chrisf

Have you tried Replica? I have a Replica BCK body which has window frames. Chris

Good morning one and all I see we are discussing flight. My first one was in a glider, at Tibenham airfield in Norfolk during that unsettling time between finals and results in 1969. The sensation of being aloft in silence almost total except for air rushing past the dome and the distinct unease of seeing the ground rushing up to meet us on landing. My first commercial flight was from Heathrow to Ronaldsway in 1976 for the probably one and only Isle of Man folk festival. Since then - not much, actually. Berlin twice, Luxembourg once [one way only], Beijing via Charles de Gaulle once and Gatwick to Ronaldsway in, I think, 2006. My most recent flight was from Heathrow to Vancouver and from Toronto to Heathrow, both overnight. On that trip the outward flight as an hour late taking off because the aircraft was too hot. In December. I'm not sure which I dislike more, flying or airports. Eurostar and its terminals behave too much like airlines for my liking but I find it the lesser evil. Yesterday was almost uneventful. The delivery brat defaulted again but he/she has managed the vital task of providing me with 'Bedfordshire On Sunday' for four consecutive weeks. As I have to go into town today anyway it will be no big deal to go via the newspaper office and collect a copy. I'm used to it. The only event of note was receiving an e-mail from someone from whom I wanted to buy something, apologising that my mail had been routed into his spam box and he had not spotted it for several days. I was able to tell him that it keeps happening at my end. Despite adding the addresses to my contacts list there are at least three regular originators whose material goes into spam. I wish I knew how to cure this. In other news, carrot does go well with gammon steak. One mega-carrot remains in stock so that is one less thing to add to the list for tomorrow's fodder run. Tonight there is a railway film show in Kettering which, despite being linked to F***** S*******, looks good. Later in the week there is a meeting of the HMRS chapter in Bletchley [Wednesday] and a visit to Poorly Pal when I shall cook us tuna to a recipe by Sophie Dahl [Thursday]. As a result of what seemed like a good idea at the time yesterday, laundry, there will be ironing tomorrow. Whoopee. Best wishes - all together now - to all travellers and to the ailing, recovering, supporting, grieving, missing and depressed. Chris

11th November and I'm prepared to make you an offer. Chris

He doesn't even offer the kit now. Chris

Good morning one and all With all the furore that erupted yesterday over Swiss timetables it somehow seemed appropriate that I took an hour and a half out to watch "Carry On Regardless". There was a minor culinary triumph to report. I made another jelly with fruit cocktail set in it and this time it did actually set. The block of jelly was purchased recently, unlike those that I used in my previous attempts which were the results of archaeology in my store cupboard. The latter is something of an oubliette if I'm honest. It is all too easy to buy something, put it in a cupboard and lose all awareness of it. As m*d*ll*rs we know this. Lunch today will major on a gammon steak, vacuum packed and purchased within living memory. Conventional wisdom does not advocate carrot as an accompaniment but I have what seems an everlasting supply of carrots, having been given three enormous examples last weekend. News broke yesterday of a change to the routine of life. The Borough Council is changing its refuse collection arrangements. From next month general refuse will be collected fortnightly, with recycling and garden waste being taken away in the intervening week. Most important, the collection day is moved from Tuesday to Thursday. It will soon become clear how many of my neighbours cannot read. It did not seem the same yesterday not proffering best wishes to all travellers [with or without Swiss timetables] and to the ailing, recovering, supporting, grieving, missing and depressed. I do so now. Chris

The combined thickness of the timetable books is five and a half inches. I thank you for your interest but would prefer a realistic suggestion. Chris

Chas and Dave's Greatest Hits Live! At only £3 how could I resist? Before that, Proper Job by Fishermen's Friends. Before that, Anian by 9Bach. Coming up next, A Fade In Time by Sam Lee and Friends. Chris

It could spell disaster! I don't fancy forking out on a tablet and faffing around loading it with data. The printed Kursbuch is part of a ritual. You go to the travel centre, work out which queue is the right one, take a ticket for it, make the member of staff understand what you want and hand over 16 francs. What you get is a random carrier bag containing one blue covered book [trains] and two yellow covered books [buses] which together weigh several kilos and do not fit very well in the camera bag. That minor drawback aside, the books are absolutely vital for travelling around Switzerland either making it up as one goes along, for meticulous planning the night before or, more often, for spinning yourself out of trouble when the previous night's planning turns out to be not quite so meticulous. For those who don't know, John is actually quite good at making a tablet work. I, on the other hand, have got the hang of the process correctly described as riffling, ie quickly and accurately finding the right page in the timetable book. For speed of information retrieval honours are about even. I need to be convinced that having all the gen on a tablet enables satisfactory browsing and that I would know where to look to find what I need. Oh dear ... Chris

Only sketchy, I'm afraid, Brian. A lot of the WR's MK 1 open seconds were allocated to this work but when it was realised that some were needed for dining car work some of the sets were disbanded. A typical excursion set would have comprised BSOs at each end and eight SOs in between. The fun started when a cafeteria car was added and/or the odd coach with first class accommodation was inserted if the set was used on a working other than an excursion. Unadulterated, the sets were known as Vestibule Trains and based at strategic points. How to identify them from photographs? Except for the example drafted into the Cathedrals Express set which has been illustrated a few posts back, it is a fair bet that a set on the WR including a BSO is some kind of special. Chris

Good morning one and all The C word [C*****mas] made an unwelcome appearance yesterday in the form of a suitably but prematurely titled draw from a certain charity. This finally galvanised me into writing the stiff letter that I mentioned a couple of weeks ago. I asked the charity to remove me from its mailing list with immediate effect and mentioned my unease at the amount apparently being spent on trying to get me to part with more money, adding a reference to my details having fallen into the hands of another charity operating from the same address and speculating that an offence under data protection legislation might have been committed. Two lots of draw tickets and one pile of guff relating to a prize draw went into three prepaid envelopes and off I went to the pillar box. As the charity is Macmillan and I am a cancer patient I continue to feel uneasy about all this. However, there is such a thing as greed. When I finalise my Will it may contain a bequest to Macmillan but sufficient of that unto the day. No-one could have been left unmoved by the sombre broadcast material about Aberfan. I had been at university for three weeks when the disaster occurred and knew it had happened but I never knew the whole shocking story until this week. Those responsible through their negligence deserve to rot in hell if such a place there be. After hearing the moving piece by John Humphrys on Today I discovered that he had been the first reporter on the scene, working for commercial television [TWW] and aged only 23. What a man! As far as I know the weekend will be quiet and undemanding. May others be similarly blessed. Chris

You RC. It is W9276 which is preserved at the Great Central. Chris EDIT - most of the BSOs allocated to the WR were formed into excursion sets which were sometimes used for reliefs

You will probably find that the MJT extruded roof is a better match than the Comet one. Chris

Good morning one and all I don't think I got annoyed about anything yesterday. This is fine as far as it goes but it does make it a bit difficult finding inspirational material at this time of the morning. Cue signs of relief? There was no postal delivery but three comics came the previous day and I have not finished reading them yet. The run of 'Yes Prime Minister' on BBC2 has now finished so that is one less thing to make me chuckle - or, at times, guffaw. The transitional episode 'Party Games' was not shown but it was not of the standard length so that would explain it. Even the ironing is up to date. This cannot last. Today I must do a fodder run to which ought to be added a greetings card for a pair of new parents and a trip to a cash machine for topping up the wallet. Then what? Not m*d*ll*ing, surely? Something is bound to happen to thwart that ambition. It always does. Aha! I have remembered something. A discussion began here yesterday about the festive season. That is something which I prefer to avoid. To an extent I acknowledge its influence by sending seasonal greetings cards to about 70 people from my past and present, enclosing in most cases a round robin letter which some recipients are kind enough to call entertaining. I saw some nice cards in Oxfam a week or so back and bought some. The cards are entrusted to the mail service at the beginning of December and apart from selecting and delivering a gift for a friend, that is it. I avoid the British experience or, as I prefer to think of it, endurance test, by clearing off to Switzerland and leaving it behind. Yes, folks, I am firmly of the humbug persuasion. On that happy note, best wishes to all travellers and to the ailing, recovering, supporting, grieving, missing and depressed Chris

G'day one and all I made it to Witney last night for the Jack Carty gig, which I enjoyed very much. It's a shame that there were no more than two dozen in the audience. The venue, Fat Lil's, does duty as a comedy club and I can imagine the need for one in Witney. As I was waiting outside I spotted some people sporting orange rosettes and wonder whether the result of today's by-election will be quite as predicted. I introduced myself to Jack as one of his 'Plegends', which means that I contributed to the crowd-funding of his "Home State" CD back in the summer. He will be back, but possibly not in Witney. Getting there was quite fun. The centre of Hemel Hempstead is no place for timid drivers but from Harpenden there is precious little option but to negotiate it if heading for the A41. Why Harpenden, you ask. Because it was Area Group yesterday afternoon. There were eight of us round the table for lunch and a further three afterwards, which is most satisfactory. The least expensive petrol I saw on the whole journey was in Bicester so I stopped briefly to top up the tank and buy a couple of baguettes for me and some Yazoo flavoured milk to wash them down. I plan to spend today quietly. Ironing can be done quietly and must be soon as there is quite an unstable pile of it. I might venture out for a while though as I need to buy a tasteful greetings card for friends who have just become parents. The trouble with being out all day is that there are 10 pages of new posts to digest. Oh joy. Best wishes to all travellers and to the ailing, recovering, supporting, grieving, missing and depressed Chris

Good morning one and all Someone at the VW dealership is an idiot. Yesterday I received a postcard telling me that it is time for the brake fluid in my Polo to be changed. As it only has 914 miles on the clock I rather doubt this. It did of course refer to my previous Polo. I made the obligatory phone call, reminded the dealership that I changed my car on 31st August and told them that if I get any more postcards relating to my old car I will save them up and use them to make a bonfire on their forecourt. Then I discovered that a well-known charity has enough money to send unaddressed letters to everyone in the street and probably further afield. I should have used the reply-paid envelope to return the contents but they ended up in the recycling bin which was about to be emptied. Before you ask, I have too much hair to play Victor Meldrew. Today sees the Area Group lunch followed by the afternoon meeting. I then have to get from Harpenden to Witney in time for Jack Carty's concert, braving the rush hour in Hemel Hempstead, Aylesbury, Bicester and the edge of Oxford. The route thrown up by the AA routefinder website advocated the M1, M25 and M40. No thanks, I want to get there in time. Best wishes to all travellers - including me today - and to the ailing, recovering, supporting,grieving, missing and depressed. Chris

Your bravery award is in the post! Chris

Good morning one and all I forgot to mention some good news yesterday. On my way to Peterborough on Sunday I stopped for breakfast at the Little Chef at Black Cat Roundabout on the A1, less than 10 miles into the journey. My preference is for the Olympic Breakfast on the pretext that I do not know from whence will come the next meal. For ages it has been £7.99 and good value at that price, with tea or coffee charged separately. My surprise that the price is now £8 was considerably increased by the revelation that it now includes tea or coffee. I welcome this development, needless to say. The restaurant in question is one of those refurbished to the inspiration of Heston Blumenthal, who like me is an Old Latymerian [no, we didn't know each other]. In the loos are recorded sounds of running water and singing birds. Perhaps this is a bit OTT but never mind. The next meal, as it turned out, was three of the four filled baps that I had prepared the previous evening - sliced cooked chicken from Tesco, real ale chutney from, I think, the garden centre near Wallingford or maybe the cheese shop in Sidmouth. I'm getting so forgetful these days. Part of yesterday was spent scoping a m*d*ll*ng project. An exchange of PMs with an RMwebber who has tried it and failed and a delve into a previous incarnation of the forum to read the words of one who has done it but, it seems, quietly abandoned it make me think that it was not a good idea. Maybe it will come up in discussion at Area Group tomorrow. Today will see a fodder run and this evening a meeting. Nothing to worry about, move on. Best wishes to all travellers and to the ailing, recovering, supporting, grieving, missing and depressed. Chris

While I find it difficult to imagine anyone getting bored by Class 116 sets, the sight of a 120 on Valleys work is unusual. Well, it is to me. Chris

It is. In the good old days excursions were run to take schoolchildren to and from the zoo. They were known by some as 'monkey specials'. I do not think that the 117 in the picture is working such a train but a service train where demand in excess of the capacity of the single unit was expected. See reference to good old days above! Chris

That was the livery in which numbers 220 to 234 were turned out. The W suffix was a later addition in most cases. Chris

Good morning one and all I spent an OK day at Peterborough yesterday. Fortunately my cousin had shaken off his cold and I now know much more about Hong Kong than I would ever have dreamed. Infinite improbaability drive kicked in for a few minutes as I found myself manning the 2mm Association stand while its custodian took a PNB. Later I paid a quick visit to a friend in Werrington who kindly gave me the three largest carrots I have ever seen, dug from her garden. I am now jealous of her garden. In the evening I managed to work out how to catch up with BBC Radio London on the iPlayer. I did not hear the whole three hour programme but what I did hear was a textbook example by Jack Carty of how to bewitch a presenter by singing only part of a song! Anyone who can get to the Slaughtered Lamb in Farringdon, London, tomorrow night will have a bonza evening. I must make do with Fat Lil's in Witney the next day. What does the week ahead have in store? LCGB branch AGM on Tuesday, Area Group lunch and afternoon meeting on Wednesday followed by hectic drive to Witney [see above] and, I hope, a peaceful day on Thursday. Oh yes, and a couple of fodder runs. I shall not need to buy carrots. Best wishes to all travellers and to the ailing, recovering, supporting, grieving, missing and depressed Chris

Good morning one and all Glad you like Switzerland, Simon. A 15 day Swiss Pass costs £750 so I do my best to get my money's worth over Christmas and New Year. When I return to Blighty I tend to feel ashamed of our public transport. Public transport will not get me from Bedford to the East of England Showground by 9.30 am today. Assuming that buses run on Sundays in Huntingdonshire, it would take two changes and most of the day even to get to Peterborough city centre. Fortunately my Polo is in mint condition, boom boom, and already facing in the right direction [one of the perks of living in a one way street]. I will stop for breakfast on the way. Swipe me, how decadent. I forgot to mention yesterday that I picked up a pair of Jasper Conran hand towels for a total of £6.84. I don't normally do designer but 75% off is not to be sneezed at. Oh dear, I have ended a sentence with a preposition. Mr Cousins, Mr McCabe, Mr Turner, Mr Parish and Mrs Stuart [my English teachers if you recall] would have been most cross with me for that. Shameless plug: if anyone is within earshot of BBC London 94.9 today between 12 and 3, Gaby Roslin's studio guest is Jack Carty, the Australian singer-songwriter who impressed me greatly earlier this year. i will have to catch up tomorrow via iPlayer. Best wishes to all travellers and to the ailing, recovering, supporting, grieving, missing and depressed Chris

Good morning one and all I had a brief encounter with Mrs Electric Chair yesterday, introducing her to the new car which is sometimes parked across her drive entrance from sheer necessity. She is very good about it and far more concerned that the students who live a few doors along each have a car, making the parking problem even worse. The other day, it seems, she fell into her garden pond. Fortunately she was not riding the electric chair at the time. Mrs EC is nearly 90 and really does not look it. I told her about another friend, Andrew, who has his right arm in a sling. He fell off a space hopper and dislocated his shoulder. Surgery will be needed. Andrew is a morris dancer and old enough to know better. Ah, that came out wrong. Andrew should have known better than to climb aboard the space hopper, for what could possibly be wrong with being a morris dancer? Think carefully before you reply. When my mate Mike retired earlier this year his workmates bought him a day of brewing experience. He spent a happy day in the new brewpub in Bedford High Street slaving over a hot mash tun and came away with a keg to consume before November. Yesterday he invited me to sample it. Getting it out of the keg into glasses was perhaps a bit more difficult than the makers intended, turning plastic taps and valves that were resistant to being turned, but the result was worth it. We supped and sipped and reminisced over some gems from his record collection until it was time for me to go and him to make dinner. I got a bit het up earlier in the day over a printing error. In a report of a recent meeting I wrote "Teesside", which is correct. In print it has become "Teeside", which is wrong. How do things like this happen in the age of copy and paste? Oh well, there are more important things to concern us. Elsewhere on this forum someone thinks I am boring. I beg to differ! Enough, you cry. Tomorrow I visit the Peterborough show so good luck to all inmates on duty there. Now, best wishes to all travellers [but not necessarily the bevy of cyclists who infest the A1 early on Sunday mornings] and to the ailing, recovering, supporting, grieving, missing and depressed. Chris Stop press - The announcerene on Radio 4 has just said that Clare Balding wrote a poem on the train. I do hope the guard did not make her wash it off again.

Pass. Chris

Good morning one and all What a lot of free publicity for Marmite yesterday. Marmite, as I am sure you know, is the French word for a type of cooking pot, or it is if I remember those Asterix cartoons correctly. I must bear that in mind of and when I buy more utensils. For the moment a wok meets many of my needs. As for the brown stuff in a jar, I'm surprised that Tim Shackleton has not used it for weathering yet. Today I must do the fodder run, unremarkable as it is, followed by a stroll into town to visit the bank and to see if there is anything in Debenhams that is worth buying for 5% off. The list of exclusions on the voucher is lengthy in the extreme but I could do with some slightly less moth-eaten hand towels. Then what? Should I watch Question Time on i-player and try to spot Horsetan in the audience? I heard the start on 5Live last night but it had its usual effect of sending me off to sleep. Looking ahead to the weekend, I will be at Peterborough on Sunday and hope that my cousin 88C will have shaken off his cold. I will be missing Apple Day at Bromham Mill, which I quite enjoy, but it looks like being rather wet, which I do not enjoy. Best wishes to all travellers and to the ailing, recovering, supporting, grieving, missing and depressed Chris