The Night Mail

[Darlington_Shed]

5 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

I've always had a soft spot for the Swiss Krocs ever since I was a kid... as soon as I saw it I thought, "I want one," but it never happened

 

Allow me to repeat one of my many rules to live by, Dave:

You're never too old to have a happy childhood.

[J. S. Bach]

I have an H0 croc somewhere, it is a Rosebud model that was not built as a rolling model.

[J. S. Bach]

Night Owl from the Piedmont.

[jamie92208]

I  saw the baby Croc at Goeschenen I'll have to dig out a picture.  The Japanese narrow gauge lines are I believe 3' 6" in proper money or 42 pouce as they say here.  Tv's have their sizes in pouce, literally thumbs.  Yesterday I bought a pool cover for a pool 7.2m by 3.6m. The box had 24 by 12 printed on it. 

 

Jamie

Edited Friday at 06:04 by jamie92208

[jjb1970]

3'6" Cape Gauge railways can be extremely impressive and are full size 'proper' railways despite the narrower gauge. In places like Japan, South Africa and SE Asia I find I don't see the railways as 'narrow gauge' as there is nothing small or light about them and they're big trains.

[monkeysarefun]

59 minutes ago, jjb1970 said:

3'6" Cape Gauge railways can be extremely impressive and are full size 'proper' railways despite the narrower gauge. In places like Japan, South Africa and SE Asia I find I don't see the railways as 'narrow gauge' as there is nothing small or light about them and they're big trains.

 

 

Queensland is 3'6" too and they definitely dont owe anything to "full size" railways.

 

 

 

Edited Friday at 07:08 by monkeysarefun

[rockershovel]

6 hours ago, BR60103 said:

Ja, das ist in mein Langenscheidts.

 

It's only been 61 years since I took German.

 

Wenn ist das Nunstück git und Slotermeyer? Ja! Beiherhund das Oder die Flipperwaldt gersput!

[ian@stenochs]

8 hours ago, Chris Snowdon said:

%^$£"$&*%&???  HOW MUCH???

But you SAVE £132!  
 

 

[PhilJ W]

7 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Currently on the Ōzora limited express (Sapporo to Kushiro) which is a KiHa 261 series tilting DMU running on 1m track (actually 1067mm to be pedantic)). The ride is surprisingly uneven (but still miles better than my last UK TOC ride on Southern) - possibly due to narrow gauge track or due to it being a DMU?

The interesting thing is that the train doesn't have that "narrow gauge look" that seems to be the hallmark of many European metre gauge railways.

Green Class (aka First Class) has very comfortable leather and wood reclining seats in a 2-1 configuration:

 

2 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

3'6" Cape Gauge railways can be extremely impressive and are full size 'proper' railways despite the narrower gauge. In places like Japan, South Africa and SE Asia I find I don't see the railways as 'narrow gauge' as there is nothing small or light about them and they're big trains.

And New Zealand who at one time were running re-gauged ex-BR Mk II stock.

[PhilJ W]

This was on BBC breakfast this morning, note the model railway running around the room at picture rail height.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/cy941jjg2j0o

[iL Dottore]

I was delayed into Kushiro by 20 minutes - as the train ahead of mine had hit a bear.

 

My guide for the afternoon was exceptional and we wandered down to the Kushiro River (which is tidal) and saw some pretty big fishing boats (a Q to our Naval Types: when does a vessel stop being a boat and becomes a ship?). Due to weather conditions they had laid up at Kushiro.

Many of the big boats (ships) were fishing for sardines and had pretty big crews (26+)

 

What was fascinating were the (what my guide believed to be) squid fishing boats: go out at nights and use powerful lamps to bring the squid to the surface

 

My guide also took me to one of the fish markets - where I had a very good SashimiDon (a selection of Sashimi on a bowl of rice). They also had some very good Oysters:

 

Incredibly fresh, incredibly tasty (if you like Oysters) and not bad value for money at around £1.50 each

 

[polybear]

😭😭😭

 

36 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

I was delayed into Kushiro by 20 minutes - as the train ahead of mine had hit a bear.

 

 

[PhilJ W]

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

My guide for the afternoon was exceptional and we wandered down to the Kushiro River (which is tidal) and saw some pretty big fishing boats (a Q to our Naval Types: when does a vessel stop being a boat and becomes a ship?). 

I always understood that you can carry a boat on a ship but you can't carry a ship on a boat.

[Willie Whizz]

There’s no hard-and-fast rule, and to an extent the use to which the vessel is put and its capacity to be self-sufficient also come into play, but as a broad rule of thumb anything above 500 tons is more likely to be regarded as a ship rather than a boat. 
 

Unless it’s a submarine, which by historical custom have always been referred to as ‘boats’, however big and powerful they have become. 

Edited Friday at 11:08 by Willie Whizz

[monkeysarefun]

2 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

 

And New Zealand who at one time were running re-gauged ex-BR Mk II stock.

Only til they got their double-decker stock into service but.

 

[rockershovel]

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

I was delayed into Kushiro by 20 minutes - as the train ahead of mine had hit a bear.

 

My guide for the afternoon was exceptional and we wandered down to the Kushiro River (which is tidal) and saw some pretty big fishing boats (a Q to our Naval Types: when does a vessel stop being a boat and becomes a ship?). Due to weather conditions they had laid up at Kushiro.

Many of the big boats (ships) were fishing for sardines and had pretty big crews (26+)

 

What was fascinating were the (what my guide believed to be) squid fishing boats: go out at nights and use powerful lamps to bring the squid to the surface

 

My guide also took me to one of the fish markets - where I had a very good SashimiDon (a selection of Sashimi on a bowl of rice). They also had some very good Oysters:

 

Incredibly fresh, incredibly tasty (if you like Oysters) and not bad value for money at around £1.50 each

 

Hiroshima is generally known for other things, I didn't realise it was a well-known centre for seafood fishing. We stopped there on our RWC trip and had a very tasty seafood lunch at a small restaurant across the bridge at one end of the Memorial Park. 

 

Oysters are quite excellent. 

Edited Friday at 11:35 by rockershovel

[iL Dottore]

3 minutes ago, rockershovel said:

Hiroshima is generally known for other things, I didn't realise it was a well-known centre for seafood fishing. We stopped there on our RWC trip and had a very tasty seafood lunch at a small restaurant across the bridge at one end of the Memorial Park. 

 

Oysters are quite excellent. 

I didn’t know that there are two Kushiro in Japan. The one I’m at is in Hokkaido (and yes, the seafood is excellent)

[bbishop]

1 hour ago, polybear said:

😭😭😭

 

So not that  Bear.

[jjb1970]

1 hour ago, PhilJ W said:

I always understood that you can carry a boat on a ship but you can't carry a ship on a boat.

 

You can carry an awfully big boat on a semi-sub heavy load carrier like these - 

 

[Northmoor]

2 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

I was delayed into Kushiro by 20 minutes - as the train ahead of mine had hit a bear.

 

My guide for the afternoon was exceptional and we wandered down to the Kushiro River (which is tidal) and saw some pretty big fishing boats (a Q to our Naval Types: when does a vessel stop being a boat and becomes a ship?). Due to weather conditions they had laid up at Kushiro.

Many of the big boats (ships) were fishing for sardines and had pretty big crews (26+)

 

What was fascinating were the (what my guide believed to be) squid fishing boats: go out at nights and use powerful lamps to bring the squid to the surface

 

My guide also took me to one of the fish markets - where I had a very good SashimiDon (a selection of Sashimi on a bowl of rice). They also had some very good Oysters:

 

Incredibly fresh, incredibly tasty (if you like Oysters) and not bad value for money at around £1.50 each

 

I clicked "Thought-provoking" but the only thought the last image provoked was, "Even looking at that makes me feel ill".

[monkeysarefun]

53 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

I didn’t know that there are two Kushiro in Japan. The one I’m at is in Hokkaido (and yes, the seafood is excellent)

 

 

Post Fukushima I'd be giving shellfish in Japan a miss for a while  I reckon. 

Edited Friday at 12:32 by monkeysarefun

[Oldddudders]

11 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

 

Post Fukushima I'd be giving shellfish in Japan a miss for a while  I reckon. 

I tend to assume that of all the nations on this Earth, Japan is the one that has the most reason to be cautious about radiation effects......

[Tony_S]

@jjb .Did the same person design the Marina Bay Sands too?
 

Edited Friday at 12:49 by Tony_S

[monkeysarefun]

2 hours ago, polybear said:

😭😭😭

 

 

 

 

But.....   Theres Good news! 

 

 

 At the time it was hit the bear was running from the law because it had defrauded UK cancer charities of many pound shillings and ounces  by pretending to be "Bear Necessities",  a page 3 UK tabloid favourite who beared their nether regions allegedly in order to raise money for the suffering but in fact pocketed the funds before fleeing to Japan in order  to get a foothold into the furries community, and if that failed, then  to make those annoying ASMR videos that the Japanese like where people eat food noisily into the microphone then post it on youtube.

 

But  all that came to an abrupt end when the 3.23 from Tokyo ran up their ar5e   - so REJOICE !!!!  Alls well that ends well - you no longer need to form a lynch mob. 

Edited Friday at 12:56 by monkeysarefun

[monkeysarefun]

38 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

I tend to assume that of all the nations on this Earth, Japan is the one that has the most reason to be cautious about radiation effects......

 

 

 

Although --- one other nation DID get nuclear bombs detonated on it by another country  , though because we were on "your side"  (not aimed at  you personally @Oldddudders!     🙂) maybe that doesn't count..

 

 

Tally Ho, what!

 

 

Edited Friday at 13:23 by monkeysarefun