Picture(s) of the day....

[Peter.N.]

Sorry I have to admit to using a chain saw.

Peter

[Gibbo2286]

Have a visit to the Pickled Egg Trivia Quiz for a couple of fascinating motorway questions from Only Connect tonight

Regards Neil

I would go to the Pickled Egg Neil but the motorway doesn't quite get there.

[myglaren]

M96

[Peter.N.]

Should be in the highlands of Scotland somewhere

Peter

[myglaren]

Inspired by an article on the Beeb yesterday I've just been on an expetition to darkest Sunderland and bagged this:

Own work

Own work

Own work

I knew of them but thought that they were all on the south/southeast coasts.

I see there is also one at Baulby - had no clue and I worked on the support site there, not far from it, and one in Redcar, must have passed by dozens of times.
It notes that they were primarily for detecting Zeppelins and to the best of my knowledge the first one was brought down by rifle fire just off the cliffs at Port Mulgrave, near Whitby. It was said that the occupants could be heard screaming as it went down and that they were chained to their posts - which may well be the result of overactive imaginations at the time.

Surprised my mother never mentioned the acoustic mirror as she was stationed on the shore battery in Sunderland for a while and that wouldn't be that far away, although redundant by then (WWII)


BBC article

[NewcastleFalcon]

Like that Steve, never knew it was there.

The ones at Denge got an airing on POTD in times gone by

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=53436&hilit=acousti ... 30#p521294

REgards Neil

[white exec]

There were dozens of these along the south and east coasts, and we visited several a few years back in the Denge and Hythe (Kent) area, where the 200ft one is. Blind listener-operators were particularly good at interpreting the reflected sounds apparently, and could usually identify both the number and type of aircraft approaching. Telephones connected them to the War Office in London.

Good though the acoustic mirror system was, radar promptly killed it off during WW2. The fledgling BBC Television Service (from Alexandra Palace) was shut down rapidly when war was declared in 1939, and many of its technical staff moved into the development of radar - a very similar technology. Huge and seemingly unwarranted numbers of cathode ray tubes were in production (by EMI-Marconi) between 1936 and 1939, far more than the sparse ownership of tv sets would have required. It has been alleged that the Government used television as a convenient and convincing 'cover' for radar production, a more pressing need than light entertainment with pictures.

[Hell Razor5543]

A good book to read is the only non 'science fiction' fiction book by Arthur C Clarke is "Glide Path". It charts the development of the Ground Control Approach RADAR, to help aircraft land in, amongst other things, very thick fog. The equipment took up two lorries; the RADAR truck and the operator truck. It took 6 people to run the setup; one technician to run the transmitter equipment, three WAFs (to hold markers on their target; height, range, bearing), one operator for the sweep RADAR, and the radio operator (who read the dials that (because of the WAFs) showed the aircrafts' height, rang and bearing) to guide down the aircraft. This was before ILS; all the pilot needed to have/do was a working radio, compass, altimeter, air speed indicator, and the ability to do exactly what they were told to do.

[NewcastleFalcon]

Its good to know that our Virtual Pub The Pickled Egg continues to thrive with its world famous jukebox, quizzes, and the eclectic library.

But, did you know there is only one genuine "Pickled Egg" pub in the entire UK, and as far as I can establish, the only one in the entire world. Here's a challenge.

Using the worldwideweb, or other such research aids you have at your disposal find me another pub on planet earth which is called "The Pickled Egg".

For those of you wishing to make a pilgrimage before it gets knocked down and the area redeveloped, as of August 2018 the google street view cameras passed by, and the doors were open!

It has a certain patina, which has remained unchanged for years.

https://www.google.com/maps/@53.4408822 ... 312!8i6656

Regards Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

Well this here post is my 6,666 th on the FCF, not that significant unless you are a number noticer like myself,
and its a random aside which I have found fascinating, but far too niche, so I have consigned it to the Pickled Egg Library.

It sprang from the location of the "Real" Pickled Egg Pub in St Helens, an article about the nearby Sutton Mill Dam Nature Reserve by Stephen Wainwright and a consequent link to a fascinating piece of research by Stephen on George Groves.

Yes not the boxer, but a St Helens boy who sailed off to America, and became one of the pioneers in movie sound working on classics such as The Jazz Singer, Casablanca, My Fair Lady, Bonnie and Clyde etc and getting 3 Oscars for Yankee Doodle Dandy, Sayonara, and My Fair Lady. Top quality detail and pictures from Stephen throughout.

So over to the Pickled Egg Library if you fancy a look...

Regards Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

As this is the 69999 th post on the Off Topic Chat Lounge, it is fitting to warm up for the 70,000 mark with the heaviest locomotive ever to grace the railways of Great Britain.

In a class of its own, LNER Class U1 to be precise.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LNER_Class_U1
Originally numbered 2395, it was renumbered in its British Rail Days as 69999 so it could enjoy 5 minutes of fame on FCF POTD!

"The London and North Eastern Railway Class U1 was a solitary 2-8-0+0-8-2 Beyer-Garratt locomotive designed for banking coal trains over the Worsborough Bank, a steeply graded line in South Yorkshire and part of the Woodhead Route." It was converted from coal to be one of the few "Oil Burners" (yes oil heating up the boiler as opposed to coal not your diesel internal combustion engine) on British Railways.

Regards Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

Gibbo has taken us to 70,000 posts on the OTCL.

Bet you are wondering what "The Considerate Constructors" did to celebrate when they reached their own 70,000 landmark..............

Well they got dressed up in their hard hats and high vis, commissioned some large numbers and stood on a pier somewhere for a celebratory photograph.

Regards Neil

[myglaren]

Harping back to sound mirrors, this is another one that I have driven past hundreds of times without knowing it was there.
Google Streetview.
Boulby, near Staithes.
As I said earlier, I worked quite close to it but my mother was born in Cowber and lived in Staithes before her and my grandparents moved to Wales - my grandfather was Welsh.

[white exec]

You'd hardly guess that it was - looks just like an abandoned dwelling.

[myglaren]

Yep. Unfortunately the googlemobile doesn't do off-road.