TheSignalEngineer

Fairly belting through. The night before we left it was the Friday at the start of August, the holiday trains started coming through. Also a big liner had docked at Southampton and there were specials in a procession both ways. We sat on the bank for three hours and logged about 60 ex-SR locos, mostly cops for us Brummies.

As a yoof I was in the Army Cadets at school. One year we had summer camp with the Scots Guards, we were under canvas at a very convenient spot alongside the LSWR main line at Pirbright. One night our unit was given the 'honour' of being camp guard. This had various duties, mostly not too onerous like being the escort for Last Post, lowering the flag and keeping it safe, patrolling the boundary and a few perks, like being able to sit up all night next to the railway embankment watching Arthurs, Nelsons, Spams and Navvies until the Black Motor turned up with the morning trip. The real only chore was to rake out and fire up the big black cooking ranges ready for the Catering Corps to prepare 600 breakfasts. I swear they took about as much coal as a 9F. There was one reward for this however. Instruction on their operation included how to prepare multiple square egg banjos four dozen at a time on a baking tray the size of a large flagstone. We were left with three of those double size thick slice catering loaves about half a week old and several trays of eggs with which to work on our technique during the night. Duty finished after breakfast then a free day, so I walked to Brookwood, got a cheap day return to Waterloo and the tube to KX for an afternoon of pre-Deltic trainspotting spotting.

Mrs SE has experimented with various mixtures like that, usually to make something with what is to hand without having to make a special trip to Tess&Co. My favourite veggie dish at the moment is Moroccan Stew, a spiced mixture based on sweet potato (or we substitute roasted squash from the allotment when available) and chickpeas. Can be served with quinoa, rice or anything similar, or even the leftovers used topped with crème fraîche or soft cheese as a filling for jacket potatoes. Another house speciality is a veggie lasagne where the meat in the filling is replaced by a mixture of roasted courgettes, aubergines, sweet peppers, tomatoes or any other vegetable that take you fancy.

Actually I do have a few meat-free meals each week. Tonight was pasta with a home made tomato and sautéed vegetable sauce followed by fresh fruit salad and natural yougurt.

I shall keep my sausage well concealed.

Meat sausages have to contain a certain percentage of meat. Can anyone tell me what is the minimum percentage of vegans in a vegan sausage?

Will they be pork?

Can we have sausages?

Who is Eva? Does Melania know about this?

The standard time allowed was usually 30 seconds, as that was the unit for putting together timetables. On my patch when the Sprinters replaced suburban DMUs the times were increased to 60 seconds for alternate stations to give a 45 second average and allow for opening and closing doors. On my present line it is quite common to lose 3 minutes on a half hour journey due to overtime at stations.

Encountered that sort of thing several times, especially on the Saturday night shift of signalling commissionings. Not sure if it was an advertising gimmick. One of them used to do 'House Calls' at Bordesley Junction signal box.

During a course in the mid-1990s the instructor had what he described as 'War Stories' time around every break to save them from interfering with the content he was presenting. Three of the course had joined BR under 'Forces for Change' which was a government resettlement programme for MOD personnel during budget cuts. One had recently returned from the Gulf, another had been to the Falklands. I decided to wind up the third, my assistant at the time, whose service history I had seen when I accepted him for training under me. He had been a weapons officer on various ships. "Where were you in the Falklands War" I asked. "Effin Fisheries Protection patrols round the Western Isles" was his reply.

I didn't like the sand colour livery on D1000. I only realised the advantage of it about 25 years later when I had a BR office car in the same colour. It didn't need cleaning outside as you couldn't tell the difference between the paint colour and sprayed-on road dirt.

I remember Brian Haresnape doing some articles about BR diesel design in Trains Illustrated about 60 years ago. He finished up with drawings of some of his own suggestions for brightening up the fleet including Peaks in Crimson Lake and Apple Green liveries

Morning from a distinctly white Dark Peak. Weather app is telling me it feels like minus something outside so washing won't get put out for a while yet. I'm good at that. There are now five strategically placed tapes around the house so I can usually find one. Sympathies to lurgi sufferers. Mine seemed to come on in waves every few days for about five weeks. I managed to avoid most TV appearances but have been spotted a couple of times. Classic was a friend of my Dad. He threw a sickie as he had a ticket to see West Brom in the 1968 FA Cup Final but couldn't find cover for a shift swap. It was the first final televised in colour and the fire station social fund had splashed out on a new set. During the singing of Abide With Me the Divisional Officer arrived to watch just as the camera zoomed in on the absent crew member. Epic Fail!

I never understood why the Western Region was so quick at getting rid of LNWR Crewe livery for Swindon MT kettles then adopted an attempt at an LMS 1930s shade for its diseasels.

I don't know if there were any booked workings, the ones I saw were usually on the Washwood Heath trains. In the 1950s they were only permitted as far as Water Orton. As far as testing clearances, when the electrification was on and the ECS from a Euston train was booked to go to Kings Norton they ran a Duchess around all of the platforms at New Street then out to Kings Norton and back to Aston Shed to see if it hit anything. They were barred from at least one platform so I assume that it didn't manage to get through. The Halls were only allowed through about four roads at New Street. Most WR outside cylinder locos were barred between Kings Norton and New Street IIRC. When a Castle worked a special in the 1950s it came off at Bournville then went via Camp Hill and Bordesley to rejoin the train when it got onto the WR main line.

Yow'm nearly a YamYam then.

Before I go to bed, I just picked up a bit of cricket memorabilia which may interest Baz @Barry O and any other fans of a certain age. Dad passed this book on to me with the instruction to keep it and pass it on to a young cricket fan some day, family member if possible. Mom bought the book for Dad at Christmas 1955. He was a great Warwickshire supporter and in 1957 became a club member. I think that the autographs date from that year when England played West Indies in the First Test, which was the first one covered by Test Match Special. Dad was sitting in the old Members Pavilion and collared John Arlott during lunch to sign the book for him. John said certainly and I'll get you a much better autograph than mine, whereupon he took Dad to the BBC box and Introduced him to the great Kent and England all-rounder Frank Woolley whom Dad had seen play for Kent in the last years of his career. Also there were Denis Compton, Jim Swanton, the Telegraph cricket correspondent who was doing the interval summaries and Peter West who was presenting the TV highlights.

Well at least there were no mishaps on grandad duty today. Decided to use the e-bike as weather was a bit better and didn't have to do any other errands requiring the car. It's just 8 miles each way and I can do it in 33 minutes despite a couple of 400ft climbs. The car usually takes me 24 minutes so not all that much benefit. Tomorrow probably back to the swimming pool, also car will be needed as I have to drop them off at the badminton club after school, them move elder one to Cubs straight after. Like being a parent again without the same energy level. In view of that lot I think it may be time for a shower and sleep.

Had exactly the same thing with ParcelFarce two weeks ago. Ordered some stuff (non-muddling) from one of my usual suppliers via ebay as they had a better offer there than on their own site that day. Parcel should arrive Monday or Tuesday, out of house on Wednesday, still no sign Thursday. Checked ebay and got tracking number which told me that it had been left at the local Post Office counter on Monday. No sign whatever of a card and at the alleged time of the delivery attempt I was on the drive loading some garden rubbish into the car to take to the tip later in the afternoon....

Small world. About 4 years ago Trisonic of this parish posted about his great uncle who was killed on the Somme in 1916. I looked up some details for him and found that he is buried about 10 yards from my own great uncle at Delville Wood. My wife's great uncle was posted missing presumed killed in action at High Wood, about a mile from where my own great uncle was killed the following week.

That's what I used.

Not as many N scale modellers?

That would probably be the price if Triang had made one around the time BR started using SYP.