Liam

40 minutes ago, petethemole said:

Yesterday while waiting for my bus in 'spoons I tried one of their festival beers, 'Dead Parrot' by Black Sheep.  I said to the barmaid (about 18 and fairly new) "You know I'll have to bring this back and complain."  Totally blank look, followed by confusion.  I had to explain the bare bones of the Dead Parrot sketch; she'd never seen Monty Python.  Sparkling wit totally wasted!  Beer's OK.

Last week I picked up ‘The Flock’, the pack of six Black Sheep beers, from Morrisons for £9 and one of them was Holy Grail. I shall mention to my housemates that drinking it may cause one to say ‘Ni!’ randomly, or that there might be spontaneous requests to cut down a tree with a herring... 

On 13/10/2021 at 17:21, Siberian Snooper said:

Last month I had an all line rail rover ticket and most trains were comfortably full and all commuter time trains were standing only. One train I was going to travel on from Stoke to Derby came in full and was near to full crush load, with football fans when it left. Not many people were wearing masks  except in Scotland where it was still mandatory.

 

 

In July I did an All Line Rover too. It began on the day that face coverings became no longer mandatory in England, but I still kept a few with me and would go by the rule that I would wear one if I couldn’t stay socially distanced from other people. 
 

I started my rover ticket in Scotland, where face coverings were still mandatory, but once I crossed the border in England I went by the rule that I would wear a face mask if I couldn’t space out sufficiently from others. Despite this being mid July, a lot of the trains I travelled on weren’t terribly busy so in the course of the week I’d say that I wore my mask around 20% of the time. 

1 hour ago, The Stationmaster said:

Definitely earlier than that - 3827 was withdrawn in 1962 and 5795 (if that number is correct or I am reading it properly) was withdrawn in 1960

Yes, have just had a closer look on my phone and the date listed underneath the washing out programme appears to be 24/4/1958. Nonetheless, it’s a fascinating way to discover what motive power was around on the Brum-Stourbridge-Kidderminster-Worcs route among others, and also what workings Stourbridge provided traction for. 

I too had a shed-related blast from the past yesterday Phil, as I visited the Engine House at Highley for the first time in two years. It’s looking a lot better now having changed some of the exhibits and in my opinion improved the presentation. Anyway they’ve now made a display of the running board from Stourbridge Junction shed, which includes a working to Norton Jn that if you put the layout back a few years you could try and replicate, but frustratingly it doesn’t reveal the allocated loco! 

2 hours ago, NHY 581 said:

Morning all, 

 

A slightly different view to the earlier post. 

 

A mistier feel to this one. 

 

 

 

 

Rob. 

 

 

 

Wonderful photo Rob. Very atmospheric and for me it perfectly resembles the essence of Mountain Ash.

Visited the show yesterday with @Phil Bullock. It was an easy journey for me, 350 direct to MKC then hopped on the free shuttle bus to the Marshall Arena. I had pre-booked my ticket and sailed straight in having had my wristband given to me at the entrance door. 
 

The layouts on display were superb, and my favourites were Chilcompton Tunnel, Old Elm Park and Melton Mowbray North. Here are a few photos of them: 

Being a student, I knew that I shouldn’t be spending lots of money, but I did manage to come away with a Hattons mug (will come in handy!) and a Hornby 21T mineral wagon. 
 

Perhaps the most significant part of the exhibition was when I got to hold the EP of Accurascale’s GWR Manor. Looks a very worthy replacement of the old Bachmann ones. 

I’ve just got in from GETS and personally I wasn’t very put off by the practices people chose to follow (or not follow). I’m 19 and double jabbed, I used hand sanitiser plenty of times and tried to ensure that with the exception of the people I was visiting the show with that I wasn’t rubbing shoulders with anyone else for more than a few moments, but with masks, if the people around you aren’t wearing one then you are no better off wearing one yourself. I’ve got some lateral flow tests with me and I’ll do a couple in the week to be certain that I haven’t picked the virus up at the show.
 

As for the organisation of the show, the aisles seemed quite wide but inevitably there was the odd case of someone blocking them and causing congestion. At 15:00 the main hall began to empty out and you could certainly feel that it had become cooler and more spacious; not that I found the hall stuffy but one of the balconies definitely was at around 12:30/13:00. 

4 hours ago, Liam said:

Which is back on tonight - by the looks of things there won’t be many RMwebbers watching! 

My bad - not on tonight after all, instead there’s a programme about unearthing German submarines from the North Sea. 

1 hour ago, Hobby said:

Yes, but its much more interesting and informative than Hislops Trains!  

 

(OK we get the hint!)

Which is back on tonight - by the looks of things there won’t be many RMwebbers watching! 

Much as though I find canals interesting (we did a narrow boat holiday in Cheshire back in April this year), we have drifted quite a way from the original topic of Ian Hislop’s Trains That Changed the World. 

6 hours ago, Hobby said:

I've been very disappointed with this programme, mainly, as Coppercap says, due to unconnected film clips and much over-simplifying of things. It's also been done (to death?!) before... In fact my wife, who usually watches these things saw the first episode and asked if it was a repeat!! That comment says it all really. 

 

For me the "Mark William's on the Rails" series was the benchmark and this falls well short, I'd suggest he stick to stuff he's good at in future.

In my OP I said how I liked the show but that was with my average TV viewer hat on, which we must remember is the hat which the majority of people watching it last night would have been wearing. As members of this forum we have pretty good railway knowledge, but the wider public are probably wouldn’t have such knowledge, and I guess that this was who Hislop aimed the programme towards. 
 

A previous episode covered the Flying Scotsman, and whether you’re a fan of the loco or not (personally I am) its history has been covered by other programmes hundreds of times before. 

Been watching this for the past few weeks. I do like Ian Hislop, and on the whole this is a very good programme. He focuses on topics which would be of interest to the average viewer, such as how the railways brought fish to inland areas for the first time, along with enabling the introduction of a national football league. The one slight downside to the programme is that it is not exempt from those annoying Channel 5 competitions, and this one is ambiguously styled as ‘win £3,000 for a rail adventure’, with no further details on where you might go and what you might do. 

Glad I found this thread. Back in March I ordered a copy of Steph Gillett’s ‘The Midland & South Western Junction Railway’ from Amazon, and it’s a very good read. The historical background is fascinating; it strikes me that the builders of the railway went for cheap above speed above quality, such was the urge to get a route into Southampton Docks as quickly as possible to allow the passage of goods from the Midlands via Southampton to Europe and beyond. 
 

I noticed there was discussion about when was the last time a train ran over what remains of the MSWJR to Ludgershall; this book mentions that in 2017 an army vehicle was taken from Ludgershall through the Channel Tunnel to mainland Europe. 

3 minutes ago, Steamport Southport said:

 

Boris? He's always on the buses and the tube.

 

Or just as likely to be seen on his bike. Or jogging.

 

You do realise he was London Mayor for nearly ten years before he was PM?

Of course I do - but being Mayor of London a few years ago is very different to being Prime Minister during the Second World War, or alas a global pandemic. 
 

My previous post was rather tongue in cheek as I was trying to relate to the Tube scene from Darkest Hour. 
 

4 hours ago, RichardT said:

The representation of the tube stock ironically being the only accurate, believable and authentic thing about that entire sequence in the film.

Yes, somehow I can’t see our current Prime Minister jumping out of a car to hop on the tube and ask what the passengers think of COVID-19...

Thought I’d add to this, despite 18 months passing without a post. On BBC One on Sunday night they showed Yesterday, a film set in the present day which follows a songwriter who as a result of a coma is the only person who has heard of the Beatles. While it was the present day and not a lot of effort was required, trains passing in the background included DRS class 57s and Greater Anglia 153s. I guess the advantage of being given permission to make a present day film at a location on or close to the railway is that any trains that pass will be prototypical. 

10 minutes ago, griffgriff said:

Then that’ would be observing restrictions would it not?

As Jason said, within the current guidelines. It is important to note the difference between a restriction and a precaution. A restriction would prevent you from doing something, so the lockdown restricted you from going to the pub, whereas a precaution allows you to do something but in a certain way, so now you are allowed to go to the pub but when you’re there you’re told to wear a face mask unless seated and not gather in groups of more than six people. 

1 hour ago, griffgriff said:

I’m a little concerned that 30% observe no restrictions. Why would I want to attend a show where nearly 1 and 3 put themselves at risk?

 

Griff

But it says ‘observe no restrictions on my activities’. Which presumably means that while they go out and about and do activities they still follow the ‘hands, face, space’ rule.

Thought I would add my views on the matter. I’m 19 and the week before last received my first vaccine - the Pfizer one. No side effects beyond a slightly sore upper arm. 
 

Considering the nature of exhibitions, in that they’re often attract crowds to venues such as sports halls and exhibition centres and sometimes the experience can be hot and stuffy, for me personally I would avoid a show that wanted everyone to wear face masks. Not that I would actively avoid wearing one having been asked to - I always wear my mask whenever I am in a setting which requires it - but if you’re at an indoor show for four hours and the only time you took your mask off was when having lunch then I personally don’t think that would be a very pleasant experience. But if you were to ensure there was lots of air conditioning and ventilation then wearing a mask wouldn’t be such a problem - if that was the case then I probably would go to a show which required me to wear a mask.

If I was organising a show beyond the 19th July then I would limit the number of attendees, get everyone to do a temperature check before they enter and ensure their details are taken down for NHS Test and Trace. I would probably make it clear on the show’s website that taking down your contact details for Test and Trace is a condition of entry - no details, no entry. 

Yesterday I visited the Devon County Show, the first large scale event I’ve been to since the Caravan and Motorhome Show at the NEC in February 2020. As an outdoor event which forms part of the farming calendar I was much happier to attend it than I would be for an indoor event, like a rock concert, where social distancing is impossible. I used public transport to get to the show - everyone seemed to comply with wearing face masks on the shuttle bus and some punters trying to get on midway through the journey were denied entry because the bus had reached its capacity for social distancing requirements. Once at the show, it was a great experience; there were a few occasions where individuals were standing in the middle of the aisles and led to a bit of congestion, which is not beneficial to social distancing, but it was still fairly easy to get past. What did sort of annoy me was at one of the bars the staff had their masks around their chins, which wasn’t a good look since as things stand hospitality staff who face the public generally have to wear face coverings unless exempt. But all in all it was a very good show and I would happily go again, although I completely understand others may be less willing to do so. 

11 hours ago, andytrains said:

Pure UBU from Purity Brewing, Warwickshire.

 

Nice.

Must be an old bottle that - the current labelling is a bit different. 
 

6 minutes ago, MarshLane said:

Yes. Should have been June - second 91 set expected to come back into traffic on Thursday.  Working off Leeds again.  1A04, 1N80, 1Y82, 1N83, 1Y86, 1N87, 1Y90, 1D29 is the diagram I have been given.

Out of interest, do you know where they were before being ‘called up’? I’m guessing Ely? 

19 minutes ago, newbryford said:

LNER were already planning to bring back some (4?) 91 sets for summer services - the 80x saga has just speeded it up a bit

Wasn’t aware of that, but thanks for the heads up - will try and incorporate a ride on a set during my planned All Line Rover in the summer. 

LNER have temporarily reintroduced a class 91 and Mk4 diagram. Also a significant 91 to bring back. 
 

1 hour ago, teaky said:

Have you ever seen Sir Humprey and CK together?

Legend has it that upon his retirement Sir Humphrey was offered the title of Lord Appleby of Haverfordwest. 

I believe that I may have spotted the first swallow of the year. Saw it from a distance out of an upstairs window, and it certainly had the right colours and style of flying to be a swallow.