Bon Accord

With regard to extending ships, it shouldn't be forgotten that the reverse was true once upon a time. For example during the Great Depression Brocklebank Line shortened some of their cargo ships by removing an entire hatch so as to make them more economically competitive for the time. As for the former ORIANA (the new one), I wonder if her name is a play on words with regard to her former owners, e.g. "P&O" to "Piano" with a nod to her becoming some kind of tourist attraction in her own right to all things P&O as was her predecessor prior to her scrapping.

I'd imagine this is the one you should be looking for: https://www.hattons.co.uk/165560/hornby_r3338_class_b1_4_6_0_61310_in_br_apple_green/stockdetail.aspx There are quite a few examples for sale on ebay.

Rob, My small NZR collection: Ww480 and Kb970, two generations of South Island motive power. The Ww is from the On-Line Models kit, whilst the Kb came from JG Kits of Christchurch. I have a few NZR coaches too that came from South Dock Models - one day I'll start ordering some wagon kits to make up a suitable freight for the Kb. I've been keeping an eye out for the Ajin Ka but have yet to come across one and I doubt many reached these shores. I sometimes wonder if my models are the most northerly NZR examples, or perhaps the furthest away from NZ?!

I suppose the cash for all the upcoming parliamentary and electoral bribes has to come from somewhere, so HS2 shall be the sacrificial lamb to provide it. Of course a decision to cancel would also delight a certain segment of the electorate who care little of the future implications of this and many other things.

Richard, Is that an RTR chassis under the Barney? I've got one built in HR green but I'm always on the lookout for another one and so keep a good eye on Ebay for an example unbuilt or otherwise. Chassis building isn't really my forte so every little helps!

I'm sure that both the IOWSR Terriers have had new boilers in preservation and presumably both are welded.

Gary, "A History of Highland Locomotives" by Peter Tatlow has a number of 4mm drawings therein of HR locos and I'm sure it'll have drawings and details about the Lochs. It's out of print now but can be found second hand. I'm away from home for another fortnight, but if you haven't managed anything by then I can scan the pages concerned and send them to you.

Rob, Good to see the ski jump gone - I can now start acquiring A3's again after something of a hiatus. Hornby do seem to have some QC issues of late. Two J36 I ordered (one NB version the other BR) from Hattons had to be returned due to damage which had obviously occurred at the packing stage in China. Hattons response was excellent in both cases with replacement examples sent out ASAP and no fuss whatsoever, however it did make me wonder just how many duds they - and the other retailers large and small - have been saddled with. I'm reluctant to complain too much as Hornby's ongoing resurgence is to be admired and is something the hobby needs, lest we have overall blue box dominance.

It's not the same one, although in this case an individual has created a front to the actual RTT site. It is alas not particularly user friendly.

This week I've cashed in my iphone for a shiny new Samsung S10 and on setting up the latter I can't seem to find an android version of the RTT app which has graced my various Iphones over the years. It's an app I find especially useful when travelling, especially at those stations who insist on causing as much confusion as possible by not displaying a platform number until about a minute before departure time despite the stock lying there with doors open. If the old app is no longer available, can any of our more tech savvy members recommend a replacement?

Apparently Armando Iannucci has given up writing political satire as nothing he could produce today could possibly match or exceed developments with the real thing.

One of the members here (Kingfisher24) did modify the Hornby Single in it's latest form (i.e. the version with the more intricate CR livery) in a bid to make it a bit more lifelike. This included modifying the bogie and shortening the running plate. Found some pictures here: His gallery is well worth looking at if you're interested in Scottish steam, some truly inspirational RTR/kit bashing and scratchbuilding work on show.

The latter. The unrefurbished sets have been given the "Intercity Classic" moniker by the marketing people. Currently the HST sets seem to be focussed on the Glasgow/Edinburgh-Aberdeen runs with only a limited number visiting Inverness, the increase in diagrams shall presumably address that.

The RailScot site has a good selection of photographs of the station and the surrounding environs. See here: https://www.railscot.co.uk/locations/H/Haymarket/

Open bridges (or compass platform in RN terms) was not just confined to the smaller vessels. Everything upto battleships had them and this only really began to change during and after the second round of unpleasantness, the final nail in the coffin being the advent of the nuclear age - open bridges are of course not very NBCD friendly. Points 1 and 2 as mentioned earlier are the reasons. The shipping fraternity - both those that go to sea and those that manage from ashore - has always been very traditional and highly conservative, especially when it came to ship design and technology. The RN was of course still building Ton class minesweepers well into the 1950s with open bridges and whilst some were converted to the enclosed type a few of the al fresco variety did survive into the 70s. Merchant ships began to slowly adopt enclosing at least the helmsman from before the great war and this gradually became more popular so that by the time of WW2 the practice was near universal. There were a few exceptions and there was certainly still tugs being built with an open wheelhouse as late as the 1950s for reasons of visibility. Even so, for many years it was not uncommon for lookouts and officers of the watch to be forbidden to be inside the wheelhouse for any length of time when on watch save for any essential tasks that had to be carried out, regardless of wind and weather. The only consolation was that the OOW would usually take up station outside on the leeward bridge wing so he at least had some shelter from the elements. The same conservative and traditional attitudes applied to those ships which had a chair(s) fitted on the bridge - it being absolutely forbidden for anyone to sit in them at any time, the idea being that by sitting you could lose concentration or fall asleep. This was certainly an attitude that remained near universal until within the last decade and indeed is still reasonably common today. For a long time there was only one chair on the bridge and this was the pilot chair (a type of adult hi-chair) and as the name implies was only intended for use by an embarked pilot, however for the past two decades or so bridge chairs seen near universal provision on newbuilds. With regard to being out in all weathers, as late as circa 2010 I sailed with an Able Seaman (who was of retirement age) who never stayed indoors when on watch - rain/hail/shine he'd be outside on the bridge wing suitably attired. It was quite simply what he'd been used to.

I took a few of them on their final voyage and the quiet once we'd rung FWE for the last time and everything shut down and dark was very strange indeed. The old TEIGNBANK going to scrap was rather poignant however as she was the very last Bank Line ship and her scrapping marked not only the end of Bank Line but also the end of Andrew Weirs as a ship owning company, a history that stretched back some 124 years. As such, she was the very last 'traditional' British general cargo ship and certainly the last from one of the old companies and in a liner trade - the end of an era for both the company and shipping in general. The final chapter in traditional British shipping was of course finally closed a few years later by the withdrawal from service of RMS ST HELENA, rather appropriately she was managed by what was left of Andrew Weirs, by then known as AW Ship management.

Not one of the more usual 'from the bridge' pictures, the background is testament to that. The good ship BOULARIBANK (ex TEIGNBANK) not far from her final resting place and making the last full ahead run up the beach in Chittagong, September 2009. Two of her sisters were already beached and the I think the third was already gone. A strange and rather eerie place.

The first time I sailed in a freight Ro-Ro was also the first time I'd ever come across a ship with FLUME tanks or indeed even heard of them. Whilst the explanation of their purpose and operation made sense, for a while it did still feel as if we were going against the grain by purposely reducing the GM/increasing the roll period, e.g. 'deliberately making her less stable, are you mad?!'. If memory serves both FLUME tanks were the largest ballast tanks on the ship and could hold something of the order of 500 odd cubes. A series of graphs/instructions were provided as to the conditions as to when we were supposed to use them and the levels within, but in practice they were ignored and the tanks never emptied due to the absolutely awful seakeeping qualities of that ship and her sisters - they were very stiff.

Is that not the Hornby version of the Old Oak Common van, rather than this one?

With regard to shafts, it is (or was) common in some of the older twin screw DP fitted vessels that when in DP mode one shaft only worked ahead and the other only worked astern, this being in what we used to call "push/pull mode", the only variation being the revs in use or the pitch on the prop if CPP depending on the required movement. Therefore, the mechanical bits - especially since she's D/E - won't get quite as much of a hammering as you might think. My knowledge on the matter is somewhat out of date as I've only ever been on one DP fitted vessel (a shuttle tanker) and that was 17 years ago.

I was in Fiji a couple of weeks ago and mounted on a plinth outside one of the airport hotels in Nadi was this machine, an 0-6-0TT of approx 2' gauge which obviously saw use in the Sugar Cane industry. There was no discernible worksplate or identification on it save for the number/logo painted on which indicated it had belonged to South Pacific Sugar Mills, a concern which was nationalised into the Fiji Sugar Corporation in 1973. I have a hazy memory of it being in the same location the last time I was in Fiji in 2009 albeit painted a different colour. From what I can find online the suggestion is that it was manufactured by Fowler, would anyone happen to know if that's the same crowd of traction engine/road roller fame? The Fiji Gateway lettering/symbol is the name of the hotel whose front lawn it is sat on, the hotel's former name being the Raffles Gateway. The main entrance to Nadi airport is just across the road where on entry you are presented with road access to a very modern departures hall, however there is still a 2' gauge level crossing on that approach road with rails disappearing into the undergrowth on each side.

It is mark 1 stock and there are six vehicles all told. Better photographs of two of them here: http://www.departmentals.com/photo/975686-1 http://www.departmentals.com/photo/975682

For some reason she's been sporting those SR style headlamps at Bo'ness as well as elsewhere, as have some of the other Bo'ness fleet. I wonder where they were "acquired" from.

In the sidings to the east of the former terminal there is an electrification train of converted Mk1 stock that has lain there since the completion of ECML electrification in 1990, mouldering away quietly!

Like most companies now we have such a thing as a "performance policy" coupled with an absurdly complex appraisal system and all the associated procedures and processes. The net result is that if you've got someone who is absolutely dire at their job/waste of space/bone idle etc then it's now near impossible to get rid of them as to even officially rebuke them requires acres of paperwork and that then only puts them onto the 1st stage of the process whereupon everything has to rest for a further 3 months to permit them time to "improve". This despite this part of the process coming after the informal and formal warnings as to their conduct. HR wanting an easy life as they always do, then transfer them somewhere else, especially if said individual claims they are the subject of bullying (which is the common get out of jail free card), this then continues ad nauseum with them being passed from pillar to post over a long period. I had a particularly odious and bone idle individual inflicted on my ship a few years ago who caused all manner of mayhem onboard amongst the ratings and so I was forced to go into print, interviews, declarations etc etc and sent all this off to HQ - the paperwork alone took me a day and a half to fully complete. He then left my ship never to be seen again and three months later was promoted to PO on another vessel, where according to those onboard he hasn't changed his ways and is yet again claiming victimisation and wanting a transfer. This is far from an isolated case with one individual. Accordingly most of us don't even bother with following the correct procedures anymore as it's just not worth the hassle for no gain, therefore we sadly have to put up with the wasters and in appraisal terms everyone gets one of two types regardless of how good/bad/indifferent they may be - an average one or a good one. Writing a bad appraisal only incurs more paperwork and pointless grief. These days the only way to remove someone for definite is to get them on a D&A infraction, but the real problem children are all savvy enough to avoid that and indeed it only ever seems to catch out the good guys. In many ways I long for the days where there'd be an invitation to the Masters cabin for tea and no biscuits, giving someone 7 days notice and informing HQ that they were being booted off next port and that you didn't want to see them again under any circumstances. EDIT: There seem to be a rather annoying spellcheck thing going on where Bulleid is being replaced by Bulleid, is this some kind of internal site process as I can't seem to change it even with the edit process?