keystonedriving

Here in Cornwall a lot of the cost of the fibre installations in rural areas has been paid for by the EU, as a follow on from 'Objective 1' funding. However, as BT put up some money for it, the Eton Hill mob gave them a 12 month exclusive deal from when they activate it. I assume that a suitable donation to Eton party funds was made in return. Because they have only just activated in our village, we are stuck with copper unless we are prepared to pay BT's extortionate rates. With the news that EE has been sold to BT, II suspect that a change of ESP will be needed (and a change of mobile service, too). We got away from BT about 6 years ago due to their p**s poor service and we ain't going back!

Looks a bit ACish to me. Frua?

I'll have to do a bit of research on that. They were used as passenger locos on certain divisions and could move pretty quickly when required. Watch this space, I'll get back to you.

The run was being timed by Charles Rouse-Martin, who was something of an expert at timing trains. He was there at the behest of the GWR, so it was definitely official. It has been suggested that he mistook a sign at the boundary of PW gang responsibility for a quarter mile post and the actual speed was a tad under 100 rather than 102. Either way, it was pretty speedy for a smallish locomotive. 1902 was a bit early for a dynomometer car, in any event. Mind you, in 1899 the New York Central railroad claimed that number 999, a 4-4-0, had averaged 128mph between 2 interlocking towers (or signal boxes as we would say). This was based on the register times recorded in the two towers. Now, as our residsnt signaller Graham will probably confirm, these times are recorded to the nearest minute(ish) so the whole claim is somewhat dubious!

I have a 1.4tdi. Actual fuel consumption over 100,000 miles is just over 52mpg. Bearing in mind where I live, this involves a lot of rural lane and hill work. I reckon that if you live somewhere flat 60mpg should be acheivable. I tend to cruise at around 60 on a run, if you go much over this the consumption goes up quite quickly.

How about the sound of a steam loco pulling 90 loaded double stack container cars up a gradient? That would be Union Pacific's Challenger 3985 heading east out of Cheyenne toward North Platte. It's a bit bigger that anything in this country (it's a 4-6-6-4) but it's mighty impressive. I can't wait until the UP get the Big Boy (that's a 4-8-8-4) back out there, (it's in the backshop at Cheyenne now) a couple of years it should be good to go! Don't ask about money, UP has deep pockets and likes the good publicity that steam generates. Interestingly, Union Pacific had a class of 4-12-2s fitted with Gresley derived motion and it was just as big a disaster there as it was here. Once they got above about 30mph the whip in the linkage meant that the middle cylinder was doing all the work, the same problem which Mallard had on its trundle down Stoke Bank - it knocked out the middle big end and had to be towed back to Doncaster for a rebuild. As a system it was fine for low speed freight locos but not for anything else.

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.................

Never mind the Warthog, what the puppy is it parked next to? The 1980's Warthog was sold in this country as the Knight, if I remember rightly.

Local Tesco (Launceston) has diesel at 105.9p with unleaded at 99.9p. All of the other supermarkets I have seen in Cornwall are 103.9p for diesel, typical Tesco policy of 'screw everybody for the last bit we can' (where they have no close competition).

And who's laps would those be?

Given that the peak time for drink driving is during the summer, why do we have the only government advertising campaign at Christmas? Mind you as it is the only money which recent governments have spent on road safety campaigns I suppose we should be thankful that it is happening at all. It seems that since the Scots cut their limit for driving the number of people caught has dropped a fair bit. Maybe dropping the limit in England and Wales would have a greater effect than the current campaign?

Are those the special presents for road workers?

Nadelek Lowen ha Bledhen Nowedh Da!

Ye gods, that is ugly! Probably the best colour scheme for it would be a tasteful army green cammo.

I inadvertently recorded last year's MOT on the Roomster as I forgot to turn the camera off. It's up behind the two mirrors so is not visible from inside the car, I doubt that they realised it was there!

Winter wheels resprayed, new winter tyres fitted, sitting in the garage waiting for it to get down below 10 degrees. Sounds like it might be a while.......

Vauxhall Customer Service....... Back in 2000 when I started out as a driving instructor I leased a Corsa for 7 months. The local dealer had 3 goes at rehanging the driver's door to get it to seal properly, without success. That I could live with, the killer was the infamous 'Seat Rail' recall (about 3.5 million vehicles world wide). The DSA heard about it first and cancelled all tests in Corsa's unless they were presented with a letter confirming that either the modification had been made or was not required. Interestingly the Corsas which Vauxhall supplied to BSM for free were OK as Vauxhall had informed DSA direct. Cue driving instructors turning up at Vauxhall dealers looking for inspections and letters for a recall the dealers hadn't been told about. Two weeks of total chaos. At that point many instructors vowed that they would never run a Vauxhall again, me included. When the lease was up I bought a Fabia and was pleasantly surprised how much better it was. I've been in a VAG vehicle ever since. Vauxhall support clearly hasn't changed.

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear! There are definitely signs of 'nortyness' in those eyes! I see interesting times ahead. Always remember that a home without a dog is just a house. I look forward to updates. (We share our house with 4 dogs (all rescues), two ducks and three chickens. There are also 6 horses just down the road).

Although it is properly referred to as the limit point.

I went the third route, I'm a Diamond Advanced driver (through the Driving Instructor's Association). It tends to be looked down on by some IAM types (though not all) because the examiners are not necessarily ex police. The standard is equivalent, although with more emphasis on Eco Safe driving rather than on 'making progress'. For me it is much more relevent as I am dealing with fleet drivers rather than blue light issues. You pays your money and takes your choice.

You need to remember that the 'signal' bit breaks down into three parts..... 1 - Do I need to signal? 2 - What signal do I need? 3 - When do I need to give it? So MSM doesn't necessarily lead to a signal.

Mulvane is a small town in Southern Kansas, about 20 miles south of Wichita. It's on the BNSF (former Santa Fe) 'Southern Transcon' main line from Chicago to Los Angeles. There, you really wanted to know that..........

Actually, that isn't the DVSA way. Although I haven't taught a learner for five years, these days I only work with experienced drivers, I always taught the maxim of 'is there any benefit from a signal here?' and never had any problems with examiners. Too many signals tend to create background 'noise' and make it harder to distinguish the important signals from those which are not. Just as big a problem is getting the timing right, that can completely change a signal's apparent meaning. Many of the 'I always signal out of habit' brigade tend to be very poor at timing their signals. In short, those who are concerned with safety on the road, and that includes the DVSA, are singing from the same hymn sheet. There might be some slight differences in emphasis, but the basis is the same.

Modern Police thinking is that by turning off some (or all) of the warning devices they are less likely to spook another road user into panic mode and do something stupid. The emergency vehicle still has to give way if necessary, so it is their choice when it comes to how they handle the situation. The other emergency services are a bit behind on this, but give them time....... I'm not a police officer (and never have been), but as a driver trainer I find myself talking with their driver trainers on a regular basis and learn what is going on.

The joys of weekend engineering works...........