The Night Mail

[Winslow Boy]

1 hour ago, Happy Hippo said:

I have decided I need a USN style dive klaxon to sound when the garage doors are opening and closing.

 

I wonder if JSB has one secreted away somewhere?

 

 

 

Isn't there supposed to an accompanying loud voice shouting Dive several times to go with it or was that just Hollywood ad libing. 

[newbryford]

16 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

 

Isn't there supposed to an accompanying loud voice shouting Dive several times to go with it or was that just Hollywood ad libing. 

 

Or in HH's case "Wallow! Wallow! Wallow!"

[SM42]

1 hour ago, Happy Hippo said:

I have decided I need a USN style dive klaxon to sound when the garage doors are opening and closing.

 

I wonder if JSB has one secreted away somewhere?

 

 

 

That reminds me.

Mrs SM42 is tidying up

 

Andy

[Tony_S]

My computer informs me it is “International Sloth Day”. I haven’t done much at all. 

[figworthy]

2 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

I have decided I need a USN style dive klaxon to sound when the garage doors are opening and closing.

 

I wonder if JSB has one secreted away somewhere?

 

 

I wanted to fit a destroyer siren on my Land Rover, but concluded that the engine wouldn't be capable of supplying enough air to make it work.

 

Adrian

[AndyID]

2 hours ago, figworthy said:

 

I wanted to fit a destroyer siren on my Land Rover, but concluded that the engine wouldn't be capable of supplying enough air to make it work.

 

Adrian

 

I did have those annoying air horns on my first car which was a 1955 VW (spray painted in Gordini Yellow by yours truly just to make it even more annoying). Unfortunately the VW was a six volt model so I had to add a small motor cycle six volt battery for the benefit of the twelve volt air horns 😀

[newbryford]

Once fitted a pair of air horns to a mates car.

Two horns, two compressors.

Operated with a changeover toggle switch.

 

It could do a passable imitation of either a train or an emergency vehicle......

[SM42]

Off to Wolsztyn today. 

 

As is usual, rain is forecast.

 

Andy

[polybear]

58 minutes ago, SM42 said:

Off to Wolsztyn today. 

 

As is usual, rain is forecast.

 

Andy

 

Bear very jealous - always fancied their steam footplate courses/hols but it seems they may be in imminent danger of disappearing (I think the Brit guy behind them is on the point of/has retired).

 

8 hours ago, AndyID said:

I did have those annoying air horns on my first car which was a 1955 VW (spray painted in Gordini Yellow by yours truly just to make it even more annoying). Unfortunately the VW was a six volt model so I had to add a small motor cycle six volt battery for the benefit of the twelve volt air horns 😀

 

Air Horns that played a tune were commonplace in the 70's and 80's, but seem to have disappeared - which is a real pity in this Bear's book.  Maybe the Bear should think about resurrecting them.......🤔

[Happy Hippo]

28 minutes ago, polybear said:

Air Horns that played a tune were commonplace in the 70's and 80's, but seem to have disappeared - which is a real pity in this Bear's book.  Maybe the Bear should think about resurrecting them.......🤔

They are also illegal for a vehicle first used after 1st August 1973.

 

The Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986

UK Statutory Instruments 1986 No. 1078

 

PART II F  Regulation 37

 

Audible warning instruments

37.—(1) (a) Subject to sub-paragraph (b), every motor vehicle which has a maximum speed of more than 20 mph shall be fitted with a horn, not being a reversing alarm or a two-tone horn.

(b)Sub-paragraph (a) shall not apply to an agricultural motor vehicle, unless it is being driven at more than 20 mph.

(2) Subject to paragraph (6), the sound emitted by any horn, other than a reversing alarm or a two-tone horn, fitted to a wheeled vehicle first used on or after 1st August 1973 shall be continuous and uniform and not strident.

 

(Further on it has a list of vehicles permitted to have two tone horns and these are almost invariably 'emergency services' vehicles.)

 

So you can have, say, 5 horns of different tone, but they must all sound at the same time.

 

However, would a rapid response  armoured cake carrier qualify as an emergency service vehicle?

Edited October 21, 2022 by Happy Hippo

[polybear]

13 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

They are also illegal for a vehicle first used after 1st August 1973.

 

Only if you're caught.....🤣

 

edit:  I also heard on the radio yesterday that reversing round a corner (a learner's nightmare) is no longer a part of the driving test.  No wonder the world is full of clowns who can't drive.

 

13 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

However, would a rapid response  armoured cake carrier qualify as an emergency service vehicle?

 

No.  A Target.

Edited October 21, 2022 by polybear

[Oldddudders]

In 1966, in my last year at skool (that spelling alone tells you how hard I studied) I did a weekend job as a window-cleaner. A typical morning break for "lunch" (elevenses to you and me) was the station cafe at Dorking North. On more than one occasion the firm's boss would come and join our gang for a tea there. His Jag was parked outside, and it was normal for someone to go and press the horn button, giving a very loud rendition of Colonel Bogey. ISTR La Cucharacha (spellings vary) was another popular choice in those days.

[jjb1970]

On 18/10/2022 at 23:37, Dunsignalling said:

A late pal and I tried one of the green pens out on one copy of a disc we both had so we could make a comparison.

 

No audible difference and my mate was one of those guys with "golden ears" and could tell if your vinyl was being played via a MC or MM cartridge.

 

We did try it also on a couple of discs with rather dodgy looking edges and a tendency to skip. It appeared to help a bit with those, but only the playing, not the sound.

 

John

 

 

I blame turntables for a lot of the audiophile insanity. In the old days of analogue turntables you really did need to be up for some tweakery to optimize performance. Setting up arms and cartridges took a little effort, isolating turntables (there are room/pick-up interactions which can be audible), looking after vinyl etc. It was a hobbyists dream (I've often thought it no surprise that many rail modellers were hi-fi enthusiasts) but with digital it really is plug and play. A certain subset of manufacturers and the audio press have managed to convinced some that digital audio is just like analogue but with ones and zeroes instead of waves and created demand for 'audiophile' USB cables, inter-connects, fuses, expensive DACs, ridiculous bit depth and sampling rates etc. I find it all more than a bit crazy.

[polybear]

2 hours ago, Oldddudders said:

.....and it was normal for someone to go and press the horn button, giving a very loud rendition of Colonel Bogey. ISTR La Cucharacha (spellings vary) was another popular choice in those days.

 

And still available at Demon Tweeks.....😉

[PhilJ W]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLj3j_N-l38

Edited October 21, 2022 by PhilJ W

[PhilJ W]

3 hours ago, polybear said:

 I also heard on the radio yesterday that reversing round a corner (a learner's nightmare) is no longer a part of the driving test.  No wonder the world is full of clowns who can't drive.

I took an advanced test so that I could drive my employers vehicles. I took the test in a Transit Minibus (twin wheel). The main difference was that I started facing the traffic and performed the manoeuvre on right lock. Either way in modern traffic conditions it is a dangerous manoeuvre thats why it was removed from the test. Its fifty four years since I passed my test and about half that since I passed the advanced test. I do believe it was replaced by reversing into a parking bay.

[BoD]

I think today that you have to demonstrate that you aren’t  Reginald Molehusband.

[Happy Hippo]

I can't speak for Newbryford, but in my experience as an ADI, I spent proportionally more time teaching people to reverse rather than driving forward when you take into account how long the test is and how much time you spend using reverse gear during that time.

 

The reversing exercise(s) is not proving you can reverse around a corner, do a turn in the road or reverse park into a bay it is to demonstrate you can safely control the the vehicle whilst moving in a confined area, whilst keeping up a good level of observation around the vehicle.

 

A manoeuvre which should have been taught, but tended to be confined to those driving vans was the right reverse around a corner.  You had to pull onto the rhs of the road just past the junction and then reverse around the corner (in the direction of normal traffic flow).  You then proceeded to continue to reverse down the road until it was safe to drive away and regain the correct side of the road prior to the junction at the end.

 

I was given this to do on my ADI Part 3 examination by an examiner called John Sheridan (Now the DVSA's Driver Training Policy Manager). He was based at Wolverhampton for some years and had a reputation which was magnified beyond all proportion so it struck fear into trainees who were tested by him.  He also put the fear of God into more than a few qualified instructors, when it came to him conducting the tests of continued proficiency.

 

 

 

 

[PhilJ W]

One thing that many drivers, even van drivers do not do is reverse park. I've seen several near accidents in supermarket car parks where people have reversed out of parking spaces without checking.

[jjb1970]

17 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

One thing that many drivers, even van drivers do not do is reverse park. I've seen several near accidents in supermarket car parks where people have reversed out of parking spaces without checking.

 

I worked for a company that introduced a rule that everybody had to reverse park on their sites so they could pull out front first, it was hilarious in some ways as people who'd been driving for decades had panic and anxiety attacks because they'd never done it before. Despite all the moaning and protestations of doom everyone did it and it didn't take long for people to learn (it was made very clear the alternative was park off site, not easy given the location of the plants).

[Pacific231G]

21 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

I have decided I need a USN style dive klaxon to sound when the garage doors are opening and closing.

 

Another good way of annoying your neighbours is to set fire to their dustbins.

(Old BBC World Service  joke - is was supposed to follow this auntyish announcement.  "Listeners in hot countries should avoid having their radios too loud with the windows open as that might annoy their neighbours" though for far too many listeners a visit from the secret police was a a more likely result) 

 

 

 

[Happy Hippo]

38 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

One thing that many drivers, even van drivers do not do is reverse park. I've seen several near accidents in supermarket car parks where people have reversed out of parking spaces without checking.

Somewhat loosely in their defence, it is no good reverse parking into a bay if you then cannot access the rear doors due to an obstruction (parked car/fence/wall etc)to load up.

 

I did just that in a badged driving school car:  Reversed into the bay and then had to move the car to get into the back due to the rear of the vehicle being obstructed: 

 

'Honest Guv, the brick wall wasn't there when I backed in!'

 

However, as you so rightly point out, it's no excuse for not carrying out observation before moving off.  A van really ought to have a banksman to ensure traffic is stopped before reversing out. 

 

This is something I do when tradesmen drive onto our shared driveway and then have to reverse back into the road, although since they made the road a cul de sac, the traffic levels and speed have dropped considerably.

[Compound2632]

1 minute ago, Happy Hippo said:

Somewhat loosely in their defence, it is no good reverse parking into a bay if you then cannot access the rear doors due to an obstruction (parked car/fence/wall etc)to load up.

 

I was taught always to reverse into a bay except in a supermarket car park, for the very reason that one can't otherwise get the shopping in the back.

 

I've always preferred reversing in though and have never really mastered driving in straight - I'll always look for two empty spaces together so that there's nothing on my right as I park.

[Happy Hippo]

3 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

 

I was taught always to reverse into a bay except in a supermarket car park, for the very reason that one can't otherwise get the shopping in the back.

 

I've always preferred reversing in though and have never really mastered driving in straight - I'll always look for two empty spaces together so that there's nothing on my right as I park.

~To drive in straight you really need to be over on the opposite side of the road to the bay you intend driving into, and you need to drive forward until your wing mirrors are in line with the nearest line of the bay your trying to get into.

 

Sweeping in at too higher speed is to be avoided.

 

Nice and slow with very rapid steering.

[jamie92208]

2 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

 

I worked for a company that introduced a rule that everybody had to reverse park on their sites so they could pull out front first, it was hilarious in some ways as people who'd been driving for decades had panic and anxiety attacks because they'd never done it before. Despite all the moaning and protestations of doom everyone did it and it didn't take long for people to learn (it was made very clear the alternative was park off site, not easy given the location of the plants).

We were undervorders to always reverse park in policecstation carbparks as usually rush jobs were going out rather than returning.  However at Pontefract it could be awkward if an articulated sugar tanker was reversing down into the Haribo factory. Even worse if there was a beer delivery at the Working Mens Club oposite at the same time. Even worse if a Tesco artic was tryi g to getbinto their loading bay opposite the end of our cul de sac.  I still reverse park out of habit.  Reversing my trailer into the tip is good fun though.

 

Jamie