The Blue Streak

As much as I bet they wish they could, I don't think the Mods can actually stop ladies from wearing bikini tops.

This is the West Aussie Garratt I was thinking of. The MSA class (of 10) built at the WAGR Workshops in the '30s. Although I must stand corrected - - apparently the last one was set aside for preservation at the Midland workshops when an instruction was misinterpreted by an employee and it was cut up :(

I just like to read the articles.

I was going to press the supportive button, but My bursting out laughing at your bit about the blokes chasing you, made all the difference so the supportive got overridden and you got a funny. Talking of injuries I am off to the Physioterrorist soon, as I am her first victim for the day She beats Me up far more than any pub yobbo's from the 80's ever did and then I give her $90 for the privilege. (Just kidding I always feel better after the bruises go away). Great vid of the Garratt by the way. It would have been nice if someone had thought to preserve one of the West Aussie ones.

Obviously at the opposite end of the weather spectrum here currently. Been over the ton in old money here for the past 3 or 4 days. All the birds are looking for fresh water. I'm filling the water dish twice a day. As I write there is a pair of Wagtails chattering away very loudly while they splash around in the spot where the airconditioner drains into. Only the finches are coming for seed (mainly millet) as most of the larger birds like galahs are busy pecking at wheat dropped by the trucks (mid harvest here) or down at grain silos pecking at any spillage. Many others are still flat out eating the last remnants of the mini locust plague we recently had. Some very fat looking Magpies around.

My kit has been sitting for 3 Months awaiting my "attention". I shall heed Matt's warning and get it sorted asap. Thanks for the wake up call.

Dunno about the mother country, but in Oz, to call someone a "Bell End" means something completely different I think. Bell End sounds like a winner to Me.

Ballad of the Green Berets - Staff Sergeant Barry Sadler.

An R4228 Hornby Gresley Coach Pack, was the cheapest anywhere seen in the last 12 months, so was duly purchased and arrived here to Country West Oz in 5 working days using standard airmail delivery. Was listed as used, but is virtually mint, nothing broken or missing and Hatton's postal rates to Oz are dirt cheap too. Pretty Happy customer here.

The Ballad of Lucy Jordan - Marianne Faithful

Here's a Carp quality photo of the Balloon loop at Mount Walton, just East of Koolyanobbing. Iron ore is loaded here and taken to port near Kwinana. I took this on my last trip out there about 4 years ago. Trains run around the 1500m 12000 tonne (+ or -) range so quite small by Iron ore standards in West Oz.

Who fell over ?

Really Clive ?

I also have a look at it most days, but usually try to use it to supplement other sources. I don't mind giving them $3 once in a while.

And that's our "Long cool woman in a Black dress".

Those latest pictures are right on the Money Gilbert. Even when the big picture is bought up it just ticks all the right boxes for Me, very realistic.

We've all seen some of your stuff on RMW Phil. It's very good. So don't try and pull the plumage over our eyes ATB ,Ted (PS. Hope you are feeling better Today, matey)

Awesome Bike, Spikey. Even Don Mclean sang about them - "Vincent, this world was never meant for one as beautiful as You"

As a young bloke I used to be into Scalextric, I got My first set for my 10th birthday, a "Grand Prix 8" in 1977 with a couple pf pretty basic Shadow F1 cars. Over the years i have maintained a bit of an Interest in it. Modern Scalextric cars (like Hornby Trains) have also evolved from basic toys to collector quality models with lots of detail (and an army of critics that will savage the makers at the slightest hint of inaccuracy - sounds familiar) Anyway from time to time Scalextric make something that catches My eye so I buy one and pop in into the display cabinet. This is the latest one I fancy, so the wife has ordered one for Me for Xmas. Graham Hill Lotus 49c, in gold leaf livery (the presence of tobacco signage obviously puts this out of the realm of kids and firmly into adult land) Lots of detail on this, I'm not sure what the outcome would be if it was actually used as a Slotcar and had a decent prang Seeing as Hornby own Scalextric I thought it fits into the spirit of the topic and You chaps might like a look.

What Dinosaur ??????????????????????

When the Moon shines on the Cowshed and we're rolling in the hay All the cows are up there grazin' and the milk is on it's way. I am the Cider drinker, I drinks it all of the day. I am the cider drinker, it soothes all My troubles away, ooh arr ooh arr ay,ooh arr ooh arr ay. It's so cosy in the kitchen, the smell of rabbit stew, when the breeze blows 'cross the farmyard , you can smell the cowshed too. I am the cider drinker ......etc The Wurzels

Bloody Brilliant. The looks on that kids face when He went to the top of the Hill and saw it was worth a million bucks. I was 10 when the original movie came out in the 70's and loved it. (Still a bit of a closet fan now TBH ) Thanks so much for sharing that.

I really wish I hadn't seen that. I knew it was in the works, but now looking at a decent photo, I think that's brilliant. Is it wrong to cancel Xmas for everyone else in the family and just get that?

A couple more shots of the prang I showed earlier, one from the stills of the TV footage taken from a chopper. The train hit a low loader semi trailer (Artic) at a road crossing at a place called Mooliabeenie. The leading bogie jumped the track and the loco continued on for some distance until it went over onto it's side and slid. The Trailing loco stood up on one end and before crashing back to Earth narrowly missing the lead loco. One of the crew who I knew quite well, told Me he was just looking out the side window seeing grass rocks grass etc until he caught a glimpse of the rear unit on it's end about to fall on them, but when it missed He was more concerned about his Mate, who was hanging onto the side of the cab (now the top) for dear life, falling on him as He was a biggish chap. When he finally did drop, He landed on the Vigilance button and had a perfect purple bruise the exact mirror image of said button on one of his ar$e cheeks. After the prang finally stopped and the dust had settled and the boys climbed out of a window, the truck driver, also unhurt ran over to proudly state that He had a Million Dollars worth of Insurance. At which point one of the train crew looked back at the wreck and said " That'll cover the first 10 percent of it Mate" and then sat down for a smoke. Ironically a manager chastised them a short time later, for not phoning the incident through to Train management immediately and relying on the police to pass it on when a member of the public rang them. To which the crew pointed at the pile of rubble and said "if you can find the phone in that lot Mate, You're a better man than I, now #### off". One loco returned to service a year or so later, but never felt quite right afterwards. I believe the second one was so badly bent that it may have been a write off.

Back from work early - unexpected short shift When I were a lad, We moved from Oz to Somerset for a couple of years. The house where We lived was part of a dairy farm and there were cider apple orchards there too. The Old boy who lived next door (who worked on the farm) used to brew his Scrumpy up in the barn out the back. I don't think the rats were put in there on purpose but if one fell in there and drowned then "that werrrrre allllright then. Neverrrr you moind about that". I Never really had the urge to grab a sip as a young bloke after seeing the barn process. I did develop a taste for decent scrumpy later on, but like Phil I wasn't a fan of the commercial fizzy stuff, especially the super sweet ones.