Michael Hodgson

I'll have a pint of what he's drinking.

That clearly isn't long enough for those who develop serious symptoms and have to go into hospital. Logically one would think you should be deemed to have it until you have a negative test - but we aren't being told to go and get tested again before going back to work. It seems to be assumed that if you still have the virus after a fortnight you are no longer infectious. If you've had the virus and recovered, you might think you would have developed immunity, but there are people who have caught it again and usually were worse the second time. These jabs are the magical solution as they apparently do give us immunity (after a follow-up jab a few weeks later), but what they don't know and are avoiding discussion is how long immunity lasts and whether we will all have to keep on having jabs for life. I know nothing about immunology, but I would like to know why we don't get immunity as effectively from recovering from catching the thing. They say it's a flu-like virus and I have a nagging doubt that Covid may be like the man-flu I catch every winter even though I have my flu jabs.

I don't think it's verdigris nowadays with these modern LED lamps. Their colours don't degrade over time or change when the lens develops an accumulation of algae, bird dung etc.

... to jump or not to jump, that is the question.

... yes, when I first heard "Clap for Carers", I did wonder why anybody should be wishing the clap on NHS workers

When I was a boy I managed to bash an arched bridge over the Trent & Mersey Canal with a boat before I'd got hang of its slow response to steering - and no, we didn't report it to the owners of the bridge.

Very much a British view. Most of the world doesn't bother fencing lines (at least the lower speed ones) and takes the view that the train is bigger and heavier than you, so it's your own fault if you get knocked down. But trespass is also illegal in India. They prosecute over 100,000 cases a year and it can carry a 6 month prison sentence. Then there's practices like riding on the roof (even on routes with OHLE). However in practice it's the death penalty for about 10,000 a year.

A bit rough on key workers commuting into work if you tell them they can't go home at the end of their shift.

Days when you know why you live in the British Isles ... I am in Tier 4 today, so I'm not allowed to go overseas ! Some lovely photos on this thread

Surely the simple answer is to go for the plain grey - it shouldn't be difficult to get somebody to produce transfers for those who want to add them, or if you faced the same problem with locos that had nameplates, to include stick-on plates. It's really just a commercial decision whether you think you will lose more sales by producing them without numbers than you lose to potential customers who think you've produced the "wrong" version because they've got to modify it.

So is anybody doing squashed flies in 4mm?

The date of Easter is calculated by the Church. I suppose it's open to the Pope to move it? Indeed our whole calendar is based on decisions by past popes, and is the reason the Orthdox Xmas is different from ours and other religions started counting from a different zero. Come to that our months are named after Roman gods (or emperors) and days of the week after Vikings ones.

According to the Railsigns site, the BoT required signals to show only red or green lights in 1892 (for new works) and the following year the RCH recommended that existing signals be changed. They also say the GCR changed to yellow lenses for distants at caution in 1916 despite the BoT, and the arms to yellow in 1918. They also have the GWR Ealing & Shepherd's Bush line with automatic 3-position pointed arms in 1917 with orange for caution, and the Barry Railway using experimental orange arms and lamps in 1921. If you had changed the green hand lamp to yellow for shunting, wouldn't the yellow and white GPL have remained something of an anomaly? Yellow = passable if the points are set one way, stop if they're the other. OK, not dangerous as the signalman shouldn't be reversing the siding exit points unless he also intends to clear the signal. I think the change in the colour of pivot lights from white was more in keeping with the original late Victorian need to move away from white on running signals. The big risk with any changes in the meaning of colours etc is possible confuston during the transition period and ingrained habits.

Best wishes for your operation Gordon. Obviously it depends on the type of cancer and how long it's been there but I am impressed by what they can do. I'm a couple of months short of 70, and in my case it was partly keyhole surgery and I was in hospital for only two nights (even paramedics thought it would be a week to a fortnight). The follow up scan didn't show any residual problems, though I will need to go in for more CT/MRI scans in future.

The NHS has not stopped other work. I was diagnosed with a tumour after the start of he first lockdown and had already had a kidney removed before the start of the second lockdown. I would say that speed was good going even without them having to cope with Covid. Since then I have also had a follow up to that operation, a routine follow up to my long-standing heart condition, a routine follow- up to my knee replacement operation, a non-priority NHS hearing aid appointment. And yes, I've even had a routine check-up at the dentist's. OK, so I have only managed to get a haircut twice this year, but as I am not only old but "follicly challenged", that's no big deal. I do have sympathy for those like my barber who are having enormous difficulty earning a living and for those who have been made redundant with no realistic prospect of ever finding a job again.

Clear and decisive leadership from Boris' Government ... Yesterday Tier 2 Today Tier 3 Tomorrow Tier 4. Xmas Day .....

That doesn't sound quite correct. When Distant signals were red rather than yellow, they were said to be at Danger rather than at Caution. If the Appendix uses that terminology, they must have been anticipating the colour change which would have been under discussion. They would still have been red in 1920, the change was a few years later. This would have applied to worked distants as well as fixed ones. However the GWR at that date were using orange lights for Caution on their 3-position semaphores in the Paddington area.

Beethoven's Ode to Joy?

It's a British expat in Australia. One of the barmy army.

That sounds like the West Coast of Scotland ... if it isn't raining, there's midges

Crowns (which used to be 5/- or 25p) have been issued in more recent times with a £5 value and are legal tender. Maundy money comes in unusual denominations, both before and after decimalisation.

DS10s were good motors. From memory cylindrical brushes and tiny compression springs are contained within the hollow end of those big brass screws. Apt to fly out and so tiny that you'll never find them again. Anchoridge (sic) used to sell spares, not sure how you'd get them now. I have made replacement brushes for O gauge Bassett Lowkes by filing down larger brushes for something like an electric drill, but these are so small I wouldn't fancy trying.

Have steam irons not been been converted to electric or dieselised yet ?

Railtrack's lack of industry experience and engineering knowledge at Board level is what resulted in gauge corner cracking and the Hatfield derailment, and ultimately to the company's collapse. Putting it under new management and the formation of Network Rail is supposed to have solved that problem.