MarkC

Nah - that's left to Greeks and Italians...

It's reported that the efforts to secure the casualty have failed, and it's now sunk, after wires intended to hold it in position parted. The bill just got higher...

It's pretty clear that Bandicoot (as Max has been christened elsewhere) doesn't like it when he is on the receiving end of someone else's stupidity...

Cr@pita...sums up all that is wrong...

Call me cynical, but how are we going to be able to check, short of manually monitoring the meter 24/7, once we are forced onto variable peak/off peak tariffs (and it will happen), that the charging is actually correct? Seems like a splendid way to rip us off even more, tbh

Very true - that's indeed basically what the GWS did for their County cut'n'shut, with the firebox of 48518...

Oh, yes - I remember them now. I used to be a regular at A&E, Dryburn, when #2 son was a footballing teenager. A very brave goalkeeper - he was forever getting clobbered by opponents who didn't know when to back off...we were just about on first name terms with the staff on a Sunday at one point...

Wasn't there a bit of a ruckus a few years ago where that was actually happening at one or two A&E departments? That and Compo-seeking Lawyers' flyers left scattered about...

To me, for what it's worth, the GEM Compound, and also the GEM 700/999 models, look absolutely fine as long as you don't put them next to, say, an Alan Gibson version, especially if you have some decent wheels on them. They were certainly 'of their time', but can still hold their own against many other kits. They're pretty good haulage-wise too - no surprise, really, given their weight...

In that case, his penalty is harsh, imo

Nothing unusual with the tanker's departure. I also see the usual Escort tug with her - normal Norwegian policy; I believe after the notorious LPG/C "Cavendish"* had a bit of a contretemps with a house on the shoreline after she lost power whilst passing Brevik on the way into Rafnes/Heroya in the 80s and ran her bow into the house... *Cavendish had a bit of a reputation; amongst other adventures, she sunk the Sunk light vessel in the Thames estuary too...

Oh, the Noggin frigate business gets better and better. I'm now told that the initial (big) hole was above the waterline. (Probably the tanker's anchor opened up the frigate's side like a tin can). 4 tugs immediately went to help. 3 were performing well; the 4th one decided to pull at a different angle and dragged the frigate towards a rocky outcrop. She touched the rocks, heeled over, put the bottom of the gash below the water surface and promptly started flooding. Oops...

Totally agree with this - it boils my p***

An Eitzen chemical tanker sank a French fishing boat in the Channel about 12 years ago. First they knew about it was when a group of French gendarmes boarded the ship in the next port - unluckily for the Master, in France - and hauled him and the Officer of the Watch off to jail, wearing government jewellery. They didn't know why, until they saw the traces of blue paint on the bow as they were dragged down the jetty...

And don't forget the 'dress code' for those out <ahem> 'socialising' of a night. Rule of thumb for females, the colder the weather, the skimpier (or more 'under load' ) the clothing...

A brief update from the Pilot taking my ship into Rafnes, Norway - the Sola TS had just departed the Sture oil terminal and was heading north through the fjiords before turning west through the deep water channel and heading out into the North Sea. The frigate commander is looking at the euphemistic meeting sans coffee, biscuits and aquavit...

Likewise I doubt the Sola TS even felt a bump - she's a big beastie... https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/details/ships/shipid:4889976/mmsi:248020000/vessel:SOLA%20TS/_:ca51e4ffe468171b0c591790c5424918

You, sir, are a cunning linguist! Was Bob Gemmell still the Chief by then, or had he retired? I visited the Tor Bay once, back in 1983. Nice ship.

As I understand it, the WSR has decided to extend its normal winter closed period for a few extra weeks, in order to rectify some items picked up by the ORR, who were invited to attend. The ORR didn't suspend the WSR's Operating Licence, so haven't closed the WSR down. The extended closure does mean that the March Gala won't now happen, but apparently that one isn't always a guaranteed money-spinner anyway, so doubtless this has also been considered by the Railway when making their decision.

Interesting thought. I picked up a K4 kit from Dave Alexander* earlier this year, so I don't need one, but will be interested to follow this. *Dave is reported to be retiring very soon, so if you want any of his goodies, you need to buy them asap

I'm hearing that the frigate was initially deliberately grounded after the collision, in order to save her, but some enterprising tug skipper decided to tow her off, making things worse. If true, then somebody is probably in the brown and smelly...

Not any more, Alan The old Up line was the only one still in situ south of Whitwell for many years, but all remaining track was lifted in 2012. Some was intended for the Borders line, some was offered to local preservationists, but the rest was simply recovered for recycling. One of the reasons it was lifted was that a fair bit had already been stolen by 'metal fairies', but in truth, although the formation is officially protected, all the track would have to be lifted anyway for remedial work to be carried out on the formation, which has suffered badly in some areas from subsidence and the actions of burrowing animals. The section between the A1(M) bridge and Shincliffe is bad - an area where there was originally a trestle bridge, I believe, which was simply filled in to make an embankment - and in the area of Broomside Junction there is a lot of subsidence too. There's the odd signal post still extant, and a few telegraph poles, but that's about it these days. There's still a stub from Tursdale Junction to just by the old NCD workshops, but that's really where the recovery trains were being loaded at the south end, back in 2012. The points at Tursdale are clipped out of use now. You can see a small amount of track at the north end from Pelaw heading towards Follingsby, but that doesn't go far either. I was at Penshaw in late September; the old junction is a wasteland now. All along the route, trees and bushes are rapidly reclaiming the formation too, even though much of the ballast still remains.

My apologies - I should have been more specific in what I was alluding to. In 2016 there were several occasions where Lewis failed to start to move off the line as quickly as the other cars around him appeared to do. This was commented on by many people at the time. Driver error or something else?

Has it occurred to anyone else that both last season and this, Lewis has had no issues getting away cleanly and promptly at the start, whereas in 2016...

Exactly. It's along the lines of "If you want to finish first, first you have to finish" Points on the board count; points you failed to pick up are gone forever.