tetsudofan

Not that great a picture...... Must get round to reading the instruction leaflet that came with a recently purchased camera and then, hopefully, should be able to take some better pics. Keith

Ah, Anchorage Airport, been there a few times. Wasn't that the place where you were greeted by a great big stuffed bear as you entered the terminal building? Always felt rather groggy by the time I got to Anchorage bearing in mind that the flight really started in the First Class Lounge at Heathrow. Think at that time I was into Bloody Marys..... Going the other way from New York, TWA did a powerful Harvey Wallbanger....... Keith

Having spent over 30 years of my working life I've lost count of how many long-distance flights I've made. During the last few years I was making three Tokyo/London/Tokyo flights per year - one paid by the company as part of my compensation package, one paid by myself and the other by the mileage earned on the two previous flights. Best bargain was round-the-world trips which earnt more miles than a direct flight - normally two r-t-w flights gave me enough mileage to pay for the third direct trip. Scheduling-wise always found it best to fly east mostly broken up into seven-hour segments. Normally started by catching an evening NorthWest Airlines flight from Tokyo to Honolulu. This allowed me to check in my baggage in at the Tokyo City Terminal early Friday morning, spend the day in the office and at 5:00pm head out to Narita Airport to board the flight leaving at 8:00pm which then arrived in Honolulu at 8.00am on Friday - which meant that I always got two Fridays!! Would normally spend the weekend winding-down in Honolulu before taking a flight to somewhere on the mainland (normally somewhere which had trams (streetcars) or a good railway museum), spend a couple of days there and then hop over to the UK. The longest part of the trip was the return trip to Tokyo by KLM which meant flying from London to Amsterdam, spend couple of hours there and the get the direct flight to Tokyo. Doing the flights in stages meant that I didn't normally suffer much from jet-lag, even on the long flights back to Tokyo. The flights would arrive in Tokyo around 8:00am,and I would manage to get back to my apartment by noon, have a shower and then head off to the office to spend the afternoon at work getting back into the normal routine. The worst I've suffered from jet-lag was when I did not do what I normally did as outlined above. Instead I decided to fly from Honolulu to Berlin in one go which meant an evening NWA flight from Honolulu to Minneapolis arriving early the following morning with a 7-hour layover before catching an evening flight to Amsterdam arriving the following day ending with a short hop from Amsterdam to Berlin. NWA provided transportation to the local shopping centre at MSP which, at that time, was the biggest shopping centre around so that's where the layover was spent. Once I got to Berlin I was like a zombie and spent most of the time I was there catching up on my sleep. Never again would I do a trip like that. DPD just been and delivered a package in a red box...... and soon got to head off to the local Out Patients Department for my first meeting with the Urology people since I decided not to have the TURP procedure. Clear blue sky at the moment so it will be a pleasant walk.... Keith

Evening all, spent the afternoon sprucing up a Routemaster owned by one of my friends: The sun was shining on the bus at the time the picture was taken and does not do the bus any justice. Our task today was to try to remove as much as possible of the scruffing down the side of the bus caused by contact with overhanging trees which Kent County Council don't trim properly. Our weapons were a tube of scratch removal cream, some dusters and elbow grease. My friend applied the cream and I did the polishing as can be seen here: Don't worry, when were actually doing the work one of us was on the ladder and the other was standing on the bottom of the ladder keeping it stable!! What amazed me was the effectiveness of the cream as can be seen in this close-up showing was has been cleaned and what has not been cleaned. I was quite surprised..... The bus is due to attend the Amersham & High Wycombe Running Day next Sunday, October 1st and will be operating Feeder Service 711 from Swanley to High Wycombe on which I may be acting as the Conductor but that won't be confirmed until later this week. Keith

Evening all, been another warm and pleasant day down here in the south east corner so got the cement mixer churning this afternoon so that I could go from this yesterday: to this today: .....progress is slow but sure. Need to pop out to get some more building supplies tomorrow so set the alarm for 6:25am to get the car out on the road before the day-time parkers arrive. Most of the time I go to Wickes for my supplies but a Bunnings Warehouse opened recently (in a large shed that was a B&Q until earlier this year) after they closed the Homebase store (which was next door to Wickes) so a visit to compare prices and quality is called for. Time for a shower now and back later with a malted drink nightcap before hitting the sack. Pleasant dreams and o yasumi nasai. Keith

Dom, certainly not the second one!! - it's the one with the three-armed star. Keith

Neil, You were spot on, after some detailed discussions £16,000 trade-in was what they offered. It transpired that they were having a "trade" event for vehicles they have in stock or readily available but they did not have stock of the vehicle that I wanted. They offered a different colour (no, I want the same colour as my current car), a larger engine model (no, want the same as I've got at the moment), a diesel engine (no, I want to change to a petrol engine as I don't do much mileage) etc. Once they realised that I knew what I wanted and was not willing to compromise we got down to business and built on paper the car that I wanted. What amazed me was that the price for the new car turned out to be less than what I paid for the first version of the car bought 3 1/2 years ago .... and has a better specification. The negotiations were carried out in a very professional manner and all the figures (including the trade-in) were incorporated in the Vehicle Order and Agreement something that was not done when I ordered my current car which had no written mention of the trade-in value ..... and which they tried to lower when I came to take delivery of the car. Don't know if it has any bearing on the matter but the sales rep this time was female, she certainly knew what she was talking about and gave clear concise answers to all my questions. Now just have to wait for the car to be built in Stuttgart.... and cash-in some of my Premium Bonds!!. Keith

Its been a lovely warm sunny day in the far south east corner. So, what did I do........ Decided to do some tidy-up work around the garden so fired up the sand cement mortar mixer and sorted out some bits and pieces that I had been meaning to do for ages. First to sort out was the left hand wall for which the foundations had been laid last year: After that finished off a section of walling that was started a few years ago but never sorted as it is somewhat hidden from normal view: Then moved to a section of walling that has taken some time to complete as the wall has to be laid in stages level by level. Just got a couple of gaps to complete this section: Finally moved to what is the biggest cementing problem left to do. Made a start but only managed a couple of stones before I ran out of mortar mix......and that was after mixing 4 x 20kgs of sand cement mortar mix. Still got quite a bit to do........... good job I've got a 10% trade discount fob at Wickes....but why I've got one I don't know as I'm not trade but, hey ho, every bit helps : Think tomorrow will be sorting out a new car if all goes to plan.... Keith

Exactly the same for me. Presumably Kernow are working through the pre-orders in chronological order so the earlier you did the pre-order the earlier you get the email. Keith

Has been mentioned above many times and is available on the Bachmann website. Keith

Evening all, wonder if I can pick some brains. Having lived abroad for most of my working life I've not had much experience in buying and trading-in cars. I'm currently thinking of changing and trading-in my current car which is 3 1/2 years old, cost £32,000.00 and has 7,200 miles on the clock (yes, only 7,200 miles!!) and am wondering how much I could expect to be offered for the trade-in value of my current car so that I've got a rough idea of what to expect. I'm not looking for an actual figure, just some ball-park suggestions. I've had a look at some online valuation sites but get turned off when they start asking for personal details before they give a quote. Any help would be appreciated. Many thanks, Keith

Yes, you can see some GySEV stock - one of my favourite liveries plus the Taurus in 140 year anniversary livery. The train is normally parked in that position so can easily run it just to hear the musical sounds of the Taurus as it moves away - just fantastic!! Just wish the EPBs, CEP and REPs sounded like that. Keith

My NSE version (as well as the RTC version) arrived today. Just got the NSE version out and fitted a Bachmann 36-557 21-pin decoder and placed it on the track amongst some new Polish friends and got the headcodes working: Not sussed out where you find the interior lights but does not seem to be on F1. Will hopefully sort that out later. First impressions are good especially the dark blue finish which matches the loco currently pushing the unit: which turned out to be Haymarket which, unbeknown to the powers that be, got fitted with the SR multiple unit wiring..... If Haymarket can get to push the NSE set then 97201 is off for a quick visit to Stewarts Lane to be wired up for MU running with the RTC set...... Keith

Mines gone straight to Coastal DCC for fitting sound decoders in both power cars ready for collection at the Folkestone Show in a couple of weeks time. Keith

....and in at The Hobby Shop in Faversham, off to collect mine and some other bits and pieces tomorrow or Friday. Keith

...and my call just made....all sorted in less than 2 minutes. Keith

Les, We were on the Eastbourne Corporation Leyland PD2 behind you on the B & H Bristol on the way back to New Romney and, like you, missed a ride on the 4RF4. Somewhere I've got some pictures of the 4RF4 whilst it was being restored in one of the sheds on what was the Romney Marsh Potatoe Company a few years ago when the members of the Romney Marsh Model Engineering Society were given a conducted tour. Must try and find the pictures.... Keith

Some more pictures from the RH&DR Bus Rally last Sunday. Had to start with the Sealink Regent as I was conductor on the 11:06 and 16:05 to Dungeness and back. The 16:05 was the last bus of the day and as it became wet and windy by that time we had no passengers to Dungeness but had three passengers waiting for us and the journey back to New Romney. Turns out that they had seen the bus at Dover a couple of weeks ago and planned their day to be at Dungeness to catch a ride on the bus back to New Romney: Next up is the East Kent Reliance also owned by the owner of the Sealink Regent: First time I had seen RM8: and something I had not seen before, a fantastic restoration of one of the BEA airport coaches: ....and now some more East Kent buses: A couple of more modern single-deckers: ...and finally, something that looks as though its about to fall apart but, no, it's not. This Leyland Leopard was new to Southdown in 1963 and was sold to East Kent in 1971 and allocated to Cheriton garage to help convert Folkestone town services to one man operation. Restoration of the bus has just about been completed and a decision now has to be made as to what livery it will appear in.... will it be Southdown or East Kent? We'll have to wait and see: ...and having pressed the "post" button realise that I forgot to add a picture of an RML arriving at a rather dull, damp and miserable Dungeness: Keith

Yep.....and they just charged my card....... Keith

Yes, maybe, but will we be happy with it? Keith

Fantastic news but a pity that the sound-fitted versions as advertised will still be using Olivia's Sound. Hopefully somebody else will provide a top quality sound decoder for these new models. Keith

Looks like the NSE version has arrived or due in very near future , credit card hit this morning. Keith

Tomorrow I'll be seeing my friend, the owner of East Kent NBC Regent in Sealink livery: and will ask him if has any info on the (remains) of the vehicle at Norwich. Today I was at the Walmer Bus Rally on the Sealink Regent and tomorrow I'll be at the Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Light Railway Bus Rally again on the Sealink Regent so hopefully later will post some pictures here of both days. Keith