roland elsdon

Just passed them looking good

Thats an old one, reverse lever a brass tap and the burn your fingers whistle. None of the 1970 heath and safety insulated stuff. I stripped one of mine to bare as well nice. I must not not rebuild my collection that I sold in oz.

Ha reading your first post i thought id claim a mamod... you got there first. Yesterday I unpacked a packing case sent back from australia 7 years ago. Now displayed in the conservatory is my well used mamod steam loco, log and coal truck. I got rid of all the mint and unused engines rollers steam car and lorry but kept the old battered railway set..

The leave the gates on the southern gu was still sort of there at the end of the lime juice run, as there were still working boats running pairs. However we used to shut gates there in the 1980s either breasted or running fatboats once the lime had stopped.

Used to go down to the breakers in west drayton for bits. The haynes manual used to say ‘re assembly is the reverse of the above ( dismantling) process. So you would go to the yard unbolt what you wanted and then go and fit it to your own car. At least you were learning on someone elses scrap car first. Had to go back a few times when stuff went wrong....

Did she not have a cartridge start engine? im back in uk looking for pictures of her. Came to mind in last few days. Not found yet they have been in store for 25 years.

I dont think their stock is that old ...shame they are gone though.

Its not you, we have only owned historic boats since 1981, lived on them worked them, restored them, and got stuck pretty much everywhere on the system , and been helped by an assorted group of hirers modern boat owners and even fisherpeople. However we are not part of a group nor do we want to be, we are not in any club. We simply love old boats. we get ignored by a number of historic boat owners too, so what. as for wealthy ha, most of the historic boat owners i know run a 10 year old estate car or a van.

Knew shouldn’t have got our Victorian terrace back from the tenant. She never complained about roof leaks, but I have found 3 since we got it back, so no rent money and schrodingers leaks. Ill put it back on lease that will fix it

The Ashby is wonderful compared to what it used to be. They trimmed it well 18 months ago. The Indian in market bosworth is rubbish but the one in stoke Golding in the pub sublime if you are still there. We have no real problems taking our 3 ft draft ex cargo boat up.

We gave up in 1996 with the butty. Hostility was increasing, it was ok on the grand union but the minute we went anywhere else it got too hard for 2 people. cannot imagine what places like hillmorton would be like now.

Most of the houses in this village are victorian, lovely people, however there are some new infill- rich entitled newcomers coming here and taking over.There are also about 10 ex council houses dont know why they allowed them, with their old cars parked all over the grass. 2 manor houses too, dont know who owns them I dont make assumptions but a lot of the money round here came from slavery. they are the ones who ignore the speed limits im sure.

Actually the entitled drivers have moved to mercedes. Bmw are old hat and you cant drive a vag car after dieselgate, your children become anxious, go on strike at school , fail , and become politicians.

At bosworth when the marina was built the yard had to buy the land from where their bridge starts and the entrance in order to divert the towpath. By default they ended up with this length. Useless to them except to charge for on towpath use. Whilst i am no way a fan of what happened there, and loss of moorings i dont see much choice. charging gives the people in the flats opposite a change of view too. Previously there was a problem with the odd badly maintained boat sitting for weeks or months opposite the flats. Certainly i am well aware of complaints by some residents, because it was me they asked for advice.

I’ve never worn a trilby or spotted neckerchief in my life. Regrettably my occupation required a waistcoat and tie at times but I used to leave them at work. I was once asked whether the tie my team used in court was part of our uniform and had to admit to a large group of magistrates we had one tie, kept on the back of the office door that we attached for appearances. as owner of various ageing ex cargo boats I boat in garments marginally dirtier than the engine.