Broithe

I've been warned that cataract operations will be happening in the future, if I last as far as them being bad enough to justify it. I'm not looking forward to someone fiddling with such delicate bits... I'm inclined to wait until you have some spare time coming up.

Next door's cat has popped in, to ensure that my seasonal food preparation and storage arrangements are adequate. Having completed a full assessment, she's having a rest period now.

This arrived on the Christmas services information email just now.

Harcourt Street line running through Shankill. 1952. https://www.facebook.com/groups/956594948451100/posts/1752391405538113/

I was more of a Scania man myself, in my youth. The first thing I ever drove, probably aged 14, was one of these Swedish Army things, in white, as it was on UN duty in Famagusta. Walking past it with a mate, we asked, for a laugh, if we could have a go in it - and the driver said "Yes". We had a good spin in it, over some fairly rough ground and ended up back in the canteen at the base with him. Ours had the guns on, but we didn't want to liven things up too much.

It is a process that is not for the fainthearted...

I think it was 1972 and I'm not sure where, but it has an 'up north' look about it.

An interesting cameo..?

Smaller timber wagons do exist. At the Stradbally Woodland Railway. https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1193728478770903&set=a.603858721091218

A local publican was a notorious gruff character and one of his customers was a very quiet chap, who rarely said much, but that would generally be worth hearing. One day, the customer asked -"Willie, what are those vegetables that make you cry?" "Onions." "No, the ones that make you cry." "Onions, Jerry!" "No, no, the ones that make you cry." "Onions! Onions! They're fecking onions, Jerry!" "Ah, you obviously never had a belt of a turnip." --------

This popped up just now - a Wickham-like device in DR Congo. https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10162881364525625&set=pcb.2891981674340266

Ah, this is 2012. . And this is the old sidings, but the weedkiller got there first - 2008

Ballybrophy in 2008..?

We really have to give you your dew for that one.

People are just making a mocha what this thread is supposed to be about now!

Yule regret starting this...

When it became compulsory for the local paper in Stafford to 'illustrate' every story with a picture, however unnecessary and futile it was, I used to keep a record of the more pointless ones. Two of the stories were about issues at the station - one was about problems with the taxi rank and the other was about a track failure at the northern end of the station and the associated disruption it caused. The articles were accompanied by a picture of a taxi rank and one of trackwork at the end of some station platforms. The taxi rank was clearly not Stafford, as it was indoor, and a bit of work established that it was a picture from Edinburgh Waverley. The trackwork was clearly Southern region, with its clearly visible third rail. The point about all this rambling is that their editorial office was on the first floor of a building overlooking both the taxi rank and the northern end of the platforms - for some reason, it must have seemed more like 'journalism' to use ludicrously inappropriate pictures. Or they had a very impressive telephoto lens... My favourite one, though, was a story about a bloke taking a court case over a claim for industrial deafness - illustrated by a generic picture of a random ear. At least it was a human ear.

The sound of silence for a few months now...

They're just keeping us in suspension. Whoops, I see that one has been used before. I really need to have a longer span of attention...

On DCC, the flushing sound will be disabled when the loco is stationary.

I'm sure we all know people who moved seamlessly from "The Luas is a white elephant. Who's going to bother using that?" to "The Luas has nowhere near enough capacity" without even noticing it themselves.

This could be an inspiration for the continental boys, if they want a decent-sized shunting layout. https://www.google.com/maps/place/Seevetal-Maschen,+Germany/@53.4070883,10.0510059,1361m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m6!3m5!1s0x47b1946f43793b07:0xa263df5063de3e0!8m2!3d53.3774197!4d10.0348263!16s%2Fm%2F06w56r3?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI0MTExNy4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

There were two of us in the morning, but the evening crowd was only half the size.

In order to secure my bonus points, I ventured out again. At +5 minutes, I was becoming sceptical - then I thought I could hear a train in the distance and the appropriate signals went green. Then the lights appeared as it came round Killasmeestia. The ambient lighting in the station is much stronger these day and I was hoping for a better view from the opposite platform. The passage through the station was at much higher speed than this morning's journey down attained there. So, this was the sum total of my pictures. Don't bother sending on my bonus points - well, not until you've converted them to euros...

Bang on time!