MarkC

Funnily enough, from January 2002 to May 2009 (when we all were made redundant after our parent company was blacklisted by an oil major - 150 ships - because of the antics of a few of our Eastern European colleagues just before Christmas 2008, and let's just leave it at that), I was actually the senior Chief Engineer in our organisation, operating the Gas fleet, so was the Commodore C/E, although no braid or, more importantly, no bigger salary, came with it. Interestingly, on more than one occasion we found that the Seniors in many ranks and ratings ended up on the same ship, usually ones we were taking over... The blacklisting was in place until there was a change in Technical and Crewing Management, per this Oil Major, so everything was transferred to a huge ship management company, who refused to take on we Western Europeans, some 40 of us, on our same Terms and Conditions, hence our all being <ahem> 'let go'.

Not quite, with the braid. Certain companies, BP included, were entitled to wear the "Executive Curl", as the loop on it is known, as a consequence, I believe, of war service losses.Clan Line was another, and this transferred to British and Commonwealth when Clan Line and Union Castle, amongst others, merged in 1955. However, our braid was only 3/8" wide, as opposed to the RN braid, which is 1/2" wide. From a distance it looks very similar, which could be of use at some times when down in the Falklands, especially when I put my second stripe up on promotion to Third Engineer... The RFA's braid is different again - they have the MN diamond, but used in the same way as the RN curl - in other words, above the gold rings. The normal MN braid has the diamond inside the rings. Complicated? Not to us salty types!! My dress uniform only comes out for matches, hatches and dispatches these days; in my present Company we do tend to only wear uniform in port. Normally polo shirts with the Company logo, but in certain ports we do go for white shirt and braid... Lonely at sea? It's what you make of it, especially with mixed crews. Having t'interweb on board has made a difference though; sometimes you only see folk during working hours and at mealtimes. Dry ships has also changed social patterns, but in my Company we try to have a Sunday lunchtime social gathering with nibbles, but alcohol-free beer doesn't work quite the same as a couple of real coldies...

Oops https://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/pa/article-6299947/Ferry-collides-two-yachts-Isle-Wight-dense-fog.html And the aftermath https://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/pa/article-6303143/Isle-Wight-ferry-captain-mate-suspended-ship-hits-yachts.html I'm surprised that nobody else has picked up on this.

I visited the Bransfield back in 1983, when she came alongside my ship, "Scottish Eagle", in the Falklands. She wanted to fill up with Gas Oil. Took the opportunity to visit the Engine Room. Very nice. I know the JCR too - a very good friend of mine has been the Deck Engineer on her for a very long time now. Another lovely ship, whose time is almost up, when the new ship comes on line. I wonder if Gard Line will buy the JCR?

Hi Arthur. I'm looking forward to the J25 being ready Mark

Gorgeous - and the trailer looks stunning too. *drools at prospect of that paired with the G5 in full NER green livery...*

Chapeau, ladies and gentlemen. Chapeau. Congratulations.

Hello Brian Yes, it was whitemetal.Not too many individual parts, iirc, and the inevitable solid whitemetal block chassis. We have, in the main, moved on from there... I too remember my first brass kits, for me that was back in the mid-70s - MPD 1F tank and 3F tender locomotives. Really nice to build. The 3F was actually a bit of a composite - there were some large whitemetal castings too. Also plastic axleboxes for the tender, if memory serves? Happy days! Mark

I feel better for that, Tony! Seriously, though, I do find it fascinating when little gems like this turn up. I wonder what other kits were produced by Acro? Does anyone know? I've had the odd little-known (to me, anyway) kit pass through my hands; a Magna Models MR 3F springs to mind. I think I sold it on still unbuilt, though, as it didn't fit the period I was modelling. That must be over 10 years ago, if memory serves. Mark

Shades of Jameson kits (or rather, 'scratch-aids') there, Tony! What a wonderful piece of modelling history that is - I wasn't aware of that kit maker until now. Mark

That sheila ROCKS! Definitely a chip off the old block

A pivotal person?

I flew to MPA in an RAF Tristar in early 1986. Forewarned being forearmed, I was off early when we landed at Ascension to refuel, in order to get a couple of beers before we continued our flight south

An old colleague of mine does some relieving work on the Ben, having been made to retire, due to age, from my outfit. As he says, it keeps him in drinking vouchers!

I remember a Barbados - Port of Spain flight in a BWIA Tristar that was, shall we say, 'experienced'. It shook, rattled and rolled its way into the air, creaked and groaned all the way to PoS, then on touchdown had pretty much all its cabin baggage lockers fly open too. What an old banger it was...

I joined her in Hamburg, where she was being restored to a mix of 20' and 40' container guides prior to going back onto the South Africa/Europe run, having been on charter to Zim Line for 2 years, trading from the Eastern Med to/from the Far East via East Coast Canada & USA, Panama Canal and West Coast USA, carrying only 40' boxes. She was called "Barcelona" during this period. She reverted to her original name of Table Bay during the refit period.

Ooh, that brings back memories of the 'box girder' on the Table Bay - and from memory she was only just over 200 metres in length...

Slight twisting of large structures under load is actually a good thing, and is allowed for by the designers. You can see this on aircraft wings as the ovvious connection. Tall buildings also deflect slightly in strong winds; I have stood at the top of Sydney Tower, watching instruments showing wind speed and deflection from the vertical... Then of course my own industry - stand on the deck of a large ship whilst in a seaway and you can see the ship bending and twisting slightly. Actually, the most obvious example of this phenomenon that I have seen was on a 131m long Ethylene carrier that was constructed from High Tensile Steel. When pushing into big seas, if you hit a wave too hard, from aft you could see (and feel) the bow vibrating as the impact forces were dissipated.

I flew to Hong Kong with BA a couple of years ago, on my way to Kaohsiung to join my ship. Aircraft was an A380. I had secured my aisle seat (my preference on long haul flights these days) in top deck cattle class, so was reasonably happy. On getting to the boarding gate, I was told I had been moved. Dark thoughts of being stuck in a middle seat crossed my mind at this point. However, I had been moved to Cattle Class Plus. Hmm. Still quite restricted, but at one point I glanced into where I was originally going to be seated, and I was seriously not impressed. 12 hours there would have been awful, imo.Talk about squeezing as many seats as possible in... *shudders*

Hats off to you all. Marvellous work. Pickering would be appropriate for the railcar, I think? Old stamping ground?

Big boys' toys!