admiles

On 03/05/2024 at 13:06, WIMorrison said:

Change CV29 by reading the value and if it is even add one to the value, if it is odd then subtract one.

Didn't make a difference but thanks for the suggestion.

On 04/05/2024 at 23:29, Bon Accord said:

A few pictures of BEACHY HEAD when I was in her in 2007.

At that time she was on charter to Transfennica, however the charter had the provision that she was available to the MOD at 21 days notice should she be required.

This was the original intent of these ships; that when not required for use by MOD they would be chartered out commercially to earn their keep, but still be available at short notice should the "balloon go up". MOD exercised that option with Beachy Head once and with her other sisters more regularly.

She was therefore a strategic asset and a lesson learned from the Falklands and first Gulf Wars. When on commercial charter she retained her all-British crew, all of whom were also RN reservists as required by their contracts of employment.

All went well until the change of government in 2010, when the incomers decided that having such ships on the books of the MOD was a waste and that any requirements could be fulfilled commercially when required - which of course proved to be short sighted, idiotic, nonsense.

BEACHY HEAD and her sister LONGSTONE were therefore finally sold off in 2014 after a protracted disposal process and the crews made redundant.

The really mad thing was that on their commercial charters they not only covered their operating costs but they actually turned a profit!

Back in 2007 during my time onboard our home port was Lubeck, with the regular run being to/from Hanko in Finland. Other ports visited on regular rotation were Paldiski (Estonia) and Gdynia (Poland).

Cargoes northbound were containers, articulated trailers and brand new high-end German cars, nearly all of which was going into Russia via Finland. The return cargoes were empty containers/artics and rolls of paper. The latter came in 1 tonne rolls and we would usually load 1000-3000 of them for the voyage south, to be used by printers/publishers in mainland Europe.

It was a 30 hour run from Germany to Finland at 21 knots and when alongside we didn't work cargo at nights, therefore we enjoyed regular and lengthy spells in port as it was quite time consuming to load/discharge the paper as it was "break bulk", with the rolls literally being loaded individually.

Lubeck and Hanko are two delightful places, as was Rauma where we occasionally loaded paper.

A very pleasant 3 months or so onboard.

 

Alongside in Lubeck, May 2007 when I was onboard her sister LONGSTONE.

 

Lubeck, 21/07/07.

 

Approaching Hanko, 22/07/07. This is the site of the new accommodation block.

 

Alongside in Hanko, 08/08/07.

 

Alongside in Hanko, 08/08/07

Proof that RoRo vessels can look really rather good!

On 02/05/2024 at 11:40, jjb1970 said:

I know what you're all thinking - oh no, another vehicle carrier, ffs can JJB give us a pic of something other than another vehicle carrier?! No. But trust me, this one is a bit different. The CMA CGM Monaco is a new (delivered by the yard in China this year) LNG fuelled vehicle with a battery hybrid system. And luckily, it was an opportunity to also see one of the new LNG bunker vessels at work. Bunker vessels have an image of being dodgy little oil barges but the LNG vessels are very impressive. The Brassavola is also new, delivered this year by Sembcorp. The ship is owned by MOL which is the main vehicle carrier user of Tanjong Pagar.

 

Interesting (to me at least). I never knew CMA CGM dabbled in the RoRo side of things too.

This week I've been in Southampton dealing with some of the contents of Wallenius Wilhelmsen's vessel "Salome". A little more "Old Skool" than the CMA CGM Monaco...

On 01/05/2024 at 09:53, 30801 said:

 

No you won't. They lock in when in use.

A quick kick will disconnect a locked charging lead as my neighbour discovered recently.

I have a Zimo MX671N 6 pin function only decoder fitted to an N gauge Hobbytrain driving coach to control the head and tail lights.

The problem I have is the lighting operates in the opposite direction to the loco/direction of travel so the driving coach displays red tail lights when going forward and white headlights going backward.

Is there a way (I'm sure they must be) to reverse the direct the lighting works?

Thanks!

18 hours ago, cs233 said:

Is it known if the Regional Railways version will have a centre window on the gangway door? Will it have the original seats or the later taller Chapman versions?

I'd imagine it won't as it's only appropriate to the Regional Railways livery and even then only the early days of RR. Can't see them doing two lots of tooling sadly.  I'd love to be wrong though as it's the only version I can get away with.

21 hours ago, PaulCheffus said:

Hi

 

Not In my experience it doesn’t and the Police don’t seem interested in the data even after a fatal accident.

 

Cheers

 

Paul

The points I refer to aren't those dished out by the police/courts and put onto a driving license. They're the ones the insurance companies "app" will add using data from the black box. Gain too many and your insurance gets revoked.

1 minute ago, 30801 said:

 

I can think of at least one fatal accident where the teenage driver was rushing to get home before the black box night time curfew started. Unintended consequences.

Very true but it's the only way now a lot of young people/new drivers can get insurance.  For my 17 year daughter it was the difference between driving or not.

1 hour ago, stewartingram said:

I do wonder if there is a case for introducing a 2nd driving test, based on what I saw the other day.

At the moment, you get your full license after passing the theory and practical tests (with certain age-related restrictions for age, of younger drivers, which don't relate to me so I haven't followed with interest). You then have to show a P plate from

12 months I believe.

I followed a youngish girl this week, who was showing a P plate. To me she had developed some bad habits. She was driving at around 35mph in the 30 limit, and she turned off to the right into a side road. There was no flasher used until a second after she started turning, no use of brakes either so the brake ights gave no warning. Her speed didn't reduce much, and her right turn  cut off the corner. All relatively small points, but showing bad habits deveoped. Maybe a 2nd practical test before the P plate is removed? Everyone is a novice when they first pass their test, they haven't driven solo before and have to learn more skills pretty quick.

There's no requirement to display a P plate after you pass your test. They're purely optional and have no legal standing.

What helps curb the "enthusiasm" of young drivers is an insurance "black box" which many people choose to have to keep insurance costs down to merely "obscene".  They detect speeding, harsh acceleration and braking etc and deduct points. Lose too many points and to get your insurance cancelled.  

17 hours ago, hayfield said:

 

Not where I live

I presume you live in a more affluent area than I do then. Here EVs are still very much in the minority.

2 hours ago, Reorte said:

True enough,  but when the damage is largely caused by much heavier vehicles the difference between ICE and electric is a drop in the ocean.

Absolutely but the percentage of vehicles that are EV's is still relatively small. As that increases the problem also increases.

1 hour ago, kevinlms said:

The other thing to remember, is that if a particular road has it's speed limit reduced, it's likely that the standard of maintenance will be lower. Of course if people travel at the old speed limit, then it's their own fault, if tyres, wheels or suspension gets damaged, according to the relevant road authority.

I think that depends on the level of pothole you're talking about. Some in the UK now are getting so bad driving through them at any speed will damage cars.  As a motorcyclist too hitting a pothole, even at low speeds,  is like being punched in the chest. Hit one on a corner while leaning over or in the dark where you have very little notice could quite easily be fatal. 

Having cars suffering blown tyres, cracked wheels, damaged suspension etc isn't conducive to safe motoring. There have been lots of cases of this locally in the last few years.

1 hour ago, hayfield said:

 

 

Agree HGV's are normally bulk delivery, more like ban the school run and make the little ones walk with their parents as we used to do 

Banning the school run opens up a whole other can of worms though. Lots of parents have to drive their kids to school (I do).  In my case a 6 year old is too young to go on the bus on their own.

Walking to school "like you used to" only works if your kids are at a local school. Lots of children now aren't due to lack of school places. Lot's also now go to before and after school clubs as both parents have to work to keep a roof over their heads!

1 hour ago, Compound2632 said:

 

Myth. See:

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/mar/25/are-electric-cars-too-heavy-for-british-roads-bridges-and-car-parks#:~:text=Extra weight from electric cars,add to road maintenance costs.

From which I take that the additional wear from heavier private vehicles is small compared to the wear from commercial vehicles such as HGVs and PSVs. 

 

Before condemning EVs, consider the trend towards larger ICE vehicles such as SUVs. 

Ok, remove the HGVs from the roads.....bit of a problem there.  There's no getting away from the fact that EVs are heavier currently (better battery technology one day should change this) than the equivalent ICE powered car. More weight does more damage to the roads. 

22 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

No idea what this is.

 

A dredger according to Marine Traffic.

On 11/04/2024 at 23:35, Bon Accord said:

 

I spy a solitary PONL box amongst all the Maersk examples, nearly 20 years after their demise.

"They" have ruined many a good shipping line sadly as witnessed by the Safmarine and Hamburg Sud boxes also on there. 

On 06/04/2024 at 10:48, Captain Kernow said:

Here's a question for all of you who have cats - do any of your cats eat vegetables?

 

We've discovered that one of ours loves eating cooked courgette (cooled off, of course). He loves eating and we now use this to bulk up his food, as it has next to no calories, thus helping us keep his weight under control. The other one, however, can't stand the stuff...

 

 

Had a female brown tabby (Ki-ke) that would turn down tuna for peas. In fact pretty much anything would be left if peas were available.  Stunning looking girl but I've always thought since brown tabbies aren't wired up quite right!

(My current brown tabby boy Merlin is just as nuts but slightly more conventional in his food likes)

On 03/04/2024 at 09:50, 7mmin7foot said:

 

 

 

I suspect the Cortina driver is feeling a bit "outgunned" surrounded by a GTi, GTE and SRi.....

Incidentally I'm just abusing this. It's also Heljan's factory weathered 26025. Now with a bit less weathering (and slightly less "all or nothing") with a few added details....

Who are "National Rail" the Beeb refer to?  

1 hour ago, Reorte said:

Sounds like the ship got a mayday out and traffic was stopped as a result, so a quick response there probably saved lives.

No, there was still traffic traveling across the bridge plus some maintenance staff/vehicles working on the bridge at the time.  Luckily very little traffic due to the time. Not to make light of it in any way but it could have been much, much worse!

I currently have an interesting mix of Simon George  talking in a Digitrains advert overlaid

across a Bonmarche ad in such a way Simon's bottom half is sporting a pair of turquoise womens knickers.....

I suspect the Bonmarche model looks better in them than Simon does. (and no I have absolutely no wish to be proved wrong!) 🤢

19 minutes ago, jpendle said:

Hi,

 

I have had similar issues with my Z21 and iPhone. It seems to happen most often if I have the Z21 and router switched on and then I walk out of range with my iPhone connected to the Z21, when I walk back in range the App on the iPhone won't connect to the Z21 and I get the 'network error'. If I cycle power on the router and the Z21 that sometimes fixes the issue.

 

This happened quite often starting about 4 years ago, but happens far less frequently nowadays.

 

What version of the App are you using and what version of Z21 firmware is loaded? Later versions may have attempted to fix this issue.

 

Unfortunately it's what is know in the industry as a "corner case", the vast majority of uses will never see the issue but a few will, it also means that it's difficult to work out what the root cause may be. There's almost certainly nothing wrong with your settings.

 

I wouldn't give up on the Z21 just yet.

 

Regards,

 

John P

That would make a lot of sense as it was working fine until a couple of days ago. 

The App is the latest version. I'd have to check the Z21 firmware version as I'm not at home currently.

18 minutes ago, WIMorrison said:

The ip address of the router will not be 192.168.0,111 - that is the address of the Z21 and you need to enter that address into the Z21 app as the Z21 address.

 

The address you see on the router *may* be the phone address as 192.168.0.100, and the tplink router address will be 192.168.0.1

 

You have mentioned the correct addresses, but not with the correct descriptions which suggests tht you have one, or more entered incorrectly.

 

Also, what colour is your z21?

 

Ok sorry I was told the router address was 192.168.0.111. Its the address shown in the Z21 settings tab with a "Reconnect to Z21" button below.

I have haven't entered or changed any addresses. It's running purely the default, out of the box settings.

Its the Black Z21.

2 minutes ago, Harlequin said:

Are your iPad and iPhone connected to the same WiFi network?

 

Yes.