Buhar

I keep thinking about buying one, but my eye is continuously drawn to the horizontal join in front of the firebox. Does this unsettle others? Maybe a bit of grot will blend it out.

A Defence of the 4F by Adrain Tester. It was on sale at the LMS Society sytand at Warley and I think there's also a contribution in it from Bob Essery. Sheffield gives it a mention back at post #40.

The Midland clearly had some peculiarities, superb (and heavy) carriages but until the Belpairs in 1902 and then the Compounds, nothing to pull them above a Class 2 rating. There was also the obsession with variations in wheel size that went against standardisation too. It seems they were parsimonious in their relationship with the Superheater Company, going the way of fitting to rebuilds where the royalties were cheaper. Yet they also went through the H Boiler "rebuilds" (as much a rebuild as the Patriot was of a Claughton) of their little 4-4-0s most of which were rebuilt with saturated belpairs long before the H boiler was life-expired. This clearly wasn't an exercise overseen by accountants, neither was the ornate livery constrained by costs. Johnson and Deeley both had plans for bigger engines before the 3P Belpairs appeared, unfortunately we don't know what the objections were. It seems to me the small engine policy was management driven, most writers seem to blame Anderson, and in those days deference to seniority made getting round the objections and beliefs of senior people very difficult, even with evidence to back you up. I recall reading about the ready addition of pilot engines if the train became "overloaded", which indicates that the operations department were perhaps quite rigid in their thinking. A light Class 2 was a useful engine size for much of the network, both Midland and LMS, but not to go above a Class 4 passenger was not going to be sustainable to manage traffic even if the Midland had stayed independent.

A' right der laa, I'm not sure, but from the picture shouldn't there be another of those coach things to make up the set? Does that mean you're only half way through the job?

I accept adverts as the way commercial TV is financed but will try not to buy or use a product if the advert winds me up. On the other hand, however brilliant the adverts were for Carling Black Label, I couldn't stand the stuff. It's not a favourite, but I have have reverted to the occasional John Smiths or Boddingtons after being reminded by the adverts I enjoyed. The European Cup advert breaks really get to me - long, the same 3 or 4 repeated every week, boring, mindless and interfering with football. "Sequences shortened" (Penlan) is a good moan - it borders on being as much of as a lie as some of the RyanJet price ones.

St Pancras churchyard was dug up by the Midland and also plague pits were not often next to churches so could be encountered anywhere in what is now central London.

Haven't the rules on shunting with passengers changed over the years, eg attaching and detaching through carriages (eg ACE, Lakes Express)? Slip coaches would be a complete no-no these days.

Temel and Durmus are walking through the market when they see a man auctioning the most enormous fish, he is explaining how he caught it by getting his friend to hold his ankles while he dangled off a bridge and caught the fish with his hands. Seeing the price the fish is reaching Temel says "Right, we're going to do that too." Durmus dangles Temel by his ankles then after a few minutes Temel shouts "Quick, quick, pull me up." "Did you catch anything?" "No, there was a train coming."

Dave goes for a promotion interview, sits in front of the panel and prepares for the the grilling. One of them asks "Comfy?" "Govan."

Mum, I don't want to go to school today. Give me two reasons. I don't like the teachers and I don't like the children. Now you give me two reasons why I should go. One, you're 48 years old and two, you're the headmaster.

Man walks into a bar, orders three pints and downs them steadily one after the other. Next day the same happens; on the third day the barman asks "Why do you always order three drinks?". One's for me and then it's one for each of my brothers, Frank and Jim. This goes on the same for a couple of months then one day he only orders two pints. Shocked, the barman asks if he's had a bereavement, "No it's just Frank's gone teetotal."

Liverpool - Voronin - frustration doesn't come near. Plus an apology for N'gog's antics for the the penalty. Even partisanship has its limits.