Jump to content

cleanerg6e

Members
  • Posts

    1,206
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    11

Everything posted by cleanerg6e

  1. We had in our local town a baker who used to make his own fruit loaf. There's a church next door and mum always reckoned he was up the church steeple when he added the fruit to the dough mixture as there was so little fruit in the loaf. When I sliced my finger on my garden shredder and I was in hospital there was a huge girl who was a diabetic in a bed opposite me. It was a warm day and so she decided to have a ice cold drink. She consumed in one go 6 litres of full strength Cocoa Cola or three 2litre plastic bottles. Naturally being a diabetic she overdosed on sugar to blazes. Yes it nearly killed her and she knew she was not allowed to have Cocoa Cola. She was upset that the nursing staff were none too sympathetic towards her. So she tried me. I gave her the same reaction she got from the nursing staff. One of the nurses told me (quietly) that she was often in there for overdosing on sugar and that one day the ambulance will be too late in getting to her. Kraft Foods is an American company and when Top Gear did their Southern US special when they drove from Florida to Louisiana they stopped at a service station where they bought sandwiches. One of the ingredients was "simulated American cheese". Ohhh Yuuukkkk. Your horseradish that tasted like industrial mayonnaise waved vaguely near a horseradish, reminds me of a burger I had at a pub at Oundle near Peterborough. The onion wasn't cooked and had only been waved near the heat. The most unusual burger I've ever had. Two buns, one ultra thin slab of mince meat and cold onions. Then a side plate with two tomato quarters, to cucumber slices and a handful of lettuce. Whereas out here it's a bottom bun toasted then layers staring with lettuce, a slice of tomato, a slice of beetroot, then the beef mince with cooked onions on top of the mince followed by your choice of tomato or bbq sauce and the other toasted bun on top. A full works burger adds bacon, a fried egg (not runny) a slice of chedder cheese, and a slice of pineapple. I had an egg sandwich at the West Somerset Railway and when bit into the egg it ran out just missing me and went over the platform. Here egg sandwiches have the egg hard boiled and mixed with mayonnaise plain or curried. Roy.
  2. I have recently created three playlist on my YouTube channel faulcon1. They are, Mainline Steam and Overseas Railways New South Wales Railways 1990's Model Railways Indoors and Outdoors. Roy.
  3. If snow falls here Tony it only blankets the upper mountains and within 24hrs it's all gone. We do get sleet but not actual snow. The police here always close the roads if there's a snowfall despite many cars being all wheel drive. People just belt along as if it's a fine sunny day. When are you going to commence the steel works Trevor or has that been moved to somewhere in Asia. The HO scale people are cheaper to employ there.
  4. Well it's been well over 6 months since I put anything into my drivel thread. With mum nicely settled into the assisted living establishment I'm now doing battle with my employer. No not over work but in trying with no success to get them to approve a large outbuilding. Not only will it have a model railway in it and hopefully lines leading out into the garden but it will also have the provision to install cooking and wash facilities in it too. The reason being that we are now the most expensive country in the world to live in. Many young people are just continuing to live at home with mum and dad. They haven't a hope of ever affording the own home what with houses built in the 1970's costing $50,000 to buy then and today those same houses selling for 1.5 to $2,000,000. I thought it was bad when a bloke I knew paid $800,000 for his house near to where I live. I paid $38,000 for my house 35 years ago and it's now worth close to $600,000. Just ridiculous. My employer insists that I want the outbuilding for a business use and tells me that my land is not zoned for industrial use. I've told them repeatedly that it's for a model railway but they won't or don't want to know. Some mates have said 'to hell with the council just go ahead an have your outbuilding constructed'. But I have no intention of winding up in court to face the music. I want to have somewhere for the trains to run under cover at the end of a running day as putting stock on the track and then having to take stock off is a pain in the butt. I also want to be able to run trains when it's raining although that will only be round the inside of the shed. You could say (and you probably will) that I want the best of both worlds an indoor and outdoor layout. The outdoor part would have 4 running lines and no points whatsoever. No need to worry about trains rear ending each other. The railway will be low level in the garden with the garden beds brought up to near the height of the railway. Stone retaining walls will flank both sides of the railway with enough room so if a train does derail the stock doesn't get damaged by the stone walling. The base to which the track will be fixed to will be the previously mentioned rubber granules held together by the binder. I want the railway to pass through the outbuilding either in one end and out the other or to come into the outbuilding run round and exit the outbuilding opposite to where it came in. In other words to run round the inside of building in a large "U". There is a multi level railway in Northern Ireland which a bloke has built into his garage. I'd like to try and do something similar to that. Roy.
  5. Hi Tony in the summer humidity is only a problem if we get several days of rain followed by days of sunshine and then it's only sticky for a day or two until the ground dries out. Usually the cars air conditioner in the summer has a few drips from the drain pipe but when it's humid it looks like the car has a radiator leak as water flows freely from the drain pipe. The first photo Trevor of the LNER Garratt on the viaduct shows how far the railway has progressed from the Garden Expert DVD as the perimeter line was laid but there was just a hole where the viaduct and harbour are now. The second photo of the Bullied pacific and mogul reminds me of the viaduct over the harbour at Illfracombe. You could have the Bullied on a one coach train as I read that so many Bullied's were built that they had to find work for them and one coach trains in the west country was one way. Did you have a hip replacement as well as your wife? If so I gather all must be well. By the way is Shrugborough Hall near to High Wycombe. I only asked because of the "4969" in the email address. Cheers to you both, Roy.
  6. I fitted a chip to mine that looks like an 8 pin blanking plug as there is very little room where the DCC socket is located. To be fair to the Dapol Track Cleaner it was never designed to operate on a garden railway and is really only meant for indoor railways. If it's windy and a lot of debris blows onto your track then no the Dapol cleaner is not the way to go. It's only really good for a light clean during a running session if of course your running sessions go for quite a few hours. In the garden it's more of a novelty than anything else. You are quite right Jimbob the attachments are hard to fit and yes there is a real possibility of breaking the attachments whilst either attaching them or detaching them. Although a lot more expensive the CMX track cleaner is a better bet for outdoor railways. One can even fit mild grade wet and dry sandpaper to it's brass block pad and it will clean well. The CMX's only downfall is it's weight due to it's all thick brass construction. A diesel that weighs over 500 grams is about the lightest diesel you want to haul or push it. Small diesels like a class 24 or 25 would need to operate in pairs to successfully run the CMX. No R-T-R steam outline locos have the weight to either push or pull it.
  7. When I had my garden railway I used LGB track rubbers. I initially used the big red plastic applicator I suppose one could call it but after a while I found that the replacement pads were easier to use on there own plus one can cut one replacement pad in half if one wishes. I found that if I pressed firmly then yes they would shed loads of rubber particles but if I only pressed lightly then hardly anything was shed at all. I went round with a hand held vacuum by Ryobi only because it was part of their "one" tool range and the batteries that fit it also fit the cordless drills I have. I know many on here have their favourites and worry about the amount of particles that get shed in the cleaning process but a quick run round with the handheld vacuum cleaner keeps the per way clean. I too also have the CMX track cleaner and one can put some really vile chemicals into it with no ill effects on the track work as it only coats the rails not the sleepers unless one has the flow incorrectly adjusted. I also have the Dapol track cleaner but only use that on it's vacuum setting. Being plastic one can't use harsh chemicals in it otherwise it will ruin it. Even the Dapol cleaning solutions are really too mild for outdoor use. As for cleaning loco, coach and wagon wheels I found a good clean once a year with Isopropol Alcohol on a cotton bud. If you run your trains without first cleaning the track every time then all the stock will pick up the muck from the rails. I've also found that Bachmann loco wheels seemed to stay cleaner for longer than Hornby wheels which seem to go dull very quickly. You never want to coat the track with anything oily as that will only attract dirt and interfere with adhesion. Outside we are operating in the real world so some amount of dirt and grime is to be expected. One advantage over the indoor brigade is that we don't have to "paint" the rail sides as the rail sides get coated in muck from the atmosphere. We're just keen to keep the rail tops clean. Peco Streamline is pretty tough despite the scale we're in and should last many years. The sleepers are made of a UV resistant plastic and even agitated Bull Ants make no impression when they bite it, well they may if you put the track under a microscope. Just look at Trevor Jone's layout. I think you'll find that track work Peco Streamline code 100 has been down for over ten years. There just really is no alternative to cleaning the railway before each and every running session. You can check your rail joint bonds as you clean and make sure the track is still aligned properly. Roy.
  8. Spain has announced that they will use their right of veto to say no to Scotland's inclusion in the EU. Talking to my nephew in law who's from Perth Scotland he said any separation from England would be disastrous for Scotland and England as the two countries are now so intertwined. He also said that the SNP is being typically Scottish or "tight fisted" and they want independence but they don't want to pay for it. So what they really want is not independence but dependence. Independence is being independent or going it alone. If the average Scottish worker pays 20% of their pay in tax and takes 80% home, then under independence they'll have to pay 80% in tax and only take 20% home. The SNP knows that Scotland can't afford independence or can't afford to go it alone that's why they want to remain in the EU so the the EU pays for their independence. But it would appear that there are some countries in the EU that aren't prepared to pay for Scotland's inclusion in the EU. Perhaps they have enough monetary problems of their own.
  9. Also on the TV here is the old "Home Rule" Scots saying that they only agreed to stay in the UK because the UK was in the EU. So the SNP now wants another referendum citing that 62% of Scots voted to remain in the EU which means that 38% voted to leave but they're to be ignored. But it will be like last time. A messy divorce. If they want independence then they have to fund themselves. The British treasury won't bank roll their independence. They won't be able to use the Pound as their currency. No doubt North Sea oil and gas will be claimed by the English leaving them tourism and whiskey as their only exports. Of course there's no guarantee that the EU would want them. I would have thought that Scotland's inclusion in the EU would have meant that England and Wales would also be part of the deal The SNP has a habit of changing it's position if it disagrees with something. To be told by the EU to shut up do as you're told would not go down well with them. Alex Salmond case for independence fell apart when he announced that he would be keeping the British pound as the currency and that Westminster would be funding their independence to which Westminster answered 'no we won't'.
  10. It was on the news here today that everyone who voted to leave in the referendum is being looked upon as brain dead morons. That statement shows how disconnected the EU is from reality. The EU thinks that the British people are very ungrateful. After all look what they've done to you oops for you all these years. But if people feel that they have no say in their future and they can't get rid of people who control their lives due to these people being appointed and not elected then when a referendum comes along with the choice to vote in or out many will choose out. One woman said it would be wrong for Britain to leave and not stay and reform the EU. Well that's not possible. The EU has to want to reform for changes to be made. But the EU has no intention whatsoever of reforming they're quite happy with it the way it is. The same thing is being said about Donald Trump. People in the US are saying don't let the bull lose in the china shop. The trouble is it isn't their china. Roy.
  11. In Australia it's compulsory to vote. You go to the polling station a school or church hall and they have desks with people sitting behind them with letters of the alphabet hanging of the front like A-E, H-L and so on. If your surname falls into one of those categories you say who your are by stating your full name and address whereupon the person sitting behind the desk puts a small pencil dot next to your name. They also ask if you've voted already on that day. You can say no I haven't voted multiple times if you want to but if you get caught it's a heavy fine with a jail sentence. You are then given one long piece of paper in which you put numbers above the line in order of preference. You can decide to fill out the bottom part with every loonie party listed on it. You then fold up your ballot paper and put it in the box near to the entrance of the hall and then go about your business. It is Illegal not to turn up and have your name crossed off the list and you will receive a $500 fine for committing the crime of not voting. You can also do a pre poll vote if you wish and many do. Roy.
  12. Here's a railway with a difference in Genoa.
  13. The one thing about the Kadee's Mick is that they come in different lengths so coaches or wagons can be coupled close together but not too close as buffer lock will occur. The Hornby R8220's are only one length. Perhaps the CCTV cameras could also be a security feature as well. You may trust your neighbours but strangers may have other ideas if they can see the garden railway especially where is goes into the outdoor railway room. When your not home you have no idea just who's roaming about.
  14. I found Mick that the Hornby R8220 couplings were good at achieving close coupling of Bachmann Mk1's but made no difference with Hornby Stanier Period 3's. Perhaps Kadee's throughout the entire rake of coaches would achieve a better result. With the tension lock couplings they come with as standard it's a leap of faith for any passengers who want to get from one coach to another. I also found that Kadee's had no problems with the canted curves I used to have. The only problems indoors and out that one would have is if there are too many sharp undulations in the track work. Kadee's like a flat permanent way or a gradual rise and fall otherwise they will uncouple. With many modern coaches coming with sprung buffers like recent locos it seems a waste to put on tension lock couplings which keeps all vehicles far apart. I gather it's done for train sets and to remind serious modellers that they are buying "toys". Roy.
  15. I saw a video on YouTube where the models in O gauge had smoke effect units fitted and instead of using the Seuthe smoke oil they used Johnson's baby oil. It gave a more pleasant smell and was way cheaper to buy too. Apparently it had no ill effects on the smoke unit.
  16. In my Job Baimor I'm a public toilet cleaner and at one block it was totally backed up sewerage wise. So it had to be closed due to the public health issues. A man of middle eastern appearance demanded that I open it for him and his family. Naturally I said no and explained why. He told me that in his country if I refused to do as he said he would have me whipped. He wasn't pleased when I reminded him that we weren't in HIS country but that he was in MY country and this was the way we did things in MY country and that if he didn't like the way we did things in MY country, then I suggested he went back to HIS country and never returned to MY country. Naturally he told me that he would have me fired for refusing to do as he said and naturally nothing ever came of it. Out here the police at the present time seem to have the upper hand on these middle eastern types. There was a woman of middle eastern origin who claimed in court that a police officer tried to forcibly remove her headdress. The one that makes them look like a black letterbox. She had been pulled over for a traffic violation. Her claim was thrown out of court because all police highway patrol procedures out in the public domain are videotaped and with the video tape evidence in court she lost big time and had to pay the police departments legal fees as well as her own. The black letterbox isn't mine but from a little English boy who said to his mother "look mummy there goes some walking black letterboxes.
  17. Trevor Hornby make a coupling which I found great for the close couplings on Bachmann MK1's but it makes no difference on Hornby Stanier period 3's. It is designed for the NEM coupling pocket and I think it's origins are from Roco but I maybe mistaken. It would mean that you coaches would have to be in fixed rakes with a tension lock coupling on either end. I don't know if you use your block rendered shed in which to run you trains into or through.
  18. I hope your vertebrate is healing nicely. I don't know how you broke it but perhaps you're getting a little too old now to swing from the bedroom light fitting. I suppose running days are few and far between now as the winter weather closes in.
  19. I too Ian like the Duchess in maroon. I've seen photos and old cine footage of Duchesses and Princesses in green and to me it just doesn't suit them. The preserved Duchess "Duchess of Sutherland" to me looks bland and ordinary in green whereas in maroon she has a touch of class about her. They all looked far better in either maroon, blue or crimson lake. Having said that I prefer a jubilee in green to crimson lake and the same with a crab. Those two classes to me seemed to be trying to have class in crimson lake but were not quite in the same league as their pacific sisters Roy.
  20. The optometrist got me to look at a small flashing light which was in this machine but appeared to be outside it. Holding nice and still and concentrating on this flashing light he fires the machine which takes a flash bulb picture. They do one eye at a time. All up the check up plus the new multi focal glasses was going to cost $700.00 but with my private health rebate and the public hospital chipping in some money it only cost $220.00. As for living on carrots well not really I like carrots but the photos to me look like some weird deep sea creature from the BBC natural history unit which did a DVD called Blue Planet. I just don't go for the real sugary drinks like V or Red Bull and I haven't had a Coke for years. V and Red Bull are like having a cup of tea with 12 teaspoon of sugar. I only have Maccas or other take away food rarely, usually if I'm on holidays and away in a strange town and all the cafes are over crowded. I don't like crowds. One of the motels I stayed in at Ballarat had a sign up reading of an on premises a la carte restaurant. On going inside I was told that the kitchen was being pulled out and that breakfast in the morning was continental style. The woman said she'd rather I didn't order a full English breakfast as she didn't like cooking. This was a 4 1/2 star motel. I wondered who she got on her back for to earn that rating from. In those places I "nick" the soap and little bottles of shampoo and conditioner. They also had little cartons of complimentary long life milk and I always take my own coffee and a thermos so I swiped the milk too. At this place I had booked two nights but after the first night I left my main suitcase in the room and got a number of text messages on my mobile. When I returned to the motel my suitcase was in the reception and this woman said that I'd forgotten it. When I told her I'd booked for two nights she said that only one night had been booked. The best motel I stayed in was in Bendigo a Best Western motel with an onsite restaurant with wonderful fresh mouthwatering food. One of the deserts I had was a fresh fruit salad and the fruit was fresh. Whenever I see "fresh fruit salad" on a menu I have a slight chuckle to myself. Thinking of Faulty Towers, 'My wife has decided not to have the fresh fruit salad'. 'Oh that's a real pity chef's just opened the tin'. When I go on holidays in Australia I stay in motels. Most country town have a large selection of motels so you are spoilt for choice. But I always take three essentials 1. my own pillow. 2. my own coffee and 3. my own marmalade. The Kraft Foods strawberry or raspberry jam is ok but their orange marmalade tastes nothing like any marmalade I've ever bought in a supermarket. It's almost a marmalade jelly. In the UK I stay in pubs because they have so few motels.
  21. Well I had an eye test today which involved all the usual procedures. I even got the eye doctor to give me a photocopy of the photo he took of the back of my eyes. Did you know they can tell if you have high blood pressure and if you have diabetes. With high blood pressure the tiny veins ooze blood and with diabetes they are broken. Here's a photo of my two eyes. I should add that the dull red spot in the middle of both photos is my macula. That is how a good macula is suppose to look.
  22. Here's ans early slide taken by an unknown person. It shows our family on the lounge room floor in Ashburton Victoria Australia sometime in the early 1960's thoroughly engrossed in the train action. Mum is sittin
  23. When I read the title I thought there isn't much or any horsepower in model locomotives. But reading further I realised you meant internal combustion engines. Well the brand of car I have (Ford Falcon) comes with (from smallest to biggest) a 2 litre 4 cylinder turbo called "Eco Boost". Then there's mine a 4 litre "Barra" straight 6 cylinder which dependent on which grade of unleaded fuel you use will give you 261-282hp. Then there is the 4 litre "Barra" straight 6 cylinder "Eco LPI which is a Falcon that only runs on LPG gas NOT a LPG/petrol combination. Then there's the 4 litre "Barra" straight 6 cylinder turbo which jumps in hp to over 300hp and is a lethal car in the wrong hands. The police use them. Last is a Supercharged V8 with over 400hp. If you drive that enthusiastically it will drink like a sailor at the end of a long cruise. Unfortunately there cars will no longer be made after October 2016. Although other car companies spend billions on R&D Ford Australia has always had to do R&D on a shoe-string budget. If horsepower is what you're after a Falcon 6 cylinder turbo will blow many European made cars into the weeds at a fraction of the price. Out here a G6E Turbo with all the luxury trimmings will cost (on the road) around $45,000. An equivalent European Car with as much HP as the G6E turbo will set you back around $75,000-90,000. I for one will miss the Falcons, but who knows what the future holds. Roy.
  24. On a BBC (oddly enough) TV show Grumpy Old Men, one of the men on there talked of the bastardisation of the English language. Things like,'I'm going to need you to sit down' instead of just 'sit down'. Another was 'I'm at it 24/7'. 'twenty four hours a day seven days a week' and this bloke said 'oh don't do the long version after having stated the short version'. Neal Kinnick said 'where does this "so" come from. Oh it makes me want to weep'. Rosanne Barr said to one of her writers,' you are so fired' and then everything became so this and so that. On trains in Germany they don't have a driver on the ICE trains but a pilot. I've given up watching TV at the moment as the ABC here is having their annual "mental health" month. I tried to watch TV and by the end of the night I thought I was mental. Roy.
  25. You've got a week off Baimor and I have 8 weeks off and guess what it's raining.
×
×
  • Create New...