Lambton58

What is it about Liverpool, the Stadium of Light and bizarre goals? No beach balls this time but Campbell's shot rebounds off the post, hits the back of Reina's head & rebounds off the post again and is eventually put away by Bendtner.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about the result, just the odd way it came about

Ralph

Lambton58

The news from Chelsea is sadly inevitable.

Seems to me that the Chelsea job has become about as attractive as the England one ie not very!

Ralph

Lambton 58

who is undecided whether 1-1 against Newcastle today was a fair result

Shout "SPAD" everytime a signal is passed at danger?

Give a Murray Walker-esque "and it's Go! Go! Go!" everytime a train moves off with F1 like acceleration?

Ralph

Lambton58

Dead easy this one, just put a show on with absolutely no diesel/electric content whatsoever and watch the b*gg*rs moan.

Now that's entertainment!

Ralph

Lambton58

Thanks Arthur & Paul, this is RMWeb at it's best. Unfortunately it may also mean that my lunch hour is going to overrun!

Ralph

Lambton58

Years, those at Port Talbot have seen at least twenty years service and those at Redcar a little over thirty years. Not only are they massively constructed they have a hundred tonnes or so of refractory brick lining which is replaced every few months.

Thanks Arthur. I'm beginning to get an appreciation of the sheer scale of the iron & steel industry. Big, very big!

Ralph

Lambton58

They're lined with furnace brick, which is replaced fairly frequently. The steel superstructure and running gear shouldn't have any contact with the molten iron, and will have a design life of about 40 years.

Relining things like torpedo and slag ladles is a contender for 'worst job in the world'. When I was at BSC Landore, the ladles would stop being used on a Friday afternoon. On Saturday morning, the brickies would chisel out damaged linings with a pneumatic drill- at this point, the things would take your skin off if you touched them. By Sunday, they'd have cooled off enough for the new bricks to be inserted, and cemented into place. On Monday morning, they'd be back in service.

Thanks Brian. I hadn't thought about them being brick lined, but that makes sense. The weekend maintainance sounds horrendous though.

Ralph

Lambton58

In Michael Portillo's programme earlier this evening Mr P was at Port Talbot works watching the torpedos. Seeing the molten iron going into these things set me wondering - what's the life expectancy of those wagons?

Ralph

Lambton 58

Tomorrow it be International Talk Like a Pirate Day me hearties!!!!

Unless you be readin' o' the 19th, in which case it be today

Ralph

Lambton58

Interesting thread this. I'm guessing that the BR 1950s rules referred to were possibly derived from the previous grouping era regulations? If so, would the the rules have been waived or set aside during WW2 to allow for the vast quantities of bombs needed by the RAF & USAAF?

Ralph

Lambton58

Well done everyone declaring their GCSE & A Level results and good luck in the future.

I said last week I was a proud dad after no 1 son did well in his A Levels. Well doubly proud now as No 2 son has notched up 9 GCSE A*s, one A and a C.

Ralph

Lambton58

One proud dad here!! Dead chuffed that David (my eldest son) has got the A Levels he needed to go to Aberystwyth for Environmental Science.

 

Bruce,

 

Totally agree, it was the same 28 years ago, that's why I decided against education and joined the Air Force. For one reason just to get away from Leicester.

 

Anyway at least we still have a crap football team, who are again performing well below expectations.

 

Regards

 

Neal.

I also left Leicester 28 years ago - after finishing university. Thoroughly enjoyed my time there. Didn't bother with the football though, the rugby was, and is, still much better.

Ralph

Lambton58

Years ago we often looked after a shepherd friend's working border collies who were used to us and the house. Too used to us infact as on one occasion, one of them jumped through the french windows, which were shut at the time. But before the sound of breaking glass has died away and the dust and debris settled on the ground, Floss (for that was her name), presumably spooked by the commotion behind her, turns around and jumps back into the house through the smallish jagged hole she's just made! For an intelligent dog she could be amazingly daft!

Nowadays our dog sitting is limited to a very docile Black Labrador who does nothing stupid...

Ralph

I was playing cricket this afternoon. Which is the main reason why modelling activity happens between September & March! Any how, it was an enjoyable game, which we won with 3 balls to spare - nothing like a tight finish to unsettle the nerves!

Ralph

Lambton58

I think that anywhere that the NCB had running powers over BR lines the regulations demanded the use of a brake van.

They definitely had them on the Lambton system and there's one preserved on the Tanfield Railway

Ralph

Lambton 58

Hi

I guess from the map in the OP that you've seen the IRS article? If not, it's on the IRS website click the I.R.Record

Archives link, then Index of Back Issues and scroll down to Vol 4, No 35, Feb 1971.

My regret is that by the time I used the Bletchley-Bedford line to work in the early 1990s all the industrial lines had gone.

Thanks for the links to the other historic sites - interesting to know where names like Forders Sidings came from. Pillinge lives on as the name of the lake at the Forest of Marston Vale country park. Well worth a visit and accessible by rail using Milbrook Station.

Ralph

Lambton58

Difficult one this - so many to choose from! But if it has to be three, then

Chiltern Green & Luton Hoo - the first time I can remember seeing a model railway in a proper landscape setting.

Allied Marine - another first, this time a convincingly modelled industrial system

My favourite and the one that inspires and influences me the most is, without a doubt, North Shields. Pure unadultared North East England, oozing atmosphere and brilliant authentic operation. Unlike the other two, I've only ever read about it in MRJ (I was out of the country for the fabled MRJ Show), but Chris Pendlenton's writing and convincing back stories really bring it alive. I'd love to see it 'in the flesh'.

Ralph

Lambton58

Nice one! Thanks Andy. I guess with my user name you can guess what I think of this forum!

Ralph

Lambton58

This is one happy Sunderland supporter writing!! I wouldn't have been surprised at a 3-0 scoreline at the Bridge, just not the way it turned out. But then I wouldn't have expected Sunderland to outplay Chelsea either!

Full brakes (BGs), yes definitely Ralph - both Gresley and Thompson variants lasted in capital stock until around 1976/77, although I'd reckon the one you saw at FP would be in either engineers' or intenal use. But very few ordinary day coaches of pre-BR design made it into the 70s - I think I'm right in saying that Thompsons became extinct in 1968 and Gresleys much earlier (probably 1964/65)

Thanks Ian. Thinking a bit more about it, the example at FP was, I'm pretty certain, used by the engineers. I guess they must have used it as store as it never moved! Only wish now that I'd taken photos of the ordinary things as well as the flashy engines. Also wish I'd checked the previous post and remembered to spell 'brake' correctly!

Ralph

Lambton58

Interesting thread, but can I go off on a tangent to the end of the train? I think I can vaguely remember seeing exLNER full and composite breaks in service as late as the '70s? Is that correct? There was certainly a full break parked up in a back road at Finsbury Park station as late as 1980-81.

Ralph

Lambton58

Sunderland 1 - 0 Arsenal

<Max Boyce voice> I'll say that again coz it's my favourite line. </Max Boyce voice>

:icon_clap: :icon_clap:

Couldn't believe that when I saw the result. Brilliant!! Of the so called big 4, only Chelsea have beaten Sunderland so far this season. Best to enjoy the moment as I think they might come down to earth with a bump next weekend when they meet... Wigan!

Ralph

Lambton58