Wright writes.....

[ianwales]

Oh,

 

Another interesting railway-related topic? 

 

The second school I taught at in Birkenhead was adjacent to 'bomb alley', a deep cutting on the electrified line from Liverpool Central to Bidston and beyond. It was a depository for old beds, old furniture and abandoned prams, pushchairs and shopping trolleys - hence its epithet. The last school I taught at in Wolverhampton had the Shrewsbury-Wolverhampton line passing right by it. When I started at that last school (in 1975), there were always a few boys train spotting during breaks and lunchtime and after school. I often joined them with a camera. When I left the school in the early '90s, there wasn't one. Does that say something about a declining interest in railways among the young?

 

Hello Tony and all

 

I was brought up around railways and I attempted to interest my son's in model railways as they were growing up, my eldest who is now 19 has gone to university in Wakefield and I happened to mention that the Wakefield exhibition was on a couple of weekends ago, well Oliver went along both days and has been to the club rooms a couple of times since and I had a phone call from him earlier this week asking if I could send a couple of my locos up so he could run something of his own on the club's layout, so obviously some of my influence has rubbed off.

 

Ian

[grob1234]

This thread gets more esoteric as each day progresses. Some really funny comments for such a grumpy lot of seniors. Perhaps we should face it that we are of the past and the dynamics of life are such now that it moves very fast in a multiplicity of directions. I find it easier not to try and keep up. That is why I love my hobby as I can retreat into a world which probably was not that wonderful in reality but it did have surety. When I first started work, it was possible to leave a job on a Friday and get a new one the following Tuesday. Houses were affordable even if cars were not. Most jobs gave a pension which actually paid for one's retirement. On the railways. there was transition but it was all interesting. Girls were mysterious creatures with a strange fascination and alure. (Never learned what that was!). Romford wheels seem to be the only unifying link through all this.

Wonderful stuff.

 

Martin Long

We're not all grumpy seniors, I'm grumpy quite often and I'm just a baby at 33!

 

This thread does get better and better. I suppose for me it's like my modelling club. I get all sorts of eras, types and styles of locomotive and a good level of banter too.

 

Best thread on RMWeb.

[Guest Brighton_JunctionLNER]

Yes - I did! It had a couple of romps - and boy did it romp. Very impressive. I think a certain antipodean visitor had his video camera trained on it - perhaps he will share that with us in due course?

i most certainly did, ill have the photos/videos uploaded hopefully in the next few days. I only got home last night, just getting back into reality!! 

[Guest Brighton_JunctionLNER]

Afternoon Tony,

just would like to say a massive thankyou for the lovely few days we had playing trains, swearing at trains, swearing at idiot drivers, having fun and learning our ABC's (haha) and thankyou for your lovely words about me on RMweb.

ill try my best and work some magic with the GOPRO videos and try and get some photos out of them. its pretty damn hot here aswell, kinda knocking me about cause i spent 5 weeks in below 12 degrees weather!!!

thanks again to you and Mo, see you next year!!

jesse 

[queensquare]

Afternoon Tony,

just would like to say a massive thankyou for the lovely few days we had playing trains, swearing at trains, swearing at idiot drivers, having fun and learning our ABC's (haha) and thankyou for your lovely words about me on RMweb.

ill try my best and work some magic with the GOPRO videos and try and get some photos out of them. its pretty damn hot here aswell, kinda knocking me about cause i spent 5 weeks in below 12 degrees weather!!!

thanks again to you and Mo, see you next year!!

jesse

 

Good to meet you at Warley Jesse, we too enjoyed the swearing at cars whilst being randomly directed the wrong way by traffic marshalls. Who would have thought that both Tony and Kim could make a sailor blush with their rants at inconsiderate idiots on the road!

We had a very enjoyable weekend demonstrating at Warley as Tony and Mo's neighbours. As usual getting in and out of the place was a trial but everything that was in the clubs control was excellent and we were royally looked after.

 

Jerry

[unclebobkt]

      ... .

  "Oh," I said, "so you would like me to say 'shedule'?  Then how about you saying you learned your pronunciation in 'shool'?"

 

 

        From one Englisshe language pedant to another - 'E' is a 'soft' vowel whereas 'O' is an 'hard' vowel,  thus the difference 'twixt. 'Schedule.' and 'School.'.

 

      

[billbedford]

I'm not even sure you could class it as entertainment, let alone pure.

 

 

Well, it certainly wasn't educational or informative.

[Horsetan]

Well, it certainly wasn't educational or informative.

 

Is anything on the telly these days?

[billbedford]

        From one Englisshe language pedant to another - 'E' is a 'soft' vowel whereas 'O' is an 'hard' vowel,  thus the difference 'twixt. 'Schedule.' and 'School.'.

 

      

 

 

The complete pedant will, of course, have already memorised this poem:

 

[Focalplane]

        From one Englisshe language pedant to another - 'E' is a 'soft' vowel whereas 'O' is an 'hard' vowel,  thus the difference 'twixt. 'Schedule.' and 'School.'.

 

Well, I never knew that, just shows what you can learn on this thread.  Thank you!

[unclebobkt]

The complete pedant will, of course, have already memorised this poem:

 

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

 

       Mr. Bedford - do I spot two 'Split infinitives'  in the above sentence?

 

      

[St Enodoc]

The complete pedant will, of course, have already memorised this poem:

 

Fascinating - thank you Bill.

[billbedford]

       Mr. Bedford - do I spot two 'Split infinitives'  in the above sentence?

 

      

 

 

And? am I writing English or Latin?

[Jol Wilkinson]

Communication is the responsibility of the communicator, not the communicatee.

 

So if u get wot i sez, ive suceeded.  However, you may conclude I am an illiterate, inconsiderate person and whatever I have to say is worthless.

[coachmann]

So if u get wot i sez, ive suceeded.  However, you may conclude I am an illiterate, inconsiderate person and whatever I have to say is worthless.

Love it.... 

[s.e. charles]

duly noted.

[Clearwater]

Communication is the responsibility of the communicator, not the communicatee.

 

So if u get wot i sez, ive suceeded. However, you may conclude I am an illiterate, inconsiderate person and whatever I have to say is worthless.

Yes, but not 100% so. The communicator has a responsibility to speak in a way that can be understood by the recipient. For example, to speak in an impenetrable technical jargon when selling a computer may not help get the sale or the buyer understand what they are getting into.

 

David

[Tony Wright]

Afternoon Tony,

 

just would like to say a massive thankyou for the lovely few days we had playing trains, swearing at trains, swearing at idiot drivers, having fun and learning our ABC's (haha) and thankyou for your lovely words about me on RMweb.

 

ill try my best and work some magic with the GOPRO videos and try and get some photos out of them. its pretty damn hot here aswell, kinda knocking me about cause i spent 5 weeks in below 12 degrees weather!!!

 

thanks again to you and Mo, see you next year!!

 

jesse 

It was our pleasure Jesse (please note your name has a capital letter, as it should have). 

 

You taught me a lot as well; things such as how my prejudices with regard to a person's appearance can be very misleading and limiting (though I still think you should have thought twice about having another tattoo). 

 

I'm glad that you made it home all right, and that your new loco made it in one piece (I assume it did).

 

 

Though it's been seen before, I'm glad it's gone to a young modeller. Despite some concerns that the cylinders appear a bit wide, it had no trouble going past Bytham's platforms or Grantham's. 

 

See you over in Blighty next year? You're most welcome. 

[richard i]

It was our pleasure Jesse (please note your name has a capital letter, as it should have). 

 

You taught me a lot as well; things such as how my prejudices with regard to a person's appearance can be very misleading and limiting (though I still think you should have thought twice about having another tattoo). 

 

I'm glad that you made it home all right, and that your new loco made it in one piece (I assume it did).

 

Raven A2.jpg

 

Though it's been seen before, I'm glad it's gone to a young modeller. Despite some concerns that the cylinders appear a bit wide, it had no trouble going past Bytham's platforms or Grantham's. 

 

See you over in Blighty next year? You're most welcome.

 

That is a great loco. I hope Jesse gets many years of enjoyment out of it.

Tony your comment about prejudice on a persons appearance being limiting. All I can say is thank god my wife can see past appearances otherwise I would be single. I think that statement is true for a lot men.

Richard

[jwealleans]

Hallo Jesse,

 

Pleased to note that you arrived home safely (as, I hope, did your luggage). I shall be asking for photos of the underside of that A2 when I come to overhaul my own, as the arrangement for your front bogie was better than mine. I also expect detailed pictures of your Quint set in due course.

 

Thank you for all your help over the weekend, especially when packing up. Most visitors disappear around then. I hope we'll be able to see you if you are back over next year.

[Tony Wright]

Many thanks once more for all the splendid comments about language (both written and verbal) and its use. 

 

May I please make one final statement on this? I see this written so many times incorrectly. It is, of course, 'its' and 'it's'.

 

Its is the possessive.

 

It's is the contraction of it is.

 

So, if someone writes 'how does so and so arranges it's track', what they're really writing is 'how does so and so arrange it is track'. Which is nonsense.

 

Now back to modelling, which this 'club' should be all about. Personal modelling - those making/modifying things by/for themselves. That's the only 'entry' requirement.

 

 

This morning has seen the basic body on top of the chassis for the new A4 I'm making. There is still a fair bit of cleaning up to do.

 

Recently, someone alluded to the idea that how a model is arrived at is, to some extent, irrelevant; whether it be modified RTR, made from a kit, made of plastic, made of metal or just about anything else. In some ways he's right, though I count the 'journey' in making (particularly) a locomotive at least the equal (if not more so) of the finished product. Logic might suggest that with a very good RTR starting point in the Hornby A4, why go to the bother of making one, especially as the component parts cost more? My answer would be personal preference; anyone can own a Hornby A4 (as long as they can pay for it) - each is a clone of every other one. Granted, much can be done to personalise and improve one. That's certainly an easier option than building one from the ground up and, especially if one does the job oneself, there can be a great sense of pleasure, achievement and satisfaction  in doing it - much more more so than just plonking a straight-out-of-the-box model down or commissioning the work; at least that's my opinion.  

 

There are other reasons for making such a locomotive myself, most important being the work that this finished A4 will have to do. That is haul at least a dozen heavy bogies up a stiff (prototypical) gradient. I can't see an RTR A4 doing that. 

 

Yes, the Hornby A4 is a fine model and its (please note the correct 'its') body does not need the preparation before painting required by the SE Finecast one. However (perversely?), that's all part of that journey.

 

 

 

 

 

A journey I first made over 40 years when I first built a (then) Wills A4, marrying it to a scratch-built chassis. Ian Rathbone's later painting turned it into a very suitable layout loco. 

 

 

As he did with another cast-metal A4 I made much later. In terms of pulling-power, layout locos like these eclipse any RTR equivalent in my experience. Not only that, they're 'mine' in a unique way. As I say, all part of the journey. 

 

So, please, keep on posting images of your own 'journeys'. 

Edited December 2, 2016 by Tony Wright

[Jol Wilkinson]

Yes, but not 100% so. The communicator has a responsibility to speak in a way that can be understood by the recipient. For example, to speak in an impenetrable technical jargon when selling a computer may not help get the sale or the buyer understand what they are getting into.

 

David

In which case, the communicator has failed, the point I was making.

 

It was once very clearly illustrated when my boss got a b*llocking from a senior director for failing to respond to a memo he hadn't received.  Suffice to say, that did little for the director's reputation.

 

Your point about the recipient understanding is well made. At least in a conversation you can recognise and deal with that. It is less easy with written forms of communication, especially on technical matters such as kit instructions.

Edited December 2, 2016 by LNWRmodeller

[Tony Wright]

In which case, the communicator has failed, the point I was making.

 

It was once very clearly illustrated when my boss got a b*llocking from a senior director for failing to respond to a memo he hadn't received.  Suffice to say, that did little for the director's reputation.

 

Your point about the recipient understanding is well made. At least in a conversation you can recognise and deal with that. It is less easy with written forms of communication, especially on technical matters such as kit instructions.

Jol,

 

I agree entirely with your last sentence, having written instructions in the past. 

 

Returning to a recent theme (even though my 'final' statement on this is contained in my last posting) the verbal greeting (especially face-to-face) can be far more informal than the written one. If someone says 'Hi' to me on greeting face-to-face, I'll probably reciprocate in kind (or, more commonly, say 'Hello'). However, I'm less inclined to give a written correspondence credence if it's prefixed with just 'Hi'. Just me, I suppose.  

[Focalplane]

Tony, your comment about "journeys" reminded me of one of Paul Theroux's early train travelogues (not sure if it was the Patagonia Express but I think so).  He said, and I paraphrase, "the journey should be as important as the destination."  I have always found that to be so and it also applies to my modelling.

[LNER4479]

Tony, your comment about "journeys" reminded me of one of Paul Theroux's early train travelogues (not sure if it was the Patagonia Express but I think so).  He said, and I paraphrase, "the journey should be as important as the destination."  I have always found that to be so and it also applies to my modelling.

Did not Robert Louis Stevenson once say something along similar lines?

(in turn expressing the same idea as the earlier Taoist saying: "The journey is the reward".)

 

Whatever - certainly applies to the joy of making things!