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Arthur

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Posts posted by Arthur

  1. Bachmann has never, as far as I know, said there will only be a single production run. This seems to be a rumour originated on this forum and makes no sense.

     

    It is not a rumour because nobody is claiming that Bachmann has said this.

     

    You may not like the idea of a single run, nonetheless it is a possibility.

     

    It is reasoned speculation based on a consideration of costs, expected price and the numbers of prospective buyers.

     

    If Bachmann price this model such that many prospective buyers drop out, as many are currently claiming they will, and the first run does not sell well, then it is hard to see a second run being viable. IF that is the case, then a single run makes perfect sense.

     

    It may, even at £250.00, sell very well. I haven’t cancelled my pre-order for example. In this case, a second run makes equally perfect sense.

     

    Neither you, nor I, know how well this model will sell. And neither do Bachmann because at this price it is testing the limits of the of the U.K. market.

     

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  2. I guess from what you have written person B failed to notify the pension administrators that person A had passed away so person B should have received a reduced pension,

     

     

    My reading is that the alleged overpayment occurred whilst person A was still alive.

     

     

    [quote name="Captain Kernow" post="2998509" timestamp="1515756113"

     

    The allegation about over-payment relates to an (as yet unspecified) period of time whilst person 'A' was still alive.

     

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  3.  

    Report of his death seems to have originated in The Florida Times. How they’d know first makes you wonder....

     

    He has been hospitalised recently but none of the U.K. press are reporting his death at this time.

     

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  4. Why are so many people assuming that the crane will be only a single production run?

     

    In view of the obvious flexibility of the tooling, which can accommodate just about every variation of every crane for every period, I would be extremely surprised if over time successive runs didn't cater for all persuasions (with the exception of the prototypes with hydraulic relieving bogies i.e., DS1580 and the MoS cranes).

     

    Obviously only Bachmann knows what the future holds, but to my mind it would be extraordinary to invest so much in the tooling for this model and then not do the maximum to recoup that cost. A single run makes no sense at all unless the model simply doesn't sell, and that is, I feel, very unlikely.

    Generally speaking I would agree with you, flexible tooling suggests subsequent runs, maximising returns.

     

    However, a second run will not be cheaper and the market will be smaller, most of those buying from the first run will not be buying from a second run. So you are left with those that decided not to buy from the first run and new entrants to the hobby.

     

    Many of those declining to buy from the first run are doing so, understandably, because of the cost. If they are are not buying at £250 they are unlikely to be buying from a second run at £300 or £350.

     

    Several on this thread have baulked at the current cost which might be even higher by the time of release. At the present moment, you have to wonder just how many will sell.

     

    A second run is always possible but, if you really want one, I wouldn’t gamble on it.

     

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  5.  

     

    But I'm also struggling to see how it will appeal to the collector market, a sector which is generally focussed primarily on locos.

     

    This is prime collector market stuff.

     

    Probably a one off, single run (get it now or forget it), a very high quality model, not a loco but something different from anything else, a real centre piece for a collection. It’s delicacy will be a plus to those intending to lock it into a display cabinet.

     

    This is one item which will tempt even the most loco-centric collector.

     

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  6. Self evidently if you believe your course of action is right you will lilkely take it and probably achieve something. Good or bad.

     

    Equally self evidently, if you believe you are wrong why on earth would you embark on that endeavour and consequently you will achieve nothing.

     

    Really, it’s not that hard.

     

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  7.  

    Indeed. I worked for a large US multinational. I recall one of my colleagues getting a promotion which took him to direct reporting level to the US Board. First weekend in role he gets an email on Sunday morning demanding a report on some nonsense or other to the US Board for first thing Monday.

     

    I knew then just how far I wanted to go.

     

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  8. in sun drenched scenes with a blonde driving, emphasised the 'good life' even if it was a crime movie.

     

     

    Brian.

    Sun drenched! This is the UK!!

    Seriously, yes it does add glamour.

     

    I was more interested to know whether or not convertibles made up a higher % of British cars then than they do now.

     

    Shown earlier today on BBC2 was possibly my favourite film of the post war years, ‘School for Scoundrels’. With Terry Thomas, Alastair Sim and Ian Carmichael in the cast, well...

    Carmichael’s the ‘worm that turned’ roles in the two tennis matches and in the two exchanges with car salesmen Peter Jones and Dennis Price, ‘The Winsome Welshmen’, are just sublime.

     

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  9.  

    Part of the reason for the exemption of older vehicles from the MOT testing regime is the difficulty in drafting legislation that can encompass both modern and older vehicle technology. Legislation that covers modern braking systems on cars designed to exceed 100 mph would be a fail on older systems perfectly safe and adequate on the vehicle to which they are fitted. As the legislation evolves to encompass modern technology it starts to leave behind different, yet still safe systems.

     

    Many examiners are unfamiliar with older vehicle systems and, as it stands, it is a bit of a lottery in finding a station which will do a test and then getting consistent results. One examiner, sticking strictly by the rules, will fail a vehicle whereas another will make an assessment and allowance for it’s age, and pass it.

     

    The detail is as yet unclear but owners will still be able to submit their vehicles for an annual test. I have a vehicle which will be exempt next year. It is my intention to have it tested or checked over by a third party once a year.

     

    The vehicle that caught fire in the Liverpool car park was a fairly modern Range Rover. Vehicle fires happen on near new cars, the scope of this particular incident is rare.

     

    So please, let’s not start a panic over the idea of MOT exempt, older vehicles spontaneously combusting on a routine basis.

     

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  10.  

    Steel became available in large quantities with the invention of the Bessemer process in 1855 but according to Wikipedia the Forth Bridge was the first major structure to use it in the 1880s.  I wonder if bridge engineers ought to have taken advantage of the new material earlier.  

     http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/docsummary.php?docID=1806

    Probably not. As introduced by Bessemer the process was unreliable and limited in application. Early problems were eventually overcome through the work of Robert Mushet and, later, Sydney Gilchrist Thomas.

     

    The problem of nitrogen (which can make it brittle) in Bessemer steel was not overcome until the 1950s and even then it was generally considered to be inferior to steel produced in the open hearth process, introduced in 1865.

     

    The engineers of the day had reasonable grounds to be cautious about the adoption of ‘bulk’ steel in the early years.

     

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  11.  

     

    Has anyone else noticed that 'some' of the health service staff that tell you that you are overweight are not exactly good role models?

    Reported in a number of newspapers earlier this month, one in four nurses are obese

     

    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/nhs-nurses-obese-stats-figures-survey-results-a8091781.html

     

     

    I have,  and had a conversation along those lines. The answer I was given was they were overweight because they worked odd hours, I pointed out at the time I weighed less than they did and was on nights & days with no routine.

    And in response, Nursing Times trotted out the same ‘causes’

     

    https://www.nursingtimes.net/opinion/its-time-to-offer-support-not-criticism-to-overweight-nurses/7022419.article

     

    Essentially, it’s everybody’s fault and not the individual nurse.

     

    Hardly a credible position for somebody giving healthy weight advice to others with busy and hectic lifestyles.

     

    Having appeared on some weight loss, reality TV programme, Ann Widdicombe was subsequently asked to write a weight loss book. Her response, “I’ll give it to you in two words, Eat Less.”

     

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  12.  

     

    I summarised the MSC loco livery details, as outlined in Don Thorpes book, in this post earlier this year.

     

     

    http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/103556-Hornby-announce-peckett-w4-0-4-0st/?p=2608136

     

    As I state, the details are not presented in a methodical manner in Don’s book and you need to collate information from various bits of text and photo captions.

     

    On one point he is clear, no locos were painted black. They were lined ‘slate blue’, a dark grey, which darkened over the years with multiple cleanings using colza oil;

     

    ", shows the engine in what appears to be a black livery, but in reality the colours beneath the many years of daily-applied coatings of colza oil was dark blue (more slate grey), edged with black and lined in white. It is interesting to note that many serious students of the Manchester Ship Canal Railway believe that the company had its engines painted black but that is not so."

     

    I have to say, they did look black in the 1960s.

     

    The application of any livery seems to have been random and I suspect that various members of the short tanks were green, slate blue and light grey at different times. The post war light grey livery did not seem to have been applied to all locos.

     

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  13.  

    My guess would be convertibles were a way around difficulties of filming inside cars (they couldn't stick a Go-pro to the windscreen like they do these days!) and the expense of shooting "driving" scenes in the studio against a back-protection screen (plus it always looks fake anyway).

     

    Yes, I did wonder that myself but they seem to have used convertibles when there were no interior shots and/or filmed inside hard tops in the same film.

     

    Still, I think it may well be part of the reason.

     

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  14. Watched one recently, cannot now recall it’s name, a post war thriller about a murderer on the run hiding in a touring caravan as a family set off for a holiday in France. Nice tow vehicle, a Series 1 Land Rover with it’s hood partly rolled back.

     

    Whist held at a rural level crossing a Southern Region train flashed by, a very brief glimpse of what looked like a double header of smaller, BR lined black locos. Later there was a chase scene around some harbour sidings amongst parked up 14t oil tank wagons.

     

    One thing that does strike me about these films is the number of cars, many just family ‘saloons’, that were convertibles. Did that reflect the numbers back then or were they chosen as being more ‘attractive/filmogenic’?

     

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  15. Another film and I'am surprised they showed it despite the warning was " grapevine" not exactly pc in today's world but excellent protrail of mixed race Prejudice in London in late 50's, in colour too.

    Finally and it's worth a mention " guilt is my shadow", convict on run hides out in a Devon farmhouse, simple crime film with a twist at the end

     

    Grapevine? They’ve shown a 1959 film a couple of times recently called ‘Sapphire’ about the murder in London of a mixed race girl who was light skinned enough to pass as ‘white’. Very interesting film for the language and attitudes of the day.

     

     

    Some nice railway images in ‘Guilt is my Shadow’ the Torbay express at the beginning and a local train at a rural station later.

     

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  16. Even the largest works had minimal internal signalling. Dorman Long had some colour lights controlling particularly busy sections on the works system but by and large the various works railways operated without them.

     

    Here are some colour lights controlling the busy lines by the Dorman Long Clay Lane and Bessemer blast furnaces at their sprawling Teesside complex circa 1959.

     

     

    post-6861-0-15122300-1513345176.jpeg

     

    There were no internal signals at Irlam and nor do I recall any at Shotton.

     

    Entry to some buildings/plant was sometimes controlled by red/green lights, the blast furnace cast house often being subject to controlled access.

     

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