March of the Widebeams

[rusty69]

3 minutes ago, Athy said:

Perhaps you'd prefer "fat freaks", as children of such dimensions tend to be called by other children.

 

Actually the best such nickname I heard during my teaching career concerned a plump girl whose surname was Foulder. The other kids called her "Boulder".

I never knew that - and I was a devout Arthur Ransome fan as a boy.

 

Doubless there's a war film in which a bomber pilot has a dog called Emergent National.

Yep. I'm afraid so, and that happened a long time ago. Long before today's Roald Dahl tampering. 

[Big Bob W]

2 hours ago, IanD said:

Why on a bend, especially a boat that size? Why, oh why?

I understand there’s a Widebeam Owners Manual. It clearly states you must moor your boat immediately adjacent to a bridge hole. If no bridges are nearby, then on a bend is an excellent 2nd choice.

[Laurie Booth]

1 hour ago, dmr said:

I have noted some reference to fat boats in this thread. This is a family forum and might be read by children who are easily offended, from now on please refer to them as enormous boats.

What ls wrong with ,"lard ass"

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

3 minutes ago, Laurie Booth said:

What ls wrong with ,"lard ass"

I’m here, did someone call?

[Alan de Enfield]

4 minutes ago, Laurie Booth said:

What ls wrong with ,"lard ass"

 

Vegans, (or their self appointed representatives) get all offended if you mention the abdomen of a pig that is rendered and clarified for use in cooking.

[Athy]

46 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

Vegans, (or their self appointed representatives) get all offended if you mention the abdomen of a pig that is rendered and clarified for use in cooking.

Really?

Perhaps people ought to mention it more often.

[Alan de Enfield]

10 minutes ago, Athy said:

Really?

Perhaps people ought to mention it more often.

 

Are you a veganist ?

[Bacchus]

1 hour ago, Laurie Booth said:

What ls wrong with ,"lard ass"

 

[ditchcrawler]

3 hours ago, rusty69 said:

Fear not, it will all be censored out in the future. 

I'm still getting to terms with Titty being changed to Tatty in the swallows and amazon's film.

Try looking at Roald Dahl according to the news tonight

[Hudds Lad]

5 hours ago, Athy said:

Perhaps you'd prefer "fat freaks", as children of such dimensions tend to be called by other children.

According to my daughter, the more modern term is Chonker

[MtB]

Just now, Hudds Lad said:

According to my daughter, the more modern term is Chonker

 

Lol! 

 

When I was at skool it was "fat bustud".

 

(Are we still talking about boats?)

[Hudds Lad]

5 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

Lol! 

 

When I was at skool it was "fat bustud".

 

(Are we still talking about boats?)

“fat knacker” was the one i remember from school, or the one you said, sometimes followed by a verse or two from the Macc Lads song of the same name.

[Arthur Marshall]

5 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

Vegans, (or their self appointed representatives) get all offended if you mention the abdomen of a pig that is rendered and clarified for use in cooking.

Pleased to report that none if my various veggie or vegan friends give a toss, and are happy to sit with me in the caff while I eat a bacon butty while they chew a nut or two.

[George and Dragon]

5 hours ago, Laurie Booth said:

What ls wrong with ,"lard ass"

What do donkeys have to do with it?

 

[Bacchus]

Apparently it isn't just canal boats that are too wide for the infrastructure...

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-64717605

 

"Two top Spanish transport officials have resigned over a botched order for new commuter trains that cost nearly €260m ($275m; £230m)."

[Laurie Booth]

On 20/02/2023 at 15:12, rusty69 said:

Fear not, it will all be censored out in the future. 

I'm still getting to terms with Titty being changed to Tatty in the swallows and amazon's film.

And in the dambuster's film nigger changed to trigger

[rusty69]

Just now, Laurie Booth said:

And in the dambuster's film nigger changed to trigger

Read on down the thread. 😂

[Laurie Booth]

3 minutes ago, rusty69 said:

Read on down the thread. 😂

Yep will do

[Victor Vectis]

https://nb-firecrest.co.uk/helping-hands-at-hatton/

 

Link is to a blog posted today.

 

That fatarse, sorry widebeam pictured was moored in exactly the same place (and pointing in the same direction) when I was iced in there before Christmas.

[Captain Pegg]

22 minutes ago, Victor Vectis said:

https://nb-firecrest.co.uk/helping-hands-at-hatton/

 

Link is to a blog posted today.

 

That fatarse, sorry widebeam pictured was moored in exactly the same place (and pointing in the same direction) when I was iced in there before Christmas.

 

It's definitely moved. It was even closer to the bridge when I passed it last week.

 

[Ronaldo47]

On 21/02/2023 at 11:15, Bacchus said:

Apparently it isn't just canal boats that are too wide for the infrastructure...

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-64717605

 

"Two top Spanish transport officials have resigned over a botched order for new commuter trains that cost nearly €260m ($275m; £230m)."

Something similar happened on the London Underground a few years ago with  new trains for the Picadilly Line. The new trains were the same overall length as the previous ones, with fewer, but longer, carriages. While calculations were made to check that the longer carriages would go round the bends in the tunnels, only the horizontal clearance was considered. However, tube tunnels bend up and down as well as from side to side, and the longer coaches were found to foul the tunnel roof in a couple of places. Fortunately there was just enough room in the 12' diameter tunnels to lower the track at those places. I don't think anyone had to resign!

[David Mack]

1 hour ago, Ronaldo47 said:

Something similar happened on the London Underground a few years ago with  new trains for the Picadilly Line. The new trains were the same overall length as the previous ones, with fewer, but longer, carriages. While calculations were made to check that the longer carriages would go round the bends in the tunnels, only the horizontal clearance was considered. However, tube tunnels bend up and down as well as from side to side, and the longer coaches were found to foul the tunnel roof in a couple of places. Fortunately there was just enough room in the 12' diameter tunnels to lower the track at those places. I don't think anyone had to resign!

I worked with people involved in new trains for the Northern and Central Lines 20-odd years ago.

The various tube lines had been built to slightly different sizes and each line had its own trains. Part of the project to introduce new trains was to provide a common fleet of standard trains, with increased passenger capacity, hence the fewer longer carriages.

It was always known that some tunnel reconstruction would be needed to ease the tight spots for the new trains. The tunnels involved had all been surveyed to establish the existing lining position. My colleagues were tasked with working out which sections already had enough clearance for the new trains, which sections could do so if the track was realigned within the tunnel, and which sections would need adjustment of the tunnel lining. London Underground already had established methods for doing all the necessary calculations by hand, but the process was cumbersome and time consuming, and the project timescale didn't allow for it. So one of my colleagues developed a computer programme to do the job. Over a few months the calculations were done for several km of twin tunnels, new track alignments worked out where necessary and checked against the tunnel lining, usually a number of iterations to minimise the extent of reconstruction. 

The work of realigning the track (over much of the route length) and tunnel lining adjustment was all done during meticulously planned  nighttime closures, with normal train services running during the day. Where the lining needed alteration the relevant cast iron tunnel segments in each ring were unbolted and removed, the clay behind scraped away and the segments replaced with an extra spacer in the ring to provide increased diameter.

The work was all completed in time for the introduction of the new trains.

Edited March 31, 2023 by David Mack

[Bacchus]

10 hours ago, Ronaldo47 said:

Something similar happened on the London Underground a few years ago with  new trains for the Picadilly Line. The new trains were the same overall length as the previous ones, with fewer, but longer, carriages. While calculations were made to check that the longer carriages would go round the bends in the tunnels, only the horizontal clearance was considered. However, tube tunnels bend up and down as well as from side to side, and the longer coaches were found to foul the tunnel roof in a couple of places. Fortunately there was just enough room in the 12' diameter tunnels to lower the track at those places. I don't think anyone had to resign!

 

I had the same in a Reading car-park driving a 110 Landrover that had a roof-rack. Drove under the height barriers perfectly, but got wedged under ducting that crossed the bottom of a ramp...

[ditchcrawler]

On 20/02/2023 at 16:43, Big Bob W said:

I understand there’s a Widebeam Owners Manual. It clearly states you must moor your boat immediately adjacent to a bridge hole. If no bridges are nearby, then on a bend is an excellent 2nd choice.

Bends normally have the best piling to moor to

[Jimbobs]

On 31/03/2023 at 21:55, Victor Vectis said:

https://nb-firecrest.co.uk/helping-hands-at-hatton/

 

Link is to a blog posted today.

 

That fatarse, sorry widebeam pictured was moored in exactly the same place (and pointing in the same direction) when I was iced in there before Christmas.

It was still there on Saturday. I stopped at the water point between it and the bridge and a local wandered past and got chatting. According to him, the boat is now stuck as it’s too fat to get through a couple of bridges further on and some repairs to a towpath under a bridge behind it now mean it can’t get back either. He reckons it’s been there for about a year….