Broithe

When I was a lad... We went from Hampshire to Snowdon in one of them - overnight and very slowly. I would have been about 10 or 11. The other lads were (what I thought was) a lot older, up to 17/18ish. I did a lot of things in my youth that I wouldn't do now, but they had a game that I wouldn't do then. When hanging out of the back, hanging onto the 'entry rope', became a bit ordinary, a new task was started. The object of this was to exit the flap at the back and proceed along the side of the rear bed, using the odd straps that were flailing about in the wind, then finally entering the cab via the hatch, and returning to the back. About half-a-dozen lads achieved this goal. All this happened as we progressed along the A5 on the overnight journey. Amazingly, nobody was killed or even injured. A few car drivers were unnerved by the spectacle, but all the entrants used the nearside of the truck for their passage to the cab and back. On the return journey, also overnight, we arrived back and there was no sign of me when the back of the truck we being emptied. I was discovered underneath a large crate full of equipment that had overturned onto me in my sleeping bag. It was too heavy to shift and I, an extremely heavy sleeper, just went back to sleep for the rest of the journey. When I was discovered, those who were supposed to be in charge were petrified that there "could be paperwork", but I was able to persuade them that I wasn't going to die - I wasn't even injured, just hungry. One for a cameo scene..?

Time for a new category in the competition?

All new technologies look rubbish at the start. Imagine being a witness to the Wright brothers' first flight... ...and yet, fifty years later, there were jet airliners. Some things will work, and some things won't.

They're currently reengining the remaining B-52s. The last new one was delivered in 1962.

Details here. https://www.irishrail.ie/en-ie/train-timetables/Proposed-timetable-changes-from-10th-December-2023

I should have included his website. https://www.odeith.com/walls/ I believe he may be related to the O'Deiths from near Mullingar...

Got an untidy corner in a shed, just copy the style of Portuguese artist Sérgio Odeith.

He's just teasing - they use the same coupling.

You also have to consider the scale 0, 00, S, TT, N or even Z...

"My Way" would do, but I reckon you would do a fair "Delilah".

Noticing that a year has elapsed since my last inspection, I called today, unannounced. Immediately on arrival, it was clear that a total replacement programme has occurred on the signage. I did feel that the signs with the map could be better sited, to make it easier for a driver to work out where he is, if he has become disorientated. And I discovered a rather more technical way of saying "just let yourself out". New litter bins have also arrived. And fencing to secure the Nenagh branch terminus. The new footbridge is suffering from the elements in places. The old water crane, on the other hand, is looking well after a recent repaint. The water tower looks no worse than it has done for some time. The 'alien message' made from mixed-up bricks, that was assembled on the end of the Platform 2/4 ramp, was erased when the new platform markings were applied. My visit had concluded when I just spotted headlights under the bridge and I was treated to 221 pulling a few flats through.

I understand that the current prevailing theory about that one is that it's actually a psychiatric disorder.

Just waiting for it to pop up now. The avatar...

Much used by those in a particular trade.

I've done it with a lump of expanded polystyrene. It's free material, easily cut and adjusted for size and to sculpt a varied shape for the load surface. The 'load substance' can then be glued to the upper exposed surface. A bit of weight can be added by fitting a steel nut, or two, into the body of the load, via a hole from underneath. This then also gives to advantage of being able to remove the load with a magnet, without having to derail the wagon.

It's the Gilbert O'Sullivan fans you need to worry about.

A dangerous confession to make, especially so close to the border...

You could, perhaps, conjure up something a bit less insane-looking than this. https://www.instructables.com/MICROPHONE-HAT-hands-free-recording/ As long as the microphone is reasonably secure and out of the immediate blast, you wouldn't need to employ an assistant, glamorous or otherwise.

Another advantage of having the microphone off the camera is the avoidance of picking up 'mechanical noise' from general handling, operating switches, focussing motors, etc.

That kind of wind-muff can be very effective, you will usually see TV and film crews using them in outdoor locations. Even then, though, they have limitations and hanging them outside of a swiftly moving vehicle may defeat them. However, there is no great necessity for the microphone to be on the camera, you could locate it in a nearby, but somewhat sheltered, place, while the camera itself is out in the slipstream.

As part of my ongoing 'record every roadside pump in the vicinity' campaign, I was alerted to one that I had missed, even though I had actually walked past there recently on my lime kiln venture. This one is in Cullahill, Co Laois, just east of the old Dublin-Cork road, by a couple of hundred yards. Anyway, the point of posting it here is that, this time, I failed to see the notice on the righthand side of the gateway. G S & W R NOTICE Any person leaving This gate open is Liable to a penalty of Forty Shillings This location would be only a few miles west of the old Mountmellick/Kilkenny line and the station at Attanagh. Does it look genuine to the cognoscenti?

I mentioned this chap before - Dublin-based and with some very nice scenic stuff. https://www.gmodelscene.com/