The Night Mail

[Dave Hunt]

2 hours ago, Oldddudders said:

Rubbishing a class of locos from “another” railway is stock in trade for some.  

 

In fun.

 

Dave

[Northmoor]

8 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

The upper one that is.

 

Thought you'd like that one (it's 5" gauge I think).

While I've lived on the Southern Region for getting on for 30 years I'm not really a "Southern afficionado", just have a ASD-spectrum ability to recall preserved steam locomotives (especially if they went through Barry scrapyard).  No I can't understand why either.  Actually this is more "my sort of thing" and is how Dad got me interested/devoted/obsessed by trains well over 40 years ago:

 

Norwich Thorpe 1982, on any visit to grandparents we always ended up spotting at this location at some point, just as Dad had 30 years earlier.

 

And here's the same 03 shunter last Saturday, working the train at Mangapps museum at Burnham-on-Crouch:

 

I can strongly recommend a visit to this museum if you get the chance.  While being able to walk around with hardly anyone to appear in your photos is a pleasure (as was the guided tour of the exhibition shed and later, the workshops, just because Dad and I appeared to be interested), I got the impression they are very short on visitors.  It's a wonderful collection of East Anglian (and some other) locos, rolling stock and railwayana.

[pH]

12 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

For the first time in decades I now have to do a self assessed tax return. I’ve just looked at what is involved with horror and have decide that turning the whole thing over to an accountant is the way to go. Remember when the tax man used to do it for you? Sighhhh…..

 

Dave 

We have to do self-assessment forms every year. However, there are many apps available, some for sale, others by donation that lead you through the process.

[J. S. Bach]

4 hours ago, Northmoor said:

 

 

 

You can all wind your necks in as P&O is (obviously) a Merchant Navy class, all of which got rebuilt without air-smoothed casing and with Walschaerts valve gear.  Pah, call yourselves steam enthusiasts.....

 

Never mind, here's a nice model spotted at Mangapps museum this weekend:

That one on the middle shelf, the one with the diamond stack, looks suspiciously like an American 4-4-0.

The lettering on the tender supports that thought, something like New York Central (or City) & Hudson River RR

 

EDIT: hmmm, I think that I just answered my own question there.

 

 

Edited June 10 by J. S. Bach
To add some information

[Tony_S]

1 hour ago, Northmoor said:

can strongly recommend a visit to this museum if you get the chance.  While being able to walk around with hardly anyone to appear in your photos is a pleasure (as was the guided tour of the exhibition shed and later, the workshops, just because Dad and I appeared to be interested), I got the impression they are very short on visitors.  It's a wonderful collection of East Anglian (and some other) locos, rolling stock and railwayana.

We used to go a lot with Matthew before he started school. He was fascinated by Minnie a very rusty loco in a shed. It has now been restored. 

[Northmoor]

Bother.

We've been trying to sell our old (not very by my standards) Focus for three weeks.  Only silly offers received, perhaps the declared faults are putting people off.

Just took it out as it hasn't moved for a week then hit a small deer on a DC stretch at about 40.  The poor thing survived, lodged in the front then went under as I slowed to a stop.  They make the most horrible noise when hurt.  I backed up and waved people past it and moved it into the verge.  Rang 101 and the police confirmed there's no need to make a report, you've done all you can, possible insurance claim etc......,

Maybe not worth it; plenty of damage to the plastics on the car (but I think the rad's OK) so maybe just tidy up the damage and sell the car as a spares/repair project.

I feel awful leaving a beautiful creature for nature to take its course but it's a wild animal.

Again, bother.  

[AndyID]

56 minutes ago, pH said:

We have to do self-assessment forms every year. However, there are many apps available, some for sale, others by donation that lead you through the process.

 

In the US you have to submit a return every year. The tax code is so friggin' complicated (and getting worse) that I gave up trying to do it myself years ago.

[Happy Hippo]

The opposite happened to me, after I retired, I contacted HMRC, and was told I no longer had to fill out a self assessment form!

[SM42]

I used to get sent a self assessment every year until I called them  and asked if they had heard of a wonderful system called PAYE. 

 

Andy

[Dave Hunt]

31 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

The opposite happened to me, after I retired, I contacted HMRC, and was told I no longer had to fill out a self assessment form!

The same happened to me but then a year ago we made some investments that now means that we have to do self assessment.

 

Dave

[J. S. Bach]

Back from a (much too) short trip to a phone collectors show so I played catch-up today; there are some very interesting post up-forum! An overview of the phone show:

 

 

A sample of a few older post-war phones:

I regret (now) not buying that $30.00 phone.

 

And to keep it train-related, I found an O scale item at a hobby shop on the way home:

Edited June 11 by J. S. Bach

[J. S. Bach]

Night Owl from the Piedmont.

[AndyID]

Do NOT trust 'em

 

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-are-bears-friend-shaped/?utm_source=pocket-newtab-en-us

[AndyID]

48 minutes ago, J. S. Bach said:

Back from a (much too) short trip to a phone collectors show so I played catch-up today; there are some very interesting post up-forum! An overview of the phone show:

 

 

A sample of a few older post-war phones:

I regret (now) not buying that $30.00 phone.

 

And to keep it train-related, I found an O scale item at a hobby shop on the way home:

 

The actual phones don't do a lot for me but the switching gear does. I have some relays and I wouldn't mind getting hold of a Strowger switch.

[pH]

15 minutes ago, AndyID said:

I have some relays and I wouldn't mind getting hold of a Strowger switch.

In the late 1970s, the telephone exchange in the centre of Cambridge had glass walls. You could stand outside and watch the Strowger switchgear in constant operation.

Edited June 11 by pH

[BR60103]

On Sunday morning one of the churches (St Anne's) in Toronto caught fire.  It has been reduced to 4 walls.  This was a significant building due to interesting architecture and inside illustrations done by the Group of Seven, Canada's iconic painters. 

It is the church my sister was married in and the Gilbert & Sullivan group performed there for many years. 

 

[TheQ]

Many years ago, 45 ish. Suddenly many people , all ranks, on an RAF station I was on, were suddenly hit with self assessment tax forms, someone at HMRC decided we needed investigating.. Only happened the once no one ever found out the reason why.

 

 

[Hroth]

1 hour ago, TheQ said:

Many years ago, 45 ish. Suddenly many people , all ranks, on an RAF station I was on, were suddenly hit with self assessment tax forms, someone at HMRC decided we needed investigating.. Only happened the once no one ever found out the reason why.

 

 

 

Perhaps someone at the tail-end of National Service had a bad experience with the RAF, perhaps at your particular station, and had subsequently joined HMRC.  It had taken him some 20 years before he was senior enough to unleash his revenge....

 

Just wondering! 🤔  

 

[Winslow Boy]

43 minutes ago, Hroth said:

 

Perhaps someone at the tail-end of National Service had a bad experience with the RAF, perhaps at your particular station, and had subsequently joined HMRC.  It had taken him some 20 years before he was senior enough to unleash his revenge....

 

Just wondering! 🤔  

 

Clearly working at the right organisation if so. Do you think they could help negotiate some trade agreements.

[Happy Hippo]

Apparently we are going to visit a curiosity centre in Dorchester today. Then we are going onto a garden.  I don't think Nyda appreciates how long it will take to go around the centre, plus the traffic on the roads in the area and especially around Dorchester and Weymouth is quite heavy.  That is, full of touroids more interested in look8ng out of the windows of their cars instead of looking at what they are doing and driving closer to the speed limit.  Camper vans at 35-40mph seems to be the norm.

 

'Look Doris, aren't the roads clear: Very little traffic.'

 

That's because it's all stacked up behind you, you blob of plankton.

[Winslow Boy]

57 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

Apparently we are going to visit a curiosity centre in Dorchester today. Then we are going onto a garden.  I don't think Nyda appreciates how long it will take to go around the centre, plus the traffic on the roads in the area and especially around Dorchester and Weymouth is quite heavy.  That is, full of touroids more interested in look8ng out of the windows of their cars instead of looking at what they are doing and driving closer to the speed limit.  Camper vans at 35-40mph seems to be the norm.

 

'Look Doris, aren't the roads clear: Very little traffic.'

 

That's because it's all stacked up behind you, you blob of plankton.

Your alright all the camper vans are parked up on the promenade at Morecambe as none of the politicians can make a decision about whether they should pay for parking. They are currently playing it's not us it's the County Council. Whilst the county council are undertaking a review. Heaven forbid someone should make a decision.

[Hroth]

54 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

'Look Doris, aren't the roads clear: Very little traffic.'

 

That's because it's all stacked up behind you, you blob of plankton.

 

You don't know whether to laugh or cry!

 

Of course, there's the subspecies of Lemming slugs, who lurch out of a side road right in front of you, then trundle along, either viewing the scenery or looking for their next turning.

 

Lemming slugs are also encountered on Sunday afternoons throught the year, easily identified as the driver will wear a flat cap and either drive as close to the kerb or the centre of the road as possible...

 

 

[Tony_S]

12 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

Your alright all the camper vans are parked up on the promenade at Morecambe

There are loads parked up on one of the roads into Southend. I wondered why it was suddenly so popular for campers (it is traditionally a day trip resort) . All the motor caravans have NHS stickers on them. I was told lots of people who work at the hospital live in them. 

Edited June 11 by Tony_S

[Dave Hunt]

It now seems likely that I will not have to submit a self-assessment for tax after all. I spoke to our financial adviser this morning and he is of the opinion that the asset managers have arranged things so that we do not break any thresholds for tax. Hence I have cancelled the appointment with the accountant until the adviser comes to see us later this month. That saves me from going through reams of paperwork, which was going to be this afternoon's job, so having got my other chores done this morning I now have some time on my hands and since Jill has gone to spend the kids' inheritance at a hairdressers I'm about to get some shed time in. 😊

 

Dave

[Dave Hunt]

1 hour ago, Happy Hippo said:

Apparently we are going to visit a curiosity centre in Dorchester today. 

 

What exactly is a curiosity centre? Is it somewhere where everything is hidden and you have to poke around to find it?

 

Dave