faulcon1

Yes that's right Chris the Gulflander which still runs today and was built between the towns of Normanton and Croydon. It's a line totally isolated from the rest of the Queensland railway network and now runs for tourists. It has a maximum speed of 40kph and the "ballast" is earth hence the low speed. Merry Christmas to you to Chris and the family, Roy.

A film made in 1974 but trying to depict and earlier time as in WW2.

Vietnam's outlook is very different to China for they hold no regrets about the Vietnam War with an attitude that was then and this is now. The Vietnamese don't show any resentment for what happened to them maybe because they won. Many western manufacturing companies have relocated to Vietnam from China due to the ever deteriorating economy and uncertainty of electric power.

I know isn't it lovely that we've managed to hang onto some of those old cherished values.

I have a Panasonic DVD recorder and yes RAM is great but only Panasonic was mainly doing the format and hardly anyone else was, and those who did didn't do it for long. Whereas all other formats can be played in a large variety of other manufacturers machines. My DVD recorder is an older one as modern DVD recorders don't record to DVD but to an internal hard drive only. If this is to stop copyright violations then they're too late as I tried to get a British sitcom from a British company only to be told we don't sell to Australia. So I downloaded all the episodes from YT instead and burnt it to DVD before the BBC had the channel deleted for copyright violation. Take the Fred Dibnah series of programs which never came to Australia and I downloaded those from YT because eventually the BBC will have those channels wiped out. My mum had a Blu Ray player even though she had no Blu Ray discs but standard DVD's can be played on Blu Ray players whereas Blu Ray discs can't be played on standard DVD players. Most DVD players can be bought here for twenty five pounds and many tech people say use a memory stick rather than burning to DVD. But I have external hard drives which can play on my TV but the file size can only be 4GB or about 30 mins. So movies are out like the Titfield Thunderbolt for that's longer than 30 minutes. My hard drives are 1 to 2 TB and yes I can watch that movie in full on a desk top computer no problems but not a LCD TV via it's USB port which is why a DVD player is needed. The reason I'm moving to DL rather than RAM is because eventually my DVD player will kick the bucket and no DVD player now plays RAM discs either in or out of the RAM cartridge.

Well Lord Banford of JCB thinks the ICE still has a future despite what some may think. Vauxhall have said a ICE Astra is 14,000 pounds and an EV Astra is 29,000 pounds which is highly inflated price wise. As for Lower Classes well your class system is alive an very well in the UK as a lady who didn't have a double barrel surname but did have all the degrees necessary to qualify in practicing law. But she hadn't been to one of the best private schools and her father had not been a judge and so therefore the class system came into play and she was denied even getting anywhere near "chambers". Another man (David Abingdon) who lives in the Cotswolds rang a few friends in high places to try to give this lady a leg up on the ladder to a law firm, but they all got cold feet at the prospect of having a lower class person in their higher class circle. David was indignant saying that people think the class system in the UK is dead, but it's not, it's very alive and very well.

Does anyone have experience of recording onto DVD + DL. There were two types -DL and +DL. Minus was a double sided disc where you would turn the disc over just like an old LP. But +DL is dual layered but what I was wondering was when you've finished recording onto one layer can you close the session or finalise that part of the dual layered disc without effecting the second layer, or does one need to fill both layers completely before finalising or closing the session of the complete disc.

I'd love to buy an EV but with all the extra charges (no pun intended) they're beyond my reach. Yet whilst most have been thoroughly preoccupied with the latest EV cars has anyone given a thought to trucks and farming machinery which at the present time all runs on diesel. Some think erroneously that if they drive an electric car than they're helping to save the planet. But farmers don't have that choice, well maybe didn't have that choice until now but not using batteries but hydrogen. Here's one British company tackling the problem of what is an alternative fuel for farming and construction machinery. The man Harry Metcalfe is a multi millionaire farmer who lives and works his land in the Cotswolds. His other channel is Harry's Garage which is mostly about super cars. He also part owns a luxury boat which is moored in Monaco. But he's thoroughly "normal" and doesn't look down on the lower classes.

You think that's bad well money grubbing politicians in some Australian states have made buying a full EV even more expensive by putting a whopping big extra tax (about $5,000) on top of the purchase price. The reason is because over the lifetime of the car you'll pay no tax via petrol which is actually what most of the cost in petrol is. Petrol station owners make almost next to nothing from fuel sales for it's governments and oil companies that make the money. That's why so many petrol station owners have turned their petrol stations into mini supermarkets because that's where they make their money. Also lately fuel prices here have risen although the wholesale price has fallen but fuel prices went up because in the dark days of the virus the government was paying people to stay at home and now the government wants it's money back and the easiest way to get it is to raise the price of fuel and keep it that way. I dreaded when our government started paying people to remain at home for I knew once the paying was over prices across the board would rise significantly and they have. That money belongs to the people, that's one view point but it's not the treasury's.

Does one really need a model snow plow? how about just using a diesel on it's own like this in New Zealand,

I know this is an older post but have you thought of using an SBR adhesive. Trevor Jones's well known OO gauge garden railway in Buckinghamshire uses and even mixture of rubber and cork chips mixed with cement and all held together with an SBR adhesive. His ballast which is ground up real ballast is held in place with the same SBR adhesive and has lasted for over ten years. I think the SBR would definitely get my seal of approval as you do a lot more ballasting on a garden railway than you do on an indoor railway. But you HAVE to use CRUSHED ROCK, the stuff that comes in bags and is about the size of granulated coffee. Woodland Scenics ballast would be no good as it's mostly ground peanut shells and not suited to an outdoor environment.

Another nice view and I noticed the building at the bottom left of the photo with it's rusty corrugated iron roof. I saw on my travels a house with just such a roof but fitted with a new solar panel array on top of the rusty iron roof. I thought well you've just made a roof replacement much more expensive because you'll have to remove the solar panels, put a new roof on and then reinstall the solar panels.

Yes that's the true outback but not looking like the very dry outback due to them having lot of rain at the time. Near to Bourke paddocks were all under water and water was flowing freely across road. The sign on the side of the road reads "floodway" and the road would dip to enter a "floodway" and then rise ever so slightly to exit it. Those "floodways" are about every 5kms on that road. I must have been traveling in rush hour as I met four cars and one road train, which I overtook between Hillston and Cobar. I love the view from your kitchen window and yes we have snow here too but usually only in the Snowy Mountains in southern NSW so we have to travel quite a distance just to see it. The upper parts of the Blue Mountains do get snow but it doesn't happen every year.

Haven't see the cross on the escarpment and the plane on the roof has gone. It went sometime back when the business changed hands. Here's another to photo from my trusty dash cam The first is the long road from Hillston out to Cobar in the far west of NSW. This was driven in July 2020 when we weren't in lock down. The second is on that same road but is the only habitation between the two towns which are 260 km apart.

Here's a shot of Hartley Vale which is near to me. The building on the left is the Comet Inn. The shot is taken from my dash cam.

Newbridge village is situated between Bathurst and Orange on the main western line. The station building and shrubbery was being tendered by local ladies from Newbridge in the hope that the government would change it's mind and allow the XPT to make regular stops there. But the government wouldn't budge and refused to allow the XPT to stop at Newbridge and so the local ladies have given up in despair, and now the building is degrading along with the shrubbery that grows unchecked. The first photo shows the former down mainline still in situ but disconnected. The footbridge has wooden planks and a wooden top deck which are now rotting away and therefore has large boards foot way entrances preventing anyone from using it. The second photo shows the station name board slowly being hidden by plant growth. The third photo shows the other side of the station building with the up line platform. This is now the single track mainline. The fourth photo shows the one time goods shed although the line leading to it has been lifted. The fifth photo shows the interior of the former goods shed now empty and vandalised. The sixth photo shows the Newbridge station yard hand crane still on it's pedestal.

Georges Plains is an abandoned station on the main western line west of Bathurst. The first photo shows the rear of the station which only has a narrow dirt lane for access. The second photo shows the load bank which still has a line but it's disconnected from the mainline. The third photo shows the platform side with name board. XPT's (the only regional passenger trains) are forbidden to stop here now.

The last place on the line where it connected with the main southern line is Demondrille. In steam days there used to be a huge coaling stage here but that's long been demolished. Locos running between Sydney and Melbourne used to refill their tenders with coal and water and have their fires cleaned. Trains coming off the line from Blayney could only join the main southern line on the up line and would have to run to Harden and then run round their train to head south. No line was ever laid to allow train to head south straight off the Blayney line. The first photo shows Demondrille signal box which controlled all movements for the coaling stage and the Blayney line. The second photo shows the now lifted track which ran between the tall pole in the background and the signal box and joined the mainline at the bottom of the photo.

Next on from Wattamondara is Kooratha where the main station has been obliterated but other signs of the area do survive. This station was once the junction for the line to Grenfell. The first photo shows a water tank with facilities to take water from either side. The second photo show Kooratha's load bank. The third photo show a partially dismantled water column at the south end of Kooratha yard. The fourth photo is between Kooratha and Young and shows a washed away bridge with the line left suspended in mid air.

Next station down was Wattamondara and a bit more survives. The first photo show the station platform which was situated in a loop that been lifted. The station name board survives minus it's letters and the metal is slowly rusting away. The second photo shows the load bank with the once rail served wheat silos beyond. Amazing the line is still in situ. The third photo shows load bank line, mainline and basic level crossing looking back towards Noonbina.

Heading south from Cowra we come to Noonbina station which unlike Cowra has been totally obliterated. The first photo show the huge wheat storage shed with the old silos in the distance. They once served the railway. The second photo shows a fence cutting the line. The main station platform would have been with the mound of earth is.

Cowra Railway Station was the most important on the line serving the large town and had a locomotive depot for locos that worked the cross country line and it's two branches. The first photo shows the station approach which had a large car park and still has. The second photo shows the dock platform which could have been used for the CPH Railmotor service on the Eugowra Branch The third photo shows main station building from the railway side. The fourth photo shows the station name board. The fifth photo shows the station elevated water tank. The sixth photo show the water column at the northern end of the platform. I tried pulling the chain to see if I could get it to move but it's either fixed or rusted solid. The seventh photo a large brick building but I don't know what it was used for. The eighth photo shows an almost dead snake in the railway yard reminding one to be careful near long grass. The ninth and tenth photos show two frames with wheels that have been there for some time. The eleventh photo shows Cowra's hand crane on it's brick pedestal. The twelfth photo shows Cowra Yard looking south. The thirteenth photo shows the one time refrigerated goods store in the railway yard. The fourteenth photo shows Cowra's very long load bank. The fifteenth photo show the diagram for the main F frame. The sixteenth photo shows F frame. The seventeenth photo shows another ground frame in the yard. The eighteenth photo shows the northern end of Cowra yard under a stormy sky.

Moving southwards we come to Woodstock village and it's station situated in the middle of the village. The station building is supposed to be in private ownership with an ugly steel railing on the platform to stop people falling off the platform. The first photo shows the long load bank opposite the station. The second photo shows the station itself. The canopy valance is in need of partial replacement.

Lyndhurst is another station down the line and once served it's small village being once again located on it's eastern side. The first photo show the load bank. The second photo shows the station platform edging looking north towards Mandurama. The third photo shows the same platform looking south towards Woodstock. Yes the rails and sleepers are amongst all the grass.

Mandurama Station served it's tiny village and was situated on the eastern side The first photo shows the mainline looking north to Carcoar. The second photo show a substantial bench its purpose is unknown. Beyond it is the base for the hand operated crane. The third photo shows the one time goods yard. The fourth photo show the concrete station platform at Mandurama and is looking south. The station and the goods yard are separated by a level crossing which is now just a road.