BR60103

Polly: I've seen it suggested that the personnel in model vehicles be a scale or so smaller that the bus/coach to allow for the thickness of the sides being overscale (suitable for armoured vehicles).

Sounds like my American cousin. She goes in with specials, coupons, rebates and what not and I think they end up paying her to take the groceries.

Ian: Peter's business site is http://www.hornbydubloemporium.com/ Ian A. May I suggest contacting the Platelayers in Ontario http://www.theplatelayers.org/ and get in touch with Peter Scrimshaw. He is one of, if not the most knowledgeable persons with regards to Wrenn in North America. He should be able to tell you if its worthwhile carrying them or not. I had a mint 8f that I tried to sell at an exhibition bring & buy stall a few years back. Couldn't shift it even for half of what an identical one on eBay went for the week before. Although with the resurrected Wrenn and collectors club folding last year, prices may have started to climb again. Have a great day everyone.

Re NHS At university, my poli sci professor said he had been with the government when the NHS was being set up. One of their studies suggested that it would be cheaper to treat everyone who showed up at the hospital than set up a bureaucracy to check on who was registered or paid or whatever it was.

Dom: I rode on TTC's training cars a few times (in regular service). My impression was that the "training" equipment was a raised seat for the trainer to see over the driver, and a box with a switch in it to apply the brake, on a cable leading under the dash.

Busy day -- no afternoon nap! Session at Lostock Junction, as one of three running Windermere Station (my usual spot). Welcomed one of our members who has retired back to the UK. Managed to run mostly to time, and sent out most of the movements. Supper time lecture at my old university -- about an hour's drive away. A Disney imagineer from the Shanghai park talked about city planning and how they're advising China who plan to produce a city the size of Toronto every year for the next 20 years. (He's also a professor at Stanford U.)

One of my dad's stories. After the war he took teacher training. One option he chose was physical education because he could get a shower every few days. In his first year teaching they made him coach of the junior football team (rugby style, I think). He took them through some basic drills and formations, but there was no other junior team in the county. They did play the school's senior team and beat them. Later on, he included in his resume "Coached undefeated football team" as a throwaway. When he retired, the newspaper picked this up and headlined it "... coached championship football team."

No railwaying today. There was a studio tour downtown and we went to about 4 of them. We talked to an artist who is a medieval specialist; we have a couple of her works already and bought another miniature. She does work that looks like illuminated manuscripts. Last year she had a show of all the saints in Guelph -- streets, wards, churches, schools. She had to do some research to find out which St John the ward was named after. The week before it opened, the newspaper announced a new Coptic church, St Portescap or someone. Dayle bought her Christmas present there. Spent a couple of hours downstairs looking through my father's stuff. Couldn't find one of his wall pictures. When the Monarchist League was granted a coat of arms, they had to have it approved by the Queen because there is a Royal Crown on it. They gave dad a photocopy of the signed drawing.

Dayle found a newspaper story online that a bit of street reconstruction had found some old streetcar track. We went down to have a look, but the crews had been busy. and the story: http://www.guelphmercury.com/news-story ... or-guelph/ but I wonder why it might have been scrapped for WW1?

Today was renew the license on the RV day. Step one was visit to determine the mileage. Step two was "Service Ontario". woops -- didn't see the asterix that we needed an emissions test (didn't we have one last year?). Drive up to test site (only one in Guelph that handles gas RVs) to see if busy. Back to the RV, hook up the battery, drive to test site. Test site is NW corner of the city; RV is stored SE corner. 10 minutes to test then over to Service Ontario again. Back to garage to add sticker, then to storage site. Total time ca 3 1/2 hours. Test site confirmed that we were last there 2 years ago. So that's why I only managed 5 glue joints on my engine shed today.

Discussion of "in" vs "on" is to take place in the dedicated thread.

The Lionel sequence reverse (called an E-unit) worked roughly like this: There was a rotary DPDT switch wired to the field coils, with a ratchet mechanism. There was a weight that moved the ratchet one position every time it was raised and dropped. Turning on the current caused an electromagnet to raise the weight; turning it off dropped the weight and moved the switch one position. The switch had 4 positions -- forward, neutral, reverse, neutral. Most of them also had another bit to turn of the electromagnet so that the ratcheting mechanism didn't work. This was useful for big displays or layouts with poor contact that could operate the reverser unintentionally. Marx had a unit with only 2 positions. I'm not sure about American Flyer.

I've been trying to understand the small print on LED bulbs for some time -- we're running out of the traditional ones. I can see the "dimmable" and "undimmable" ones -- that's usually big letters. A lot of them say "not for use in enclosed lumieres" -- most of our fixtures are ceiling mounts with a glass bowl under them. The wattage seems to go down, but nobody makes really bright bulbs. I'd like a 250W equivalent for the garage and some storage areas. I'd even like 100W euivalents for our ceiling lights -- they should be OK in the ones that are limited to40W or 60W. I had some CFL bulbs -- bright ones -- that said not to mount them with the base up. I did that and took the bilb back the next day.

Today was Lostock Junction operating day. Crew was only 7 (for 12 operating positions that are often double manned). Our car pool driver left immediately; as a result of some surgery involving what he felt (as an MD) was botched catheter insertin/removal, he was feeling very sensitive to cold. He came back t pick us up 4 hours later. We managed most of the schedule (gentler than usual as few guest trains) and the goods yard was unmanned.

Then there's a joke about the fellow who finally got a working hearing aid. When his friend asked how his family found it, he said, "I haven't told them, but I've changed my will seven times."

John: see this comic strip http://retailcomic.com/ for Sep. 20

We had the Platelayers over for a meeting today. Only about a dozen (including wives); four sent apologies for going to a British car show instead. (and one visiting cat) Nice comments about the layout. Various follow up discussions from our show. Anyone wanting leftover sandwiches and stuff should make an appointment for the next week.

Keep your stick on the ice! Was a guest today of the Wednesday Night Water Boilers -- G gauge live steamers (or live batteriers). Running and sossidges and lots of talking. I was given one train to pilot around Formby Gorge for a while. This is in the backyard of the Lostock Junction Railway. Our deck rebuild was finished this morning, right on the estimate. Weather held off; the predicted showers turned into overcast. Late afternoon was lovely fluffy clouds.

We are getting our deck replaced. Chap felt the top boards and some outside and the railings all needed to go (I could see most of them were rotten), but the underpinnings were good. We went for coffee, walk and shopping this morning. When we returned, his truck wasn't there but the deck had been stripped. I guess he went to dispose of the old lumber. It now has upright posts and a couple of planks as well as the ones around. He expects it to take until Wednesday.

Today we went to my wife's family reunion. Her great-grandfather had, I think, 9 children, most of whom had a bunch more. Dayle's branch is the smallest -- just her (and me), her sister and nephew. We managed 50% attendance today. Basically, potluck lunch, conversation, and perusal of family history albums. Smaller than it could be as I think 3 of the family moved to the States. Talked to a couple of guys who knew a bit about Dayle's grandfather's snow plow invention. Details here: http://www.freepatentsonline.com/1641723.pdf Not much monetary return from it.

One of our importers had a customer and his wife up to his apartment (that he ran his business from). The wife was looking at a string of Wrenn locos on display and saying "I knew her" and "I knew her". Turned out she'd been in hospital volunteer work and the assorted Duchesses were on the committees as well.

Last I heard, they felt that Arthritis was sensitive when 2 items in the weather changed -- just temperature or humidity or whatever else there is didn't hurt.

Our government has taken steps to reduce the cost of car insurance. They've reduced the amount of liability and such coverage that you have to have. Not kidding -- they really have.

Ian: I bought the Devon Belle set with the WC. The foam packaging has very inviting holes in the back that you want to use to push the stock out. One of them is just at the set of piping by the firebox. I still don't have the guts to try to glue it back together.

Meum culpum; meum maximum culpum. I thought it sounded wrong.