Early Risers.

[Debs.]

Stop press

 

.........before I could hit the panic button it emitted a nasty smell and a lot of smoke!

Oh No!

[BoD]

Morning.

Just off to Tesco. I told Aditi I would buy the couple of food items she wanted so that she didn't need to be bothered by food shopping on her visit to Lakeside (looking for trousers) this afternoon.

It's easy to see who wears the trousers in your house.

 

 

Quote of the week(for me anyway).

Heard at work today whilst discussing cars.

 

I've been getting 56 miles per gallon.

Well ....

 

.....since the speed awareness course I have been anyway.

[PhilJ W]

I posted this in it's own thread, but got a real surprise when I stumbled across this pic from 1948. (Courtesy of Ben Brooksbank)

 

Screen Shot 2014-05-02 at 11.55.20.png

 

 

Where, what and when was the photograph taken? The bus in the background is a London STL class in red livery and the Locomotive is a LNER pacific with a distorted length of rail coming through the cab.

[Steve Williams]

Yeah, that's right up there on "my" list, we passed on that one years back and all on that trip still somewhat regret it - the aqueduct must be incredible, from a narrow boat view...

 

To give you some idea of what it looks like:

[gordon s]

Where, what and when was the photograph taken? The bus in the background is a London STL class in red livery and the Locomotive is a LNER pacific with a distorted length of rail coming through the cab.

 

Well the accident was on the 17th July 1948, so I guess a day or two after that date.  The location is the top of Oakleigh Road South, New Southgate.

 

Oh no!!!  Street view now shows the Church Hall has gone and has been replaced by a box!  Apologies if you live there…:-)

 

The newsagents has also gone and they call this progress.

 

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.6224,-0.150656,3a,75y,22.67h,87.79t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sL33PDc_CTVeuIPmhKWz2vA!2e0

 

I'm guessing the bus is a 34 which I used every day to go to Arnos Grove Tube Station to go to school.  If it is an RTL then it could have only been a month old according to this site...

 

Could it be an RT?

 

http://www.countrybus.org/RT/RTL.htm

[gordon s]

I think it must be an RT as it has a centre rib running vertically down the grill.  The RTL didn't have that rib and just had a plain grill.  Jeez, I'm a sad old soul!

[Oldddudders]

I think it must be an RT as it has a centre rib running vertically down the grill.  The RTL didn't have that rib and just had a plain grill.  Jeez, I'm a sad old soul!

Sorry Gordon, but I have to share Phil's view that it is not one of the RT family, but something more primitive - and his STL idea fills that well. The whole body-shape is too "imprecise" to be an RT/RTL in my view. Dr Brooksbank's pic is a gem, for all that! Many, many years ago I was confronted in a book by a pic of a Gresley Pacific lying smashed in York Shed after an air-raid. Not something you forget quickly.

[gordon s]

Of course you're quite right.  I need to go to Specsavers as I read STL as RTL…Doh!

 

The A4 was Sir Ralph Wedgewood.

 

I know the pic well.

 

Probably this one...

 

http://www.lner.info/forums/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=7326

Edited May 2, 2014 by gordon s

[Happy Hippo]

We stopped for lunch in Llangollen, and made really good time all the way to Llanrwst.

 

With such good time made, we diverted down through Dolgarrog and into Conway, where we took of afternoon refreshment, before crossing back over the Conway and made our way to the lair of the Wicked Witch of North Wales where we are now safely ensconced.

 

Whilst in Llangollen, I did question the need for an FPL and a bracket signal to protect what is after all only the entry into the platform roads from the loco release. I'm sure there is probably a good explanation, but it looks very much like the signal is there purely for effect rather than operational need. (It looks pretty from the bridge).

 

Escape tomorrow morning back to Maenen, and then off to look at the Ffesteringnog.

 

Transport and Extra aganza left to do on Sunday.

 

I'd appreciate a spell from she who cannot be named for some good weather, as it was a bit grey today.

[Oldddudders]

Of course you're quite right.  I need to go to Specsavers as I read STL as RTL…Doh!

 

The A4 was Sir Ralph Wedgewood.

 

I know the pic well.

 

Probably this one...

 

http://www.lner.info/forums/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=7326

Spot on. My ignorance of A4 history also confused me at the time. After all, Sir Ralph was clearly listed in my Ian Allan ABCs, and not smashed!

[travelintrev]

Evenin all,  

 

Seems it may have been the internet network that I normally use has problems with one of it's local towers...so just paid to get my spare one on line  (two quid / 24 hours /150mb) ! 

 

Trouble I now got lot of reading to do...

 

Be good & enjoy any new toys! 

 

Trev.

[andyram]

This may have been the first week back since the Easter break but, for some reason, it has felt like a long one. After a couple of days of mainly observing the student teacher I was back in the class all day today whilst she had some planning time. The morning P.E session beat the rain and the year 6 lads even invited me into their play time game of football - a nice way to relax and spend time with the children in a less formal setting.

 

 This half term our topic work is all PSHE (Personal, Social, Health Education) based. Today was on the theme of stranger danger. I think the class already had a fairly interesting idea of this. When asked to draw a "stranger" at the start of the lesson they all seemed to draw their own members of some terrorist group!!!! I wonder what messages they are receiving from the wider world these days.

 

 Sarah and Amber are staying out at her mum's tonight so that she can make it to the City Ground for Florest's final home game of the season before the play offs. Wait - sorry they missed out on the top six didn't they! With a bit of luck the Rams will be following Foxes into the Premier League by the end of this month and leaving Stuart Pearce to be the East Midlands only Championship team!!!

 Whilst Sarah is away I will be off to the pub later. A couple of pints will lessen the blow that came our way earlier. The new house will no longer be ready by the end of May. So we will miss out on the half term house move. Looks like it will slip back into early June now.

 

Enjoy the start of the Bank Holiday weekend.

[edcayton]

 

 

My very first job was as a 16 year old apprentice in the Church Hall in this pic in 1964.  This was a training school for Standard Telephones and Cables (STC) where I spent day after day filing test pieces and making calipers.  Was it really 50 years ago that I learned that tools could bite you?

 

Never did me any 'arm….but I did get out of manual work and into the Drawing Office PDQ.  

 

My technical apprenticeship with ICI in Welwyn Garden City was always intended to lead to a Drawing Office job. My favourite subject at school was Technical Drawing, and I wanted to be a car designer, but was too lazy to get my a**e into gear and apply to Vauxhall's in Luton, so took the easy route and let Dad (who worked at ICI) get the forms etc and sort of drifted into the job.

 

I quite enjoyed the apprenticeship, but when we did the HNC we were at Luton Tech. (yet another "university" now of course) with some Vauxhall lads and I realised what a mistake I had made.

 

When I finished my time I started in the D.O. and realised what a crushingly boring life it was. No wonder they all smoked pipes-the time spent cleaning, filling and lighting the things went some way to relieving the boredom! I managed to escape the tedium and get into an R and D job, but by then realised I wanted to get into FE teaching.

 

I suppose that the ironic thing is that I really enjoyed teaching Engineering Drawing, and that I learned AutoCad and ended up teaching that for a large part of my timetable.

 

Ed

[Coombe Barton]

Very productive day - lawns done, newsletter sent out, meal cooked.

 

Now I will probably oversleep in the morning.

[Tony_S]

Amazingly Aditi did get her afternoon off. The person who wanted feedback from an observation didn't turn up and then when Aditi walked over to another site to be on an interview panel she was told they had rescheduled them for yesterday (and forgot to tell her). The director who "forgot" then asked her to attend this afternoon but Aditi said she wasn't going to be there and actually did go shopping as planned instead of being chased out of the building by security wanting to lock up as usually happens on Fridays. Even more amazingly she found clothes she liked. 

 

Tony

[NGT6 1315]

I feel like I'm going to oversleep tomorrow as well! Wet and quite nippy outside anyway, so no particular rush to being outside...

 

Just returned from seeing "Transcendence" and cannot help but note the producers to have obviously watched Star Trek!

[Jock67B]

Evening all, that time has arrived again! Debs has been in good humour today - kept me amused anyway! Beast, thanks for the explanation of the modern jargon : a VSTP was known in my youth in Scotland as a 'proper' engine pulling one of those unreliable diesel things they sent up from England!! Gave my monthly copious blood supply to the NHS today (couple of days early because of B Hol.) - always a slightly worrying time for me as based on the results, I will find out on Thursday whether I can continue with the chemo for another month. Been on it for a year now and it seems to be containing the b*stard so I really want to continue. My condition is balanced of course by taking grandsons partner to her final ante natal appt. All is well and next Friday we should gain a great grand-daughter. Kind of evens things out! I posted a couple of pictures of me at sixth-form age on Kingsley. Mistake! Madam decided to show the kids on the big screen and poor little Freddie, not quite three, struggled to understand how someone who has only been 'old' throughout his short life, could ever have been young. Gave me a chance to agree with no.2 grandson who thought I looked like a 'crumpet magnet' ; not sure everyone would concur!!

Hope you all survive the weekend in one piece and look forward to more dialogue tomorrow - this site really has lifted my life, so I thank all concerned.

Kind regards,

Jock67B.

[edcayton]

Yes, it does that.

 

Ed

[iL Dottore]

Greetings all,

 

02:10 here in CH and my decidedly dodgy and increasingly problematic shoulder joint has woken me up! So, a mug of instant coffee, a spam sandwich (on "sliced white" - comfort food) and "Jungle Rain" on the Ambience iPod app - fed through my stereo system, most soothing. Oh, and catching up on ER!

 

MRI - been there, done that, got the T-Shirt... Probably one of the most tedious experiences I've ever lived through, despite the all plastic earphones and a choice of music. Alas, post knee prostheses, I can no longer undergo a MRI scan - which is unfortunate as the MRI is probably the best way of visualizing soft tissue injury. Although, a PET scan may do the job as well (I'm not too au fait with PET - though I'm familiar with the principles). Amazing to think that it wasn't that long ago when CAT (computerized axial tomography) scanners were cutting edge technology, available only at University (and well funded) hospitals. Now they are everywhere...

 

Llangollen Canal: my first (and probably most enjoyable) canal boat holiday was on the Llangollen. THAT was as near a perfect holiday as I have ever had. Four of us: two CAMRA members, a real cheese enthusiast and me - a bona fide foodie. We ate and drank splendidly, and despite frequent stops at canal-side pubs (or "near-to-canal" pubs, if the beer was of note) we were never drunk or loutish. Perhaps it was because we eschewed the vile fizzy lager for hand crafted ales, stouts and porters - which makes one converse meaningfully about Life, The Universe, etc. over a pint of said ale, stout or porter. I cooked for the crew and my favourite creation was the "Frog and Toad in The Hole" (made after a visit to a most amazing local Pork Butcher), which was a Toad in the Hole made with two types of sausage AND black pudding. That holiday made me fall in love with the Welsh borders, and although I've been back a number of times, that first holiday there remains unmatched.

 

Apprenticeships: there's a lot to be said in favour of being made to start at the bottom of your chosen profession: firstly being at the bottom means that you are very unlikely to end up doing anything disastrous when you make a mistake (and you will); secondly, being at the bottom makes it easier to admit (if necessary) that "Job X is not for me" (less baubles, privileges and renumeration to forswear); thirdly, being at the bottom fuels ambition to get to the top, and finally, a little honest simple toil is good for one's soul. Mrs iD has apprentices (more like work experience to be honest) and she despairs over the sense of entitlement some of them have - usually the ones that are the least able/useful/helpful. I recently saw the tail-end of a reality TV show called something like "invasion of the job snatchers" (I had recorded a murder mystery and the recording started a few minutes early). If these kids On this show are even vaguely representative of what the UK has to offer employers, the UK is going to be in a right mess...

 

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for all the ERs whose bodies are turning into "right treacherous basterds" and causing all kinds of unpleasantness (and a special heartfelt "good luck on the tests" to Jock - let's hope he gets the green light for continued therapy). I also hope that Grufalo (who I had the pleasure of meeting last year at Warley) is merely AWOC (absent without computer) and has nothing more concerning.

 

Well, finally it appears that the warm drink, comfort food and some soothing rain sounds are having the desired effect - off to snooze on a nice comfy sofa..

 

Defiantly not dead yet... Keep well.

 

iD

Edited May 3, 2014 by iL Dottore

[Ian Abel]

Late night update - some of you true ER (as in EARLY) folks will be almost ready to be reading this as I post it!

 

Drove about 8+ hours if you include the stops <sigh> getting here about 7:15PM, checked in to the hotel, rushed down a fast-food "meal", then visited the 99 year old sister until after 9:30PM - I'm bloody tired!!!

Uneventful trip/drive, especially for Mrs and MiL who both took several naps...

 

WAIT - I KEEP seeing mention of a Bank Holiday Weekend - you lucky sods just came off a 4 day Easter weekend, doesn't anyone EVER work over there any more???  

 

Must get some sleep - have to be out and about for a 1PM Birthday lunch for the 99-year old... buddy emailed me and told me there's a very large train show in Chicago this weekend <sigh> going to check the location but doubt I can squeeze in enough time to get to it, look around and get back <sigh> it's tough being a good son-in-law, ya know!!! But I guess someone has to do it

At least Mrs says she's eternally grateful - let's see how that pans out if I see another BB/MN/WC loco I want  need must have  would like to acquire on eBay

Edited May 3, 2014 by Ian Abel

[Tony_S]

Morning all.

Not sure whether it is overcast or just "early". Unusually Robbie started barking just after 5am, so I went down. It wasn't burglars, he just wanted to go out. He has gone back to sleep, I made tea, everyone happy!

Our neighbours will be coming round for a meal this evening so I suspect I will be on tidy up duties.

Tony

[BoD]

Morning all

 

I think that is the first time I have ever heard Spam sandwiches refered to as soothing.

Wall to wall blue sky this morning. Still a nip in the air though.

More signal building is on the agenda today.

With a little bit of luck.

[travelintrev]

Good Morning all, 

 

Unfortunately work for me this morning, got to go and try to pacify a Prima-Dona of a commissioning Engineer who's getting piddled off with a client who's saying every few minutes "is it ready yet?"...trouble is the clients side isnt ready!  

 

Then for a smile, (or grimace)  I was sent a "Groupon" for Anal Bleaching........just dont go there!  

 

 

 

Try to enjoy the day,

 

Trev. 

[Barry O]

Morning all
Despite blue sky here in Leeds I have no umpiring till tomorrow, Monday and a T20 on Wednesday.

Slept well despite my snooze yesterday.

Have a great weekend good people.

Ian a..have you thought of trying the Leeds Liverpool canal..arriving at the bingley 5 rise from Skipton the canal appears to have disappeared! Quite an experience!

Edited May 3, 2014 by Barry O

[BoD]

Ian a..have you thought of trying the Leeds Liverpool canal..arriving at the bingley 5 rise from Skipton the canal appears to have disappeared! Quite an experience!

Are those the locks that can be seen from the Leeds/Skipton train?

If so, they look very impressive.