Early Risers.

[Happy Hippo]

5 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

As for cars with “alternative” door opening mechanisms, as a long term MB aficionado,

Dave Hunt, The Q and I immediately thought Martin Baker, who developed a very rapid egress system.

 

[The Stationmaster]

G'day all,

 

Editor duly cleared and the rain appears to be having an inter-rainum which might give the opportunity to get the shopping to the quarantine location, the immediate use stuff as been suitably disinfected (the packaging that is, not the contents).  However more rain is promised and the weeds are clearly thriving on it while some of the veg also looks quite perky.

 

Now what an excellent idea Chris - Nice is a very good place to use as a centre for exploring the area round about and quite a lot of that can be done by train although when we stayed there we never did the CFP narrow gauge line but we did go chasing a steam special which went down well with the junior offspring (the lad) as he'd never realised such things were done by allegedly sane older people.  Yes, having a car can be advantageous, particularly to reach various out of the way restaurants and some interesting non-rail connected towns and villages but you can still do an awful lot by train including a trip over the border to Ventimiglia which among other attractions still had when we were there a roundhoiuse with overhead wiring plus some interesting electrical working for the foreign (French) trains.  There is also an excellent triangular journey you can make by rail up into the mountains to Breil (although when we did the FS part was rail replacement 'bus).  

 

The old part of Nice is recommended as the best place to eat - good grub, often local dishes, at reasonable prices compared with the bit the more affluent foreign tourists frequent and there are other towns along the coast which produce excellent eateries once you get away from their seaside parts.  One big advantage of train travel is that you go through Monte Carlo in a tunnel so you have the fortunate advantage of not seeing very much of it.  We enjoyed our stay there although it was in some respects 'on the cheap' because we stayed in a borrowed flat and although it was some way from the centre and stations there was a good local 'bus service.

 

Rail brakes are interesting things and the modern equivalent - electromagnetic track brake - is a legal requirement on various heavy rail passenger stock in Germany where they are regarded as part of the emergency braking system.  Not only are they required but each new design has to undergo a practical test which consists of the coach being slipped (for want of a better term) at =60mph with a requirement that the electromagnetic brake, alone, will bring it to a stand within the specified distance.  The only British built/assembled vehicles that I know to have been equipped with this type of brake were the ENS overnight stock which was of course intended to operate in Germany.  The electromagnetic brake on an ENS sleeping car was duly tested by DB and passed with flying colours (and probably a lot of sparks).  That was just one the peculiar (to us) tests conducted on ENS vehicles during their international test tour which on occasion led to the train being lost after it had headed off to the wrong country.

 

The rain has stopped (for now) and the shopping has duly been placed in the 'quarantine centre' (officially the railway room which has been used for everything else but building the layout although parts of two are stored there.  Have a good day one and all and remember to try to stay safe - alas it seems while many around are not in the least interested in either their own safety or that of anybody else.

[Barry O]

Painting complete for today. Woooooppppiddddoooo!

Now, do I build a loco kit or.....

 

Baz

 

 

[New Haven Neil]

A'noon.

 

Exhausted after the funeral, but all went to plan, and as well as you could expect, actually better than could have been hoped given the circumstances.

 

John's OK really, handling it well all things considered, but we're there to catch the bits if and when needed.  Got something in my eye when the Cathedral bell started tolling.

[jamie92208]

ChrisF, I can also recommend Nice as a base. As Mike has said, the CFP is a fabulous ride and s day trip in itself. However  it's best to take a packed lunch as the Station at Digne is some way from the town. I ended up with a cab ride in both directions after chatting with the driver.  The triangulsr trip up to Cuneo and fown to Ventimiglia is now back yo all rail and when I was there, San Remo trolleybuses still run into Ventimiglia.  Sadly the electrified rounhouse is now out of use after thevoverhead mangled a pantograph on a 22XXX.  I

By chance I have some photos of the incident with the pantograph well mangled. When I get my European slides scanned I will post them on a thread. Nice has also just opened it's 2nd tram route that I believe goes to the airport. Monte Carlo is very eady. If you use the eastern entrance you can get a combination of lifts and escalators straight down to the harbour. There are even a few EMU's letterred for Monaco but numbered in the SNCF series.  Goi g west there us a frequent service to Grasse, which is also worth a visit.

 

Jamie

[45156]

9 hours ago, chrisf said:

The prognosis for walking into a shop and buying a face mask turned out to be poor.  I went straight for back-up by ordering a pair from *m*z*n, which is the last thing I wanted to do.  The delivery date – 30th July, I’m told - is too far away for the wretched things to be of immediate use, so I am left with my college scarf, my rainbow bandana and my balaclava if I can remember where I put it. 

Chris, many of the Amazon masks are being sent from China, and there is no air mail at the moment - hence the silly delivery dates.  I got some off Amazon from a UK seller, and they were delivered within a few days.  However, I decided to get a cloth one off eBay, and it came on Tuesday  by first class post from a UK seller - and it only cost £4.99 including postage

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/COTTON-FACE-MASK-BLACK-QUALITY-MOUNTH-COVER-REUSABLE-HANDMADE-UK-STOCK-UNISEX/254617081794?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649

[Coombe Barton]

When I was 7 or 8 the game round the neighbourhood was cowboys and Indians. I have just received some bandana face masks from the usual source

Meet El Bandito

 

[45156]

Afternoon All

 

I never thought that I'd say this again, but all posts read and rated since my last visit, and it's good to see how much drivel informative and erudite discussion is taking place hereabouts, and I do think that ERs is one of the things that  is making this pandemic a bit less intolerable.  We do seem to be missing a few of the regulars, and it would be nice to hear from them if at all possible.  So to those who are still with us, it is the usual greetings of the generic variety and a hope that none are ailing, or if they are, that they are not ailing too much.

 

Managed to get the newly painted front gate up this morning, and it looks a whole lot better - now for the bigger gates on the driveway.  And today, 30747 went looking for a CD, which she couldn't find, as many of our CDs are in a wall cupboard, and arranged in alphabetical order(ish) rather than by genre (except classical which are separated, then in alphabetical order by composer).  Only some are out of order, some are (or were) regarded as popular, so were put in  a separate run.  So she decided that something had to be done - well, our "proper" CD racks are in the office room, and are used to hold spare soaps, toiletries, etc, so it was decreed that a new home would be found for these items, and the CD racks taken down, and put downstairs, but in the hall, next to my loco collection, and then ALL the CDs resorted  and I found about ten which had been missing.  Well that was a job and a half - but I did manage to get rid of a load of CDs that I don't listen to, and which will be going to the car boot sale ASAP - and yes, the A6 car boot has re-opened, with social distancing and hand sanitiser at stategic locations.  However, I doubt that we will be selling there this year, as much of our stock was given away during the peak of the lockdown (kid's games, jigsaws, books, and the like.

 

Hopefully back tomorrow.

Regards to All

Stewart

[Erichill16]

16 hours ago, J. S. Bach said:

I once test drove a Lotus Europa and had no real problem getting in or out. Neat car to drive but I really did not want to own one. For one thing where would one put the groceries?

If you put them in the small compartment behind the engine the groceries would be already cooked by the time you got home!

At least with the Elan you got a proper boot.

Edited June 11, 2020 by Erichill16
Add final comment.

[The Stationmaster]

The Day of The Kevs.

 

Regular readetrs will be familiar with our friendly neighbourhood Red Kite who we call Kev (as in 'Kev The Kite'). While he doesn't exactly answer to his name he takes a very definite interest when it is called in certain circumstances - one of which is the leftover skin and bones and oddments of flesh from the dismemberment of a pre-cooked Waitrose chicken.  He usually calls in his mates so we get this sort of sight overhead (this is abut a third of those in our immediate vicinity today once the shout went  out.

 

 

this is the prelude to the sort of aerobatics that put the Red arrows to shame and one new innovation is for two to swoop down for food in opposite directions making their pick up as they pass within barely a wingspan of each other - much too fast to capture by ordinary still camera alas.

 

Kev of course being a crafty local has a technique which he employs to make sure he gets what he wants and he lands and takes his pick, especially of the tastier morsels.  Today - again alas no pics - he was being dive bombed by his mates as he happily and carefully picked out the bits he wanted,

 

 

 

 

 

Today however he was at times joined by a pal (mate?) who had the same idea

 

 

And then to our even greater surprise another one landed and joined the party

 

 

 

 

Edited June 11, 2020 by The Stationmaster

[J. S. Bach]

3 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

Dave Hunt, The Q and I immediately thought Martin Baker, who developed a very rapid egress system.

 

True, but not really suitable in a garage!

[tigerburnie]

Of the modern crop of cars, I really, really would like one of these please, a red one...thanks(I think it will need to be a roll over win to buy one though)

https://www.koenigsegg.com/car/regera/

[J. S. Bach]

47 minutes ago, 45156 said:

Afternoon All ...snip... how much drivel informative and erudite discussion ...snip...

Hopefully back tomorrow.

Regards to All

Stewart

I prefer the words "excess bloviation"!

[The Stationmaster]

17 minutes ago, tigerburnie said:

Of the modern crop of cars, I really, really would like one of these please, a red one...thanks(I think it will need to be a roll over win to buy one though)

https://www.koenigsegg.com/car/regera/

Hmm, looks like it might cost a bit in tyres if it's driven like that one in the illustration.

[Happy Hippo]

24 minutes ago, J. S. Bach said:

True, but not really suitable in a garage!

But ok for a house!

 

 

[roundhouse]

2 hours ago, Coombe Barton said:

When I was 7 or 8 the game round the neighbourhood was cowboys and Indians. I have just received some bandana face masks from the usual source

Meet El Bandito

 

The days when people would be panicking if you walked in like that but no its the other way around, well at least from Monday on public transport 

[Florence Locomotive Works]

1 hour ago, Erichill16 said:

If you put them in the small compartment behind the engine the groceries would be already cooked by the time you got home!

At least with the Elan you got a proper boot.

Never tried that but I’ll mention it to my dad, the boot is fiberglass and can barely support its own weight, but it might cook a meat pie on a hot day. 

[Ian Abel]

BIN day, good afternoon...

 

Nothing much happening here beyond the flurry of work for the Long Island client.

 

Yesterday we went to the George Floyd temporary memorial -basically a very moving experience, sad and IMHO this will actually make change finally happen over here.

 

Weather more reasonable now, only 18 first thing and maybe 25 for the high.

 

Stay safe and well everyone

[pH]

21 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

So, dual-fuel (electric and coal) with generator and traction engine hidden under the boiler?

 

Clever piece of kit.

 

16 hours ago, AndyID said:

There was a gigantic immersion heating element in the boiler. Effective but terribly inefficient.

 

12 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Well, ... it is a kettle.

 

“Titter ye not”, as Mr. F. Howerd was wont to say:

 

http://www.douglas-self.com/MUSEUM/LOCOLOCO/swisselec/swisselc.htm

Edited June 11, 2020 by pH
Autocorrect!

[Ozexpatriate]

9 hours ago, TheQ said:

There can Only Be one choice of car.. That of James Bond, from the books that is, not the films..

His was in Battleship grey..

Bond, James Bond did drive a comparable Bentley in the films, though it was British racing green. It appears early in "From Russia with Love".

 

It is equipped with a telephone and Moneypenny interrupts James' picnic.

 

Edited June 11, 2020 by Ozexpatriate

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Spent the afternoon tidying up the patio, rain is predicted for tomorrow so it should get a wash down. Been getting a few things sorted for the 'wildlife' corner of the garden. This is a couple of square metres of the garden hidden by the old shed and a fir tree where I had created a log pile and a few other things to attract insects, reptiles and small mammals though the latter are still rare due to the local cats and foxes. I am pleased to say though that there's quite a few slow worms and grass snakes in evidence in that corner. 

[AndyID]

10 hours ago, grandadbob said:

Dave, part of my early driving was in my Dad's brand new 3.3L Vauxhall Cresta (White with red roof and whitewall tyres) with three speed column change and front bench seat.  I was absolutely gobsmacked when he let me borrow it after passing my test just saying "Be careful." I was, both with the car and its bench seat!  

 

Dad had the two-tone blue version, but it was a "four on the floor". IIRC the front seats were split. He traded it before I could drive but I did get to drive his Fiat 125S. It was cunningly designed so that you could dangle your right arm out the window as you drove to facilitate violent gesticulation.

[AndyB]

9 hours ago, TheQ said:

My dear Chap, an officer would not have been seen driving, that would be totally lower class. Driving was for the lower ranks.

An officer would normally have had his head through the turret, having a Commanding view..

 

I spent enough time driving officers around in the 1980s let alone the 1920s

 

 

I remember the time my SiL caught my brother getting into the front seat of his car next to his driver one morning. 

"But it's more comfortable", he complained.

"You're not there to be comfortable!" she "explained". 

I often wonder what happened to the pendant he used to have. I suspect she used it to reinforce the point! 

 

Anyway. Masks.  Swmbo sewed a job lot according to the nhs approved design. And when visiting the Halifax this morning I got to try one out.

 

The slight disadvantage is that one's glasses steam up instantly; I spent 10 minutes explaining what banking service I wanted to a cardboard cutout of Howard Brown. 

 

 

 

 

[Ozexpatriate]

8 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

As I see it, there are a number of very serious problems in “banning history“; first of all who does the banning and what will be banned?  As George Orwell pointed out in “1984”, rewriting history changes the present: if you re-write history to say that (to provide a trivial example) P4 modelling has always been banned and everyone modelled EM, no-one objects to P4 being banned now, even though the reality was that - before rewriting history - it was EM that was banned and P4 modelled.

Flavio, who is attempting to ban history? (I speak from the perspective of what is happening in the US.)

 

Every culture writes it's own history and it does change the present and indeed the future.

 

8 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Secondly, it is both stupid and wrong to judge what people did in, for example, Imperial Rome by the standards of today. Many of those things which we now consider abhorrent, were then hallmarks of a civilised society.  By all means put such history “In context” if you have to, but erasing such history from the books does not change history (as ane fule kno).

History always requires context. Who is erasing history from history books?  I will make the observation that many of them are very inaccurate, but the diligent student will take an interest in multiple views, which are hopefully based on original sources. (I have spent a lot of my adult life reading about the colonial and revolutionary period in the US to better understand why things here are the way they are - and to my great satisfaction, successfully so. Much of 'popular history' is fraught with what I'll call founding myths, but the actual history books are an improvement, if variably so.)

 

8 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Thirdly, and finally, by getting worked up about past injustices risks people becoming complacent about present injustices. Take for example slavery: it’s all very well and good to decry historical slavery, but what about present day slavery?  I wonder if many of those who are agitating to rewrite history, would agitate for stiffer laws and state action to prevent modern day slavery? I doubt it, as to do so would bring these people to the attention of the various modern day slave runners who, by any account, are very nasty individuals indeed.

I am very confident that a large number of the people protesting in the US right now would indeed agitate for action to prevent modern day slavery.

[Ozexpatriate]

3 minutes ago, AndyB said:

The slight disadvantage is that one's glasses steam up instantly

It a royal PITA.