Broithe

This picture has appeared on eBay - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/234541654256? I remember that post and may have a 'real' photo of it somewhere, it was the heftiest pole I ever saw, with a base diameter of something like 16", maybe more, as it had quite a sideload on it, plus carrying the weight and windage of all those wires.

A longer than intended, and windier than expected, bike ride today turned up some interesting items, though I didn't visit the station itself on this circuit. This mast has appeared at the Skew Bridge, about four miles northeast of the station, just before the R434 bridge. Things like this - isolated technology in the countryside, always remind me of scenes from The Avengers, so I hung around, in the forlorn hope that Mrs Peel might turn up. My disappointment at her failure to appear was ameliorated greatly by the arrival of EM50, trundling gently past. From there, I went past the Quaker's Bridge crossing on the Nenagh line again. I had my lunch there, and that gave me the time to have a good look at things. I noticed that, although the track is now continuous-welded, as far as the eye can see, the rails in the crossing itself have not been renewed. The still have the tell-tale evidence of decades of road traffic passing over them, and tarmac is unscathed. Careful scrutiny revealed that the new rails are joined onto them about 5 metres beyond the gates on each side - very neatly, too. Also, the remains of some mechanical apparatus is also still on site, on both sides of the crossing. Some additions and repairs to fencing and walls has occurred - in the debris left from that activity, my time eating my lunch allowed me to spot a real Lucozade bottle - I think I still have one of the black screw-in stoppers with the red seal somewhere... From there, I headed generally southwards and, cresting a rise, I realised that I could see the majestic cliffs of Lisduff in the distance. Closer to, you can't really see them at all, but there are other things to distract you, like the County Bounds bridge. Presumably, this is a replacement span on the original abutments. The inner faces have been clad in a more sympathetic finish. The barriers seem quite 'new', and the detail may be of interest to some. A set of autoballasters was hanging around and 232 pulled a train though.

Who else has bits? Could we make a whole one?

Normal/abnormal - it can be a distinction worth avoiding. I know a Bulgarian whose English is fairly good, but a few times in the early days, he responded to "How are you?" with a phrase that got him "funny looks". There are many acceptable responses to that question - I'm OK -I'm alright - I'm not so bad - etc. But, there is one which appears, on paper, to mean the same, but it doesn't, really. "Hi, Miroslav, how are you?" "I'm normal." He does it deliberately now, to throw people off - but it is hard to actually explain why it gets you that half-second unblinking look.

Street View shows some considerable remains. https://www.google.com/maps/@53.1200641,-7.3385456,3a,20.9y,191.3h,87.38t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1smFyRr14gW_UZIRQTr7YHoQ!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DmFyRr14gW_UZIRQTr7YHoQ%26cb_client%3Dsearch.revgeo_and_fetch.gps%26w%3D96%26h%3D64%26yaw%3D129.87952%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192

An uncle of mine had an Invacar - if you weren't an invalid when you got one, you soon would be. I had a little go in it once, after I managed to get it to start for him - truly terrifying.

He should be safe enough, there's no cats in the picture. I've been told that a few boxes might have fallen off on the long train journey, but you would have to pay in Roubles.

It's hard to prove whose bee it was... Someone I know is not an idiot, but... She is about to start keeping bees and I asked her if she intended selling on the honey - Yes - Ah, well the hardest part of all this is the first few days, where you have to catch them all and fit the tiny ear-tags to allow for full traceability... It took her rather longer than I expected to realise that it might not be true - yet.

At the high voltage end of things, brown would be the default glaze colour, but light grey ones would sometimes be specified for aesthetic reasons, where elevated insulators would be seen against a background of the sky and the grey would be less visually intrusive. You will also sometimes see clear(ish) glass ones, mostly as pylon hangers.

A little trip round the area today allowed me to call in and survey the progress. Pretty much all that is going on is the car park project, which is progressing nicely. The pent-up demand can be seen scattered along the road. Some of the eventual car park area is currently usable, to help cope with the current demand. A track machine was conveniently parked, to be recorded for those who like yellow things. The only thing worthy of note in the station itself was the removal of the elder tree near the beehive in the roof. The bees seemed fairly OK about this and were going about their business as usual. There is currently a programme to install official beehives at many stations on the network, after this successful impromptu pilot scheme.

Definitely worth a try, you might be lucky. But, the same trade name may mean different things in different countries - e.g. - Although, I suppose you could use it in a DIY emergency construction mode..?

Or you can press the Windows key + Print Screen and it will pop the full image into your 'Pictures' in a Screenprints folder - that can then be cropped, etc, and treated the same as any photos you have taken yourself.

I dealt with insulators in a previous life, mostly towards the higher voltage end of things - Bullers became part of Allied Insulators and we used a good bit of their output, as it was a little cheaper than the vastly better NGK stuff from Japan. The old factory, with its very Stokey bottle kilns, would make a nice layout for somebody to have a go at. https://www.alliedinsulators.com/company/history/ We did (inadvertently) blow up an insulator in a fairly dramatic manner in the mid 70s, whilst under test in Manchester, next to the Kellogg's factory - there was some damage to a lot of vehicles in their car park - and I've often wondered if we also contaminated their output, giving them the idea for Crunchy Nut Cornflakes, which were launched shortly after the event?

They're probably held up in the post by customs, trying to work out how much to charge you for getting them

On the Big Island, I once had to pay £8 to pay a £3 VAT charge on a £15 item - that turned the £15 into £26.

Could be worse. I had a couple of aunts who had a friend who was as geographically-challenged as they were - she got on a train in Bristol to go the few miles to Wellington (in Somerset) and got off it in Wellington in Shropshire. "I thought it was taking a long time."

She's displaying her intimidating stare, as all good security staff will do, when confronted by dodgy-looking customers.

If it was a CIE Interceptor, you could try it in a few different liveries...

The link will work without the additional punctuation. https://www.irishtimes.com/news/iarnrod-eireann-heartened-by-freight-contracts-1.365705#:~:text=The decline in rail freight,Cork's North Esk freight depot

53 would have been my second guess from the expanded picture.

I know nothing of these matters, but that looks like 58 to me. Is that plausible?

Easier to hide from the Domestic Security Services.

A tank in the town square suggests Celbridge can be a bit rough at the weekends?

A challenge for anybody doing Balbriggan in modern image. Tullamore would be easier - a bit.