Tankerman

Since I found this thread a couple of weeks ago I have been following it just out of interest, however the model looks so good I have now decided to buy one and renumber it to 9434. The main reason being that when I was not yet a teenager I used to travel from Penryn to Truro to go locospotting at the 'big' station, one day the loco crew gave me a footplate ride back to Penryn on 9434, after that she was my favourite loco. It's a long shot but does anyone know if she would have had the early or late BR crest in 1957/58? Yes I am that old. Another strange coincidence regarding the number 9434 is that when I joined the Merchant Navy in 1968 my registration number was R859434. Thanks in advance for any help with this.

May I ask which Kadee coupler you have used?

I did once make the mistake of buying Ginster's excuse for a pasty, I'm not at all sure that they deserve a rating as high as second.

I don't follow the current railway scene to any great extent, but this topic caught my eye, I looked up the Class 68 and saw that most were named after RN warships. It is said that those who don't learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat the same mistakes. The Class 68's are clearly causing trouble of one sort or another, after the Class 41(D6XX), 42 & 43 and the troubles that the WR had with the Class 50's when they were given the names of warships perhaps it is history repeating itself again.

Since it's in Yorkshire, perhaps it would help if the exhaust noise could be modified to sound like a brass band?

This should have a warning on it to the effect that attempting to start this training course could result in a complete stoppage of both food and other rations.

Talking of far, far westerners, If you are from east of Exeter, cross the Tamar, stay away from the coast and meet a Cornishman over 50 you are quite likely to need an interpreter.

Wayne, Having seen this I think that you have probably done more than anyone else to make EM gauge a viable alternative to OO for those modellers who have limited track building skills and tried EM, but fell down at the hurdle of building points.

Are we allowed a guess of a number less than 1?

A little story on ringing out the old and ringing in the new from 50 years ago, when I was an Electrical Officer and things were very different than they are now. We had arrived at an oil terminal in Perth Amboy, near New York on New Years Eve, to discharge a cargo of JP4 (a mixture of petrol and kerosene used as jet fuel at the time). Due to it's usage it was passed through filters when being loaded and again when being discharged. About 9 pm we received a message from the terminal control cabin to cease pumping as the filters were becoming blocked. We were also told that back washing was required and pumping would resume about 6am. We suspected that the shore staff wanted to see the New Year in with a small celebration and that meant we would be able to do the same. This was particularly welcome as I was from Penryn, the Chief Officer was from St Ives, the Second Officer from Stonehaven, the Chief Engineer from Buckie, the Second Engineer from Dundee, the Third Engineer from Inverurie and one of the Junior Engineers from one of the Western Isles. As if by magic three bottles of Glenfiddich malt were produced and we all had a wee dram. or two in the Second Engineers cabin. About 11 pm the captain, who was from the South East of England and we already knew had clearly suffered a sense of humour bypass, appeared at the door of the cabin. He said he was going to bed and that on no account was the ships bell to be rung or horn to be sounded at midnight. About 10 minutes to midnight the Third got to his feet and said "No matter what you hear man, dinna worry." At midnight the engineers alarm, klaxons mounted on the bulkheads of each deck, sounded for 3 or 4 minutes. Just as they went silent the Captain appeared at the door of the cabin, with that the Third tapped him on the shoulder from behind and the Captain turned around, before he could say anything, the Third said "See you Jimmy, that noise was no the whistle or the bell, that was the engineers alarm, Happy New Year, now f**k off back to yer bunk.

Me Too

Firstly I have no connection with Wayne other than commenting on this thread and being very pleased that he is planning these point kits which will enable me to have prototypical pointwork on my planned layout. Have you looked at the results of Wayne's trackwork poll on page 12? The results are as follows :- To use with:- Peco bullhead - 63%, C&L thick sleeper - 12%, C&L thin sleeper - 10%, SMP - 10%, Other - 6% That shows that the gap in the market is not compatibility with SMP OO track, but providing prototypical pointwork for use with Peco bullhead and C&L thick sleeper track, since 75% of the respondents stated those flexible tracks as their preferred purchase option.

Infinite possibilities

Based on my own experience, and only that, I'm happy to put the H&M forward on the basis of low price and reliability.

I would like to add the H&M point motor, as far as I'm aware the first one to give reliable operation over a long period of time, particularly on exhibition layouts.

A GWR Grange which was very common in Cornwall. Once described by a west country loco shed foreman, at a talk I attended more years ago than I care to remember, as the best all round locomotive to have west of Newton Abbot.

Too true to be funny?

At least his surname was appropriate.

Gordon, We will probably never meet, but having been where you are now. I was told that I had a kidney tumour out of the blue some fifteen years ago and felt completely at a loss, until I met the surgeon who was to carry out the operation. Those that get to be top surgeons are some of the most skilled and caring people you will ever meet and you will be in the best hands that you could be.

My favourite was that on a van owned by a Sikh family of builders in Slough. "If you're fed up with cowboys, try the Indians"

There are other costs to be considered as well. Things may well have changed since I retired as an insurance company engineer surveyor in 2011, but my experience of such systems over many years was that the average service life of such units, when used in a similar fashion for commercial premises, was eight years. I don't know the current coat of these, but in 2010 they were around £2,000 £3,000 per unit.

The saying I was taught, both by electricians in Falmouth Docks and lecturers at Cornwall Tech College was "It's the volts that jolts, but it's the mils (for milliamps) that kills." The TV's of the 1950's/early '60's had a cathode tube voltage somewhere between 15,000 to 25,000 volts, but a very low current drain. I've been told by those who experienced them that a shock from one would knock you sideways but weren't lethal.

Pete, Thanks for posting this, it looks like a Skyphotos image which were always the best. It also brought back some good memories and the shock of realising that it was 50 years ago this year that I sailed on her as Lecky. She looks a bit rough in appearance, which could be because she's nearing the end of her days. She has the P&O group funnel markings, which were introduced in 1974, and she was scrapped 1976 in Taiwan. Nearly all the Trident Tankers men were unhappy with the lost of our distinctive funnel markings. My avatar is my cap badge, which is our funnel marking superimposed on the P&O houseflag.

I found the posts about the armed forces interesting as P&O Steam Navigation was somewhat similar. I joined Trident Tankers in 1968, which was formed by P&O in 1962 to manage the tanker fleet, as placing a few tankers with each of the constituent companies hadn't worked too well. The third ship I joined was the Maloja, built for direct P&O ownership and completed in 1959. The ships plans for the midships accommodation decks were named Engineers deck, Officers deck and Bridge deck. Obviously those who got their hands dirty making sure that the ship got from port to port were neither Officers or Gentlemen.