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It's clearance under overbridges which is the problem, though.

That's what I meant. But from, say, Philips Park down to Stalybridge should present no such problems, as all the track work has been done, bridges raised/realigned, and so on

Sorry, I meant £137 million! But not much more, I'll warrant!

How much railway will £137k get you these days?

I suppose the new bridges at Queens Road and Oldham Road will need to be installed before the OHE masts. Nothing to stop works carrying on towards Stalybridge in the meantime, I would think

O.K., another one; The Warlord of the Air by Michael Moorcock, in which the protagonist is transported into an alternative world after being shot down; in that world, there are no heavier-than-air flying machines, and empires are controlled using airships; it's set in South-Central Asia, and there's a renegade anti-imperialist - type character. One of the British officers was Lieutenant Michael Jagger. Why not, in a book which would be around 50 years old, now.

Walk on by!

My wife has had an SMS message from our GP surgery, saying that it was likely she should be getting her second vaccination within the next three weeks

I see the DM is pushing the "Quicker exit from lockdown" again. No, let's approach ending it with caution.

Not so much The Battle of Britain, but the completely off the wall assumption that a German invasion was successful. The book is indeed far, far superior, much of that because of the meticulous research Deighton has done into that period. On that, if you can find a copy, read Sealion,by Richard Cox, which is basically a book describing the outcome when the Operation was wargamed at Sandhurst.

Without trying hard, SS - GB by Len Deighton. The jumping - off point is of course that the Germans staged a successful invasion of Britain.

Apparently, a medium to long-term aspiration, I believe, for tram-train anyway. If the whole line was converted to Metrolink, would Derbyshire C.C. or High Peak B.C. fund their part?

I guess what might help in the future is if HS2 actually reaches Manchester, and the separate station is built, there will be space created because the London expresses are removed to it. I'm more than a little convinced that one of the reasons that the service frequency on my local line (Glossop) can't be improved is because of platform issues at Piccadilly. I think the line via Marple is fairly fast, if you neglect New Mills South Junction.

I thought the Hope Valley line was the alternative; or at least, the (very) latecomer

Battlecruisers were the idea of Admiral Fisher. I read an interesting account, in an article about HMS Lion, from its Chief Gunner's Mate (the senior gunnery petty officer). He'd been posted aboard to replace the previous post holder, who seemingly had been sacked for something or other. He described what he found in and around the magazines (cordite charges mixed up and out of date, leaking bags, magazine and shell room doors open, at firing drills, etc.)and the steps he took to solve the problems.Her 'Q' main turret was hit and disabled at Jutland, but unlike Queen Mary and Indefatigable, which blew up after similar hits, she survived, seemingly mainly due to the tightening up of fire discipline which this CGM had instituted.

A practice abandoned at some time during WW2

One person they didn't contact was the guy with the Brazilian variant; the only reason he was found was because, in effect, he turned himself in by dialling NHS111; he'd already self-isolated for the previous 6 days. It isn't just bar-room experts, either; it's the Commons Public Accounts Committee as well

You think that CV-19 hasn't hit the road repairers along with everyone else?

Although, we must recall that he decamped to France, just ahead of the old bill, in about 1965, so he was surely up to no good somewhere

What does that clown want? I have to say that if Latics played as well at home as they do away, they'd be in at least in a playoff place!

A question for all you old - timers; we were, I am sure, all familiar with the nectar which was Four Bells Rum. Is it still distilled?

Been under that bridge a few times!

Are these the abutments by the side of Barton viaduct? I thought that was for a new road, only the span collapsed.

It finished with five, after the crossover was taken out. I seem to recall that the frame area was partitioned off and the other part became quite "botanical"

I had something similar which lived in the back of my Dis. A when I was at sea