Broithe

Graffiti is often a sort of cultural infection - once it starts, other people soon join in. I spent a fortnight in Amboise, in the Loire valley in 1990, there was almost no graffiti anywhere, and what there was was in English. There is a road right through the middle of Stoke on Trent, the A500, known locally as the D-Road, from its shape on the map. It has large areas of concrete that are the perfect 'canvas', yet they remain completely graffiti-free after more than forty years in a deprived, inner-city environment - though, I'm sure that, if some appeared, it would all soon be covered. I'm quite careful who I mention this observation to... Many years ago, I painted a bird hide on a nature reserve - there was a particularly well-executed piece in the middle of one wall, involved a bird motif - so we painted a 'frame' round it and left it, to much disapproval. But, as I predicted, no new 'art' appeared for over six months - I'm sure it would have been (re)plastered in days, if we had covered the whole thing.

How easy would it be to peel the film off before spraying..?

Quite a few on the Big Island. Although. electrocution is also a big killer. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-47404529 https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/mar/21/two-graffiti-artists-dead-east-london-rail-tracks-electrocution https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6466519/Graffiti-artist-29-dies-electrocuted-railway-line.html Etc.

It seems to also be available as a W&CI variant - http://www.irishrailwayana.com/pa306.htm

Same sign on a building in Yorkshire - https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3133096

Chap next door had one - lovely car when it worked. When the starter failed, we couldn't jack it up to change the motor, because that whole thing was lying on the floor. We stuck a pulley on a drill and used that to pump the hydraulics up, so we could get the stands under it and get at the starter motor. The way people's cost projections are rising here, it just needs somebody to release an 00 scale model of a children's hospital...

Crosshead screws...

Location marks have appeared at Ballybrophy.

A visit today revealed little new of note. I thought these ridge tiles were new-looking, but they seem to have been there for a while. These nudge marks have appeared on the new buffers. 219 powered through whilst I was there. Views of the tracks through the heat haze. A scale drawing from 2009. The bees in the roof and other parts of the roof gardens are flourishing.

I see that the Forum has twins born on this day, although the labour does seem to have been a bit protracted...

I want one to be barely visible in an engine shed, will it be possible to just buy the front half?

Availability of a double pack, of what are likely to be quite popular identities, need not preclude individual availability of either - as Airfix did with the Dogfight Doubles, etc. Anyway, whatever suits the producer will suit me.

Same here - possibly worthwhile doing as a double pack..?

That's what they mean by "rock and roll" - ballasting and then checking for wheel clearances...

The old A-3 Skywarrior was the heaviest carrier aircraft in general service, I believe - 82,000lb against an F-14's 74,000lb - - but this will take some beating 121,000lbs by the time they had practised a bit. -

This is the most fantastic thing - go back a few years in your mind and imagine how remote the possibility of an RTR weedkiller train would have seemed.

A lot of dodgy things came out of Mullingar... ...some of them only got as far as Portlaoise.

https://twitter.com/IrishRail/status/1138112197937238016

A previous thread...

Ballast - for extra stability...

The shirts barely covered the money-belts at DEMU...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-england-birmingham-48476222?ns_mchannel=social&ns_source=twitter&ns_campaign=bbc_live&ns_linkname=5cfa60b7c79b82067baa2fb8%26Train set underground gas supply alight%262019-06-07T13%3A19%3A37.402Z&ns_fee=0&pinned_post_locator=urn:asset:8c9d07ff-056e-4e67-b3b4-ab17ed616474&pinned_post_asset_id=5cfa60b7c79b82067baa2fb8&pinned_post_type=share

A friend of mine opened a hand grenade shop. All was well for the first few hours, as everybody who bought one paid with cash. But then a bloke wanted to pay with a card, so he asked him for the PIN...

Well, we missed this bit of excitement - https://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/burton/live-sainsburys-evacuated-after-reports-2950723? - Sainsbury's is just across the road from the exhibition venue. The cops said - "At 5.30pm we were called to reports of a piece of unexploded ordinance in Robian Way, Swadlincote. What was believed to be a small World War 2 bomb had been found by a member of the public and a 100 metre cordon was put in place. This resulted in a number of premises being evacuated as a precaution. After consulting the Explosive Ordinance Division from Chetwynd Barracks, Chilwell, the device was found not to be live. The cordon was lifted at 8.20pm and all premises were re-opened to the public. We would like to pass our thanks to members of the public for the patience whilst this situation was resolved." From that statement, the venue would have been outside the cordon, the discovery was about 200 metres away.