johnofwessex

4 hours ago, martin_wynne said:

 

This may be true for terminal branch lines.

 

But a through station on a lightly-used secondary route is very different. It might be double-track, or a passing loop on single track. But the real activity arrives when you imagine that it is part of a diversionary route while the main line is blocked for engineering work.

 

Here for example is Rubery on the Halesowen Railway:

 

 http://www.photobydjnorton.com/HalesowenLineEnthusiast.html

 

(The above web site does not have a security certificate, so some browsers may refuse to link it.)

 

Martin.

 

Mid Hants?

I used the Southgate Centre Car Park in Bath on Sunday.

Which escaped lunatic designed that junction..

5 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

On high pressure systems a lot of effort is made to control oxygen level, things like deaerators and chemical dosing.

 

Usually a full shutdown to atmospheric pressure is unusual in marine and power plant boilers. Some heat and pressure is maintained to make it quicker to bring them back on line and and reduce thermal stress. 

 

The bit where you want a huge vacuum is the condenser. Condenser vacuum is critical to performance and efficiency in a ranking cycle steam plant. They have vacuum breaking valves.

I havnt worked on anything over 180 psi and the highest pressure boilers I have seen were 415psi

Heres a question that I have been mulling over for a while.

When you shut down a Marine (Or Stationary) Boiler you close the stop valve which is steam tight.

So as the boiler cools the steam will condense and the water in the boiler will contract.

So, does this create a vacuum on the boiler?

If not, why?

It struck me recently.....

There were very few 'public' Narrow Gauge railways in the UK

All I suggest unique and mostly associated with specific industries

So in terms of being a 'public' railway how did the W&L manage to hang on into the mid 50's?  Its easy to see how WW2 might have extended its life with petrol shortages but it carried on hauling freight until 1956, despite the obvious costs of transhipment onto a line only 8 miles long.

Did it have some sort of a Fairy Godmother in BR Management?

I was on the last HST out of Paddington (2019)

There were some young lads in proper attire with an 'oil' version of the Bardic, with a handle at the back to hold it.

I think that 'H&S' or 'EU Rules' is often used as an excuse for not doing something or lazy thinking.

As the HSE point out they dont mind what people do just that its done safely so please can the Pensioner & Toddler Skydiving group be reactivated

I was out in the garden yesterday afternoon, I dont live that far from traffic lights on the main road and all I can say is that I hope to god many of the drivers passing through were not wearing seat belts and that a tree leaps out in front of them for the sakes of all of us

All of these of course are why the law should treat dangerous drivers in the same way as gun crime.and prioritise the safety of the Publoic and the Police.

There is a Fruit D at Cranmore under overhaul.

Interesting to see that it was fitted with a dynamo & lights as built.

Clearly something you would need on a gangwayed vehicle but why on a non gangwayed one?

Minehead?

In the early 80's I was coming down Black Dog Hill on the A36 late one night when a Citroen Dyane shot past me.

He must have been pedal to the metal all the way from Salisbury

20 hours ago, JOHNMCDRAGON said:

I think I remember a case like that in the late sixties, maybe early seventies of a driver being killed leaning out trying to spy on a 'courting couple'.

https://www.railcar.co.uk/topic/features/cricklewood-driver/

Just before you get to Nostalgia Not Yet

3 hours ago, Reorte said:

That one had passed me by. Another reason to be extremely depressed about the suspicious, untrusting, disrespectful, intrusive excuse of a world we now live in. God I hate it, it's all so dehumanising. No doubt the usual suspects will turn up shortly to berate me for not finding everything we do being monitored a wonderful prospect.

 

Hoping that in a few years conversions of ordinary, bog-standard current or slightly older cars (let's say 15-20 years old) to electric will be practical and affordable. Without the past rust problems that should give a platform that should last indefinitely, without all the modern "features" I'd much rather do without.

So, if you are involved in an accident then you dont want investigators to be able to find out exactly what happened?

Driving is a licenced activity not a right and it carries the potential to cause death or serious injury.  If someone is driving like a we have the right to know so appropriate action can be taken.

9 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

No comment necessary.

Is there something about 4x4 drivers..........

2 hours ago, Flying Pig said:

 

Two years, suspended, and a two year disqualification, amongst other stocking fillers, apparently.  I like the requirement to complete an "accredited thinking skills programme" within 20 days.

 

https://www.thamesvalley.police.uk/news/thames-valley/news/2024/april/15-04-2024/man-sentenced-for-dangerous-driving-and-child-neglect--m40/

 

I suggest a proper psychiatric examination might be in order, I suspect that his capacity to think may be seriously impaired

A candidate for a Hospital Order surely

4 hours ago, big jim said:

we had that about 15 years back, a crash for cash scam, they tried to claim for a bad neck and back but unfortunately for the other person they didn’t bank on me finding a photo of them an owners club website doing a cartwheel and running up a mountainside 2 days after the crash! 
 

he’d claimed he’d been to his GP who said he had whiplash etc but on the same forum had said the week previous that he didn’t have a GP since moving house some 3 years previous! 
 

I sent the pics and a screenshot of the GP thread to my insurance company who forwarded them to their solicitor and surprise surprise I didn’t hear a thing back

 

after they got convinced of dangerous driving in the crown court and ended up having the book thrown at them I went through aslef and sued them back, it hadn’t crossed my mind at the time but as he tried it on with me I thought I’d do it back to him especially as he put my then 5 yr old kid and 9 month pregnant wife in hospital, we all got compensation from his insurance, the joys of being in a good union! 
 

 

 

Do ASLEF provide Hitmen?

5 hours ago, pH said:

45519 and 60110 are both supposed to have had their nameplates removed at times by shedmasters who disapproved.

Wasn't there a row when 60110 was used to haul a special for the WI?

Naming a modern train Lady Godiva with matching vinyl's anyone?

I'd be doing a Monsieur Alphonse (Undertaker from Allo Allo,)clutching my heart and keeling over

42 minutes ago, 97406 said:

 

Not all do. Edward Colston for instance.  https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-67370120

The position around Colston is complex but there was basically a Victorian 'Cult' built up around him partly I suggest with a view to keeping the lower orders quiet

36 minutes ago, Reorte said:

I'm guessing that the bypass wasn't built for horses and carts!

No, for practitioners of the solitary vice

I would have thought that Clive of India was far worse

I live in Frome and we have had two fatal accidents on the bypass, both caused by men over 40, and high on drugs, so don't blame the youngsters for everyone.

What we do have though is increasingly powerful vehicles that are not a good fit for the current road system that was built for horses and carts coupled with cheap technology that allows them to be reigned in to some extent.

What I do think though is that we need to ask some serious questions about the sort of vehicles we allow on our roads in terms of speed, acceleration & size. 

Firstly I suggest that the biggest issue isnt testing its enforcement and the knowlege that if you drive like a than you will find yourself waiting at the bus stop.

I would also suggest that there should be a restriction on the maximum weight and power that you are allowed to drive as a 'new' driver.  I would also suggest a similar restriction for anyone with more than say 6 points on their licence.

So its an Izetta for you Wayne until you have had a clean licence for two years....... 

13 minutes ago, Hroth said:

 

"Brass Finishing Shop, Cammel Lairds"

 

Southampton, Isle of Wight and South of England Royal Mail Steam Packet Company?