unclebobkt

... . D58. - Possibly you meant 'The King's Own Scottish Borderers.', aka. KOSBIs.'?

Good to see a bit of polished copper and brass! But I have seen it suggested that Collett disliked 'Moguls.' because he thought that the leading & pony truck was insufficient to lead the head of the loco. into the curves and that promoted extra wear on the leading coupled wheels.

Do you mean the Alice who Springs to mind - she's from 'Down under.' I believe?

Pedant here! I believe that bamboo is not a wood - it's variety of grass in that it can be cut, harvested and will regrow.

As my psychoananist once told me: 'Be happy that you can complain.'.

Agreed - possibly a good author in his day, but a bit dated nowadays, wouldn't you say?

In my family myself and my two elder sisters are all LEFT-handed to a degree. At the end of WW2. my Mother remarried - my youngest sister is a normal and RIGHT-handed person. When I went to boarding school, just before my 6th. birthday, the HM's. wife told me: 'Either you eat right-handed or you don't eat.'. Being English we compromised: when using two items I eat right handed but when using a single item I used my left hand. Hand-writing began in the olde days of nib-pen, ink and blotting paper. Fortunately I was not compelled to write right handed; to prevent smudging and getting ink all over the paper and myself I learnt to rotate the paper clockwise so that I could write adequately well and without smudge marks. When I was serving afloat there was a young lass who wrote left-handed; she wrote from Right to Left and upside-down - ie. anyone sitting opposite her could read directly what she was writing. We attributed that to the fact that she hailed from a land 'Down under.'. It is well-known that the late king, GVI., used to stutter quite badly if he had to give a speech; many people attributed that to the fact that his mother, Queen Mary, compelled him, a natural left-hander, to use his hands as though he were a right-handed person.. In games requiring two hands I was RH.; but if using only one hand then I reverted to being a 'Southpaw.'. In the Army I had no difficulty in handling a musket, either at drill or on the firing ranges. However it was different for sword-drill - but eventually I got the hang of things. Fencing with either foils or sabres I was LH.- but using a rifle & bayonet I was RH.. As an aside in a well-designed & medieval castle all spiral staircases circled clockwise when viewed from above, ie. the centre column that supported the individual steps was on one's right as one ascended. The purpose of that was that defenders retreated gradually to higher floors in the towers, so being forced to retreat upstairs they needed the greater freedom of space to give a good foot-space and to use their right hands that held their weapons; the right handed attackers would be on narrower steps and their sword-arms would be in a more confined space against the central column - but that's when those left-handed attackers came into their own!

Ref. the above and the relative pos'ns.. of the pilot and of the train engines I thought that it was only on the GWR., in the rare instances of double-heading being req'd., that the train engine led the way?

As a character in one of the American author Tom. Clancy's books so luminously observed: 'Countries don't have allies - they merely have shared interests.' - how true! As a matter of interest does GB. still have its own Royal Ordnance Factories, or are we reliant completely and totally on our allies?

As a matter of interest is there a MINIMUM length for bridges & for viaducts longer then which Check rails have to be laid between the Running rails to limit any possible de-railments and succeeding damage should the leading bogie or pony jump-off the running rails?

I remember reading that during the re-occupation of the FALKLAND'S ISLANDS, 1982., the British & reserve stocks of 105mm. ammo. started to become dangerous low; so the British gov't. approached the Belgians' govt, as manufacturers, for fresh supplies, which the Belgians' govt. declined to do - citing some Treaty of Friendship, or whatever, between Argentina and the Belgians. It was at this time that the Belgians were setting-up an exhibition of one of the early & Flemish artists and approached Earl Spencer for the loan of a couple of his pictures to flesh-out their exhibition. His Lordship's reply was terse and to the point: ' No ammunition - no pictures.'. :-)

A small niggle, if I may - it was the Snr. Svce. that had guns' crews, the RA. had detachments. Clearly you enjoyed an interesting range of experiences and of eqpts.. My initial & gunnery experiences were with OQF. HAA. 3.7. Mks. 2c., 3a. & 4, (Probertised barrel.),. Also the 5.25s. with both Longhand & Shorthand automatic loading systems. Then In GIBRALTAR, in the AA. Regt., we had 5.25s. with the olde fashioned & manual loading; 3.7s. Mks. 2c. & 3a., and Bofors 40mm.. I was shewn around the 28 Coastal Artillery's 9.2s., (with 1902/03. and the govt's. broad arrow stamped on their breech-blocks, (fired once per annum using paper shot to check the recoil & run-out systems.), also 6". for harbour defence and the twin 2pdrs. for defence against small & fast moving enemy craft. Finally, in PLYMOUTH, the Fld. Arty's. 25pdrs., which, even though I wasn't a fld. gunner by preference, I must acknowledge that they served the British, and many other armies, very well.

I was at RUGBY 1947-'51., possibly a few years earlier than you attended skool? I would hesitate to call RUGBY a shelter for the elite as we had many pupils from the town as well as pupils from the Empire, notably Australia, New Zealand & South Africa. As one master at that time noted: ' Tom. Brown would still have felt quite at home in post-WW2. RUGBY; except for there being no Flashman & his clique, together with no Lamb-singing, roasting in front of the hall-fires and suchlike.'.

Dear Cfn., or may I call you '294..'? Having served in the RA. for a few years. I'm interest in the types of Field Guns on which you worked? While I was with 42. Field Regt., RA. we had 25pdrs.; I never saw the reason to change to the Italian designed & NATO. standard 105mm. fld. guns. Later on , as a civilian, I worked at RAE. Aberporth not long after extended trials had been carried-out on the 105mm. guns as, allegedly, the shells became unstable when using charges that propelled them at trans-sonic speeds.

I remember way back in the late forties/early fifties I was a pupil at Rugby School - a time when the 'round ball.' game was disdained by the majority of the school. One winter term the footie. team from the Notting Hill Clubs visited and played a game of soccer against a scratch & school team. I remember one of the school's team was doing some fancy footwork, and one of the spectators shouted out: 'Root it.', (meaning give the ball a kick!),.. That call of 'Root it.' caused the NH. team to dissolved into unashamed laughter. Afterwards in the changing room the NH. team was asked what was so funny? Their reply was that the word 'Root.' had a completely and more down-to-earth meaning with them, which, in deference to this family friendly web-site, I shall refrain from elucidating any further. ;-) .

In these days of voluntary & military service some souls might be pondering over the initials REME.? The politer meaning for this family-friendly web-site is: 'Rough Engineering Made Easy.'. No disparagement of that fine corps intended - we all have our various uses.

1. - I'm surprised that the American loco. did not use a mechanical stoker. 2. - Certainly a magnificent effort by 'Capercaillie.'. On the GWR. didn't one of the King Edward's, ('King.' class..), after modifications including a four-row & Schmidt super-heater and a double chimney haul a 17 coach train on trials on the main line to the West Country?

Towards the end of WW2. I can remember hearing the news being read by one Wilfred Pickles in a broad & W' Riding accent,(he hailed from Halifax, I believe? Having spent most of my earlier years in either the south or the south-west of England I could hardly believe my ears. Now, many years older and possibly wiser - I hope - after several years spent traveling round both in England & in Wales I say: "Long live regional accents and dialects. It will be a sad day when they die out.".

'It is better to travel hopefully than to arrive.' - RLS..

"! Dare I write: " Par For The Course."!

Putting on my pedant's hat and writing under correction from the more knowledgeable modelers who subscribe to this thread, in regard to the third & lowest photo., and if I u'stood. matters concerning 'XP.' stock correctly, they were vacuum-braked and fitted with screw-couplings? Pray advise.

A small point and possibly pedantic - wasn't it the GWR./WR. custom to hook-up the loco's. front & three-link coupling to a small hook by the LH. buffer?

Possibly the tail end of the Atlantic Coast Express after other carriages had been uncoupled at various stns. along the route and sent to their different destinations?

I believe, from past correspondence, that we have to thank the Eurocrats in Sproutsium for this proliferation of greenery; reportedly they have mandated the dilution in the strengths of the toxicities for permitted weed-killers..