Early Risers.

[petethemole]

Breezy here with patches of blue sky.  I bought a long pruner from Lidl on Friday.  It's a rechargeable small chain saw on a long handle.  I need to remove some low branches from our ash tree where they are too close to the roof of the big shed garden room.  Unfortunately the wind hasn't stopped since I got it so I haven't been able to try it out.  I don't fancy trying to cut a moving branch close to the roof. 

 

The person who transformed the Greenwich Museum went on to transform two further museum services.  Some people weren't happy.  I might have become involved as there was a proposal for me to be seconded to a neighbouring authority's museum to help re-organise their archaeology collections* and that museum was possibly going to be taken over by the County.  "Cuts" meant they couldn't afford an extra staff member and politics stopped the takeover.

 

*I was not a "museum professional", but could have become one.  Our archaeology unit and museum were originally parts of the same department, with some staff working in excavation-related and museum roles, hence I had experience in collections management, which was suitable for the secondment.  When the services were split I considered applying for a Collections Manager post, but it was clear that it was earmarked for one person who was in fact the ideal person for the post, so I didn't bother.  Anyway, I'd have missed the fieldwork.

 

I have stuff to do, so I'd better get on with it.

 

Stay elfy,  Pete

 

 

 

 

[Tony_S]

I know visits to various places were spoiled for us by aggressive attendants in all sorts of places when Matthew was small. Aditi wondered where they found the  suspicious elderly women who thought volunteering comprised glaring at children. As time progressed there seem to be more approachable volunteers now. 
Aditi once helped on a Chateau tour. The elderly guide (born in one of the turrets) noticed Aditi was translating for me and asked her to translate for the Dutch tourists who spoke English but no French. He didn’t offer to share tips but he did spend some time afterwards telling us about life for servants there over his lifetime. 
Tony

[Shedman5]

Afternoon, Heavy rain with 40mph winds has been the feature since Saturday night, this has meant/means no outside jobs!

Tided the garage up yesterday and have rubbish all ready for my appointment at the local tip tomorrow, I forgot about the last one, slipped my mind till the following day.

 

Hoping the rain  stops if present for my tip run, fingers crossed.

 

 

Enjoy your day more so if you have dry weather!

[Happy Hippo]

3 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

One of the new breed museum professionals told us that it was not considered good practice to add such notes when listing original material so they had been removed. This was but one step in turning what had been an excellent museum into Noddy goes to Trainland.

The NRM was doomed when Neil Cossons got his fingers in the pie.  This was the same man who had allowed the ex L&NWR  G2 at Blist's Hill museum to get into worse than Barry condition. In fact go there now and all the railway equipment is still in shocking condition. not even stuffed and mounted. just outside and rotting away.

 

What will happen to museums in a few years time is the next breed of professional will come in and request assistance in setting up a series of notes for cross referencing purposes.

 

This will take a great deal of time and effort, and finally the  notes will be produced to accompany the drawings.

 

Of course this will only hold sway until the next new broom sweeps clean and again the cross referencing will be removed.

 

Fast forward another generation and the same will happen again, ad infinitum.

 

It's called reinventing the wheel, at which some academics are absolutely brilliant.

 

 

 

As far as swash plates go, it's an integral part of the rotary wing for a helicopter.

 

Try flying without one! 

 

It's driven by a series of hydraulic jacks.

 

Decent helicopters have 4 jacks, some have three.  those with the three jack system are more prone to a phenomena (2nd time I've used that word today) called jack stall.

 

Quoting from page 162 of the book "Fatal traps for helicopter pilots" by Greg Whyte:

 

         'Hydraulic jack stall (servo transparency) in (AS-350) helicopter is an aerodynamic phenomenon can occur when the helicopter is flown outside it's         normal  flight envelope and subjected to positive maneuvering (g-loading).

 

        It results in un-commanded aft and right cyclic and down-collective motion accompanied by pitch up and right roll of the helicopter.'

 

Best example I can give is the fatal helicopter crash which killed Colin McRae the rally driver (He was the pilot)

 

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. The package has been collected and the new wheelbarrow (from a different vendor) has been delivered so I've got the rest of the day free, after taking a trip to Tess Coe's.

[Florence Locomotive Works]

8 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Morning all,

A rather rainy night (and early morning), which has taken the edge of the rather unpleasant heat we have been having lately.

 

A lot of interesting posts since I last had a look and perhaps far too many to comment upon. However, there are one or two points which are, I think, worthy of further discussion. One of which was the knowledge (or lack thereof) of people commentating at tankfest and of the people at the NRM. Sometime ago, there was an interesting thread about what they had done to the Maritime Museum in Greenwich, which could be summed up as: <the so-called “museum professionals“ had taken over>. The term “museum professionals“ is deliberately put into quote marks as these are people who have taken degrees in something like “Museum studies“ and thus are completely up-to-date with all the latest trendy “educational“ memes and can quickly whip up a 20 slide PowerPoint presentation of the relevance and impact of the museum on this identity group or that identity group, but have only minimal (or even no knowledge) about the topic of the museum they are curating (with few exceptions). And, so I am told, the museum volunteers who really are knowledgeable about the content of said museums are shunted into the background, treated like second-class citizens and tolerated as a “necessary evil”. Far too often, nowadays, museums have been turned into “educational learning experiences“, void of content,  involving multimedia presentations (for which the machinery is frequently “out of order“), oh and before I forget, we mustn’t forget the importance of selling tat to semi disinterested museum goers in the museum shop. A perfect example of this evisceration of a formerly glorious museum is what they have done to the Science Museum in Kensington, London. Once an absolute gem with fascinating displays and exhibits to keep any scientifically minded child (or adult) fascinated for hours on end, it is now a shabby shell of what it once was. Many of the displays and exhibits have disappeared (whatever happened to the coal mine exhibition in the basement?) and many of the “hands on” electronic “experiences” manage to be both already obsolete and non-working at the same time. Best stop here methinks, as I otherwise will get terribly politically incorrect, non-woke and my blood pressure will soar 

 

The other point is Douglas’ (Florence Locomotive Works) seeming disinterest in food, only because it is so radically and totally different to the way my peers and I were at the same age. Skipping lunch would have been unthinkable (nor would a toasted cheese sandwich sufficed) and the term “human locusts” would have described us well. Presumably because we were growing youngsters with a definitively non-sedentary life style, we could lunch, grab a couple of snacks in the afternoon before heading home for dinner with the family (mandatory AND we had to “eat at the table”, nor did we have a menu choice: what mother cooked, we ate), then out again with maybe a late night snack before heading home to bed and we would still remain stick thin... Mind you, this was 70s Italy - so no junk food (a strawberry milkshake was considered a treat), we walked or cycled everywhere (or took the bus), no mobile phones or videogames to keep us on the sofa and good food was (and still is) an integral and important part of socialisation in Italy. Remembering such times, I must sadly now conclude my metabolism has changed so much with age that were I to eat now even a fraction of what I (or my chums) ate then, I would very rapidly become Billy Bunterish - if not completely spherical.... Ah, tempi passati

 

Now off for a definitively non-sedentary “walk the dog”

 

I believe the coal mine of which you speak is currently residing in the Vienna Technical Museum (which is excellent, I could have spent three days in there, but only spared 8 hours), as there was a large coal “mine” off to the side, however I didn’t go inside it. It may also be a copy of the one in Kensington, so that is up to debate.  They also have some fantastic marine engines, and a industrial size Bessemer Converter, which the Kensington Museum also has, but on a much smaller scale. And I believe it’s hanging from the ceiling!

[45156]

Afternoon All

 

Sorry, but many pages missed as a result of not visiting yesterday - this due to problems with the hanging of six guitar wall hangers - not quite as easy as it first appeared, as the very first one was put up skew whiff by a couple of mm, and then was very difficult (took about an hour) to remove from the wall, due to one of the screws which I used becoming burred - these are a new and very large trade pack from Screwfix, and I had the last pack for upwards of fifteen years, and had very few which burred - but these new ones seem to be a lot less forgiving - no doubt the new ones were made in the Far East, as opposed to Europe as the last lot were.

 

So that is why I have missed so many pages, and why I can only render my generic greetings to all ERs, and thanks for the PM from pgcroc (and why not post here, we are just about the most friendly and supportive bunch anywhere in the RMWeb community) about a reputable supplier of refill cartridges, which I will pursue with interest,

 

Well, it's now been raining quite presistently here for about three days, and I was grateful to the manager of Lidl, who allowed us to shelter inside the shop foyer for fifteen minutes this morning, until we were able to perform the weekly fodder run.

 

Back tomorrow (?)

Regards to All

Stewart

Edited June 29, 2020 by 45156

[newbryford]

15 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

Could I recommend Specsavers?

 

I find these useful for (not) viewing certain engines.

 

 

 

[The Stationmaster]

16 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

I wonder what his screen name is on RMweb - several potential candidates come to mind ...

And it seems he's not entirely alone

 

14 hours ago, J. S. Bach said:

They all look the same to me!

He definitely isn't alone  

 

https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/156059-identifying-a-king-and-a-castle/

 

[iL Dottore]

26 minutes ago, newbryford said:

 

I find these useful for (not) viewing certain engines.

 

 

 

The ones in Crimson Lake or Garter Blue????

[Chris116]

8 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

The ones in Crimson Lake or Garter Blue????

Both!

[Dave Hunt]

2 minutes ago, Chris116 said:

Both!

 

Where's the pfffffft button?

 

Doesn't a king sit and make pompous noises while a castle is a great immovable lump?

 

Probably hat and coat time.......

 

Dave

[newbryford]

I have one of these for HH.

 

 

[Chris116]

Just now, Dave Hunt said:

 

Where's the pfffffft button?

 

Doesn't a king sit and make pompous noises while a castle is a great immovable lump?

 

Probably hat and coat time.......

 

Dave

Nothing wrong with an LNER or LMS engine that being rebuilt at Swindon would not be able to put right!

 

 

[Chris116]

3 minutes ago, newbryford said:

I have one of these for HH.

 

 

I thought you wore them all the time!

[The Stationmaster]

Afternoon all,

 

Keyboard recently reacquired from the management who had commandeered it to deal with matters financial (j hmm, plus her regular quiz page and other things - I can of course check back on exactly what she did look at although she doesn't know that I can  ... tehehe

 

Doubters will by now have realised that not all GWR engines look the same and that there subtle differences - often known only to the cognoscenti and those who actually bother to check things before they touch the keyboard keys with their considered reply.  Which leads straight to museums (even the NRM can't get things right on GW engines having approved an all too obvious error on 'City of Truro' at its last repaint) but iD's comments remind me of the maritime museum in Sydney.   having discovered by accident taht the office held an official pass for the museum because the company had contributed financially to its last revamp I set off with great hopes one Saturday morning - and found a dumbed down display to beat all dumbed down displays.  I had hoped to find out a lot more about the First Fleet (shipping out convicts to their new home) but it wasn't even mentioned and one display majored on bathing beaches around Sydney used since the 1930s.  One of the biggest disappointments I have ever come across at a museum - and I found my already existing knowledge of the First Fleet was much greater than anything they had on display or accessible to visitors.  All of that in a country that owes it origins on the world stage to seaborne communications. 

 

Tthe weather is much improved but it is rather on the draughty side although no rain so far today.  But the winds helped teh washing dry and no additional rinses have descended from the heavens.

 

Enjoy the rest of your day one and all and stay safe.

[Tony_S]

14 minutes ago, newbryford said:

I have one of these for HH.

 

 

A yellow filter absorbs blue light so surely HH’s green engines would appear green through a yellow filter? And any red engines would look red?

[iL Dottore]

43 minutes ago, Chris116 said:

Nothing wrong with an LNER or LMS engine that being rebuilt at Swindon would not be able to put right!

 

 

You mean “melt back down to pig iron” put right?

[Happy Hippo]

51 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

Where's the pfffffft button?

 

Doesn't a king sit and make pompous noises while a castle is a great immovable lump?

 

Probably hat and coat time.......

 

Dave

Would you like the engineering bricks delivered from about 10,000 ft?

[Happy Hippo]

4 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

You mean “melt back down to pig iron” put right?

To be fair, Swindon was quite happy to knock out  lovingly craft Stanier 8F's for the War effort.

 

Only the wartime restrictions of vital materiel prevented copper capped chimneys and brass  domes from adorning these.

 

[TheQ]

2 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

 

 

Of course this will only hold sway until the next new broom sweeps clean and again the cross referencing will be removed.

 

Fast forward another generation and the same will happen again, ad infinitum.

 

It's called reinventing the wheel, at which some academics are absolutely brilliant.

 

 

 

No different to the military,  every time a junior officer is posted in, he has to prove himself. So he starts changing things around,  making vast amounts of work,  and putting it back how it was before the previous officer...  As you say ad infinitum..

 

A few years ago you could find rows of tinned fruit in a supermarket,  today two shelves hidden between the bakery and baby washing stuff.. And that's in a Tescos Extra!!!! 

[Happy Hippo]

56 minutes ago, Chris116 said:

I thought you wore them all the time!

 

I can assure you that Mick does not wear a yellow bikini top

[Happy Hippo]

7 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

Dogs are usually silent, humans can be silent or noisy but as for Hippos.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQkATGaVZt8

I'm sure Dave Hunt or Ian Abel will concur that only a fool would not do an engine run up and magneto check prior to departure.

[Barry O]

Afternoon all.

 

So hoe do you spell "Hoolie"? It has been happeninghere all day. But some spell it houghly..other spellings include hoogily..

 

The rive in India (and some of the area it runs thorough is spelt various ways of "hoolie". As a river it is very smelly and very, very polluted buts its Tidal Bore is amazing to watch..every day, twice a day. It is also frossed by a mahnificent bridge. A railway museum is near the bridge (couldn't get there when we visited) but the guide explained the cartogrephers got the river and area wrong..and they have changed the way it is spelled as well. Might just stick with Hoolie!

 

Dave, fear not  the Great Wander Round tribe  (incorporating the Dirty, Noisy and Slow) forget when their kings failed locos from proper railways found the trains these pulled not exacting to say the least. 

 

Baz

[Florence Locomotive Works]

In my personal opinion, all things Southern look the same, he says whilst he’s rebuilding a LC&DR Small Scotchman.

Edited June 29, 2020 by Florence Locomotive Works