Early Risers.

[Dave Hunt]

3 hours ago, Barry O said:

Dave

My brother in law was at Widenrath (Engines). He was supposed to work on Harriers but wangled his way onto the Pembroke and Dove flight. By that time he new a lot of ins and outs in the RAF)

 

The basement in the block of flats they lived in was a bar..complete with cam net wall and ceiling coverings and a bar.  He kept feeding me beer at a party there. A 15 year old Baz hoovered it up..he was duly impressed but..it was free and I was used to ir due to post rugby match drinks.

Baz

 

Baz, I was there from early '77 to May '80 on F4s presumably after you acquired your well-known drinking ability 

 

Dave

[Happy Hippo]

3 hours ago, Barry O said:

 

My brother in law was at Widenrath (Engines). He was supposed to work on Harriers but wangled his way onto the Pembroke and Dove flight. By that time he new a lot of ins and outs in the RAF)

Wouldn't we all like to get down and dirty with some Gypsy Queens rather than prancing around a winged horse?

 

Might have made a bit of a goof with what he thought was an never ending supply of Belgian Chocolate.  it was Leonides in the Pe(r)mbroke, not Leonidas

Edited June 13, 2020 by Happy Hippo

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. My usual tea supplier has shut down because of Covid-19, not even mail order. So I then searched for, and found another supplier. Once I had placed my order I checked out the teapots that they had for sale. I'm now getting ads here for teapots. I have just 'won' an item on E-bay, a Lesney Matchbox shop. Quite pleased as I've only paid half the price asked for similar models. Its a bit battered/playworn but that doesn't matter as I intend to repaint it anyway.

Edited June 13, 2020 by PhilJ W

[tetsudofan]

Had bit of a scare early this morning, went to the loo and seem as though I had overdosed on beetroot. Having had bladder/prostrate problems (which have been under control) you always think the worst and at that time in the morning you don't know what to do..

 

At 6:30am I phoned 111 and got through straight away. The guy took all my details and said that he would pass my details to the local out-of-hours doctors set-up who would then contact me.

 

The phone rang at 6:45am and I explained what had happened and the doctor ran through all the symptoms etc. and suggested I visit my local Minor Injuries Clinic where I could see one of the Out-of-Hours doctors. Would I like an appointment at 10:00am or 11:00am?

 

Chose the 10:00am slot and arrived on time together with a sample. Was handed a facemask and asked to wait whilst the doctor put on all his PPE gear. Few minutes later he was checking my pulse, blood pressure and body temperature that were all spot on. We chatted for sometime and he is sure, based upon my medical history, that its not what I thought it was.  He thinks that I've got an infection for which he prescribed an antibiotic - the first antibiotic I've been prescribed for many, many years.

 

Was on my home at 10:25am armed with a prescription and found a small pharmacy on the way who were able to dispense the antibiotics after which I had a pleasant walk home arriving back at 10:45am.

 

The doctor did say that if something grotty should develop over the weekend I should, as I live by myself, phone 999. He also suggested that I should, to be on the safe side, contact my surgery (at which he used to be a partner but  I never met him) early next week to arrange a PSA test which I normally have done annually in July/August.

 

What has amazed me today was how quickly all of the above happened, especially how quickly the Out-of-Hours service reacted. This was in complete contrast to when I last had to contact the service when I was caring for my late Mother. At that time you had to call SEDOC (as it was called) who would then, within the next hour or so, phone back to discuss the problem and decide what action was to be taken. At the end I had no confidence in them.

 

The 111 service has certainly worked for me today. Thank you NHS.

 

Keith

[grandadbob]

Many congratulations  to Sir and Lady TH on their anniversary.

[PhilJ W]

3 minutes ago, grandadbob said:

Many congratulations  to Sir and Lady TH on their anniversary.

Likewise.

[tigerburnie]

Anniversary congrats to GDB, STH and their respective SWMBO's, which reminds me I'd better get myself in some sort of order for ours later on this month, do ya think flowers from the garden with added greenfly will cut the mustard...…………………….?

[Simon G]

3 hours ago, southern42 said:

 

That reminds me of the days when we exhibited our shunting layout, Avago.  As the name implies, the viewer did the operating - three buttons for Forward, Stop, Reverse and toggle on/off switches to select the sidings. At one of the National Quarry Museum, Llanberis, February Half Term events, in the freezing cold, a young lad of about eight or nine was captivated by it and returned the next day, accompanied by his Dad, just to give me a picture he had drawn of it in felt tip pens of the loco shunting the wagons on the rails.  Forget the scenery, just capture the action!  Brilliant! Another railway modeller who will go far.  We sold the Layout but I still have that boy's picture.  Girls were often the better operators, especially at working out a strategy, but more likely than having a go themselves, directed their younger brothers!  How often do we underestimate the ability of a child, I wonder?

 

 

3 hours ago, southern42 said:

 

 

 

 

That reminds me of a shunting puzzle we have used in club room open days before now.  It consists of three sidings, a headshunt and a Loco and a number of pre-positioned wagons.  The operator has to shunt things to get the wagons into particular positions in the sidings.  A number of young lads had had a go and either couldn’t do it, or took ages.  A young girl came up and studied the puzzle for about 15 minutes without moving anything, then faultlessly did the shunting in almost record time.  It was most impressive they way she must have worked out a plan and then executed it.

 

The damp and drizzle has finally given way to warmth and some sunshine.  Outside activities will be done this afternoon.

 

Happy Anniversary to Mr and Mrs Topham Hatt!

 

[Florence Locomotive Works]

Morning all,

Just had a nice drive downtown in the Alfa, currently eating breakfast with a friend. Warm and humid this morning, but not overly so. 

[Happy Hippo]

2 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

 I was there

You are getting to sound like Max Boyce!

 

I'm glad to see my taste in shirts is beginning to rub off on you.

[Happy Hippo]

10 hours ago, AndyID said:

 

I didn't know what it was and the guy at the junk yard in Paterson NJ who sold me it didn't know what it was either. Must have been around 1992. For $60 I thought "what the heck". (Actually it was MrsID who spotted it advertised in the local paper.)

 

 

 

 

 

That is a real class act.

 

Especially the saddle lock, necessary, but often omitted, especially on smaller cheaper machines.

 

Never mind the groan button, I want an envy button.

[southern42]

17 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

Alleged to be the longest single-word place-name in the UK but to my mind it is two words.  Not even Welsh has four letter l's together in one word anywhere.  However let's not spoil their fun   

 

My Welsh colleague at the House of Fun speaks three languages, the others being English and Polish.  I suggested we have a Welsh-speaking day greeting everyone with "Croeso i Cyffordd Clapham" to which his response was a mildly surprised "How did you know cyffordd?"  How do I know anything?  I learned it along the road through life.  Sad, innit? 

 

One item of note from earlier.  Today saw the first train-spotter return to the House of Fun since March.  Normally we have a handful every day and a much larger number if anything steamy or really unusual is about.  They have been conspicuous by their absence of late.  While that helps to keep total numbers down they don't mingle with the regular passengers and prefer the solace of platform ends.  At no time has there been any specific directive about "no train spotting" though whether it would have constituted an "essential journey" might have been a moot point.  

 

Pizza followed Friday Drinks earlier and was washed down with some more Friday drinks.  The result is that I now have no dishes to wash from tonight, a couple of boxes and some bottles to recycle and may have a strange sensation in the head tomorrow morning.  I'll let you know .....  

 

Stay well.

 

It was purely an advertising gimmick in the days of  the 1860s railway, the village station being along the route of the 'Irish Mail' train (1848-2002), London - Crewe - Chester - Holyhead and ferry to Dublin.

Edited June 13, 2020 by southern42

[Gwiwer]

31 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

Never mind the groan button, I want an envy button.

And a workshop in which to make good use of it.

[45156]

Afternoon All

 

All posts since I last visited read and rated - and generic greetings to all ERs.

 

Happy anniversary GDB and STH - and happy birthday Gemma.

 

First of the driveway gates wire brushed and painted in part - rest tomorrow after A6 car boot.

 

Regards to All

Stewart

[southern42]

 

16 minutes ago, 45156 said:

............

 

Happy anniversary GDB and STH - and happy birthday Gemma.

 

..................

 

Regards to All

Stewart

 

And the same from me.

_____________

Best wishes

Polly

 

[The Stationmaster]

15 hours ago, AndyID said:

 

Presumably because three-link couplings a much more able to withstand a shock load?

I think it was down to a combination of reasons - partially the probability pf a screw coupling jumping off it was tightened properly as the train rebounded on acceleration and braking, possibly the chance of pulling the thread if the screw coupling was actually used properly,  undoubtedly not wanting the very likely risk of the screw coupling not being used properly (inevitable that it wouldn't have been knowing Goods Shunters all too wellI over the years),  the difficulty of hooking and unhooking a screw coupling with a shunting pole compared with a three link, and most likely of all avoiding the  spreading of rebound and buffing shocks between tightly coupled vehicles and getting it magnified as a result.

 

The fact that the GWR went to the trouble op designing an alternative to the screw coupling for use on wagons also tells a tale because Instanter Couplings were not supposed to be used in the short position between unfitted vehicles.  And that tends to confirm the worries about rebound shocks being passed through tightly coupled, vehicles more than anything else because the Instanter strength is the same in both configirations of use.

[Barry O]

4 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

Baz, I was there from early '77 to May '80 on F4s presumably after you acquired your well-known drinking ability 

 

Dave

He was supposed to go to 3 Squadron on Harrier . He had brought that into service (on the engine side) at Wittering on 1(F) squadron. That was because he worked on Hunters in Avon and Hunters were part of the conversion unit for Harrier ( which had an extra control knob to a Hunter. The Vector thrust selector...

 

Baz

[Barry O]

Hurrah! Sun has been out and it is appreciably warmer than this morning. Inspected eyelids now adding buffers to some goods carrying miniature items.

 

Baz

[Shedman5]

Afternoon All, Garden Furniture building chaos today, other half ordered wrong part for one of the items  (So glad it was nothing to do with me) So supplier contacted correct part will be delivered in the next 10 working days( so they say ) and wrong part to be sent back.

 

A nice glass of red is needed after the stresses and strains of the day!

 

Happy anniversary GDB and STH - and happy birthday Gemma.

 

 

Take care all

 

[iL Dottore]

17 minutes ago, The Stationmaster said:

....The fact that the GWR went to the trouble op designing an alternative to the screw coupling for use on wagons also tells a tale because Instanter Couplings were not supposed to be used in the short position between unfitted vehicles....

I’ve always wondered about the “instanter“ coupling, it always seemed to be to me neither fish nor fowl. Perhaps the GWR/WR cognoscenti on this thread could care to illuminate me as to the whys and wherefores of this particular coupling.

 

Congratulations to the Topham Hatts! 

 

It seems to me that - certainly in the UK -marriages nowadays seem to fall mostly into one of two extreme camps: the first whereby the couple divorce before the wedding presents have even barely been completely unwrapped, the second whereby the happy couple rack up innumerable anniversaries, with only “death stopping play” (to bastardise a cricketing saying). Presumably the secret to a long lasting marriage is for give-and-take to be present on both sides. To paraphrase an old aviation saying: “There are old husbands and there are bold husbands, there are very few old, bold husbands!!“

 

Some data I have seen suggest that the older you are when you get married, the longer the marriage will be and the more successful it will be. I wonder how many of the long serving husbands on ER were enlisted into service early (say early to late 20s, and how many joined up at a later age (anything over 30 years of age).

Now that Mrs ID and the Wolfpack have returned, I can start cooking again (although I am a pretty good cook [according to friends I have not managed to poison] I really don’t like to cook just for myself), so this week has two Japanese dinners, one Southern US dinner, one Tex-Mex dinner and one Italian dinner scheduled.

 

Now off to cook Tempura Udon!

Enjoy your supper. May be back later.

iD

[J. S. Bach]

2 hours ago, Florence Locomotive Works said:

Morning all,

Just had a nice drive downtown in the Alfa, currently eating breakfast with a friend. Warm and humid this morning, but not overly so. 

 

First, somewhat late congratulations  to Sir and Lady TH on their anniversary.

 

Second, when I first saw the above photo my mind thought "That just can not be in England! The buildings look so wrong."; then I looked at who posted it. Ah. that explains it; not to mention the F-150.  Not too many of those in the UK, I would imagine.

 

[The Stationmaster]

Afternoon all,

 

Shopping has been shopped - by my personal shopper, I just provided the taxi service for the loaded working, she walked down to the shops.   Various folk are using the local paper trying to enthuse us into 'shopping local' from Monday onwards.  However it will have little impact on me as no way am I prepared to pay 50 quid for a shirt, all my various mags will hopefully be kept ina  shop in another town for which I have to drive 0ver 30 miles in order to 'shop local' although I might be tempted into WHS  and the chemist which sells face masks (pukka NHS level gear, a quid each) but that's your lot.  And not even the pub in town now selling takeaway beer will get my custom.  

 

But so what, all that is totally irrelevant compared with today's main event - the 50th anniversary of Mr & Mrs GDB bringing legality to the proceedings (no need to comment there Bob).  I have once, very briefly, met Mrs GDB and the resemblance is immediately recognisable but I was puzzled by the bloke with all that hair - then I reread the caption.  So a very happy anniversary to the two of you Mr & Mrs Bob, and many more of them.  Plus a happy birthday to the birthday girl as well.  And, lest they be overlooked in all these congratulatory times a happy anniversary and many more of them to the Topham Hatts.

 

Now apropos of not much in particular my wife's late brother-in-law (who for my sins also became my b-i-l when I married herself) also served at Wildenrath  - as a Aircraftsman lowest grade of the lot in, I think, the stores.  Regrettably he was one of the most miserable gits I have had the unwelcome pleasure of meeting in my entire life, I never saw him smile and never heard him say anything in any tone but moaning.  That might have had something to do with my sister-in-law because her second husband (he was the first) died of alcoholism - which without wishing to speak ill of anyone was in many respects quite understandable, poor s*t.  Only goes to prove you can't chose (all) your relatives.

 

 

So far water butt No. 1 is almost up to overflow level, when it reaches that level it overflows into water butt No.2.  I joined them as per instructions but i wonder why they aren't piped together at the bottom?  In the meanwhile I have moved on (or should that be back?) from Max Hasting's 'Chastise' to his earleier work 'Catastrophe' which covers the events of 1914 and mainly between August and December in that year, the time of the worst casualties suffered by several of the nations involved in the Great War

 

Enjoy the rest of your day; don't drink to much of the various celebratory liquids for those of you celebrating.  And stay safe everybodyt 

 

 

Edited June 13, 2020 by The Stationmaster

[TheQ]

That's annoying  a post got lost while I was checking scrap prices... 

To repeat.. 

 

SWMBOs watch did not have corrosion,  which I'll admit was a surprise when I took the back off.. 

 

Afternoon awl,  

Hot and humid today right from 08:30 ish with emphasis on the humid.. 

 

Raised beds sorted,  SWMBO will now put leaf mold into the vacant bed which will not be today.. 

 

Then to melting lead,  which didn't go well,  too much slag not enough lead,  so I gave up.

 

I rocked and rolled the keel onto stacks of the remaining plates, till I could get weighing scales beneath,.  Then rocked and rolled it back down onto the scales..  145kg, the target was 150kg.

 

Much further research showed modern thin plate batteries  fail because their plates almost totally turn to lead sulphide which is not good for my purposes.  So what do I do now.. 

 

Continue melting plates, for not much lead, but lots of slag, 

Break open the remaining batteries  for their terminals and connecting bars. Lots of work. 

Buy lead shot at about £ 4 a kg, 

Buy scrap lead for about £2.80 a kg.

Or trade in remaining batteries,  they're worth about 45p a kg,  for raw lead, this I think is probably the likely solution. 

 

Ben the happy Collie took me for the long walk,  no ball supplied,  it was even more humid down by the marshes.  The fields that were  flooded earlier in the year,  have patches of no corn,  just baked concrete mud. 

Fields of barley, are turning yellow though the one round us is behind others.  The wheat fields are still blue green. 

 

 

 

 

[Florence Locomotive Works]

39 minutes ago, J. S. Bach said:

 

First, somewhat late congratulations  to Sir and Lady TH on their anniversary.

 

Second, when I first saw the above photo my mind thought "That just can not be in England! The buildings look so wrong."; then I looked at who posted it. Ah. that explains it; not to mention the F-150.  Not too many of those in the UK, I would imagine.

 

Could always be in the back of Pinewood Studios.

[Coombe Barton]

37 minutes ago, The Stationmaster said:

I joined them as per instructions but i wonder why they aren't piped together at the bottom?

If you have to move one, then if they're connected at the bottom you have to drain both. If connected at the top you don't.

Are you overthinking pannier tanks?

Edited June 13, 2020 by Coombe Barton