Dave Hunt

Douglas, you have no idea how encouraging it is to read what you have just posted. Thank you.

Dave

7 minutes ago, J. S. Bach said:

That reminds me of when I was stationed at the NAD Souda Bay, Crete in the ground support shop...

When were you at Souda Bay, Dave? I passed through there several times in the '70s and '80s flying F4s.

Dave

1 hour ago, simontaylor484 said:

Castings 

 

Its all in the pour allegedly 

 

It used to fascinate me (and still does) how the molten iron just flows through the mould and settles.

 

 

I used to love watching the processes in the foundry 

In the mid 1990s I talked to a chap at the California State Railroad Museum who had worked at ALCO and who had seen the cast- steel beds for some of the Big Boys being poured. Apparently it took days to set up and involved a large team of very skilled men under the direction of one of the most senior foundry supervisors. The chap I was talking to said that nowadays it wouldn't be possible to do it as the necessary expertise simply doesn't exist.

When I was on my first Squadron in Singapore in 1968 there was a rather amusing incident when a spare part for one of our Hunters wasn't locally available and had to be ordered from UK on the 'Early Bird' priority system. I don't recall exactly what the part was except that it was something fairly small so the engineers were somewhat surprised to receive a signal saying that it was being despatched by a special flight. A couple of days later a Belfast arrived and a very large crate was unloaded, which was found to contain............. a Canberra tailplane. The stock number on the order had been a tad inaccurate but no-one had apparently realised that a Hunter Squadron requesting a large bit of Canberra was, shall we say, unusual.

Fortunately there was a Canberra Squadron about two hundred yards away that took the tailplane off our hands and the part we needed arrived on a scheduled VC10 flight a day or so later.

Dave

Gorgeous bits of the model maker's art aren't they?

Dave

And the really sad thing is that while prices are spiralling in China etc. we in the western world are losing (have lost?) the skills and wherewithal to be able to resurrect the manufacturing and repair facilities we used to possess. I guess that this is all down to the bean counters who have concentrated purely on today's balance sheet/profit with wilful disregard for the future. As my Grandad used to say, "Think what you're doing if it's just for today; it can bite you on the bum tomorrow if you aren't careful."

Dave

Returning to the theme of my old Fords when in Singapore in the late 60s, they were kept going by a gent called Mr. Hong, who had a garage just outside the airfield. Hong and his lads could perform minor miracles with cars and I had cause to thank him on more than one occasion. For instance, my Consul developed an alarming stutter and kept cutting out one evening when I was on my way home. I managed to get it as far as Hong's where it was diagnosed with a cracked baseplate for the points and I asked if he had a spare. No, he replied, but one of the lads would fix it; would I like a beer while it was done? The outcome was that while Hong and I sat in the sun and chatted, one of the lads made a new baseplate, fixed all the bits to it and had the car running again in about 45 minutes. The cost was minimal. Oh that such service could be available here today.

Dave

22 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

Probably former taxi's.

The taxis were nearly all Mercedes; it was only us underpaid servicemen who ran the rust bucket Fords.

Dave

Dave Harris is an amazing bloke. He is Secretary of both the Executive Committee and the Collections Committee of the Midland Railway Society as well as being the Co-ordinator of the Midland Railway Study Centre in the Derby Museum of Making in the Silk Mill. He fields a great number of enquiries that the Study Centre receives and the amount of work he does for the MRS is colossal. It is no exaggeration to say that he is the main reason that both the Society and the Study Centre run as well as they do.

He's also a really nice bloke.

Dave

6 hours ago, Northmoor said:

7 or 8 miles - Pah!

One day many years ago I was driving into Dunfermline.  On a not especially large roundabout, it was dry on the way in, on the exit the whole road was wet with standing water deep enough to give the steering a slight "kick".  It had actually rained heavily in one location and not at all probably less than 100 feet away.

Something like that cost me the first car I bought when I was posted to Singapore in 1968. It was a Mk 2 Consul and after paying for it I drove off in bright sunshine on a dry road but on rounding a bend about 200 yards away the road was flooded and I aquaplaned into the monsoon drain at the side, ending upside down but in one piece and fortunately above the water level. The car was a write off and I'd only owned it about two minutes. Unfortunately I hadn't got round to insuring it (not many of us ever did) so when I bought another Mk. 2 Consul the next day I was a bit more careful.

Dave  

PS, the cars were second hand and not in what could be described as in prime condition so the expense wasn't as great as would first appear. 

Mike, what type of suspension will you be using on this wagon?

Dave

8 hours ago, J. S. Bach said:

They are General Motors, around 1968 to 1972 era. I think that the blue one is a Pontiac, possibly a GTO.

I suppose the next question is does that tie in with the type and condition of the locomotive? Over to the experts in that field.

I saw Dad yesterday at Whitchurch and although he still can't stand unaided he seemed better than before. The scans he had ruled out blood clots as a cause of his pain when trying to stand but the medics haven't come up with any further ideas as yet. The next time he will see a doctor is on Tuesday morning so I've booked a visit for later in the day and hope to be able to discuss his case with someone.

The nurse who looked after him before the ambulance arrived at the Oswestry vaccine centre when he had the fall has sent him a get well card with the message that as soon as he is able she will personally organise a second injection for him and look after him when he attends. Aren't some people lovely?

Enjoy Sunday folks.

Dave

52 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

It wasn't us, we weren't there and we nothing about it....

Heard that one before - "Some big bears did it and ran away - honest."

Hearty congratulations and many thanks to Bill for what he has been doing for the benefit of all of us. I'll buy you a beer (or several) when next we meet ( I would offer cake and whisky but you know the sort that attracts....)

Dave

10 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

I've no idea what happened here.

Perhaps Bear and/or HH heard that there was cake in the consist?

Dave

I'm with Jamie in the PSOG* camp, although in my case the decision to eschew DCC arose chiefly because I had all the DC equipment I needed from many years ago and being naturally lazy and tight fisted I couldn't face the idea of shelling out something like the best part of £750 as well as going through all the faff of chipping my locomotives. The downside was the hours I spent under the baseboards installing in the region of 200 yards of wire and 36 isolating switches. At least I didn't have to mess about trying to find space for the chips in the locomotives and fiddle about programming them all. Mind you, I do have the scars on my head as witness to the perils over under-baseboard activity when there isn't a lot in the way of natural head covering.

Dave

*Potentially Smug Old Gits

Does that indicate that you are either someone with dodgy morals or someone deserving of punishment? I know you were in the Army and you follow the GWR, Richard, but I didn't think you were that bad......

Dave

So Salop might have been derived from salopberia, which based on previous posts could mean somewhere full of people with dodgy morals where you could be sent as a punishment? Sounds about right.

G'night all.

Dave

I'm told that Salop is derived from an old French term 'salopberia' but don't know what that meant. Can Jamie shed light on that? Or is it not acceptable in a family show like this?

Dave

I heard earlier that with luck Dad will be transferred to Whitchurch tomorrow, which I hope will get his recovery going a bit quicker. To celebrate I spent some time in the workshop, having built up some brownie points by joining in this morning's housework frenzy.

Dave

An 'informed guess' (!?) would suggest that the changeover was quite rapid and by 1910 all had Deeley doors.

Dave