Weekend Oddments : Sunday Stuff

Delivered Yesterday

An exciting development for the Peterville model railway was delivered by our Saturday man-in-van. A ruined castle has suddenly sprung up on the top of Peterville tunnel.

The German firm Noch makes a stunning and enormous range of scenic accessories and, for the first time for many a long year, fbb has bought one new -  all the way from a South American river.

Actually he didn't buy that one, he bought (and paid for) this one ...

... somewhat smaller and £10 cheaper. The tribe of warlike women seem to have had a picking problem. Morally fbb should send it back, but the expense of the transfer to/from/of/for the correct model would surely exceed the company's potential losses.

Of course it needs "bedding in" and that will be another small project over the next few days; as will covering that plywood retaining wall with embossed "stone". One of the hassles with the lack of a retail store is that the old man is now waiting for further supplies of glue to be delivered by yet another white van man - actually yesterday's was brown.

Forecast Fraught, Financially Frightening

One of the huge advantages of being old, decrepit and generally useless in the present crisis is that nice computers keep sending fbb and the Mrs their relatively meagre pensions month by month.

The old man's heart goes out to the hundreds of thousands with employment insecurity. Government hand-outs, where available, are necessary and helpful, but, sooner or later the nation (that's all of us) will have to pay - so stability is not going to be a feature of life for a while or more.

So, from recent twits:-

fbb is not at all sure what would happen if TfL ran out of money? Surely it could not go bust? Times are bad, but not that bad.

But for Shearings ...

... as a leisure provider with no essential workers to transport bustedness is a real possibility. What rescue deal might be possible? Some news items suggest that Shearings are "looking for a buyer". Looking, possibly - but finding, unlikely, surely?

Who would want to but a business with no customers?

Concerns are now being expressed about what may happen after the crisis is over.

One thing is absolutely certain. The transport industry and those who may be offering short term support will need to work hard and long hours to plan for the medium term future.

fbb reckons some form of nationalisation, or the dreaded F word (shh, whisper it very quienly. F for fr*nch*s*ng.) is a likely and practical scenario.

A Bigger NHS Tribute

... and on a similar theme.

Hush Hush - It Will Be In The Shops Soon.

The LNER W1 No. 10000 (also known as the Hush-Hush due to its secrecy) was an experimental steam locomotive fitted with a high pressure water-tube boiler. Nigel Gresley was impressed by the results of using high-pressure steam in marine applications and so in 1924 he approached Harold Yarrow of shipyard & boilermakers Yarrow & Company of Glasgow to design a suitable boiler for a railway locomotive, based on Yarrow's design.

Normal locomotive boilers had their water tubes running from firebox (next to the cab) to smokebox (with funnel at the front) thus 10000 was very different - although still a steam locomotive in principle.

The loco did not last long in its unconventional form as Sir Nige decided to rebuild it with a normal boiler, a 4-6-4 wheel arrangement and an A4 style body.

As part of its 100th anniversary production programme, Hornby is offering BOTH versions.

Hitherto the original Hush Hush had been available as a Wills Finecast metal kit ...

... (now South Eastern Finecast) where it will cost you a tad under £100. The tender is extra at £35 as are wheels at between £70 and £80 a set. That is over £200.

The Hornby model is £200 complete without the hassle of gluing bits to your fingers or melting small details with a too-hot soldering iron.

More Stress For The Bus Passenger in 1960

Section 2 : the intending passenger shall not:-

  (i) try to board whilst wearing offensive clothing that may damage the seats or their cushions or the clothing of other passengers.

 (ii) not carry loaded firearms, any dangerous or offensive article any cumbersome of bulky article

(iii) bring any animal on to the vehicle without the consent of an authorised person.

which being interpreted says:-

don't even think of travelling if you have recently fallen into a peat bog

leave the double bass at home

the baby elephant will have to walk

These "rules" are reasonable and have the force of the 1936 law but, again, they are couched in very overbearing legalistic prose.

Thankfully few passengers ever read them.

More in due course

And A Splendid Picture

A G B Rail Freight loco gently chuntering at Southampton Docks, beautifully framed by the liner Queen Mary 2.

Signs Of The Times
Seaton sea front and beach on a gloriously fine April Saturday evening

Sorry about the poor quality; fbb could not remember how to get it off Mrs fbb's phone for it was she who took the snap. The two smudges at the sea's edge are the only people in sight.

 Competition in the Crisis? blog : Monday 27th April