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Thinking aloud (or Did l really say that?)


jimbob
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Yes it's a wonderful part of the country which is why I moved here. My other main interest is sailing so the Norfolk broads are really good.

If you come again, there is the Bure Valley Railway near the Wroxham and Hoveton Station, a narrow gauge line which goes as far as Aylsham.

There is Model world, a display of model railways also near the station, not that fantatic but for a one off visit OK.

There is also Barton house Railway in Wroxham, a 7 inch line opened for charity, but you'd have to be around at the right time as it's not open that often.

All the above have websites.

I'd recommend a Broads boat holiday but they are not cheap...best time would be May or June Before the Kids go on holiday so it's cheaper and the weather is just as good. I noticed from you're early comments on age that you are unlikely to have school age children. The above railways are 5 minutes walk from the river and Barton house has it's own moorings. I'm told the fishing is good, so that would limit it to the last 2 weeks in June or after if you're interested in fishing.

Should you decide to go for a broads holiday on or off the river give us a shout on here for any Advice you want.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Yes l know that people think l'm a grummpy old technophobe, which is not strictly true, but where mobiles are concerned l not do not feel the need to constantly check it every 10 second or even carry it with me about the house and garden.

I have even given up having a computer or laptop having been relived of ownership by perons unknown with the last two and am happy to discover that a smart phone can do what l need to do so use that instead.

Anyway having been invited to stay with friends up in Ancaster for a few days and being given an e voucher for Virgin East Coast as a birthday present l ventured on to there web site to book tickets instead of my normal prefered Trainline.

So l find my prefered train times there and back and proced to buy the tickets. First off cant find how to use my golden oldie railcard. Fares still cheap so abandon that and carry on. Move to payment section try to enter e voucher number only to find you have to sign on to the VEC website to do so. So spend the next 15 minutes signing on there to find all my booking information has disapeared and l have to start again!

So back to payment section eventualy. Voucher no problem now so on to card payment for the rest. No problem number entered push procede, nothing but spinning circle, bugger.

So l change tack and phone up to book instead. Phone answered reasonably quickly so off we go, everything great until say l wont to use e voucher, sorry sir you have to go online to use those. Give up go to bed.

Try again this morning, old hand at this now, brezze through it,(still cant find oldie fares) thats until l try to get them posted to me, no problem with it yesterday, but today keeps telling me it can only post to UK but wont let me return to last screen to see what l've done wrong. In the end go to registerd post screen fill in address again then change it to 1st class post and volia, done.

This whole thing has taken over 2 hours of my time all l need is for them to decide one of my travel days is a strike day and l will be well chuffed.

Heres an ldea for the bearded one to improve his service. A man sitting in a box at the station you tell him where and when you want to go and pay him and he gives you the ticket.

Simple.

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Hey that's a great idea! don't think it will catch on though :( It would mean that people would actually have to speak in person to someone else! How would they ever manage that! :lol::lol:

I drive the damn trains for a living but I can't imagine ever wanting to use them for leisure or pleasure purposes, unreliable, dirty and full of ignorant people (for the most part anyway) God help you if you catch one on a match day or worse still a race day :shock:

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Have to be honest and provideing l can book in advance and get a cheap ticket l pay the extra and go 1st class. For an extra £10 you get the extra legroom, reserved single window seat, essential if you want a seat with a view on a Voyager, and on virgin free drinks and sarnies at your seat.

Should also point out that since having to join the Virgin website l have been bombarded with e mails from the bearded one telling me what a valued customer l am. Sorry Rich l dont care about your clubs, flights, broardband etc, just knock a couple of quid of the fares.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Heading northish to see a friend in Ancaster. Unlike me he is a proper modeller who can scratch build a loco out of a couple of washing up liqiud and some sticky back plastic. He's going to try to explain how to wire up LED signals to me, good luck there mate.

Think l will have to bite the bullet and go on one of these model courses and find out how to do it all properly. Trouble is to be honest l feel a bit intimerdated by it all. Yes silly but.....

So anyone done any of these, or have any tips.

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Hi Jim, double LED signals are dead easy to wire up, I actually scratch build my own signals and use two sets on the points showing me which way the straight or curve is on especially point further away from the control panel.

Here is a pic showing how it is done, one good thing is the resistor can be soldered either way but has to be on the longer wire +, the battery can be wired up as on a transformer. I don't know haw to wire up a three way and four way, get as much info as you can from your friend and pass it on be great. I do think you need a circuit board to switch thee and four way signals.

Tony from down under.

LedSwitch.jpg

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Well back from the wilds of Lincolnshire. So can l wire LED's?. Well yes l know what to do know, just not for signals.....Shall have to by one and use it as a crib sheet. My mate tried to explian but he could see my eyes starting to glaze over and decided to ply me with alcohol instead to stop me asking stupid questions!

Was very impressed with his tri level indoor layout, UK OO, American HO and OO9, includeing interlaced track and European H0, all DC. Most of the American stuff is sound fitted and can be operated DC or DCC, very inpressed by the sound in the narrow gauge engines, all this in a 12x10 room. He is starting construction on an outdoor 0 gauge layout outdoor next year. By now you will have realised that the house is a female free zone of course.

Come away with some good ideas, if only l had the skill to do them.

Nice trip in a rough rideing HST (almost spilled me free drinks, 1st class of course) Strange that there was only 3 people in the carridge but all but 4 seats had reserved labels on them. Of course once away from Kings Cross moved to an unoccupied block of four instead of airline style single. Cant see why Jezza Corbyn got his knickers in a twist, plenty of space. Changed at Grantham luckerly they held the Skegness train as we were late and its one of only two each way that stops at Ancaster. Only pearson to got of there and only one when l came home, greeted by a "not you again" by the same conductor as outward journey!

Still nice couple of days away with old friend, even sat in the garden and watched a free air display by the Red Arrows who are stationed nearby.

Oh Mr Branson, could you please make sure that you load more free sandwiches in future they had run out on the way back, disaster.

Stil,l nice couple of days away

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jimbob said:

Well back from the wilds of Lincolnshire. So can l wire LED's?. Well yes l know what to do know, just not for signals.....Shall have to by one and use it as a crib sheet. My mate tried to explian but he could see my eyes starting to glaze over and decided to ply me with alcohol instead to stop me asking stupid questions!

That sounds just like when I'm explaining engineering and/or trains to my Wife, there is a two second period of interest and borderline enthusiasm, followed by glazing of the eyes and disinterest setting in. cue wine and all is well. :lol:

Paul.

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  • 1 month later...

I've taken a month or so off of garden railwaying and have been putting my golden oldie rail card to good use and a few preserved railway visits as well. Have to say that arn't the traveling Joe Public a funny bunch!

So a trip on First Great Western to Bristol with a friend. It was a last minute thing so 2nd class and no reserve seat. As we did not intend to play games on our phones, subjet others to the tinny sound of music through our headphone or have inane coversations on the phone starting with "I'm on a train" we sat in the quite zone section. As we sat there having a normal conversation the gent in the seat opposite told us to shut up or move as this was a quite section and we must talk!. Out of shock we did stop for a while thinking we had found the train nutter.

Anyway after a while l asked my friend if he wanted a coffe and somthing to eat and went down the buffet. On my return l found the "train manager" at our seat after matey had been up and complined that we were making a noise! The nutter was getting abit irate and getting nowhere with the TM and started to threaten to call the police. The TM trying to defuse the situation asked us that if he found us a couple of seats together would we mind moving, no problem we say. He returned shortly and said he had a couple of seats for us, and in a very loud voice said he had no seats in second class but would we mind travelling in first class instead. Nutters face was a picture ! We gave him a wave as he walked past us at Bath Spa.

A week later l'm on a Chilterns train when a yummy mummy boarded and plonked herself in th quite zone with a toddler in complete meltdown tantram. Loved to have seen mateys face if he had been on the train.

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  • 3 months later...

Well how are my winter projects going l hear you ask? Err well there not. I have come to the conclusion that l am not one of natures kit builders and shelved the station canopy building in favour of a yet undecided plonk and play varitey. The moutain of old Airfix ones l have are now concined to a box and await another bright idea in the future.

Its actually quite mild today so l did go out in the garden today and start tidying up the track bed a bit just a general brush off really. The top end has been covered all winter so that is ok, even managed to run a loco shed to shed without cleaning the track so that cant be bad!

The only damage l can see is where the wind toppled over a bit of old fencing on to the track bed and moved the modules apart. 5 minute job, although the replacement of all 6 fence panels is going to take longer. In fact in the long term this section of track will probably be abandoned as its getting akward for a fat old man with bad kness to get too!

So what else is on the cards? Well unrailway related l've been reasearching my family tree. A late Uncle done a lot off work on my mothers side before he died and  that has been passed on to me. A bit like model railways it becumes all consumeing and really has become a winter time filler. Can now go back to 10x Grand father on Mums side where they have gone from landed gentry in Devon to a Paddington tenament in 300 years via several workhouses as well. Started on Dads side as well but the surfit of Patricks with my surname in lreland in the 1800's means that l've run into a dead end there at the moment. Plus the fact that they seem to have decamped on mass to Austrlia at one point hasn't helped eithier. 

Anyway thought l'd just check in and tea finished and sun still shine l suppose l should make the most of the day.

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I too have been passed on the family tree investigation of the family. Dads side that is, Mums side of the family is being done by her brother.

The direct male line we've got back to about 1500, via Scotland, Ireland and Scotland, with branches in America, Australia and New Zeeland. My Grandmothers side, Dad had traced back to Ireland in the 1700s but like you hit a dead end, a combination of the troubles and historic paper work not surviving in damp old Irish churches has stopped further research in that area.

My main problem at the moment is computerising, the reams of paperwork Dad has accumulated, it's all scanned in now, but I have to call up each sheet and try to fit them into a computer family tree file.

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  • 3 months later...

You might have guessed by the amount of post l've put on line it's raining here. I should not complian as the garden does need it but l had marked the next couple of days garden railway days. 

Been putting in some real train track milage over the winter, Cardiff behind Tornado on St Davids day. Late start due to a failed Diesel blocking the stock in did me some spirted running which was good. Can't wait for it's first 100mph tour!

Another trip down the Fawley  and Luggershall branches meant a bit more underlineing in the book as well. This was a re run of a tour last year that only got as far as Southampton Docks when the loco and first coach came off the tracks entering the docks. Que a very long wait whlist the men in hi vis  jackets measured everything and took pictures before the remainder of the train was hauled back to Eastleigh. Still at least no one was hurt.

Was going to go to the Bullied day on the Swanage railway but something came up but a friend went and said it was packed and the big park and ride car park was full.  So was everywhere else so In the end they parked back in Wareham and got cab back. Thats dedication.

A bit like Flying Scotsman on the Bluebell. Couldn't get tickets so thought l might have a shot at line siding. Again every nook and cranie you could park a car in down the lanes was full so contentied my self with a look from afar. It goes to show that the hobby is on the up and moans aside that must be a good thing.

South West trains have a £13 maximum single fare promotion on for the next couple of weeks so the map book is out working out were to go for max milage at cheap price.

Another trip up to Ancaster to see a friend means that aĺl those jobs l meant to do are going to have to wait.

Who says retirement is wasted on the old!

 

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I'm glad you got to Ludgershall, it's a trip I need to make again soon, as I'm modelling Ludgershall station. Unfortunately there is little left now of the station, the civilian side is under houses, and the military / goods yard has been extensively remodeled.

I'd have loved to arrive at Ludgershall by train with my grandfather's GWR pass, J.B.Pointon, Ganger, Ludgershall.

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  • 1 month later...

Fed up with my back problem, and despite the best efforts of the NHS my nephew persuaded me to visit the lady he goes to for all his football injuries. "Warning she's a full on" he warned me. Expecting some gender neutral Russian shot putter l was very surprised to be greeted by a five foot nothing Thai lady.  Slightly panicking my nephew was having a joke at my expense she sat me down went through my medical history and got me to do a couple of simple exercises. "Yes l can help you" she said in an accent straight out of a Benny Hill sketch. For the next half hour she twisted, bent, pummelled and even walked on my back. When she finished she sat me down again. 

Now to be honest l felt no better except my wallet felt lighter and my face must of shown it. She must have it all the time because her instructions were to go home, hot bath, and keep moving to get everything working properly again. Try not to drive if possiable as this will bring it back and don't push anything, lawn mower, shopping trolleys etc, as this will as well. By the time l got home there was no pain in my back and l was not bent over like an old man. OK l am still taking it easy but back to near normal, felt that better that l ventured down the Mid Hants for there Gala weekend. And yes l have been out driving and shopping and yes my back did hurt again. Going again this week, which she reckons will be enough, worth every penny.

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Good to hear you're taking control of it. I've found driving can be really aggrevate my back. Especailly the clutch pedal on a manual.

 

And as she said: HEAT! Maybe get an electric hot pad. ;)

You could also try natural pain relief via natural cherry juice. It is a anti inflammatory. Careful how much you take though. it's like prune juice. he he he

Good luck on it, it takes a while to heal sometimes.

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12 hours ago, TheQ said:

In A fortnights time I have 400+miles to drive on the Saturday, and 400+ miles to drive on the Sunday, anyone got a crane to get me out of the car after?

Why limit yourself? Make sure to drink three glasses of cherry juice before you depart! :D:D:D

 

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