Manversboy

Somehow, I don't think this is a genuine WD40 flyer! MB

Does anyone know if it's cheaper to use puppets, cartoon characters, etc for adverts instead of people? When you look how many ads use non-human casts there must be some advantage? No Equity card, maybe - or is that not used any more? My pet hates, GoCompare and the 118 twins. MB

Looks like Pancake Day has been celebrated in the Nottingham area since Robin Hood times! MB

A lot of radio hams go for number plates that have their call signs, typical cost from DVLA is about £400-1000. M1OAU is a valid UK call sign but the on-line ham directories say it's not currently issued. See: http://www.ukvehicle.com/M1OAU/ Looks like it was Y-reg originally. MB

Same here. I believe the third volume is going to contain some previously unpublished photos from the closure years. There's been nothing from the NSR mailing list for a long while. Hope you're on the mend, David, if you're on this forum. MB

Just finished reading my other "railway" Xmas present - "The Railways - Nation, Network and People" By Simon Bradley ISBN 978 1 84668 209 4 Can thoroughly recommend it, each chapter is really a potted history of the development of an aspect of railways in Britain since the earliest days and right up to the present. MB

Well, there are two Dutch-registered cargo ships currently moored at Flixborough on the Trent, if they count? I think that the AIS which the web site uses relies on either direct reception from a ship to a receiver connected to the Internet, or to another vessel or shore station which can repeat or relay a signal from the first ship. So, there could be other ships on inland waterways sending out data - but their signals aren't reaching a connected receiver. The technology isn't new, radio hams have used a similar system called APRS for years. MB

I don't think so, although I've really only looked at the interactive map. There's more options on the home page http://raildar.co.uk/ MB

There's a train tracker for UK too:- http://raildar.co.uk/radar MB

Got my vote; it's a part of "Jupiter" from the Planet Suite. I read somewhere that "Jupiter" is considered to be the most English of the pieces that make up the suite and is "Music For a Fair" - Goose Fair maybe? The words are a bit gloomy but being written just after WW1 that's not surprising, so maybe a bit of pruning will be needed? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Vow_to_Thee,_My_Country MB

Or, to put it in briefer form:- "Remember that you are an Englishman, and have consequently won first prize in the lottery of life". Cecil Rhodes MB

Excuse my ignorance but is this the Thorneywood tunnel? Cheers MB

Coronation programme seller?

John, Only just caught up with this thread, I had completely forgotten about it, sorry. I'm glad to know that the little trolleybus isn't a figment of my imagination! Used to catch a (full-sized!) No 39 outside Hogarth and get off at Porchester Road. I was at Hogarth from about 54 or 55 and then Manvers from either 59 or 60. HNY, MB

Got a good Xmas present from my kids, "Platform Souls - The Trainspotter As 20th Century Hero" by Nicholas Whittaker, which covers a lot of what's been discussed on this thread. Starts near the end of mainline steam and has been revised from original 1995 edition to the present day - worth a read. All the best for 2016, MB

The TRF receiver story takes me back! I was lucky enough to get an "HAC One-Valver" receiver kit. "Hear All Continents" it said in their adverts but all I ever seemed to get was the powerful stations in what was Commumist East Europe! Those tuning signals they used, a few musical notes repeated endlessly, still give me ear-worm. Thanks to my late dad, I graduated to a "Wireless Set No 52" real radio receiver, which I doubt I could lift off the bench nowadays but which opened up the radio world and started me on what will be a 50 year hobby next year. I still tinker with the old valve sets and

I remember the snow starting on Boxing Day 62 and there still being piles of dirty snow in the streets the following May. To this day I've never seen snow on Christmas Day, in the UK at least. MB

Glad you liked it, carni! I'm a latecomer to canal history so still learning but a recent trip up the Nene and into the Middle Levels has made me wish I'd got involved sooner. Bye MB

Thanks for the excellent series of photos. I can see the entrance to the Grantham Canal on the left near the Lady Bay bridge. The canal closed in 1936 so may have been active at the time of the photos? It's now undergoing restoration. http://www.jim-shead.com/waterways/canal.php?wpage=GRNT&name=Grantham%20Canal MB

Anyone have any more news on David and also Volume 3? I've tried e-mailing Booklaw but no response.

Thanks for the update. Yes, his wife sent a round-robin e-mail last December to people on his NSR list saying that David had been very ill and was in considerable pain still. David followed that up with a brief Xmas greeting and I have heard no more since. The December message also mentioned that David hadn't heard from Booklaw recently but of course that was nearly 8 months ago. MB

Got the latest BookLaw catalogue last week but no sign that I could see of the NSR Vol 3. Perhaps best I give them a call, unless anyone has news? There's been little on David Birch's mailing list this year. MB

OK BP, Thanks. Can hear all the streaming audio OK with IE and I'll keep an eye on your site in case your mate finds the old Alpha stuff. MB

The link I listened to was http://livecbradio.co.uk/ Had to use Internet Explorer to load the audio tracks, wouldn't work with FireFox. The recordings are on a loop, I came in at the bit where 1A is sending Morse, badly. The "ranty" bit is later in the recording. MB

Hi M2M, Thanks for that info. It was a difficult position for the local hams as, strictly speaking, we weren't allowed by the GPO licence to reply to the likes of Alpha or jam pirate transmissions, though of course we did. Sometimes the pirates would come up under a genuine callsign and try and lure hams into a conversation, I was certainly caught like that a few times, especially in the evening when skip was better and hearing a station claiming to be a couple of 100 miles away was believable. I did have a listen to more 1 Alpha stuff on the web site and I now think one of the voices sounde