Member postings for Chris Crew

I guess it all depends on your political point of view, and I certainly don't want to get engaged in a politically charged debate, so I will try very hard to keep this comment 'neutral'. Some people believe that health is not a commodity to be bought and sold at a profit and that a health service should be provided to the individual and community through the agency of government funded by general taxation. Others will point out that this can never quite be the case because private enterprise pharmaceutical companies have always invested in research, which we all eventually benefit from, with the aim of making a profit which comes from the demand to treat people's ill health. So, I am guessing it always has to be a balance between a moral standpoint and a business imperative which is why politicians of all hues ply their trade in an interminable debate.

I live a few miles from Lincoln and have acquaintances who attend with engines and exhibits so I always attend this event. I was told that some unruly elements had caused some trouble although this was obviously before Covid which resulted in the event being cancelled since the last one in 2019. In casual conversation with those more 'in the know' than myself I have been assured that as far as they are concerned the issues have been resolved and they will be attending as usual. I am looking forward to attending this event on Saturday myself and don't anticipate any problems. I will be disappointed for the organisers if there are any issues arising because they always do such a great job at this event.

I actually dread having to part with my lifetime's collection of tooling and machinery but I know that the time is coming up fast. The machines are all a bit underused these days and have become like a philatelist's collection of stamps, they don't actually do anything but are a pleasure to own and cherish. So, if I go suddenly I have told the wife to just call the local industrial auction house, which some of the machines originally came from, and tell them to get what they can for her, although I suspect lifting and haulage costs will cut deeply into the proceeds. I may try to sell some of the smaller machines privately before the inevitable becomes obvious but how I am going to move the larger machines is going to be a problem. The property is built on an incline with the main workshop at the top of the garden. The machines were carried up there twenty five years ago after being lifted off the transport by a Hiab and taken from the bottom of the drive and over thirty metres of grass slung under the tines of a local farmer's Teleporter. He has since told me that he could not reverse the operation because new regulations prohibit the use of red diesel on non-agricultural work so I think it will be a case of engaging a professional machine moving company and letting them solve the problem. Happily, or not, I may not be around to see it!

I know what is it like 'falling between two stools' when a computer system cannot correct an obvious operator error. I have two Halifax credit card accounts, one that you earn cash back on (not a lot, but I would rather it be in my favour than theirs) and the other branded Clarity which does not incur transaction charges when travelling abroad, so each card has its own advantage. I have used these two cards appropriately for years. However, I was purchasing a ship load of railway tickets via Splitticketing.com when I noticed the Halifax card was expiring on that very day and no new replacement had been received. I called the Helpline and the operator told me a new card had been sent but that it must have been lost in the post or intercepted so he would just cancel the old card a/c number and send a new one out. However,...............

I explained that I needed the old card to remain active for the rest of the day so that I could collect the train tickets from the machine at the station as you need to insert the card you purchased them with to identify yourself, so would he please just hang fire while I collected the tickets and I would call back later when they were in my possession. Yes, I know you can have electronic tickets sent to your phone to print out or show the train conductor. I do this when it's only a simple journey that is involved, but when its multiple split journeys and for more than one person it is more convenient, to me at least, to have the paper tickets rather than endlessly scrolling through the phone to find the correct journey. So, I immediately set off on a 30 mile round trip to the nearest station with a ticket machine, because EMR has failed to install a machine at our nearest station, only 7 miles distant, despite it being in their franchise contract terms to do so. Anyway, I got the tickets and duly called the Halifax Helpline back and would they now cancel the card, please? Yes, certainly, no problem a new card will be in the post to you within a few working days. Great, so far so good, or so I thought.

When the new card arrived it was for the Clarity account which had also changed to a new account number, not the Halifax card, so back on to the Helpline with another long wait to explain what had happened. Ah! I see what you mean said the operator, perhaps you should just wait and see what arrives in the post? Well OK, if you say so, but nothing arrived. Back on to the Helpline with another long winded explanation but still nothing happened. So, let's go to the nearest Halifax branch, 10 miles away, and see if we can sort this out over the counter. Yes, of course we can help you! Ah! we see what you mean, sorry but you will have to call the Helpline. Grhhh!

No, I won't call again, I will write to them in the hope that the letter will be passed to their technical services people who will be able to identify this 'corruption' or bug in their software, but no contact email or address is showing on the Halifax banking website, it's all just phone numbers. Well, I managed to locate a prepaid Halifax Card Services envelope from the days when I sent a cheque to pay down the balance before I moved to bank transfer so if nothing happens between now and Monday I will post it off but I don't hold out much hope. Perhaps the best idea would be to settle the outstanding balance or transfer it to the Clarity card if this could be done FoC and close the original account. The trouble is I will lose my £20 cash-back balance and possibly a cash-back account may not be available to new customers, who can say. It is so frustrating as I needed the card this weekend to pay hotel and restaurant bills, I can still settle them with my other credit card but earn no cash back on several hundred pounds of usage.

I have tried the administrative services on both the online banking portal and the phone app, but it initially just defaulted to the Clarity account and now defaults to 'sorry, there is a problem'. Yes, I actually knew that already!

Just basic landline service and LL rental and unlimited VDSL BB at about 55meg, I jumped at it when it was offered because it was going to be £22 cheaper than what they had originally wanted to charge me and I just couldn't face the hassle of changing provider at the time.

I had the same issue with Vodafone SIM only. They were going to increase the price to £19 per month for 500 minutes of calls, unlimited SMS and 5 gig of data. I had been paying £15 per month and rising for years. I went into a Vodafone shop, whinged about the price and walked out with a SIM only package of unlimited calls and text, 20 gig of data and EU roaming for £8.95 per month. This was with TalkMobile and guess what? This is a Vodafone company or brand that is sold in a Vodafone shop but not until it looks like you are going to withdraw your custom. You can buy TalkMobile SIM's online but not as cheap as they sell them in a Vodafone shop, evidently. It's the same with BT because PlusNet is the self same company under a different brand, only cheaper.

When my 2 year contract expires I will be looking to change. It's just the hassle of doing this that these rip-off merchants rely on. Anyway, I used the money saved to subscribe to YouTube's premium service to get rid of the adverts which is a lot better and makes all the difference.

Edited By Chris Crew on 11/08/2022 09:05:18

Mick H, hello. If you have not already noticed it, please see my edited post regarding your wife's old emergency Nokia. If it cannot handle 4G service it will soon become useless and may already be so where you live. I should check that it still works and even if it still does I would suggest that you consider obtaining a 4G/5G phone asap, if only for emergency use, as you or your wife may get caught out when you most need it.

I didn't know you could go into shops and actually talk to a real person about BT phone/broadband contracts, I thought it was all done over the phone. However, I am a BT landline/broadband customer and have been since Post Office Telephones/BT had the landline monopoly and dial-up became obsolescent/obsolete all paid by DD every month. This monthly debit crept up annually until the latest rise was going to push the services up to £74.99 per month. This was the last straw because I was paying for services I never use like voicemail etc. (in fact my greeting said please don't leave a message because the line is not monitored and gave my mobile number).

As there is only one 'real' person and Mr. Patel from Microsoft who ever rings me on the landline, I called BT and stated I wanted to ditch the landline service altogether. After a short explanation from me about costs BT offered to ditch all the 'bells and whistles' associated with the landline, which they had previously told me were compulsory, and that I could have the exact same broadband service, including line rental, for £50.99 per month. However, if I wanted to keep the landline number and service this would be an additional £2 per month. It was a two year contract but I agreed to it because the VDSL broadband is pretty good, my elderly friend who resolutely refuses to call my mobile number from his landline could still ring me and it was £22 per month cheaper for exactly what I was using before. Now, the first month was indeed charged at £52.99 but for some reason this month was charged at £53.39, I don't know why this should be but I will continue to monitor the monthly DD.

There is a new fibre broadband provider that has recently arrived in the village in which I live and they can provide, apparently, a faster BB service for a lot less money and my same 'landline' service and number but this would entail the purchase of a VOIP phone. Obviously, I am obliged to comply with the 2-year contract I agreed to with BT but if they start pulling the same stunts on me they have been doing over the years I shall be moving to Quantum Fibre PDQ and hang the temporary hassle and disruption of leaving Post Office Telephones after over 50 years of being a loyal customer at various addresses.

I have just noticed that the OP says that his wife keeps a little Nokia mobile for emergency use. My elderly friend also has an old Nokia 3210 which he refuses to relinquish and refuses to believe it will no longer work soon. But please be aware that 3G services are being withdrawn progressively later this year I believe (please correct me if I am wrong) and the older phones will be useless unless they can also handle 4G. You should check whether your old mobile phone still works where you live as you may be caught out if an emergency arises and this emergency may not necessarily arise where you live but in an area with already no 3G service.

Edited By Chris Crew on 11/08/2022 07:46:46

Edited By Chris Crew on 11/08/2022 07:50:50

John, you are not sad, or if you are so am I. On Sunday morning I was cleaning up a rusty slab of mild steel on the surface grinder and, although you can set trips and walk away, I solemnly stood watching it oscillate and reversing the cross feed for about an hour. It was also mindlessly therapeutic.

OK, I have read the responses thus far and I have no argument against any of the helpful suggestions and ideas they have promoted. They have certainly given me pause for thought, thank you. But may I try to move the debate a little further. Say, for example, I have a Smart Meter installed and it indicates that three weekly sessions in the workshop add so many additional units of energy, above the usual domestic consumption, that it cost me £10 per week. This may be a reasonable or a ridiculous figure, I have have absolutely no idea right now, so form your own opinion. That equates to £40 per month or £480 per year. Add a little more for winter workshop heating and call it an additional £500. On top of all the other inflationary rises, plus the costs of the hobby, e.g. materials and castings would this start to discourage anyone? I have no idea. It is not exactly a 'poor man's hobby' in the first place and never has been, IMO, tending to attract those who can command a skilled worker's, supervisory or managerial salary as in years gone by. So when you are facing £3K of domestic energy bills, are struggling financially with increased interest rates and food prices would you be likely to want to add an additional £500 to your household budget. I suspect most will say they will try to carry on as usual, myself included, but I really do have sympathy for those enthusiasts who may not be able to cope with the additional costs that our current national circumstances are imposing upon them.

OK, it seems a Smart Meter is the way to go. I will have to make some enquiries.

I have been in the workshop this morning for one of my regular exercises in futility, but that is by-the-by. I was running my J&S 540, with wheel-head, hydraulic pump and extractor from an older Transwave converter, which has an ammeter rather than a voltmeter, and noticed that the needle was hovering between 6 and 8 amps depending on the cut and reversal of the table. I am not sure whether this is the input or output current or what the efficiency of the device is, and there was also the machine light, three double and one single florescent fittings switched on. The sight of the ammeter just caused me to ponder how much all this is costing, given rising energy costs? I have recently increased the direct debit for domestic gas and electricity to £250 per month, as they are stating that the average household bill is going to be £3K and rising but how much of my annual energy use is actually down to the workshop, I have absolutely no idea.

I am one of the more fortunate senior citizens who can afford the rising costs for now and those of my age are getting more help than younger people from the government, or so we have been told unless the new PM cancels it all as one of the candidates is saying she will according to newspaper reports.

I also have 4kW of solar panels, a device that maintains the hot water from the roof and live in a modern relatively well-insulated house but how many are not so well placed or financially upholstered and may have to curtail their workshop activities because of the energy crisis? Perhaps some of the more mathematically cerebral contributors could offer some guidance as to how to estimate workshop energy costs? Just a thought.

There's a nice one on Ebay located in Rugby. They are asking £4200 for it. I don't know if this a good or bad price but I can tell you that I paid £2500 for a very nice Student circa 1992 plus it was £150 for a part-load delivery, 200 miles from Kent to Lincolnshire, insured and by a professional machine mover. Don't risk anything less if you buy a lathe because the Bantam is very top heavy, unstable and easily toppled. I know that because I have one in my garage that some cowboy who the previous owner had paid to move it dropped it off a pallet. I have repaired it over the years I have had it and I think it is a sound machine with a lot of life left in it, but because of the accident I don't think you would be interested.

( I mean I bought the Student in 1992, that is not the year of the machine which is of 1969 vintage)

Edited By Chris Crew on 06/08/2022 23:57:37

Given the number of queries regarding parting in this forum I must be the one of the few who has next to no issues and I have parted large noggins of mild steel to make chuck back-plates and that eventually requires a long blade over hang. I start with a small overhang and progressively let the blade out of a J&S type HSS Eclipse blade holder. I have no experience of the new type of tool design which I suspect is primarily intended for CNC machines. The 'secret' is, although it is not really a secret, is to mount an inverted tool in a rock-solid rear tool-post, use a moderate 'common-sense' speed commensurate with the diameter of the work-piece and flood the groove with coolant, just dabbing it on with a brush is next to useless in my experience. I know some people don't like the mess pumping coolant sometimes makes, but needs must etc. You have to be 'fearless' in applying the cut and once the tool starts to cut make sure you keep it cutting. Anyway, on steel at least, it works for me.

Rob, Thank you for the information you have added to my education and I appreciate it. I had never heard of the term before now, may be I really should get out more? LOL.

I have no idea about the devices you are talking about and never heard of the term 'wall wart' either, so please make allowances for my ignorance. It's just that I bought a wi-fi extender off Ebay for about a tenner so I could get Spotify through the laptop down in the workshop on an old hi-fi I have down there. It consists of nothing more than a 13-amp plug sized box that goes straight into a 13amp socket. I just selected it on the wi-fi connections list, entered the router's password and away we went. Worked perfectly first time and can be just switched off at the socket when I return to the house. Worth a tenner, including delivery.

I am surprised in these woke days and the attempted removal of gender specific nouns and pronouns they are still to be called 'Lionesses'. It seems 'actresses' have now to be referred to as 'actors' and we now have police officers instead of policemen and policewomen etc., although I don't think we ever had 'engineeresses'. Perhaps its different in sport?

A long way from the West Country but the Grimsby & Cleethorpes MES has a fabulous site at Waltham, just outside of the two towns, which has been built and developed primarily by the larger locomotive enthusiasts in the society but which has a roadway for the traction engine people and a large garden railway layout. I believe, although I may be a little biased being a member (but not a locomotive man), that the site is valued and viewed as an asset by both the local community and local authority who lease the land. A great deal has been invested into this site with money raised through public running and donations from local business and industry. Work commitments prior to retirement and health issues afterwards dictate that I have not been a particularly active member in the past so I take my hat off to the people who have developed this site over the last 36 years and continue to do so and I am more than happy to pay the very modest membership subscription. Obviously there has to be regular revenue raising public running days but there are also members' days and guests are very welcome on open weekends.

If anyone is in the area on a Sunday or Bank Holiday weekend I can heartily recommend a visit to this site, not just because of the GCMES railway, but because outwith the club the track sits alongside a fully restored and functioning 19th century windmill, which is open to the public and there is a small rural museum that encompasses a war time tribute to RAF Grimsby. There is also a restaurant, cafe and ice cream parlour, operated as commercial businesses on the site, but altogether is it a very pleasant social milieu with ample free car parking. I think visiting enthusiasts would be made welcome if they made themselves known to the members on site.

If we are reliving childhood experiences of the London Underground perhaps I could be allowed to reminisce a little myself. I was first taken to London by my late mother at about the age of eight, we travelled down (or up?) to the Big City via Peterborough on the East Lincolnshire line which was still then ten years away from the Beeching Axe. The train was hauled by a Britannia loco (Hereward the Wake?) and I was told by mother to thank the driver for getting us to King's Cross safely. Things like that really did happen in those far off days! I can't recall which delight we visited first but we seemed to cram in a great deal in one day using the Underground, nor can I recall which lines we may have used but I do clearly remember the polished wooden escalators with their big brass up-lighters and the big globes of the filament lamps in square glass shades above the platforms which gave the stations a greenish hue. The train when it rattled in would have been of the red 1938 stock, I think, still with a guard at the rear.

The Science Museum was a particular delight, almost as silent as a library if I recall correctly, and not at all like the 'all-inclusive' playground it has become these days with hoards of unruly school-children running around and catering to the lowest common denominator. The Tube took us to Trafalgar Square where a photograph was taken by one of those touting photographers that used to exist in those days and the photo I still have of mother and myself feeding the pigeons. On to the river and cruise under Tower Bridge, past the stink of Billingsgate, which reminded me of our home town on a hot day and a walk down Whitehall where we caught a glimpse of the then prime minister Harold Macmillan before returning by Tube to King's Cross to take the evening train home.

Happy days, I did take my step-grandson down there in the 1990's and tried to reproduce for him all the fascination and excitement I had experienced as a child but I must admit I couldn't quite manage it. The whole ambience, atmosphere and technology of life has changed too much and you can't just turn the clock back, I think he enjoyed it in any event but I am just so pleased my dear late mother made it happen for me.

Edited By Chris Crew on 27/07/2022 09:15:30

Tim Hammond, I am also a subscriber to the Jago Hazzard channel and look forward to his new releases. A very knowledgeable and interesting railway history 'nerd' but one with a sense of humour who doesn't cause me to loose the will to live whilst watching, as a few others on YouTube tend to do.

Be careful with Amazon. I have used it before with no problem, but a pop-up appeared offering me a 30 day's free trial of Amazon Prime which I thought I had dismissed. I then received an email welcoming to me to the free trial which I intend to immediately cancel. However, if you click on the cancellation link it provides you with a PDF form which you have to print and then put in the snail mail to an address in Luxembourg so it is going to cost me an international stamp at the post office in the morning. After this nasty little trick I will never ever use Amazon again, period!

To say I am spitting feathers about this at the moment would be an understatement!

Well, now I have calmed down a little it seems you can cancel it online via customer services and my account which I hope I have done, but what what a sneaky thing to do? I am absolutely positive I dismissed the pop-up and went straight to 'basket' and proceed to payment. Anyway, they have now lost me as a customer.

Edited By Chris Crew on 26/07/2022 21:24:43

Edited By Chris Crew on 26/07/2022 21:35:44