Early Risers.

[Ozexpatriate]

23 minutes ago, brianusa said:

Snow tyres have to be off in March here! By law!!  'They" don't want you tearing up the street

 

4 minutes ago, AndyID said:

Only if they have metal studs.

And they really do tear up the streets.

 

Before some 2008 TARP money was used to do road repairs on I5, there was a local hill where the channels cut by metal studded snow tyres were so deep that the small car I drove at the time would hydroplane going up the hill when it rained heavily. I had to drive to one side of the lane to retain traction.

[Tony_S]

1 hour ago, brianusa said:

Snow tyres have to be off in March here! By law!!  'They" don't want you tearing up the street

    Brian.

These are a different rubber compound for cold (cold for here below 7C, that is 7 not -7). The tread pattern also grabs at snow. There are no studs. If you leave them on in warm weather the rubber wears quicker than regular tyres. In three months the car has only been down to the pharmacy twice and over to Canvey for our blood tests. Tyre wear isn’t going to be an issue for Aditi’s car.
My car has reinforced Mud and Snow rated tyres suitable for 168 mph. Though I don’t think one would be doing high speed on mud or snow. Anyway my car can’t do 168mph. 
Tony

Edited June 17, 2020 by Tony_S

[Gwiwer]

51 minutes ago, AndyID said:

 

Only if they have metal studs. Does anyone use them in the UK? Are they even legal there?

Studded tyres?  Not on roads to my knowledge but probably OK off-road on the dirt which isn't owned or managed by the Department for Something-or-other.  

 

Snow chains are of course permitted and indeed required in the farther northern and higher reaches of these lands.  I have only once seem them in regular daily use in the far south and that was in the winter of '63.  The milkman, the coalman, the Corona man (delivering soft drink in '63, not Mexican beer or viral infections) and the baker all had snow chains fitted to their delivery vehicles.  Buses didn't but only ran on the main roads if clear and not through the residential roads nor where there was a slopey road hill.  They struggled with the railway bridge on the main road which the council tried hard to keep clear of compacted snow and ice without complete success.  We have never had a family car but I remember others in our road who had to go out every day and who suddenly found snow chains from somewhere.  

 

In the SW of Cornwall where snow seldom settles after the rare event of it falling there was one winter where we had problems with the buses.  A colleague got stuck in Porthleven when the bus slid gently sideways and came to rest against a telegraph pole.  Another descended the main street of Penzance at a 45-degree angle rather than the traditional nose-to-tail gait.  After which services were cancelled for the rest of the day.  The bigger problem down there was ice on the hills and the rather frequent floods which washed topsoil and large stones out of fields onto roads.  It was your choice whether to go through.  I took the plunge on every occasion though once found muddy water entering by the doors and reaching to the first step inside.  We had steps inside buses then.  Then there was the time I drove into a flood in pitch-dark conditions and hadn't seen it until too late - I was already in.  Keeping the loud pedal depressed to avoid aspiration of floodwater up the exhaust I felt the bus bumping and rumbling over some alarmingly large stones.  Instant decision - keep going and risk losing traction with a wheel off the road or slow / stop mid-flood and have to get myself and my passengers safely out in the dark and through a foot of water?  I kept going but did indeed lose traction momentarily several times before reaching dry land.  

 

The road was closed for two days after that while the flood subsided and the rocks - for rocks they were - were removed along with many tons of soil and debris.  

 

All in a day's work eh?  

 

Tis time to apply clean sheets to the snoozing sack and inspect my eyelids.  Sleep well one and all.  

[Tony_S]

54 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

 

And they really do tear up the streets.

 

Before some 2008 TARP money was used to do road repairs on I5, there was a local hill where the channels cut by metal studded snow tyres were so deep that the small car I drove at the time would hydroplane going up the hill when it rained heavily. I had to drive to one side of the lane to retain traction.

At one time the A12 road heading towards the Essex coast ports seemed to have grooves worn just by the heavy lorry traffic. You could aquaplane uphill there too. Possibly modern tyres shift water better and perhaps harder wearing road surfaces too now as I don’t notice it. Not that I am going anywhere at present.  
Tony

[polybear]

14 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

A walk round the village then two episodes of the 'Salisbury Poisonings " rounded off the evening. 

 

Best thing I've seen on telly for ages.  I wonder where the father and daughter are hiding out now?

 

12 hours ago, AndrewC said:

The other shoe next door finally dropped as they've applied to make their less than above board construction/conversion into a 6 room HMO. Sadly our useless asshat invested council isn't likely to deny their license. We'd have to prove the company that owns the property is not a fit landlord. We are going to try though. The neighbour on the other side is looking at civil action under the party wall act and to object to the extension under "right to light" since it blocks direct light to 2 of their windows and back door. Stay tuned.

 

Ok, got it - HMO = houses in multiple occupation.   Am I right in thinking that any works involving the party wall means the neighbour will have to arrange a party wall agreement at their expense, and the owners of any adjoining properties are entitled to appoint independent professionals (structural engineers etc.) to look after their (i.e. your) own interests, for which the neighbour has to foot the bill?

If it goes ahead, get a load of mates to move in.  Then they stop paying the rent, get evicted after lots of legal wrangling (taking 6 months+) and trash the place on the way out.  Happy days.

 

 

5 hours ago, Sir TophamHatt said:

I used to be more scared of electrics but an electrician told me that if the electrics blow, they'll just turn off.

 

Or catch fire....

 

[Coombe Barton]

Byrd Watching.

 

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2020/06/17/why-do-they-do-it/

[jamie92208]

12 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

Best thing I've seen on telly for ages.  I wonder where the father and daughter are hiding out now?

 

 

Just watched part 3 which was just as good, though a storm last night disrupted freesat for a bit. Very interesting that the lady public health officer is now deputy director for the whole south west she will have had a very busy few months.  

 

Jamie

Edited June 17, 2020 by jamie92208

[New Haven Neil]

Evening.

 

I got sidetracked then....oops..... meant to post hours ago.

 

iD, when we shipped abroad, it was 'at cost', but any warranty returns would be at our cost both ways.  When it may be a 7kg live steam loco, things get silly expensive very quickly.  We once had some coaches (G Scale bogie coaches) warranty returned from New Zealand - that smarted.  Easy to make the decision after that!

 

28 days covid free here today, declared 'locally eliminated'.  Borders remain closed.

 

 

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Spoke to my brother about an hour ago, he's lost a quarter of his weight, 40 Kg in two months. The hospital is going to give him a whole body scan soon so fingers crossed they don't find anything serious. No doubt there is a lot of hot air being caused by the cancellation of Warley. Not at all surprised with social distancing in force meaning fewer exhibitors and traders in a given space and strict limits on the numbers of punters allowed in would not make many exhibitions financially viable. Closer examination of the Matchbox shop has revealed how it is held together, three tabs on the roof panel that fit into slots on the main body. Still can't find a way to dismantle it though. Just taken the bin bags out for tomorrows collection and its raining, not heavily and the ground is so dry it certainly needs it.

[Simon G]

6 hours ago, Simon G said:

 

The post then delivered a Solid State Disc (SSD) to install into my ageing desktop PC to try to speed it up. 

SSD has now been installed into the ageing PC.  Cloning the old hard disk onto the SSD proved more difficult than I hoped, as my installed Acronis 2010 software recognised the SSD OK, but wouldn’t copy to it.  A visit to the Western Digital website found a 2016 version of the Acronis, which worked.  Once I made the SSD the first disk to boot from, the PC booted up in a fraction of the time it previously took.  Loading programs like Word and Excel was also very much quicker.  The SSD looks like a worthwhile investment!

[Erichill16]

Evening everyone,

Tried sorting out a British Gas bill today, gave me right headache. When I took over responsibilities for the gas to this particular property the meter reading was an estimate which I complained about as it was totally inaccurate. Anyway BG say it is acceptable and within their tolerance. End result is I’m in credit to the tune of £200 and haven’t actually paid them a penny yet. As the property is unoccupied and there’s no standing charge the monthly bill comes to approximately £1 so it could be some time before money leaves my account. I must have spent 3 hours on the phone to them trying to sort it out but I’ve got better this to do, my sock drawer needs a good sort out!
I went to visit an aunt today who lives in a home. We met in the garden, socially distanced and it was nice to see her. It’s her 90th birthday on Saturday so took her a few treats round.

Did a bit of model painting this evening but the airbrush was acting up so I’m not sure if the finish will be acceptable. Judgement tomorrow.

Anyway good night, and hope everyone is well especially those who haven’t posted recently,
Robert

 

[Florence Locomotive Works]

Evening awl,

 

Just had something a bit startling happen during a steam test on my Q1 (not the Southern engine). The pictures are of the setup I talk about. Catastrophic Pipe Failure, was the name of the game. Essentially the silicone tube from the engine to maine steam feed got lazy and decided it didn’t want to carry steam any more, so took a vacation. This caused steam to go whooshing out all over my desk and half my room, but it did clear out all the crud inside the boiler. Luckily neither me nor the boiler is hurt. I got a new high-tensile steel wire in my mouth today, only the top one had to be replaced. The pain hasn’t set in yet, but will arrive in force over night, or might not, you never no with braces. Been listening to a great Irish folk band called The Gloaming, would highly recommend it. The oscillator is still in NYC, so nothing new there, beginning to the nerve to call them. Just learned my 8th grade graduation has been cancelled which is disappointing, but it’s for the greater good so I won’t complain. 
 

stay healthy and best wishes to Baz,

 

Douglas

Edited June 17, 2020 by Florence Locomotive Works

[J. S. Bach]

1 hour ago, Gwiwer said:

 ...snip...The road was closed for two days after that while the flood subsided and the rocks - for rocks they were - were removed along with many tons of soil and debris. ...snip...

And bus parts!

[J. S. Bach]

3 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Presuming you mean BB-3, a sad end as an ammunition barge in the second world war before being broken up.

 

The foremast is installed at Tom McCall park alongside the Willamette River (where in the 1930s the Oregon was moored as a museum ship) in downtown Portland. The funnels also exist but are not on display.

BB-3 just docked here; well, the pieces did although I no longer have the skills to assemble the Glencoe Models kit . I almost want to cut the cover art out and frame it; I think that she is firing at the Spanish fleet in Santiago Bay. Her engineering claim to fame was a 14000 mile run from the Pacific to the Caribbean to participate in the Spanish-American War. A lot of the run was at full power, an amazing feat at that time of coal-fired ships.

[J. S. Bach]

48 minutes ago, Florence Locomotive Works said:

Evening awl, ...snip... Just learned my 8th grade graduation has been cancelled which is disappointing

My best friend's son's high school graduation has been cancelled and the school has been waffling around on how to handle the diplomas among other things. In fact, I just sent his card off today. Had things been normal (what's that?), I would have attended and given it to him in person.

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone 

 

The sun has been shining for most of the day, but we had a rain shower this afternoon. 

Well it’s been quite a productive day today. The desk top was sanded down, the resulting dust was then cleared away and a final coat of varnish was applied. I’ll now leave a few days to harden off fully before I make a start moving the computer, monitor, printer, Hi Fi - amp, cassette deck and turntable etc. This will then leave the corner under the window in the large cellar room vacant, so a start can be made on removing the distemper on the walls. 

 

I’d only just finished the varnishing when the doorbell rang. One of the packages I was expecting had arrived, delivered in person by the guy who made them. The ‘THEM’ in question is 3 bespoke control panels for my layout, 1 for the storage yard,  for the scenic section and finally 1 for the MDP. Once I’d put them in the cellar I set off to the big orange DIY shed and bought some sealant. The sun was still shining when I got the ladders out and had a look at the bathroom window, the sealant had a few cracks in it. I also looked at the gutter above the bathroom window. I lowered this section of gutter about 12 months or so, it appears that it’s too low now. This part of the gutter needs to be the lowest point, so raising it is out of the question. Instead, I fitted a block of wood behind the gutter, bringing it forward, so that the roof slates end up roughly in the centre. This has improved things, but I think when I replaced the small section that I removed to fit the block of wood, I didn’t refit it properly, as the joint appears to be leaking, so that will need looking at tomorrow. However, it’s nowhere near as bad as last night. I’d just finished the gutter when I was called in for dinner. After dinner it started to rain so that meant that I couldn’t get the pointing done, hopefully I’ll get it done before the weekend.

 

Ian is coming round tomorrow morning to borrow my wheelbarrow and a large shovel, he’s having 3 tons of gravel dropped off. They live in a middle of a row terrace houses and the gravel can only be dropped off at the side of the end house, 4 houses away, it’ll take him a while to shift that lot!

 

Goodnight all 

 

[The Stationmaster]

G'night all

[laurenceb]

Night awl

[Happy Hippo]

1 hour ago, Florence Locomotive Works said:

Evening awl,

 

Just had something a bit startling happen during a steam test on my Q1 (not the Southern engine). The pictures are of the setup I talk about. Catastrophic Pipe Failure, was the name of the game. Essentially the silicone tube from the engine to maine steam feed got lazy and decided it didn’t want to carry steam any more, so took a vacation. This caused steam to go whooshing out all over my desk and half my room, but it did clear out all the crud inside the boiler. Luckily neither me nor the boiler is hurt. I got a new high-tensile steel wire in my mouth today, only the top one had to be replaced. The pain hasn’t set in yet, but will arrive in force over night, or might not, you never no with braces. Been listening to a great Irish folk band called The Gloaming, would highly recommend it. The oscillator is still in NYC, so nothing new there, beginning to the nerve to call them. Just learned my 8th grade graduation has been cancelled which is disappointing, but it’s for the greater good so I won’t complain. 
 

stay healthy and best wishes to Baz,

 

Douglas

You have now learned that live steam models have a dark side and are never to be trusted.

 

I'd suggest you get some proper pipe cones and unions and make some solder connections between the cylinder unit(s) and boiler(s) a in order to operate your steam engines safely.

 

Steam engines can and will bite: whether it is a jet of steam from a pipe as you have already found out about, or perhaps getting your face over the boiler when the safety valve lifts.

 

It might not be much at the moment as the boilers you have are very much designed with children in mind. You are looking at working pressures of about 20 psi which is not much above atmospheric pressure.  Double the pressure and you will find that  steam at 40 psi a lot less forgiving.  Without wishing to sound gruesome, a stream of live steam from a large high pressure boiler (in excess of 100psi) will turn any skin it contacts to the consistency of a well boiled onion.

 

Live steam can produce some quite nasty scalds (wet burns).  The fires, whether they are generated by gas, spirit or coal can and will give you quite serious burns if you drop your guard.

 

They will also bite you physically if you manage to get your fingers stuck in any of the twirly bits.

 

Be careful, because although steam engines are wonderful machines, they can also be very unforgiving if given the slightest opportunity.

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[Florence Locomotive Works]

1 hour ago, Happy Hippo said:

You have now learned that live steam models have a dark side and are never to be trusted.

 

I'd suggest you get some proper pipe cones and unions and make some solder connections between the cylinder unit(s) and boiler(s) a in order to operate your steam engines safely.

 

Steam engines can and will bite: whether it is a jet of steam from a pipe as you have already found out about, or perhaps getting your face over the boiler when the safety valve lifts.

 

It might not be much at the moment as the boilers you have are very much designed with children in mind. You are looking at working pressures of about 20 psi which is not much above atmospheric pressure.  Double the pressure and you will find that  steam at 40 psi a lot less forgiving.  Without wishing to sound gruesome, a stream of live steam from a large high pressure boiler (in excess of 100psi) will turn any skin it contacts to the consistency of a well boiled onion.

 

Live steam can produce some quite nasty scalds (wet burns).  The fires, whether they are generated by gas, spirit or coal can and will give you quite serious burns if you drop your guard.

 

They will also bite you physically if you manage to get your fingers stuck in any of the twirly bits.

 

Be careful, because although steam engines are wonderful machines, they can also be very unforgiving if given the slightest opportunity.

Indeed they are sir, and I have had my fair share of such encounters (with wet steam). Everything you see in the pictures above is completely temporary, and will be fully steam tight as soon the new regulator valve arrives. I’ve heard about those burns, apparently when working on a new or recently recommissioned marine engine it is best to walk with a broom held in front of you. This will go flying out of your hand when you hit a leak, and then you mark the offending area with something. Learned that from a book I have by Daniel Kinnear Clark, I believe he was with the Highland Railway for much of the 1870s. The book is called “A Treatise on the Steam Engine” (Blackie & Son Ltd 1893) I have volume four, I believe there are six. It has many large drawings of engines and descriptions. Ranging from diminutive fair ground vertical engines, to Midland Rly Johnson 4-4-0’s to triple expansion engines for the S.S. Coot, and even has a large fold out illustrated page of the boiler arrangement for HMS Renown. 
 

below is the engine for the SS Coot and a Johnson 4-4-0.

Edited June 18, 2020 by Florence Locomotive Works

[AndyID]

43 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

You have now learned that live steam models have a dark side and are never to be trusted.

 

I'd suggest you get some proper pipe cones and unions and make some solder connections between the cylinder unit(s) and boiler(s) a in order to operate your steam engines safely.

 

Steam engines can and will bite: whether it is a jet of steam from a pipe as you have already found out about, or perhaps getting your face over the boiler when the safety valve lifts.

 

It might not be much at the moment as the boilers you have are very much designed with children in mind. You are looking at working pressures of about 20 psi which is not much above atmospheric pressure.  Double the pressure and you will find that  steam at 40 psi a lot less forgiving.  Without wishing to sound gruesome, a stream of live steam from a large high pressure boiler (in excess of 100psi) will turn any skin it contacts to the consistency of a well boiled onion.

 

Live steam can produce some quite nasty scalds (wet burns).  The fires, whether they are generated by gas, spirit or coal can and will give you quite serious burns if you drop your guard.

 

They will also bite you physically if you manage to get your fingers stuck in any of the twirly bits.

 

Be careful, because although steam engines are wonderful machines, they can also be very unforgiving if given the slightest opportunity.

 

Indeed. Steam is even more dangerous than boiling water. When steam condenses on something (hopefully not your skin) it releases an enormous amount of energy (latent heat). The stuff you can see as vapor isn't too bad as it has already condensed and released its energy to the atmosphere. It's the invisible steam gas that is really dangerous.

 

[Florence Locomotive Works]

1 hour ago, AndyID said:

 

Indeed. Steam is even more dangerous than boiling water. When steam condenses on something (hopefully not your skin) it releases an enormous amount of energy (latent heat). The stuff you can see as vapor isn't too bad as it has already condensed and released its energy to the atmosphere. It's the invisible steam gas that is really dangerous.

 

We had a steam leak in its gaseous form at one of the refineries on the river a few months ago. There was just a white cloud sitting above the refinery, tapering down towards it. You couldn’t actually see where it came from, because the steam was transparent, I would hate to imagine what would have happened had someone walked into it. 

Edited June 18, 2020 by Florence Locomotive Works

[J. S. Bach]

Good night owl from the Piedmont.

[Florence Locomotive Works]

Goodnight all, from Greencountry.

 

Douglas