Early Risers.

[Barry O]

The beast has fierce brakes.. but it also has some dynamic braking which pushes the energy from braking into the batteries..works very well.. so going down hill set to "B5" and it will mean very little brake pedal need be applied.

 

Baz

[Barry O]

the Gasman has been.. new pump fitted.. radiator valve unstuck.. just waiting for the paperwork..

 

Meanwhile it has been chuckinitdarn on and off all afternoon.. PAH!

 

Baz

[Two_sugars]

It's been a bit damp, like . . . .I haven't been across the doors . . . . . 

 

especially not up in "The Dales" . . . . .

 

 

There was a time when The County Of DURHAM include all 'twixt Tyne and Tees.......

 

 

 

John

 

[Ian Abel]

HUMP day... excellent, I suppose

Uneventful yesterday, simply another 24-hours knocked off the calendar.

 

This AM a <RANT> - with the weather moving towards our autumn/winter schedule, more wet mornings, generally light rain, but ENOUGH to render the newspaper (even though it's supposedly protected in a plastic bag) suitable for some papier-mache scenery sculpting!  I've told these folks before, and TODAY they get the final warning;

I've been provided with a newspaper delivery box (optional) and if they don't step up with better delivery it WILL be installed right by the front door. The guy who currently delivers the paper, driving past and normal road speed and flinging the paper out the drivers side window as he passed (wonderfully captured on my new security camera ) will soon have to STOP, GET OUT of his car and WALK the 60ft. to the box! <RANT/SORTED>

 

Peaceful day otherwise in store, a visit from tree trimmers later to get an estimate for the back yard large maple "haircut".

 

8 and rainy heading for 18 and mostly an overcast rainy day apparently.

 

Onward...

[Tony_S]

I was reading about Nissan’s epedal which is a one pedal for going and stopping in their electric cars. I wonder how long it takes to get used to.

My nephew has just bought a hybrid Toyota Yaris. At the end of every journey he gets an efficiency report. I must ask if it is graphical or if the car speaks! 
My car ( petrol not hybrid) can display all sorts of information about driving style and fuel efficiency but I usually get it to display the clock instead. 

[The Stationmaster]

1 hour ago, Barry O said:

The beast has fierce brakes.. but it also has some dynamic braking which pushes the energy from braking into the batteries..works very well.. so going down hill set to "B5" and it will mean very little brake pedal need be applied.

 

Baz

Does it also have DRS to help with overtaking sprints?

[Barry O]

2 minutes ago, The Stationmaster said:

Does it also have DRS to help with overtaking sprints?

unfortunately no.. but the engine winds up the battery charger as well as driving the electric motors direct..

 

Baz

[pH]

1 hour ago, Tony_S said:

My car ( petrol not hybrid) can display all sorts of information about driving style and fuel efficiency but I usually get it to display the clock instead. 

Probably a good move. My son has the same model of car as me, and showed me all the possible information screens. They are addictive and, unless you are very disciplined,  can be quite distracting.

[Sir TophamHatt]

Afternoon all.

 

Having a mixed day today.

 

Found out I am banned from purchasing from a cheap(ish) retailer as I raised a PayPal case against them a few years back.

The item I had delivered was damaged and they didn't want to accept a return.  Were only forced to when PayPal intervened (despite many emails between us).  Not entirely bothered as they're a little on the dodgy anyway.  Have DPA'd / GDPR'd for all the details they hold on me, will be interesting to see what comes back - although considering they didn't want to accept the return of a damaged product, I doubt they'll follow the law properly here either.  I also wonder if I ask them to erase all details (apart from payment info, which they must keep for 7 years), which I can do under DPA, whether I'd be able to create a new account and order something.

 

However, another issue that I thought was going to be a lot harder than it was has very nearly been resolved.

 

 

[Andrew P]

Had good trip to Alton today but stopped off at Ropley / Watercress Line on the way home. WOW has it changed since I was last there or what? Holiday Lets, Glamping, a new front to the Shed, all really good stuff.

 

Whilst there I got a few photos, and was just getting back in the Car when a Steamer came in from Aylesford, Unfortunately I missed it, and no one could tell me what it was, so I was wondering if anyone here would know, the pic I did get was only of the top / front of the Cab, and it looked like a 60XXX number.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 14, 2020 by Andrew P

[Coombe Barton]

6 hours ago, chrisf said:

led some gullible readers to believe that BR planned to replace loco numbers with bar codes.

\

[Coombe Barton]

3 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

I see that we are up to 9099 pages.

 

I wonder who will be the first to break the 10000 limit?

 

Only 900 or so to go

[southern42]

5 hours ago, TheQ said:

May I recommend the First Saturday in October, as a return ticket from Hoveton to Aylsham on the BVR will get you free into Broadland Model Railway clubs show .

http://broadlandmodelrailwayclub.co.uk/2020-exhibition/  in the Jubilee hall in Alysham. That's a couple of hundred yards from the station. Most of this years cancelled show traders and exhibitors have provisionally agreed to attend in 2021. 

The BVR shop in is the Station at Aylsham and their book shop is at Hoveton..

 

TheQ, thanks for the exhibition link.  Something to keep in mind for next year.  An hour and a half by car, maybe more, from where we would be visiting.  Not bad for a day out.  I have added it to next year's Calendar!

[southern42]

3 hours ago, Simon G said:

Mention of the 204 bus takes me back a bit.  It’s route took at past the Brunel University campus, so I used it frequently in the mid 1970s.  Another bus from Uxbridge towards central London was the 207, which was known locally as the banana bus, as you waited ages for one, then they came in bunches!

 

snip...

 

And when they did arrive (at The Grange or Adam and Eve, Hayes) they did not go far enough, commonly turning round at the Adam or terminating at Southall or Hanwell...

Return buses would often end at Hayes End.  Tough if you lived in Hillingdon or Uxbridge.

Yes, I remember those buses well and with great affection!

[polybear]

Bear's home.....

Well today's exploits were somewhat out of the ordinary - at least compared to the previous six months.  Mickey the MG dropped off for clutch fixing, service and MOT, then train from Baldock to Stevenage to burn the day until I got a "it's nearly done" phone call.  Most on the train were wearing masks, with just one or two late teenagers believing the rules don't apply to them 

First port of call was to stock up on that little known but essential Covid 19 protection fuel:

 

- all carried out nice and early, whilst the cafe was quiet and hopefully clean

Stevenage?  Well, the less said the better - it certainly hasn't improved since I retired from working there back in April.  Still, it kept me out of trouble for a few hours.  Cake was consumed later, in the form of a Greggs Giant Choccy Cookie; I would've posted a photo but by the time the phone had focused a certain Bear had scoffed it.  Ooops.

As for Mickey the MG, all is well again - and the bill was about three hundred quid less than Cynical Bear had dreaded.  It did go in with the understanding that "stick a clutch in if it needs it, but if it's fine then leave it alone".  The service manager did observe that Bear's paws are obviously very kind to clutches (my 214 went for 129K before a clutch was required, and that was only due to being covered in gearbox oil from a knackered bearing and seal).  The reason for the gearbox coming off is all due to the clutch operating shaft/fork and the bush it goes thru - a new bush being needed.  So the reason for maybe 4 hours labour was down to a bush - and the clowns on the production line not greasing them on assembly .  Bush cost?  £2-75.....

Now it moves like silk , and with the 4th service done and new MOT too, the bill would've got me a good handful of new releases.  It could've been a lot worse though, and having the car serviced gets me a "free" year of all singing/all dancing AA cover too.  Best of all, they send me a free Teddy

I also managed to get home in time for the virus tester's last call of the day, so that's another one under the belt.  As to whether or not it would pick up any lurgy collected during my exploits in Stevenage today must be dubious though....

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Not much done today (as usual) but the weather up until the weekend means that a bit of the G word is in order.

7 hours ago, chrisf said:

I am reminded of the splendid April Fool joke by Rail magazine which led some gullible readers to believe that BR planned to replace loco numbers with bar codes.  Tee hee.

 

Chris 

The Railway Magazine had an April fools spoof that the four Peppercorn A1's named after pre-grouping constituents of were to be painted when new in the colours of the companies concerned. 60157 Great Eastern in royal blue with white cab roof and red connecting rods would be quite something to behold.

[Tony_S]

2 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

Does it also have DRS to help with overtaking sprints?

I think if someone was tailgating me one second behind at 150mph I would just let them past...

[polybear]

34 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

I think if someone was tailgating me one second behind at 150mph I would just let them past...

 

I've driven in Kuwait on several occasions - the first time was in a Dodge Charger (think of "The Dukes of Hazzard" - albeit a later model, sadly without Daisy ).  At 75/80 it's common to have cars so close behind that you can't see the front edge of their bonnet....

For later trips I had big Japanese 4x4's, purely for self preservation.

 

In other news, and for those with unused Paypal accounts:

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2020/10/paypal-to-introduce-p12-yr-fee-for--inactive--accounts---act-now/?utm_source=MSE_Newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=13-Oct-20-50642849-4967&utm_campaign=nt-oneliners-one&utm_content=1

[Tony_S]

15 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

I've driven in Kuwait on several occasions - the first time was in a Dodge Charger (think of "The Dukes of Hazzard" - albeit a later model, sadly without Daisy ).  At 75/80 it's common to have cars so close behind that you can't see the front edge of their bonnet....

For later trips I had big Japanese 4x4's, purely for self preservation.

 

In other news, and for those with unused Paypal accounts:

...

I am sure I don’t imagine it but I always feel as if French motorists seem to drive closer to ones tailgate than I really like.  Also getting very  close before moving out to overtake. 

[Gwiwer]

Evening all

 

Mention made above of certain bus routes reminds me of my very youthful days. We were living, briefly, with the maternal grandparents in Yiewsley and would take the 223 into Uxbridge which joined and paralleled the 204 from Colham Green Lane onwards. There always seemed to be more 204s than 223s. 
 

Occasionally we would visit an aunt who lived in Hayes End and would then take the 607 trolleybus from there into Uxbridge.  As my sister had yet to arrive I would have been no more than 2 and the date no later than 1959. 
 

A couple of years later and we were living (again briefly) in Hillingdon with the 98 being our local route. At that young age I understood that we needed a 98 not a 98a nor a 198 though that only ran through the week and not at weekends. We still sometimes went into Uxbridge from Hayes End but by now it was on a new-fangled thing called a “Routemaster”. 
 

In other news the afternoon’s walking was quite superb. Perfect conditions combined with magnificent rugged scenery. And with fish & chips for tea at the end from Lil’s in Pendeen. The best we have had in many years and worth the 20-minute queue necessitated by the one-at-a-time rule, the need to cook some items to order and the inevitable conversation among locals in their local shop. 
 

 

[Tony_S]

34 minutes ago, polybear said:

the first time was in a Dodge Charger (think of "The Dukes of Hazzard" - albeit a later model,

I have a 1968 Dodge Charger, not the Hazzard County one, the one in Bullitt . However not a full size one just a 1/32 scale slot car. Still quite big though. 

[Dave Hunt]

I hired a Dodge Charger in California in 1983. Great in a straight line but going round corners ?  The next time I drove one was in 1993 in Virginia and not much had changed except the shape. Mind you, compared with the Ford LTD I had for a while when we lived in San Diego in '83/4 the Charger stuck to the road like glue.

 

Dave 

[New Haven Neil]

This small bear seems to have over-done it a bit, having spent all afternoon working on the bike that conked out last week - after a good walk this morning and other errands too.  The bike is still being naughty, changing the carburettor for an unknown condition spare has exchanged one issue for a different one....#sigh#...but at least we now know the original matter is carburation related....as well as ignition related, I already fixed that problem!  As this is a fiddly job I'm not really looking forward to doing it yet again.  I suppose as it has run faultlessly for 38 years I can't complain too much.

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Ricks mention of the London trolleybuses reminded me of the one's that ran in Ilford. They were quite unusual in that some had tinted windows upstairs. This was because they had been built for South Africa but export was not possible due to the war. I also recall riding on a London tram when I was about 2-3 years old. My dad had relatives in South East London and as I recall my sister born in 1951 was still a babe in arms.

[Coombe Barton]

... and another anniversary ...

 

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2020/10/14/saw-the-hod-after-seven-months/