brack

That's not an alternative universe, it's just the LMS until the 1930s

It looks to have been there for a while: http://www.rcts.org.uk/photographs/archive/380/CH/CH01399.jpg At goole 25/8/61, found on the rcts website. Whatever it was, it can't have been that unofficial a modification to survive a repaint unmolested?

If it was smaller would there be less bits to break down?

I'm surprised Mr Brunel didn't try a Gaz engine powered loco. Oh, and none of the competition get close to Robert Stephenson in terms of the breadth of his output, his success or his influence and legacy. His obituary in The Engineer described him as foremost among engineers (bear in mind Brunel had died just a few weeks earlier). Though he, Brunel and Locke were good friends, great engineers and contributed immensely to the development of the nation and the world's railways and bridges, it is clear which was regarded as preeminent in their own time.

Presumably they reckon having euro in the name might result in a sun reading mob turning up at Dover and torching their offices come 2019 and farage-kristalnacht.

Jjb - the sales staff on minimum wage are expendable, easily replaceable and thus you push them til they break. At least the company had presumably realised that doing the same to well qualified professionals results in them getting a job elsewhere - it's usually a bit trickier for the poor souls in the call centres, plus they usually have less confidence in their ability to a) find a better job and B) survive without pay for a month or two until a) happens, especially as there's no welfare help if you've voluntarily left work, no matter how badly you've been treated. I spent a few months in an inbound call centre answering phones before uni. I usually had crap figures because people rang up to order something, I processed their order but couldn't see the point in trying to force extra crap they didn't want/need down the throat of some nice old dear. One month I miraculously managed the highest sales figures and was asked to explain to the whole team what changes I'd made to rise from bottom to top so meteorically. My reply of "nothing, I just sell people what they've rang up for politely and without any irritating pressure" didn't go down so well...

Several of the Brazilian DDM45s were put back into service recently, although I think that's a stop gap measure until new locos are delivered. Either way, not extinct in Latin America.

Absolutely. I'd love to see the loco restored and running, but cannot see why this couldn't be accomplished under a 25 or 30 year loan (or longer), or why the loco couldn't have remained under cover until restoration began, or why the process followed in giving away public assets to private groups or individuals is no more transparent than a statement after the fact saying "we chatted to our pals at swanage and asked if they'd like a free loco, so we signed everything in 10 minutes and we don't care if anyone isn't happy or has concerns, it can't be undone now."

I believe they've noticed that taxpayers money is being spent outside of greater London and they're looking into ways of correcting this historical aberration.

A couple of the prototype re6/6s were built with a split body to allow some movement but the conclusion they came to was that the other 2 prototypes worked just as well and were easier to build, hence production locos have none split bodies.

People actually choose to model such things? I suppose they have concluded that their love of making square boxy objects cannot be sated by even Mr Bulleid's abominations. If we are to tolerate such types I suppose it is only appropriate that they do what they must in their own hidden corner, so as not to pollute the whole of our illustrious society. Yours, Disappointed of Tunbridge Wells, Membership no. 14 3/4 Last ablutions 1973

I suspect that replacing an existing railway line with a road generates less complaints/objections than ploughing a road through virgin land, so it might be cheaper in that regard.

Automation is likely the goal, and the future of train driving, it's hard to see otherwise, but it'll take some time yet. There is another possible step - if a bloke sat at a pc in a warehouse in the Midwestern US can remotely pilot a tiny aircraft around sandy hot places during missiles at suitably shifty looking bearded gentlemen without any technical issues (no comment made on any ethical or moral issues - that's way off topic), then I could see remotely driven trains as a sort of halfway house. You can lose cab space and associated safety/noise standards, all the 'drivers' work nice shifts in one place, get 2 10 minute breaks and a half hour lunch, then go home, no worrying about getting them back to their starting point. One man gets ill or gets to home time, a new man takes control. Public wouldn't like it, but I could see freight being moved that way first, then passengers - they'd still employ someone to do the guards role to make people feel slightly better. After a few years of that you can transition into remotely AI driven trains. Not saying I like it, but it looks plausible.

There's something in that Ruston - when push came to shove and I needed money, I sold my kit built locos (even the kits I'd designed myself) and kept my favourite scratch built engine. There's more of me in it, and I console myself by thinking that if I need another of the locos I sold I can buy a kit easily.

A vast swathe of public sector workers have suffered significant pay cuts in real terms (my pay has been cut by almost 15% in real terms). My pension (should I live long enough to receive it) will be much less than the terms I signed up to when I began my career. Lots of people have had a raw deal for some time. The fact that some people's financial lives are about to be improved doesn't seem to be too bad to me. I don't see why I ought to be angry or jealous just because someone else has been offered a deal which looks better than mine. I have enough to meet my needs and look after my family, their employers have decided that they're worth paying that amount to keep, whatever they've agreed is up to them - nobody is getting £100000s here (that's for the big boys at the top).

Its an avonside geared loco, clearly borrowing heavily from heislers designs, but the bogies on owl are gear coupled rather than rod coupled. Its based on an avonside proposal rather than any of the 2 or 4 cylinder designs they actually supplied to south Africa (which were all rod coupled like a heisler).

Indeed, hence (for example) the RhB and SBB keeping a few steam locos and old electrics in working order, or the effort Union Pacific are making with the big boy - it's either a sentimental waste of money, or a vast amount of goodwill and positive PR for a lot less than an advertising campaign and with a more pervasive impact.

Low background steel is primarily needed in sensitive radiation measuring equipment, but the decrease in atmospheric radioactive contamination since the ban on atmospheric testing, coupled with better instrument calibration means it isn't as valuable as it once was. You can also produce it if you filter the air used in the blast (lots of air, not easy, but possible). My guess would be that they're just salvaging for its scrap value, rather than a black market in battleship armour for iron rooms in China. Anyone getting that quantity and thickness of pre 1945 steel plate would want to know it's provenance if they required it - those sort of organisations generally have sufficient funding for it not to be worth saving a few thousand on some dodgy steel from a bloke in a pub. The unspoken point here is how long does a grave remain sacrosanct? For UK cemeteries it is often 75 or 99 years before the grave can be reused, and many of those ww2 shipwrecks are coming up to that length of time. If you can separate yourself from the emotional reaction and the unscrupulous motives and methods involved, there's a fair question as to how long we hold a site sacred for, especially an underwater one where much has been recycled by nature (please don't think I'm being insensitive here). I'm not suggesting that we bulldoze thiepval or cease to remember and reflect upon the sacrifices of our armed forces in previous conflicts and I'd rather the various shipwrecks were reclaimed by nature and naturally decayed, rather than being disturbed by the maritime equivalent of the idiots who steal copper from substations, but if ww2 aircraft wrecks in seas and lakes, us civil war vessels, Spanish galleons and the Mary rose are considered ok to salvage, when does it change from grave robbing and desecration to legitimate salvage or archaeology?

Dare anyone admit to being in a "perversion society" (Aside from the presumed autocorrect fun, genuine pregrouping coaches do give a preserved line more atmosphere, and I'd hope something of them can be recovered).

Gota and Corinth canals?

External streamlining is all about fashion than function, it's true that long pipes aren't ideal, particularly on a compound (hence only the Tasmanian k class and the Burma design were built as compounds) and the earlier Garratt steam joints and ports were not great in terms of internal streamlining (later designs were much better in that regard, as understanding improved), but the optimal boiler shape and firebox dimensions you get as a side effect of the design are far superior to those possible on a conventional loco - the firebox has nothing to go around or below it and the boiler ends up short and fat, with a much greater proportion of the heating surface closer to the firebox. Hence garratts generally had a reputation for steaming well, plus beyer, peacock build quality was usually pretty good. The speeds at which most articulated locos worked (several classes have been recorded at 60mph+, but if you need an articulated loco your line might not be conducive to high speed running) probably kept piston speeds at a level whereby internal streamlining didn't have that much of an impact on performance and any deficiency in that area was hidden by excellent boiler/firebox characteristics, good valve gear design and the smoothness inherent in a dual bogie 4/6/8 cylinder loco. There are more troubles recorded with garratts running too fast for the track or services they were on than of choking off steam supply at speed.

Apparently some of the crew of k1 aren't big fans of having the cylinders under the cab floor. Together with the firebox it can get uncomfortably toasty. I suspect that itd make fitting and maintaining the pivots and flexible steam joints a pain on a larger loco too

But Mr Trump doesn't want Iran to have anything nuclear...

The minas and Rio had some BP 284t which are a daintier version of your president Kruger. Mosi used to have the GA on their site before they decided not to share useful historical images from the BP collection.

I'm not certain how you determine gender, but unless you know for sure one is female and one male, I wouldn't hold your breath.