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Post by nickf on Dec 14, 2017 12:09:21 GMT
Arsenal: The OED tells us that the original is from the Arabic dar al-sina a meaning a workshop or factory. The modern English meaning seems to come from French, Spanish and Portuguese origins.
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Post by nickf on Nov 4, 2017 14:53:58 GMT
I agree. The two things I like about watching these are, 1)Actors/actresses who are well known today, but in these films probably extras with one line and 2)If you know the location where the film was made, comparing it as it is now. Other things? The list in endless, cigarette vending machines, no yellow lines,no foreign cars to talk of................... The only one I actively remember was from the shorts series (not Scotland Yard, just Edgar Wallace mysteries)-Solo for Sparrow, featuring Peter Vaughan aka Groutie from Porridge & a few others. And the disgusting thing about that bust?-Looked like a death mask, even if Edgar Wallace had indeed been dead for 25 years and more. Courtesy of YouTube here is the intro: Man of Mystery
And here is The Shadows' version Shadows Man of Mystery
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Post by nickf on Nov 4, 2017 12:55:58 GMT
I was a junior technician on the original Murder on the Orient Express...43 years ago, for Heaven's sake! The Istanbul station scenes were shot in a goods station in Paris, the ferry sequence was shot on location going across the Bosphorus and most of the rest shot in the studios at Borehamwood. There was a sequence shot near Finsbury Park where Poirot meets Bianchi, and another location at High Cannons House where a flashback sequence was shot. A happy film to work on.
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Post by nickf on Oct 19, 2017 17:03:19 GMT
I assume the sections missing are because of inter-stock working? Yep. Bad Things happened when a 73TS got diverted over a section with higher regen, although it was never planned to up the voltage in the shared areas. The issue isn't so much with the equipment that runs at high voltage, but rather the lower voltage equipment contained on board. For example, the Track Recording Train requires mitigations with its catalytic convertor when travelling over areas with a higher voltage. Ah...I thought on first reading that it was Catholic Converter. No one expects the Spanish Inquisition.
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Post by nickf on Sept 28, 2017 10:44:38 GMT
Sure thing, Boss!
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Post by nickf on Sept 28, 2017 10:00:14 GMT
I have enjoyed watching Londonist's video on the Northern Line extension to Battersea. Northern Line ExtensionFull of very useful information and very well presented. It would be churlish indeed to criticise the production values, but if you are going to interview someone in a noisy location, as is done at the start of the video, please either use a tight shot so you can get a microphone in close; or have both interviewer and interviewee wear personal microphones. Geoff was wearing the mic and his audio was fine, whereas the interviewee, Jonathan Cooper, was not and his voice was much lower in level and was struggling a little against the background noise. It is a tiny fault to gripe about, but Geoff's videos are usually so damn good that a minor fault such as this stands out...especially to a retired sound recordist such as me, who hears much worse perpetrated on broadcast television, thanks to the emasculation of the unions...blah blah, rant rant, moan groan drone.
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Post by nickf on Sept 18, 2017 11:38:09 GMT
Thank you, Norbitonflyer.
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Post by nickf on Sept 17, 2017 16:59:09 GMT
Just seen this on the BBC News site. HovertrainIt's the first I have heard of it. Does anyone have more details? It was shown many years ago on 'Tomorrows World.' But like most inventions in this country, the narrow sited bean counters dropped it. But-now China and i think Japan have high speed trains. Think of a generator/motor with the coil laid out flat, and the rotor as a flat plate.The plate would move relative to the coil. Now invert the idea, the plate(track) is inverted as a fixed item, and the coil(s) are built into the frame of the train............ So presumably some coils are for levitation and others for propulsion and braking. And I imagine there will be stand by wheels for unexpected power loss. Power transmitted to the train through induction from the track?
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Post by nickf on Sept 17, 2017 15:30:52 GMT
Just been advised to search for Prof. Laithwaite on this subject...and sure enough here is some of the result. Thanks JR 15 Secs. Laithwaite's tracked hovercraft
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Post by nickf on Sept 17, 2017 14:26:48 GMT
Just seen this on the BBC News site. HovertrainIt's the first I have heard of it. Does anyone have more details?
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Post by nickf on Aug 27, 2017 8:20:05 GMT
I'm wondering if it could possibly refer to a lever pulled in a signal cabin to switch it out; in other words to by pass the cabin and to make it one signal section between the two cabins on either side. I have a vague recollection of King Levers connected with this, but my memory is not good!
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Post by nickf on Aug 16, 2017 14:30:21 GMT
I'm not certain, but I don't think people in those days were amenable to the later notion of the Beckhams in naming their children after the district in which they were conceived, although when we reach 2062 & the 1961 census is available, we may find out something different. One step forward anyone with the first name of Scratchwood.
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Post by nickf on Jul 16, 2017 11:04:53 GMT
I have a vague memory that the first incarnation of electrification on this line was at a lower voltage than what is usual now, as the engineers were worried about the clearance of the OHL at over bridges. Can better informed people confirm?
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Post by nickf on Jun 27, 2017 11:08:39 GMT
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Post by nickf on Jun 1, 2017 14:52:45 GMT
Auxy has this to say on the subject of cab doors being open. Auxy's Blog
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Post by nickf on May 7, 2017 10:02:05 GMT
As it is past the Spring Equinox and there is no R in the month; and that Arvold's De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae doesn't absolutely forbid it...I shall play Verney Junction.
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Post by nickf on May 2, 2017 14:53:37 GMT
(Text deleted) norbitonflyer There was some competition amongst the Jehus to see who could do the trip fastest. (Text deleted) 2 Kings 9:20
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Post by nickf on Apr 20, 2017 11:58:53 GMT
London Tilbury & Southend Railway for me! Apart from spending my early working life commuting on this line, I can remember on the evening of the withdrawal of steam locomotives the sound of whistles coming from Southend Central - the drivers must have been marking the occasion. I also believe that Joe Brown was once a fireman based at Plaistow shed.
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Post by nickf on Mar 11, 2017 17:12:00 GMT
The penultimate one at the end is second to none No Monk-ey business for these gals I didn't know that Blackhorse Road was a station of the cross.
I'll fetch me coat.
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Post by nickf on Mar 11, 2017 11:12:03 GMT
He was in Spike Jones.s City slickers. He certainly was! He also issued a record starring himself (produced by Spike Jones) Freddy Morgan's Record
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Post by nickf on Mar 11, 2017 9:04:02 GMT
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Post by nickf on Feb 10, 2017 18:33:12 GMT
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Post by nickf on Jan 31, 2017 9:00:03 GMT
I have lost the photo, unfortunately, but by the side of the line between Ipswich and Norwich was a large sign placed in somebody's garden saying in bold letters: "Be Sure Your Sins Will Find You Out".
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Post by nickf on Dec 24, 2016 12:22:41 GMT
Oh yes...the leather straps that held the windows. Happy days.
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Post by nickf on Dec 24, 2016 9:51:15 GMT
(Text Deleted).....Although none of the 1910 London Tilbury & Southend Railway rolling stock which was used on the Southend Corridor Express trains (Ealing Broadway - Southend On Sea) are still extant, I can recall reading somewhere that these had retention type toilets, which for the era was far in advance of what most (all?) other railways did. Simon When I was using the LTSR line in the early 1960s (steam days), very very occasionally there were obviously extremely old carriages attached to the normal stock. They had route maps on the wall that included the line from Barking through to St. Pancras, and they were also corridor stock with lavatories, a great improvement on the compartment stock that was normal then. I have a feeling that the lavatories drained into retention tanks, but I don't know why I think that: perhaps someone more knowledgeable than I told me.
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Post by nickf on Dec 24, 2016 9:40:36 GMT
Yes, but the iron ore isn't. No more it isn't, but Scunthorpe's steel works are where they are because of the local geology. However, the good quality ore is all mined out now. (Are there any iron ore mines left anywhere in the UK?) The legacy of having pioneered the industrial revolution - we also now import nearly all our coal as well, but at least iron and steel can be recycled. Scunthorpe only started producing rails ten years ago, when Corus closed its 130-year old Workington plant. (Apparently the dimensions of the site of the Workington plant, hemmed in between the sea and - ironically - the railway, were too small to produce rails of the lengths now required by the industry) I remember reading in a book about Ian Allan's early life that at one point he had to inspect rails produced at Workington for quality. I imagine that must have been quite monotonous.
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Post by nickf on Dec 15, 2016 10:42:30 GMT
Smile sweetly and say "Hello, how are you?" to everyone. This will create a broad, unpopulated area around you.
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Post by nickf on Nov 11, 2016 14:18:13 GMT
... And the bizarre "Fell" locomotive which had two engines under each bonnet - the centre portion being largely taken up by the complex mechanical transmission system ... The wonderful Fell locomotive! Do I recall correctly that it disgraced itself by locking up solid and immovable while crossing a rather important set of points?
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Post by nickf on Oct 29, 2016 10:22:57 GMT
We'll kipper whelk home in the eel side. ?? Sorry, Red Dragon...I can't resist a pun. Those of a certain age will remember the Welsh song We'll keep a welcome in the hillside.I'll fetch me coat.
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Post by nickf on Oct 29, 2016 8:34:24 GMT
I got my skates on and haddock look at the plaice, it was brill-iant for cod's sake We'll kipper whelk home in the eel side.
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