Reorte

Quite like the Netherfield route, although I'm not at all familiar with the area. Had a couple of scenarios where I was unable to stop in time, don't know whether that was my bad driving (too fast for the load) or whether the distant signals weren't as far away as they should be (and I'm sure I've encountered a signal at danger following a cleared distant). Could just be me and an illustration of why route knowledge is so important. I'm also not keen on scenarios where I have to really thrash it, could be unrealistically tight scenarios but again it might simply be my lousy driving not getting anywhere near the best from the loco For a real cracker of a route have a look at the Stainmore and Eden Valley one (which also includes the WCML between them, then down a bit, and a portion of the line to Barrow). There's also a separate Teesdale and Weardale route, going through in to Darlington, and those two complement each other very nicely.

Yes, at that sort of level I'd find the vaccine a no-brainer even without the wider implications for everyone else.

This is a very big generalisation (way bigger than locomotives), and maybe the 60s are old enough so that it doesn't apply, but often older designs of things in general are easier to reengineer due to their initial simplicity and not every component depending precisely on every other component, all integrated together throughout.

I wouldn't go that far - if the risk from either to you is sufficiently low then not bothering getting vaccinated isn't something I'd condemn at all - both risks could come under "couldn't care less." At that point it's the risk to others rather than to yourself that's the consideration. Generally speaking I'm a "not going to do something unless there's good reason to" type person, rather than a "will do something unless there's a good reason not to" one, so if only myself was the consideration I honestly doubt I'd bother being vaccinated (I'm not in a high risk group). It's the wider sitution that'll mean I'll get it.

Can't... resist... being... a... pedant... Butchers chop things up but they don't do the killing. Sorry, I tried!

Don't underestimate the desire for power - recent events over the pond show what sort of vote-losing behaviour that can result in. Not that I think that's in play with Covid policy (or at least not at the forefront, it may be a subconscious factor - can you get into a senior governmental role without that drive?). What's more likely is a desire to continue restrictions for longer than will be effective out of fear of being too lax and letting cases rise again. Getting it spot on would be a matter of luck, so a level of caution pushing a bit beyond that is understandable and sensible, but how much? A very hard decision.

Several are still doing that - that's permitted at present. There's one near me that seems to be doing more business than usual that way, I've frequently not got anything when I was intending to due to the number of people hanging around (distanced, it just meant a long wait).

No, that's not how it works - there's not a 100% chance of any infection passing on to anyone else even without the vaccine. You can say that on average infected people pass it on to N others, but that's not quite the same thing. If it's a 60% overall level of protection then when everyone's vaccinate the R number gets reduced by 60%, from what it would otherwise be. With no measures in place at all that would still be greater than 1, but get it the overall number of cases down low enough with other measures, and with the additional protection from the vaccine, and you've got a situation that whilst not eliminated can be controlled without too many additional problems and restrictions (e.g. contact tracing can work even without apps with low numbers). No-one's claiming today's situation, right now, represents the end. But it points towards it. It's quite hard to say just what the percentage probability of passing on the virus actually is. That'll depend on how many people you meet, under what conditions, and all the other factors affecting transmission. You can look at the total number of cases and say "on average each person passes it on to X more", but to say what the probability of me passing it on to you (purely for example!) is you need to specify the circumstances. Someone elsewhere has posted an Israeli report saying that of half a million people vaccinated with two doses they've had 500 cases, 4 serious ones, and no deaths so far.

There's evidence emerging that it reduces the risk of passing it on (IIRC there was a study out a couple of weeks ago suggesting about 60% reduction in transmission with the AZ vaccine). You won't get irrefutable evidence, at least not at a 100% certainty level, for anything. It's very unlikely the chance of passing it on to someone else with severe results will ever be zero, but with the vaccination programme it'll get it low enough that it's no more of a problem than plenty of other diseases we just live with but which can have fatal outcomes. Still quite some time to get to that point but we're making good progress.

Tailored to the local situation rather than one size doesn't fit anything is not inconsistency. It's a problem we've had all along - being being fairly general it's hard to know where and what restrictions are insufficient and where they're excessive. Quite possibly both in the same place (and which restrictions too of course). With precision they can be made considerably tougher where needed, to a level that would simply be impossible if they were more generally applied. The big problem with that approach of course is getting the information needed to do that.

The evidence suggests that it reduces the chances of passing it on quite significantly.

Just reading an article on the Independent about the spike in cases in Rutland. I hope it had got its story wrong - it was reporting it being due to an breakout at a prison - I hope they meant outbreak!

I didn't go and look for it, quite a strong wind blowing which made it absolutely bitter out, so I've been quite the sit around at home in front of the fire wimp this weekend.

My mum said it left her a bit headachey last night but she was fine when I spoke to her this evening. Nothing at all for my dad. Feeling a bit under the weather after a vaccination isn't unusual though AFAIK.

Government mandated medical check over? Didn't think there was any such thing (unless it was a medical check in order to do something else).

Steel's analloy of carbon and iron, so some source of carbon is needed. Historically that's been supplied by the same source that's also provided the necessary heat. I'm guessing here but that's a lot more than is required just for the carbon in the steel, so in theory a much lower amount should be possible if the heat comes from another source (e.g. electricity).

From what I've seen the UK's fairly low down in the anti-vaxxer lists. My parents had their first dose today (they're 71), so that's good news, although since they've seen next to no-one AFAIK I've not been all that worried about them. Be a while before I get anything (in my 40s, even if my mental age sometimes sounds like 150). I've got bigger things to worry about than vaccinations and viruses - just tried taking a swig out of a beer bottle with the cap on, looks like my brain might've had it

Spot near me I must try to have a look at tomorrow - lane goes through a rock cutting (edge of an old quarry), and a stream runs down the rock. Can look quite impressive when it freezes and I've not been there since it turned cold.

The USA seems to have gone further down the path of "Anyone who disagrees with me must be utterly repugnant, idiotic, vile scum and therefore there's no point in trying to discuss anything with them, and they don't deserve it anyway. Therefore whilst what I'm saying about them might sound bad it's perfectly justified in this case, not a case of namecalling, just cold, hard fact." And throw in that any disagreement, from a slight difference of opinion right through to as far to the opposite extreme imaginable, gets treated as equivalent. So people slide into two very simple-minded pigeonholes, and take a dogmatic, zealous approach to everything. The UK's not that far behind. It's probably something we all instinctively feel to be honest (I know I do on various subjects), but the idea that you should even try to empathise (not sympathise) with other points of view has been rejected.

If it's less shipping than the existing flows and it takes the business from them then that's an improvement.

Adaptable though, I believe the illustrated socket has a screw fitting on the other end.

Erk, wouldn't have wanted to get involved with that one. I've had one call that I then got the "not needed" phone call a few days beforehand, much to my relief.

That looks like the Covid dashboard site again - another nice feature of it that I've not discovered so thanks for bringing that one to my attention.

Would that be via Carlisle then? Can't imagine the Cumbrian Coast to Newcastle line connection sees much traffic these days.

Starting to get somewhat annoyed at the local situation. Whilst it showed a strong reluctance to increase compared to many (Jan peak was about the same as the November one) it's in nowhere near as much of a hurry to go down either, to the point where we're now above average.