Early Risers.

[Coombe Barton]

Found this



By Geof Sheppard - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18883960

[J. S. Bach]

22 hours ago, chrisf said:

Greetings one and all

 ...snip... I used to be fascinated by destination blinds.   ...snip...

Chris

I still am fascinated by headsigns and I collect them. The TURN BACK is from Broward County, Florida and the VIENNA is from the DC Metro:

 

From a Bullet car on SEPTA's Norristown line now called route 100:

 

From the Baltimore Transit Company before the MTA takeover:

 

Note that when I worked for Broward County Transit one of my jobs was programming the electronic headsigns, this creation is my favorite:

 

Speaking of trackless trolleys, this one is from a Philadelphia trackless; I have ridden the 66. Note that the red slash indicate a short turn:

 

I also have one from a London Transport bus but no photos of it.

 

I even have a few electronic ones but no photos of them.

 

Edited October 17, 2020 by J. S. Bach

[Ian Abel]

19 hours ago, brianusa said:

There's nothing like a cup of tea and a read  from a real paper to start the day off.  In todays world we all spend too much time in front of a glowing screen and a break is worth the time off.

Couldn't agree more Brian. Whilst I'm 100% involved in computers for work and part of my hobbies (including using DCC <kof> and JMRI) and, of course my Flight Simulation which takes enormous amounts of free time - I HAVE to have the physical paper to feel I've been able to relate and review the world using a different media.

[J. S. Bach]

More headsigns. The first is me getting one from a bus that was sold to another operator and he let me get the signs, front and curb-side:

 

Another one from a one of the buses sold to Gainesville, FL, I ended up programming them and they sent me this sign:

 

Some of the equipment used to program the signs:

 

The first signs that I worked with used a 2764 programmable chip; one for each bus. It took a long time as I could only do one chip at a time; the eight-chip gang-banger never worked properly.

 

 

 

Edited October 16, 2020 by J. S. Bach

[Ian Abel]

POETS!

Yesterday after posting here became a flustercuck with the Long Island client - the urge to re-work various reports for their monthly financial statement went into overdrive and I was very busy right up until 5PM! No rest for the wicked etc., etc.

 

I did manage to make the lemon Bundt cake during my lunch break, and Jemma and Brendan were over for a very enjoyable dinner and dessert

 

First thing saw this;

 

wasn't supposed to snow until possibly LATER this weekend!

Stopped for now but ominous dark clouds to the WNW indicating we may be in for more, whether it settles is another matter, as the ground is somewhat warm still.

 

Later we're off to our travelling companions for the evening and an Indian take-away - with plenty of wine

Tomorrow with luck some work on the wiring for the shed and a few other projects.

 

1 getting the newspaper, and 8 the estimated high, snow or rain depending on how the temperature manages itself.

 

Definitely going to POETS, have a good start weekend all. 

 

[chrisf]

1 hour ago, John Wass said:

I would recommend a visit to Sandtoft when it becomes open again.

One picture for Bradford and one for what might have been the new system in Doncaster.

 

Ah yes, the electro-diesel.  I had high hopes for that.  The Swiss trolleys in Fribourg run on the same principle.  The wires run out some way short of the end of each route so down go the poles and on goes the diesel engine.  The short workings at Fribourg Bahnhof use the same method of turning without a turning circle.  Most London trolleys, except the SAs based at Ilford, had batteries and were able to turn at some exotic places!

 

Chris

Edited October 16, 2020 by chrisf
missed a bit

[jamie92208]

7 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

It was a similar situation in Bradford our last trolleybus operator. More than half of their fleet was second hand and the majority of them had been rebodied. This was because the manufacture of trolleybuses and more importantly the overhead cable and fittings had ceased. 

*Rescue dogs from Eastern Europe.

When we did our trolleybus tour we were told that the most critical spares atecBradford were motor casings. We also got to play with a bamboo pole when we had to overtakecq service bus at Allerton terminus, which must have been by then thevhighest trolleybus line in the UK.  Mike mentions somevof the reasons for the demise of trolleybuses. My late architect friend told me that a major problem in the 60's was that the cladding on new buildings would not take the strain of a rose fitting for span wires.

7 hours ago, Coombe Barton said:

Friday this week is the day of deliveries. The first one has just arrived, an industrial quantity of magazine storage files from IKEA.

If you want me, you know where I'll be ...

Snap, J've received an ordervof TJENA's today.

1 hour ago, simontaylor484 said:

There used to be trams here but well before my time 

Yes thevline from Castleford closed IIRC in 1926. My mother used to ride the tram to school from Cas. She got frightened by the men with black faces, miners coming off shift. Also she saw boys who had had their tonsils out as day cases going home looking rather sorry for themselves.  The system was run by the same company that ran the Wakefield network but the connecting link through Normanton was never built. There was a bad fire at the Castleford depot one night so they transferred 6 trams from Wakefield to help. They ran them to the end of the track at Agbrigg then towed them them on the road over Heath Common on their own wheels by teams of horses and back onto the rails at IIRC the Hark to Bounty.

 

Jamie

[simontaylor484]

I know trams lasted in Leeds longer my Grandad got a trailer fast in the rails and had to go to the depot to get it jacked out. It was filled with cast iron pulleys at the time.

 

Being a thrifty Yorkshire man i make my own magazine files from wine boxes using a craft knife

Remember every penny is a prisoner

[Sir TophamHatt]

Good evening all.

 

Have managed to clear up loads of stuff in the past day or so.

 

1) The online retailer that "banned" me has since un-banned me when the next level person looked at the details and decided they were at fault after all.

2) An on-going issue with someone over a personal matter has now been resolved with a lot of bluffing from me and a lot of bluffing from them.  We all know whose the biggest bluffer now!  MMMWWHAHAHHAHAA.  TL;DR - they scammed a lot of people using their position, including me.  My persistence has resulted in them agreeing to refund me.

3) Despite Lloyds' attempts, we've found another way to open... or rather re-jig some accounts so free up a joint account we can use for nursery fees.  If HSBC did a "save the change", we'd switch in an instant!  I wonder how TSB fair with opening joint accounts.  Lloyds used to (before Covid) make us both come into a branch with ID to sit through while they opened an joint account.  Now we have to go into branch, make an appointment for someone to call us back, to then open the joint account over the phone.  Considering we already have 4 joint accounts with them, it's not like we're unknown people.  Why can't they just do it over the phone straight away?

Something about banking seems very old fashioned.  It's almost like joint accounts are an old fashioned thing they don't want to provide any more.

Edited October 16, 2020 by Sir TophamHatt

[simontaylor484]

The bank will claim its all to do with money laundering regulations 

 

Swmbo is always doing it i have had to drain the washer drier several times to recapture the escaped bits of small change from the filter. 

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Sadly Sandtoft is now a bit too distant to do in a day. I did pay a couple of visits back in the 70's when the only route was the A1, how I managed it in one day I can't imagine. As well back then they only had one loop of electrified wire and very few buildings. Also there were no trees so it was very exposed that even in the summer it could be cold.  I also went to Crich for the tramway museum a few times. 

[tetsudofan]

1 minute ago, PhilJ W said:

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Sadly Sandtoft is now a bit too distant to do in a day. I did pay a couple of visits back in the 70's when the only route was the A1, how I managed it in one day I can't imagine. As well back then they only had one loop of electrified wire and very few buildings. Also there were no trees so it was very exposed that even in the summer it could be cold.  I also went to Crich for the tramway museum a few times. 

 

A few years ago I joined a group from Maidstone for a day trip to Sandtoft to see (if I remember correctly) a recently restored Maidstone trolley bus (the ones that went to Loose!) amongst other things. It was certainly an excellent place to visit.

 

Drove from the coast up to Maidstone and joined a coach for the ride up to Sandtoft and later back to Maidstone to pick up my car and return home. Was a long day with somebody else driving most of the time. Don't think I would want to do it by myself now!!

 

Keith

[tigerburnie]

Evening all, had a nice day with daughters family wandering around in the woods on Kinnoul hill, saw a Red Squirrel and loads of fungii. Really dark with all this thick cloud and not very sweaty either, fires lit and pizza scoffed, I need cake.........................

[TheQ]

SWMBO's uncle Alf , was a tram driver then trolley bus,  then bus driver.  He started before WW2, being deaf in one ear from birth( and not to good with the other)  he didn't get called up. 

Since he lived in Greasborough near Rotherham  and Sheffield he may well have driven one of those trams. We visited Carlton Colville and the staff there said they have got one out he's driven, if they had known he was coming.. 

 

We are now getting junk mail from McCarthy and Stone purveyors of incompletely described homes for the elderly... But we are not as deaf as uncle Alf, so living between a major road and Tes and co, is not my idea of a place to retire to. MaC and S have now started on the second floors of said buildings.. 

 

Time to... Go to the MRC... 

[polybear]

1 hour ago, Ian Abel said:

I did manage to make the lemon Bundt cake during my lunch break........

 

 

Bear had to Google that one:

https://bakeorbreak.com/2020/04/lemon-bundt-cake/

- I think I could force myself to like it, given enough to sample

Mind you, any cake based on lemon is off to a flying start in my book.  I was nearly (very nearly) seduced by a lemon drizzle cake in Tesco this morning - only sheer willpower (and a stack of other cake already in the cupboard) prevented me.  Filed for future reference, however.

 

Edited October 16, 2020 by polybear

[NGT6 1315]

Cheers all.
 

Insomnia has been haunting me for several days now, so it’s me at home for recovery. As it’s wet and chilly these days, I don’t terribly miss the outside world, truth be told.

 

Car is now on winter tyres and got new nav map data.

 

Aside from that, I can foresee extended sofa occupation duty tonight!

 

Be safe, people.

[Barry O]

Good Evening Dom, I hope you can catch up with your sleep!

 

Trams.. well in Leeds a lot of track is still there .. just covered in asphalt or grass.  The council (having voyed to get rid of them) tried to get "new trams..that went belly up due to incompetence.. they then tried to get a trolley bus system.. ditto...

We had Bendy Buses then super Bendy Buses (known as the Purple People Eaters).. driven form the back bit meant when it snowed they couldn't get up any hills...  

 

First Bus gave up with the council so bought some hybrids (which are very quiet), greener diesel ones and now.. full electric ones.

 

Baz

 

[Tony_S]

17 minutes ago, NGT6 1315 said:

Car is now on winter tyres and got new nav map data.

Aditi’s car never had the winter tyres taken off this year. 

[Tony_S]

24 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

Bear had to Google that one:

https://bakeorbreak.com/2020/04/lemon-bundt-cake/

- I think I could force myself to like it, given enough to sample

Mind you, any cake based on lemon is off to a flying start in my book.  I was nearly (very nearly) seduced by a lemon drizzle cake in Tesco this morning - only sheer willpower (and a stack of other cake already in the cupboard) prevented me.  Filed for future reference, however.

 

We haven’t ever made a Bundt cake but we have made lots of kugelhopf (other spellings are available) having purchased the appropriate tins or ceramic moulds in Austria or Alsace. 
Lemon drizzle used to be something Aditi made when we had visitors who liked cake. Lack of visitors even pre Covid means we haven’t had one for some time. If given a choice I like cherry cake. 

[BokStein]

Evening,

 

Why does it seem there are more cockwombles about on a Friday?

 

10 hours ago, TheQ said:

Jaimie's friends obviously don't know their own history, the French had the:

pouce = inch

Pied = Foot, their's was a tiny bit bigger

Toise = Fathom (six foot)

Lieue = league or about two miles

They had the

Livre = pound which funnily enough was made of 16 onces (ounces)

and 100Livre made a quintal  or imperial hundredweight..(roughly).

And many more...

 

 

Napolean's system will never catch on, especially the Grad (400 divisions of a circle)!

 

Interestingly, ISTR an exhibit in the St Etienne Town Museum comprising a length-indicating device (I hesitate to call it a tape measure or a ruler, but you get my drift) marked uniquely in feet and inches which once belonging to Louis XIV.

 

The Stephensons (George and Robert) were involved in the development of French (and many other countries') railways which is why 4' 8.5" is the standard gauge!

 

Metrology can be fascinating!

 

7 hours ago, Barry O said:

Lummy..the deep south!!!!

Baz

 

From the point of view of one nearer to France than Manchester, the Passport Control to cross to North from South is at Watford Gap, just south of Rugby!

 

2 hours ago, J. S. Bach said:

 

Some interesting destination boards but the indication of someone else with a tracker ball also caught my eye!

 

[Barry O]

Just now, BokStein said:

 

From the point of view of one nearer to France than Manchester, the Passport Control to cross to North from South is at Watford Gap, just south of Rugby!

 

Watford Gap is in France!!

 

well,,, they speak a foreign language at the "services" there!

 

Quick question if I may... how many places in Britain have a destination of "INTAKE" on their buses??

 

 

Baz

[New Haven Neil]

Morning.  I seem to have forgotted to post this morning.

 

The south - begins at the river Wear - sorry Baz!

 

South Shields had trolley buses, certainly into the 60's as I can recall riding route 11 with my Grandmother, and I'm a '59 model.  I think one is preserved at Sandtoft, but I haven't been there.  

 

Nice ride out on the bikes from the old farts club again today, all the way again to Castletown for brunch, a brew in Peel, 60 miles in glorious sun.  Mind you it was sharp first thing, frost on the car windscreen at 7, but 14C by 11am.

[New Haven Neil]

There's an Intake in Sheffield too Baz - I went out with a girl from there.

[BokStein]

53 minutes ago, Barry O said:

Watford Gap is in France!!

 

well,,, they speak a foreign language at the "services" there!

 

Yeah, we know it as "The Queen's English"!

 

53 minutes ago, Barry O said:

Quick question if I may... how many places in Britain have a destination of "INTAKE" on their buses??

 

 

Baz

 

Several! But mostly those that aren't near the outfall!

Edited October 16, 2020 by BokStein

[jamie92208]

2 hours ago, simontaylor484 said:

I know trams lasted in Leeds longer my Grandad got a trailer fast in the rails and had to go to the depot to get it jacked out. It was filled with cast iron pulleys at the time.

 

Leeds Trams finished in November 1959. As Baz says a lotbof thecrail is still buried in the roads.  Superyram would have been built but the then chancellor gave thevpotbof cash to Edinburgh wnich just happenned to be his constituency. So Merseyside, Leeds and IIRC Portsmouth lostvout despite having done a lot of preparatory work including utility diversion which is almost the most expensive part. The bendy byses had to go for various reasons. One wasxthat they overfilled the depots. Another was the time taken do change a wheel as such things were hidden by shrouding. 

 

Jamie