Stormy Weather II

[Serial_Apologist]

Gone dull again here.

Yes - no sign yet of the back of the front here, either.

[Nick Armstrong]

Yes - no sign yet of the back of the front here, either.

Was very pleasant out on the bike this afternoon though... cloudy but some shafts of sunlight, totally dry underfoot(/wheel), a refreshing mild breeze.... but the apparent greyness seemed to have reduced the numbers out & about, especially roller skaters, which is always a bonus

[oddoneout]

A grey damp start that got more grey and damp after lunch, not helped by a strengthening breeze increasing the effect of heavy drizzle/light rain. The wind has really picked up in the last half hour but that has had the welcome effect of driving away the murk and allowing a few glimpses of sun.

[gurnemanz]

Was very pleasant out on the bike this afternoon though... cloudy but some shafts of sunlight, totally dry underfoot(/wheel), a refreshing mild breeze.... but the apparent greyness seemed to have reduced the numbers out & about, especially roller skaters, which is always a bonus

Likewise, but blue sky and lovely cloudscape. Bit of a headwind on the way back. Washing is dry. Passed an elderly train spotter on a hump-back bridge over GWR. Took me back to Clapham Junction 1960, aged 11, and my well-thumbed Ian Allan book.
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[cloughie]

Likewise, but blue sky and lovely cloudscape. Bit of a headwind on the way back. Washing is dry. Passed an elderly train spotter on a hump-back bridge over GWR. Took me back to Clapham Junction 1960, aged 11, and my well-thumbed Ian Allan book.
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I bet you were glad to see the odd MN, BB/WC amongst all those boring green electrics!

[Serial_Apologist]

I bet you were glad to see the odd MN, BB/WC amongst all those boring green electrics!

???

[vinteuil]

???

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SR_Merchant_Navy_class

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SR_West_Country_and_Battle_of_Britain_classes

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[DracoM]

Ah, takes me back to Clapham Junct and my trainspotting days - Ian Allan book laced with cops and underlinings!

[gurnemanz]

I bet you were glad to see the odd MN, BB/WC amongst all those boring green electrics!

Book now lost and memory faint but I remember the West Country locomotives, also Schools Class. Corresponding bus-spotters book is still extant! Lots of numbers underlined - we had to do something to while away the time before computer games were invented.

[DracoM]

But trainspotting was chat, mates, sandwiches under canopies out of the rain, in the cold, excited dashing over the Junct arch to other platforms as news came through of a 'special'.
Nervous comparing of others' takes and cops etc.
Far more sociable and co-operative than computer games.
AND in the open air!

[Serial_Apologist]

But trainspotting was chat, mates, sandwiches under canopies out of the rain, in the cold, excited dashing over the Junct arch to other platforms as news came through of a 'special'.
Nervous comparing of others' takes and cops etc.
Far more sociable and co-operative than computer games.
AND in the open air!

I had a childhood interest/obsession with trains. Being the odd one out, as usual though, I was always more interested in rolling stock than engines!

[cloughie]

But trainspotting was chat, mates, sandwiches under canopies out of the rain, in the cold, excited dashing over the Junct arch to other platforms as news came through of a 'special'.
Nervous comparing of others' takes and cops etc.
Far more sociable and co-operative than computer games.
AND in the open air!

Indeed so, and memories, like the bike ride to Donny on Leger Day 1961 which was the last day the ‘Elizabethan’ was steam hauled - the Southbound hauled by ‘Union of South Africa’ my last A4 to be ‘copped’ in my ‘Combined’.

[oddoneout]

Indeed so, and memories, like the bike ride to Donny on Leger Day 1961 which was the last day the ‘Elizabethan’ was steam hauled - the Southbound hauled by ‘Union of South Africa’ my last A4 to be ‘copped’ in my ‘Combined’.

Union of South Africa spent August Bank Holiday weekend at the heritage railway in my home town in 2019; I gather it was finally retired in March 2020. Sadly I was working and unable to travel, but I did get to see it.

[gurnemanz]

My secondary school was next to the railway line near Clapham Junction and the French classroom on the top floor was so positioned that in idle moments (temps libre) you could spot trains, but only if you were lucky enough to be seated next to the window.

[BBMmk2]

What’s it going to be like today, who knows?!?!?