Early Risers.

[newbryford]

, not as good as a proper job Swindon engine

 

What would that be then? A Western?

 

Cheers,

Mick

 

 

There seems to be more threads going around in circles at the moment (perhaps doing so with the help of some contributors).

 

 

 

It'll all calm down when mostly everyone goes back to work properly next week.

 

Cheers,

Mick

Edited December 29, 2017 by newbryford

[JohnDMJ]

Well, as the holiday in Switzerland draws to a close, the bulk of the herd migrated to Chur. I migrated by my own means rather than endure another Glacier Express transfer (it's not intended to carry luggage for one thing!). Chrisf, meanwhile, has decamped with two others to Luzern whilst two more are stopping in Basel before going home tomorrow!

 

The camaraderie of previous years seems to have been dented by the change of hotels for the session covering 25 December and also the introduction of an intermediate hotel for 3 nights containing 26 and 28 Dec. The whole dynamic seems a polar opposite of previous years.

 

No doubt the mini-herd will shoot me down in flames. However, on a package which (certainly used to) offers no fixed itinerary, at least there was a discussion of achievements and plans which I have not witnessed hitherto other than at the early morning feeding frenzy colloquially known as breakfast, fast usually being the operative word! I can not recall it having been so cliquey previously.

 

As I write, I can not help thinking that this may well be my last trip with this crowd; whilst retaining the services of the tour provider, I may well investigate some alternative options for 2018 / 2019.

Edited December 29, 2017 by JohnDMJ

[Barry O]

Night all!

[The Stationmaster]

What would that be then? A Western?

 

Cheers,

Mick

 

 

Carry on like that and I shall wait until you get back to work when I shall bombard you with technical queries - which will be amazing as I don't have a clue about any of that sort of stuff  

 

The engine was of course the one that appears in my avatar (although that picture was taken on a different trip up the same hill).

 

And g'night all

[Horsetan]

Well, as the holiday in Switzerland draws to a close, the bulk of the herd migrated to Chur. I migrated by my own means rather than endure another Glacier Express transfer (it's not intended to carry luggage for one thing!). Chrisf, meanwhile, has decamped with two others to Luzern whilst two more are stopping in Basel before going home tomorrow!

 

The camaraderie of previous years seems to have been dented by the change of hotels for the session covering 25 December and also the introduction of an intermediate hotel for 3 nights containing 26 and 28 Dec. The whole dynamic seems a polar opposite of previous years.....

Degrees of Separation?

 

I rather liked Chur, with its modern bus station perched above the platforms, and the tangle of metre gauge stretching to the (South) West. Only regret when I was there was not getting enough time on the return from Davos Platz to go round and photograph the town, as my train back to Zurich was imminent.

[Gwiwer]

Probably would have been OK in your Ford Prefect all those years ago.

 

 

 

What on Magrathea would Zaphod Beeblebrox have had to say about that???

 

I managed one driving lesson in reasonably fresh and moderately deep snow quite by chance.  In London at that.  About five inches of the stuff fell overnight though it was soft enough to have had tyre-tracks cut through it by dawn.  I was instructed to start cautiously in second using revs but letting the clutch in very slowly with one exception which was when facing slightly uphill at one point.  That was a first gear start no ifs nor buts.  The number of times one might do a snow start is surely not that many in the lifetime of a clutch.

 

Since then I have been required to drive fare-paying passengers (in Cornwall) in falling snow, through settled snow and even in something akin to a blizzard when the stuff blew in on a northerly gale.  Fully automatic buses coped except for the steeper hills which they objected to; semi-automatics were to be preferred as one could select the required gear from four or five and hold it rather than having the choice of D, R or N.  By dint of selecting second I safely negotiated Sennen Cove (almost a mile of 1:5) down then back up in three inches of snow with a double-decker.

 

It's actually getting rather warmer here as the wind shifts for the night.  A quick trip to the local supermarket late afternoon was made in -1C but now at almost midnight it is 6C and rising to an expected 11C by morning, 14C by midday.  

 

On that note it's a good night from me to all.

[JohnDMJ]

Degrees of Separation?

 

I rather liked Chur, with its modern bus station perched above the platforms, and the tangle of metre gauge stretching to the (South) West. Only regret when I was there was not getting enough time on the return from Davos Platz to go round and photograph the town, as my train back to Zurich was imminent.

Chur is a nice town with a very idiosyncratic railway infrastructure. Pity you weren't able to do it justice. Major feature is the line to Arosa which starts in the bus station then heads off up the street. Edited December 30, 2017 by JohnDMJ

[emt_911]

Night all

[BSW01]

Goodnight all

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[laurenceb]

Blimey Simon they do say it never rains but it pours! Condolences.

Thoughts with those in need

Night awl

[southern42]

Photo I forgot to post earlier.

 

Looking south east at the northern end of the Snowdonia National Park on our way home from a quick shopping trip to Bangor, yesterday afternoon.

 

The moon shone well into the evening while I left the blinds open to keep my eye on it! Not often I get the chance to do that - in the summer it would be hidden by the leaves on next door's trees!  This year, the trees were thinned out so fantastic view of the rising moon, albeit at an increasingly awkward angle!

 

' Night all and nos da.

 

[bluebottle]

 

 

The engine was of course the one that appears in my avatar (although that picture was taken on a different trip up the same hill).

 

 

 

I'd need more of a clue than that; could be anything from a Manor to a King, depending on how far away it was...

[TheQ]

Mooring Awl, inner temple here.

A good night's sleep, helped by hot chocolate laced with Grouse.

 

Yesterday's MRC went well, though numbers were down due to illness.

When removing a 4 inch piece of track, I damaged last week, I discovered it was made of three pieces of track?! I guess purchasing track was a problem on the isle of Tiree. It will be an awkward replacement as its on the end of a curve.

 

I'm waiting for daylight to take Ben the Border Collie out for his patrol, before heading out.

 

Plans include,

Going to the local tyre place to get a leak fixed.

Going to the local Tesco for routine foodstuffs.

Going to the motorboat, for routine winter maintenance ( clean solar panels, check battery water levels, check water tanks are empty, check the covers and moorings are secure.

 

It's quite windy, but with storm Dylan on its way, new year's Day looks worse for rowing across to the motorboat.

 

Time to... roll over and doze for another hour

[roundhouse]

Morning all from a wet and breezy Cardiff.

 

Another good evening finishing off in Tiny Rebel Brewery's own pub then to Brewdog.

 

Just been looking up train times and fares to go along the central Wales line but National Rail doesn't show the train or fare from Llanelli as it routes you via Cardiff and Newport. Adding via Knighton only gives the train tomorrow but not today. At least it showed the much cheaper fare than via Newport. So we will be buying a return to Llanelli (just incase there is flooding on the central Wales line) then buy a ticket from there to Shrewsbury via Knighton. We should have time as planning  a lunchtime drink in Llanelli.

 

I had a brief look at the 800 thread the other day and saw a few heated posts so came off it quite quickly. I used to post on those threads but after all the problems on our daily commute and getting wound up with some posts I hid all those threads to avoid me getting into arguments and more wound up.

[Barry O]

Morning to most.

 

Woken at 2am by a phone call from New Zealand. While the content was good, the timing could have been better.

 

Fatchy pog here this morning wit a lot of rain in the night.

 

Mugatea has been brought, I need to try and sort out a sore throat and cold type symptoms.

 

Stay calm and peaceful everyone, with very strong positive thoughts to everyone needing our support at this time.

 

Baz

[emt_911]

Morning all. A breezy but warmer start to the day.

 

Another day of modelling and general pottering about is planned.

 

My thoughts are with Debs, Simon, Rick et al.

 

Time for another coffee.

 

Have a good day everyone.

[jamie92208]

Morning all from a village that seems to be getting brighter and all the white stuff has gone. Yesterday was another quiet day with a good evening at the club getting more point motors to work. Perhaps Mick (NB) can tell us why Cobalt motors seem to need about 6 operation cycles before they come to life and actually throw a point. Anyway breakfast has been had, the end of the test Match happened and we've caught up with some TV that we'd taped.

 

Nothing much on the agenda today apart from the ironing which is my next task. After that who knows but no doubt some unspecified pottering will take place.

 

Thought again with those in need.

 

Regards to all.

 

Jamie

[Tony_S]

Morning all.

It is quite windy here. I believe this may be something Dylan related.

I slept much better last night. If I coughed, it wasn't loud enough to wake me.

 

Matthew is off to Reading later. I offered to drive him to Benfleet station but Aditi said she would take him (to Benfleet, not Reading).

I don't have any plans for today though Aditi would like me to listen out for the Amazon courier. I should be able to cope with that task.

Tony

[Barry O]

yes we did have snow then rain...

 

And, courtesy of the fact that our local YMCA and University of Leeds playing fields have not sorted out their ground drains we have

 

 

and

 

no point complaining.. they treat the local populace with arrogant disdain!

 

anyone for a swim???

 

Baz

 

 

 

 

[newbryford]

 

 

 Yesterday was another quiet day with a good evening at the club getting more point motors to work. Perhaps Mick (NB) can tell us why Cobalt motors seem to need about 6 operation cycles before they come to life and actually throw a point. .

 

 

.

If they have been left for awhile, they can sometimes take a bit of "waking up" - much like me.....

I've found that some are more susceptible than others and it's usually down to the amount and type of grease that was put in at manufacture. There were some batches that do have more grease than they need..

 

Cheers,

Mick

[jamie92208]

.

If they have been left for awhile, they can sometimes take a bit of "waking up" - much like me.....

I've found that some are more susceptible than others and it's usually down to the amount and type of grease that was put in at manufacture. There were some batches that do have more grease than they need..

 

Cheers,

Mick

Thanks for that Mick, they are Ip analogs that have been installed for a couple of years but have never been activated. Perhaps with this experience we should market a device that can be clamped to sleeping RMWebbers to bring them back to life. On second thoughts perhaps a switch to produce the opposite effect might be more useful.

 

Jamie

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. A bit windy here this morning, so windy in fact that the dawn chorus of the bin lorries was hardly noticeable. Just as well that my bin bags were a bit weighty and remained put until they were collected as I saw some bags drifting down the street like tumbleweed. Thats it for now, be back later.

Edited December 30, 2017 by PhilJ W

[Horsetan]

I'd need more of a clue than that; could be anything from a Manor to a King, depending on how far away it was...

It's a Castle.

[The Stationmaster]

Morning all,

 

Colds are well established among Mrs Stationmaster and myself - duly spread to us by the offspring who brought them into the house, no doubt we shall survive.

 

In order to resolve Gordon's confusion I append below a somewhat larger version of the picture which is also my avatar on here - the smokebox numberplate  should resolve any confusion for those who think all GWR 4-6-0s look the same and you've also got a somewhat younger, and rather grubby, image of myself standing at the top of the cab steps (two of us had spent the previous night throwing out most of the fire so the Boilersmith could get at some leaking tube ends and we then had to rebuild the fire with not much time to spare but we managed to come off shed more or less on time).  Photo by my friend, the late Tom Clift; click to enlarge the pic if you feel so inclined.

 

So once you've recovered from the shock of the old have a good day and best wishes and positive thoughts to the ailing and their relatives.

 

Edited December 30, 2017 by The Stationmaster