figworthy

Lovely set of piccies. That has got to be an interesting prototype for someone to have a go at. Adrian

I do think (*) that a sign of a good model railway is that there is stuff there to draw the attention when there are no trains running (and I don't mean lots of flashing lights). Little Muddle satisfies that criteria. * and appreciate that others may take a different view. Adrian

Reminds me of a tale someone told me many years ago. He'd been on a course for something or other, and a month or so later, his employers got some consultants in to help them with a project using that something or other. One of the consultants had been on the same running of the course as the narrator of the tale. Said narrator wasn't overly amused. Adrian

<mode = speculation> When the Cornwall Railway was built, viaducts were built to the Brunel pattern. Later they were replaced with more conventional stone viaducts. In some cases this was done with the new alongside the old, in other cases, there were deviations from the route, is this one of those ? </mode> Adrian

Interesting, but some of the maps are wrong (in terms of how things were organised). Adrian (formerly barmy or heroic - apparently)

That looks gorgeous. Adrian

Tristram Fry was last seen (October '19) thumping kettle drums playing timpani for the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra. Apart from looking a bit older, and wearing the regulation penguin suit, he didn't look a lot different. Adrian

Having (relatively) recently seen the film and then reread the book, I thought that the book was far better, but I can see how simplifying/shortening the story for the film might be needed. I don't have a full set of Shute books, but I've got a fair few of them. I can't help feeling that many of them haven't really "dated" and could be adapted into films or TV series. Adrian

So long as it doesn't end up in Columbia. Apparently Hippos are now persona non grata there as they are an alien species. Adrian

I think I had the pleasure of attending one of his lectures (which included audience participation) in 1979. Adrian

A potentially interesting take on the phrase "plain clothes" Adrian

Showing on the port side ? Adrian

Looking very nice, but ... White lights in wheel houses is usually a bad idea as you'll lose your night sight. Red lights are usually used as it allows you to easily alternate between looking at stuff in the wheel house, and what's going on in the outside world. Adrian

Windows 10/64 Firefox 96.0.3 Adrian

Berth 24 is one of those that seems to come up every few months. Adrian

It's been several days now since someone gave the server a harsh talking to, and since then the performance seems to be way better than we've seen in months. I've not had a 52x error, and likes/mark as read are now happening almost instantly. More an observation than a complaint, I do sometimes find that when I hit "next page" I can end up part way down, or even at the bottom of the page, not something that happened before. All in all, a big thanks to Andy, and anyone else involved in sorting out the problems. Adrian

My first microwave died last year at 34 years old. The dishwasher is over 60 years old, and still going strong. Adrian

Thanks. I'd guess ex-army, but that was as far as I got. Adrian

A Titfield related question if I may. Does anyone know what the vehicle is that the police are using for transporting the prisoners ? Adrian

I recall reading something a few years back (in Old Glory ?) about a steel works in Sheffield that had swapped (but not scrapped) some steam wagons for diesels lorries for internal use. After a while they went back to the steam wagons as the lorries weren't up to the job (chassis problems I think). I think that was in the 60s. I think the diesels were some recovered from Germany after WW II. They turn up at Steam Fairs from time to time. Adrian

No Furlongs per fortnight ? Most disappointed. Adrian

We've had some preparatory work done here, but I've no idea on when we get moved across. I'm in two minds as to what to do about the phone line. These days there are only a couple of people who routinely call me on it (apart from wrong numbers or junk calls which won't be missed). So do I fiddle around with it and go for the UPS and keep the phones, or do I manage without (and if possible get the calls redirected to my mobile). Mobile coverage around here is generally good, although I noticed that there was no service one morning last week. I do think that giving a week or so's notice of the change over is rather poor, particularly in the current environment where ignoring customers appears to be standard. Adrian

I went for a slight variation on what you're thinking about. My baseboards are ply on softwood, standing on legs, but I've got kitchen units on castors that live under the layout, so they can be wheeled out when I need to access the underside. The units have a piece of hardboard glued onto the top. Adrian

Not unique to ball sports sadly. I was talking to a neighbour a couple of years back, and he was repeating a tale his son had told him. He was travelling by train to the Cheltenham Gold Cup, and a fair proportion of the passengers had had a skinful before they got off the train. What state they were in at hoof off (and home time) is anyone's guess. Adrian

And Porsche Adrian