ejstubbs

I'm sure that I read that the railway scenes were filmed on the East Lancs, but I can't track down the source now.

I don't know if it's the one you have in mind, but this is the one I usually refer to: No idea where I first got it from, I'm afraid.

Ah, thanks. Somewhat non-obvious if you don't do it very often. I'd only ever done it once before, to cut down a bit what showed up in VNC when the forum software was upgraded. So I knew it could be done, just couldn't remember how!

Is it possible to edit an activity stream - either a custom one, or one of the default ones? I can't see any way to do this from the "My Activity Streams" drop-down, or when actually viewing a stream. I'm sure this has been explained before but my searches have so far come up blank.

Quite agree. They should follow cricket's example: "on the line is out". (The rules were clarified a while back so that the batting crease "belongs to the umpire", and simply touching the crease with bat or body is not sufficient to be in your ground.) The latest FIA "clarification" is (a) not much clearer than the original rule (IMO it's still wide open to weaselly 'interpretations'), and (b) makes absolutely no sense in terms of safety.

Any "business" that relies on its employees breaking the law in order to make a profit is nothing more than a criminal racket and should be prosecuted as such.

Currently on holiday in Portugal (so perhaps not strictly appropriate in the UK prototype forum) and yesterday took the train from Lisbon to Sintra. Was somewhat surprised to see a short turntable complete with bridge and rails in situ - though not connected to anything - as we emerged from the tunnel on the approach to Campolide station: https://www.google.com/maps/@38.7304501,-9.166735,19z/data=!3m1!1e3

Is Alonso trying to make a point of some kind, or....what?

This, a thousand times over. The number of times I encounter people "stuck" behind e.g. a bus at a bus stop busy unloading and boarding passengers, simply because they think they need vastly more width of road than they actually do, is uncountable. I believe the IAM use the term "offsiding" for 'straightening' the line through a corner by crossing the centre line to use the full width of the road. On another forum I frequent one of their number asserted that it was the recommended approach in Roadcraft. I was able to assure him that this is not the case, based on the current edition which sits on my bookshelf, and AFAIK never has been the case (based on the 1970s edition which also sits on my bookshelf). Someone else claimed that the IAM advocate something similar when turning right off a main road, by cutting across the throat of the junction on the side of traffic approaching along the side road. If true, this would be yet another reason why I am not a fan of the IAM.

Me too. But some people just seem to be incapable of combining lane discipline with control of their speed. The other day I was driving the "company*" van down the M9 towards Edinburgh. The van is limited to 70mph (on the speedo, not sure what it is in reality - the sat nav doesn't seem to have a GPS speed readout). I was sat in lane 1 on the cruise control at 70mph and I was approaching a slower vehicle ahead of me. I checked my mirrors - safe - indicated and pulled out to overtake. A car which had been keeping pace at a safe distance behind me then did the same. Once I'd completed my overtake I moved back in to lane 1, but the vehicle behind me remained in lane 2 and crawled past me going a very, very tiny bit faster than I was going (the classic "I think I should be in front of you but I'm scared of being caught speeding" idiot move), moved back in to lane 1 and then slowed down so that I was starting to catch him up again. Bear in mind that all this time my van had been doing a solid indicated 70mph on the cruise control - I hadn't touched the accelerator or the brake because up until that point there had been no need to do so). However, him slowing down in front me for no apparent reason forced me to slow down, because with the van limited to 70mph I didn't see myself able to go back past him in an expeditious manner (plus there seemed to be a fair likelihood that he'd have been the "I've just overtaken you, how dare you go back past me" twit who would speed up again if I had had the temerity to try to overtake him). Fortunately he left the motorway at the next exit. At the end of the day the situation was never dangerous, but it was an unnecessary annoyance caused by the other driver behaving erratically. A converse to that sort of behaviour is the person who causes a build up of traffic in lane 2 as they tiptoe past a lorry in lane 1 at rather less then 60mph, then when they finally manage to complete their overtake and pull in to lane 1 they decide to speed up to 70mph or more. If they want to do that speed anyway, why don't they do so while executing the overtake? Again, not really dangerous (apart perhaps from causing an unnecessary tailback) but unhelpful and unpredictable, and it rather makes you wonder what foolishness they're going to get up to next. * A charity that I do volunteer driving for.

Hmm, maybe the FIA should mandate some kind of mechanical seal around the edge of the airflow passage under the car, rather than expecting funky vortices to do the job. Some kind of flexible skirt arrangement might work - I'm sure I've seen that kind of thing in use somewhere before...

Tut tut: it's Kedleston - only one "d", and thus not pronounced like "kettle". As was drummed in to me in short order when we moved within two miles of the place in 1970. Enjoy your holiday. I'd recommend the Barley Mow in Kirk Ireton as a characterful pub but I'm not sure whether there's any practical way to get there without a car ☹️

Hmm, that's probably a year or two before I bought my current Epson device, which came with Epson Scan rather than Silverfast. Maybe Silverfast only support older Epson scanners if it was their software that was originally supplied by the manufacturer? Vuescan doesn't need a special version for each individual scanner model like Silverfast seems to, so I downloaded the Vuescan demo and it identifies my scanner as an Epson WorkForce 625, which it isn't, but the software does seem to drive the scanner OK. However, they want to charge me £50 to actually be able to do useful things with it like actually saving the scans to a file. (Oddly, the licensing portal does identify the scanner model correctly.) Unfortunately Silverfast doesn't recognise the Epson WorkForce 625 either, but even if it did it looks like they charge around about the same for software for a consumer level photo scanner as Vuescan do, so I don't think there's much point pursuing that avenue on a cost basis (plus Silverfast's web site is utterly horrible: very 20th century layout & design, only seems to list a phone number if you want to contact them, and the online store is veerryyy slow). Anyway, for now I'm still a 'happy' Epson Scan user...

I'm pretty sure that's an IDE aka Parallel ATA connector. I still have a "bare bones" (i.e. just a PCB, a PSU and cables, not an enclosed caddy) IDE to USB adaptor sculling around in a cupboard somewhere. You may have been confusing IDE with IEEE 1394 aka FireWire, which had a sort of USB-like connector (which changed between its original 400Mbps incarnation and the later, faster ones - which was a bit unhelpful). Edit: John New beat me to it with IEEE 1394.

How far back do you want to go? I used to have an Iomega Zip Drive for backing up my first PC, running Windows 9something. I'm pretty sure that it would be possible to cobble something together from eBay and online forums for retro-computing geeks that would read those discs (if I even still had them, and if they were actually still readable) but that's not what I would call anything other than obsolete*. My first IT job back in 1979 included backing up PDP-11s to 8" floppy discs (which really were floppy in those days) at 1.2MB per disc. Tell me that's not obsolete. My second IT job involved backing up data from ICL 2900 and ME29 machines to multi-platter removable hard discs which were so heavy that some of the female operators couldn't actually lift them out of the drives. (They were fun if you dropped them: the sudden deceleration on hitting the ground would would shear the platters off the spindle and they'd stack themselves in a neat pile at the bottom.) Obsolete? I rather think so. And these are just examples from my own career in the industry. I am quite surprised to find that you can still buy USB 3.5" floppy drives, and indeed new 3.5" diskettes. * OED definition: "adj. 1. No longer used or practised; outmoded, out of date. 2. Worn away, effaced, or eroded; worn out, dilapidated; atrophied." Yup, pretty much all of those things, I'd say.

Not as long ago as I bought my scanner, by the looks of it - mine isn't even on SilverFast's list of supported models. VueScan doesn't list it either. Maybe that's because it's a multifunction device? As I use the scanning function purely for utilitarian purposes - scanning documents that I only have in hard copy, and the odd old photo for sentimental reasons - if push comes to shove, I can manage with the Image Capture app that comes with Mac OS. At the moment I'm just used to Epson Scan and its wee peccadilloes (like having to jiggle the mouse to get it to actually wake the scanner up to scan things - weird). Then again, my Mac isn't supported by any 64-bit-only versions of Mac OS beyond Catalina. I'm currently running Mojave. I know it's unsupported by Apple, and I did try installing Catalina earlier this year (after the system disc had died and been replaced) but lack of support for a few 32-bit applications that I was comfy with was just one of the things I didn't like about it, so I fairly quickly reverted to Mojave and I think I'll be staying with it until I feel ready/able/inclined to buy a new Mac. As an example, they removed/changed some functionality of the Mail app which I use as the basis for managing my e-mail. Apparently they reinstated the functionality in question in Monterey, but my Mac isn't supported beyond Catalina so that's no help (and it looks like Catalina is going out of support later this year so it hardly seems worth the effort changing now). And some people may think I'm weird for saying this, but they removed iTunes and I had actually got used to using that application for certain things. (I have discovered that there is a third party utility out there that will allow iTunes and a few other "legacy" Mac OS built-in applications to run on Catalina and above, so if/when I do take that step, at least I'll have that option available.) About the only thing that I've noticed being a problem with staying on Mojave is that some web sites (currently only a few, and none that I use on anything like a regular basis) are starting to object to the version of Safari it runs. But so far I've been able to work around that by using Chrome, when necessary. All the Mac OS upgrades since I bought the machine up to and including Mojave were basically seamless. The move to Catalina and beyond is clearly going to require rather more effort to negotiate, and (not being a financial institution) I'm afraid that I have other things I need to do that take priority over software currency.

Well, maybe. But some manufacturers seem to manage perfectly well with easily-soaked-away glue, so I'm inclined to think there might be something else going on. There is also the question of why flour producers seem to use such a randomly sized dose of glue to seal bags of flour. This means that every so often you get a bag that's be sealed to a security standard which would impress MI6, and it's impossible to get the thing open without tearing a hole in the paper that then leaks flour (a) when your pouring it from the bag, and (b) when it's sat in the cupboard. Nothing to do with recycling, it's just tediously inconvenient.

According to some, that way lies damnation and torment in a pit of eternal poor running. Or something... I use isoprop a lot as a general degreaser, e.g. preparing a surface for adhesives, and first-port-of-call gunge remover. As I say, there is some stuff it won't shift (and very likely a lot more that I've not yet encountered). In the case of jar label glue, it seems to soften it a bit but not actually dissolve it, which means when you give it a rub it just spreads a thin layer of the sticky stuff all over the place. Not good. The only stuff I've got at home that reliably removes recalcitrant jar label glue is a bottle of Homebase Value Paint Brush Cleaner that is so old I can't even remember when I bought it, and I've now only got about a quarter of it left. It used to be blue, but has lost almost all its colour now. I've no idea what's in it, so when it does eventually run out I'll probably have to resort to experimenting with different brands of "blue stuff that's sold for cleaning paint brushes" to see if any of those do the job. It leaves a bit of an oily residue but that's easily removed with washing up liquid. It's quite smelly, though, so I usually have to throw any cloths, rags or paper towels I've been using straight in the wheelie bin before they stink the garage out. None of which addresses the core of the issue which is: why do some manufacturers of fruit-based preserves feel it necessary to attach the labels to their jars with what appears to be military grade, nuclear-proof glue that can only be removed using no doubt carcinogenic concoctions of aromatic hydrocarbons? What exactly is wrong with a label that will come off cleanly after a few minutes soaking in hot water?

Well that's confusing - The Range's web site says it comes in 250ml bottles @ £7.99 - but then says it's £2.72 per 100ml, which would make 250ml only £6.80! Someone's got their sums wrong... Still cheaper than Hobbycraft's £10 for 250ml of the "professional" Daler-Rowney stuff, though, so thanks for the pointer. Isopropanol = isopropyl alcohol = IPA. It's very diluted when used as a wetting agent. Does meths (aka "denatured alcohol i.e. ethanol with toxic stuff added to it to put you off drinking it) attack acrylic paints? I believe - but am very open to being proven wrong* - that isoprop is what the art restorers on programmes like Britain's Lost Masterpieces and The Repair Shop mean when they talk about using a "mild solvent" - it certainly won't shift a lot of the types of goo left behind on jars when you soak the labels off (SWMBO does a lot of jam making...) This rather handy infographic suggests that isoprop is indeed a milder solvent than ethanol/denatured alcohol/meths - though how either product interacts with specific materials such as acrylic paint may well be another matter: (Note also the rather interesting comment about isoprop being better as a contact cleaner than denatured alcohol.) * Put it this way: I'm not planning to take a bottle of isoprop to the family Rembrandt...even if the family had a Rembrandt, which it doesn't.

Thanks all for your suggestions. I already have a bottle of Brass Black so I've ordered some brass wire. Regarding the diameter: 0.6mm is what I measured the two remaining sand pipes at, and I'd prefer to keep the look of the thing vaguely consistent. It's only a Hornby model, albeit a supposedly "super detail" one; I've done nothing to it apart from sorting out the pickups that had gone a bit haywire. I've looked in to florists/florist/floral wire and, frankly, there seem to me to be at least a couple of issues. Firstly, it seems to be difficult to be sure what you're actually getting - apparently it can be stainless steel, aluminium or iron (presumably 'soft iron') but most retailers don't seem to bother saying what their particular product is. OK for flower arranging I guess, when you don't expect the thing to have to last too long, but for a model I'd prefer to know what I'm getting, like I do when I buy from Eileen's and their ilk, or even eBay sellers. On top of that, florists/florist/floral wire seems to be sold in quantities rather greater than I am ever likely to need. It's not as if it works out significantly cheaper per metre than wire of a known material - and even if it did there's no saving in paying more in total for more than I need versus paying less in total, albeit perhaps slightly more per metre, for the amount that I do actually do need. Bottom line: I prefer to stick with known materials in the right quantities. Others may feel differently, and that's fine too.

Having had persistent issues with the pickups on my Hornby Fowler 2-6-4T (see also this thread - not mine, but my experience was similar, although my solution was different) I replaced the lot - chassis bottom plate, pickups and keeper plate - using the Hornby X9182 spare parts pack for this loco. Unfortunately I failed to notice that the chassis bottom plate and keeper plate as supplied in the spares pack did not include sand pipes (there is pair of sand pipes on each of those parts on the original model), and of course by the time I did notice it, I'd thrown the original parts away and couldn't recover the original sand pipes. I've measured the two remaining sand pipes on the model and they appear to be 0.6mm in diameter. I think I can fairly readily source wirre of the correct diameter from places such as Eileen's Emporium and the like, but what would be the best type of wire to use? Eileen's seems to offer piano wire, brass wire, nickel silver wire, soft iron wire and many more types besides. I can imagine that piano wire might be a bit of a mare to shape accurately, whereas soft iron wire might be rather too prone to getting bent out of shape. So which type would folks recommended for this job? Of course this problem wouldn't arise if the spare parts pack from Hornby actually contained all the necessary replacement parts...

Doesn't meths have a purple dye as part of its formulation? I'm pretty sure that isopropanol will do the same job i.e. reducing the surface tension (I've seen recipes for home-made screnwash that use isopropanol for that purpose) and aiding flow amongst the ballast granules, and it's colourless.

I think I've read this suggestion elsewhere - IIRC the thought was that a tube of matt medium diluted to same consistency as scenic cement worked out cheaper (you used to be able to buy matte medium quite cheap from The Works but they don't seem to do it any more). Some folks don't like the way that PVA sets rock hard and transmits the vibrations of the trains' movements to the baseboard, where they are then amplified. I don't know whether scenic cement/matt medium is any better in this regard. I know that some recommend diluted Copydex as an alternative, which cures to a less rigid finish and dampens the 'drumming' a bit. On the other hand, other suggest that it has a disadvantage in that it goes off/discolours over time.

I think/hope you mean West Hill Wagon Works i.e. the Hunt couplings that have been referred to elsewhere in this thread. When I first read your post I thought for a moment that someone had come up with yet another coupling that was incompatible with everyone else's - just what we need!

Bl00dy hell, I think I was at that one, too! On my Aprilia Pegaso, no less - I still have a photo of me just as I was setting my front wheel down after cresting the Mountain. Two years later I traded it in for a VFR, which I still have.