Sheffield

I used to live a field away from a Nottinghamshire coal fired power station. Now I live not far from wind turbines. I know which I prefer. I feel that anyone who is not prepared to live within sight of a means of producing electicity should not use it.

I believe Grayling was responsible for the major changes to the Probsation Service which are now being reversed as they were a complete failure..

Will this ban on transport dumping out untreated "waste" apply to horse drawn carriages? Will horse riders have to clear up after their animals, as dog owners are expected to do?

I used some French made steel gun barrel blacking chemical and it certainly did create an insulating surface. Almost as good as the old Peco insulaxles in fact. I suggest trying a small area first.

It seems to me that running C&L successfully requires more than one person. I gather the previous owner employed two or three. But it also seeems the business is not profitable enough to support that level of staff, and is now run by one person alone. But if that is the case he may eventually decide the battle is not worth it, and there will be no more C&L. I hope some solution can be found. Would we be prepared to pay more, to allow the business to develop and perhaps employ another person?

Can Amazon really be called "smaller suppliers"?

Following what an employee does in his private life pre-dates the internet age. I was surprised to find the 1970s that my employer not only knew that my wife worked with the boy scout movement, but had cuttings from local newspapers on the subject in my personal file (which I should not have seen but did). I agree that this is an other case of least said the better. What the eye does not see the heart does not grieve over.

The two final Hellman steam electrics were quite successful, being powerful and smooth running. They were intended to provide the advantages of an electirc railway without the heavy capital costs. However they needed a crew of three, one to look after the boiler, one to look after the electrical system, and one to drive. if thing like superheaters and better electrical control systems had been available they might have able to develop further. However the company behind them ran out of money and it all came to an end. It was some thirty years more before diesel electrics became practicable.

Well I have receivved my C&L items, and am a satisfied customer On the one occasion I telephoned Phil I got an immediate answer, and my question was fully resolved. I wish him well.

Some of the engine blocks for EMD engines were cast in Leicester.

While not knowing what is happening to an order is a frustration, I still think we should be grateful that Phil has taken on the C&L range, and is trying to make something of it. As has already been said more than once, if the range had disappeared it would have caused a problem. Model railway parts are hardly essential in the great scheme of life, and having to wait is better than not getting the parts at all.

I would like to add my thanks to Martin for Templot. I have found it very useful, and also very enjoyable. Thanks.

A lot of this discussion illustrates yet again the old saying. "The less people know about something the more they know that those responsible have got it wrong." We see it in the media every day.

Giving people the right to make bad decisions and, for example, eat too much sugar if they want is alright if we are prepared to really allow these people to suffer the consequences. But, in this "caring society", people who get ill because of their own bad decisions are treated, at a cost to all tax payers. The alternative is to refuse treatment to people who have made themselves too fat, or drink or smoke. We all therefore have a right to expect others to act sensibly, and to want action if they do not.

What is this sales tax? Is this the one called VAT?

The accident involving the two lorries was caused by one of them stopping on the carriageway. What happens on the new "smart" motorways where the cheapskates at Daft have converted the hardshoulder into a running lane? A broken vehicle has to stop on the carriageway, and be at risk from drivers not concentrating on their driving..

Some time ago we were show on television film of driverless lorries following one another with some 10 feet between each one, the whole convoy under the guidance of a driver in the leading lorry.. We were told that this development would soon be found on our motorways and other roads. What if the driver in the leading vehicle stops doing what he is there to do, as did the second driver in the case being discussed, and instead directs his attention to his phone or something else. Given the gap between each vehicle in the demonstration if the first stops suddenly the rest can not avoid hitting the one in front. A fully loaded lorry can not stop in 10 feet. I for one do not find the idea pleasent.

This case illustrates the problem in such cases. While many of us may think the second driver was guilty of dangerous driing, in that he was in control of a large vehicle, but not giving the job his proper attention. However a clever lawyer could well have made a case, as some have here, that he was only guilty of careless, but not dangerous driving. If he had been took to court for dangerous driving he could have been found not guilty and got off altogether. That wouild have been wrong. By going for careless driving they were much more certain of getting a conviction. W can only hope the judge puts him in prison for a long time, but I doubt if he will. But still it has ruined his life and driving career. Since the second driver was at work, why can they not also get a convictiot under health and safety? He was guilty of not taking proper precautions to ensure the safety of those effected by his actions at work. if, for example, he had been in a factory working a large press, and some one had got killed because he was on the phone he would have been in serious trouble. Poeple have asked why the bus driver stopped behind the lorry. I suspect he thought it was a traffic queue. He perhaps could not see around the large lorry. We don't normally expect a drunk Polish man to stop in the carriageway, although I do think we need to be more careful of lorry drivers than we are..

I have heard that in some parts of the world people carry a portable toilet in the car, because of the traffic delays. Perhaps the advice in the UK for railway travel in snowy conditions in the UK should should include carry a bucket with lid.

I grew up in south west Leicestershire, and I have to say that many people in the area did not have soft spot for the Midland Red. Expensive, unreliable, and certainly not friendly. was a common experience.

As the kit market falls in the face of RTR and also need for instant gratification that now seems to prevail in society, will that put Slaters wheels at risk? Now that would be a loss. Also, as we are learning something about the cost of running a kit making business, do we start to see some of the more critisied kits of the past, the ones with mistakes and problems, in a different light? Perhaps the need to get some thing to market to earn some money overcame the desire to remake things to correct the mistakes. It does seem that some of the new business entrants into the 0 gauge market have been as producers of RTR rather than kit makers, which perhaps again shows where the market and the money is.

How will the Army and Navy manage without diesel power? What ever else goes wrong politicians always seem to be able to build engines of war, including very large aircraft carriers with very large diesel engines. But it is all about politicans sounding good, nothing more..

This thread is getting like my television. Mostly repeats.

Given that we throw the blades in the bin when we have finished with them, collectively the world must be throwing away a great deal of mostly stainless steel a year. And it will take a long time to rot away, like the plastic holding it..Perhaps we should go back to using a cut throat blade that lasts a lifetime and sharpen it as needed.,

Although the proposed loco looks big, notice that it is only 10ft 4in high. This is presumably is the reason for for the long boiler arrangement, as the only way to accomadate an adequate firebox and ash pan. This unusual arrangement suggests the design was prepared for some good reason, such as an enquiry from a potential customer of some standing, rather than just a sales effort. Interesting to wonder who, at that time, thought they needed a low height powerful loco able to go round sharp corners.