brack

If you think about it the grouping instantly reduced CME positions in the UK from over 20 to only 4 and 2 years later in Ireland all lines in the south were folded into the GSR meaning 4 CME positions went down to 1. Little wonder it ended up a dead mens shoes game with lots of candidates wishing for a very few top jobs. When offered one of only 5 CME positions in the british isles on a plate he jumped, knowing he wasnt going to get his chance otherwise. Did he already know Hawksworth was the chosen heir, or was he unsure how long Collett would go on for? - there wasnt much difference in age between them.

Out of interest, did any big railway companies recruit CMEs from industry? The independent loco builders design departments turned out far more new designs than any one railway, often with more innovation and technologically superior to what the main line companies were turning out. When big companies were involved in designs the results were often quite good as they seemed more open to cross fertilisation of ideas and collaborating with railway company design departments (thinking about the Jones goods and the Rivers on the highland, both heavily influenced by designs for india, NBL's B17 and Royal Scot designs). I know of plenty industry designers and engineers who moved from one builder to another or from railway works to builders, but cant think of any going the other way. I assume Stanier was picked because the LMS had borrowed a castle, realised their locos were rubbish in comparison so pursued and acquired a man who they thought could build them something castlesque.

Several of our export builders (eg. Beyer, Peacock and NBL) used cast steel frames, but imported them from the US. General Steel Castings (joint owned by alco and baldwin) were the usual supplier. I believe GSC supplied much of the other us builders too, so perhaps the ability to supply large one piece cast frames was much less widespread than simply "not available in britain" but pretty much down to one supplier having developed the ability to produce such things and the world having to beat a path to granite city for them. The ability to create patterns, pour (multiple ladles simulataneously), cool and machine an 80 foot frame is pretty specialised.

Agreed, I was just pointing out that the situation was more complex than simply declaring some people to be free loaders or not depending on whether or not they saw a few ads. It's a symbiotic community - so long as enough don't have adblockers, enough post and don't just read, enough ask questions, enough answer them etc. It all works out. I daresay it isn't an easy balance. AY Mod, I use external hosting as I post elsewhere too (niche modelling interests) where local hosting isn't viable. Photo bucket sold themselves as free 3rd party hosts then decided that wasnt what they wanted to be. We've lost better modeller's work than mine because of it. Due to changing family/work/home circumstances I have been less prolific of late (only two locos completed this year), but when(!) the house extension is finished there is hope that baseboards will be dusted off. In the mean time a bit of discussion, looking at what others have done and perhaps coming up with something useful for others once or twice keeps the interest going.

If you're looking for something which separates but doesn't physically exist, then the currently accepted solution is to use imagination, faith and optimism. As for funny coloured sheep dips, the ones up our way used to go an orangey colour afterwards when I was a kid, at least on a couple of the farms. I wonder if the slight colouring effect was unavoidable or added to help the farmer know which had been done?

But by providing content we all also contribute to the site. Without people posting, nobody would be here to read, ask questions or discuss things, therefore no advertisers would pay. Viewing adverts is certainly not the sole way in which people contribute. If a poster has adblock on yet has several threads which have thousands of views/posts from others or frequently contribute useful answers or ask questions they're generating significant amounts of traffic/content/eyeballs/ad views/revenue for the site, and without that the forum would wither rapidly.

There are loads of pacifics not released as RTR models. I don't believe anyone has released any of those which happen to be tank locos for instance...

Yes

You're thinking about it wrong, this isn't merely English Summer weather is it? I've been getting along just fine in my cream linen suit and pith helmet.

Considering the rather obvious economic consequences of the only avowed policy of this government whatever Mr Shapps might prefer to invest in is rather a moot point. It is likely there wont be anything to spend. A few nice announcements for now, to be quietly canned or rowed back as reality dawns.

There was a shop near our school notorious for short changing. My mate used to tot it up in his head and then put a creme egg in his pocket when his running total got to 30p. I couldnt do it myself, but I could see his point...

Was ZM32 delivered like this? If so that'd be 57. Don't get much more wasp stripey than that.

In fairness, if ever there was a man who was an expert at fatally flawed privatisations...

A pacer?

I believe the majority the previous incumbent purchased with a billion pounds of our money as a bribe is still in play.

Bit short sighted to put everyone who might disagree with you out of the cabinet too - ministers are expected to tow the line unless they resign. Backbenchers have a freer hand. Especially when your majority is wafer thin.

Seems like ideal foreign office material.

Regarding the tallylyn and festiniog I have to agree. They're preserved (technically) but Oscar Wilde had it right when he said "Yet each man kills the thing he loves." I do not wish to undermine the efforts of those involved in the heritage movement and I'm glad they preserved what they did (went to shildon today, heading to north wales on friday) but in preserving them the precarious, neglected beauty and decrepitude of the tallylyn or festiniog, the character or soul of the lines, has been destroyed or altered completely. It had to be - they couldnt continue to function for over half a century in the state they were, and without the money from tourists/families they would not survive - preservationists have to make that deal with visitors to fund their efforts. There survives a railway on the same right of way, with some of the same stock, but it certainly isn't the railway that was there before preservation. That doesn't mean I disapprove of what has happened, in many ways what we have now is the best possible outcome, but it isn't what they set out to save, regardless of the legal or technical claim to continuity. Were I to model the FR I'd be looking at that romantic, struggling period. I suspect that romantic appeal is part of what drives us to create models.

Produced by the aforementioned breeding program?

Originally the W was for Wide wasnt it?

Were the grouped railways caught up on maintenance from WW1 by 1923? If they'd been deferring work during the war (and once they knew grouping was imminent) which seems plausible, there would be a backlog of locos and stock to put through works which they'd need to catch up on post 1923. Catching up on that would cause a rapid increase in repaints in the first few years post grouping compared to the usual cycle.

Bat design has changed significantly - the size and position of the sweet spot is very different, making modern batting more forgiving of poor technique. The laws define weight and maximum dimensions, but it's what wood, the shape and where the mass is that makes the difference. There have been a number of studies done which suggested the sweet spot on a modern bat might be 3 times the size of that of a 60s/70s bat due to increased understanding of materials and design. Similar to what Sondheim did in golf with the perimeter weighted clubs. A good batsman would still be a good batsman regardless, but the increases in scoring rate and boundaries aren't just from more attacking cricket and the influence of shorter forms of the game. I'm not suggesting that there haven't been improvements that benefit the bowler, but the batsman's tool has got vastly better.

Geographical based ads are rubbish too - go onto any less reputable website and get the "People in [insert obscure village 30 miles away] are going crazy for this DIY colonic irrigation machine" ads all over the bottom, with some stock photo of a random American woman. Thing is I've been using the internet for over 2 decades and I have never purchased anything I saw advertised online (or on TV or billboards for that matter). Maybe I'm just weird (I don't buy things on a whim, everything is price checked in several places and researched before parting with cash) or maybe there really are legions of weak willed people out there desperate to have that DIY colonic irrigation machine in Barnard Castle) but I cant see how most online advertising could be worthwhile or profitable (other than for the advertising company of course). Retailer/manufacturer adverts in specialist magazines make sense (very targeted market) likewise our company has advertised in appropriate places (both looking for clients and employees) but shoving unwanted popups in people's faces in South Georgia or vladivostok cannot be useful to the company paying for the advert and serves only to enrich the online ad agency who can claim higher viewing figures. I had this discussion with a friend who is a digital marketing consultant and he kind of agreed with me. Obviously you could claim increased brand awareness as a benefit, but frankly being subjected to advertising from a brand makes me annoyed and less likely to buy from them, particularly if the advert is intrusive or distasteful.

Just wait till you see how many forms there are to fill in before you're allowed to roll it down the steps..

A few people have suggested in conversations both online and real life that there was some home bias/corruption in the decisions. Rubbish. If you wanted to tip the scales in favour of england the easiest way to do it, which is within the rules, would have been to instruct the ground staff to prepare a pitch that favoured England's game. As it was, you couldn't have tried harder to come up with conditions which negated England's strengths.