Am

In reply to G8ADD:

Long live the love of heritage, it is part of being human!

Hence why we have preserved and working steam engines… and people are willing to build new ones (Tornado, Hengist, Betton Grange, etc) when the door to the past has been closed too quickly.

73, Gerald G4OIG

In reply to G4OIG:

Ahhhhh Gerald, you’d be in your element at our radio club shack, which is situated here.

Operating the tri-bander, with the sight of steam belching from the shunters and the smell of burning coal wafting into the shack. Then at the end of the day, a walk to the station bar/buffet for a pint of real ale. Pure magic!

73 Mike
2E0YYY

In reply to 2E0YYY:

You know, we’re just a bunch of unregenerate romantics!

73

Brian G8ADD

In reply to G8ADD:

In reply to 2E0YYY:

You know, we’re just a bunch of unregenerate romantics!

Keeps me off the streets, Brian :wink:

73 Mike
2E0YYY

In reply to 2E0YYY:

… you’d be in your element at our radio club shack - Foxfield Railway.

Sure would! Looks like saddle tank heaven. Seeing those 0-4-0’s brings back memories of driving one at Tyseley in the early 90’s - http://www.tyseleylocoworks.co.uk/tlw/1901_henry.htm - skitty little thing, a bit like a go-kart on rails. Well that was my perception after a morning driving a GWR Castle.

Anyway, what’s on tap ale-wise? Looks like it’s worth a trip up later this year. :slight_smile:

73, Gerald G4OIG

In reply to G4OIG:

Anyway, what’s on tap ale-wise? Looks like it’s worth a trip up later
this year. :slight_smile:

There you go, Sir…

http://www.foxfieldrailway.co.uk/facilities.php

Lovely little bar with a coal fire burning in the winter.

The railway is only open to the public at certain times, they`re posted on their website. IIRC, you can have a day driving a steam engine for about £250. Diesels are cheaper at £150.

73 Mike
2E0YYY

In reply to G4OIG:

I’ve never had a go with AM on the amateur bands, I think I may have tuned through a couple of US stations back in my youth between 3.8 and 4MHz when I was living at my parents house. I had installed a random long wire antenna for the length of the property. It was a great antenna, I heard the world on it with my trusty MFJ-8100 regen, those were the days, then lightning struck and I was never allowed an antenna again! :frowning:

I keep thinking about valves and that I should have a go at building myself something. I’m slowly regressing, first it started with CW, then I started to use Top Band, where will I end up?

I have always been interested in the past, I think it’s a really good thing to do to keep history alive. I live about 10 mins walk away from Keighley and Worth Valley Railway’s Haworth station, it’s nice to hear the engines struggling up the hill from Keighley blowing on the wind at my QTH. I do admire the engineering of steam engines and we did ride on the ‘Tornado’ from Pickering a couple of years ago, but I don’t know an awful lot about them.

My Stepfather got me interested in old vehicles when I was a young teenager, I helped to restore a Morris Minor and an Albion Claymore truck, later I bought myself a Standard little 9 van, dating from the early thirties. The amount of smiles and admiration you got whilst driving these wonderful machines showed the enjoyment that people get from nostalgia. Of course I’m too young to remember all these things first time around, but I think their preservation is a very worthy thing.

So yeah, I’m all for AM!

73
Colin, M0CGH

In reply to M0CGH:

where will I end up?<

With a warm glow :sunglasses:

early thirties. The amount of smiles and admiration you got whilst
driving these wonderful machines showed the enjoyment that people get
from nostalgia. Of course I’m too young to remember all these things

My old Armstrong Siddeley Whitley (1951) drew attention. Pity the Wilson pre-select gearbox (the so called “ladies gearbox”)was such a nightmare to calibrate. Now sold and living in VK land - nice and damp free.

So yeah, I’m all for AM!

Good stuff :sunglasses:

Mike G6TUH

In reply to 2E0YYY:

… Diesels are cheaper at £150.

Arghh, wash you mouth out with soap Mike. Unless it’s a Class 08 shunter - I quite like those as they potter about - in BR Green livery of course. :wink:

Some people may feel that £250 is a lot to pay to drive a steam locomotive and it is a sizeable sum, but in the greater scheme of things it’s only just over 3 tanks of petrol. I was treated to an excellent 60th birthday present last year - driving a BR Standard Class 2MT at the Great Central at Loughborough. That cost the family more or less double the above figure which initially made me feel a bit weak in the knees, but on the actual day it was clear that there are considerable costs involved in running a steam locomotive and not just in respect of the locomotive itself.

The Great Central bases its stations on different time periods, so maybe there would be a case for a special event station based at one where AM would be the most appropriate mode. Hmmm, food for thought.

73, Gerald G4OIG

In reply to G4OIG:

In reply to 2E0YYY:

… Diesels are cheaper at £150.

Arghh, wash you mouth out with soap Mike.

No Gerald, big diesels and I mean big, are great things. It’s just over a year since I took a heritage trip to the Lincoln Christmas Market on a train pulled by a Deltic. Fantastic thing. Period carriages though, which to be honest are pants compared to modern carriages. It was about 11hrs of actual journey time as we had to keep out of the way of the real trains. Still 11hrs of Deltic exhaust tone was a treat. We towed a Class 47 engine in case there was one of those Rolls Royce “failure to proceed” moments as 55022 is getting on a bit now.

It’s not that there’s anything wrong with steam engines but I like stationary ones or steam rollers more than steam train engines. But big diesels are several orders of magnitude better. Especially if you get some proper clagging taking place. My XYL just doesn’t get it, she cannot imagine how anyone could get enjoyment from a video like this one: visionsinternational.biz - Diese Website steht zum Verkauf! - Informationen zum Thema visionsinternational. but she never did understand exhaust tones and why they’re musical. Though she’s been around me for long enough now she can spot a V8 when she hears one. She even knows what a big block US V8 sounds like!

I’ve finally acquired a diesel engined car. Weird driving something which is all torque and no revs compared to the old Honda which revved all the way up to nearly 7000rpm. Not only would it rev but if you didn’t thrash it hard it didn’t go at all. Fancy driving about at 1200rpm, hell that’s not much more than the Honda’s tickover revs!

As for Class 08 shunters… I know a engine driver who had to take one from somewhere near Warrington to somewhere in S. Wales as punishment for being caught speeding in his train. He doesn’t have a good word for them! :wink:

Andy
MM0FMF

In reply to MM0FMF:

No Gerald, big diesels and I mean big, are great things.

Well Andy, I think we’ll just have to disagree on that particular subject. It is obviously an age difference issue. Just like Paul and I don’t share musical tastes as our formulative years were at a different time, though just 5 years apart. The late 50’s - early 70’s were a time of immense change, both in music and on the railways.

The Deltics usurped the Gresley A4’s and Peppercorn A1’s on the East Coast Main Line when I was a youngster. I accept they have power and performance, but they did not make a particularly pleasant replacement for steam, either in their sound or aesthetically. Of all the large diesels, I definitely prefer the Brush Type 4’s - err, that’s Class 47 to you, as indeed you make reference to in your post. :wink:

With asthma being a family issue, I don’t particularly enjoy driving being a diesel vehicle despite the excellent filters in the air system in my A4. They are definitely not on the menu when car buying time comes around. As for torque at low revs, my A4 doesn’t have much of that (though 6th gear can be selected as low as 40mph, approx 1300 rpm), the the last one I had - an Audi A6 2.6 V6 - had it in bucket loads… and the sound of it arriving home always had the XYL putting the kettle on in readiness for me to come through the front door.

It is interesting how we perceive the world when we are born at a slightly difference time. It is not a generational issue as the period can be just a few years and there are always exceptions to the rule. I can see why you prefer diesels to steam, SSB to AM, but explain to me why you like Canned Heat! :slight_smile:

73, Gerald G4OIG

In reply to MM0FMF:
Hi Andy and Gerald. I am a big fan of both steam and diesel engines.But if you like big diesels check this.73 Geoff.
The Most Powerful Diesel Engine in the World

In reply to G4OIG:

but explain to me why you like Canned Heat

'Nuff said!

If you think the 2.6 was nice you should try a 3.0TDI V6. 500Nm of torque (372ft-lb in old money) and an exhaust tone that produces such broad smiles. Lots of turbo lag at low revs though.

Andy
MM0FMF

In reply to M0CGH:

when I was a young teenager, I helped to restore a Morris Minor.

When I was 17 years old, I learned to drive in a Morris Minor. Our local driving school in Kilmarnock had a large fleet of them!

Do you remember the purple, limited edition “Morris Minor 1000000”?

73,
Walt (G3NYY)
[Never knowingly off topic]

In reply to G3NYY:

Do you remember the purple, limited edition “Morris Minor 1000000”?

Yes. There was one near where I was living in 1983.

I’d have a Minor convertible (in white) or a Minor Traveller (in green) if I had somewhere to put it.

Andy
MM0FMF

In reply to MM0FMF:

In my late teens I bought and learned to drive in an early split-screen moggy minor; I found my eye defect made it dangerous to drive so I got rid of it, it would be worth a bomb now - and plenty of room for a rig!

73

Brian G8ADD

In reply to G4OIG:

It is obviously an age difference issue.

The locomotives of my childhood were the Garrett articulated metre gauge beasts of the EAR - EAR 59 class - Wikipedia

73, Rick M0LEP

In reply to M0LEP:

Ah, Now they really were locomotives!

73, Rod

In reply to G3NYY:

Do you remember the purple, limited edition “Morris Minor 1000000”?

No, sorry Walt, I was born in 1979, about 9 years after production had stopped.

I learnt to drive in a 1998 Proton Compact - how times change!

But I guess time forever marches on and like car technology moves forward, so too does communication technology.

It’s amazing the amount of change that has happened in my time as a ham, with all the new data modes and digtal voice etc.

73,
Colin, M0CGH

In reply to M0LEP:

The locomotives of my childhood were the Garrett articulated metre gauge beasts of the EAR…

Yes, marvellous beasts. The LMS had some which were retired in the latter part of the 1950’s - saw a couple at Toton as a very young spotter just before their demise. Pity none survived into preservation.

Must get over to the Welsh Highland Railway sometime to have-a-look-see at the ex SAR ones there.

73, Gerald G4OIG