|
Historic locomotive exhibition ahead - beware of steam clouds[^]
50+ years ago, we were running like crazy to get to see a real steam locomotive, close up! The kind of locomotives they used when grandpa was a boy! ... I think I have seen a real steam loc about five times in my life. Today, kids don't even know Ivor the Engine or Thomas the Tank Engine. The (very) few who do, make no associations to modern railroads - Ivor and Thomas are simply strange looking animated characters.
You can see steam locomotives one place: On traffic signs. Makes me think of that mother telling about when she said to her son, pointing at the button on the screen with a floppy icon: I bet you don't even know what that is! And the son answered: Of course I do! It is a save button!
|
|
|
|
|
In the UK we are blessed to have over 100 heritage railways, the vast majority using steam locomotion most or all of the time. Of the hundreds of preserved locos, around 50 are also mainline-certified; that is, approved to run on the national network. On the mainline they are limited to either 60 or 75mph (dependent on loco type), but there are occasional exceptions and only last year we experienced a steam loco running at 100mph on a major main line. (It was being approved for 90mph running, and as part of that certification had to exceed 90mph by 10%). We also have not only preserved steam, but new build steam locos, both narrow gauge and standard gauge. The first of these, Tornado, really captured the public imagination and boosted the profile of the heritage sector enormously. Since then, others have taken to the rails and there are probably around two dozen brand new steam locos under construction in the UK, which should see steam running for at least another 75 years.
However, in the current crisis, all our heritage railways are closed. They have close to zero income as we enter the busiest part of the year when the majority of income should be flowing. However costs are not zero; for many, they are still paying rent, rates, insurance, and staff costs (to keep admin and personnel functions operating, and to continue skeleton maintenance tasks). When lockdown is over, there will be public resistance to travelling in enclosed carriages and revenues will not bounce back. There will be deterioration of assets that will take time and money to repair; boiler certificates have a fixed (normally 10-year) period and after that locos need overhauls, but won't have earned the funds to pay for them. All UK heritage railways are facing terrible challenges, and it's very likely that some will fail, and tragically that some preserved locos will be lost forever.
I'm a volunteer at the Swanage Railway in Dorset, working as a porter (station staff), and also as a leader in the Youth Group. Youngsters joining at age 13 learn about safety, engineering, customer service, operations, fundraising and gain valuable personal skills. Many go on to work in railway, engineering, travel or hospitality careers. This is all at risk at present. See Swanage Railway[^] and feel free to donate!
|
|
|
|
|
If you haven't yet picked up Requiem For Steam - The Railway Songs Of Dave Goulder[^] you might consider to do so - a really nice collection of folk songs (although most of the songs are his own, not traditional folk songs). This link is to a vinyl edition. I've got a CD, but can't remember where I bought it, years ago. Anyway, it is digitized from the analog recording; the sound is no better than from a virgin vinyl played on a high quality turntable.
I haven't been playing that album for I don't know how long! I guess I will dig it up right now and listen to it!
|
|
|
|
|
I found Dave Goulder's website! There you can buy a CD with all the tracks from both Requiem for Steam and The man who put the engine in the chip shop on a single CD at £ 12, as well as other Dave Goulder albums: Albums – Dave Goulder[^]
|
|
|
|
|
I did metalwork in school (school school, not uni), and we had to make a steam engine (as in, make/cut/turn/cast every individual piece, not just screw Meccano-type st*ff together), and I've loved 'em ever since.
I've taken car engines to pieces and put them back together (but working), but they're nowhere near as satisfying.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
|
|
|
|
|
Mark_Wallace wrote: I did metalwork in school (school school, not uni)
The problem with universities is that there is too much theory and too little pratice.
A cousin of mine turned 18 (the driving age in Norway) the spring before he went to University for Mechanical Engineering studies. So before summer vacation, he got himself an old VW Beetle. Then he covered his family's lawn with a sheet of plastic where he could draw numbered squares (and another plastic sheet to pull over it in case of rain), and started to dismantle the Beetle into pieces: Anything that could possibly be taken apart, he did take apart. Along the line, he drew between two and three hundred sketches to know how they fit together. Each piece was placed in a numbered square on the lawn, with the numbers indicated on the sketches.
At the end of summer vacation, he had both disassembled and reassembled that beetle, claiming that he would be able to fix whatever went wrong with that car. I believe him. (This happened before cars were equipped with dozens of microprocessors and all sorts of electronics.)
I think that was an excellent way to compensate for the lack of practice in his coming university studies.
|
|
|
|
|
Member 7989122 wrote: he covered his family's lawn with a sheet of plastic where he could draw numbered squares (and another plastic sheet to pull over it in case of rain), and started to dismantle the Beetle into pieces
That's pretty much what I did, the first time I changed a head gasket (but I used an area of a factory floor that wasn't in use, which had 12"/300mm terracotta tiles).
The third time (of three times) I changed one, I just tossed everything into a cardboard box as I dismantled it.Member 7989122 wrote: I think that was an excellent way to compensate for the lack of practice in his coming university studies.
The main thing I learned from my time in uni was that lecturers are bitchy pr1cks who spend 50% of their time stabbing each other in the back.Member 7989122 wrote: (This happened before cars were equipped with dozens of microprocessors and all sorts of electronics.)
Another reason I'm glad I gave up driving. I had a lot of expensive tools, but a couple of million for diagnostics servers is more than I'm willing to spend.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
|
|
|
|
|
At my primary school, so aged about 8, I recall our teacher obtained a couple of obsolete television sets (which were a bit of a novelty then), threw us a handful of screwdrivers and told us to "have fun". In the days of CRTs, valves, and large capacitors it's amazing we survived, but we did. And learnt how to use a screwdriver. And a heck of a lot else, including a love of taking things apart. I don't think we "learnt how it worked" as a TV, but I certainly got the gist of a variable potentiometer for the volume, push-button (mechanical) knobs for pre-selected channels, how wiring should be run neatly etc.
These days on the railway, I give a 14- or 15-year old new joiner to the youth group a spanner or screwdriver and ask them to remove an inspection panel or something, and they just look at me blankly! (Don't worry, it only takes a few meetings for them to get the idea, and then the bug...)
|
|
|
|
|
Due to the quarantine, am I only allowed to tell inside jokes?
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
|
|
|
|
|
And is Insider Trading now legal?
Asking for a friend 
"Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana."
|
|
|
|
|
any trade is legal: as long as you mask it and stand 6 feet away.
pestilence [ pes-tl-uh ns ] noun
1. a deadly or virulent epidemic disease. especially bubonic plague.
2. something that is considered harmful, destructive, or evil.
Synonyms: pest, plague, CCP
|
|
|
|
|
It is if you're a Congresscritter, though I don't know about MPs.
|
|
|
|
|
Get your coat mask.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
|
|
|
|
|
Doesn't matter, but you can only tell them to crowd of 50 people or less... 
Anything that is unrelated to elephants is irrelephant
Anonymous
-
The problem with quotes on the internet is that you can never tell if they're genuine
Winston Churchill, 1944
-
Never argue with a fool. Onlookers may not be able to tell the difference.
Mark Twain
|
|
|
|
|
50??? Had to look up where you live... all makes sense now.
No meetings of more than 2 people in the UK and even then they must be more than 6' apart. I lived dangerously this week; two of my neighbours were chatting, 10' apart; I stopped and joined the conversation (also from 10' away from them both)  Could have been arrested, though...
|
|
|
|
|
You tell jokes? That's a laugh.
| Ravings en masse^ |
|---|
| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
|
|
|
|
|
I just got a (-4) downvote for a question I put in . . . in 2018.
Please help me do this[^]
"Curioser and Curioser"
| Ravings en masse^ |
|---|
| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
|
|
|
|
|
Some people are slow readers...
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.
-- 6079 Smith W.
|
|
|
|
|
I opened CP and thought something was off...
Couldn't quite place it, but now I know.
It was those -4 on your rep 
|
|
|
|
|
Possibly as punishment for the OP for this thread, I got a fresh new (-2) added !
Also, three +5's. No - make that 4x5.
Just in case anyone is wondering - I didn't do this as a way to quickly catch up to OG.
| Ravings en masse^ |
|---|
| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
|
|
|
|
|
Liar, you just got an upvote
Director of Transmogrification Services
Shinobi of Query Language
Master of Yoda Conditional
|
|
|
|
|
The Lounge[^]
Also, how does any other circumstance make me a liar? The -4 is a fact regardless of what else follows.
| Ravings en masse^ |
|---|
| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
|
|
|
|
|
But when it is qualified with the Just clause, it becomes time-relative; equating to "the last thing that happened"...
Director of Transmogrification Services
Shinobi of Query Language
Master of Yoda Conditional
|
|
|
|
|
If you're talking about time-relative, you must consider that the egocentric view of the world (all time revolved around you) is not going to work. Time relative per the time it was posted. You missed that - you'd have to preempt my post with an up vote (too late) - assuming I even accept your logic of "time relative" when in fact it was a statement of fact. History doesn't change just because time passes (i.e., the actual events).
You are, posting ex post facto, is relatively too late.
| Ravings en masse^ |
|---|
| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
|
|
|
|
|
Slightly - but only slightly - off-topic:
Do people generally care at all about their "reputation" or "rating" in internet fora?
Isn't that like striving to be politically correct because being politically correct is politically correct?
Over the years, I have at least twice been threatened on my life for the opinions I have aired (that I remember, there may have been more): "As soon as a war breaks out, I'll make sure that you are among the first to be shot!". I have aired my opinions about how we ought to educate children about intimate actions, as opposed to how we really do it, with people telling that they will report it to the police so that they can take actions against me and my thoughts (I was anonymous that time as well).
I did have a (non-anonymous) personal blog, 25+ years ago, and ten years later a guy found it on Wayback Machine (aka Internet Archive) and did report me to the police for the opinions I had aired in that blog. I was called in to the police, and told them that it would be a pleasure for me to stand in court and tell that I will not cancel a single word in those blogposts, but stand up for all of it, even if that means a prison sentence. I never heard anything more from them... (I guess that if I had been dragged to court, I would have to explain the disclaimer heading every one of them, stating that "This is my thoughts of today. I reserve the right to become wiser with time" - and they would have put heavy pressure on me for becoming "wiser" in the sense: More politically correct. And tell the world that my former thoughts were wrong. But even today, I still stand behind at least 99% of it.)
I simply smile at condemnations, thumbs up and thumbs down, reputation points and that stuff. If people care to comment on what I write, that pleases me, whether it is disagreement, agreement, contradicting my claims or supporting them.
My funniest period was when I in one (semi-) technical forum wrote entries under two different nicknames: Several times, other writers used my arguments under one nick to knock down what I had written under the other nick, "Look at what xxx writes, he knows what he is talking about!" One nick was "adopted" by one group of fighters, the other one by another group, and I myself could defend every word I wrote under both nicks.
Sometimes you want to send a very clear, but very unpopular message. (In Norwegian, there is a way of speech: To throw a lit torch into a gasoline store. I don't know if that is valid in English.) You know that the wild hordes will come racing against you. You can't worry about your reputation points in such situations!
(Like earlier today, when someone were complaining about all the security issues with the Norwegian corona app, and for that sake most similar apps: I wrote a response pointing out that we did have a phone/data network that was a lot more secure, where none of the mentioned security attacks would have succeeded - but we rejected it, replaced it with TCP/IP-based solutions. We could have stuck to OSI based solutions, but we did not. ... Even 25-30 years after The Great Network Wars, oldtimers get so upset that they are set frowning if someone daring to suggest that The Victor maybe was not best in every aspect. Youngsters see any argument against their beloved Internet technology as flat-earth arguments: We left those non-internet misconceptions several generations ago.)
|
|
|
|
|
General 
News 
Suggestion 
Question 
Bug 
Answer 
Joke 
Praise 
Rant 
Admin 
Submit an article or tip
