Zero Gravitas

In the dim and distant past, MRJ did once or twice include a loose folded A3 spread of a single photo, which one could mount (well, I did) without dismembering the magazine. The one I have in mind was a view of a bridge on Bramblewick.

Yes - and the “Hurley” poster, with its caption “this is a model railway”... (Mr. Welch again...)

I'm looking again at the photo Tony's standard tank and find myself thinking that Paul Karau has slipped up for once - this really should have been on the centre-fold pages. In my copy, the LH and RH sides of the photo are out of kilter by about 1 mm.

 

A centre-fold with staples? Exactly what kind of magazine are we talking about here?...

For me, one of the great things about MRJ is that it has been both aspirational and inspirational - I’ve seen fantastic modelling in it, and I’ve tried to get my models to look more like the ones that I’ve seen. As such, it doesn’t matter to me that the modelling was the work of one person of several.

And, to offer a different perspective, many really good layouts are club layouts, which are de facto the creation of a group of people. What’s the real difference between a complete layout and single piece of rolling stock, when it comes to the nature of their creation?

Just because I can’t do it myself, doesn’t mean I don’t want to see it.

My subs copy arrived at lunch time, complete with renewal notice [sigh].

Time to write that one cheque of the year again?

Not available in Target, San Jose, CA either... Looking forward to getting back to Blighty tomorrow evening where my subs copy should be waiting for me. It’ll be nice to see Mrs. Gravitas as well.

OK, I've just locked myself in my water closet (naked) and flogged myself with a bag full of broken red panda underframes. By way of compensation I went for a search through my negs and come up with this.

 

Possibly a Diagram 1808-Lot 672 according to my notes.

 

P

1. Thank you so much for mental image, which I cannot now unthink...

2. So that’s what happened to all the Red Panda undeframes!

Now that's an interesting question, I'm right handed but use my left for the side-stick. I don't have any difficulty with this arrangement but that could be simple familiarity after being on the 'bus (320, 330, now 350) for the last 14yrs. I don't recall any trouble when I first moved to the 'bus, either.

However, when we undertake our six-monthly simulator check Captains are required to take part of the check in the righthand seat, as part of the RHS qualification in order to operate from either seat, and I find myself 'over controlling' despite being right handed.

PL..

Thank you - that’s interesting to know. Next time I’m on an Airbus I’ll see if I can tell which side it’s being flown from ;-)

Although pretty much all of my travelling at the moment (East to PVG or West to SFO) is aboard Dreamliners...

Bingo!

A7-ANA, the first -1000 delivered and brought into service on 24th Feb. I flew it to Heathrow (LHR) yesterday, it makes me only the 3rd post delivery skipper on the planet to fly it......and just 3 weeks before I jack it all in.

Thank you.

And here’s a question I’ve always wanted to ask an Airbus pilot, if that’s all right. When you’re using the sidestick, does it make any difference if you’re using your “wrong” hand? So if you’re a right-handed captain, it is easier/more difficult to fly from the LH seat?

I ask because when I drive an LHD manual car, I can never be quite as fluent as in an RHD, and I’ve always wondered if it’s in any way similar for pilots.

Anyone care to hazard a guess at the aircraft type and series? Sorry but no prizes ( or beasting if incorrect;) )

A350-1000?

Adam - according to Essery and Morgan, the diagram 1828 had an all steel body with corrugated ends, and a 9 foot wheelbase.

10 foot wheelbase with a vertically planked body and early type corrugated ends were to diagram 1812, 1830 and 1808, with 1812 and 1830 being fitted. I haven’t found a picture yet.

And... I’ve just found my Essery. This confirms 1828 to be a wood-lined steel body, but still no photos... There are photos of 1808, 1812 and 1830, and (you’re not going to like this) whilst they have no external vertical or diagonal strapping on the sides, there are no external bolt heads. And on the curb rail, there are only the three external bolt heads to the left of the door as you look at the wagon. No external bolt heads on the right-hand curb rail (photos on pages 35, 36 and 37).

Hope that helps.

Thanks everyone, lots of interesting ideas there.

 

Meanwhile, I note that Amazon has acquired the film rights to "Consider Phlebas", the first novel in Banks's Culture series.  I understand that Amazon boss Jeff Bezos is a huge Culture fan, and "Consider Phlebas" will be made into an Amazon Prime series.  Taking Bezos' enthusiasm into account, and looking at other Prime series, eg "The Man in the High Castle", there's no reason to suppose that Amazon won't do "Phlebas" justice.  Screenwriter will be Dennis Kelly, who was behind the recent Channel 4 series "Utopia" (which I did not see!).

 

DT

And talking of really rich people with an interest in sci-fi, Elon Musk’s booster rocket recovery barges are named after Culture spacecraft.

I too miss Iain M. Banks, as you will probably realise by my choice of user name. And just for the record “Excession” is my favourite book of all time (and that includes Atkins, Beard and Tourret).

Whilst I haven’t found anything that truly scratches that itch, I did enjoy “2312” by Kim Stanley Robinson.

We wouldn't want people to get the impression that railway modellers are a bunch of po faced puritans who think "fun" is a sin.

Don’t let some of the contributors to the MRJ threads hear you uttering such heresy!

I can't believe you wasted time going back all the way to that topic!

 

Actually only took me about 5 mins using the forum search facility and the search term “trellis”. There are actually a surprising number of threads which contain “trellis” but not in the context of “Mrs”...

I could be worong but I think it may have been Mr Horse that drew the original anology? Perhaps he could comment?

 

P

It was indeed Mr. Horse, in the thread for MRJ 239:

“Posted by Horsetan on 19 May 2015 - 07:22 in Model Railway Journal

Does anyone else think that Roger Lycett-Smith is a bit like the Mrs. Trellis of MRJ? His letters seem to get published so often that I sometimes think MRJ keeps his correspondence in reserve for when they need fillers....!”

Mine arrived within 4 days and I am very happy with them. Current price on ebay is 2.99.

However, the same thing on Amazon for 1.85 with free delivery...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/DSYJ-Anti-Static-Stainless-Tweezers-Maintenance/dp/B00H8KLZG8/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1516554175&sr=8-12&keywords=tweezer+set

I have to say that I wish I had discovered Sand adopted it rather than EM when I was moving into fine-scale modelling in the early 1980s.

It would have been going against the grain.

Well, mine did not involve googling, and you haven't said whether or not it's right yet.

Photo of the literal back of an envelope that I used is below.

I don’t know about the answer, but I’m really bothered that you haven’t removed the label!

Happy Christmas!

Mrs. Gravitas and I aspire to be like Leon and June when we get older. He will be sadly missed - condolences to June and the rest of his family.

I also remember reading about how if the Romans had the steam engine, they would have been on the moon if the empire hadn’t collapsed - although I seem to recall they would get there in about the tenth century.

However, I’ve also read that the real problem the Romans had was their numbering system, which was not compatible with engineering solutions (and lacked a character for “0”).

Another very good issue - although I do have one operational question (appropriately, given that Mr. Nield is editing).

On page 301, the lower picture of the wagons being shunted down the incline - I’ve always thought that in such circumstances, with no brakevan attached, the engine would always be on the “downhill” end of the wagons, in case a coupling breaks and there is a runaway. Were there any official rules about this, or am I just making it up as I go along (note: not unusual)?

TIA.

Are you a time traveller, and, if so can you take me with you?

The good news is yes, I am a time traveller; the bad news is that I can only travel in one direction and one rate - both of which seem to be about the same as everybody else...

And apologies for my imprecise use of language - I should have said “when I was checking in for my flight to Shanghai, which departs tomorrow” and trust me, after eleven and a half hours folded into an economy seat, you won’t want to be anywhere near me...

One of my past lives was working for a large direct-selling beauty company (clue: ding d*ng - although they haven’t used that slogan since 1972).

It used to be quite disconcerting to go into the marketing department in February and March and find it full of samples of Christmas merchandise, as they finalised the plans for the coming Christmas...

Edited to add: the asterisk in “d*ng” is an “o”. Apparently the forum software objects to doorbell sounds that may also be slang for a part of the body...

Slightly off-topic, and quite coincidentally, when I checked in for my flight to Shanghai tomorrow, that we will be flying in to Pu D*ng airport (* = o again). It is to be hoped that the aIr traffic control software is a bit more open-minded...

WHS in Didcot, of all places, today - haven’t had it and apparently are not getting it...

Which is really the perfect way for GWRJ to end, I suppose - waiting for the last issue to arrive in WHS for all eternity.

Yeah. Who would want flour or milk in July?

You can enjoy pancakes all year round by calling them crepes, or by making the smaller, thicker ones that are actually cake-like.

You migh call them crepes, but I didn’t think they were that bad.

(With apologies to Sid Snot and Kenny Everett, circa 1978).