Dave Hunt

Happy birthday and happy twanging to Andy. How about putting some of your stuff on YouTube? A worthy successor to Jet Harris?

Dave

And many references to brown trousers!

Dave

In 1971 the brake master cylinder on my Cortina split whilst we were descending the Italian side of the Grossglockner pass. After negotiating a couple of hairpin bends at an inexorably increasing speed, during which the vertical descent on the right-hand side became more and more eye watering,  I saw a large pile of grit by the side of the road waiting for winter use (this was in June) and drove into it. After waiting for my heart rate to get below about 200 bpm I got down the rest of the pass in first gear and the handbrake, stopping every few yards, until we came to a little village with a garage consisting of a hand petrol pump and a wooden shack. I indicated the problem to the owner, who nodded knowingly then rummaged around in an old tea chest and to my utter amazement came up with a Ford master cylinder that fitted. Between us we fixed the car and Jill and I continued on our way to the Veneto.

Exciting would be one way of putting it.

Dave

Dating double frame goods engines by their 'Deeleyfication' is a tricky business. An order was issued on 14th November 1905 to fit all A, A1, B, C, C1, D, E, F and P boiler engines requiring new smokeboxes with Deeley's first style of dished smokebox door. Like all Deeley doors it had strap hinges and was closed by dogs around the periphery but, unlike later dished doors, featured a narrow seating ring with the dogs attached partly to the ring and partly to the smokebox front plate. The front handrail was curved over the door and there was a small grab handle on the right-hand side. It was soon superseded by the flat type of Deeley door with the same seating ring and handrail arrangement and it would seem that within only a few years all the Johnson doors had been replaced. Problems were encountered with leakage from these doors and in 1910 a new dished type appeared with a wider seating ring, straight handrail and no grab handle. The dogs were mounted wholly on the seating ring. Although the flat doors disappeared after a while, narrow seating rings were retained by many engines with the later dished doors. Replacement smokeboxes from this time had snap-headed rivets used in their construction rather than countersunk ones. Deeley’s chimneys were parallel and had capuchons, or ‘wind guards’ as the Midland Railway referred to them and even before they received Deeley smokebox doors, some locomotives were fitted with them.

Hope this is useful.

Dave

I never knew that winter tyres were a legal requirement in Germany. I lived there from 1970 to 1974 and 1977 to 1980 so maybe the legislation was introduced after that?

Dave 

I don't think I've ever changed tyres over from summer to winter etc. and I've owned cars since 1966. Even when we lived in Germany and experienced some fairly severe winters I just had the same set of tyres on all year round. Mind you, I never tried to drive over the Alps or anything like that in winter either.

Dave 

This is the second time tonight that I've tried to post on RMW but when I pressed 'submit reply' what I had typed disappeared without trace. Very annoying.

The last (and only second ever I think) time I was induced to try what McDonalds sell as food was a few years ago in Sydney. We were nearly due for an appointment and didn't have time to eat properly so as we were passing a McDs Jill suggested getting something from their 'premium' range - I think it was called a 'steakburger' or similar. I replied that I wasn't keen on greasy cardboard but Jill said, "They might be better in Australia," so we went in. She was wrong.

I remember a Wimp(e)y bar in Liverpool opposite Central Station when I was a teenager. Along with the Kardomah coffee house in Bold Street it was a favourite spot for many of our ilk. I think that we were easily pleased.

I seem to recall that Wendy's was a cut above McD's. There used to be one in Leicester Square I think. When I lived in San Diego we used to go to the Charburger on Orange Avenue in Coronado quite often and their burgers were good. The last time I was there about ten years ago it had gone though.

G'night all.

Dave 

I'm not a happy bunny as a post I just finished typing has mysteriously vanished into the ether when I pressed submit reply. If anyone finds it, please send it home.

Anyway, what I tried to post included the information that I've been talking to a friend who also flies model aircraft and when I mentioned LiPo battery fires he said that problems have arisen when people have cut the connectors off when rewiring battery packs. Apparently when cutting through the wires the knife blade, scissors, whatever, has touched both positive and negative and although only momentary that has been enough to cause the battery to catch fire.

I think I'll stick with clockwork!

Dave

It was the 787 'Dreamliner' that had the problem with Lithium batteries and for a while the whole fleet was grounded  - about six or seven years ago IIRC. I can't recall exactly what had caused the problem but in the depths of my forgettory I think it was a manufacturing defect.

Dave

A few years ago I was at a model aircraft meeting when a large LiPo battery that was on charge exploded in flames (I think because it was being charged at too high a rate although I'm not certain about that) and it was quite spectacular. It was a good job that it wasn't indoors or in the back of a car as I've often seen it being done.

Dave

8 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

Wot, no cake??

Ah, forgot to mention the choccie cake. Sorry to upset the ursine sensibilities.

Dave

Once, on a detachment in Norway, I got trashed on potato moonshine and have never had a hangover like it before or since. I don't think that the headache was helped by the fact that the party had featured an inter-squadron marksmanship competition with 9mm handguns (which was, on reflection, in the raving dangerous category) but nobody had thought to bring ear defenders. I think that the term young and stupid could be applied.

Dave

Chaired the Midland Railway Society AGM on Zoom today. Quite a good attendance with some notable absentees including a certain ex-gendarme now resident in France.

Off to Ludlow tomorrow to see Dad then I may have a celebratory dram or two to mark another notch in the tree of life.

Glad to see that Douglas is making progress even if the odd fire breaks out. Just make sure the syringe isn't filled with meths by mistake when putting it out. 

G'night all.

Dave

When I was first posted to Germany in 1970 there was still a lot of damage apparent in Monchengladbach, two large car parks being simply levelled bomb sites. Flying at low level in Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium etc. there are a lot of bomb craters that can still be seen and even the WW1 trench systems in Belgium and France are visible.

Dave

If you need somewhere to store your models during the house moving saga, Mike, I'm sure I could oblige. 

Dave

Liverpool handled 90% of the war materiel entering Britain as well as the headquarters for operations during the battle of the Atlantic being there and as a result was the most heavily bombed city outside London. The raids that took place in April 1941 were described by the Luftwaffe as the heaviest ever carried out against Britain. The empty shell of St. Luke's church that was destroyed by incendiary bombs is still standing as a reminder of those days and is a well-known landmark to Liverpudlians. When I was a kid it seemed that almost every street had a bomb site, which, of course, were playgrounds for us.

Dave

3 hours ago, Florence Locomotive Works said:

He was a senior turbine engineer at Clarence Dock Power station in Liverpool, which provides power for the docks and parts of the city, so was considered to valuable, probably saving his and my lives. 

Even that wasn't the safest place to be as the area was pasted by the Luftwaffe during the Liverpool blitz. It wasn't reported very much at the time as the government didn't want the Germans to know just how much damage they were doing to the Country's main supply line.

Dave

The Guys on Oberon pulled a great stunt when they were tied up at HMS Terror in Singapore. They threw a cocktail psrty and invited about four bus loads of guests and when everyone had arrived and were standing on the quayside they invited the, by now bemused. attendees below. It was fairly obvious to everyone that the number of guests couldn't possibly fit into an O Class boat but somehow the line was slowly disappearing down the forward hatch. What no-one had noticed was the line ascending out of the rear hatch behind a canvas screen and making its way to the large building where the party was actually taking place. My Squadron sent them a thank you card with a picture of a bulging sardine tin labelled 'Oberon'. 

RN 1, Other Services 0 

3 hours ago, polybear said:

 

Bear suspects DH's main interest was focused on whether or not the bl00dy thing would come back up again....

The first time we sank submerged I was riveted by the creaking, pinging and other assorted noises that accompanied the increase in the readings of the depth gauge. When we surfaced some time later and I followed the Captain up into the conning tower I was never so happy to see daylight. The next time we sank went down submerged I was ready for the noises offstage but I can't honestly say I got used to it. A few days later I took the No. 1 for a trip in a two seat Hunter and after we landed he said, "I don't know how you do that every day." Horses for courses I guess.

Dave

When I was in Singapore in the late '60s I went for a two day sail (sink?) on HMS Oberon, which I think was almost the last of the old WW2 submarines in the RN. Talk about cramped!! At the time I was a youngster flying Hunters out of RAF Tengah so the Captain and First Lieutenant reasonably assumed that I would be mainly interested in such things as the weapons system, tactical displays etc. and went to great pains to show and explain them to me. They were a bit bemused when I evinced more interest in the engine room and spent as much time as I could talking to the Chief Engineer and his team .

Dave

Thanks for the various tips on book buying chaps. I'll try to utilise them.

Extremely well done Douglas. I can see that you are going to be a model engineer of some renown and soon you'll be giving some of us old fogeys a few tips. Just avoid the subjects of cake, whisky and muddy hollows as we already have the world's leading experts here.

Dad is now in a community hospital in Ludlow, which is sixty miles away but at least he is allowed one visitor on a booking system so I'm going to see him on Sunday at two o'clock. Sunday also happens to see the completion of my 74th circuit of the solar system so activities such as sinking libations of happy water will have to wait until I get home.

Prior to that I will be chairing the Midland Railway Society AGM tomorrow on Zoom so I may see a few RMWebbers then.

Have a good POETS day all.

Dave

Prompted by the earlier comments re O Winston Link's books on the Norfolk & Western and it being my birthday on Sunday, I had a look online for some of the less common ones but gave the idea up when prices like £179 were involved.

Dave