Michael Hodgson
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Posts posted by Michael Hodgson
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Surely even small arms fire would be quite likely had the enemy invaded as was widely expected at the time.
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4 hours ago, Mol_PMB said:
In an attempt to change the subject slightly, may I offer the Knutsford Road swingbridge? As seen here in the centre of this view:
https://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/image/EPW021587
The canal and the swingbridge are still in use but the MSC railway is long gone.
However, the curvaceous route of the railway crossing on the skew bridge in the middle distance is pencilled in for the 'Northern Powerhouse Rail' high speed line. Will it ever happen? That's a discussion for another thread too...
I remember the withdrawal of passenger services over Latchford Viaduct as I went to school nearby.
The MSC track was still in situ at the time, though I never saw anything on it even though trains would have been visible from my primary school classroom.
The LNWR line later closed altogether, and to be honest I'm surprised to learn it's still standing, as there's a lot of metal there to recover.
Latchford Locks can be seen in the background beyond the viaduct.
Keeping this on topic, I also remember reports in the Warrington Guardian of a bridge strike on Latchford High Level Bridge (the next bridge along, just out of view in the foreground). It was struck by a ship apparently because there was slightly higher water than usual in the canal at that point (although in retrospect it seems more likely that the vessel was riding higher than usual in the water). Damage to the vessel was minor - radar aerial or similar, and the road bridge was OK.
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14 minutes ago, PieGuyRob said:
As a seller does he get to see how many people view his items? If so, then we are probably encouraging him!
Yes all sellers can see the number of views, the number watching and the number of bids on each item.
I don't know whether the number of views is the number of different viewers or the number of times it's been viewed (perhaps even including the vendor), but even if one person has seen it several times, it suggests he's interested in it.
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The big problem with a loft is heat. Far too hot in summer, too cold and difficult to heat adequately in winter. Especially if it has the now recommended insulation just above the ceiling. If you have a skylight that you can open, then at least it allows the hot air trapped under the roof to dissipate. If access is via a loft ladder into an operating well, you have the risk of falling down it unless you resort to the hassle of retracting it from above; however you can mitigate the risk while leaving the loft ladder in place by folding down a safety flap to cover over the hole (a sort of second loft hatch fitted to floor level). Obviously much better if the loft can be properly converted to room to building regs standards, but that a different order of magnitude on the costs.
The range of temperature in a loft doesn't just impact on the comfort of anybody up there. It is generally much greater than in a normal room, and this can cause problems with trackwork, causing rails to expand and buckle.
I have a friend whose layout has a potential issue in case of fire, because of the need to crawl through a low passageway from one set of eaves to another - the solution to that is an area not boarded out, where in extremis you could jump through the lath and plaster ceiling and land on the bed in the room below! I somehow doubt that would meet with modern H&S requirements!
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On 24/04/2024 at 19:59, Downer said:
I’m still waiting in France for the vans I ordered through Irish Railway Models. Anyone else in the same position?
I hope toy finally got your bananas.
If not, they must be going off by now!
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1 hour ago, Johann Marsbar said:
As we've drifted off topic for the S160's in recent posts - this might be a good place to post this image that I found in our Museum photo archive this morning, whilst actually looking for something else......
It looks more like a plywood dummy than a real loco - but less convincing than the inflatable Sherman tanks used during WW2
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49 minutes ago, GrumpyPenguin said:
The DVSA/VOSA Officers I have spoken to are of the opinion that there is no point pulling vehicles from certain big fleets because they always run legally, smaller fleets that "look tidy" (i.e. curtain straps tucked in) are also less likely to be pulled.
Probably also helps to have a white face.
During the IRA attacks on the City when the "Ring of Steel" was routinely being manned, I noticed that the vehicles stopped on London Bridge tended not to have shamrocks on the side, but were more likely to be white vans from sarf of the river driven by black men. They were also usually emitting blue smoke though!
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51 minutes ago, ruggedpeak said:
Just to add to the excitement(!), the haulier may be Scandinavian not German. "Bred load" is used on Scandinavian abloads, where as the traditional "Convoi exceptionnel" is used in Germany, and the trailer numberplate appears to lack the circular seals on German plates, various Scandinavian ones being white background and characters only.
The Swedish for wide load is "Bred Last" which is clearly seen on that video clip.
Swedish number plates are generally three letters followed by either 3 digits or 2 digits and another letter; black characters on white.
When my parents lived in Kiruna, the (British) number plate on their Saab was LYX ..., which the Swedes loved as it means "Luxury"
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12 minutes ago, Deeps said:
My main reason for posting is to ask if anybody has successfully turned one into a running model; I suspect it has been done but is the end result worth the effort?
Why bother? Aren't there enough Hornby or whatever RTR versions around second hand?
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1 hour ago, ruggedpeak said:
Most of the vehicles that hit railway bridges are Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs) and buses, at a cost of around £13,000 per strike –costing the UK taxpayer around £23m in a year.
Our research has shown 43 per cent of lorry drivers admit to not measuring their vehicle before heading out on the road, and 52 per cent admit to not taking low bridges into account.
Its not just lorries though. In this part of the country there's a lot of level crossings, some of which have (or used to have) an avoiding bridge nearby that's so low that even ordinary traffic has to be careful. Not unkown for drivers or small vans 4x4s or even cars to forget they've got a roof box or something on a roof rack.
http://ukrailways1970tilltoday.me.uk/Littleport-signal-box.html
The lowest I've come across is Bishton on the S Wales main line - so low I had to duck to go under it on foot!
Network rail has a league table of low brides
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-54871244
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2 hours ago, big jim said:
of course I’ve been snowy white in my career have never had anything embarrassing happen!
Perhaps you got that nickname by crashing into a wagon full of flour?
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5 hours ago, 97406 said:
The runaway Peds of Staples Corner deserve a mention.
An extremely busy road junction that I used to use on my way to work - it must have caused chaos.
Traffic was also disrupted there a few years later by an IRA bomb that demolished the adjacent B&Q (on the site of Staples mattress factory after which the junction is named) the same night that my office got destroyed by the Baltic Exchange bomb.
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2 hours ago, Jeremy Cumberland said:
New question: Plates on signal box levers giving the lever number, description and pulls. I've seen these referred to in writing as "leads", but I don't think I've ever heard the word pronounced. Are they the sort of lead you might use when walking the dog, or the sort of lead you might use for roofing your church (with or without a clerestory)?
Like the Yorkshire city. Also called "lever plates" or "Pull Plates", at least when then do list the other levers that you have to pull to release the interlocking on the lever. Quite often the numbers are engraved into Traffolite (a sheet of black plastic sandwiched between two white sheets).
When a lever function has to be changed and a new plate is needed, S&T often just turned and old one over and engraved on the other side, the original being invisible when fitted to a casting on the lever. So sometimes signalmen do a little unauthorised archeology during a quiet spell by unscrewing the plate to see what it used to be.
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5 hours ago, big jim said:
2 that immediately spring to mind for me
Talacre - Tall acreclogaenog - cloggy nog
There is a village in Monmouthshire whose nameboards on the different roads in used at least three spellings - Trelleck, Trellech and Trelech. I think they've now standardised on the last of these, but you will still the other spellings locally.
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On 30/04/2024 at 10:49, Rugd1022 said:
We've had the 'bus on the bridge with a train passing underneath', how about the reverse...
or this ...
#
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19 minutes ago, Hroth said:
I didn't realise that sharks liked dogfood!
They're not fussy. They'll treat dogs as food given half a chance.
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On 23/04/2024 at 12:23, Dagworth said:
Is it some variant on the “Swedish scrubber”?
Andi
This was the Swedish Scrubber ..
https://www.departmentals.com/departmental/977695
Not to be confused with the cleaning lady from Stockholm ...
And this may notnecessarily be what one expects to find by googling Grinder!
On 23/04/2024 at 11:04, PhilJ W said:Heavy braking can cause uneven wear on the track called corrugations so the track has to be smoothed down. This is done by grinding the top surface of the rails. Most rail grinders are of the wheel type.
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1 minute ago, KeithMacdonald said:
Another "Shamelessly Copied" moment.
Hat tip to @Michael Hodgson on the "Oh The Embarrassment" topic.
This is what happens when you let your children and their friends play unsupervised.
Although we might have a grudging admiration for their ability to get wagons balanced upside down like that?
I understand the man responsible got the nickname "Stacker"
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11 minutes ago, GrumpyPenguin said:
As an aside to this I often wonder why boats are not usually relocated using their natural habit (assuming that they are operational).
It could of course be cheaper in some circumstances, then again if you have a boat like that & have to count the pennies then you probably can't afford it anyway.
Yes, they could have used the Chelmer to get through town, but it might have bashed this bridge instead
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27 minutes ago, franciswilliamwebb said:
Only a matter of time before that one appears on the BBC website 😉
Or the WCRC's winter timetable
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59 minutes ago, SM42 said:
It appears to be a fibreglass hull.
If that's been damaged / crushed as a result , then very expensive.
Andy
You can get a fibreglass repair kit for about a tenner.
Or if you use this stuff you can glue it to a brick viaduct
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Perhaps it should gae been fitted with whiiskers, like a cat?
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Bridge bashing
in UK Prototype Discussions (not questions!)
Posted
We use the vets who used to be opposite the box, he relocated there from Cambourne. I'm not looking forward to a trip to Littleport this afternoon, as one of our dogs was diagnosed with a kidney disorder last week but the vet now thinks she may have additional problems.