Early Risers.

[Oldddudders]

Morning all from Clinique du Pre. Nothing sinister in my being here, just a bit of a check. I hope ! Allowed plenty of time and am in the cafe. Unlike someI slept very poorly.

 

More anon when they let me out!

[NGT6 1315]

Morning all. Nippy with chance of precipitation today, looks like.

 

Some photos from our recent trip which I thought you might be interested in. Caution: Contains trains!   

 

 

 

648 349 "Schwarzenbek" of Regionalbahn Schleswig-Holstein, usually abbreviated as RBSH, has just left St Peter-Ording Station (which technically is a stop at the very end of the mostly single-tracked Eiderstedt Line and not a station by the actual German definition) on RB 21173 for Husum. RBSH have exchanged all their remaining Class 628 DMUs for Alstom LINT series units since 2009.

 

 

 

A few miles away in the countryside, 648 463 is approaching the stop at Tating, a village of 940 residents, on RB 21162 for St Peter-Ording. The Eiderstedt Line runs from Husum via Tönning to St Peter-Ording, and is approximately 44 kilometres long.

 

 

 

 

The other day, we went for a walk near Westerheversand Lighthouse, built in 1909 and with a focal height of 41 metres. The lighting sequence is Oc(3) WRG 15s (for the former sailors among us ERs!).

 

 

 

Also interesting to see is the Eider Flood Barrier, located a few miles outside of Tönning in the southeast of the Eiderstedt Peninsula. The project was started in the aftermath of the devastating 1962 winter storm surge which had also affected the North Frisian coast. The primary goal was to increase storm surge protection for the Eider estuary and the surrounding area. Construction work lasted from 1967 till 1973.

 

 

 

The flood barrier also comprises a lock for sea access, mainly for the fleet of fishing vessels formerly based at Tönning proper but relocated to the new harbour established on the land side of the barrier when it was opened for operation.

 

 

 

The lock chamber is spanned by a bascule bridge for the B 202 road which…

 

 

 

…passes right through the barrier in a fully enclosed tunnel built through the abutments.

 

 

 

For tide regulation, the barrier comprises five pairs of sluice gates, these being one of the seaward gates…

 

 

 

…and this one on the land side.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Control centre…

 

 

 

…and the small fishing harbour inside of the barrier. The GMRS lifeboat "Paul Neisse" is stationed here also.

 

 

 

 

Facing the sea…

 

 

 

…and the River Eider, the longest river of Schleswig-Holstein.

 

 

 

Dedication plaque.

 

 

 

At Husum later the same day…

 

 

…where the tide was approaching its low while we were there, thus putting the handful of boats in the old Inland Harbour aground.

 

 

 

 

 

The lock to said Inland Harbour is spanned by a pair of bascule bridges for road and railway. Husum Station is located a few hundred metres to the south of where I was standing.

 

 

But first, I looked around the harbour, or at least those areas which were freely accessible.

 

 

Fishing trawler "Gott mit uns" …

 

 

 

…and then there was the dredger "Akke" at work, moving back and forth through the basin.

 

 

 

 

I like work vessels such as these!

 

 

 

 

The Federal Waterways and Shipping Administration has a fairly sizeable yard at Husum, with a couple of buoys stored outside their perimeter proper.

 

 

 

The outer harbour lock was open.

 

 

 

On the far side of the harbour and sadly not accessible, Husum even has a shipyard where the ferry "Schleswig-Holstein", normally used on the Dagebüll-Amrum and Dagebüll-Föhr lines, was docked for her winter layover and scheduled maintenance. I understand this ship, built in 2011, is equipped with four Voith-Schneider propellers.

 

 

 

 

The Federal Police vessel "Sylt" was moored at Husum as well. Note that while the ship is marked as a Coast Guard vessel, the Federal German Coast Guard is not a separate agency as such but an inter-agency cooperation of the Federal Police, Federal Waterways and Shipping Administration, Federal Customs Administration and Federal Agriculture and Nutrition Administration. Therefore, ships continue to carry the standard liveries for each of the participating agencies, with the common elements of hull lettering and (on most craft) black/red/gold stripes superimposed.

 

 

 

 

At Husum Station. Note that in the Frisian language, the city is called "Hüsem."

 

 

 

 

Husum Depot is located right nearby the station proper, serving the Marshland Railway. This line, technically originating at Elmshorn, is best known for the Hamburg-Altona – Westerland regional services currently operated by Nord-Ostsee-Bahn, as well as the Intercity and Motorail services to Westerland on Sylt. The Marshland regional franchise has been regained by DB Regio for the period from 2016 till 2026, so the stock currently used there and marked for NOB will be transferred to Deutsche Bahn with the changeover.

 

Most recently, a batch of fifteen Class 245 diesel-electrics by Bombardier has been obtained for the State Public Transport Service Agency of Schleswig-Holstein, whose role it will be to provide rail operators with standardised rolling stock in order to facilitate franchising. These locomotives are currently marked for NOB as well but already wear the standardised "nah.sh" livery. They are already used on some of the Hamburg – Westerland services, though when I was there, I only watched one of them on a southbound service for Hamburg. That day, 245 213 and one other 245 were stabled in the depot.

 

 

 

648 335 "Büchen" was arriving from St Peter-Ording on RB 21173…

 

 

 

…while the NOB 81719 service for Westerland was powered by DE 2700-01 or 92 80 1251 001-4, one of the Siemens/MaK DE 2700 diesel-electrics originally built for Norway in 1995 and 1996 as Class Di 6. These locomotives but proved to not be able to withstand the harsh Norwegian winters in particular, and were thus dismissed from the NSB inventory in early 1999. After revisions and refurbishments, they first became part of the Dispolok leasing inventory, and purchased by Vossloh in 2004. Vossloh added push-pull capability and uprated them for 160 kph running, eventually making them available to NOB for the Marshland services.

 

 

 

 

One ex-DB Class 335 shunter owned by northrail was shunting in the NOB depot but would later depart north to pick up a pair of tank wagons. 

 

 

 

The coaching stock used by NOB is most widely known as "Married Pair" stock, with these coaches forming non-separable pairs which can be combined as required, yielding a minimum train length of four coaches. UIC draw gear and buffers are only provided on the end coaches and driving trailers.

 

 

 

There also was a queue of three newly built Class 622 DMUs stabled at the depot, these being an improved Alstom LINT variant uprated for present crashworthiness standards.

 

 

 

 

Hope you enjoyed these images. Have a good one, everyone!

[gordon s]

....and the winner of the longest post in 2015 goes to........:-)

 

Met up with Jackie's first husband and his wife for a meal last night. Parked in an area with not another car in sight, happily knowing there was no chance of my doors getting dinged. When they arrived the usual pleasantries were exchanged and then somewhat embarrassed he informed me that he may have backed into my car when reversing....

 

Went out this morning to check it out and glad to report no lasting damage other than a few scratches that will come out with T Cut and a bit of elbow grease.

 

How on earth someone can back into a car when there is no other vehicle or obstacle within 50 yards in beyond me. Had a good laugh about it, but still can't fathom out what was going on.....:-)

 

Have a good day whatever is on the cards for today...

Edited November 25, 2015 by gordon s

[AndyB]

Evening/Morning all,

.

AndyB, in the light of the depressing news emanating from the 'box' and elsewhere, it is truly uplifting to read your 'happy story'. Congratulations and well done!

 

 

Thanks, Jock.

In fact there was more good news yesterday; a text from the school saying that my youngest has been put up for a "politeness" award and can I attend later in the week to see him get "bigged up" in assembly. I think I can manage that! 

Best. Andy

[jamie92208]

Morning all from a brightening village that is still north of Ikea though I have never yet partaken of meat balls there or as they are known in this county 'faggots'.  

 

Much has been said about 42 and it's meaning.  Unfortunately they got it wrong.  The real answer was 27.    That's the magic figure for how wide single width door is. Therefore a layout crate must always have one dimension of 27" or less. 

 

I digress.    Simon I hope that your results are as good as your mothers.  However I could be facetious and say that with Sellafield being near to your home no one would notice the residual Flourine 18 and it's emissions.

 

Anyway today we have some shopping to do and then it's off to Bradford for Beth to have some cortisone injections in her hip.  We then carry on up to Long Preston to visit the Cheese Emporium and have some lunch before calling in at the village hall to put two new replacement locos onto the layout there.  I had lent them two of mine but they are now needed on Green Ayre so I've sourced two non runners from the Guild E & T service that will replace them.   This evening it's off to the clubrooms to make sure that everything is ready for Warley and also go and see Tony to see how he is.

 

Regards to everyone else.

 

Jamie

[DDolfelin]

How on earth someone can back into a car when there is no other vehicle or obstacle within 50 yards in beyond me. Had a good laugh about it, but still can't fathom out what was going on.....:-)

 

 

Have you upset him in some way?

[Killybegs]

Wet and windy this morning and the sea had been doing funny things to the beach. Lots of lumps and puddles, just like in the pic below (taken a few years back on another Donegal beach).

 

I have nothing against IKEA. My stock is kept in a chest on castors that has lots of shallow drawers. I lined the drawers with felt. I wonder if the people who have trouble assembling flat pack furniture are the same ones that don't read the instructions when building kits!

 

I won't be going to Warley as I have already had five trips to the UK this year, so this weekend I will be home looking after the dogs while Steph goes off to visit her brother and extended family in Cambridge. I hope you all have a good time and those of you demonstrating will enjoy imparting your knowledge and skills to a wide audience.

 

Hope all goes well with your check up Ian.

 

Edited November 25, 2015 by Killybegs

[gordon s]

Not at all, we're all very good friends. As I said, we can all see the funny side of it. Could have happened to anyone...

 

It reminded me of my MD from the 80's who went up to visit a major customer in the North, so arranged to meet one of my reps in a pub car park just off the M62. Car park empty, yet he managed to pull in and then slid on ice and snow for 30 yards or so until he crashed into my reps car.

 

It was never mentioned again.....:-)

[Ashcombe]

Thanks, Jock.

In fact there was more good news yesterday; a text from the school saying that my youngest has been put up for a "politeness" award and can I attend later in the week to see him get "bigged up" in assembly. I think I can manage that! 

Best. Andy

That is good news! Well done to your offspring!

 

But "bigged up"? I guess this was text speak!

[Tony_S]

That is good news! Well done to your offspring!

But "bigged up"? I guess this was text speak!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/uptodate/2009/04/090414_uptodate_bigup.shtml

[AndyB]

That is good news! Well done to your offspring!

 

But "bigged up"? I guess this was text speak!

 

Yes, very much so; I was embracing yoof kulchur. Although I point-blank refuse to endorse the phrase "It's a big ask." That is too much of an ask. Doh. 

The award is for sticking to a code of using "Sorry, Thank-you, Excuse me and Please." 

The children love it as it is the highest honour they can get. 

Andy

[Oldddudders]

Morning all from Clinique du Pre. Nothing sinister in my being here, just a bit of a check. I hope ! Allowed plenty of time and am in the cafe. Unlike someI slept very poorly.

More anon when they let me out!

I lied. Apparently more surgery will be needed. Having done a scan, surgeon then proceeded to insert a camera into the bladder. You can imagine how. Not fun. I have to fix a date with his secretary. He, in the meantime, is retiring!

 

I must stress that this is really trivial compared with the suffering of others on ERs. No hint of anything nasty and last week's urine sample was free of anything unwanted. But the bladder needs sorting and that's that. Bums!

[45156]

(I worked in the Livingstone Tower for a couple of years.)

And I studied Maths in there - I recall that the lifts were incredibly fast by the standards of the time - I think the tutorial room was about 12 floors up.

[DDolfelin]

 I have to fix a date with his secretary.

 

Maybe wait until after the surgery.

 

Sorry to read about the new problems, Ian.

Doesn't sound at all pleasant.

Take care of yourself.

[45156]

Morning All

 

Sort of cloudy, bright, dull, damp all at once.

 

I've caught up, and am pleased to see that Andy has had lots of good news things to report.

Ian - not great news that more surgery is needed - hope it goes well and is not too painful. 

Jock - thanks for yet another comprehensive post which summarises quite well all that has transpired here over the last day or two.

Simon - when do you get the results of the PET scan, or have you already had them?

Dom - thanks for the "what we did on our holidays" post.

And of course generic greetings to everybody else, and happy Thanksgiving for tomorrow to our US contributors.

 

At last, the car's on a transporter heading South from Carlisle.  Had a call from the driver confirming that he's on his way, so I'll get the coffee machine going in case he needs some refreshement.  Same driver who collected the car, so he said he remembers where he's coming to - my reply being "it's been so long that I thought you'd forgotten".  FInal problem was that the trim strip covering the seat belt housing on the door pillar snapped when being replaced, and waiting for a new one to be supplied. 

 

Then I can get rid of the hire car, and hopefully get on with things that I was reluctant to do like transport Lily around.

 

Regards to All

Stewart

 

ps - the new avatar is a pencil drawing of my first Sussex Spaniel Basil, done by a friend who is a very accomplished artist.  It is also my FB avatar, as several ERs will know.

Edited November 25, 2015 by 45156

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Sorry to hear of your problem Ian, I had to undergo a similar examination about 10 years ago. It was as usual under a local anasthetic and during the examination there was only a little discomfort and very little if any pain. I was a bit sore for a couple of days afterwards but drinking a lot of water as recommended eased things considerably.

[southern42]

Dom. Thanks for that terrific row of photos.

Schleswig-Holstein - now that's a name I recognise.  It's twinned with my home borough. 

The kids learning German went there on the exchange visits.

I only took it for 3 weeks because then we found out that it conflicted with other choices to be made the following year! 

 

Enjoy your day all.

It's just dried up after a very wet morning in red dragon land.  You never know, the sun might come out.

[Robert]

That's a nice part of the country Dominik.  I haven't got there yet - but my in-laws live on the opposite coast in Kiel.

[rockershovel]

 

NE Caspian, 0300, temp -4deg C, water temp 4.4 deg C

[The Stationmaster]

G'day all,

 

Yes - we're not in Reading.  The RBH ENT lot were commendably efficient and duly processed Mrs Stationmaster within 20 minutes of the booked time and we were away not much more than 10 minutes later so decided to come home before venturing to Tilehurst this afternoon.  So finish off some homemade soup and then mushrooms on toast - definitely better than eating out.

 

Sorry to hear of your latest news Ian - does his imminent retirement mean you'll get an early date for the job?

 

Not so sure about Warley pics Jock - it gets horribly crowded which usually means a fight to get close to any layouts and can sometimes mean great difficulty in moving round some bits of the trade area.  The train to & from will probably be heaving as there's inevitably something else going on at the NEC (although the comics & cartoons show last year meant some interesting sights could be seen on the way from the station).  Every year I mutter about never going again, and thus far every year I have gone again - the main thing about it is that it is good for the folk you meet and that will no doubt be the case again this year I'm sure (especially on the demo area and at certain layouts of course).

 

Enjoy the rest of your day everybody.

[southern42]

Warley.  Pics on the hoof, over or between people's shoulders, was about all I got last year.  We hardly had time to actually stop and watch any trains that might have moved except End of the Line and Clarendon and Ray kept 'losing' me as I stopped to take a photo (while he carried on to the next stand) as compensation.  Hopefully, the trains won't get delayed this year and we'll get more time to look around!  We're already doing our homework, creating our wishlists and finding out who's there and where, to save as much time as possible.  Like Mike (SM), we always seem to utter those words "never again" and always seem to go back the following year.  Must be all those RMwebbers...   8) 

 

Anyway, will try and get some pics.  Maybe a theme might help...

Ah! I know!

 

crowded  crowded crowded

  crowded*   

crowded crowded crowded

 

 

* Don't let this put you off if you have  / have not been before.  It's great, really. Not to be missed. 

[sixoh8sixoh]

Afternoon all from a dry and variably sunny Scottish HQ. Had to pop down to the Parliament this morning for a meeting with a Labour MSP and one of his constituents.

 

I'm keeping an eye on the Spending Review statement as well, there are some interesting developments in it for my policy area.

 

As there is no convenient M&S around here, if you want Christmas cake, you have to make it yourself. The other thing is that most Americans seem to have a passionate aversion to any sort of fruit cake. There are many jokes on the subject. Anyhoo, Lorna found a BBC recipe so that kept us pretty busy today. Three have been made. One will be sent to #1 daughter in NJ. She has been known to consume large quantities of the stuff in a bowl with milk as a substitute for breakfast cereal. Another cake will be dispatched to #2 daughter in CA.

My Christmas cake is underway - I soaked the fruit last week, made the mix and baked it on Monday. The marzipan needs to be done tonight probably, as it's meant to have a few days to dry out, then I need to ice it on Friday or Saturday. The rush is because it's for a Christmas dinner with friends on Thursday next week. Mine was a Mary Berry Great British Bake Off recipe. Here's hoping it tastes as good as yours clearly did!

 

Dom - 648 335 looks a very similar design (though obviously a 2-car design!) to a single car unit used by the SNCF that I spotted when I was in Carcassonne earlier this year. I was rather taken with it, and ordered a Jouef model of it... One day I might even have time and space to make a short French plank...

 

Off skiing after work tonight - thankfully the weather and the forecast are a vast improvement on last week's.

[southern42]

Sorry, Polly! (I'm not good at reading people's signature lines.)

 

I gave you a rating of Agree.

I meant,  I'm not good at reading people's signature lines, either, not that I'm agreeing that you aren't!

[Simon G]

I digress.    Simon I hope that your results are as good as your mothers.  However I could be facetious and say that with Sellafield being near to your home no one would notice the residual Flourine 18 and it's emissions.

 

 

Having worked at Sellafield for 34 years, I have got used to the banter etc that surrounds it!  However, in all that time there, I never actually had anything to do with Fluorine-18.  I did however fall asleep last night trying to mentally calculate how much of the stuff would still be left inside me.  Old scientific habits die hard!

 

Delivery of baseboard materials from timber merchant has just arrived  .  Now to see if my Anyrail trackplan translates into real life.  I may be gone some time!

 

I will take photos of layout and start a thread in the relevant area of RMWeb.

[roundhouse]

G'day all,

 

Yes - we're not in Reading.  The RBH ENT lot were commendably efficient and duly processed Mrs Stationmaster within 20 minutes of the booked time and we were away not much more than 10 minutes later so decided to come home before venturing to Tilehurst this afternoon.  So finish off some homemade soup and then mushrooms on toast - definitely better than eating out.

 

Sorry to hear of your latest news Ian - does his imminent retirement mean you'll get an early date for the job?

 

Not so sure about Warley pics Jock - it gets horribly crowded which usually means a fight to get close to any layouts and can sometimes mean great difficulty in moving round some bits of the trade area.  The train to & from will probably be heaving as there's inevitably something else going on at the NEC (although the comics & cartoons show last year meant some interesting sights could be seen on the way from the station).  Every year I mutter about never going again, and thus far every year I have gone again - the main thing about it is that it is good for the folk you meet and that will no doubt be the case again this year I'm sure (especially on the demo area and at certain layouts of course).

 

Enjoy the rest of your day everybody.

Yep

 

ComicCom certainly distracted me to and from the hall

 

Not too crowded behind our layout. Even had room for the blow up sofa despite it having a puncture so not as usable as it could have been otherwise we could have had our own VIP lounge for RMwebbers.

 

The sofa is being brought along this time so if there is space behind us or behind Appledore it may get used. We dont include space in our requirements but its handy to have if we do end up with a little more space.

 

I will try and get some photos prior to show opening if I have time.

Edited November 25, 2015 by roundhouse