Bon Accord

If you think the most recent passport type tickets were bad you should see the new credit card/driving license type. I renewed mine last year and got one of them back. I've resorted to using a magnifying class to read the details on the new cards. They have QR codes on them etc so hopefully the time will come when it'll all be on the card rather than having to carry half a filing cabinet of paper around with you. On the upside you can revalidate electronically now and submit all documents via email, with only a small percentage having to submit all their original bits of paper as a sample. Must say sending my entire working life off in an envelope entrusted to the Royal Mail every five years was always heart in mouth stuff for me. I'm on my third discharge book, alas the newer types are too small for my Tennents Lager book cover. I wonder how many out there still have one of those covers, or the rarer Watneys version?!

Hi Adrian, If you still have his discharge book then that'll have all the ships he sailed in and the dates he was onboard.

For a wee while I was really struggling to place the ship. There weren't many British ships with that distinctive goalpost at the break of the fo'c'sle; I know she's British going by the Mate up for'd in his whites. Now that the surviving brain cells have had time to confer, was she one of Furness Withy's "Pacific" ships, used on their UK-Pacific Northwest trade?

It can't have been special funding though. One of the first things the SNP administration did on entering office in 2007 was to hold a vote to cancel the Edinburgh Trams project in order to use the money elsewhere in the overall budget. If it had been special funding specifically for light rail from London then it would surely have been ring fenced to some degree. Interestingly in 2015 Darling said this about the Edinburgh trams: "I’m not going to pretend I was always in favour of the tram because people know I wasn’t. It’s built now and I’ve been on it a few times, but 
Edinburgh has one of the best bus networks in the country. What worries me is if the bus service is tied into the trams and the debt for the trams, that will have consequences.” On the subject of trams he said this: “I stopped most tram projects in England because they all had the same features that the Edinburgh trams has – you start off with a price which is hopelessly unrealistic, you then discover nobody knows what’s under the ground, and the whole thing has to be rethought."

Transport in Scotland has been devolved to Holyrood since 1999. Neither Darling or Brown have ever been members of the Scottish Parliament.

Definitely Montreal, King Edward Basin I think.

The fact she came in too fast is not in doubt, but you - nor anyone else here - has any definite knowledge as to precisely why that was the case, be that misjudgement, mechanical issue, medical issue etc. Yet there seems to be a mad rush to damn the individuals concerned.

What it suggests is irrelevant without the full facts and has only led to some rather damning speculation, something which usually gets such threads locked long before now.

A Secunni (or Sukunni in Hindi) was a Quartermaster. Bosun's were known as a Serang. Bosun's mate - Burra Tindal Carpenter - Mistri Lamptrimmer - Kassab Sailors (AB, OS etc) - Kalassi Firemen - Ag Walla All of the above was the Hindustani used to describe native crew regardless of their actual original or religion, or I should perhaps say that was at least the pidgin version of it used universally by the Malim Sahib's (i.e. us). Strick Line were known colloquially as "Frank Strick's" after the founder and were part of the P&O empire. However as was normal for the time the parent was quite content to let the subsidiary company carry on doing their own thing with independent management, traditions, liveries etc rather than the modern fad of consolidating everything and thoroughly demoralising everyone. Unlike most other liner companies their trade was entirely one way with manufactured British/European goods to the Perishin' Gulf and it's environs, but with nothing to come back the other way as that region produced nothing except oil. So whilst a normal voyage took them out there, they would then find a suitable charter or series of charters to somehow bring the ship home to the UK. That meant they could and often did end up anywhere on the long voyage home.

The Royal Scotsman set also looks to have been overhanging the end of the platform by about three coach lengths. That means the stopping point in this case prior to moving in to couple up would have been significantly further out than what their crews would be used to for the coach rakes in normal use on the Strathspey; with their own rakes the last coach is normally always inside the platform by at least a length or so. That then means the required stopping point in this case would have been about 4-5 coach lengths further out than is normal routine. If the crew were on autopilot and simply doing what they'd done a thousand times before that might explain the speed. The RS set visits the Strathspey regularly, but it is diesel hauled by one of their own diesels up to Boat of Garten so a diesel crew rather than a steam crew would do the job.

I very much suspect she's an Admiralty paddle tug, attached to what was then the Royal Dockyard in Bermuda. The buff funnel and lack of a port of registry under her name on her stern would corroborate that.

I'm just amazed that in 2023 it hasn't been banned on the grounds of cultural appropriation.

It could well have been number 7. I'm sure there was another somewhat damp OL49 - maybe 100? I think that was the one which was sent for overhaul and dismantled but never came back. I do remember one day leaving Wolsztyn in a loco with leaking side stays only for the driver to ask me to stop at the level crossing just before the shed, he then clambered down and ran inside, returning moments later with a sheet of thin copper. We then got underway again. He then spent the next wee while trying to hold it against the side of the box in an attempt to "fuse" it over the site of the leak.

Looks to be from Polish Ocean Lines.

Of course we don't have Trinity House in Scotland, we instead have the NLB which is known to everyone colloquially as "the Lighthouse Board". Trinity House seem to have an affection for all manner of nonsense that wouldn't be out of place with RN/RFA or the like; the NLB and their Irish equivalent were always thankfully free of such things.

It's been there at least 35 years.

The first time I went, our first turn was the morning commuter service to Poznan. So one murky morning Howard took me and my pal down to the engine, shown to the cab, Howard quickly pointed out some of the various controls and gauges and then left us to it. I was sat in the drivers seat somewhat nervous, there was a whistle then a shout of "Odjaz" from across the cab, I turned to look and this was followed up with "go, GO" and a point of the finger ahead. I pushed the regulator open, she slipped, I yanked it back and then the Polish crew burst out laughing as I tried again to get us moving, successfully this time. This was on one of the OL's - 59 I think - and the crew were none other than Janus and Andre, two of Wolszytn's greatest characters and regular partners in crime. Once the crews realised you had some idea what you were doing you were generally left to get on with it with little interference. One of the best runs I ever had was with "Bum" (those who went will know who I mean) and he'd had a massive falling out with his fireman that day, so was very much in the huff. We ran from Wolsztyn-Leszno-Wolsztyn-Zbasynek-Wolsztyn and he never said a word beyond the odd jab in the ribs to let me know if I'd passed the braking point, otherwise he gave everyone a thorough ignoring. The crazy things that used to go on at every single visit would be unbelievable to most, that is unless you'd been lucky enough to do it yourself. Just a few I remember were: running a loco in service with a firebox that looked like a water feature, the Polish fireman on the running plate hammering the Westinghouse pump as we raced home to Wolsztyn one snowy winters night, derailing a loco over little used points and just "getting on with it" with some very heath robinson gear to rerail, stopping the loco alongside a pub for a quick piwo or two and then heading off, lassoing a tree that was uprooted and leaning gently against the OHLE then commandeering the local farmer and his tractor to pull it clear in exchange for vodka with the line still open. The aforementioned Janus was an excellent engineman and the only time I can recall him losing his cool was when the Pacific had returned to service, albeit with a speedometer which also had a monitoring/recording device; she was the only steam loco with a speedo in Poland as I recall. At that time she couldn't fit on the turntable at Wolsztyn so ran tender first at times. Some manager then analysed the data and scolded Janus on running over the speed limit tender first. His response was to attack said speedometer with a hammer, then once detached throw it at said manager along with a request in Polish to stick it somewhere uncomfortable. To explain for those unaware: the Polish crews were paid bonuses for timekeeping, hence rules and the odd speed limit were occasionally bent to make sure we got where we should on time. The Blues Express was one of those turns which had to be done but probably never repeated by most; absolutely exhausting, lots of beer, emergency break applications galore etc and nearly 24 hours continuously on the footplate. I suppose it really was all a bit insane. Happy, fun, unrepeatable times with some wonderful people and all thanks to Howard.

Yes my 2005 doesn't have them either, although all other parts are there. Did you ask Hornby directly about it?

My 2005 arrived a few minutes ago. Taken with the 'phone camera on the kitchen table, but just to give an idea what it looks like.

I presume this is one of a series to replace the Finnstar class which run from Travemunde? When I was last up the Baltic in the freight Ro-Ros Beachy Head/Longstone (on charter to Transfennica) there were only seven ships on the Finland run that were faster than us: the five Finnstar sisters and two Superfasts which ran from Rostock. Those seven ships could all manage 25-30 knots when flat out. Everything else we were able to overtake, so the OOW rarely needed to look astern! All pre massive fuel prices/financial crisis of course.

After a 4 year hiatus, our annual "jolly boys outing" ran again yesterday for trip on Waverley from Greenock to Brodick (with time ashore) and return. On arrival in Brodick on the east side of the ferry pier. Returning to Greenock. Having discharged all passengers at Greenock Custom House Quay, she then proceeded 'light' upriver to Glasgow Plantation Quay Science Centre, which was to be her berth for the night.

The other reason certain specific operators stuck with steam reciprocating engines was a requirement for sustained low speeds coupled with the need for reasonably rapid engine movements with no limit on their number, which is where turbine and motorships were at a disadvantage. Hence how many tugs, dredgers, salvage vessels etc were still built with up and downers even into the 1960s, whilst recip powered cable ships were favoured until well after the war. When the latter were working cables, for the purposes of station keeping they had to run at very low revs - often astern as the cable sheaves were on the bow - for long periods. When BR built their last paddle steamer in 1953 it didn't even have a Triplex, she was instead fitted with a two cylinder compound...

Well you blatantly did, otherwise why bring the history of David MacBrayne into your answer to the OP which only asked of the IOMSPC and the railway steamers? Particularly since it's followed by the comment "Combinations of vested interests and government interference management probably put a stop to what would have been good fleet management." As I have stated in my reply, MacBrayne's "fleet" management was actually rather good and forward thinking for it's time.

You're quite wrong. MacBraynes - whose history you list above - was in fact an early proponent of modern technology including internal combustion, with all of their vessels built from 1930 onwards being exclusively diesel powered. By way of stark comparison; the Cal in Calmac (Caledonian Steam Packet) was the former BR/LMS/LNER owned vessels and in contrast they were exclusively building steam powered vessels - with one exception - until the 1950s. In terms of propulsion technology it's also worth nothing that the CSP/railways built their last paddle steamer in 1953, whereas MacBraynes built their last paddler a full 65 years before, way back in 1888. It's therefore quite clear that the railways were just as technologically and ideologically conservative when it came to motive power at sea as they were on land. It's also worth noting that the two ships being built at Fergusons are to have dual fuel (Diesel/LNG) machinery, this was to be a first for a UK flag passenger vessel and therefore new territory for the MCA and that in itself was one source of many problems. Ironically one beneficiary of some of the to/from between CMAL/Fergusons/MCA over regulations is P&O Cruises as their two most recent vessels can run on LNG.

Not as advanced as you might think Mark. They were fairly rudimentary but very useful for running stern first into awkward ports. Well used by ships on the Dover Ocean and elsewhere. They were usually controlled from a wheel on the fo'c'sle, so an AB/QM had to be down there to operate it with instructions from the bridge being either by pea whistle, loud hailer or telegraph. Some newer ships had controls on the bridge but by that point everyone was moving over to bowthrusters, although I believe some of the 60s/70s Sealink ferries on the channel had both thrusters and a bow rudder, the latter so they could proceed faster astern and retain steerage. Regarding advanced technology I read somewhere that one of the pre war IOM steamers had a steam turbine bowthruster, now that's something I'd have liked to have seen and you have to wonder how it worked! I have it in my head it was the 1927 Lady of Mann, but I can't remember for certain.