Early Risers.

[jjb1970]

I have to be on best behaviour tomorrow, meeting one of my paymasters, I'll have to wear a business shirt and trousers (shudder) rather than my normal business attire of a polo shirt and cargo pants, it's outrageous. I suppose I could wear one of those batik shirts I try and keep locked away as they're acceptable business attire. 

[jjb1970]

The discussion on railway scenery is interesting (although I must register a protest at the hallowed portals of RMWeb being sullied by discussion of model railways, there are other forums for this sort of thing), to me it is the difference between modelling a railway and modelling items of rolling stock. An analogy might be my hobby of military modelling, you can make a model of a tank or military figures, or you can make the same models of a tank and figures and create a diorama to display them. There's nothing wrong with just modelling (or dare I use the dreaded 'c' word, collecting.....) locomotives but to model a railway requires the rolling stock to be part of a whole, in scenic context and which recreates a place and a period of time. I'd add operation too (although personally I do like roundy-roundy loops with my shinkansen models whizzing round at a scale 320kph).

[iL Dottore]

1 hour ago, polybear said:

 

Does that mean that @iL Dottore spends a year making an accurate reproduction of some fancy building somewhere, only for Bear to come along, slap a compulsory purchase order on it and then flatten it cos' that's where the Engine Shed needs to be?

Only if The Bear enjoys picking shotgun pellets out of his fur....

 

Besides, a compulsory purchase order won't work in Switzerland - rather hot on property rights are the Swiss...

[iL Dottore]

36 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

 

 

The perfect opportunity for @iL Dottore to dust off  that old  1/76th scale Airfix  "Protesters"  set.

 

 

That's not at all realistic Chimpey. As one of my next model projects will be Continental, that scene of  lackadaisical British "would you like a cup of tea, Mr/Ms Protester" policing, will be replaced by Swiss water cannons and baton charges by the Kantonspolizie.

[Flanged Wheel]

I regret to report that today I inadvertently incurred mild spousal disapprobation.

 

The cause of this unfortunate malady…

 

Our apartment in Melaka overlooks the eponymous strait. I was taking great pleasure in introducing my sons to the joys of marinetraffic.com and we were having enormous fun identifying passing ships. My wife walked in, saw what I was doing, raised an eyebrow and rapidly left the room. As she did so, I thought I heard her say “at least you’re not trainspotting…”!

 

Sadly the range of the ships and the haze has rendered photography impossible so followers of the “Anyone Interested in Ships” thread will continue to be plagued by my inexhaustible collection of images of the world’s ugliest cruise ships.

[jjb1970]

Try and spot the big box boats, shipping lines deploy their container biggest tonnage on the East - West Europe - Asia routes so so see the really big 24,000TEU ships going through the Malacca Strait. In a sign of shifting trade patterns, Malaysia has two container ports on the Straits (Port Klang and Tanjung Pelepas) in the top 20, Klang isn't that far behind Rotterdam in TEU throughput and ahead of all other European ports. A lot of people laugh at Tanjung Pelepas and call it a white elephant as it never really threatened Singapore (it's the other side of the Johor Strait, next door to Singapore) but in terms of TEU throughput it's ahead of Hamburg and not far behind Antwerp.

[iL Dottore]

2 hours ago, polybear said:

 

Does that mean that @iL Dottore spends a year making an accurate reproduction of some fancy building somewhere, only for Bear to come along, slap a compulsory purchase order on it and then flatten it cos' that's where the Engine Shed needs to be?

Don't push your luck, Bear.

 

I am a Swiss citizen*, I have numerous Swiss Bank Accounts**, VERY deep pockets*** and the will and means to employ the very best legal minds****. You may think you can get a compulsory purchase order, but with the best British legal minds money can buy, you'll have a Reverse Compulsory Purchase Order on your hands before you can say "curly fries".....

 

 

Care to have a rethink about your inflammatory comment????

 

*          outside of British jurisdiction (i.e. you can't touch me)

**       i.e. loadsa money

***    can probably pay for legal fees out of petty cash

**** Interpret the law??? My lawyers WRITE the law...

[Flanged Wheel]

23 minutes ago, jjb1970 said:

Try and spot the big box boats, shipping lines deploy their container biggest tonnage on the East - West Europe - Asia routes so so see the really big 24,000TEU ships going through the Malacca Strait. 

We certainly did see a fair few of those and it was interesting to track their destinations and show the boys how long it would take for them to get there. A serious part of the exercise was to give them an insight into the scale, extent and nature of global maritime trade in a way that would be far more memorable than anything you could get in a classroom. We’ve spent the past couple of days immersed in the history of Melaka but it was important to me to show them why this region continues to be globally significant.

 

Plus I once wrote a 60,000 word thesis on the right of transit passage in international straits so this was my opportunity to geek out…

[NGT6 1315]

Caution, R-rated material follows. That means rail-rated, obviously!

 

 

That's an interesting refurb for sure. Mongolian ex-M62 converted to a GE diesel package. I guess in a country as sparsely populated as Mongolia, you'll want robust and simple motive power first and foremost, so that may very well be a way to go when you want to modernise as well.

 

 

 

They did have a major wintry spell down in da deep sarf recently!

 

Watching this, I found myself wondering if anybody ever thought of fitting compatible MU equipment on units such as the 442 and locomotives typically used for route clearing and breakdown assistance, such as the 218. I mean, the Swiss have done that in the past, so what say you put a pilot loco in MU with units and provide at least basic services in this kind of inclement weather with less risk of derailment compared to units working alone.

[TheQ]

Warning, me geeking out below...

 

Afternoon Awl,

Muddling at https://www.radarmuseum.co.uk/ went well 

First a Cossor SSR750 approximation was built on top of the Type 84 Radar, much approximation, as at 1:1000 a network of angle iron framing and true wire mesh was impossible. Ps I've got Q-L-SSR750 on my records, yep I've fixed it for real, that actual one, well, the electronics in the room down below.

That bit on top 

Next week the waveguide array on the right, more approximation...

 

Then on the support frame the upper deck platform , that's glued on, but that supporting arch framework has not.. yet.. walked around on that I have, many times.

 

At various times hedging was being done ( pan scrubbers) , while the T84 was glueing.

 

A bund was then built round the diesel tanks that fed 6 paxman diesels as used in the HST.

Back 1988, a nearby barn was found to have been entered, part of the roof removed, and a platform built out of big bales of straw. It's thought a group from the other side of the Irish sea was planning to mortar  the oil tanks, ( removed roof panel was aiming at them) and radars.

They must have been disturbed and legged it.

Mortars wouldn't  have bothered the main concrete buildings.

 

Then, the sangers were installed, ( Sections of barbeque stick) , seven,  8ft diameter concrete pipe ring assembly's mounted vertically, with a concrete cap. Then surrounded by concrete filled and sand filled sandbags. Need to make 7x 3mm diameter caps in plasticard.

Little did I know 41 years ago, when building the real things, I'd be building models of them.

Must remember to take some milliput to build the sandbags, and take some piccies for you.

 

Once the above was done, paint brushes were wielded, a  lot more to do..

 

SWMBO is at weaving, it's my turn to make dinner.

Time to investigate the freezer.

 

[New Haven Neil]

The black oily thing is now a noisy black oily thing, no burnt fingers either, always a bonus.  Lovely Paul Chetter sound project, I'm particular about sounds of engines, being an ex-fixer of them, I listen very closely and 'learn' their happy sound, so when it's not happy.....we go into fixit mode.

 

350's (for the younger, that's an 08) have a particular, hollow sounding exhaust note, this has replicated it to a T. Big speaker up from behind the radiator grille, stay alive, and Zimo chip - superb running, could not be bettered.  Happy NHN.  Unlike Mrs NHN who wasn't happy with the funds dispatched in Digitrains direction for it all!

 

There's going to be such an attack of the awl soon.....

 

[DaveF]

Despite the rain I went out this morning to do some shopping in Morpeth which is only about 10 miles away.  I managed to avoid the roadworks and traffic lights on the way out of town, had a pleasant drive on fairly quiet roads, though the car in front of me for part of the journey was a bit slow.  Of course a Mercedes overtook me in a 40 limit on a dual cariageway just before a roundabout, he then cut sharply into the left hand lane exiting the roundabout and had a shock as I was very close behind him because I had started to accelerate earlier than him leaving the roundabout where the speed limit ends.  In the end I overtook him before the next roundabout.

 

As it was a wet day Morpeth was not too busy so there were a few spaces in the car park and I remembered to set my parking disc before I left the car - it is 3 hours free.  I visited the model shop and bought things, then went to two antique shops and bought some paperweights - Caithness, Selkirk and I think Sunderland Glass.  Next on the list was Waterstones where I found books I wanted.  I now have a new loyalty card as my old one no longer works, but the points will be transferred.

 

At this point I was going to the garden centre to the north of Morpeth for a coffee but time was passing so instead had a coffee in a cafe in the Sanderson Arcade.  Walking along afterwards I found a new shop selling alcoholic drinks so naturally went in to investigate.  There were some nice beers, a very good range of gins, almost all from distilleries in the north east, the usual wines and of course malt whiskies.  The prices ranged from a little over £30 to £750 per bottle.  All of them were less well known brands, some I've not seen for a long time.  They even had a shelf of Japanese whisky and some from Australia.  I  felt it would be impolite to to leave without buying some bottles - at the low end of the price range.

 

In all, including model stuff I spent less than 2 deltics (not sound fitted),

 

I was home in time for lunch, via the local shop.

 

This afternoon the paperweights have been carefully cleaned and the other things put away until Christmas.

 

It is still raining, it may stop sometime tomorrow.

 

David

[NGT6 1315]

More R stuff…

 

 

Bit of a pity to see the last x Stock go, I think. I always found them interesting and to be a very clean kind of design with their mostly smooth bodyshells. That and the low chassis skirts lent them a rather „forward“ appearance. Of course, intense suburban service in the Ruhr area left its mark on many of these coaches as the years passed!

[polybear]

Is Bear missing something here.....

 

"The panel found her unfit to practice and will now consider whether to remove her from the nursing register."

 

Just what is the point of spending time and (Taxpayer's?) money on this sort of stuff when she's got a whole-life sentence??

FFS

Yes, that is a Rant.

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-merseyside-67691395

[PupCam]

50 minutes ago, New Haven Neil said:

Lovely Paul Chetter sound project, I'm particular about sounds of engines, being an ex-fixer of them, I listen very closely and 'learn' their happy sound, so when it's not happy.....we go into fixit mode.

 

 

You've got to love the sound of an 08 getting to grips with its load but be careful, the anti-noisests will be out to protest at such revelations.  

 

Psst - I can do you a  nice little handcontroller for DCC++ EX with a built in digital model that will turn the compressor and exhausters on and off and a whole lot of other stuff automatically without you having to press F6, Shift F15  or whatever.     Be nice to build it into the decoder itself but that's a skill several mountains away for me!   🤣

 

ION

 

Seems like the embedded Arduino is in good shape and doing its job.   6.5 years of battery left  😀

 

TTFNQ

[Coombe Barton]

1 hour ago, DaveF said:

Of course a Mercedes overtook me in a 40 limit on a dual cariageway just before a roundabout, he then cut sharply into the left hand lane exiting the roundabout and had a shock as I was very close behind him because I had started to accelerate earlier than him leaving the roundabout where the speed limit ends.  In the end I overtook him before the next roundabout.

<boy_racer_mode>

[NGT6 1315]

3 minutes ago, Coombe Barton said:

<boy_racer_mode>

 

 

🤓

[monkeysarefun]

4 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

I have to be on best behaviour tomorrow, meeting one of my paymasters, I'll have to wear a business shirt and trousers (shudder) rather than my normal business attire of a polo shirt and cargo pants, it's outrageous. I suppose I could wear one of those batik shirts I try and keep locked away as they're acceptable business attire. 

 

 

Australian men had hot-weather business  and smart-casual attire sorted out way back and by the  '70's we were world leaders.

 

We've certainly gone backwards since those days.

 

 

 

[Hroth]

13 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

 

Australian men had hot-weather business  and smart-casual attire sorted out way back and by the  '70's we were world leaders.

 

We've certainly gone backwards since those days.

 

 

 

 

Well....

 

The bloke in the top pic looks like we used to look when we were 8 or 9 years old.  The middle pair look as if they should have signed the sex offenders register, and what could be said about the last bloke? He looks like a right chav!

 

[monkeysarefun]

4 minutes ago, Hroth said:

 

Well....

 

what could be said about the last bloke? He looks like a right chav!

 

 

 

He went on to bigger things.

 

 

 

Awareness of the dangers of sun-exposure has changed the way  we dress,here since those  innocent days.

 

. Arms are now usually covered and you go nowhere without a broad hat, but that doesnt mean surrendering being fashionable!

 

 

 

 

[Hroth]

1 hour ago, polybear said:

Is Bear missing something here.....

 

"The panel found her unfit to practice and will now consider whether to remove her from the nursing register."

 

Just what is the point of spending time and (Taxpayer's?) money on this sort of stuff when she's got a whole-life sentence??

FFS

Yes, that is a Rant.

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-merseyside-67691395

 

She was on a professional register and had to be de-registered.  The formal process had to be followed to ensure that the crazed loon didn't have any grounds for complaint.  Would the nursing body be drawing on taxpayers money for this process? I think it would be funded by membership fees for being retained on the register.

 

Edited December 12, 2023 by Hroth
Removal of a surplus ?

[Winslow Boy]

6 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

That's not at all realistic Chimpey. As one of my next model projects will be Continental, that scene of  lackadaisical British "would you like a cup of tea, Mr/Ms Protester" policing, will be replaced by Swiss water cannons and baton charges by the Kantonspolizie.

Too many coppers as well. More like one or two standing around chatting with the protesters.

[Coombe Barton]

... summary and highlights what Lady Hallet has to deal with. What we have to deal with is a set of less than competents in charge then and who remain in charge now ...

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2023/12/12/sounds-of-the-season-2023-10-covid-beyond-the-enquiry-with-analysis/

[polybear]

One for @iL Dottore......

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[polybear]

It snowed last night...

8:00 am: I made a snowman.
8:10 - A feminist passed by and asked me why I didn't make a snow woman.
8:15 - So, I made a snow woman.
8:17 - My feminist neighbour complained about the snow woman's voluptuous chest saying it objectified snow women everywhere.
8:20 - The gay couple living nearby threw a hissy fit and moaned it could have been two snow men instead.
8:22 - The transgender man, woman, person asked why I didn't just make one snow person with detachable parts.
8:25 - The vegans at the end of the lane complained about the carrot nose, as veggies are food and not to decorate snow figures with.
8:28 - I was being called a racist because the snow couple is white.
8:31 - The middle eastern gent across the road demanded the snow woman be covered up.
8:40 - The Police arrived saying someone had been offended.
8:42 - The feminist neighbour complained again that the broomstick of the snow woman needed to be removed because it depicted women in a domestic role.
8:43 - The council equality officer arrived and threatened me with eviction.
8:45 - TV news crew from BBC showed up. I was asked if I know the difference between snowmen and snow-women? I replied "Snowballs" and am now called a sexist.
9:00 - I was on the News as a suspected terrorist, racist, homophobe sensibility offender, bent on stirring up trouble during difficult weather.
9:10 - I was asked if I have any accomplices. My children were taken by social services.
9:29 - Far left protesters offended by everything marched down the street demanding for me to be arrested.
By noon it all melted
Moral:
There is no moral to this story. It is what we have become, all because of snowflakes.