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Jonny P

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Everything posted by Jonny P

  1. We’re just approaching the bottom of Farmer’s Bridge. You’ll hear Scorpio at the finish line soon. It’s the loudest boat I’ve ever been on. JP
  2. Butty’s on cross straps. The range is glowing with bread in the oven and a casserole on the hot plate. I may be fake boatman but I make a good boatman’s wife. JP
  3. Prehistoric boats
  4. Look behind you ??
  5. We’re trying for some extra points for decoration this year.
  6. Good news. Can’t see why anyone would criticise; especially as I’ll be wearing a traditional neckerchief to look authentic. Wasn’t actually planning on bringing mine. I selected the heaviest one I could find. JP
  7. That’s what I thought and I’ve just realised how that view orientates with the boatyard today. If you look at the bridge on the left it appears to have a pronounced arch which the one that triggered the question doesn’t have and that’s what initially convinced me it wasn’t Norbury. However studying other photos it’s clear it’s a bit of an illusion created by the angle and foreshortening of the shot. The extent of the bridge over the channel actually isn’t particularly curved and that’s all that’s visible on the western face. The chimney stack visible behind and to the left of the bridge correlates with the chimney on the building next to the white single storey block on the eastern side of the wharf. So yes, I concur it is the Newport Branch at Norbury. And I thought Archie57 was just joking when he went for Norbury in reverse! JP
  8. Hmm. I’m wondering if I was studying the wrong bridge on the wrong canal! Is the Newport branch through the bridge opposite and left of centre in the shot above that’s taken from across the yard? I think I was looking at the view through the bridge on the extreme left of that shot. Is that the main line? JP
  9. You’re right Matty, but what about the levels?
  10. Agreed. Bridge at Norbury has a more pronounced arch to the parapet and the land is flatter to the sides. JP
  11. It’s very difficult to be at the right end of the Ashby for this festival. JP
  12. Quite so. Even putting aside strong factual evidence the fact that in 50 years there has never been a credible debunking by a state which is opposed to the USA is telling. JP
  13. I know exactly where I was. Just don’t know where my host was. I once had a good look into the evidence for and against and my overwhelming conclusion was that it happened. I particularly enjoyed the episode of QI when Alan Davies recounted how he made Patrick Moore livid by suggesting it was faked and Stephen Fry summed up with a pretty merciless description of folk whose view of the capabilities of mankind is framed solely within the limits of what they themselves can comprehend. JP
  14. Thank you. I’ll use the proper pronunciation selectively as it will confuse. The taxonomic classification for the genus/species for the fox is Vulpes so I’m not changing the spelling of the name. It was derived from being a replacement boat for an ex-working boat named Fox. The only theming it has is a fox shaped tiller pin. Do foxes dance and drink champagne or is just frogs? May be a missed opportunity for me there. JP
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  18. It appears to be a plan which focuses the predominant volume of work on the north. Given recent failures maybe that’s no bad thing and is necessary. Better that extended closures are scheduled than done as emergencies. During the first six week period in November and December I could still cruise from my home mooring to the limits of the CRT network on the Severn at Sharpness, the Trent at Gainsborough and to Uxbridge with all available routes connecting around Birmingham. Going north east is restricted. In the post-Christmas period which is ten weeks long I can still reach Sharpness, Stratford, Shardlow, Leamington, bottom of Atherstone, Macclesfield, Middlewich, top of Audlem and the BCN via Lapworth, Salford and the Tame Valley. That’s a bigger range than I have ever cruised in any given year when everything is scheduled to be open. I doubt many boats without home moorings will be naturally affected and you don’t actually have to move many times to remain compliant with the law within the two main periods of stoppages, particularly the first one. The biggest issue in that respect may be the 5 month closure of the GU between Bulls Bridge and Cowley with no reopening over Christmas. JP
  19. You’ll be able to educate me. When I researched it the answer seemed to be that pronouncing “Vul” as “Wool” was old school Latin and a phonetic English pronunciation isn’t wrong. I also thought the e is a long vowel sound so more “peas” than “pez” as an English equivalent. The one crew member I have had on board who had studied Latin said “Vul-peas”. The main confusion is some that folk read it as being a single syllable word like it’s the plural of “vulp”. That’s probably what an old boatman would have said but in reality they wouldn’t have called it anything as it’s essentially a modern leisure boat albeit an old one. In lists of boats I have compiled from my boating ancestors there is no provenance for Latin names on narrow boats. There are a few from Greek or Roman mythology. These became more common in latter carrying days with the GUCCCo fleet but those were of course indirect i.e. the boat was named after a celestial body that was named after a character from mythology. JP
  20. I’m surprised by the notion that very few people know the Swiss’ name for their own country. I wouldn’t have thought it that obscure. I regularly meet folk who know what Vulpes means. I meet fewer who pronounce it correctly. It’s a themed boat. It’s had the same basic colour scheme and same name for 50 years. JP
  21. Maybe the entire Weaver collection is back to front! It’s blindingly obvious on this one. JP
  22. I got that from your response to Mike hence my edit. Sorry if you’ve been forming a response all this time. JP
  23. I think your basic understanding is correct. Direction is changed by moving the valve gear through half a cycle relative to the piston and thereby reversing the high pressure/low pressure sequence around the piston. JP ETA - removed bit about Bizzard’s post because I now understand what he meant by 8 cylinders.
  24. There’s a difference in what we are describing as the flange. That model demonstrates that the steering comes from the equilibrium of forces between the head of rail and the profile of the wheel tread and not by the side of the rail exerting a lateral force on the flange - by which I mean a predominately vertical down stand of the wheel tread which is present on real wheels but entirely absent on those models. Note also I did say the flange is redundant in theory; the reality of vehicle steering doesn’t quite work as per the theory. No real vehicle consists of a single wheelset with freedom of movement and in reality no wheel in a bogie or fixed wheelbase vehicle is truly square to the rails in a curve. This is why sharp curves may exhibit wear to the gauge face. Most of the squealing noise you hear on sharp curves is wheel squeal rather than flange squeal. At extremes the principle of the conicity of the wheels allowing the two wheelsets to travel different distances around the curve despite being on a fixed axle doesn’t work - particularly with worn wheel and rail profiles - and the outside wheelset exhibits a combination of rotation and slippage as it’s dragged along the head of the rail by the inside wheel and axle. Flange squeal is often heard from the back (inside) edge of the wheelset in check rails in pointwork - or on very sharp curves - which are designed to give positive control of the wheel position. This is one scenario where the extended flange of the wheel is advantageous. JP
  25. A popular myth busted ? The wheel profile and rail head are curved in a complementary way and the wheel steers itself along the rail by the natural correction of out of balance forces. The flange should indeed never touch the side of the rail and in theory it’s redundant. JP
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