bbishop

Presently playing real trains on the 7.5 inch Swanley New Barn Railway. I have an ex BR signal frame to play with. Ex Gloucester Road, Croydon? Bill

I learnt something extraordinary today; Hippos can't swim!

Stephen, I had though of your question but I think it is impossible to set the criteria. So only five were on "active service", four had come out of retirement, the Duke of Kent was honorary and Tower was liaison with Henry Brooke. Bill

I have researched British admirals killed in WW2, and this list is probably definitive: Henry Blagrove (HMS Royal Oak), Lancelot Holland (HMS Hood), Tom Phillips (HMS Prince of Wales). Studholme Brownrigg, Wion Egerton, Dashwood Moir, Norman Wodehouse - convoy commodores. Duke of Kent, Philip Mack, Bertram Ramsey - plane crash Ion Tower - air raid Bill

Did Admiral Ramsey die in a plane crash?

The Yeti needs a fill up before our duty tonight. Being a Yeti, it will run on whatever is in the tank but I try and remember to put in petrol.

There is a very disturbing report on the BBC web site. No, not BoJo claiming that everybody bar him was economical with the truth, but that a genetically modified haricot bean can now be grown in this country. And you know what haricot beans are used for? Yup, baked beans. So that's the last we will see of Flavio in this green yellow and pleasant land. Bill

When I was growing up, we used to hold family conferences before important decisions - two adults, two children, dog, cat all had to be present. One decision was the family holiday. Toddy wanted to come with us, so our holiday was a caravan on a farm which suited Toddy, as by heritage he was an Exmoor farm terrier and he just joined in with the resident dogs. Harvey chose to move next door for the fortnight, with bed, bowl and teapot. Eric was an amateur ornithologist and hated cats, the exception was Harvey who would sit beside him on the bench and watch the birds.

Brian, to the best of my knowledge Met Police are not covering London Ambulance calls. The last time that I saw them on a shout was a collapse in a pub at half past midnight. Five LAS people (three staff, two volunteers) treating an unresponsive patient, with a dozen or so police watching. I had to ask on of them to stop the traffic so we could wheel the trolley bed across the road. And if the police are withdrawing from mental health calls, it will just put more pressure on the ambulance service. I have seen, but can't remember the statistic, about the percentage of calls that have a mental health element. It is already significant. Bill

He's back ..... Dakota Dibben Exhibitions - Isle of Purbeck Model Railway Exhibition Sat 12th - Sun 13th August 2023 Harmans Cross Village Hall, Haycrafts Lane, Harmans Cross, Swanage, Dorset BH19 3EB OPENING TIMES: SAT 10am-5pm SUN 10am-4pm ADMISSION: Adults £5.00 Children £2.00 Family £12.00 List of Layouts Attending : Shaftesbury Parkway - N; Dorbury North - N; Wickhambreux RD - OO9; Penworth - N Feldspar - N; Two Ends - OO; Atherfield - OO; Craig-Yn-Hesg - OO9 Crib Lane - G; Kinmundy - OO; Sodham Hall - O9; Plus Others. Taking a profit from an exhibition is no different from Warner's, albeit on a much smaller scale. However all attendees may wish to confirm that Dibben has actually taken out exhibition insurance (is does tend to slip his mind), and exhibitors should ensure they have a watertight contract for the payment of expenses (he does try and fob you off with 50% of expenses) and that you are paid before 4pm on Sunday because otherwise Dibben is "out of the door".

There is a story regarding the Tilbury and LSWR Radial tanks. Thomas Whitelegg worked as a draughtsman under Williams Adams at Stratford and I gain an impression that they were good friends. Adams moved to Nine Elms where initially he developed some merely competent classes. The LTSR fell out with the GER and recruited Whitelegg as Locomotive Superintendent who, being relatively inexperienced, requested assistance from Adams. The request was agreed by the LSWR Locomotive Committee. The friends met and the outcome was both the LTSR "1" class and the LSWR "415" class, the latter being Adams' first excellent product. Bill.

The LSWR were thinking of a single round about 1892, until they discovered the actual weight of the MR product. Bill

Just off to Lord's for a T20 game. Bill

Tickets for the Ashes Test Match at Lord's are about £100. I am going for four days. Total cost about twenty quid of travel costs. Bill

Jamie prefixed his anal with a "c".

Known as the perineum.

The editor is a friend. I suppose an issue is that one spends months crafting an article and gathering resources, then has a couple of days to caption the photographs. Bill

Photographs can be a minefield. I submitted an article to a journal, with a number of photographs. Recently my text was returned with a selection of photographs, with a request for captions ... like, now. One problem was the photographs were in aesthetic order, but the article would only make sense if they were in time order. And the time frame was just one hour so I was desperately tracking a bunch of middle aged gentlemen walking around Waterloo station in overcoats and top hats, trying to work out who they were, where they were and when they were, all the time fielding ever more aggressive e-mails from the editor. I think I got it right. Bill

Folks, I have been viewing TNM from the Grandstand at Lord's Cricket Ground during the Test Match. It's not particularly easy to post on my mobile phone, as either the bandwidth has been rather crowded or (thanks to RMT & ASLEF) I've been bouncing along on London buses. So, back at home and thinking about Andy's comment. It happens that TNM is populated by several individuals who have or are still involved with the armed forces or the emergency services. This effects our outlook on life and our ability to discuss these life experiences shouldn't be repressed. It is healthy to speak or write about our life experiences and is one way of avoiding or mitigating feelings of depression or worse aspects of mental health, although the humour tends to be the deepest shade of LNWR black. So I suggest we continue to post whatever we feel, although perhaps we do need a "getting a bit political" button. Bill

First day at Lord's. Three patients and lots of cricket. Then "treated" a nine year old girl on the train home - Sats probe on finger and explained pulse and oxygen. She is now going to be a paramedic when she grows up.

Three days at Lord's from tomorrow, two of which will be disrupted by train strikes. I support Friday, because of the staffing issues, but not Saturday ... I do wish Andrew C were still alive, he could have provided a suitable epithet. Bill

I'm a front line volunteer with the ambulance service, avoided Covid for three years, then probably caught it at Chris Foren's funeral. Bill

Dear Mr Darlington, We are a fairly disreputable mob on TNM. Never expect sympathy, do expect the p1ss to be taken, but oddly enough we do care. Glad you're with us. Bill

Problem? Not from my point of view.

I think the scale is calcium carbonate.