Broithe

I (still) heading that way - the car that I've had for the last ten years has never done more than 250 miles in a 24 hour period, so current ranges are completely realistic for me now. Discussing this in Ireland with a chap in his late 70s, I was interested to see him converting my miles into kilometres, so that he could visualise the potential... There are loads of advantages that start as soon as you've survive the initial purchase. Servicing is minimal - no engine, no clutch, no gearbox,, very lightly used (friction) brakes, etc. No penalty on idling, or banging the starter-motor every few yards in traffic. Range anxiety can be lived with, anybody who rode a motorbike in the 1970s will remember trying to keep it full on a Sunday, especially in Wales, and the 24 hour garage is still a modern thing to me I would feel rather less unhappy having a fairly solid battery on fire than 15 gallons of liquid hydrocarbons running about on the road. The heating/demisting will work immediately. There's no short/cold journey penalty. I like the idea of personalised sounds, there is an EU directive about making some noise below about 30mph/50kph, I believe. I have been nudged on the leg by a Prius that approached me silently. The current ranges would seem adequate for things like An Post vans, etc. You do need to remember to charge it, and we all know people who can't manage that with their phone and always have to put fuel in to go anywhere more than a few miles away...

My first school was in Malta, I was asked for the name of it for use as a 'security answer', I told her that I couldn't remember, but it was in Latin, and so we settled on some related word to use instead. Later, I realised that she thought I had made a rather feeble joke as an excuse for my forgetfulness, but it was actually true...

Imagine trying to make this stuff, in our sort of quantities, at a reasonable price, without the Chinese...

I've had a few events on the Big Island - one train back from Holyhead, about 2005, had the in-car automated station announcements one station out all the way back. On another occasion, 1998ish, we ended up down some virtually disused siding somewhere around Queensferry, and had to reverse back out onto the main line. In 1999, I took an interminable diversion, on the way from Bristol to Birmingham, as they weren't confident that the thing we were on was running well enough to get up the Lickey Incline. I woke up once to hear a very gentle clickety-clack, when our intended route was all continuously-welded. We were doing about 20mph as we trundled along to get back to a 'real' track. That was about 2000. I found a quiet carriage and settled down on a through train to Holyhead, about 2007. Luckily, when it stopped at Chester, the front was well off the platform end and the driver found me on his way back to alight onto the platform - and informed me that my bit of the train was being detached from the continuing part - first I'd heard of it. In 1963, waiting with my father at Kingham, it became clear that his train wasn't stopping, and we all went off to the next station in the station master's Morris Minor van.

https://www.rte.ie/news/dublin/2020/0121/1109770-model-railway/

And he did release this tribute song, as a thanks to the Health & Safety inspectors who had got him that far, although he only made it to 37 years old in the end...

Mmm, I did find this in a museum in Shropshire, if you ever get caught out in that vicinity.

Recently, in order to accurately set a few clocks, I checked the time and found myself digitally located in Maryborough. To be fair to them, I wasn't that far away, geographically, but the name was officially changed in 1929. It's interesting that it has somehow survived into this digital age, when I haven't heard anybody use it in general conversation for most of forty years. The time was right to the second, but the location was ninety years out of date...

Ballybrophy's still there. Or, for the last few months, they could just leave the lid off the tank...

It's almost that time again. Saturday, 10am - 5pm, Sunday, 10am - 4:30pm. If attending, then I would suggest being aware of potential swamp conditions for the car parking arrangements... Details - https://www.staffordrailwaycircle.org.uk/exhibition/

Is there a tampo mistake? Should there be another 's' at the front of "lime works"..?

Multi Purpose Vehicle.

No hi-vis - asking for trouble.

I bought a 'generic' Nikon lens hood, which turned out to be indistinguishable from a real one. I presumed it was coming from China, but it would be under the VAT ransom threshold, so i wasn't too bothered. When it arrived, it had been posted in the Solomon Islands. I doubt that I could have posted back "Thanks" written on a small piece of tissue paper for the total of £1:02 that it cost me.

Adelaide - 1992. https://www.lococarriage.org.uk/ireland_1992.html

Today's inspection tour revealed few alterations. The polite notice at the end of Platform 2 has been renewed. And one has also appeared at the end of Platform 1, too. The 'new' bridge is starting to look older than the 'old' bridge ever did... Some more interesting masonry textures.

See if it works with hair - there's a few on here who might be interested...

Done.

If we're saying things again, then I'll (re)say that I usually find 'modern urban' layouts a little disappointing. They often look a little sparse and artificial. This proves that that does not need to be the case.

There are probably quite a few songs with railway connotations - here's one that it's taken me a while to capture, but I finally got it tonight. Not quite HD...

You never know, they might be using the privatised 'Royal' Mail's new Back To The Future service. I'm still waiting for this* to be delivered the day before it was posted. Maybe they're using DeLorean vans? * Not a railway-related item.