runs as required

Goodness where did all the time go? Three A4 Streaks have passed in quick succession in ER since I last looked in. One reason is that I burnt the midnight/wee small hours oil trying to get things done and dusted before a week away painting in Malta. Nah; not that sort of easel/water colours/shooting stick stuff but the humid peeling walls of a very ancient Valletta flat at the top of 84 steps (off a stepped street). The pay off is it has a breathtaking view of Grand Harbour, and its good exercise for arthritic knee joints. We are as lively as mountain Maltese goats after a week' of 2/3 daily ascents. Before turning in I eventually got my Live Steam Mallard - see other thread -connected up via the newly assembled OOLS Club push button controller, but I'm still trying to comprehend its little nuances (like trying out a different light plane). Also because we just used the last of our porridge, I’ve bin out shopping in sunny Blaydon. I do hope that, like us, other ERs breakfast only on ‘Mornflakes’ - from North Western Flour Mills, Crewe. While licking my plate out, I fancy myself in role as Frank Webb scheming up another ‘Pump and a Clog’ compound. So many posts I'd like to jump in to comment upon (like my listening prob). I do admire the way Jock is able to hold all our worries and miseries in his head then post succinctly about them over his ‘wee dram’. You don't expect that to be a capability of a motorbike racer heedless of the demons lurking just a few milimeters nearer the telegraph pole The only wifi in Valletta is occasional wafts past our back Maltese balcony or on the iPhone in Marks and Spencers, therefore: Best wishes to everyone over and out dh

Oh well...If Mr %£&^*&g Portillo, that nice Mr Westerham and you think that perspective works then who am I (the mere artist ) to question it? Anways did you make head or sense of those files I sent? dh

Group sessions are well known to be bad; everyone wants to download their probs to the group. The essential first skill to acquire as a therapist is an ability to Listen. Most of us (me in particular) are really bad at it. We are wanting to jump in with me too! Me too! That is of no help whatsover to a depressive, quite the reverse. Some of my best therapy sessions were where I went away with a little nugget of a helpful comment/reflective remark from the therapist that I could open up and work on over the next few days. dh

Back again on the mainframe - looking at snow contiuing to snivel outside. I thought I'd report what a bellringing colleague told us at our bells practice last night. We'd complained about our recycling bins not being emptied as expected. He said the bin waggon drivers had been switched to road salting due to the weather forecast. One way Gateshead is addressing the latest 30% Local Gov cuts is by having their crews agreeing to switch across when required to sprinkler truck/snow clearance duties. He reckoned the drivers would be out through the night; I heard our recycling bins being emptied at 8am this morning. I do wonder whether that 'Westminster bubble lot' ever sample life down at the sharp end. It used to said in places like Nigeria that the petty autocrats behind Post Office counters ought to have compulsory periods spent queuing in front of their counters. dh

Bonjo folks Yes, snow just starting here too - on the famous "Dry Side" Depression is real enough - I suffered it after taking those suspect malaria pills around the mid career mark. Wife finding me a good psychotherapist helped me regain self confidence, though it took a couple of years. I now always recommend the 'talking cure' to others, you simply cannot 'snap out of it'. Curiously a modern manifestation is a reluctance to 'go into town' for fear of becoming a terrorist target - a strange mutation of agoraphobia. Trying out a new b!&$$^ device typing this as wife keeps changing her mind about what she can cope with as a phone. She has very bad arthritis in her hands and regrets the passing of those simple Nokkias with the real keys. Ah welk, see how this posts,,, dh Edit: this post needed a lot of sorting up on the mainframe my old laptop (though I liked the predictive text giving me 'Ah welk'). But I shall try to persevere with the s/h Samsung 3 that kids all assured us would be a larger screen for J than an iPhone 5 .

Your problem could be living in a bungalow. Just chuck 'em down the stairs and pick'em up where they land. For minimum input, it produces a plausibly good 'distribution' as output. Seriously you have 6 times as many essays as I used to have to mark; my prob was staying awake deciphering the repetitive bad writing. 2 I envy SM his fjord cruises. Wife won't countenance them because of her imagined Nordic fish and potatoes diet, we have to fly south. My memories of Norway are of being recruited as a free stand-in schoolmaster a year after I'd left school. Train from Chinley - Sheffield, Leeds, Leeds Northern to M iddlesborough, around the 'Get Carter' coast to Newcastle Central then (an Asomething tank ?) down to Tyne Commission Quay. Overnight on MS Venus to Stavanger and through the fjords to Bergen. Highlight was a cab ride on the Flam line. ...And I love Smorgasbord ! dh

That Rugby M1/M6 junction with the A14 is total anarchy. It completely de-railed us on Christmas Eve - right as our intermediate destination @ Rugby was literally in sight. No signs, no warning it was screwed. The alternative is so easy - to leave at that next Daventry vast tin box in-land port southwards. With no diversion signs and in the failing light we ploughed along some tiny waterlogged roads and visited exotic spots like Husbands Bosworth - added an extra hour well after the end of Festival of 9 carols and lessons from Kings College Cantab. Eventually got to Oxford far later than expected. Good thing we have mobiles these days. Back in middle son's band days, they were playing somewhere like Keele students union and got my van back home to Tyneside worryingly late - like well after 4 or 5 in the morning. Eventually it came out that TKB's journey back had included the length of the M62 nearly twice as "Hard men don't use Road Maps". Can't imagine David Bowie saying that dh PS Good Grief the window cleaner is here... in the frost ! Edit: Poor lad told me it's the first day he's worked since November - 'cos of rain.

This thread has been around the Circle line at least 3 times now, so I'll admit I'm really pleased the 'Flying Scotsman' train is back and running (not stuffed). Let's move on and lament how the Euston Arch did get stuffed. How many actual bits of the Euston Arch have been located dumped in canals and landfill? Could it be reconstructed- even with 1% of the original masonry? What always infuriates me is that there is plenty of space for it facing onto the Euston Road in front of that banal repetitive concrete existing Euston frontage, despite what the LMR 'Euston Confederacy' claimed at the time it was decided to demolish. Would you prefer to shell out for a reconstruction of an iconic railway architectural monument or for another 'missing' preserved locomotive? mmm... dh

I'm currently half way through assembling my OOLS Club hand held push button Control kit that replaces the ineffective 'click' lever on the original Hornby Live Steam Controller. It plugs in as an interface between the Hornby unit and the track. The new Controller may only be obtained through the OOLS Club as a kit for just under £40 including postage - however joining the Club is Free. There an associated very clear on-line photo guide produced by Nick Beard (Uptosteam) keeper of the ools' shop. I've downloaded it onto wife's iPad to be iin front of me as I work. This is mine half assembled, as you can see, slavishly following the on-line photo guide just above. I have the diodes to add tomorrow, then the hand held push button box to assemble; check all my connections are in order, then connect up with the familiar plugs. The club urges people to get used to the vagaries of the old Hornby Controller before making the change over to the hand-held push button. mmm... I'll keep you posted dh

Oof... yes! That new Stones album was Beggars' Banquet ; "Street Fighting Man" was what I kept playing in Dar es Salaam old f@rt dh

Poor Ed, one does feel really useless, but its surprising how just being a support in the background is of real value to a family. It is often what is needed from a dad, and felt most of all by those who don't have a dad. 2 I do like the ipad that gets incoming calls. Before Ronan Point it used to be gas stoves up in high rise flats that did this and received Radio One. 3 Which leads to David Bowie. We 'overflew' the Glam Rock era during a dozen years in Africa. I larrived in Tanzania with the Stones 'Rubber Soul' in my baggage and by the time we got back to Blighty, punk was emerging. I found Spandau Ballet to be a hit with Fresher Newcastle students. My kids were all into the Clash. In Africa our enthusiasm was Jamaican Reggae and Afro band music. Jimmy Cliff is still one of my all time favourites. Finally here's a link to a bunch who used to practice in our house and ran my old baywindow VW bus into the ground gigging up and down the A1. Now in their fifties, they showed real promise - till they fell out over a girl. dh

WilcoErm.... But that castle bit is a HUGE folder. Will try to exhume the ones that were marginally less cr@p. 2 Thanks for the reply about the change being S end of the Scissors. So that means the old LC&D Harbour station is now 'wrang way roond' ! Strange things real railways. dh

Has anyone ever asked which is 'up' and which is 'down' on those two sections of layout - does it change somewhere around the 10 chain curve? dh

Its bin another of those hustly Sundays where us oldies have to put on a good show to avoid visitors (in this case the Heaton son and family) all muttering to one another about how we've lost the plot and can no longer manage our big old cold stone house. So I built up a huge welcoming firewood blaze in the stone flagged hall and we got up a classic roast Sunday din in the kitch with loads of veg: knobbly 'rude' spuds, kale and roast beetroot from the garden (where b!%dy squirrels gnaw at the beet tops). They needed to leave early as the 9 year old was promised a call from Apple at 4pm about screwing up the family iPad password. Son reported it was the outcome of a tussle between 9 year old and his big sister over camera pics. So 9 year old changed the password to But though the screen had confirmed it was a really strong password, it refused to work . Nine yearold had been accused of mis-spelling but counter-claimed the problem was not spelling but his "spaces". Haven't heard how it turned out.... Thanks for a dedication in those pics NH - what about a Live Steam switcher? Night all dh

I think you are absolutely right with this suggestion. Purists claim there is so much WRONG with poor old FS that it shold have been stuffed and mounted on a plinth. There has been so much spent on the loco that it ought now to be used as a PR lure; a bait (it always surprises me that NRM at York and Shildon are still entry Free!.Unlike Beamish or most other museums in York) So why not as Gordon for a season? It could pull in a new generation of punters. One eleven year old grandson got pulled in via a Thomas face on the Nene Valley, the Geordie 9 year old similarly on the Tanfield. Wha'ts the current state of the Hogwarts King? dh

Before closing, Ed, having you in our thoughts, I'd like to say : Responsibilities never go away for older parents/grandparents. However great the heartache for you, somehow you have to sustain and ‘hold’ the couple, Hayley especially, over the coming days and weeks. You can use ER to help with your support. davehig

Mais not dans la geurre, quand 4472 porte le new black shurely ? off now to watch Montalbano en Iti (con subtitles) dh

A page 4472 offering: 1 please click this video (actually a plug for my new Live Steam thread) 2 Imagine two gentleman watching the locomotive at full stretch on the plant at Vitry Bonjour M Andre (for this is Mr O.V.Bulleid addressing the master himself M Andre Chapelon) Bonjour M Olio…. allo allo! Qu’est ce que c’est? C’est mon new toy (actuellment le new toy de M Gresley), mais j’ai dessigne un vestement ripped off un Bugatti….est en Bleu comme le Gauloise. Desirez vous un tab? Non merci, Ceci c'est mon pipe. Zut alors! Un Bugatti hien? Avec le streamlining internale? Non seulment exterior - un ‘go faster’ image, pour le publicite! Sous terraine c’est plus ou moins le ‘Flying Scotsman’ avec un plus grand boileur Mais pourquois a tu donne les déflecteurs de fumée Bosch M. Olio? Oh Sh!t you're right sorry do excuse ma French M Andre....Merde!

My Hornby rolling road (purchased from Ebay) arrived yesterday so I am now able to upload our Mallard in steam on the rollers here I've tried to video it as locos might have been experienced roaring along on those stationary testing plants at Swindon, Vitry and (belatedly) Rugby. Vitry was famously where O V Bulleid liked to flaunt his French to M Andre Chapelon while demonstrating Doncaster's latest. There is a shorter view from above of Mallard at speed on the rollers here . I was impressed with the way the loco yawed from side to side as the cylinders and pistons drove the loco - unlike the real 3 cylinder Gresley. I hope my next posts will include my new OOLS Club push button control. dh

Has anyone made the point that 'Flying Scotsman' is not only 1 the most famous name of train/loco in the world in media terms, but 2 unfortunately is the only A3 to survive. So, unlike a Castle or a King (or theA4s) there is not a range of preserved A3s that can represent salient stages in its life - maybe now even its 'preserved' life as well. So the poor beast has to be all things to all constituencies - of which perhaps the most important maybe the general media because that is how new supporters are attracted. So we must expect 'Flying Scotsman' to appear in all manner of guises - though is it deliberate irony that the loco has been dressed to reappear in wartime livery and flaunting German smoke deflectors? dh

1 Jock - Thank you, I shall pass your tip about leaky Triumph rocker boxes onto my son coming round with his bairns for Sunday din tomorrow. 2 I suspect this ER thread is getting steam up about 'Flying Scotsman' to coincide with the page number - two to go still.... dh

My 82 yearold dad died suddenly in the middle of a quick phone to his mate.fixing next week's round of golf. He always did seem lucky (despite tabs and drink !) dh

So what about those Lehigh Valley camelbacks? Didn't they get regularly lauded for hitting 'the ton' around the turn of the 19/20C ? They certainly looked exciting beasts. dh

Sorry all that parking stuff derailed me. I'd meant to post to report that driving Miss Daisy to her supervisory session in Durham turned out better than anticipated. "What will you do for an hour?" I'd been asked as she alighted from the back seat. "Oh don't worry about me..." I replied (deliberately looking hang-dog.) While passing Chester Moor (on the old A1) I'd noted that NE Model Supplies in a big former chapel was open - so I whizzed off back to spend a very happy 40 mins browsing and daydreaming. I came clean with the proprietor about my Mr Toad craze reviving the forgotten Hornby Live Steam set. I knew he was into Garden railways but his is the big stuff. NH Neil would like his Yank stuff - not steam but big NH etc. diesel electrics. I got treated to lunch in return for my chauffering (set menu in Finbarrs below the railway viaduct). I arrived home to my Hornby Live Steam rolling road off ebay had been left by 'Postie Paul' around the side of the house, complete with nice Smiley face drawn in Biro ballpen on his note. Can't wait to play Vitry, Chapelon and Bulleid on the Rolling Road tonight. Mr Toad

My (pretend) uncle Frank allowed me to learn to drive his Ford Consul from about the age of 13 on Southport/Ainsdale sands during the winter. He insisted on always reversing into parking spaces. He'd been in the Eighth Army in North Africa where he said it was essential for a quick get-away as Rommel had a habit of appearing out of the desert at any moment! 2 My Bro-in-law is blind and pursues a vendetta against cars parked with two wheels on the pavement. He once broke his leg on such a car and always has painful bruises on his legs.He says it is dangerous for wheelchair users too. Surprising how widespread this practice has become. dh