Arthur

The first photo looks like an open hearth steelworks, and the fifth is a blast furnace plant. I cannot identify either works from those photos. I’ll try and catch the film to see if that helps with locations. .

God’s team, they were demonstrating the virtue of charity. .

Sorry, Corinthians 1-10 Man. United. .

Yes they do, God supports them Corinthians 1-10 ‘but that you be perfectly United’ .

I’m sure it is the same root. They were also referred to as a ‘telpherage’.

Why? Genuine question. I don’t know when the name came into use, but I have found a reference suggesting 1885. I’m just curious as to why the L&Y would not have used it? .

Indeed. 9/11 being a case in point. For it to have been a terrorist attack probably no more than twenty, possibly fewer, people would have known the detail prior to the event. They had to keep it secret for just a few months. Once the event happens they want the world to know. If it goes wrong they maybe get caught, still get the publicity. For it to have been a government/CIA/ Lizard men/Illuminati conspiracy tens, possibly hundreds, of individuals would have been involved in the planning and execution. Post event, many more people would be drawn closely into the aftermath, few who could have been identified and primed prior to it. All of whom, hundreds of people, many with no allegiance to the conspirators, would have to be prepared to keep it quiet for ever. For ever. And if it does go wrong, the conspiracy is revealed, the political cost to the conspirators is terminal. Occam’s Razor; in the absence of evidence to the contrary, the simplest explanation is usually correct. .

Machines best appreciated in action, ten minutes of mesmerising mechanical motion; Walthers did a kit, long since sold out. .

Understandable Robert, you’ve done well to keep both enterprises running as long as you have. Are you still taking orders up to the 19th? I might just stock up if you are. .

The Manchester Victoria telpher is a small example of the type. They were generally much larger structures installed to move bulk materials. Quite a few gasworks had them to move coal into and out of the stocking grounds and coke from the retorts. Here’s one that served Canon’s Marsh gasworks in Bristol. A rather poor shot showing a telpher serving some stocking grounds. Large systems included several man operated carrying cars with turnouts on the monorail allowing quite complex systems to be developed. U.K. builders included Strachan & Henshaw of Bristol and Mitchell Engineering of Peterborough. .

Yes, I note on his ‘atom bombs do not exist’ page he offers 1 million Euro if anyone can prove him wrong. So, if I can get an old Soviet nuke for, say, half a million Euro. I could strap him to it, give him the ‘button’ and he could get the proof he needs. I could make half a million Euro. Better make sure I collect it first though. On his ‘space flight is impossible’ page he has an unhealthy interest in the, according to him, difficulty in taking a leak in space. Bizarre. .

Well, I have to admire his ‘thoroughness’. That rant about the Costa Concordia goes on, and on, and on, and on, and on...... You know you’re in nut job territory when text contains big letters, sentences in colours and underscoring. I note he offers training and consultancy on maritime matters.....Wonder if he gets much business. Edit; Noticed Pete has already mentioned his business ‘services’. .

The smaller the better, especially for arc furnaces. It is, however, a balance between the cost/difficulty in breaking something up and the extra time/fuel required to melt down a large, solid lump. It’s also got to be small enough to get through the furnace door/mouth. You would get an 08 engine block in most furnaces, whether you’d want to is a different question. Engine blocks are cast iron. That is a relatively brittle metal and can be smashed to pieces given a sufficient pounding. Scrap breaker at Margam/Port Talbot used for breaking up iron castings, slag balls etc. by dropping a steel ball from a great height. Small explosive charges have also been used in the past to shatter large lumps of metal. .

South Wales produced something else which was widely used in the manufacture of fertiliser, steel slag. That is the waste from steel making (not iron making) furnaces of which there were many in the area. Most iron ores contained phosphorous, which it was important to remove during the iron to steel conversion process. Consequently, steel slag produced as a byproduct of the basic steel making process was rich in phosphorous. The value of such fertilisers was recognised by Welshman Sydney Gilchrist Thomas, who improved/developed the Bessemer process, and who made a considerable fortune from it. However, though steel slag is heavy enough, a one plank seems a bit ‘small’. It was certainly carried in three plank wagons. So, a possibility perhaps. .

Very nice. Pigs would not be loaded in serried ranks, just dropped in via magnet crane in a low jumbled heap. Some would get broken in the process as pig iron is relatively brittle. As the fate of all pig iron is to be re-melted for subsequent use breakages are not an issue. In terms of traffic origin. The ‘dog bone’ pigs represent machine cast pigs, most of the larger integrated steelworks had pig casting machines by the 1950s. The straight pigs are of the type cast in traditional sand pig beds, more likely to be found at the smaller, purely iron producing plants. They would be in transit to either steel making plants or iron foundries. .

You can get chevron tyres for lawn tractors for more arduous duties though most are fitted with a much less aggressive tread. I’d be tempted to file the the treads off. Roll cages tend only to be fitted to larger, commercial machines, rarely on domestic lawn tractors so, unless it is intended to represent a commercial machine, I’d remove the roll cage too.

And is currently touring himself as ‘Nick Mason’s Saucerful of Secrets’ playing pre Dark Side Floyd material. Fronted by, somewhat unexpectedly, Gary Kemp, formerly of Spandau Ballet. I’ve seen both versions of Wishbone Ash, both were very good. These former member bands sometimes style themselves as ‘somebody’s (insert band name)’ I saw ‘Ian Anderson’s Jethro Tull’, Anderson plus others, a couple of years back and pretty good they were too. Ian was full of energy though I was somewhat relieved that he had foresaken his spandex tights. He’s 70, your crotch around your knees is not very rock ‘n roll. Perhaps where a former member or two is involved maybe a Legacy Band? . .

He certainly isn’t, a very common story amongst those trying to carve out careers with their own material. As for playing in a Tribute act. I’m not sure better comes into it Steve. It depends what, as a musician, your goals and aspirations are. Global fame or just doing a bit of playing live? All of this needs to be considered against the old music truism that ‘people know what they like and they like what they know’. So, presuming you want to play live; If you are talented enough to be able to write your own material then you can pursue that. It will be a hard road, initially no, then sporadic, bookings, empty venues, disappointment and poverty though, eventually, a fortunate few will make it big time, fast cars and a pad in LA. Many will give up well before that. The market for unknown bands is small. Like the guitarist you quote, I know a few talented enough people who have tried to pursue their own road and have either given up or ended up doing a mix of their own stuff, playing in covers bands, doing studio sessions and teaching. Alternatively, you set your sights lower, play covers, make it a hobby/semi-pro venture and have fun playing pubs, bars, clubs, social events etc. There’s always a market for live bands playing songs people know. You can choose to play just locally or travel as far afield as you want. Tribute bands are just specialist cover bands. They’ll copy the show, the dress and mannerisms of their inspiration but, ultimately, they’re just playing music people know. And there are clearly plenty of people who will pay to see a tribute act of their favourite bands. Some of them make decent money. To play regularly you will need to be prepared to travel/tour. There’s only so many nights a year, probably one, that a Zeppelin tribute band will fill Chepstow Castle for example. An interesting tribute act story is that of Filipino, Arnel Pineda. Steve Perry, long standing front man for US band Journey, had quit. After a fruitless search for a replacement guitarist Neal Schon came across a young guy doing cover versions of Journey’s, and other band’s, songs on YouTube. He invited a sceptical Pineda over to the US for an audition and he got the gig. He’s fronted them since 2007. They earned 35 million dollars on their 2008 world tour. Not too shabby a living. .

I wasn’t going to respond but thanks jjb, my thoughts exactly. And if you want to know what real occupation looks like, visit some of the museums in Eastern Europe dedicated to telling the story of the Nazi occupation. .

Occupied by the United States...... Sorry, that’s just conspiracy nonsense, I’ll leave you to it. .

Ability to play is not the same as the ability to compose, and certainly not to compose something outstanding. Even if you can and do, unless you are a name, no-one wants to book you or listen to you. You either end up playing in your bedroom or in a tiny venue to three people, your mum and the pub dog. If you like to play, and like a particular band, there’s a lot of fun and satisfaction to be had in playing your favourites. I play drums, this afternoon I’ve been working through a few Zeppelin and Hendix numbers just because I like playing them and working out how Bonham and Mitchell played them in particular. Seeing the real band is usually the best but not always, they can have off days, want to play all the stuff off their latest album that no one has bought, or feed ther egos with noodling and improvisation (which can be great or tedious). Some no longer tour, e.g. Zeppelin or tour rarely. Tribute acts generally play the bands best known numbers, note perfect from the album and generally have a fun aspect about the proceedings. An enjoyable combination. Last week I went to the Chepstow Castle Rock Night and saw four tribute bands, a ZZ Top band free in the local pub, followed by Guns n’ Roses, Whitesnake and Zeppelin (Let’s Zepp) at the Castle. All did great sets, all were fun and it was local. A great night out. .

Why would the US overly worry about a U.K. based plane with a range of 1000 or so nautical miles?

These compressors have been discussed on these pages before and the general consensus is that they do a good job and are good value. They are much better than using cans of compressed air. I have an AS18 with the tank chosen, as you suggest, to avoid any pulsing problems. Certainly for my 4mm modelling it works very well. From what some others have said the pulsing issue can be overplayed and the tankless version may well suit your needs, especially for short periods of use. Never having used one I couldn’t be certain. I wouldn’t expect too much of the airbrushes supplied with them, they may be okay for scenic work. Think of them as a freebie and if they are usable, that’s a bonus. .

I’ve observed previously that if I could locate all of the kit components that had entered orbit around my workbench I’d have enough bits to assemble a complete locomotive. It would, however, be something akin to Johnny Cash’s Cadillac. .

I think that you maybe over analysing the reasons an industrial concern built their own locomotives. I suspect that rather than it being down to demanding a design to a specific requirement it was simply that they had the ability, the workshop capacity and knowledge, so why pay somebody else to do something you can do yourself. Move beyond locomotives and many large industrial concerns kept the design and manufacture of much equipment and plant, sometimes very large plant (e.g. blast furnaces), in house. These days equipment and plant is generally more complex and specialised, most industries have slimmed down to their core business, so they buy in rather than self build. . .