PhilH

On 30/04/2024 at 17:38, melmerby said:

It's an NHS thing.

We can still phone for appointments, prescriptions etc. but it was so much easier doing it on-line.

 

 

I live in an area of extremely high growth not matched by provision of medical facilities. To get an appointment at one of the two doctors surgeries serving this area you first have to do an econsult. You are then advised by text within two days whether you should book an appointment or not, either same day for more urgent cases or routine for the more normal stuff. Note, you are not given an appointment you are given permission to ring up to try and book one. You cannot book a routine appointment without having done an econsult.
 

Routine appointments are only released at 11am on a Wednesday for the week ahead. Additionally you are allowed to ring up on Thursday at 4pm to see if there are any cancellations or such. As I said earlier you can only ring for an appointment if you have an econsult on record.

I enclose an image of my attempts today to get through to my surgery starting at 10.58 am today. The number next to the phone number is the number of attempts I made before I gave up. Mostly I could not even get through, a recorded message telling me that the phone lines were full. This is the reality of trying to get to see a doctor round here in the 21st century.

1 hour ago, BoD said:

Did it break down or just have problems with adhesion.  

It doesn't really matter for the purposes of this thread. Facts and knowledge in a lot of cases seem to take second place to the I presume, I think that, maybe, it could be ,should have and would have type of posts that abound.

I'm no apologist for West Coast,  but having worked with them in the past I'm not a hater either.

I just think that a fair few of the posts on here go way past objectivity.
 

One thought did occur to me.... for all of those who worry about falling out of slam door stock I would assume you don't drive a car or cross the road where you are thousands of times more likely to be injured or killed. As I say just a thought...

10 hours ago, Ohmisterporter said:

Regarding steam locomotives running up and down gradients: please correct me if I am wrong but won't a loco running uphilll chimney first have its boiler at the same angle to the gradient when it is running downhill tender first? And vice versa.

Turning tender engines on short turntables can be done by splitting the engine and tender; turning each part separately, then re-joining them. I have seen it done several times on the Ratty with visiting locos from the RHDR that are longer than Ratty engines. A lot depends on the timetable for the return trip of course. 

The thing is on a boiler you have a hot end and the other end. The hot end is the firebox end which must be kept covered with water, so running uphill chimney first not a problem, water will run toward the firebox (back) end naturally, basically the crown of the box will be covered. Going uphill tender first it’s the reverse, water will run away from the firebox end leading to low water level over the firebox if not managed properly. This can cause serious damage, dropping plugs etc. (think boiling a saucepan of water at home, all is well when there is water in it, not so good if you let it boil dry and keep on heating it)

As regards splitting tenders from engines this can be a right pain in the backside to do on a full size engine. Pins get stuck, very often you have to get a shunt engine or some such to squeeze the engine and tender together so the pin can be withdrawn, the safety chains get stuck, pipes between loco and tender to disconnect etc. You will also need another loco of some sort to move the engine and tender around once disconnected. Not always a straightforward task by any means.

4 minutes ago, Jeremy Cumberland said:

 

 

I understand that steam locomotives usually face Mallaig on this run. I wonder why it was changed. Has the loco since been turned? Presumably it would need to go back almost to Glasgow to do so.

I believe there is a working turntable at Fort William.

12 minutes ago, Gilbert said:

That's what I'd heard - a former driver told me he was unsurprised when it stalled running tender first...

I've driven 45231 and our own 45379 on numerous occasions on the MHR which involved, depending on which way the things came back from hire on other railways, travelling 3 1/2 miles tender first up the 1in60 bank from Alton to Medstead. Care had to be taken when doing this especially during damp conditions with, say, six well filled coaches on. luckily there are no sharp curves on this bank to further compound the drag of the train.

Stalling on restart has always been a factor with steam locomotives, sometimes the bl**dy things just do not want to go no matter how skilled the crew.

As far as I am aware there is no turntable or triangle at Mallaig. If a steam engine works chimney first there how can it work back to Fort William any other way than tender first. Water level is a matter of boiler management by the crew. Sanding is a available when working tender first on a Black 5, although only 50% of what’s available when working chimney first.

27 minutes ago, BMS said:

According to someone on an NMRA video club session today the failure was due to trying to climb 1:50 with the firebox leading the chimney ; I don't know this to be true but if true is another major clanger. 

Why?

1 hour ago, 009 micro modeller said:

Have we really, or is that just what certain sections of the media want you to think?

I form my own opinions from observation and experience. I have long ago discounted most forms of media as a valid vehicle of information.

2 hours ago, Chris M said:

I think its a shame that nowadays people spend so much time looking for faults with figures from the past. Oliver Cromwell would not have been controversial back in the 1950s because, even though we all knew there were a lot of issues with his time in power, he was still a very significant figure in English history and he was respected as such. These days it seems that when a famous figure is found to have done some bad things they sort of get deleted which is a shame.

Indeed. I think it's amazing that we have bred a generation of people who are so perfect all they seem to do is to look outside themselves to find fault with others. It often makes me wonder if it is to  divert attention away from their own shortcomings / imperfections/ peccadilloes or dark sides. For instance, it happens all the time in so called parliamentary debate!

John 8:7

To look at it from another angle I wouldn’t be surprised if any bored individual these days with time on their hands and access to the internet can find skeletons in the cupboard of any individual or organisation locomotives are named after. Just a shame that all their latent intellect isn’t put to better use.

So when you see ‘Crewe Signal Box 1938-2016’ or whatever on the side of some dirty diesel somewhere you can bet there were some nefarious goings on in that establishment….

9 hours ago, Paul_in_Ricky said:

No, they're not.
From the description on Thingiverse;

"This is a Simplex 20hp Tractor in 16mm to the foot scale (1/19)"

 

My ignorance about the weird and wonderful scales used by narrow gauge modellers would have probably been made clearer if you had gone on to quote my next sentence immediately after the sentence you quoted.

7 hours ago, Vistisen said:

 

Here is another comparison print.  This is just about the maximum size the resin printer could cope with, the rough edge on the left is where the print met the raft. The two designs are not quite the same. The size of the arches was not quite right on the resin test print, There was also an error in the 1st statue enclosure on the left hand side. I corrected them on the same day I received my Bambu and this was the first test print made using one of my designs on that printer. In my effort to fit the whole design in such a way that the walls did not touch the raft, I tilted the wall a few more degrees and this resulted in resin print version of the new design becoming too warped to use! ( and it took 14 hours to print!)

 

 

. I

Surely you just move the Z measurement a few mil off the plate before rotating the print to the optimum angle. I print nothing on the plate on my resin printers, 1 usually raise by 8 mm, rotate then support. I also invariably use a raft under the supports,

I've made a start on what is possibly going to be my next rabbit hole, a WW1 diorama depicting some sort of WDLR scene. the first two prints are of the C and D type wagons utilising free Thingiverse files. As these can be scaled up or down in the slicer and the files are either as assembled bodies and bogies or the parts to make these I would imagine they can easily be made into working examples for a model railway. I printed them in 1/35 scale, they are quite large so I can imagine they would look good in O/16.5 or some such.

OnThingiverse are also files for A,B and E types of wagon so will have a go at those soon. Of course the other good thing about these is they cost pennies to produce as opposed to seemingly exorbitant prices charged elsewhere.
Probably my next attempt will be to see what they look like scaled down to 1/72 as a diorama in 1/35 with these would be huge. Finally of course one bonus with 3-D printing is why print only one when you can load the build plate with lots!

https://news.sky.com/story/human-waste-could-soon-be-used-to-fuel-air-travel-13112895
 

I wonder if they'll ever be able to cut out the middleman...

11 hours ago, TheSignalEngineer said:

 

 

Any Road Up, time for a break. This thread has done more laps than the Super D currently sitting on my roundy, it's making my head go dizzy.

This. Good job Greta Thunberg doesn't know about it.

1 hour ago, No Decorum said:

I believe the round-top boiler was a try-out for a possible Pacific, which was never produced. The original LN design was hampered by a firegrate which was flat at the back and steeply sloped at the front. Those were difficult to fire because it was difficult to get coal to cover the sloped part and all too easy to put too much on the flat part, where it wouldn’t jiggle forward as it would on a grate with a consistent slope. The early Jubilees on the LMS had a similar arrangement which contributed to their troubles. All in good time, I hope to find out if Bulleid tackled the grate.

Further to this I had the pleasure of driving 850/30850 on the Mid Hants numerous times (and the associated not so pleasurable oiling the thing up). It certainly was a test of a fireman’s art, that change in grate gradient catching many out. Some struggled to get enough down the front (the soft blast from the Lemaitre blast pipe was not their friend here) but the biggest culprit was not getting enough on where the gradient actually changed. This was evidenced every now and then by weeping stays above this point indicating cold spots in the fire.

As above, it’s my go to resin. Tough enough for most things yet brings out all the detail. I like it so much that I didn’t bother to buy 8k resin for my recently acquired Halot Mage 8k printer, the Sunlu resin does everything I need it to.

as far as settings go most seem to be available on the Internet if you search deep enough.

I don’t know if this has been on before but if you have, or know someone with, a 3d printer there are several free .stl files of WDLR wagons on Thingiverse. A,B,C,D & E type wagons are represented, just look for user Bblr.

Also on there is a Simplex 20hp loco along with a Crewe tractor. They are drawn in 19mm scale (I don’t know if that’s a thing not knowing much about narrow gauge stuff) but obviously easily converted to other scales in your slicer.

I will also post this in the narrow gauge section.

I don’t know if this has been on before but if you have, or know someone with, a 3d printer there are several free .stl files of WDLR wagons on Thingiverse. A,B,C,D & E type wagons are represented, just look for user Bblr.

Also on there is a Simplex 20hp loco along with a Crewe tractor. They are drawn in 19mm scale (I don’t know if that’s a thing not knowing much about narrow gauge stuff) but obviously easily converted to other scales in your slicer.

I will also post this in the 3d printing section.

16 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

Sadly the law, for nearly 200 years, has not agreed with you, however unreasonable that may seem. 

 

If some scrote chooses to cut a hole in the fence to make a quick route across the railway, and something horrid happens, be it to an adult or child, the railway is held responsible every time. It is the railway's responsibility to maintain that fence regardless. I've no doubt plenty of beaks have recognised the impossibility of this situation in some urban environments, but that is the law and they have no choice but to prosecute accordingly. 

So what happens with the, for me, elephant in the room, the 750v unguarded third rail. We seem to have a couple of fatalities and injuries every now and then due to perhaps people who have over imbibed for example coming into contact with the third rail. This would seem to me to be a far bigger problem than perhaps the one under discussion.

2 minutes ago, adb968008 said:

Thats the concern, what happens when someone says no to him, or he gets bored ?

Without boring everyone with the detail of it a lot of his stuff is tied up in trusts so if he finishes then at least some of it would carry on. I doubt very much that the motive for that is altruistic, he is a clever man and knows down to the last penny the price of a tin of beans.

6 minutes ago, Night Train said:

Isnt it the responsibility of a journalist, or national news company to check what they print is factually correct?

If CBS told them King Charles was gay, would they print that too? Or would they try and ascertain the validity of that statement?

Seriously? The truth never gets in the way of a good story.

2 hours ago, adb968008 said:

 

 

 

 

I still dont see how lsl makes enough money to be self sustaining long term either.

 

 

 

 

LSL never has been concerned with making money. Hosking is worth a bit under £400 million, makes oodles from his other ventures and can make losses at LSL to set against other income. If you could have seen the money that was thrown at it when I was there with no hope of getting a return on that it would have made your eyes water.

https://www.elegoo.com/en-gb/blogs/3d-printer-user-guide/elegoo-printers-resin-setting-sheet

you can download basic settings for different resins on this page

I've just been reading a timeline of events taken from the ships black box, apparently just over a minute of power outage was enough to precipitate this disaster. In the same article I noticed this which, given the size and high volume of ships which use this port, to me just beggars belief.

"An official also said that the Key Bridge was fracture-critical, which means "if a member fails that would likely cause a portion of, or the entire bridge, to collapse, there's no redundancy".

On the face of it a disaster waiting to happen.