The Night Mail

[iL Dottore]

29 minutes ago, jjb1970 said:

Too many devices are needlessly complicated for marketing reasons, it obviously works but how many consumers are basically duped into spending more than they need to by clever marketing, influencers and reviewers to buy stuff they neither need nor want, never use and end up feeling ripped off?

All too true.

 

Which is why I say “when you gotta go, go pro”. Certainly in regards to professional kitchen equipment and appliances they are designed to do one (or a few) thing(s) only, do it well and do it repeatedly for thousands of times and - should something break or wear out - every single component of the device is replaceable/repairable.

 

An example: I bought from Nisbets (provides kitchen items etc to the trade) a “light industrial use*” ice cream maker (with integrated freezer unit). Recently, Betty Bossi (a Swiss company serving the Swiss dometic market with all kinds of household “stuff”) brought out  a similar looking ice cream maker that was/is more expensive than the Nisbets machine. The difference? not having both I can’t comment on performance (though I suspect the Nisbets machine performs better) but every single part of the Nisbets machine is replaceable (and the instructions contain an exploded diagramme with every part and its part number listed. The Nisbets machine is made to be repairable, the Betty Bossi machine not.

 

With companies falling over each other to prove their “green” credentials, you would have thought that repairability and durability would be their watchwords. Obviously not.

 

* “light industrial use” denotes an item that is aimed at the small cafe/bistro/restaurant market (as well as the serious home cook) and is robust and durable but not designed to be in constant use (as in a large restaurant where something will be kept in constant operation from prep time in the early morning until closing time).

 

Edited July 18 by iL Dottore
Missing word

[Winslow Boy]

There is a mania for everything to be brand new and have all the latest gizmos.

 

I'm afraid to say that the world of horticulture isn't immune to this. It really stepped up in pace in the Victorian age. When the great plant hunters were sent to foreign shores to find plants that could be sent back home- think things like Impatiens, Rhodos, Magnolias etc.  It did occur prior to then of course - roses, tulips, pineapples, the only difference was the scale.

 

So on behalf of the horticultural community I hereby apologise for ushering in the craze of 'must have latest whatsit'.

[Happy Hippo]

48 minutes ago, Flying Fox 34F said:

Mention of Bean Counters has reminded me of a major incident at BR.  During the conversation from Steam to Diesel locomotives, the said Bean Counters apparently saw no point in purchasing Anti Freeze for the diesels. When the winter of 1962 struck, main new locomotives needed very expensive repairs, plus quite a few withdrawn steam locos had to be brought back in to traffic.

 

Paul

You had to be careful with steam locos as well.

 

I've seen a picture of a german narrow gauge well tank where the tank had been filled up completely.  The loco was out of service, so I presume it was an anti corrosion scheme.  However, due to the prolonged adverse weather conditions, it froze solid, and ruptured the tank.

[iL Dottore]

26 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

There is a mania for everything to be brand new and have all the latest gizmos.

Very true, but in some areas of human endeavour (and amongst “old” money) the older the better.

Take rock n roll. A decent, modern, Gibson Les Paul standard will cost in the region of £2300, but an original ‘59 Gibson Les Paul can cost as much as £350’000 - more if it has a documented association with a famous guitar player (“Greeny” a 59 Les Paul owned by Peter Green, Gary Moore and now Kirk Hammett is now estimated to be worth in the £1 million range). Classical instruments can get equally (or more) stratospheric. Ditto cars.

 

And “old money” prides itself on rarely having to buy much new: having inherited house, furniture, paintings, etc from their parents/relatives. Items, which when new, were the very best money could buy (I read that one insult levied against one of the “nouveau riche” by “old money” was: “he looks like the kind of person who buys his furniture”)

 

Class warfare aside, it really is a good strategy to buy the best possible (saving up if necessary) and then hang on to it forever…..

 

Edited July 18 by iL Dottore
Wording

[Dave Hunt]

1 hour ago, Happy Hippo said:

You had to be careful with steam locos as well.

I remember many years ago visiting the Strathspey Railway and seeing their Caley 0-6-0 sitting in a siding looking a bit forlorn. I asked what was wrong with it and was told that a crew had really messed up by letting the water get so low that the firebox crown was uncovered. When they realised their mistake what did they do? Drop the fire immediately? No, they turned on the injectors and bu**ered it up properly.

 

Dave

 

 

Edited July 18 by Dave Hunt

[New Haven Neil]

We had a little trip out yesterday, all the way south to Castletown.

 

 

In the siding was little Sprout, getting a lick of paint before the Transport Gala at the end of the month.

 

 

Why Sprout?  Well the useless big diesel, that doesn't work and has done no running and indeed is stored off the rails even, is known as the Cabbage.....so a little diesel is a.....🤣

[ian@stenochs]

5 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Very true, but in some areas of human endeavour (and amongst “old” money) the older the better.

Take rock n roll. A decent, modern, Gibson Les Paul standard will cost in the region of £2300, but an original ‘59 Gibson Les Paul can cost as much as £350’000 - more if it has a documented association with a famous guitar player (“Greeny” a 59 Les Paul owned by Peter Green, Gary Moore and now Kirk Hammett is now estimated to be worth in the £1 million range). Classical instruments can get equally (or more) stratospheric. Ditto cars.

 

And “old money” prides itself on rarely having to buy much new: having inherited house, furniture, paintings, etc from their parents/relatives. Items, which when new, were the very best money could buy (I read that one insult levied against one of the “nouveau riche” by “old money” was: “he looks like the kind of person who buys his furniture”)

 

Class warfare aside, it really is a good strategy to buy the best possible (saving up if necessary) and then hang on to it forever…..

 

The wallpaper in Buckingham Palace was put on in Victorias reign. I tell my wife that every time she decides a room need redecorating here. Hasen’t worked very often!

Edited July 18 by ian@stenochs
Spelling

[Tony_S]

Today we are mainly heading NW towards Iceland. Calm sea, but not exactly clear sky, mist and drizzle.

 

Yesterday it Kirkwall it was rather sunny.

 

Tony

[jamie92208]

4 hours ago, Flying Fox 34F said:

Mention of Bean Counters has reminded me of a major incident at BR.  During the conversation from Steam to Diesel locomotives, the said Bean Counters apparently saw no point in purchasing Anti Freeze for the diesels. When the winter of 1962 struck, main new locomotives needed very expensive repairs, plus quite a few withdrawn steam locos had to be brought back in to traffic.

 

Paul

I  believe that Us and Canadian diesels don't have anti freeze but are left running for a year at a time between exams. 

 

Jamie

[monkeysarefun]

6 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

As far as I’m concerned all a car needs (beyond the obvious of a decent engine, transmission, suspension, ride and effective passenger safety) are the following:

• Power assisted steering
• Power assisted braking
• A decent radio/CD player
• Integrated Sat/Nav (for when you don’t have a copilot)
• A decent heating and air-conditioning plant

 

 

 

 

• A  6L Chevy V8.

 

 

 

.......And traction control!

 

 

Edited July 18 by monkeysarefun

[jjb1970]

2 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

I remember many years ago visiting the Strathspey Railway and seeing their Caley 0-6-0 sitting in a siding looking a bit forlorn. I asked what was wrong with it and was told that a crew had really messed up by letting the water get so low that the firebox crown was uncovered. When they realised their mistake what did they do? Drop the fire immediately? No, they turned on the injectors and bu**ered it up properly.

 

Dave

 

 

 

A standard Board of Trade/MCA oral exam question was always how to blow down a boiler gauge glass. The reason was that depending on the sequence of closing/opening cocks/valves you could either identify if low water level was between the bottom of the glass and the connection into the boiler or have no idea where water level was. Which is important as if between the glass and connection level the response would be to add water, below the connection the response was to immediately trip the burners (if not already done by the protection system). A lot of people were failed for getting it wrong.

[PhilJ W]

3 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

I  believe that Us and Canadian diesels don't have anti freeze but are left running for a year at a time between exams. 

 

Jamie

First generation DMU's were often left with the engines ticking over.

[Happy Hippo]

1 hour ago, PhilJ W said:

First generation DMU's were often left with the engines ticking over.

Where else were the tramps of Rhymney going to get a nice warm and dry place to sleep?

[Northroader]

That was mainly because if you shut them down, you could never be sure of having enough poke in the battery to restart them. On the depot, every stabling point had chargers, and you put them on as soon as they were parked.

[SM42]

1 hour ago, PhilJ W said:

First generation DMU's were often left with the engines ticking over.

 

Some places, Stourbridge Jn being one, had  a frost alarm in the train crew cabin 

 

If it went off, they sent staff out to start up the units on the depot. 

 

The alarm was still there in the mid 90s,

 

Andy

[Northmoor]

2 hours ago, Northroader said:

That was mainly because if you shut them down, you could never be sure of having enough poke in the battery to restart them. On the depot, every stabling point had chargers, and you put them on as soon as they were parked.

DMUs that had been idling for perhaps 30 minutes or more left the most spectacular smoke trails, looking like steam railmotors from a distance. 

 

I remember when EWS first took over UK Railfreight, their senior engineer (Jim Fisk?) expressing his frustration at poor loco reliability because of simple, easily corrected faults.  Class 47s for instance, were often left idling because they couldn't rely on the batteries to restart the engine.  The batteries didn't charge adequately because the voltage regulator permitted too broad a range, this had been known almost since the locos were built in the early 1960s but no-one had ever implemented a design change.  They just burnt (lots of) extra fuel instead.

[jamie92208]

4 minutes ago, Northmoor said:

DMUs that had been idling for perhaps 30 minutes or more left the most spectacular smoke trails, looking like steam railmotors from a distance. 

 

I remember when EWS first took over UK Railfreight, their senior engineer (Jim Fisk?) expressing his frustration at poor loco reliability because of simple, easily corrected faults.  Class 47s for instance, were often left idling because they couldn't rely on the batteries to restart the engine.  The batteries didn't charge adequately because the voltage regulator permitted too broad a range, this had been known almost since the locos were built in the early 1960s but no-one had ever implemented a design change.  They just burnt (lots of) extra fuel instead.

The HST's with Valenta didn't like idling.  When the hybrids with a HST plus a 91 were running up to Leeds the HST had to be running to supply the hotel power to the train.  Apparently they carried oil over into the exhausr and there were a couple of fires.  So they MU'd the power car to the 91 and you got an 8000hp  hybrid.  Their acceleration was spectacular.  I think they had to put some sort of shield on the cab roof to change the airflow over the windscreens to stop them being covered in oil. 

 

Jamie

[bbishop]

1 hour ago, jamie92208 said:

The HST's with Valenta didn't like idling.  When the hybrids with a HST plus a 91 were running up to Leeds the HST had to be running to supply the hotel power to the train.  Apparently they carried oil over into the exhausr and there were a couple of fires.  So they MU'd the power car to the 91 and you got an 8000hp  hybrid.  Their acceleration was spectacular.  I think they had to put some sort of shield on the cab roof to change the airflow over the windscreens to stop the Police Officers copping numbers from the bridge being covered in oil. 

 

Jamie

Corrected the above.

[Northmoor]

Bit of sad news round here this week.  Our neighbour Brian, who I know had had serious health issues recently and I hadn't seen out and about for a few months, died on Monday.  He was the last of our original neighbours from when we moved in nearly 27 years ago.  It's that sort of area where many of us don't have much to do with each other but he would always offer some useful tool if he saw me working on my own cars, or asked for help to push out of the garage, whatever old car he happened to be working on at the time.  Since we first knew him he had (that I can remember) several motorbikes including a few British Classics - not giving up riding until he was about 80 - a Healey, MGB, most recently an MG TF.  Last spring he took me to the Windlesham car club meeting in it; I think it was one of the last times he drove it as it was getting too much for him.

RIP Brian.

 

[Mike Bellamy]

23 hours ago, Northmoor said:

Why Ford would decide not to protect a £600 component with a 60p fuse is a question that presumably only their electrical design engineers can answer.

 

20 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

Most car dealership service departments are like the character from Little Britain  - computer says no. Plug in the magic lap top, if that doesn't tell them what to do they're stumped. Not helped by the 'repair by replacement ' philosophy.

 

On holiday after towing our caravan about 200 miles. Ford Kuga with electronic retractable towball that should drop down and can then be folded up under the rear bumper - except this time it didn't happen and an alarm sounded. No matter what I did pushing and pulling on the towball and switching it on and off, the towball stayed in the fixed position with the alarm sounding. The only way to stop it was to disconnect the battery.

 

Next day went to local Ford dealer which was just a small village garage and without looking at the car said they couldn't help - even though all I wanted to know was if a fuse could be removed to stop the noise. They referred me to the main dealer about 20 miles away and so I phoned them and later a "technician" phoned back to say that all he could do was give me Ford Technical phone number. Rang them and after lots of consultation between them, I was told to remove fuse F26. OK so where's that - in the engine compartment they said which seemed a bit odd as there was a small fuse box in the boot area next to the push button that operated the drop down towball. Best do a Google search before I do anything more - guess what - there is also a fuse F26 in there as well as another with the same number F26 in the engine compartment. How daft is that - and why didn't Ford Technical helpline know about it ?

.

[Dave Hunt]

10 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

I  believe that Us and Canadian diesels don't have anti freeze but are left running for a year at a time between exams. 

 

I was told by a CPR locoman it was also because it was believed that shutting an engine down, letting it cool then starting up again led to acidic deposits in the crankcases.

 

Dave

 

 

Edited July 18 by Dave Hunt

[polybear]

5 minutes ago, Mike Bellamy said:

 

 

On holiday after towing our caravan about 200 miles. Ford Kuga with electronic retractable towball that should drop down and can then be folded up under the rear bumper - except this time it didn't happen and an alarm sounded. No matter what I did pushing and pulling on the towball and switching it on and off, the towball stayed in the fixed position with the alarm sounding. The only way to stop it was to disconnect the battery.

 

Next day went to local Ford dealer which was just a small village garage and without looking at the car said they couldn't help - even though all I wanted to know was if a fuse could be removed to stop the noise. They referred me to the main dealer about 20 miles away and so I phoned them and later a "technician" phoned back to say that all he could do was give me Ford Technical phone number. Rang them and after lots of consultation between them, I was told to remove fuse F26. OK so where's that - in the engine compartment they said which seemed a bit odd as there was a small fuse box in the boot area next to the push button that operated the drop down towball. Best do a Google search before I do anything more - guess what - there is also a fuse F26 in there as well as another with the same number F26 in the engine compartment. How daft is that - and why didn't Ford Technical helpline know about it ?

.

 

I very much suspect that being able to carry out engine diagnostics on recent cars now relies entirely on a Computer & Fault Code Reader - the chances of finding a Technician that understands what's going on is slim to now't.

[Dave Hunt]

4 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

I very much suspect that being able to carry out engine diagnostics on recent cars now relies entirely on a Computer & Fault Code Reader - the chances of finding a Technician that understands what's going on is slim to now't.

 

I think that knowledge of car systems and operating is severely limited these days. The last time I took Jill's car in for servicing I was given a courtesy car that I soon realised had duff synchromesh on 2nd gear. No problem, thinks I, just have to double de-clutch when shifting down. When I dropped the car back at the garage later I told the 'technician' about the problem and added, "So you have to double declutch changing down." He looked at me blankly. "You have to what?" he asked.

 

Dave

[Dave Hunt]

21 minutes ago, Mike Bellamy said:

Ford Kuga with electronic retractable towball that should drop down and can then be folded up under the rear bumper......

 

electronic retractable towball

 

??why??

 

Dave

[Northmoor]

13 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

electronic retractable towball

 

??why??

 

Dave

a) Because having it retract means clueless drivers reversing into another parked car won't put the towball through the other car's plastic bumper;

b) It will look "tidier";

c) Making it electronic instead of manually folding it out of the way means people who fear getting their fingers slightly dirty (or unaware of the existence of soap) can still have a towball.