BR60103

There was a debate on grammar at a US political convention some years ago.  I think the gist of it was between

Taxes which restrict business shall be rescinded.

Taxes, which restrict business, shall be rescinded.

restrictive vs non-restrictive clauses, which I don't remember from school.

There are two points in grammar that currently grate on me.

One is in the "plink, plank, plunk" verbs where the pp is used as the past.  With the current events in the Middle East, I keep reading "The ship sunk".

Another is the disappearance of participles.  A container with multiple DVDs in it is called a "box set" when it should be "boxed set" And a certain kitchen apparatus is being called a "fry pan".

There was a fire in a subway train in Toronto over the holiday. Source was an E-bike lithium battery.

Fortunately, the fire happened at a station and everyone could evacuate.  The train was a 6-unit articulated with no separating doors. The union is complaining as the trains are one-man operation and evacuation of the back part would have been tricky in the tunnel (fire was in the first car).

No word on which train or extent of damage.

NMRA RP for axle length (HO) is 1.035".

The couplers you asked about are called NMRA or X2f.  Both names are inexact. They were developed by an NMRA committee in the 1950s, but never approved by the membership. The X is for experimental, 2f is a sequence. They were released into the world with no fees or licensing requirements. This meant that all the manufacturers jumped at the chance for a standard coupler. I heard that almost none of them match the original dimensions. The original springing method (integral plastic) was not always used. 

The Airfix version was noticeably larger and not compatible.

The NMRA coupler can be made to work with Hornby Dublo couplers by trimming off the horn, but a lot of functionality is lost.  

The uncoupling ramps were an afterthought.

Because of the sideways springing, wheels get forced against the rails and the oversized flanges pick at rail joints if the couplers are truck mounted.

3 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

There is a steam railroad that travels behind Mt Rushmore to give you that view.

12 hours ago, Oldddudders said:

I'll just add this to make a jet pilot's day....

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-67771640

 

Finally, a practical use for airyplanes.

For Donk: The Gentle Donkey  a carol that was introduced to us at a small gathering we used to have.  By David Ouchterloney, a well liked Canadian organist.  (This is the best of 3 versions I found)

We had a quiet day -- two walks outside.  The tree I posted a picture of a few weeks ago that had been eaten by a beaver is still leaning on another tree and connected at the bottom.

There's a story in my wife's family from many years ago. Before going to church, her mother had put the turkey in the oven and carefully banked the fire to cook it.  When they returned, they found it was absolutely black. Dayle's father had looked at the fire in the stove and decided that it needed a good stirring up before they left.  Worse, her (older) sister was having a boyfriend over for the meal. 

We don't have any plans that I've been told about for Christmas. It's now 2 1/2 hours away.  Today was quiet and all we managed was 2 walks and reading 2 newspapers. Plus listening to 9 Lessons and Carols, watching the Radio City Christmas show DVD.

I have triple shelves all around under the train layout.  Most of them have books, although one stretch has LPs and the sound system. And some have bits of railway non-reading matter on them. (all the space below the railway is concealed behind curtains.)  Then there are loads of shelves in the next room and up on the main floor. 

Merry Christmas to all and to all a guid nicht.

As the solstice is due to happen* in less than half an hour, I need to find out what the celebration procedures are.  

* happen? when it just stands still? 

I use (in OO) Woodland Scenics Accent Glue. This is a bit like rubber cement. It allows you to take the part off and re-mount it (for a while) so loco can be restored to original condition or re-assigned to a different class train.

On our old Ford Focus, when we needed a bulb replaced, the tech at the desk asked if we had cruise control. We hadn't. Hesaid that on his the cruise control box was mounted right behind where they had to work to replace the bulb.

For my birthday SWMBO gave me a picture of a train with LED illumination. She was a bit disappointed when I couldn't identify it.  A Germanic looking tank locomotive number 99 7241-5.

The other problem is the battery box at the back has no cover and is too small for AA batteries but the AAA barely compress the spring and fall out if shaken the wrong way. I managed to put a bit of model railway supply in to hod them.

We did go to Stratford for the lights today.  Starting mid afternoon, found that SWMBO didn't have her keys.  Got farther the second attempt and her cell phone (with navigation app) couldn't be located. A long search and it finally turned up on the car floor in front of her seat, camouflaged in black. 

At one interchange I misjudged the lanes and found the one I wanted was full. Headed off the other way to turn at the first opportunity. There was the results of a collision at the top of the ramp, attended by assorted police cars and tow trucks. But I did manage the turn around.

In Stratford, we found that the lights are on Thursday to Sunday.  She bought a couple of books at the bookstore; it was open late while the coffee shops were closed by 4 or 5. No problems except heavy traffic on the way home.

I mostly use Woodland Scenics roadbed on my railway.

My wife's line uses track with molded plastic roadbed -- Lionel O and Bachmann HO.

I have 2 stations (Exeter St Dayle's and St Mary Ax) where the track goes down to the baseboard. The baseboard is Homasote and takes pins etc. quite easily.

I had a note Saturday from the book chain that the book I pre-ordered has had its release date changed from Dec 12 to Dec 26.

I had a note yesterday that the book is shipping from their warehouse.

The weather outside (as reported) has changed from sleet to partly cloudy in the last hour.

Deck us all with Boston Charlie,

Walla Walla, Wash., an' Kalamazoo!

Nora's freezin' on the trolley,

swaller dollar cauliflower alleygaroo!

Don't we know archaic barrel,

Lulaby Lilla Boy, Louisville Lou

Trolley Molly don't love Harold,

boola  boola Pensacoola hullabaloo.

From the Pogo comic strip; words by Walt Kelly.

When he needed a song to make a mess of, he found that this one had no Christian symbolism in it.

Someone suggested that the places named all had penitentiaries in them.  I can't confirm.

I liked it, 70 years ago, because it had 2 references to trolleys in it.

A bit over 60 years ago, Toronto was putting up a new Board of Education building.  My father reported a big sign painted on the hoarding "No parking on front this doors".

4 hours ago, BSW01 said:

This afternoon Sheila was given a time for her corneal transplant, 7:30am on 2 January 2024, so that’ll be an early start that day then. 

Reminder: go in on an empty stomach.

When I went to have my retina re-attached, the receiving nurse asked if I'd eaten anything; I said no.   She told me they'd had 3 patients already that had eaten breakfast, including a "full" breakfast.  I was into the operating room quite a bit sooner than the schedule.

My wife said that, at the crown corporation she worked for, people would be let go, then taken on on contract as a means to reduce the employee count but still get the work done.

I can see "outsourcing" if the job is not part of the core competency.  Lets say, a small firm of lawyers that hires a firm to clean the office, since none of the lawyers knows how cleaning is done.

Why is Austria running Paris-Berlin?

The news tonight reported that we had a new record high for the day -- 12 degrees replaced 11.5.

12 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

Wile E. Coyote v. Acme Company, by Ian Frazier | The New Yorker

see story here

3 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

One of our friend's husband had a roomful of deer heads. One Christmas, he hung name plates around their necks.  The nieces and nephews refused to go in there again.