Early Risers.

[BSW01]

Evening everyone. Well it's happened again, error 503 service unavailable guru meditation, followed by SQL error, Ho hum, what's heck is going on? This is 2 nights on the trot now!

 

Today started out cold, frosty and foggy start to the day with a temperature of 0C. I dropped Sheila off at her Zumba class, as she had a large box of cakes, (rather defeats the object I think....), so I then took myself off to the gym, which then kept the rest of the day free for........

 

I then spent the afternoon and the early part of the evening putting together some MERG kits purchased a couple of weeks ago, which I will be using to control my layout (when it's built). It's a multiplex system and will require just 4 wires are needed for all the controls, such as points, signals, track occupation etc. (plus track power bus of course). I've completed 4 of the 7 boards so far, but as they are all constructed using miniature, surface mounted components, it's very fiddly! Once I've built the starter kit and experiment kit, I can then have a jolly good play with the system. Something that I'm really looking forward to!

 

Jock. I've seen your thread that was reposted by Dave (HeelyBridge) hope all goes well. Boy, when the NHS moves fast, it really does step up a gear doesn't it? Thoughts and best wishes to you.

 

Simon. Thanks for posting the video, you're very lucky living that close to the railway.

 

Dave. More stunning photo's thanks for posting them.

 

I've just posted a separate note for Jock.

 

Goodnight all.

[PhilJ W]

Just posted my best wishes on Jocks thread, now the Co-codamol is starting to kick in its time for bed, goodnight all.

[andyram]

Nice thought but possibly shot in foot!

 

He has no internet connection in hospital. Does his remaining family use his RMWeb account or have an email contact?

 

I, obviously, do not wish to decry our efforts in supporting Jock; I'm looking at the posted evidence and the wider picture. If he can not access RMWeb, how is he going to see the new thread? I'm probably talking out of turn here and I suspect, given those involved, that this has been thought through. I merely, as is my wont and habit, ask the question

 

Of course, my thoughts and best wishes are with Jock and his family at this time.

 

They are also, of course, with all of whom on this thread are in need!

I think the whole point of the new thread is to bring all the wishes to Jock together so that they can be placed into an email. I think it is a cracking idea and the least we can do for a man who has always had kind words for others. If there is no internet connection in hospital then I am sure an emailed document could be printed off, if Joanna so wishes, and taken in to the man himself.

 

I, as my post on the thread suggests, raised a glass of malt to the man himself tonight and hope we hear from him soon. I would also like to pass on good wishes to Is for her ongoing treatment. I also hope Bob is feeling better soon.

 

I have just got back from a second evening at the Derby beer festival, held in the historic Roundhouse building. Sarah and I enjoyed another very nice evening sampling some more of the 400+ ales available. We had gone prepared today having highlighted the guide to make our desired ales easier to pick out. After a shaky start with a couple of average ones things improved once I moved onto the dark ales. Cairngorm Gold and Black Adder being very enjoyable but not quite topping Castle Rock's Midnight Owl from yesterday. I ended the night with a pint of that. Sarah found a Raspberry favoured ale and spent much of the night on that!

 

I have enjoyed some of the photographic talents again today. Lovely stills from Dave (TG) and a great video too. I usually make the Severn Valley during the school holidays, but not this time. I certainly enjoyed the Caprotti 5 emerging from the mist. The father of a friend of Sarah's is a fireman at Butterley and had promised to organise a footplate ride for me on this loco. Sadly this did not come to fruitition before the end of its boiler ticket. I see Andy.p managed better luck. Was that at the Rail-ex event sir?

 

I hope Friday gives well. You never know RMWeb may actually manage 24 hours online!!

[Two_sugars]

The "Jock Thread" is up to 3 pages as I type . . . . says it all really. . . .

 

Thanks for the pics, Dave. . .And good news about Is. . . . 

 

Good to see you posting Pete(trisonic)

 

Brian. .. Fiddly little bu66ers aren't they?. . . I've built a couple of servo controllers.

 

 

Goodnight everyone. . . . .Sleep well .

 

 

 

John

[Gwiwer]

Morning all.

 

Another brief outage while the guru meditated.  I have no control over his bodily functions but would appreciate him doing it at a slightly later time if possible

 

Hasn't fixed the problems with the site namely clipped posts, half-pages converted to italics and most of all Jock being in hospital.  If only a few lines of code could fix the latter ........

 

Found the relevant post by going back into his profile and looking up other posts.  Not a topic I normally inhabit so I'd missed it.  Wishes posted in the appropriate place.  Everything crossed.

[newbryford]

Missing reading Jock's posts already after another short night.

 

All is seemingly well with wife's work and I've left the night guy to it.

 

Friday will be POETD&ES@T

 

New Bryford is as ready as it can be for this weekend's D&E show at Telford. It's in the van, parked on my mate's drive about 300 yards away. The stock has had lots of wheels cleaned in the past couple of days and that's ready in boxes to be loaded onto the van tomorrow.

There is a hour and half of driving work from 8.30, but we'll be ready with van at 1030 to nip to wife's work for a coffee and bacon butty and then take on the M6 southbound on a Friday lunchtime. (In the words of a well known explorer, we may be gone some time)

 

Looking forward to meeting any ER's that can make it - I know EMT Duncan should be there.

 

There is a provisional plan to watch a ice hockey match in Telford on the Saturday evening. I think I've talked the other three layout team into their first match. The exhibition finishes at 4.45, the hotel is next door and the ice rink is 5 minutes walk away with a face-off time of 6pm.

Although it's not "my" team of the Blackburn Hawks playing, I always enjoy watching other games and this is a league above with a match between the Telford Tigers and the Manchester Phoenix. Game should finish by 8.30 leaving us with plenty of time for food and beer Nando's is next door to the ice rink.....

 

Hope those that get chance to POE do so.

 

Cheers,

Mick

[Gwiwer]

Duly noted that Debs and the collies have popped into the Jock thread to wish him well.

 

Likewise Debs - good to hear from you.  

[ikks]

.....some footage of 73129 emerging from the mist at Eardington (during a recent SVR Autumn gala) towards the end of this clip Andy.....

 

 

Dave

Fantastic video Dave, thanks for posting.

 

Rgds.....Mike

[emt_911]

Morning all. Chilly but not too cold this morning. Plenty of coffee being consumed before dealing with what could be a very long day.

 

Mick - Whatever happens, I will be at Telford. The bag is in the van, room booked and hopefully a short day before driving up this afternoon.

 

Have a good day everyone

[Robert]

Morning all,

 

It is another chilly morning here - the temperature is down to around 0°C.

 

I have a few meetings to attend today, so I had better get on with things.  However, I will be dropping over to Jock's thread before I do so.

 

Have a good day everyone...

[Oldddudders]

Morning all

 

Just a note to say what a spiffing idea of Flavio's to create a Jock thread. I know how much the multitude of good wishes on RMweb helped lift me in 2012 after my bereavement, and when he reads it, as he will in some form, it will be a huge fillip for Jock, too. Nice one, il Dottore!

 

Today I see my urologist about the proposed further surgery, which is again reckoned to be trivial.

 

House is slightly less of a mess as Jon the builder finished earlier in the week, and I am slowly getting things back into the "new" room. Sherry arrives on Monday, and I need her to help sort out room layout etc. No, not railway layout - that remains firmly in the barn!

 

Hope your week is coming to a dignified close.

[Barry O]

Good morning most, good evening Rick and others down under.

 

Eye doctor first thing, then house tidying, then weathering....busy day ahead methinks.

 

Looks like it will be a big email Flavio. It just shows the impact Jock has made on RMWeb.

 

Noticed some negative waves...not allowed and not really needed at the moment, but lots of positives as well.great!

 

Girding of loins being undertaken in preparation for our club move tomorrow. A light has been seen at the end of the tunnel!

 

Have a great day/night everyone

Baz

[chrisf]

Good morning one and all

 

I discovered once again last night just how long a seemingly small m*d*ll*ng task can take - two hours to fix an almost invisible detail to the sides of a coach.  Clearly we P4 practitioners need to be made of stern stuff.  Much more remains to be done, as always.  Today will be unremarkable, or so I plan.

 

The local rag contained the news that a former gaffer of mine has died at the age of 98.  I had had no idea that he was still alive.  It is frightening to recall just when our paths first crossed - almost 46 years ago.  The building where we both worked is being converted into allegedly luxury flats and it is a very long time since I bumped into anyone who inhabited it at the same time as I did.  What I will remember most about my late overlord is his handwriting, which was even worse than mine and that is saying something.  Even his signature was difficult to decipher: one translation came out as 'Amy Doormat' and the nickname stuck.  In those palmy days I enjoyed my work.  Now I enjoy not working.  How times change.

 

Tomorrow sees the Biggleswade show, a mere hour's bus journey from here.  It is also quite important for something else which I shall explain then.  Ooh!  Suspense!

 

While our thoughts are clearly with Jock at this critical time, let them also be with the many others who have medical conditions.  As always.

 

Chris 

[NGT6 1315]

Mawnin' awl. Had another lie-in today. I guess I'll be doing domestic stuff mostly, aside from buying some food – then to put my feet up anew .

 

Later…

[roundhouse]

Fingers crossed for some good news about amok.

Train was late last night but we had a good evening in our local pub.Pizza good too.

This morning up at 5am and spent an hour weathering the grain elevator. Its now temporarily glued back in place on the layout.


Shame that we didn't stay at home his morning as our train was late arriving into Redhill due to tow previous trains being late. Now sitting on our LBG service but no relief driver to take it onwards to LBG. The following train is a Vic train and short formation today so not much point changing to that train. Also a problem with hot lets in our unit as only half of them working. Gaurds just apologised for that.

This messing around has now made the terminating train from Tonbridge miss the connection for the Vic train due to no spare platforms.

Oh and a failed tamper in the up siding which is purportedly failed in he early hours.

On our way now 15 minutes late. Let's hope that they don't terminate it at East Croydon.

 

Update

It did actually continue to LBG although 20 late by the time it arrived. Also no heating so my feet are like blocks of ice.

Edited February 19, 2016 by roundhouse

[The Lurker]

Morning all.

 

I must echo the comments of others that it was a great idea of Flavio to set up a thread that can be e-mailed to Jock.

 

Frost was on the car as I left home under beautiful blue skies.

 

Southeastern trains were up to their usual tricks again last night. They were announcing the 47 was on time until well after 47. By dint of paying attention to the unit numbers I was able to spot that the 47 was in London Bridge at about 47 - just that the unit was still going to Cannon Street whereupon a defective door manifested itself again. I should really make the effort to actually go for the train before it, especially as like today I am in the office well before my "official" start time.

 

Tomorrow Younger Lurker and I will be visiting dinosaurs. We'll be harnessing his latest interest by going to the Natural History Museum. In contrast to his elder brother (who also had a dinosaur phase of epic proportions) what really interests him is how long ago they lived. "How many millions of year ago would you like to have lived Daddy?"

 

I quite enjoy. I liked dinosaurs when I was a boy and I still find palaeontology interesting. Hmm, dinosaurs and Southern Region steam....is there a pattern?

[Tony_S]

Morning all.

Foggy here. Freezing, just,too!

We will probably have a wander round Utrecht today, have a look in a few old buildings and have lunch.

Matthew will join us for a meal this evening.

Tony

[jamie92208]

Morning all from a bright and sunny but rather chilly village, there is still frost on the roof of the house opposite.  At least shows that I haven't got a cannabis factory as a neighbour.

 

Such a lot has already been said about Jock that I don't feel I can usefully add anything extra, but thanks to Flavio for the thread and I've made my comment there.

 

My commiserations to our commuter friends in the south east.  How glad I am that I gave up the daily grind when I did.

 

The Boss has departed to set up things for a do at church so I've yet to decide what to do with the day.  I suspect that I will spend an hour or so attempting to tidy up the modelling room then try to actually do some modelling.  The interior of the water tank needs some detail adding.

 

Regards to all those suffering and I hope that the day brings some relief from your travails.

 

Jamie

[Coombe Barton]

Working at home today - car in the garage

 

Must be some sort of record hat Excel has crashed on me twice before 09:00

[Torr Giffard LSWR 1951-71]

Mornin' all,

 

All good wishes to those that ail....do your best Jock

 

A tad brass monkey in The Moorlands for the short anticlockwise this morning, some ice dancing on the untreated local roads.....

 

 

 

 

Feathered ones provided for

 

Some modelling on the cards today

 

Enjoy what you do

 

Dave

Edited February 19, 2016 by Torr Giffard LSWR 1951-71

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. At last I think I have discovered why my Atlas 'World of Stobart' models have ceased. I attempted to phone them this morning and got out my statements for my account number only to find that the last one had a different account number and was not linked to my account and not paid. All the other details on the statement  were correct except for the customer number. I think if a cockwomble league table should be compiled, Atlas Editions will be near the top of the league. Will be going into town later, I have been looking at one of those walking frames with the wheels and seat and a local specialist shop has some very good ones, the one I like is only £79 but I will have to check that I can fit it in the car.

[edcayton]

Good morning all. I've said my piece on the Jock thread.

 

 Now, commuting troubles.The whole idea of commuting has been railway-led, think Metro-Land and so on. As the trains have got faster the commutes have got longer, the South coast by third rail and more lately the HST's have extended the range to Bristol, York and beyond and of course East Anglia is now commuter land.

 

So, where am I going with this? Well, we have increased line speeds, acceleration etc. New signalling has improved headway between trains and we have extended train lengths and platforms. In some areas extra lines have been laid. I don't think we'll ever meet the demand (like the NHS), and what happens is that more and more people suffer the misery that our fellow ER's and others endure every work day. When my son was commuting daily by train his life was made awful.

 

In my view this whole concept needs examining. Working from home will help. The 24/7 society will also help as it will reduce the "peaks". Long shifts such as the NHS employ will reduce the number of journeys needed. I think all of these are really nibbling at the edges and that really the answer lies in moving as much as possible out of London (Northern Powerhouse anyone?). I just don't see throwing endless money at the railway is the  way forward. 

 

Any thoughts?

#

Ed

[skipepsi]

Good morning all. I've said my piece on the Jock thread.

 

 Now, commuting troubles.The whole idea of commuting has been railway-led, think Metro-Land and so on. As the trains have got faster the commutes have got longer, the South coast by third rail and more lately the HST's have extended the range to Bristol, York and beyond and of course East Anglia is now commuter land.

 

So, where am I going with this? Well, we have increased line speeds, acceleration etc. New signalling has improved headway between trains and we have extended train lengths and platforms. In some areas extra lines have been laid. I don't think we'll ever meet the demand (like the NHS), and what happens is that more and more people suffer the misery that our fellow ER's and others endure every work day. When my son was commuting daily by train his life was made awful.

 

In my view this whole concept needs examining. Working from home will help. The 24/7 society will also help as it will reduce the "peaks". Long shifts such as the NHS employ will reduce the number of journeys needed. I think all of these are really nibbling at the edges and that really the answer lies in moving as much as possible out of London (Northern Powerhouse anyone?). I just don't see throwing endless money at the railway is the  way forward. 

 

Any thoughts?

#

Ed

Yes move the government to Birmingham every ministry parliament everything!

[Coombe Barton]

Yes move the government to Birmingham every ministry parliament everything!

NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

 

We have enough c*ckwombles as it is!

[Northroader]

Birmingham ain't far enough, try South Georgia Islands.