldddudders said:

My French also doesn't extend to current affairs. Sherry has made it quite clear those are not to be considered. 

Does that include Raisins de Korinth.  They go very nicely in Eccles Cakes.

 

Jamie

[New Haven Neil]

7 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

On hobbies and audio, one of the problems audio hobbyists have really struggled to come to terms with is that audio has long been a 'solved problem'. In vinyl days a lot of the tweakery did make a difference, there were interactions between room and turntables and it was important to be able to set up the arm and cartridge. Amplifiers were still evolving (though the measured performance of solid state amplifiers was already excellent in the early 70's. If equipment had valves they needed upkeep etc. Once music went digital all the need for tweakery basically disappeared, performance of amplifiers was way beyond any audible thresholds for distortion and noise and speakers have been a mature technology for decades. You do have to set speakers up but there are plenty of guides to help you do that and nowadays there are lots of digital processing technologies to do a lot of the set-up automatically by using a mic to listen to test signals and adjusting the speaker input. However many audio enthusiasts cling to the notion that digital is like analogue, buy into snake oil like cable lifters, magic rocks (no I'm not making that up, people fall for it), using valves to add euphonic distortion, a faith in the superiority of analogue etc. Actually if people like the sound of vinyl that's a personal choice, but it should be admitted that technically it's an inferior format with a much narrower dynamic range (in fairness largely obviated by the use of compression in recordings over the last few decades) and higher noise. The characteristics of vinyl can actually be recreated digitally and given that almost all recordings have been recorded digitally for decades it amazes me many still cling to the idea that music can't be properly reproduced digitally (if you buy vinyl you're getting a digital recording on an analogue carrier). The ones that amuse me are the ones who buy a turntable with a wi-fi or BT link to wireless speakers and tell me that digital technology can never produce the same sound as analogue with absolutely no sense of irony. The result has been the hobby getting progressively sillier and withdrawing into deep depths of voodoo and snake oil. For all that, I still love audio, but I love it as a bit of a gear head, not because I'm under any illusions about sound quality. I feel the same about cameras and bicycles, there's nothing wrong with buying a nice bike or camera if it's what you like and you can afford it, but I think we should be honest about why we like these things.

 

Do you remember the green pen to paint on the rim of CD's to 'stop light scatter' - had to be green - (some) snakes are green so the oil is green....🤣

[Oldddudders]

3 hours ago, SM42 said:

It has just been announced that major decoration work ( removing artex ceiling and re plastering ) will commence in the lounge in the second week of September. 

 

This will require the complete emptying of said room and sealing off from rest of house for the  duration. 

To which the correct response is

 

"OK, I'll find a hotel for three weeks. Txt me when your contractor has finished."

[polybear]

3 hours ago, SM42 said:

Back to the grindstone tonight ☹️

 

It has just been announced that major decoration work ( removing artex ceiling and re plastering ) will commence in the lounge in the second week of September. 

 

This will require the complete emptying of said room and sealing off from rest of house for the  duration. 

 

The new west wing railway room will therefore start its  period of use as furniture store but means the stuff chucked in to accommodate the in laws  at the end of July will have to be sorted first. 

 

I also have received details on the number of new shelves required in the airing cupboard now the water tank has gone.

 

It's gong to get busy again around here.

 

Andy

 

3 hours ago, Winslow Boy said:

 

So doesn't include - how much is that cake please?

 

Much more importantly....

"All that cake looks stale - allow Bear to dispose of it for you at no charge"

 

3 hours ago, Winslow Boy said:

Ian no sheds but jammed garage.

 

Bear jammed shed and no garage ☹️

[Tony_S]

6 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

giving them directions to HH's residence but then thought that there are some acts that are beyond common decency.

 

He might possibly have done something dastardly like encouraging your granddaughter to ask you to keep  a pony at your house for her. 

[Happy Hippo]

6 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

Enabled largely by Jill and friend taking my ten year old granddaughter, who is staying with us, out shopping, thus leaving me to my own devices for the afternoon.

 

They've gone to Telford and I was thinking of giving them directions to HH's residence but then thought that there are some acts that are beyond common decency.

 

Dave

Thank goodness for that.

 

Nyda had finished the ironing so there would have been nothing for Jill to do....

 

Apart from eat yet more LDC:  I'll bet she's sick of the sight of it after your obviously riotous weekend.

[Happy Hippo]

4 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

He might possibly have done something dastardly like encouraging your granddaughter to ask you to keep  a pony at your house for her. 

It would have been a water horse!