Dave Hunt

From the reading I have done on the histories of various companies I get the impression that there was a fair degree of inter-company loyalties and 'mates rates' involved but how such things were arranged and charged I don't know. Dave

I think that a better approach would be to allow the scrotes to absent themselves from sentencing but add 25% on to their sentence. If they attended but disrupted proceedings, also add 25%. Dave

Baz, you and Mrs. Baz are in my thoughts and prayers. Dave

The thing I had this evening was a McCrispy de luxe something that was supposed to have chicken, bacon and salad in it but just tasted like soggy cardboard flavoured with spicy sauce of some sort. The cappuccino was OK though. I now have a craving for food. Dave

Since we have a different lot of terrorists grandchildren staying this week, we repeated the programme of three weeks ago with a day out at Jodrell Bank followed by evening eats at Mc Ducks. The first wasn't bad as we saw a different film (history of the universe in 30 minutes) and the weather was fine so we were able to walk round the big telescope but despite trying a different meal at the latter I still haven't found anything of culinary attraction. Dave

I’ll be at Guildex on Saturday too Mike. See you there. Dave

I mentioned sheds once but I think I got away with it...... 😉 Dave

My No.1 son has just left his job with a software company developing and installing healthcare systems, mainly for the NHS. He was totally fed up with the frustrations of dealing with both high level administrators and consultants and having constantly to change previously agreed contracts because someone (and often just one person) had changed their minds. Hence, when he was contacted a few weeks ago by an ex-colleague asking if he would be interested in a job in a totally different sector at 5K more, better holidays and a good home/office work balance he jumped at it. I don't think I've ever seen him quite so upbeat in a long time. When I told him this evening about my experience this morning he was completely unsurprised. Dave

Thoughts and commiserations to Weeny Works. I lost my paternal grandparents before I was three so only really remember those on my Mum's side but I thought the world of them and loved going to stay with them as a kid. When they went I was in my twenties but I can still remember the sense of loss. Dave

Had a consultation this morning at my local GP practice with a practitioner from the area musculoskeletal assessment team to consider my spinal problem. I did wonder why I was having this as I have already had an MRI scan and have an appointment on October 5th to see the consultant of my choice at the hospital of my choice - the orthopaedic hospital at Gobowen - and my puzzlement increased when I realised that she was unaware of either the MRI scan or the appointment. The fact that she is based at the very Gobowen hospital that is dealing with me made it even more strange. When during our conversation it transpired that her department, being an area one, has just had a new IT system installed that is not the same as the one at the hospital I began to realise why things were somewhat illogical. It turns out that information about patients is not automatically transferred from the hospital to her department or vice versa but has to be manually requested and sent so the only positive result of this morning's session was that she now knows the date of my appointment with the consultant and will therefore request a copy of his findings at the due time. I wonder how much that has cost the NHS and how much confusion and difficulty it will lead to until someone gets round to fixing it? Dave

So now I not only have to try to up my game with wagons but with buildings as well! Dave

In correspondence I had with Roscoe Turner in the late ‘70s, he stated that the cranes were still crimson lake at the grouping. He actually called it ‘locomotive red’. There is also photographic evidence that at least two of the cranes were lined out, which would only have been done if they were crimson lake, and the match wagons were the same colour. Although I can’t now recall where, I have also seen it stated that the famous Hellifield snow ploughs were crimson lake. Whether locomotive department vehicles were always crimson lake or some that were repainted at times such as when the simplified ‘locomotives brown’ was used could have been in a different colour is, of course, debatable and after goods engines were painted black after 1910…..? Although it must be borne in mind that at least the cranes were still crimson lake in 1923. As to the ED wagons, I have to confess that I have up to now that thought of them simply as being red oxide after 1900 and am willing to consider whatever evidence can be unearthed as to what the colour actually was. Dave

Sorry Stephen, you are quite right. I have confused red oxide and red lead. Oxide of iron was the undercoat for locomotives etc. whereas, as you say, red lead was quite likely the paint used on ED wagons unless they made use of the amount of oxide of iron that the locomotive department used. Dave

It certainly cost Pete Waterman a fortune. Dave

🤣 Dave

The red of MR locomotives was actually lake (AKA crimson lake) over an oxide of iron undercoat followed by several coats of varnish. David Tee was of the opinion (which is shared by Crimson Rambler and myself) that the much debated 'Locomotive Brown' was simply the oxide of iron with varnish, omitting the lake coating. Since the locomotive brown is sometimes described as brick red as well as purple brown this seems likely as oxide of iron is not the same as red oxide but is a darker colour. Hence the colour of ED wagons, if they were red oxide rather than oxide of iron, would have been a lighter, more 'reddish' hue but if large amounts of oxide of iron paint were available it may have been used and the description in Midland Style giving it as red oxide could be incorrect. I suppose that the bottom line is that there could be some justification for either red oxide or oxide of iron on ED wagons. It is my belief that the Midland's 15 ton steam cranes and other breakdown train vehicles were painted as the locomotives, which, at the time the cranes were delivered, were being painted with oxide of iron undercoat, lake top coats and varnish. Dave

I don't know what is going on but when I logged in to RMW and clicked on 'content I posted in', ERs didn't appear; nor did it appear when I clicked on 'view new content'. It wasn't until I started a search that I came across ERs. Have I offended someone? Dave

True story: I was once in a bar where there were an Englishman (me) an Irishman, a Scotsman and a Welshman. The Welshman, being the first to cotton on to the possibilities, said, "Bl00dy 'ell, you lot are a joke." Dave

I once heard a similar joke that ended, "Welcome to Jamaica, have a nice day." Dave

I’ll have to live to 98 to receive my pension for longer than I paid into it. By paid into it I mean that when assessing armed forces pay the review body knocks off 11% as an effective pension contribution. Dave

"There's a great nursing joke about Llandudno which is entirely unsuitable for this forum." No it's not.....go on, tell it. Dave

Didn't work for me on my laptop or phone. Dave

I've got a milling attachment for my little Unimat 3; one thing I use it for is fluting and relieving mild steel coupling and connecting rods for my S7 locomotives using Woodruff cutters. It's a long winded job as I can only take a 0.1 mm cut at a time at the most. Dave

An ex-schoolmate of mine applied for a job with the F.O. and when he went for interview was given something like fifteen or thirty minutes to prepare a talk to the interview panel on the effect of sugar on British foreign policy. He didn't get the job. Dave

Or this. Dave