runs as required

Bonjo all In the night I reflected on SM's post above - especially about the 'dead hand' of Crematoria propriety. My sister in law was very upset that in Norwich they flatly refused to countenance her stepfather's oft repeated request for his favourite music to be played. Owd Tom, Wormhill born, had been a Peak Forest signalman all his life from the early war years till his retirement when they'd moved to be near her in Norwich. An avid Speedway enthusiast was Owd Tom. We are still all upset that at Norwich they refused to play his old Belle Vue Manchester Speedway signature tune 'Blaze Away'. dh Edit I meant to say that this post got delayed by listening to an inspiring interview with Jimmy Carter on Today. At 91 he is still utterly on the ball, has succeeded in virtually eliminating Guinea Worm as a disease and has similar hopes also for River Blindness. Oh! - And he himself has also been coping with cancer of the brain. mmm

Jock - what a great post !. I've been turning it over in my head through the day. First off I want to suggest that your life, from what I’ve grasped in your posts, would make a award winning blockbuster TV gripping bio series. Childhood footplate rides with dad along the Port Road cross cut with b&w bits of Hitchcock’s '39 Steps' film; fearless young racer in tight leathers roaring around the great classic British Isles road circuits; fiendish father and son motor traders building great garage empires; finally the wise old Godfather figure we all know and love. Now: about how to commemorate an unforgettable life Our prized Scottish memory is of a wonderful old friend of wife Juliet's. After a lifetime of teaching in Ghana, she’d retired to run a wonderfully laid back riverside boarding house in Dalmally. Her shepherd daughter mounted a wake for her in Edinburgh overlooking the Grassmarket, the centrepiece of which were the impromptu memories we all offered one another, over a few drams, about her forthright actions. The most uncomfortable was a Quaker silent half hour of personal reflection about the departed. I found it impossible to keep to the supposed topic and kept realising I was compiling a schedule of dilapidations for the building. Dad was also an aetheist – so no church funeral. But like my dad, the local vicar was an old RAF man and close friend. My dad had always maintained a close pastoral role since the early 1940s for the RAF badly burned Guinea Pigs of East Grinstead and he was given a packed out memorial gathering in the local church (with ne’er a mention of God). Afterwards the old men could walk along to his garden where my sister and I had hired a marquee for a last great summer party. The surviving old guys and the family still talk about it So Juliet and I have chosen this partying route too – and have also arranged for our (hopefully octogenarian) bodies to be collected by the local teaching hospital for student dissection – so no Co-op funeral expenses! dh

Still bouncing around after getting off scot free from seeing the Headmaster an appointment with the GP about my Peripheral Neuropathy - which had rather dominated a recent holiday in Malta. I admit it's a self induced condition where the far ends of your system (like the Southern west of Exeter) have withered and stop having any feelings. I'd brought it on because I elected to stay on the drug Ameoderone (despite knowing its side effects) to keep my heart in sinus rythmn after I'd kept lapsing into AF following a heart attack and a couple of minor strokes in my mid sixties. I finally accepted the limitations of living permanently in AF some years ago, but the Peripheral Neuropathy has since become more intrusive - causing pain and impeding walking. Wife used her iPad to discover PN can result in gangrene and amputation - like Diabetes - hence me being dispatched to the GP with instructions 'Not to get onto talking about b£%dy railways'. Doc says the main thing to avoid disaster is to keep inspecting your feet for signs of injury/bleeding/bruising since you cannot feel even things like burns. He offered pain killers for getting to sleep at night but I said I would try living without them a bit longer. I've always found I receive my most creative ideas at night - so long as you use the daytime to check on the degree of silliness of such inspirations.... dh

My dad used to sell paraffin (Aladdin Pink) to a nice Mr Gates at a corner on the North Circular in NE London. Which reminds me "Feb the first is Shell Day!" It marked the end of wartime 'Pool' petrol, grey petrol tankers and the reappearance of brands like 'National Benzole' and 'Cleveland Discoll'. Can't remember the year - perhaps 1948. 'National Benzole' was a Shell BP subsidary and I believe used Scottish Shale Oils for its Benzol (so nothing new in shale oil extraction). dh

Most interesting response Jock.. Tthank you so much for the time it took you to type that.at 1.24 in the morning. Hope the family meeting you convened goes well this afternoon. Rather like Agatha Christie's 'lounge' gatherings waiting on M Poirot's 'leetel grey cells'. dh

The last of the Garage from Hell bedtime stories - dedicated to Jock: H@!^^*££ Ford Lewisham had two main client groups for its new cars: 1 Flush young drug dealers closeby who favoured the hot hatch end of the Escort range - replacing the back seat with a massive boom box sound system and sexy under-car violet strobe lighting 2 Well heeled toffs of the business and professional classes who lived up the hill from Lee Green around Blackheath. One of the latter, a prominent film and TV Producer, they’d been very pleased to fit up with a top of the range dignified Galaxy people carrier. The gleaming vehicle had been dropped off that morning for a check over at the end of its first week. At about 10am Dan was asked by the workshop manager to contact the celeb owner to say that they had found ‘unexpected variations in the vehicle’s specification they were obliged to rectify’ and that unfortunately they would not be able to have the vehicle ready for collection that evening. Coming off his somewhat overheated phone, Dan learned how, in reality a young mechanic had placed the vehicle on a hoist with limited headroom, and while he went away attending to another task, the brand new Galaxy had been steadily squashed down hydraulically to the height of a racy coupe on lowered suspension! A frantic hunt ensued Nationwide for a replacement of the same metalescent colour and spec. One was found at the other end of the country and a guy despatched to drive it down. When it arrived it still needed to have kit transferred across from the crushed vehicle and a lot of midnight oil was burnt. For the three days it took to cobble together a plausible substitute, Dan had to fend off not only the irate film maker but the whole TV set up behind him. sweet dreams everyone dh

Nice to see the thumbs keeping alive the old Doctor films joke: Doctor (wearing stethoscope): Big breaths Patient: Yeth aren't they! time now for some Peco 'bullheaded flat bottomed' jokes... dh

'All fur coat and no knickers.' I recall as a very popular Manchester woman's put down comment - but I can't quite get my memory around the another one:: "blah di blah and Mather and Platts!" Can anyone fill in the 'blah di blahs' please? dh

Another tale for Jock from Ford’s worst ever Dealership Son Dan invariably faced an angry clustering around his Customers' Complaints counter each morning. And tempers were not improved most mornings by Dan calling a little old lady forward to the front of the queue with “So what can we do for you this morning Mrs Grady?” A month or so earlier, one of the nice young car salesmen had chatted Mrs Grady into buying a brand new fully automatic Ford Fiesta diesel with aircon and sliding roof plus every conceivable electric window winder and adjustable mirror extra. Since then Mrs Grady’s social life had been transformed. As very few bits of her car actually worked, she now virtually lived in the Ford garage . She had got into the habit of asking Dan first if he thought it would be ‘safe’ for her to take her car out - across to see her daughter in Streatham for example. “Yes" Dan would say " you should get to Streatham today no problem” “And what about maybe going on to Croydon to call on some old workmates? "Yes, that should be good too." "Then there’s my old sister who’s not been well at Elmers End. " "That would be nice. You could get back to Lee Green easily from there. "Well… if all that’s Ok Dan [Mrs Grady's eyes light up] Do you think I could take my sister out - driving her down through the New Forest to see my Gentleman Friend in Bournemouth?" "Aaah!" sleep tight everyone - the wind seems to have dropped out there dh

A post by railsquid here on the 'evocative railway remains' thread and the following quote from my post #372 on the same thread seem to be talking of the same thing I wondered since whether the single lines shown around Calvert were part of London's 'Binliner' network for rubbish disposal. dh

Stobart Air Carlisle to Belfast must be a Short Sky van! Newcastle Norwich used to be a commercial route much used by son and other off-shore workers until it was pulled. Its a lousy train journey and in a car. How will they price tax payer funded tickets relative to rail? dh

Hey! That link to the Round Down cliff explosion was a brilliant read; thanks so much. A Colonel Hutchinson synchronised detonating the explosion (with a barrel of gunpowder hoyed off the cliff top!) I assumed he would be Major General Hutchinson of the Railway Inspectorate but it turns out he is the younger bro of the swashbuckling Colonel: I reckon this painting after the explosion could well be by my Victorian hero William Burges - architect/engineer extraordinary (it looks like his style). Burges was a TOT Romantic who did Cardiff Castle, Castle Coch and other stuff for the Marquess of Bute dh

Jock: I do so like your garage stories: for example teaching folk how to sell cars. Can I offer this: Geordie son had to move south while girlfirend went to College. They had a flat in Lee Green (SarfLunnon) where Dan saw an ad for a van driver at the (long dead) big Lee Green Ford agents only to be given a job selling cars 'cos he had a funny accent'. But he quickly got taken off selling after he got overheard talking an old couple out of a totally inappropriate s/h all bells and whistles jallopy. Instead he got demoted to 'Customer Complaints Manager'. That job provided him with enough ammunition to carry him through years of leading industry ‘training sessions’. His proudest moment was going on a course to Rugby where Ford began with an introductory 'Disaster Movie' about their worst Dealership. ‘Hey that’s where I work!’ cried Dan. He didn’t need to buy himself a drink for the whole duration of the course. dh

I'm in the same position with psychotherapist wife's answering machine beside me on my desk and laptop computer. Only difference is that I'M NOT ALLOWED TO UTTER A WORD - totally not trusted to say anything lest it be misconstrued. My role is to alert wife of anything urgent that came in while she was in a session. So I have to sit silent through some harrowing rambles being recorded. It takes me back to childhod - compelled to sit silent in the kitchen while my ferocious Amazon of a mother gave piano lessons. dh Hope all are safe from windy Gertrude on the rampage outside, and sufferers like Jock are managing.

There was an interesting series of articles (probaly in Backtrack) about the collapses and the re-routings along through the Warren maybe about 4-5 years back. I think I recall the line from Folkestone out of commission from 1915 for a lot of WW I after a major landslip. Would they have been reluctant to reinstate then because of a risk of exposure to naval shelling (like Hartlepool)? Also a huge chunk of cliff got brought down by sappers/miners with explosives at some time - imagine getting permission for that nowadays! dh

I reckon they'd nivva have dared breach that sea wall if only you'd already hacked and hewed that great ciff of polystyrene sheeting like we'd all been urging. dh

Aha! That line crossing the GC London Extension is the former LNW branch to Banbury (Merton Street) off that Bletchley - Oxford line which never should have been closed. You can trace it easily on that same National Library of Scotland site referred to in my previous post - this time choosing an old 1" OS map here My old railway architect friend (at the rival Stephenson House to us at Kings+) used to whisk me out on an early morning GC line train from Marleybone to Brackley then onto a United Counties bus to Silverstone to watch vintage car racing. dh Subsequent Edit Tracking further south along railsquid's link to the Google map satellite I noted how the Google map here marks a single line of rails running along the old GC mainline from Aylesbury Vale Parkway past Buckinghamshire Rail Centre at Quainton Road out as far as Calvert where it joins a similar line along the former LNW Oxford-Cambridge from Bicester to run as far as Bletchley. If all this actually exists, why do they need such an long drawn out expensive 'Transport and Works Act' order rigmarole to continue reopening on from Oxford/Bicester to Bletchley?

K We have over the years both worked and travelled in Italy - always by train.I reckon we have done Venice -Rome virtually every route. Most boring is the Intercity, by far the most fun are the localis. Wife always had a rule never to be on a train at mealtimes. V to R combines some beautiful Po valley byelines ( via Verona, Mantova or Ferrara) and some exciting Appenine crossings. Faenza has a brilliant station restaurant overspilling along the platform and is the start of the mountain line over to Florence via Borgo San Lorenzo. an alternative is Bologna to Pistoia via the old route before the Mussolini era 1930s tunnel. we enjoyed riding the veteran Settebello train put out to retirement on this route. Finally Florence to Rome can be via Siena (very welcoming railwaymen's club) and then down through famous clay Tuscan landscape to Chuisi. Very jealous dh

Wow, yes you're right; the 300 ft contour goes right past the station! How disappointing - that decrepit 'upside down' Fawlty Towers Hotel is such a vivid memory. Mind you I'd have only been seven in late 1945; can't even check with my sister who was a two year old. Uncle Ewart quickly threw in the towel and went off in the late 40s to manage a Post Office somewhere in Somerset along the Sou'Western mainline. I've found this interesting 6" snippet of Ventnor 1913 from that excellent National Library of Scotland resource here shewing the layout of the station (inevitably an industrial estate now). The modern Google street views have no suggestion of my remembered terrace of hotels - either higher up near the station or lower down the town. dh

That Ventnor tunnel mouth triggered memories. Ventnor by train from Cowes was one of our earliest family holidays after WW II. My dad had been stationed in Calshott and Marchwood towards the end of the war. A (pretend) uncle bought a very unusual Victorian/Edwardian hotel at Ventnor after being de-mobbed and it stood just across from the station - I recall we entered from the top of the hotel and emerged out onto the seafront on the ground floor. Returning back up Southamton Water was spectacular; we saw both Queens (QE still in troopship grey) as well as the old four funnel Aquitania. dh

Madam is off in town getting her hair done, so a quick peek at RM web.... Wow! I see that ER has fairly bleazed through the ranks of those dismal boring 4Fs since I lent out of a balcony window last week in Malta. (never did like 4Fs, much preferred the older spindly Johnson vets or the Lanky 0-6-0s) Usual interesting range of ER topics. As ever, Jock’s posts are the ones that stand out. Those vegetables sound cracking good. I’ve just discovered roasting beetroot so that it gets crusty on the outside, yet still stays crunchy inside. Only trouble with ours is that (grey) squirrels gnaw away the tops so we can lose a good third of the beet. The transition back to our gaunt old stone house from a week in Malta was difficult just after midnight on Sunday morning. The extreme temperature changes while we were away played havoc with a good many doors sticking and the drain to the kitchen sink/dishwasher totally blocked. Over the last two days I’ve had to excavate down to the old stoneware drain which I found blocked by tree roots. Succeeded in chipping out a neat hole in the stoneware to rod through – It took10 metres of rodding before flow reluctantly resumed. Now I’m seeking some kind of saddle to epoxy onto the stoneware pipe to provide for a rodding eye to enable easier access. Not water hammer – but airlocks have started bothering us over the last few months with our old 1951 Aga’s back boiler. Never had it over the previous 30 years, but it’is a real downer finding the water cold in the morning. We have to live with the immersion for a day or two then miraculously convection flow resumes. To compensate I’ve enjoyed raising steam in the evenings on my disinterred Hornby LS Mallard. dh

Aha! More Wi flies passing by the Valletta flat tonight. We qualify for old farts rate at the Valletta Embassy multiplex midweek nights so have been to see Star Wars for €4.50 ( son & grandchildren paid £50 somewhere in SE UK!). Not terribly impressed - except to spot that the guy that wrote the music bought my sister's tiny London mews house in Belsize Park (enabling them to retire to Hest Bank, Lancs). Also earlier in week a totally over the top Australian film 'The Dress Maker' - quotes 'a black comedy in the style of a revenge western'. Actually I enjoyed it more because it had Ozzie trains in it and some interesting 1940s utes in various states of decrepitude. Sorry to read of January's woes Back to dour Geordieland a Satdy dh

Bonjo from Malta The Wiflies are flying past the back balcony this morning. A grey but warmer day than yesterday. "Why you bring your Inglish winter with you?" asks Simone the bread lady at Valletta bus station. Good to see Jock way up in the posts agin. "Shy bairns get nowt" is as true in the NHS as elsewhere. Saw some posts on bread makers back a page or two; I've used one for years, we are noted for our 'different' bread - I only use flour from Little Salkeld water mill. A wonderful 1760 water mill in the Eden valley with timber waggon wheel technology cogs and mechanism, worth not only a detour but a whole journey as the Michelin guide would put it. It was 75 years since the Stuker attack on "Illustrious" in Grand Harbour the day we arrived. Although the carrier escaped to Alexandria to live another life, the Maltese paid a heavy price in lives and the destruction of their oldest cities. We have known and loved Malta since we arrived by dh Comet from Naples on Jan 1 1966 to start a 2 year contract to retrain dockyard draughtsman with civil engineering skills. The balance has changed in the former fortress beyond wildest expectations in the intervening years. Malta used to have to export population (the Australian immigration authorities applied a notorious 'pencil in the hair' test). Now not only has Malta managed to accommodate greatly expanded indigenous and tourist populations but has coped with migrant survivors trafficked from Libya for some years past before it became a Europe wide issue. The disappearance of characteristic things like the old family owned buses and shops are sad changes Malta has had to adapt to. dh

Just leaned out of a fourth floor Maltese balcony to catch a passing Wifly - so I can join in with Happy 39th birthday :-) dh

I had a chance today to finish my new control box kit these are the hand held push buttons: it is necessary to mark out and open up holes in the light plastic holder, thread the jack wire in and solder up the three wire connections the completed kit of control box (with its diodes now added) and the plug in hand-held push buttons is pictured left - and on the right is how it connects in between the existing Hornby Live Steam transformer and the track - (in this case still my Hornby Rolling Road). Now I have to tell you that, although I had a brief test steaming where (to my huge relief) nothing blew up, I have had to leave off for a week away before I can return to get to grips with driving my Mallard on the track. Most frustrating! But you might enjoy a video here of one of these locos pulling 30 coaches. Nick (Uptosteam) from the OOLS Club remembers one of their Hornby locos with 42 on! Better still, if you live close enough, you can catch the Hornby Live Steam Club with its collection of locos and layout at The Model Engineering Exhibition at Alexandra Palace this weekend. While actually overlooking that ECML racehorse track, you can have a go yourself at driving a Live Steam Gresley Pacific. You may even catch a glimpse of Richard Hallam looking every inch the Inventor hard at work lovingly fettling the miniature marvels he brought into being. From Derby, he's really a 'Midland' man. He works adjacent to his magnificent Duchess simmering quietly along with other LMS derived locos that incorporate his ingenious system. See you soon... dh