PatB

I first came across the rubbery stuff on pedestrian rail crossings here in Perth in 1996. However, I can't think of any road crossings that use it here even now.

Having been at the pointy end of compliance (in other fields) on a couple of occasions when new, not very well thought out regulation was introduced, I confidently predict that the whole situation will be a debacle of inconsistent, half-ar5ed chaos for at least the next year. But at least Gerry Harvey may be slightly less pervasive in our media for a while, so that'll be a plus .

This thread is hilarious . Seriously though, in spite of having lived in WA for 22 years, where the temperature regularly has a 4 in front of it in summer and where I've seen 50+ on worksites in the North West, I think the most uncomfortable I've ever been was just after May Bank Holiday 1990 in Bristol. Dad and I were putting a patio down in a south facing corner, using pale slabs against a white painted house. My goodness but it was hot. Fortunately I was young and fit in those days and so survived quite well. That particular hot spell also enabled me to buy an enormous sheepskin and canvas coat (Swedish army issue I believe) for pocket change at my favourite surplus store. It subsequently kept me from hypothermia on many ill-judged winter motorcycle trips so it wasn't all bad .

The rot set in when they stopped putting the classified ads on the front page .

Having owned a K100RS and an R1100RT I'd agree that, whilst not fast in an absolute sense, BMWs are easy to ride swiftly on a sustained basis which, over more than a few miles, is more important for A to B times than racetrack characteristics.

I tried smoking while riding precisely once. The incandescent end of me fag came off, spanged off my right eyeball, dropped into my beard, setting it ablaze, before dropping down the neck of my jacket and blazing a fiery trail all the way down to about navel level. Oddly enough I didn't bother trying again .

Well, it worked for Lima . Seriously though, I think I'd rather see a reasonably plausible "in the spirit of" heritage coach than no heritage coach at all, which might be the other realistic option. Given that Mk1s are plentiful, (presumably) cheap, mostly not terribly historically significant, and well understood by the heritage railway community it would make sense to use them as a basis for such beasties. As noted upthread, however, the economics of new build coaches are problematical. Mk1s offer designs like the TSO that are pretty much ideal for the bread and butter operations of a heritage line, which, I would guess, are what pay the bills. Replica or restored older designs of coach, while nice for the enthusiast, probably won't extract much more cash from Joe and Josephine Public than the existing Mk1 stock. I suspect that, as long as the coaching stock is reasonably cosmetically clean, smart and not modern, the effect on revenue for most of the year would be minimal. Where such builds would come into their own would be for special events aimed specifically at the enthusiast, and, as noted upthread, for film and TV work (if there are any producers out there who care enough and don't have access to CGI). For myself, I'd like to see something significantly different.Much Big 4 stock is a sufficiently close ancestor of the Mk1 that the "feel" will be much the same. So what about some proper 4 and 6 wheelers (no, not rebodied CCTs, although I do also applaud those efforts) or some clerestory coaches. However, that's me speaking as a (not fanatical) enthusiast who probably isn't worth that much, financially, to the heritage railway movement. I don't know if anyone's done it, but a replica Pullman dining car might be useful. As well as use on prestigious dining trains such a coach could also serve as a proper static restaurant whilst not in operation, offering another revenue stream for a railway.

What I got out of those video comparisons was how nice the Bachmann Percy chassis is. It's actually got proper crossheads and slidebars, unlike the Hornby equivalent. Very interesting for prospective 0-16.5 loco builders.

Big toolbox on the running plate perhaps.

Not the UK, or a shop, but the building I worked in in Canberra a few years ago had a turntable underneath to get (I think) the bin trucks into the loading bay. It was chequerplate steel and a slippery b&$*@%d of a thing to cross on a bicycle if it was raining. On a smaller scale, I remember a house on St Johns Lane in Bristol having a very restricted yard that someone had put a turntable in to make it possible to park more than one car in it. Apropos of nothing very much, I lived in Wallingford when the one supermarket in town changed from Key Markets to Waitrose. That was long before the flash new building went up though. It was in the much more constricted premises further south which, if Google Streetview is to be believed, looks as if its now been demolished.

The non-De-Luxe Anglia must be a rare beastie. Even when 105Es were still a relatively common sight I can't recall seeing a standard saloon. I remember one or two vans though.

Having eaten at outback roadhouses I'm plagued by visions of their junior employees being sent out to collect toad sausages so that the proprietor can fill up the bain-marie at zero cost .

Has this ever actually happened? I tend to regard it as an urban myth, given that I've never seen a verifiable case cited. I have heard from reputable sources that "good faith" type provisions would generally protect anyone making reasonable attempts to assist.

If you haven't already, check out this site. https://sharp.dft.gov.uk/ I haven't looked in detail recently but it used to hold some surprises. In particular it used to upset Arai enthusiasts . For myself, I've favoured HJC for the last 15 years or so. I find them a good fit and their mid-range models generally feel better finished than other lids of equivalent price. Only issue is the visor mechanisms on the ones I've had have been a bit flimsy. I bought some cheapo visors and gear plates off Ebay for my current helmet and they were significantly better in all respects than the factory standard bits.

I would imagine that the contents of a working boiler are quite turbulent and so fibrous material like dung and sawdust would distribute quite well throughout the water space, rather than simply floating on the surface, and be automatically carried in sufficient quantity to any leaks to seal them, at least while it remains wet.

I think they're talking about bunging up leaks in the boiler.

The Holden Gemini does have the distinction of being one of the very few diesel passenger cars you could buy in Australia up until relatively recently.

That's Vegemite isn't it?

I've often looked at pics of the Standard 8/10 drive train and thought that anything up to the 1500 Spitfire engine and gearbox should go in fairly easily and using factory parts. Might want to look at some Spitfire brakes and some suspension tweaks at the same time mind.

I always thought Stapleton Road looked an awful lot bigger than I could imagine it needing to be, even in its heyday.

Maybe if you do you can have a whip round from other Chapron owners who might like to express their gratitude for making their cars even more exclusive .

Have you seen the film Cows? I know it was for kids but it was still very strange.

And to think they used to whinge about having to ride in a modified Freightliner container .

I'm pretty sure the c1986 catalogue I remember from my youth showed red Polly as the loco in the basic Pick Up Goods starter set. I don't actually remember any other colours of 0-4-0 being illustrated so I was quite surprised when I discovered the existence of yellow and blue versions.

I don't think it's necessarily possible to manage effectively without at least a basic understanding of the end product. However enthusiasts will often tend to make business decisions based on sentiment rather than solid data, and historically that has probably led to ruin more often than to success. In a Hornby context, I'd see the (gas? ) axing of the Thomas range as a victory of pragmatism over sentiment, for example.