Noggin 'n Natter

Steam engines!
But I'm going to bed?
I really want a small replica,working one!

Engine. Not bed!
Goodnight!

Jenni, I have never seen the beam engine in Birmingham, in fact i have only been to Birmingham once.

However I do remember my Dad taking me down to the Woolwich ferry on Saturdays, I would spend every moment on the balcony overlooking the steam engines, I can still remember the slow Swish Swish of the pistons and the heady smell of oil and steam. I'm sure that is what made me determined to become a mechanical engineer.

Yes, here's a home made carrot cake so you can put the kettle on. I would like to have a chat about fishing! Can't get my head round why it's so fascinating and it bothers me that the fish get hurt. I've spent many an hour at the side of a fishing lodge reading a book and having a laugh when my son has fallen in the water and annoyed other anglers who have just baited the patch he fell in - carp fishing.

Wheinm, I'm heading for bed now, but look forward to discussing fishing, especially the subject of fish getting hurt, this can get emotive, I have personal opinions that others may or may not agree with. More of this tomorrow.

Goodnight pompa

jeni I have a steam engine. Not sure whether you meant a locomotive. I have a Juliet class replica that my father built in the 50s. We also have a two others in the family, one of which is a replica of the Sir Nigel Gresley. For 40 years my father ran these trains in a local park.
Is this blokey enouggh for the shed ?

Harrigran, it must be great to have a engine that your father built, hopefully this will continue to be handed down through the family. Do you ever get to steam it up?. I go to the model engineers exhibition most years and admire those that have the perseverance to take on building such a project. Do you have any photos you can post in your album.

Who built the Sir Nigel Gresley ?

Hi Whenim, I see you are up and about.

Spooky, how did you know carrot cake was my favorite. Mrs. P and I spent a summer testing (it was a hard job, but we persevered) carrot cake country wide. The best was a home made one at the little cafe in Hatfield Forest - been back since, but they have not had it again. Second best was at the Sharpham Vineyard in Devon.

Fishing - after 57 years od fishing and fish keeping, I am convinced that fish do not feel pain in the way we do. However fish do get injured by inconsiderate anglers, I hate to see TV programs where fish are poorly handled and kept from the water longer than necessary to unhook and return.

I used to coarse fish, but now only fly fish for trout. I saw so many coarse fish with injuries caused by anglers that I could no longer be part of it. I'm sure that some syndicate waters are better managed and such injuries are negligable, but this was not the case on my local waters.

When I catch a trout it is returned within seconds, without handling OR it is killed for the pan within seconds. Over 20 years of trout fishing I have never seen a fish damaged by anglers, I have seen horrific injuries caused by cormorants, but that is another story.

If anyone has a really good carrot ake recipe, please let's share it - the one I have is a Delia one, but I've adapted it over the years and the calories are creeping up evry time I make it - all that cream cheese that goes in the frosting.

pompa do you know whether fish have nerve endings in their mouths? I would have thought they feel pain, if they do, but wonder how we can distinguish human pain from that which fish will feel?

I holidayed in California a few years ago and watched cormorants flying down along the beach in Santa Barbara, scooping up fish and battering them them, then just abandoning them when they had chosen what they wanted to fly off with - it was carnage! Many fish were still alive but torn to bits.

Anglers around here leave fishing tackle around on the shores of lochs, which then causes injury to wildlife that investigate it, including children.

On one occasion DH and I tried to catch a herring gull which had swallowed some line and couldn't feed. We did not succeed. It probably died of starvation.

Nothing against fishing/angling per se (what's the difference, by the way?). It's the litter I object to and the people leaving it.

harri any sort of steam engine turns me on!

With you there, jeni.

Wheim - regarding fish and pain, I have never seen any evidence that fish feel pain. Several reasons for this conclusion.

Fish that have been recently (within minutes) of being badly injured by cormorants go back to behaving and feeding in a perfectly normal way.

I once caught a trout with a fly still in it's mouth, that fly belonged to the angler next to me and had been lost only seconds before, so the fish had obviously not been disturbed in any way by having a hook in it's mouth.

When caught and still on the line, if an angler lets the line go slack, the fish will return to a normal swimming pattern, and will only be spooked when it it restrained again.

Bags - unfortunately you are quite right, some anglers are awful, there is no reason whatsoever for litter or tackle left on the waterside. In my view the increase in carp fishing where sessions can last several days and nights has produced some of the worst anglers - they leave everything behind them, and I do me everything. Tackle can occasionally be lost where it is difficult to recover, but any decent angler will do every thing he/she can to prevent such loss and recover it. On syndicate waters, where there are strict controls, you do not get any litter or discarded tackle.
We get a little litter on our lake due to dog walkers, but we insist that our members clear any litter/mess found, regardless of who/what dropped it, if they don't like doing that, they can go fish elsewhere. (that has never happened yet)

Anglers/fishermen, in my view - anglers fish with rod & line, fishermen fish with nets.

The angling my club my son belonged to charged high fees because they employed a man to look after the grounds, oversee tidy-up days and structural repairs, and bring in machinery to remove overgrowth and oxygenate the water. Any member who didn't put in at least 3 full days a year doing the tidy-ups was not allowed to rejoin and had to buy a temporary, expensive licence to fish there, until they were ready to commit to helping out. They did a newsletter and I remember their announcement that a very large common carp had been transferred to one of the lodges. All weekend arrangements were changed and off they all trooped to try to capture the poor fish. My son's friend hooked it and it broke his fishing rod! That was twenty years ago when they were 16 and they still tell the story today! There's something about those one that got away tales

pompa regret that I have neglected the poor engine and have not had the boiler tested so it does not have a certificate. It will get passed down the family but there are no boys in the family. I was the tomboy and used to get steam up with Dad and enjoyed trips to model engineers venues all over the north of England. One of my favourites was Brighouse, I wonder if they still exist ?
Sir Nigel Gresley was built in 1937 at the LNER Doncaster works. My Father replicated the engine but when it came to putting the brass name plate on he called it after his friend so it became Sir Alf Cracknell.
My Juliet class tank engine bears my christian name, another was called Lizzie (after Dad's mother) but she got called dancing Lizzie because she couldn't half shift.
My Father was halfway through a fourth engine when he died, we gave it to a cousin in the hope he would finish it but so far it is not complete.
I have photos but none on the computer, I will see if I can copy them and then put them on my profile.

Have managed to get one photo of engine, a little bit grainy, it was taken in 1953. I am the little girl behind the driver.
We do have much more recent photos but can't locate them at present.

harrigran The Gresley class engines were my favourite steam engines. i used to travel from Kirkcaldy to Edinburgh every morning behind a steam train, and it was usually a Gresley, often Golden Plover, sometimes Kingfisher.

I would give the engine a pat as I passed it at Waverley, puffing and steamy like a living thing (the engine, not me - my puffing came later, after rushing out of the station, up the Fleshmarket Steps, up and across the High Street, down the Old Fishmarket Close, across the Cowgate and up Guthrie Street and more steps. Late for a lecture as usual.)

@ Harrigran, that photo is great, it's a shame it is not still working, but boiler testing is essential and quite expensive. The rags are complicated, but I believe a boiler has to be inspected annually and pressure tested every 4 years, a faulty boiler is very dangerous.
Unfortunately so many engines get started but never finished, I see the same part finished engines at the Model Eng. exhibition year after year.

One day when I can find the room for an engineering lathe, I would love to make a marine steam engine (I would buy the boiler). But I already have more hobbies that I have time to manage.

Just finished restoring a model of the Fairey Swordsman, originally built by my friend Terry, unfortunately time ran out for him and he never got around to restoring it, I hope I have done him justice.

Take a look at the picture in my gallery.

61 Fairey Swordsman boats were built between 1964 and 1974 at the Hamble Point factory around 40 are still in service today. Initially 33' long and with a beam of 11' 5", they came in either an aft cabin or open cockpit version.The price in 1970 for complete boat £16,150 inc. twin Ford 175hp diesels, capable of 30 knots plus – they were the largest of the production boats built by Fairey Marine.

As there is quite a lot of 'steam' talk on this thread I thought I would just tell you that I was named after a Burrell showman's traction engine. My father loved anything steam and spent a year on the fairgrounds operating the engines. Most of the rest of his time was agricultural contracting and he had a couple of engines which he replaced with tractors and then ever after wished he had kept. My brother has a steam roller which Dad enjoyed tinkering with in his later years. 'My' showman's engine was scrapped many years ago (I never saw it but I have a copy of a photo).

Rubysong, Many working engines were given female names, perhaps it reflected there fickle nature. I hope you were name after a beautiful one.
There is something about steam that stirs the emotions, steam is a living breathing power, that always seem to be only just under controll.

My Fairey Swordsman is about to undergo sea trials later today (for "sea" read goldfish pond)

I would love to build a live steam launch, but the cost is prohibitive.

I can't contribute anything to this erudite discussion, but just wanted to say Pompa that your thread title reminded me of my Dad and how he would announce that he was just going for a noggin with his pals on a Thursday evening. I've never heard anyone else use the term. They played dominoes as well

Sea trials completed, certified seaworthy. Blisteringly fast though, as was the original full size boat. (Gold fish were not impressed)