SteveyDee68

Justin - is there a particular reason why red oxide undercoat rather than grey? (Asking from a position of complete ignorance!) Steve S

Used to get quite a lot of post to the same numbered house but at “X Hollins Lane, Hollins” instead of “X Croft Lane, Hollins” Fortunately the address was only the other side of the village, and so I was able to take the post around and drop it off at the house myself. The occupants were never in, until the one time that they were, when they thanked me and then handed me back quite a large stack of post meant for my address (all unopened) but which they had kept with the intention of ‘bringing around’… I seem to remember that the oldest was nearly 2 years old! Strangely enough, after that I stopped bothering taking mis-delivered letters around by hand and took to putting them back into the post with a big red ring around “Hollins Lane” instead. Then we got a new postman (postperson?) who we’ve still got, and stuff got delivered correctly! Steve S

Do you mind me asking about suitable buffer shanks/buffers? I already have some of those nifty buffer plate etchings, but honestly as soon as I start looking through listings of things like buffer shanks etc I get completely overwhelmed and unable to decide which are right! (That’s due to ignorance, of course - if I knew what I was looking for, I’d be able to find/recognise the right thing when it is in front of me!) Steve S (still following with interest!)

Igor - pass me my barge pole… 🙄

Developers are not going to increase the width of their garages, as that would reduce their profit! If every garage in a development took 0.5m extra space, they’d probably lose a few houses - think of all that lost profit. When looking around new build houses for sale, you’ll notice that either the ground floor or the first floor are compromised in some way - deliberately! That way, a few years down the line, the idea is that you feel the need to move as your house isn’t quite right. And so the wheel keeps turning. I used to have dreams of building my own house - I used to have those books of designs by self-build companies; I completely ignored all the “cottage” type properties, finding Queen Anne style “rectory” properties more to my taste. What was noticeable in all those designs was that there were fewer compromises than found in commercial developments. Still probably cheaper to build your own house to one of those designs than to buy a developer design of the same size/spec (because you don’t pay yourself profit in the process), but the cost of land is what stops self build dead in its tracks; I’ve seen land for sale at a projected worth value after development - how does that work? See here, I own this land, worth say £15000, but if it was developed then that land could be worth £1.5M, so that is what it is going to cost you to buy it! (Which then forces prices upwards for the developer to make any profit at all after buying the land and actually developing it) Stepping down off soap box - it’s been one of those days! Steve S

“Dr Finlay, why are you writing that prescription with a suppository?” ”Never mind that, Janet - weer’s ma pinsul?!”

Thank you, Justin, for showing the process step by step. Following with much interest. Steve S

The Yorkshire Sculpture Park is in the grounds of Bretton Hall, which not so long ago was an arts/teacher training college affiliated to the University of Leeds. Sadly the Hall and buildings are currently in a sorry state, as the redevelopment into a hotel seems to have ground to a halt - for several years now! I was fortunate enough to do my BA Hons Music Degree there between 1986-1989, and a diner location for anyone studying the arts would be difficult to find; nestled in a valley in the middle of a triangle drawn between Wakefield, Huddersfield and Barnsley, it was an oasis of tranquility where students could study art, music, sculpture, English, dance, drama and fashion design in idyllic surroundings, not to mention being a centre of excellence (before such things had titles) for teacher training. Even then, the college grounds were home to a sculpture park, with a deer park adjoining the lakes. Standout memories for me … Returning to our (now demolished) hostel rooms after a late night at the student bar through thick fog, and two of the group walking straight into a Henry Moore sculpture! (It was very thick fog, and they were very drunk!) Being officially cut off from the outside world for a week by snow in December 1986, ‘official’ because the beer lorry could not deliver to the student bar (which was the building closest to the college entrance!) In that pre-internet age, we amused themselves by sledging down the steep hill from the Music Dept buildings on plastic trays from the canteen, until the canteen manager realised there were no trays left in the canteen! Getting access to the Recording Studio late at night or at weekends meant getting to know the maintenance / security guys, who were based in the boiler room next to the canteen; as my dad used to design air extraction systems, I got chatting with them which ended up with a tour of the underground access tunnels connecting the various campus buildings, something H&S would never allow today! The old hall is reputed to be haunted; I had two separate quite frightening experiences there in my year resident on campus which are unexplainable but could both be described as supernatural; another friend on my course had something happen that left her refusing to return to her room in the mansion, and unable to sleep without a light on for several months! (1980s … who heard of “counselling” back then?!) ———————— Back to Jamie’s post … when I was a student, and the last time I visited, sculptures were displayed with their title and artist name only; I personally hate it when anything deemed as art (including music) necessitates a page of explanation to try to make sense of it; I had issues with describing the process of creation, of the thoughts behind my compositions - the proof of the pudding is in the eating, not the recipe! (Likewise conducting - my argument being that an audience listening to an orchestra doesn’t read pages of notes about rehearsals, the problems faced by the conductor, or apologising that several players are not up to the required standard - they listen to the concert and either enjoy it or don’t - and sometimes maybe both at different points in the music.) Anything requiring explanation leaves me, like @jamie92208, cold. Studying there in the pre-digital age means I have few photographs of my time there; my very young cousin came to visit me, and I remember walking through the grounds with him looking at the sculptures when he stopped at the foot of a very tall, willowy statue which made you think of a woman looking up and pointing into the sky - “What that?” he asked. “I think it is a lady, and look - she’s pointing up into the sky!” We both gazed up, our eyes looking to where ‘she’ apparently ‘pointed’ to. And then, in the way that three year olds do, he asked a killer question - “Why?” 🤭 Another time, I thought I saw a whole flock of white birds on the lawns below the mansion building. As I got nearer, I realised they were actually white plastic chairs, tumbled over the lawn, and I then thought ‘there’s been an event and they’ve not cleared the chairs away’ and then as I got nearer still realised that the ‘plastic chairs’ were not in fact chairs at all, but representations of chairs (some had three legs, some had legs at odd angles, some where actually several ‘chairs’ melded into one) and the title sign was something clever like “Flocking Chairs All Over The Lawn” - that piece made me smile. There is one “installation” that is absolutely brilliant and which I can revisit again and again - I think it is called “Sheep Shelter” and is simply a circular, domed, underground, former shelter for sheep which has been whitewashed and/or painted white with a continuous bench seat provided just inside the outer perimeter wall: above, there is a single window in the ceiling at the top of the domed roof, framing the sky above; sitting on the seat, you lean back against the inner wall and your gaze is directed to the sky, which becomes a living, ever changing picture. The whole thing is tranquil* and calming, and sitting gazing at the sky you find yourself relaxing into a calm state of consciousness, almost like meditation. If you sit long enough, you get a sense of how nature moves on even when we are still, how short our time is compared to that of the earth, how insignificant our existence is within the universe, and how numb your bum can get sitting on cold concrete for too long. Thoroughly recommended. The contemplation that is, not the numb bum. The one image that is burnt into my memory is of something that was naturally as close to “art” as anything man made - waking up one morning in my ground floor student room, I opened my curtains to stare out at a herd of deer huddled outside my room between the end wall of my hostel building and the side of the next hostel some 15 feet or so away. They were stood, shoulder to shoulder, in the early morning haze, steam rising from their backs and flanks and from their nostrils as they stood there, simply breathing and sharing body heat. I remember standing perfectly still, almost like Jesus with my arms stretched out holding the two recently opened curtains! As it happened, I had a disposable camera on my desk behind me and the thought crossed my mind that this would make a great photo, as I stood staring into the golden brown eyes of the nearest deer as he gazed back at me. Very slowly I lowered my arms (ears twitched on the deer outside) and then equally slowly turned away from the window. I carefully reached across my desk and picked up the camera - I can remember how it was a semi translucent blue plastic, and felt cheap in the hand. Turning slowly back, I stared across at the blank wall of the opposite hostel, a little morning mist curling around the end of the building. As to the herd of deer - not a sign! They had melted away silently whilst my back was turned. Or had they? Did I just dream it all up? Actually, there were some deer droppings outside which confirmed that they had actually been there, but otherwise the whole experience was something surreal and almost dreamlike, and the frame of my window acted like the frame to a picture, hence my comparison of my view to ‘art’. I seem to have rambled on at some length… for those of you still reading, thank you; truly The Night Mail is somewhere where anything** might be discussed. Steve S * unless a group of children happens to be visiting at the same time; young ones bounce up and down, their voices bouncing around the shelter as they realise it’s acoustic properties as an echo chamber; teenagers slouch in, find a spot to take an ideal “selfie” with their phones then either bemoan the lack of excitement in the ‘theme park’ or slouch out again. ** well, almost anything!

I received an email last night from Colin’s daughter, Jane, as follows: I am Colin's daughter and I'm sadly writing to let you know that Dad's suddenly passed away last Saturday. Thankfully he didn't suffer and was at home with Mum. As it was unexpected we are awaiting the coroner's report after which can start to put funeral plans in place. I know you were a friend and I wondered if you would be able to assist me with identifying whom amongst your circle I should inform once we know a date. So sorry to break this news to you like this. I shared several direct messages with Colin after he wrote to me after I made comments about “The Millwall Circle” article published back in the 1980s, offering me access to overhead photographs of the London docks and all sorts of other information. Bless him, he sent me an email with several items attached before he died, and his most recent emails were asking about my thoughts on how he might make the materials in his care more accessible to members of RMWeb. When Jane says his death was unexpected, I can testify that he had no plans to be leaving us so soon. However, my acquaintance with Colin was only very recent (16 September) and very brief, and there must be others on RMWeb who knew him better. Please comment below and/or DM me, especially if you were a close friend, as Jane has asked about how best to share the news. I have written back to her to let her know I am doing this, and also to suggest she sends me some “official text” to put here as a lasting obituary to her late father, together with funeral details when known. In my very short acquaintanceship, I found Colin extremely knowledgeable and he seemed delighted to be able to share his knowledge, even with someone with a casual interest like myself; he was a proper gentleman. Steve Sandiford

I was talking about the model version, not the prototype! Unless, of course, Justin has plans… 🤭

Good job no locos are expected to traverse that change in gradient! Steve S

Ian Banks, another talent taken from us too early

You are quite right - it is a 3D print (but yellowish, like other resin cast items I have!) Steve S

His SF writing, as Iain M Banks, is absolutely superb; I thought the Foundation series by Assimov was great, but then Banks just reset the bar in the Culture novels - and it is interesting that he sees the development of AI as something that will benefit humankind, freeing us from the shackles of capitalism, which maybe might be why the likes of Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk are suddenly so cautious about its development; after all, multi billionaires simply don’t exist in a post capitalist society! I must recommend the Dirk Gently novels by Douglas Adams - those don’t feel like they are flogging a dead horse (even if the first book is basically about a ghost) and like many others I feel DNA’s premature loss to this day. 42

And I just finished re-reading “Raising Steam” for about the 20th time a couple of nights ago! 🤣 Totally agree re: the great Terry Pratchett, although most of my collection was binned by a vindictive ex-wife. Together with my full set of Isaac Asimov books, my Harry Harrison ‘Stainless Steel Rat’ collection, all of my Douglas Adams books, my Lord of the Rings trilogy volume (the prize award from secondary school) and my set of Iain Banks books (the originals, in monochrome book covers). Now, there’s a writer who can be read again and again! The first book of his that I read (and actually the first he had published) was recommended to me by a close school friend when we were at sixth form college together; my friend was a brilliant artist, going on to achieving a first class honours degree in fine art, and was the coolest person I ever knew (never understood why he had me - the uncoolest of the uncool - as his friend!), sadly succumbing to liver failure aged only 49 due to a long struggle with mental illness and the bottle, which I knew nothing about… I digress, but I remember him handing “The Wasp Factory” to me as if it was yesterday - “Read this - it’s brilliant. As long as you don’t skip to the end. Don’t skip to the end. Read it. It’s worth it!” If you haven’t read it, get a copy and do so. Don’t skip to the end. I can vouch that it is worth it, and that the twist at the end is such a surprise that it may leave you - like I found myself all those years ago - with mouth agape! In fact, you may end up rereading the whole book again immediately in light of the revelations in the last few pages, in order to suddenly make some sense of everything previously read! The books I read once tend to be work related 🥱 or manuals. Anything fiction that gets read once gets donated PDQ to any local charity shop that will take it! Steve S

When my grandfather passed away, it fell upon my dad to clear his house as the executor of his will. My grandad was quite a keen car boot and antique fair visitor and downstairs were various vases and objects d’art that he has acquired over the years, but imagine my dad’s surprise when he discovered both a Stradivarius and a Rembrandt in the loft! Unfortunately, the painting was by Stradivarius and the violin by Rembrandt. Hat, coat …

Ditto. I agree that the Harry Potter series of books is excellent; the films are okay, but really should be thought of as “based upon” in so many ways! It has to be said, though, that the late Alan Rickman really did seem to hit the nail on the head with his portrayal of Severus Snape! Having said that, I bought The Lord of The Rings trilogy as a single volume with prize money from a school award and, upon purchasing it on the Saturday morning, proceeded to read the entire trilogy over the course of the weekend, including staying up all Saturday night, so engrossed was I in the story. I was 16 at the time. 39 years later, and I still find myself unable to put a book down once started if it has sufficiently gripped me! I am also fortunate in that I can read (and reread) books multiple times - or is that just a terrible memory?! Steve S

Please promise to show us how you go about these improvements - I have a (very growly) Dapol J94 that I would like to improve. I also have two very nice EFE/Bachmann J94s which I think are the DJH bodies with new Bachmann chassis - I ended up with two identical models because I forgot I picked one up off eBay second hand like-new for a great price, then took advantage of a ROS offer! The other J94 in my possession is a (bargain price) Hornby example in private ownership livery which I intend to keep that way, but which could likewise be “tarted up” so any postings on how you improve your fleet will be most welcome here! Steve S

Did several car boot sales back in 2013/2014 at a regular - and massive - event held regularly near Chorley.* Absolutely agree with @Northmoor - we had a lot (a LOT**) of baby/toddler clothes to dispose of, and my other half shrink wrapped like-new M&S baby grows into packs of seven (one for each day of the week) selling them for £5 (which we thought a bargain). Several interested parties asked about paying £1 per pack if they took the lot off us… like @Happy Hippo has remarked, a bunch of “professionals” looking to sell on at a profit! I do remember a young lady - possibly from Eastern Europe - coming once with her two very young children, and getting very excited about the baby grows, but only had £3 left on her; she asked if we would be back again, and would we mind keeping a couple of packs for her? I was about to let her take a pack for £3 when my wife*** surprised me completely by giving her two packs and saying pay us the next time she saw us. If I had done that, I would have had a right royal telling off about being gullible, but away went the young lady full of thanks etc. Next time we were there, I waited for five hours for our young mum to turn up, but she was a no show. Of course, no way was I going to mention this to the other half … I valued my life! However, next time we went, she turned up with her husband, who apologised and said he had been working and so she couldn’t get to the sale, thanked us for our kindness and paid us £10 as promised. Needless to say, when she was looking at a couple of packs of the next size up of clothes, I let them have three for the price of two. On another occasion, a lovely as-new toddler’s party dress was for sale for £2 - it must have cost about £18 new - and a lady offered us 25p for it. My wife said no, and the offer was raised to 50p. My wife still said no. Our potential customer said we could either sell it to her for 50p or we’d have to take it home! My wife promptly packed it into the car and told her “It’s going home, then” at which point she offered £1 rapidly followed by the £2 original asking price. At which point my wife’s stubborn streak kicked in and she told her it was no longer for sale! It was an interesting experience whilst it lasted - some days we could make £30-£50, other days barely scrape the cost of the pitch. * I’ve not seen the car boot run since Covid … sign of the times, perhaps? ** My wife simply didn’t let go of baby/toddler clothes, despite them being long outgrown! *** ex-wife as of 2017 Steve S

That’s right, Birmingham is the second city in the U.K., after Manchester! 😉 Steve S

Now that is really useful to know, as I will want limestone for the loads for Blackford Wharf in due course, and your research will save me a lot of time (plus expense of getting it wrong) as I trust your judgement with this. Really like the hopper wagons and also the brake van shown earlier. However, any chance of some clearer pictures of the water tenders, please? As you know, I got myself one of those resin castings 3D prints that you commissioned, but it is currently sitting in a drawer of “things to do when I have more of a clue” so anything to push me in the right direction much appreciated! Cheers Steve S

It’s happened! Finally the Triang 4 wheel “Swedish” balcony coach (or “starter” set coach) has appeared on eBay! In fact, not one, but four of them, all in good condition! Okay, that was the good news. The bad news? Only available as a set of four, from our favourite seller… Triang Swedish Starter Coach Of course, that makes the individual price much more “reasonable” in price, as these have fetched in excess of £30 each when sold on eBay before now. Whether £25 per coach for a 50 year old and admittedly “toy” coach is “reasonable” is up to the buyer, of course. Just a shame that I never stumble across the cheaply-cheap £3.50 versions as improved by Kevin Whyberd! HOURS OF FUN!

He says to contact him for further details and postage is available for a small fee. I think this is another example of someone trading off eBay - should be reported! Steve S

I used to live in Adlington, Lancashire (overlooking the Leeds Liverpool Canal, as it happens). I once mentioned jokingly that I was off to the “Big Smoke” (meaning London) for a city break. To which one of the old timers asked (in all seriousness), “Why would you want to stop over in Chorley?” ”Not t’Big Town,” says his buddy, “T’Big Smoke!” ”Aaah!” Realisation dawns and the auld chap nods his head - “Manchester, then” Chorley - where the M61 is cobbled Steve S (And if anyone thinks I am stretching the truth a little, that conversation really happened, in The Top Spinners pub one Thursday night back in the early 2000s!)

Perhaps you might like to go into more detail about that. Here, lie on the couch, make yourself comfortable whilst I adjust the lighting and get my notepad. This first consultation is, of course, free but I shall need your credit card details if we are to continue these sessions further... HOURS OF THERAPY THERAPEUTIC FUN!