jamie92208

A surprising number are now serving what is known as a whole life tarrif and will only leave in a box. Back to railways, quite a while ago two idiots got agrieved with the Ratty for some reason and dumped a bag of track spikes between the rails. They then gotbon a yacht and sailed down the coast. They were arrested at Millom and werecrather surprised to appear at Carlisle Crown Court charged with endangering life on the railway. They drew a few years each. Fortunately the next train up the line was able to stop in time. Jamie

I also remember that day well, listening to the news at lunchtime at school. I got the Times delivered to school ( some sort of special offer) and couldn't stop reading about it next morning and looking at the awful pictures. Many years later I rode the train to Merthyr for the first time and both me and my mate went quiet when we saw the cemetry across the valley. Jamie

Hence the emphasis on moving the soil and ground cover to try and maintain the ecosystem. Jamie

There is a Youtube vieo about that. Apparently the had a spevial unit that could do inflight refuelling to get the range, but the Yanks insited thst their aircraft had to be used. A new batch of B29's was built without the wing spar through the bomb bay. There were production delays and it was a close run thing as to whether the bonb or the bomber would be ready first. Jamie

Having gone back to the original article. The Railway offences would definitely have carried the most serious sentence, which I think carries life. Jamie

I suppose we need to know the answer to a couple of questions. a) Is Dave still qualified on Lancasters, as they are I believe the only aircraft with a bomb bay big enough for a Tallboy. and b) Are there any Tallboys still available. I do know that a Grand Slam was discovered at Scampton a few years ago being used as a gate guardian and still live. Perhaps the remaining Tallboys ought to be checked. Jamie

I seem to remember that the railway offences often carry a very heavy sentence particularly if life is endangered. The charges are available to Home Office forces but the officers don't know about them. However they are all on the database of charges that all officers have access to. When I was developing that system BTP made a major contribution and obviously the railway offences were added. Jamie

Good morning, it's a bit damp here but there are some more pictures. The Clapham Junction pictures were taken 18th May. Keith and I were on a Southern day rover which I think cost us £10 each. Our first destination was Portsmouth Harbour where HMS Warrior was looking rather nice. Then came Littlehampton Followed by Bognor Regis, but no visit to Squires. Then a bit of time at Barnham with it's lovely box. And both Sothern and South Western trains. Lot of lines on page 11 were crossed off but we didn't finish that page till 2009. 27 completed so far. What a way to spend retirement. Jamie

Good moaning again. To The Danglies I have been. The tax has been explained to me. Apparently last years pension increase took us above a threshold and we no longer qualified for a rebate. Tant Pis as they say. I then visited several other establishments to make purchases. I also called in at the health insurance office to try and get a replacement card as I've lost mine. A very helpful kady heelped me to try and get one online. In the process she learned that we English useca different keyboard to Les Francais. In return I learned a few new French words. We eventually got the the screen to create an account that would allow me to report the card lost and request a new one. Guess what the ladt question on the applucation is. Answer, the serial number printed on the card. Pah as Baz would say. The helpful lady did give me the correct form forva postal application. Back home now and enjoyed a cup of coffee and a cheese scone. Jamie

Yes even over here in France Radio 4 news on long wave had items about this. No mention of the actual amount if ancient woodland thst's being felled, which us pretty small. Jamie

There isca Kitmaster society that sell off original kits. They used to have a stand at Warley so Paul Jones may well have contact details. Jamie

Good moaning to all, and sundry. Still very dark here and will be for a while yet. Yesterdays post brought a letter about local taxes, setting out our standing order payments for next year. In a box half way up it showed the last 3 for this year. 54, 54 and €669 for Oct, Nov and Dec. Not a happy bunny so this morning I'm off to the tax office to try and get an explanation. Apart from that there isn't a lot on the agenda so the ironing may get done. Regards to all. Jamie

Just had a good look through the 0-4-4 kit. It appears that it is from the 1833 class so a look through the reference books and post 1907 no's 1351 to 1260 were at Manningham in 1921, presumably for the Aire Valley services. That would fit very nicely as an excursion train to Morecambe with my 5 car close coupled clerestory set. A look through both Summerson and Jenkinson and Essery, found a nice picture of 1841, which became 1359, sitting at Leeds. So 1359 it will be. Jamie

Yes, I doubt that I will ever build another loco without sone form of valve gear either dummy or working. I do have several castings that represent the upper slidebars and motion brackets can be fitted. The 0-4-4T thatvI'm looking at, an ancient M.S.C kit will probably have a dummy set with some additiobs to lok like the slide valves. However due to the side tanks the gaping voud isn't as visible as the 4F. Jamie

For me it was Nottingham in 1971 bfore they had breakfast in America. Jamie

One thing has been bothering me about Bog junction. Many years ago I headed to the Students Union to see Steeleye Span, the support act was supposed to be Screaming Lord Sutch . A replacement band called Supertramp had come in his place and when they came on stage announced that " Steaming Lord Crutch hasn't turned up as he has disappeared down his own bog seat". I sincerely hope that no such event happens to the operator of the said junction. Jamie

Good morning all. Some more picture for you. First of all another couple taken near Marsh Lane cutting where a footbridge crosses the line near the stone terminal. Here a 185 heads eastwards. It's one of those locations that wold make a good model. Viaduct then embankment leading into a large tunnel moth with a goods yard behind. There used to be a station roughly where the rear of the train is. The road on the south side of the viaduct is appropriately called Railway Street; And a 158 heading for Leeds whilst a 144 waits on the loop line for a path. I believe this area was the original terminus for the Leeds and Selby Railway that George Hudson bought and closed for a while so that all the traffic went on his lines via Normanton to Leeds. We then head south to Clapham Junction. Here a 450. Then a 66 heads west with an engineering train. One of the 458's when they were the unloved. And a 455/X unit with the ex 4Pep coach heading in. Off the top of my head I can't remember which sub class got the ex 4 PEP coaches. More tomorrow I hope. Jamie

Good morning from what may well be a temporarily sunlit village, judging by the view to the southwest of dark grey clouds. Yesterday We had great success with French bureaucracy, in the form of making progress towards getting our post Brexit residency cards. When we got home I celebrated by heading for the shed in the evening. After the good progress the other day I was worrying about how to fit the motion unit into the frames and then join it up with the footplate and boiler/smokebox unit. As with most problems, I often find that it is best to have a think about it, then procrastinate for a while, before having a go. Anyway I picked the various pieces up and tried to fit things together but with a drawing in font of me a plan formed in the porridge that is between my ears. After I'd found the mandrel for the slitting disc I measured, marked, check, remeasured and then attacked the dummy cylinder block until most of it ended level with the frames, apart from the rear plate with the cylinder and valve guide castings on it. This was then trial fitted and the footplate, firebox and cab assembly placed on the frames. The next step was to then try to fit the boiler/smokebox unit over everything else. Various parts of the smokebox saddle interfered with the rear plate of the cylinder block so the whole unit sat about 6mm too far forward. Much head scratching took place, the vernier's were deployed and eventually a plan emerged. The rear of the cylinder block was being held in place by the nylon hornblocks. I therefore marked, etc and enlarged existing cutouts that allowed me to move the motion unit rearwards. Measured again and removed another 3mm and hey presto when I put it back and then tried the boiler unit on everything seemed to be in the right place. Thus is what it looked like on the chassis jig. Success. A few minor tweaks needed, but the main aim of filling the very visible void below the boiler has been achieved. Here's a slightly different view. Overall I'm very pleased with the work. It's been a faff but is worth the effort I think. I still need to connect it all to the crank axle via the con rods and eccentric straps and also secure the unit into the frames. I'm thinking of using some 12BA bolts through the frames with captive nuts inside the cylinder block. 2 each side to give registration. There will also be a vertical 8BA bolt that goes through the cylinders and footplate and then into an existing captive nut below the smokebox. After that I worked out how to attach a die block so that it can move and that was enough for the evening. I can really see progress to the extent that I've started the detailed research for the 0-4-4 tank kit that I inherited. Jamie

Good moaning from the Charente. It's not raining and there are even patches of blye sky. As mentioned last night a successful day was had in La Rochelle. I then had a successful evening in the shed, details elsewhere soon as I dread the awl. Not a lot on the agenda today, in fact the calendar is blank till Monday, though No 2 son has his birthday on Saturday. I may well head for the shed this morning and tidy another area of floor ready for painting in due course. Regards to all. Jamie

Actually the type of train detection woul interest me. Obviously the diveunder will be in wet ground so will it be axle counters as used in wet tunnels, or more conventional means. Jamie

As the seafarers would say, self loading cargo to platfirm 1, freight to platform 2. And somebody's got to say it. They were all dying to get in. Jamie

I did think that it was appropriste to be sitting in a former French nsval base on Trafalgar Day. There was a statue to a French Admiral that mentioned his many victories over Les Anglais but only managed to name 1 in 1810. Jamie

Sorry to see that Keith. Maybe you'll have to rebuild it in steel. And the same in other Latin American countries. El Salvador abolished their currency and noe use the almighty dollar. Nicaragua uses dollars and in Costa Rica you paid in dollars but got change in Colones. Anyway we're back from The Prefecture. Very efficient and they cealtvwith all 3 of us together rather than making Beth and I wait for an hour. Then a lovely meal on the harbourside in thecsunshine, a nice walk round and a nice journey each way. Jamie

As far as I can remember the coffin trucks were double deck. I have the book about The Necropolis Railway so will have a look and check. ISTR that the coffins were laded from the opposite side to the mourners. Jamie

Grey sqirrel tails used to carry a bounty of one shilling, I was told by an old bobby. Paid out at the local nick. Re licensed premises visits, they coukd be a very useful way of keeping certain landlords in check. I must admit that one night, when I wasn't in the best of moods, I visited one fairly isolated pub and the landlord told me porkies about his licence. I had noticed all the parked cars outside so turned to the drinkers and toldcthem why the landlord had annoyed me, then quite gently said, "You all know the drink driving laws, whose feeling lucky tonight" We then parked opposite the pub for a while. It made me feel a lot better. Vertical farming has been around quite a long time. 20 years ago the force stables had a set up thstvprovided fresh grass through the winter. That's not the typevof grass younst the back are sniggrrring about. Brian, I hope that young Max is OK. Here it is a tad breezy, a shutter started banging during the night but has now been secured. Anyway, today we are off to La Rochelle to give our fingerprints and the other stuff needed to get our residence cards. Regards to all. Jamie