Early Risers.

[Gwiwer]

Greetings from amidst the mizzle engulfing the Hill of Strawberries

 

Yesterday's egg-chasing event barely a mile up the road had us wondering to what extent the tranquil nature of these surroundings might be changed. Indeed it was changed; at least one extra person was sighted walking towards Twickenham Green. You could have heard a mouse break wind here. There really was no sign at all that a major international sporting event was taking place within walking distance.

 

We are at the stage of delivery after delivery. Argos, IKEA and Sainsburys already know where we are. Outstandingly helpful lass on Argus' customer service phone line dealt with hiccups including wrong and wrongly-described items delivered and requiring collection plus items not delivered because the sale was incorrectly processed. Asked if she could put me on hold before doing so, thanked me for waiting, quoted new delivery / collection slot, asked if that was ok before booking it in and then refunding our initial delivery charge without being asked "as acknowledgement for our failing to meet your expectations." Straight out of the Best Practice manual and sounding quite natural rather than scripted.

 

More stuff being delivered tomorrow and hopefully the maintenance issues also dealt with. Those include grouting the bathroom floor. Much better than Ian's seal. I don't like sharing my bath with seals.

[The Stationmaster]

I was wondering that when you posted originally. How often would that particular reversing manouvre be done by a particular driver or by drivers in general at that platform?

 

It takes place about four, possibly five, times daily each weekday and twice daily on normal Saturdays and Sundays.  Mainly Reading Drivers but at least one other depot is involved as well I would think judging by who works what.  The position of the signal needed for reversal hasn't changed since 1971 (when it moved a few feet on conversion from the 1911 semaphore signal to a full colour light running signal).

 

As you can see from the pic below it is almost directly opposite the signal on the Down Relief Line.  But of course the critical thing when stopping to reverse at it is that you have to know how long your train is in order to make sure you're clear.

 

[Tony_S]

I am in Enfield. I have been researching vertical blinds. Some of the blinds in MiL's flat are broken. However every part is available so no problem really.

Tony

[BoD]

Morning all.

Well I'm sure that for some here it is still morning.

 

Why is it that whenever I see photographs of narrow gauge railways I always think what a fine model they would make? Even if it was just one of those lovely little locos pottering around.

[Ian Abel]

The mini-bar is in for a hammering, then.

 

To be fair if you are anything like me I always refused to use the moneymaking thing. A quick call on the phone gets a decent bottle of single malt delivered from the nearest liquor store  at a tenth of the price, ho hum....

 

Best, Pete.

Indeed, especially with the hotel I'm in a mere 1 block from a 24-hour grocery store, 24-hour pharmacy (JUST in case!!), and only 2 blocks to a full service liquor store when open.

All the restaurants in the area also provide delivery - albeit might be slow if the snow is as some are predicting - but I don't think I'll starve or run out of any necessaries, even if I have to venture a short walk

NY forecasts that I've looked at are now all over the map, from some still stating blizzard conditions and 10-15 inches overnight Monday and all day Tuesday, to some only predicting a couple of inches at most - who knows at this point...

 

 

For now we're only 5 hours behind the UK (4 for Pete in the Eastern time zone) after the clocks sprung ahead overnight - caught all mine I hasten to add...

 

Heading out for brunch with the family, then back for a brief relax/modeling before I have to go catch the plane.

 

-9 and cloudy right now, supposed to get a couple of inches of snow this afternoon, shouldn't be too problematic, especially compared to even that same amount in NY!

 

Enjoy the balance of Sunday everyone.

[Tony_S]

Morning all.

Well I'm sure that for some here it is still morning.

Why is it that whenever I see photographs of narrow gauge railways I always think what a fine model they would make? Even if it was just one of those lovely little locos pottering around.

My ON30 locomotives are not exactly little but they are rather nice!

[TheQ]

Afternoon awl,

 

Went down to the sailing club, weather: warmer, dryer, and with less wind than expected.

After the usual bouy placing and bacon butties, time for sailing.

 

Wind south south east, light, to not a lot. Overcast but not badly.

Tide incoming strongly.

 

Course 3P, 1P, 2P. 3 laps.

 

The race was delayed 15 minutes because prior to that there was no wind at all.

We were still in the dyke, when the two minute buzzer went, even so we didn't manage to sail the last 20ft before the start buzzer and were facing the wrong way. Not surprisingly we were last over the line in the correct direction.

 

We followed everyone up to the bouy moving more with the tide than the wind, on rounding the buoy, several of the boats sailed up the middle of the river all trying to get what little wind there was by being nearer the wind than each other.

The lead boat stuck to the northerly bank where there was more wind and least tide and disappeared off into the distance.

We, well back from the others, also went for the northerly bank and slowly caught up to the bunch.

When we reached the point where we started across the river to cut the corner, we slowed but managed to overtake one boat that carried on further before cutting the corner.

We were then in the narrowest part of the river, where in about 1900, they narrowed the river to provide a lawn in front of the pub. The tide is of course the strongest there so you try to take long tacks near the bank out of the tide.

 

We slowly overtook another boat but arrived at the next buoy on the wrong side, so had to put an extra tack in the middle of the river which slowed us. The other boat was on the right tack and re-passed us. Then the wind dropped, we and the boat behind us drifted into the bouy. This requires the penalty of a 360 degree turn, so the pair of us pirouetted while drifting back toward the club house again.

 

While doing this the finishing bell was heard and we drifted in for a second to last finish the one lap taking 3/4 of an hour.

 

Race 2, wind and course the same, slightly brighter sunlight through the clouds.

 

We were first out on the river this time and nearly where we wanted to be. We were pushed up to the southern bank by two other boats, but started first by a couple of feet. The tide being stronger up river in the middle the boat below us drifted up river faster than us.

 

Once we drifted into a slight wind, the boats sorted themselves out and we were 4th as we rounded bouy 3. This time all the boats took the left hand northerly bank but a slight wind shift meant every so often you had to tack off of the bank out into the tide.

 

We slowly gained on the third place boat but had to tack off the bank, just as we did so they slightly altered course so we touched, technically that was our fault requiring the penalty of a 720 degree turn. We did one 360 fairly quickly but we drifted close to the bank, so closely we couldn't turn again, until we sailed another 30 feet where there was room to turn by a dyke. It tells you how slow the wind was the boats behind didn't pass us.

 

We then sailed on slowly, again catching the 3rd place boat. But were just behind them at bouy 1 when the wind died again and we touched it so another pirouette was required before the drift to the shortened course finish.

 

Interestingly the first and second boats in the first race were second and third to last in the second race.

 

With so little wind everyone then packed up, had lunch and went home.

 

On getting to the Landrover, my sailing compatriot presented me with a bottle of whisky, from "The English Whisky Company" we had discussed the whisky while passing the signs for it on the A11 down to the boat show last week. He had been delivering in the area ( yes he's a white van man), dropped in and bought a couple of bottles.

 

Well that's the sailing report for this week.

Excuse me, while I finish a glass of English aqua vitae, and very nice it is too....

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone

 

Late on parade again, as usual we had a lie in this morning and as it was sunny when we finally got up, I went straight outside and tidied up in the garden. Lots of dead heading of the roses, hydrangeas, clematis and buddleia as well as general tidying up of the garden. The grass could do with cutting but it was too wet from last nights rain fall.

 

After lunch I went down to the workshop as it was starting to rain, only lightly but I'd have gotten soaked if I'd stayed out in it. I was only in the workshop for just over an hour, but in that short time I managed to fit the new IC's on the 6 faulty MERG PTP modules and test them afterwards. I also re-soldering some wires on a couple of loco chips which had become detached, it was very fiddly work but it's one of those jobs that always seem to get relegated to later, still there done now.

 

Tonight's tea was steak and ale pie, with plenty of veg and for a change we decided not to have potatoes, I didn't miss them either. The pie was out of the freezer and is part of a batch made a few weeks ago.

 

Tonight I will be talking to my brother in Canada, it's a regular monthly (well 4 weekly) thing and it's great to catch up on what he's doing.

[Gwiwer]

The sailors and perhaps others among us might be interested to hear that Aussie BiL has just completed the Marlay Point overnight race and finished 15/240. Not bad for someone who hasn't sailed more than a few hours in the current boat nor in recent years at all. He managed to pass a quintet of near-becalmed boats approaching the line alloc which seemed to be blocking each other's wind while he saw the problem coming and nipped around their beams.

[trisonic]

After the shipping and modelling reports, here is the weather forecast for IanA:

 

Depends on whose reports you read, Ian. The NWS are predicting 26 inches of snow through Wednesday evening. Accuweather (the last time I looked) was saying 8 inches. So you take your pick. Whatever happens you'll probably get away OK on Thursday.

 

Best, Pete

Edited March 12, 2017 by trisonic

[pH]

The recent arrival of another grandson prompted a look at a part of the family tree. In one direct line of the tree, including the new member, we have details of seven generations. No two of the seven were born in the same place - Aberfeldy, Dalmellington, Ayr (at least those two are in the same county), Toronto, Glasgow, Cambridge and Saskatoon. Those of us on that side of the family are obviously a restless lot!

[TheQ]

I was born in Somerset

Oldest sister in Cyprus

Youngest sister Northern Ireland

Brother Wiltshire

Mother somewhere else in Wiltshire, Grandfather Staffordshire, Grandmother isle of Wight.

Father Dorset. Grandfather Glasgow, Grandmother Wiltshire.

 

Other living relations born in central Scotland, Ayrshire, Yorkshire, British India, New Zealand, Australia, Hampshire, Northern Ireland, and many more.

 

The family tree records( Dad's research) i am slowly typing in go back to the 1500s and there are few areas of the UK without some distant relatives.

[lightengine]

The recent arrival of another grandson prompted a look at a part of the family tree. In one direct line of the tree, including the new member, we have details of seven generations. No two of the seven were born in the same place - Aberfeldy, Dalmellington, Ayr (at least those two are in the same county), Toronto, Glasgow, Cambridge and Saskatoon. Those of us on that side of the family are obviously a restless lot!

My research amazes me just how much travelling there was in the days when horses, stage coaches and Shanksies pony were the only modes.

[Coombe Barton]

My research amazes me just how much travelling there was in the days when horses, stage coaches and Shanksies pony were the only modes.

 

Yes, but if you went, you stayed. 

Edited March 12, 2017 by Coombe Barton

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. The party over the road has started early, about 3 pm, hopefully it will finish early. Not too loud fortunately but the streets around are chocker with parked cars. I know of one neighbour who will be less than pleased. Most of those attending the party are West Indian and the music therefore is mostly reggae and ska. This particular neighbour will give his racist views to anyone, even if you don't want to hear them, he must be hopping up and down.

[lightengine]

Yes, but if you went, you stayed.

 

majority of mine did but some moved on again. I wonder the travelling time by horse from the New Forest to London and the price for someone like a maid in early 1800's?

Then canals appeared, then trains.

[Smiffy2]

Yes, but if you went, you stayed. 

 

Depends. In the 1911 census there are many families where each of 3-4 children had been born in different parts of the country. Once the railways were established people moved to follow the work. Very few people in our local census (Carshalton) had been born here. Rather class-linked, the agricultural and general labourers tended to stay put.

[pH]

My research amazes me just how much travelling there was in the days when horses, stage coaches and Shanksies pony were the only modes.

I've read that the greatest contribution to the deepening of the rural English gene pool was the bicycle. (Specifically English, rather than other British countries because it was the most settled in farming areas.) Previously, people lived in villages and worked on farms where the furthest fields could be reached by walking out and back in a day, while still having time to do a day's work. Villages would then be roughly twice that furthest distance apart. Farm workers generally couldn't afford to own a horse. So it would be hard for someone to travel to another village and be back in time for work the next day, since they would have to walk a considerable distance each way. People would socialise and marry in their own village.

 

Bikes were reasonably affordable compared to horses, and allowed owners to make it to neighbouring villages for a night out much more easily than walking.

[TheQ]

A maid would have walked not being able to afford the use of a horse.

The New Forest, say Lyndhurst is 88 miles say a 4 day walk or 2 days gently with a horse.

 

In 1724 London to Edinburgh 10 days by stagecoach.

In 1824 London to Edinburgh 2 days by express (Mail)stagecoach due to turnpiked road and macadam road improvements.

 

But stagecoaches were for the wealthy, the cost being 3d a mile in the late 1700s but a maids wage of that time was maybe £10 or 2400pennies per year. So the 88 miles would be £1, 2s. Or 6 weeks wages!!!!

Edited March 12, 2017 by TheQ

[PhilJ W]

200 years ago my 4 X great grandfather was living in the village of Podimore in Devon yet he married a girl from the same village but in London. Both were of full age so it didn't appear to be an elopement. As it turned out he was a widower, his wife and two little daughters had all died within a few weeks of each other. Many relatives of his new bride had also died suddenly about the same time, in fact I can find no trace of any of her relatives after that time. I assume that it may have been an outbreak of disease such as typhus or cholera that resulted in so many deaths.

[Gwiwer]

A maid would have walked not being able to afford the use of a horse.

The New Forest, say Lyndhurst is 88 miles say a 4 day walk or 2 days gently with a horse.

In 1724 London to Edinburgh 10 days by stagecoach.

In 1824 London to Edinburgh 2 days by express (Mail)stagecoach due to turnpiked road and macadam road improvements.

But stagecoaches were for the wealthy, the cost being 3d a mile in the late 1700s but a maids wage of that time was maybe £10 or 2400pennies per year. So the 88 miles would be £1, 2s. Or 6 weeks wages!!!!

And in 2017 London - Edinburgh 4½ hours. Still by Stagecoach despite what it says on the trains. Maybe the branding is intended to appeal to maids. But still only for the wealthy unless your manservant has internet access and books ahead. Edited March 12, 2017 by Gwiwer

[Donw]

My research amazes me just how much travelling there was in the days when horses, stage coaches and Shanksies pony were the only modes.

 

You have missed out boats. A lot of long distance travel was by Boat/Ship. There was a lot of coastal trade done by ships and international trade goes back at least to the phonecians.

Don

[Coombe Barton]

200 years ago my 4 X great grandfather was living in the village of Podimore in Devon yet he married a girl from the same village but in London. Both were of full age so it didn't appear to be an elopement. As it turned out he was a widower, his wife and two little daughters had all died within a few weeks of each other. Many relatives of his new bride had also died suddenly about the same time, in fact I can find no trace of any of her relatives after that time. I assume that it may have been an outbreak of disease such as typhus or cholera that resulted in so many deaths.

List of pandemics

 

http://www.hunimex.com/warwick/diseases.html

[tetsudofan]

Been another mild day in the far southeast corner but no sign of the sun like yesterday. Been busy in the garden all day and must say that Spring is my favourite season by far. Days getting longer, nights getting shorter and the garden changing day by day.

 

Today noticed that the daffodils in one part of the garden have produced a natural tunnel, the red bush back left is in flower whilst the camelia back right is about to flower whilst the grass looks as though it will be ready for a trim soon:

 

 

Keith

 

[Horsetan]

My research amazes me just how much travelling there was in the days when horses, stage coaches and Shanksies pony were the only modes.

I'm still travelling on a horse at weekends.... between pubs.