RMweb Gold Happy Hippo Posted April 21, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 21, 2015 No party comments! I was able to repeat my father's quip of about 40 years ago this afternoon! I was in front garden working away, when a young man came by delivering a red political leaflet. 'Whom are you canvassing on behalf of?' 'The Labour party' 'My prayers are answered....grab hold of that shovel and shift that tonne of gravel around the back for me!' The gravel is still there, apparently it isn't that sort of labour! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium PhilJ W Posted April 21, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted April 21, 2015 Summer of '76? Just before the weather turned hot I acquired an old Bedford Dormobile for the grand sum of £25, I can't remember how many miles I drove it but it included a trip from Romford to Blackpool via the Crich Tramway Museum as well as trips to Walton-on-Naze, Great Yarmouth and the Kent and Sussex coasts. The sliding doors were a boon in the hot weather as they were open most of the time, held open by the 'locking device' which consisted of a loop of webbing attached to the door opening that dropped over the door handle. It had a 3-speed column change gearbox with the linkage so worn that finding the gear that you wanted was more by luck than judgement. Its end came in the October when I was waiting for the traffic to clear when turning right when a car drove into one of the front wheels demolishing the suspension beyond economic repair, to add insult to injury the car driver gave me a false name and address. I did receive £20 for it for scrap so 7-8 months and a couple of thousand miles of motoring for a fiver is not to be sniffed at. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Barry O Posted April 21, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted April 21, 2015 Not been right well today..need to be better for my game tomorrow. In 76 I had my first uni job.. general dogsbody at Crimdon Dene... clearing blocked drains, cleaning toilets, bin man, car park attendant. security guard (!) and bingo caller.. among other things.. Happy days! Baz 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Happy Hippo Posted April 21, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 21, 2015 Summer of '76 we had a week in a caravan In Caister. Nicki was 4, Steve was 15 months and we had hardly any money! Bob, The kids are older but nothing else has changed then? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DDolfelin Posted April 21, 2015 Share Posted April 21, 2015 (edited) For the attention of the Silly Questions Department. I'm suffering from an attack of thickness. I have about six old style Hornby Controllers which have lasted me for years. (I'm DC - non of that new fangled DCCCC for me!). Following the scare with a loco yesterday, I thought I'd cover every base and today I bought New Track, New Ballast - and one of these Controllers: My silly question is: The copper bits are obviously designed to clip under the track. However, the bit I don't understand is how does the track know which is negative and which is positive? Do I mount them side by side? If so, why are there two clips instead of one? Not having a seven year old to hand I thought I'd ask the seventy year olds I've placed letters in the picture which, hopefully will be part of the answer. As usual, my eternal thanks for any help and an equal share of my Credit Cards in my Will.. The Bachmann instructions just show a red line to the track. As I still need to buy another Controller (independent track) I'd like to get this one sorted first! PS: Tips on ballasting N gauge track would also be welcomed! Edited April 21, 2015 by DDolfelin Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold grandadbob Posted April 21, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 21, 2015 (edited) Bob, The kids are older but nothing else has changed then? Er - not much except that we can't afford to stay in caravans these days! Edited April 21, 2015 by grandadbob Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyID Posted April 21, 2015 Share Posted April 21, 2015 However, the bit I don't understand is how does the track know which is negative and which is positive? The polarity (pos/neg) is determined by the switch on the controller. Connect one copper thing to one rail and the other to the other rail. Put loco on track and test. If it seems to be going in the wrong direction, swap the connections between the copper things and the rails. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pH Posted April 21, 2015 Share Posted April 21, 2015 Indeed, that was so, and some of the coaches were garaged and manned from Nursery Avenue garage in Kilmarnock, so were in the KT numbering sequences. They did have regular drivers who tried to get the best out of them and managed to do so. A number of us from school once hired a coach from Western to go to a Ten Years After concert in Edinburgh, and we got one of the spare London coaches, together with its regular driver, and it fairly flew there and back. Stewart, I had forgotten that (at least some of) the London coaches were Bristols. I'm not sure they would have regular drivers on the London services. I know that some of the senior drivers from the Greenock depot used to drive some Glasgow-London trips and they did not use Greenock coaches - they picked up the ones they were to drive at Buchanan Street bus station. The first time I saw London was from a chartered Western SMT coach in 1963, on the way to Dover - at 4.30AM. We went right through the centre, like a hot knife through butter. (Other similes are available.) 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium jamie92208 Posted April 21, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted April 21, 2015 Non-political, sort of political comment: Can anyone tell me why when politicians visit NHS properties, they always tuck their tie into their shirt? I was a suit in the NHS for quite a few years, and never once tucked, or was asked to tuck my tie into my shirt when on a ward, unit or clinic...or elsewhere in the hospital. An odd affectation, is it supposed to make them look as if they know all about asepsis or something? Just one of those things that's really annoying me today! One other is we have to pay for a UK TV licence, but it's not OUR election......so we have to put up with it all without the pleasure of a vote! So, are you all going to get 6 weeks of our election next year? Thought not. Just as well, you will fall about laughing! Hope that doesn't break the rules - no party comments! The tie thing is as far as I know part of modern infection control after the MRSA and other scares. They apparently discovered that ties could brush and carry infection from one patient to another which is apparently why a lot of consultants wear bow ties these days. Jamie Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Tony_S Posted April 21, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 21, 2015 One of the medical relatives has always been anti tie. He thinks they are unhealthy to the wearer and a complete no no when examining patients. He did wear his FRCGP tie to a lecture he delivered but otherwise T-shirts or short sleeved shirts . 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Tony_S Posted April 21, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 21, 2015 The polarity (pos/neg) is determined by the switch on the controller. Connect one copper thing to one rail and the other to the other rail. Put loco on track and test. If it seems to be going in the wrong direction, swap the connections between the copper things and the rails. I'd cut the copper things off, bare and tin a few mm of wire and solder that to the track. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DDolfelin Posted April 21, 2015 Share Posted April 21, 2015 The polarity (pos/neg) is determined by the switch on the controller. Connect one copper thing to one rail and the other to the other rail. Put loco on track and test. If it seems to be going in the wrong direction, swap the connections between the copper things and the rails. Thanks - yes, I understood that. I must be wrong in my assumption that they clip to the rails. Maybe they align along the rail instead of across. I'd cut the copper things off, bare and tin a few mm of wire and solder that to the track. My plan exactly, Tony. Thank you! 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold BoD Posted April 21, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 21, 2015 Agree with that plan but..... I'd still like to see how those clips actually work. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Tony_S Posted April 21, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 21, 2015 Agree with that plan but..... I'd still like to see how those clips actually work. After he has cut them off perhaps Dd could post them to you? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium southern42 Posted April 21, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted April 21, 2015 Summer of ''76. We had to collect our water in buckets from a tanker. We were on piped spring water at the time and this was the second summer in succession we'd had a drought. Having a dry week now and I've mustered up some motivation to do some gardening...or rather, made a start at hacking down overgrown holly and fuschia bushes. Now 31/2 years since I busted the elbow but I managed an hour or so. Got two bin liners full for the recycle yard. Still a lot of bushes to go. Day off tomorrow, methinks. - it's gonna ache like mad (speaking from experience), even though I took it gently but I can't let it fester. Forgot to say - Ray made easy work of chopping down some of the thick holly branches for me to then strip. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold BoD Posted April 21, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 21, 2015 Ah.... Something like this.... http://www.modelrailforum.com/gary/bachmannezcommand1/MRFezcommand3204-29-2005.jpg Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Tony_S Posted April 21, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 21, 2015 Ah.... Something like this.... http://www.modelrailforum.com/gary/bachmannezcommand1/MRFezcommand3204-29-2005.jpg Though it might still be easier to cut and solder for Dd's N gauge track. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold BoD Posted April 21, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 21, 2015 Though it might still be easier to cut and solder for Dd's N gauge track. Could always hold them in place with chewing gum. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Tony_S Posted April 21, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 21, 2015 Could always hold them in place with chewing gum. I once mentioned that I had successfully used Blutack as a temporary adhesive for Tortoise point motors before final fixing and had a very snotty criticism from some "expert". Thank goodness I didn't mention chewing gum. 10 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Abel Posted April 21, 2015 Share Posted April 21, 2015 Ian, A quick look at Ramsay's British Model Trains Catalogue suggests a price of £110 for Barnstaple and £355 for Sir Keith Park (Limited edition of 512) These are guide prices for mint & boxed and could vary but it is obviously worth being a bit careful how you sell them. HTH Blimey! Both are what I'd call mint/boxed based on most of the good stuff (and crap) I've seen on eBay (all brands).Box for Barnstaple a little tired and I had a pretty fair idea of the value of Barnstaple, but even though I bought both locos myself new and recall Sir Keith Park was "somewhat limited" per my recollection, didn't realize it was a truly limited edition/count item. Still a quandary, as trying to sell from here is unlikely to get a decent price for either, and not sure I want to trust selling with the expectation of meeting up in the UK as if there are any crossed wires or potentially unsavory characters involved I'd probably end up being charged by eBay for "non delivery" if it's a personal exchange. That's one thing I DO like about shipping stuff, especially since I always sell things with tracked delivery. <sigh> Thanks for the details and research. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium jamie92208 Posted April 21, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted April 21, 2015 Blimey! Both are what I'd call mint/boxed based on most of the good stuff (and crap) I've seen on eBay (all brands).Box for Barnstaple a little tired and I had a pretty fair idea of the value of Barnstaple, but even though I bought both locos myself new and recall Sir Keith Park was "somewhat limited" per my recollection, didn't realize it was a truly limited edition/count item. Still a quandary, as trying to sell from here is unlikely to get a decent price for either, and not sure I want to trust selling with the expectation of meeting up in the UK as if there are any crossed wires or potentially unsavory characters involved I'd probably end up being charged by eBay for "non delivery" if it's a personal exchange. That's one thing I DO like about shipping stuff, especially since I always sell things with tracked delivery. <sigh> Thanks for the details and research. There are various collector clubs and I think that there is one for Wrenn. It might be worth getting in touch with them and seeing if they will help. Jamie Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
leopardml2341 Posted April 21, 2015 Share Posted April 21, 2015 Good Evening All, SWMBO away for another night so Bingley and I have had biscuits and beer again - just making the most of the good spring weather and our reward for 3 miles walk, Pleasantly satisfied and suitably relaxed. Woof Woof and Night Night. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Tony_S Posted April 21, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 21, 2015 (edited) Aditi had to rely on her sense of direction and ability to read road signs today as her managers car didn't have a power outlet (elderly Nissan Micra) to plug the TomTom into. As she has determined that he does intend to take leave during the summer she is more relaxed about getting some time off herself. She said the training at the OU was very useful and she enjoyed the fun session as it was presented by a volcanologist. Apparently he has been on the telly! Edited April 21, 2015 by Tony_S 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lightengine Posted April 21, 2015 Share Posted April 21, 2015 Back to the vet in the morning for a check up. 14 year old Leo has a growth in his mouth and spread into his lymph in his neck. Add that to his arthritis, future cataracts and twice daily injections for diabetes he may not reach 15. It's hard to determine his quality of life. He can't walk far these days and struggles with the 4 steps to and from the garden. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
laurenceb Posted April 21, 2015 Share Posted April 21, 2015 Night all 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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