Vietnamese 'Mikado' 2-8-2 no. 141 199 is seen catching the evening sunlight coupled to the rear of train S182 the 14.11 Hái Phòng Cang to Hànôi Ga in the loop at Pham Xá. This was an LCGB charter and is waiting to cross another train on this single track mainline while returning to Hànôi hauled by 141 182. At the time there were still four active diagrams for the class based in and around Hànôi which saw a number of locomotives kept serviceable hence the LCGB being able to arrange a week long itinerary covering lines in the north of the country using several different members of the class.

"Clean and Green New Zealand" so the often-used slogan goes. It is probably also the general perception held in other parts of the world, of this relatively small and sparsely-populated two-part country at the bottom of the world. Increasingly nowadays however, this noble claim is coming into question and maybe the country has "dined-out" on it on the international stage for a bit too long......

Transportation produces the bulk of NZ's greenhouse gases now, having risen dramatically in the last 20 years. Car ownership is the second highest per capita in the OECD and massive trucks of up to 58 tonnes in weight dominate the road-based transportation system, transporting goods and materials to and from all points of both Islands as well as inter-island.

 

How has the country's railway system fared in this period? An ill-conceived privatisation of the system in 1993 saw investment bankers/asset-strippers in charge, subsequent Australian owners unable to agree track-access charges and therefore not keeping their investment promises. Consequentially, the system was run-down until the Labour government of the time had little choice but to step-in and prevent threatened scrapping of assets and widespread closure.

KiwiRail Holdings Ltd was formed on 1st July 2008 as a state-funded enterprise. It responsibility was to manage all aspects of the remaining rail network and to operate the inter-island ferry service.

 

The central section of the North Island Main Trunk line was electrified at 25kV 50Hz AC and the scheme was completed in 1988. A fleet of 22 Tri-Bo locomotives were purchased from Brush Traction in the UK to operate trains on the line.

 

Two of the surviving operational Class 30 EF locomotives bring Train 390 across Killarney Road as they approach Frankton Junction in Hamilton.

 

The electrickery in the title refers to the situation that has developed since the KiwiRail board declared in 2016 that the NIMT electrification system was to be mothballed (but still energised, to prevent theft!) in 2018 and that during this interim period, the remaining serviceable electric loco fleet was to be run-down and ultimately put into storage.

More of that story anon........suffice to say that in 2021, the system still operates and EF locomotives still put in daily appearances.

  

25260 WA09KWS Stagecoach Southwest seen here in Okehampton working new service 75A to Atlantic Village Bideford. This service is normally in the hands of the smaller darts 35164 - 35168 owing to housing estates and Weare Giffard Village, but owing to not enough serviceable vehicles this beast made a rare appearance.

Quickly returning to the front half of the corridor, here's an angled, but still serviceable, shot of the storefront currently being used by the university bookstore. Remember, prior to B&N College this was an unaffiliated store known as Campus Book Mart, and before that, this was a restaurant known as Ole South Cafeteria. Ole South competed with Sadie's across the hall, which wasn't supposed to happen since Sadie's was promised to be the only restaurant in the mall when it opened. Ultimately, both restaurants would wind up closing. Thanks again to Albertsons Florida Blog for digging up all that info for us! In case you missed it, all that and more can be found at my blog post on the Oxford Mall.

 

(c) 2019 Retail Retell

These places are public so these photos are too, but just as I tell where they came from, I'd appreciate if you'd say who :)

First passenger trip of tram GVB 465 plus Rotterdam 507 of the tram museum Amsterdam in 1975. The trip was cut short due to the derailment of the 465 further down the track. The Hague interurban HTM 58 were not serviceable at the time. © Henk Graalman 4947

Adelaide Metro 'Jumbo' railcars 2101/ 2001/2103 depart Gawler station with the 1608hrs Adelaide to Gawler Central service on 4 March 2015.

 

The 2000/2100 railcars were introduced 35 years ago and 2015 is expected to be their last year of service with 11 cars forming 3 sets currently serviceable (March 2015).

 

They are now limited to Gawler line morning and evening peak services, with the occasional morning peak hour foray to Outer Harbor.

 

EDIT. The last were withdrawn in August 2015 and all but 5 cars scrapped in June 2016.

Father O'Leary of St. Michael's Church in Oldham was looking for a bus to transport children to and from Catholic Schools in the Oldham area, and of all that was looked at, a certain Northern Counties bodied Leyland Atlantean registered PNF941J was deemed the best of the bunch.

The bus in question was none other than the first prototype 'Standard' for the new Selnec PTE, EX1, and there is no doubt that Father O'Leary's new purchase safeguarded the vehicle to ensure it would eventually end up in preservation. Of course, he wouldn't have known this at the time, to him it was just the best of what was available.

Even before The SELNEC Preservation Society was formed on 11th January 1987, individuals who were to come together to form the society had expressed an interest in EX1, and made a number of visits to Father O'Leary in Oldham. Eventually, after the Society was formed and 7206 and 7185 had been acquired, more serious attention then turned to EX1, the Society's potential third preservation prospect. Clearly, the Father required a bus to transport the children to and from school daily, but the actual identity of that vehicle was not important, and in fact he did not realise the relevance of the vehicle he was using, until it was explained to him. Conversations with the Father indicated that should a vehicle in equal or better condition be provided to St. Michael's Church for their use, they would accept it in exchange for EX1, as all they required was a serviceable vehicle for their transportation functions.

Eventually, the Selnec group agreed with the PTE to purchase 7110 XJA501L, the first Park Royal production Standard delivered to the Southern Division. It was purchased and swapped with Father O'Leary in a ceremony outside Birchfields Depot, recorded by the Manchester Evening News on 6th April 1988.

The bus continued in the same role as EX1 before it, but was never repainted out of GMT livery, even retaining in house advertising for pre paid tickets!

It is seen here parked outside Father O'Leary's residence in the summer of 1994 looking pretty much the same as it did a decade earlier when running for the PTE.

  

My bus driving skills, such as they are, were honed at Darlington on this very bus.

Like a lot of bus companies United found themselves short of serviceable buses, in the late seventies. This was due to a variety or reasons, labour unrest amongst manufacturers (Leyland in the main, who's acquired companies more or less monopolised the industry). Also Gardner's,( the busmans' favourite engine) were not averse to labour unrest at that time. This lead to a dire shortage of new buses and spare parts, which caused untold difficulties.

I also suspect that operators, used to well nigh bulletproof simple front engined models, found the replacement rear engined vehicles more troulesome and generally less reliable than their forebears.

So in the late seventies United acquired a number of secondhand FLF's released by other NBC companies. Included in these acquisitions were three ex Southdown FLF6LX's FPM73/4/5, which had started life in 1965 with Brighton Hove and District.

Once the situation eased all three became driver trainers, hence the title of this posting.

Photograph courtesy of Donald Hudson.

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based on historical facts. BEWARE!

  

Some Background:

The Royal Libyan Air Force (سلاح الجو الملكي الليبي , Al Quwwat al Jawwiya al Malakiya al Libiyya) was established in September 1962 by a decision of the minister of defense Abd al-Nabi Yunis. Lt. Col. al-Hadi Salem al-Husomi was assigned to lead the new force. It was originally equipped with a small number of transports and trainers. In May 1967, the Kingdom of Libya reached an agreement with the United States to supply Northrop F-5A and Bs to the Royal Libyan Air Force and more advanced trainers, in the form of six Cessna T-37C trainers.

 

The Cessna T-37 Tweet (designated Model 318 by Cessna) was a small, economical twin-engined jet trainer type which flew for decades as a primary trainer for the United States Air Force (USAF) and in the air forces of several other nations. It was a response to the USAF’s request for proposals for a "Trainer Experimental (TX)" program in 1952, specifying a lightweight, two-seat basic trainer for introducing USAF cadets to jet aircraft. Cessna responded to the TX request with a twin-jet design with side-by-side seating. The USAF liked the Cessna design and the side-by-side seating since it let the student and instructor interact more closely than with tandem seating. In the spring of 1954, the USAF awarded Cessna a contract for three prototypes of the Model 318, and a contract for a single static test aircraft. The Air Force designated the type as XT-37.

 

The XT-37 had a low, straight wing, with the engines buried in the wing roots, a clamshell-type canopy hinged to open vertically to the rear, a control layout similar to that used on board of contemporary operational USAF aircraft, ejection seats, and tricycle landing gear with a wide track of 14 ft (4.3 m). It first flew on 12 October 1954. The wide track and a steerable nosewheel made the aircraft easy to handle on the ground, and the short landing gear avoided the need for access ladders and service stands. The aircraft was designed to be simple to maintain, with more than 100 access panels and doors. An experienced ground crew could change an engine in about half an hour.

The XT-37 was aerodynamically clean, so much so that a speed brake was fitted behind the nosewheel doors to help increase drag for landing and for use in other phases of flight. Since the short landing gear placed the engine air intakes close to the ground, screens pivoted over the intakes from underneath when the landing gear was extended, to prevent foreign object damage.

The XT-37 was fitted with two Continental-Teledyne J69-T-9 turbojet engines, French Turbomeca Marboré engines built under license, with 920 lbf (4.1 kN) thrust each. The engines had thrust attenuators to allow them to remain spooled-up (i.e. rotating at speeds above idle) during landing approach, permitting shorter landings while still allowing the aircraft to easily make another go-around in case something went wrong. Empty weight of the XT-37 was 5,000 lb (2,300 kg).

Tests showed the XT-37 had a maximum speed of 390 mph (630 km/h) at altitude, with a range of 935 mi (1,505 km). The aircraft had a service ceiling of 35,000 feet (10,700 m) but was unpressurized and was therefore limited to an operational ceiling of 25,000 feet (7,600 m) by USAF regulations.

 

The production T-37A was similar to the XT-37 prototypes, except for minor changes to fix problems revealed by the flight-test program. The first T-37A was completed in September 1955 and flew later that year. The T-37A was very noisy, even by the standards of jet aircraft. The intake of air into its small turbojets emitted a high-pitched shriek that led some to describe the trainer as the "Screaming Mimi", the "6,000 pound dog whistle" or "Converter" (= converts fuel and air into noise and smoke). The piercing whistle quickly gave the T-37 its name, the "Tweety Bird", or just "Tweet". The Air Force spent a lot of time and money soundproofing buildings at bases where the T-37 was stationed, and ear protection remains mandatory for all personnel when near an operating aircraft.

 

The USAF ordered 444 T-37As, with the last produced in 1959. In 1957, the US Army evaluated three T-37As for battlefield observation and other combat support roles, but eventually procured the Grumman OV-1 Mohawk instead. However, the Air Force liked the T-37A, but considered it to be underpowered; consequently, they ordered an improved version, the T-37B, with uprated J-69-T-25 engines. The new engines provided about 10% more thrust and were more reliable. Improved avionics were also specified for the new variant. A total of 552 newly built T-37Bs was constructed through 1973, and all surviving T-37As were eventually upgraded to the T-37B standard as well.

 

The T-37A and T-37B had no built-in armament and no stores pylons for external armament. In 1961, Cessna began developing a modest enhancement of the T-37 for use as a weapons trainer. This new variant, the T-37C, was primarily intended for export and could be used for light attack duties if required. The respective changes included stronger wings, with a pylon under each wing outboard of the main landing gear well, and the T-37C could also be fitted with wingtip fuel tanks, each with a capacity of 65 US gal (245 l), that could be dropped in an emergency. A computing gunsight and gun camera were added, too, and the T-37C could also be fitted with a reconnaissance camera mounted inside the fuselage.

The primary armament of the T-37C was the General Electric "multipurpose pod" with a .50 caliber (12.7 mm) machine gun with 200 rounds, two 70 mm (2.75 in) folding-fin rocket pods, and four practice bombs. Other stores, such as folding-fin rocket pods or even IR-guided Sidewinder air-to-air missiles, could be carried, too. However, the changes increased the weight of the T-37C by 1,430 lb (650 kg). As the engines were not upgraded, this reduced top speed to 595 km/h (370 mph), though the optional wingtip tanks increased maximum range to 1,770 km (1,100 mi). A total of 273 T-37Cs were exported until T-37 production stopped in 1975.

 

The F-5s and the T-37s were the first dedicated combat aircraft for the young Libyan Air Force, which only operated six Douglas C-47 transports and three Lockheed T-33A trainers at the time. Fifty-six personnel underwent training at bases in the US, pilots at Williams Air Force Base; a US Survey Team on Expansion came to Libya in August 1968 to supervise the introduction of the new jet aircraft and service them. The first aircraft arrived at Wheelus Air Base, a former US facility about 11 kilometers (6.8 mi) from Tripoli and local training started immediately.

 

Despite this enthusiastic start, the Royal Libyan Air Force and its small stock of aircraft did not last long because the government was overthrown in a coup d’état in 1969. The USA left Libya in 1970 and the air force changed its name to the Libyan Arab Republic Air Force (LARAF), and Wheelus Air Base was subsequently renamed Okba Ben Nafi Air Base, becoming the LARAF’s headquarter.

 

During the following months, Libya distanced itself from the United Kingdom and the United States and the serviceability of the older American aircraft quickly declined, especially the F-5s were affected. Eight F-5 single-seaters and two two-seaters had been delivered until then, as well as four T-37Cs - the rest of the order was cancelled. Educated service personnel for these aircraft was initially loaned from Greece as an emergency measure, but this did not help much, and most were eventually sold to Turkey (the F-5s) and Greece (the T-37Cs). Instead, close ties were developed with France, and, accordingly, an order for 110 Dassault Mirage 5s fighter bombers, twelve Fouga Magisters, ten Aérospatiale Alouette IIIs and nine Aérospatiale SA 321 Super Frelons was signed in December 1969, and in 1971 the LARAF still received eight C-130Hs from the United States. Negotiations for the purchase of Soviet military aircraft only started in 1973, in the light of the experiences of the Yom Kippur War, but relations with France were maintained.

  

General characteristics:

Crew: 2

Length: 29 ft 3 in (8.92 m)

Wingspan: 33 ft 99.3 in (12.581 m)

Height: 9 ft 2 in (2.79 m)

Wing area: 201 sq ft (18.7 m²)

Aspect ratio: 6.2:1

Airfoil: NACA 2418 at root, NACA 2412 at tip

Empty weight: 5,484 lb (2.490 kg)

Max takeoff weight: 8,000 lb (3.632 kg)

 

Powerplant:

2× Continental-Teledyne J69-T-25 turbojets, 1,025 lbf (4.56 kN) thrust each

 

Performance:

Maximum speed: 595 km/h (370 mph)

Cruise speed: 360 mph (580 km/h, 310 kn) at 35,000 ft (11,000 m)

Stall speed: 85 mph (137 km/h, 74 kn)

Range: 932 mi (1,500 km, 810 nmi) with internal fuel

Service ceiling: 38,700 ft (11,800 m)

Rate of climb: 3,370 ft/min (17.1 m/s)

 

Armament:

2 underwing pylons for stores up to 500 lb (227 kg) each

 

The kit and its assembly:

This small but exotic what-if model was inspired by decals for an RLAF F-5A from a Colorado Decals sheet – and I had stumbled upon these rather hapless aircraft that only served for a few months under this flag in a F-5 book. I found the historic time slot interesting and wondered about other aircraft that could have been introduced in 1968 and found that Libya might have needed some more and more modern jet trainers than the three T-33 it had. My first choice was the British Jet Provost, but since Libya procured the equipment from US sources, a Hasegawa A-37 kit from a lot (and without any plan for it yet) came to the rescue.

 

At first I wanted to build the Tweet OOB, but found that the A-37 was a little “too much” for Libya’s needs, so I decided to retrograde it to a T-37C – a light trainer, but still armed. Biggest changes were the omission of the refueling probe, the gun port was faired over, and I left away the optional tip tanks and replaced them with scratched wing tips, made from styrene. A small dorsal antenna fairing “hump” was added, a smaller one that the A-37s feature. Even though they were not necessary to represent the real aircraft I added styrene tube dummies to the exhaust ports - the gaping OOB holes did not convince me.

 

The underwing hardpoints were reduced to just a pair of pylons, and the light armament now consist only of a pair of LAU-7 unguided missile launchers (from the Italeri NATO weapons set). The single-piece canopy was cut into two parts for open display, in the cockpit two gunsights, seat belts and a hydraulic piston for the open canopy were added.

  

Painting and markings:

The RLAF F-5s were the benchmark, and they carried a rather simple/dry livery: the were painted overall in a dull silver lacquer (not NMF), similar to the USAF prototypes, with a black anti-glare panel. Finding a good paint for this look/finish was not easy, though, and I eventually settled for Humbrol 11 (Silver) with a light black ink washing and post-panel-shading with Humbrol’s Matt Aluminum metallizer (27002).

 

The cockpit interior became medium grey while landing gear and air intakes became white. The LAU-7 pods became very light grey.

 

To emphasize the Tweet’s trainer role I pimped the uniform silver livery with dayglo orange markings, procured from an Airfix Jet Provost sheet. National markings were taken from the aforementioned Colorado Decals F-5 sheet, even though its national markings are wrong: they lack green, they were just printed in 2C. To mend this flaw, I just added a thin green decal stripe to the flag on the fin, and the roundels, which are pretty small on the F-5, were completely replaced with bigger alternatives: Albanian air force markings from an Antonov An-2 (Balkan Models sheet), with a small green decal circle added to their center. Simple, but effective, and in combination with the orange stripes the whole aircraft looks quite attractive. The tactical codes were taken from a Myanmar MiG-29 (Caracal Models sheet). Most stencils were taken from the OOB sheet, with some more added from the 1/72 A-37 aftermarket sheet from PrintScale.

 

After a light treatment with graphite around the jet nozzles the model was sealed overall with matt acrylic varnish (Italeri), and this IMHO comes pretty close to the real world RLAF F-5 finish.

  

A small project, even though the tank-less wing tips were quite challenging. However, the Libyan Tweet looks very convincing, and with the high-viz trainer markings the whole package even has a stylish touch. The early Libyan roundels are also quite exotic, since they were only used for a couple of months

Indian Air Force maintainers marshal a Sukhoi Su-30MKI (NATO reporting name: "Flanker-H") aircraft to its parking spot after arriving at the flight line at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., Aug. 6, 2008, during Red Flag 08-04. Red Flag is a multinational advanced aerial combat training exercise.

 

Indian Air Force maintainers prepare their Sukhoi Su-30MKI (NATO reporting name: "Flanker-H") aircraft during Red Flag 08-04 at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., Aug. 6, 2008. Red Flag is a multinational advanced aerial combat training exercise.

  

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

The Sukhoi Su-30MKI (NATO reporting name: "Flanker-H") is a twinjet multirole air superiority fighter developed by Russia's Sukhoi and built under licence by India's Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for the Indian Air Force (IAF). A variant of the Sukhoi Su-30, it is a heavy, all-weather, long-range fighter.

 

Development of the variant started after India signed a deal with Russia in 2000 to manufacture 140 Su-30 fighter jets. The first Russian-made Su-30MKI variant was accepted into the Indian Air Force in 2002, while the first indigenously assembled Su-30MKI entered service with the IAF in 2004. The IAF had 240 Su-30MKIs in service as of October 2017. The Su-30MKI is expected to form the backbone of the Indian Air Force's fighter fleet to 2020 and beyond.

 

The aircraft is tailor-made for Indian specifications and integrates Indian systems and avionics as well as French and Israeli sub-systems. It has abilities similar to the Sukhoi Su-35 with which it shares many features and components.

  

Origins and acquision

The Su-30MKI was designed by Russia's Sukhoi Corporation beginning in 1995 and built under licence by India's Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). The Su-30MKI is derived from the Sukhoi Su-27 and has a fusion of technology from the Su-37 demonstrator and Su-30 program, being more advanced than the Su-30MK and the Chinese Su-30MKK/MK2. Russia's Defence Ministry was impressed with the type's performance envelope and ordered 30 Su-30SMs, a localised Su-30MKI, for the Russian Air Force. It features state of the art avionics developed by Russia, India and Israel for display, navigation, targeting and electronic warfare; France and South Africa provided other avionics.

 

After two years of evaluation and negotiations, on 30 November 1996, India signed a US$1.462 billion deal with Sukhoi for 50 Russian-produced Su-30MKIs in five batches. The first batch were eight Su-30MKs, the basic version of Su-30. The second batch were to be 10 Su-30Ks with French and Israeli avionics. The third batch were to be 10 Su-30MKIs featuring canard foreplanes. The fourth batch of 12 Su-30MKIs and final batch of 10 Su-30MKIs were to have the AL-31FP turbofans.

 

In October 2000, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed for Indian licence-production of 140 Su-30MKIs; in December 2000, a deal was sealed at Russia's Irkutsk aircraft plant for full technology transfer. The first Nasik-built Su-30MKIs were to be delivered by 2004, with staggered production until 2017–18. In November 2002, the delivery schedule was expedited with production to be completed by 2015. An estimated 920 AL-31FP turbofans are to be manufactured at HAL's Koraput Division, while the mainframe and other accessories are to be manufactured at HAL's Lucknow and Hyderabad divisions. Final integration and test flights of the aircraft are carried out at HAL's Nasik Division. Four manufacturing phases were outlined with progressively increasing Indian content: Phase I, II, III and IV. In phase I, HAL manufactured the Su-30MKIs from knocked-down kits, transitioning to semi knocked-down kits in phase II and III; in phase IV, HAL produced aircraft from scratch from 2013 onwards.

 

In 2007, another order of 40 Su-30MKIs was placed. In 2009, the planned fleet strength was to be 230 aircraft. In 2008, Samtel HAL Display Systems (SHDS), a joint venture between Samtel Display Systems and HAL, won a contract to develop and manufacture multi-function avionics displays for the MKI. A helmet mounted display, Topsight-I, based on technology from Thales and developed by SHDS will be integrated on the Su-30MKI in the next upgrade. In March 2010, it was reported that India and Russia were discussing a contract for 42 more Su-30MKIs. In June 2010, it was reported that the Cabinet Committee on Security had cleared the ₹15,000 crore (US$2.2 billion) deal and that the 42 aircraft would be in service by 2018.

 

By August 2010, the cost increased to $4.3 billion or $102 million each. This increased unit cost compared to the previous unit cost of $40 million in 2007, has led to the rumours that these latest order of 42 Su-30MKIs are for the Strategic Forces Command (SFC) and these aircraft will be optimised and hardwired for nuclear weapons delivery. The SFC had previously submitted a proposal to the Indian Defence Ministry for setting up two dedicated squadrons of fighters consisting of 40 aircraft capable of delivering nuclear weapons.

 

HAL expected that indigenisation of the Su-30MKI programme would be completed by 2010; V. Balakrishnan, general manager of the Aircraft Manufacturing Division stated that "HAL will achieve 100 per cent indigenisation of the Sukhoi aircraft – from the production of raw materials to the final plane assembly". As of 2017, HAL manufactures more than 80% of the aircraft. On 11 October 2012, the Indian Government confirmed plans to buy another 42 Su-30MKI aircraft. On 24 December 2012, India ordered assembly kits for 42 Su-30MKIs by signing a deal during President Putin's visit to India. This increases India's order total to 272 Su-30MKIs.

 

In June 2018, India has reportedly decided not order any further Su-30s as they feel its cost of maintenance is very high compared to Western aircraft.

 

Upgrades

In 2004, India signed a deal with Russia to domestically produce the Novator K-100 missile, designed to shoot down airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) and C4ISTAR aircraft, for the Su-30MKI. Although not initially designed to carry nuclear or strategic weapons, in 2011, there were plans to integrate the nuclear-capable Nirbhay missile as well.

 

In May 2010, India Today reported that Russia had won a contract to upgrade 40 Su-30MKIs with new radars, onboard computers, electronic warfare systems and the ability to carry the BrahMos cruise missile. The first two prototypes with the "Super-30" upgrade will be delivered to the IAF in 2012, after which the upgrades will be performed on the last batch of 40 production aircraft. The Brahmos missile integrated on the Su-30MKI will provide the capability to attack ground targets from stand-off ranges of around 300 km. On 25 June 2016, HAL conducted the first test flight of a Su-30MKI fitted with a BrahMos-A missile from Nashik, India. The first air launch of BrahMos from a Su-30MKI was successfully carried out on 22 November 2017.

 

India is planning to upgrade its Su-30MKI fighters with Russian Phazotron Zhuk-AE Active electronically scanned array (AESA) radars. The X band radar can track 30 aerial targets in the track-while-scan mode and engage six targets simultaneously in attack mode. AESA technology offers improved performance and reliability compared with traditional mechanically scanned array radars. On 18 August 2010, India's Minister of Defence A K Antony stated the current estimated cost for the upgrade was ₹10,920 crore (US$2 billion) and the aircraft are likely to be upgraded in phases beginning in 2012.

 

The Indian Defence Ministry proposed several upgrades for the Su-30MKI to the Indian Parliament, including the fitting of Russian Phazotron Zhuk-AE AESA radars starting in 2012. During MMRCA trials the Zhuk-AE AESA radar demonstrated significant capabilities, including ground-mapping modes and the ability to detect and track aerial targets. At the 2011 MAKS air-show, Irkut chairman Alexy Fedorov offered an upgrade package with an improved radar, and reduced radar signature to the Indian fleet to make them "Super Sukhois".

 

In 2012, upgrades of the earlier 80 Su-30MKIs involves equipping them with stand-off missiles with a range of 300 km; a request for information (ROI) was issued for such weapons. In 2011, India issued a request for information to MBDA for the integration of the Brimstone ground attack missile and the long-range "Meteor" air-to-air missile.

 

In February 2017, it was reported that the planes would be upgraded with AL-41F turbofan engines, same as the ones on Sukhoi Su-35. In August 2017, the Indian government cleared a proposal of Rs. 30,000 crore to equip the planes with new reconnaissance pods.

  

Design

 

Characteristics

The Su-30MKI is a highly integrated twin-finned aircraft. The airframe is constructed of titanium and high-strength aluminium alloys. The engine intake ramps and nacelles are fitted with trouser fairings to provide a continuous streamlined profile between the nacelles and the tail beams. The fins and horizontal tail consoles are attached to tail beams. The central beam section between the engine nacelles consists of the equipment compartment, fuel tank and the brake parachute container. The fuselage head is of semi-monocoque construction and includes the cockpit, radar compartments and the avionics bay.

 

Su-30MKI aerodynamic configuration is a longitudinal triplane with relaxed stability. The canard increases the aircraft lift ability and deflects automatically to allow high angle of attack (AoA) flights allowing it to perform Pugachev's Cobra. The integral aerodynamic configuration combined with thrust vectoring results in extremely capable manoeuvrability, taking off and landing characteristics. This high agility allows rapid deployment of weapons in any direction as desired by the crew. The canard notably assists in controlling the aircraft at large angles-of-attack and bringing it to a level flight condition. The aircraft has a fly-by-wire (FBW) with quadruple redundancy. Dependent on flight conditions, signals from the control stick position transmitter or the FCS may be coupled to remote control amplifiers and combined with feedback signals from acceleration sensors and rate gyros. The resultant control signals are coupled to the high-speed electro-hydraulic actuators of the elevators, rudders and the canard. The output signals are compared and, if the difference is significant, the faulty channel is disconnected. FBW is based on a stall warning and barrier mechanism which prevents stalls through dramatic increases of control stick pressure, allowing a pilot to effectively control the aircraft without exceeding the angle of attack and acceleration limitations. Although the maximum angle of attack is limited by the canards, the FBW acts as an additional safety mechanism.

 

The Su-30MKI has a range of 3,000 km with internal fuel which ensures a 3.75 hour combat mission. Also, it has an in-flight refueling (IFR) probe that retracts beside the cockpit during normal operation. The air refueling system increases the flight duration up to 10 hours with a range of 8,000 km at a cruise height of 11 to 13 km.[citation needed] Su-30MKIs can also use the Cobham 754 buddy refueling pods.

 

The Su-30MKI's radar cross-section (RCS) is reportedly from 4 to 20 square metres.

 

Cockpit

The displays include a customised version of the Israeli Elbit Su 967 head-up display (HUD) consisting of bi-cubic phase conjugated holographic displays and seven multifunction liquid-crystal displays, six 127 mm × 127 mm and one 152 mm × 152 mm. Flight information is displayed on four LCD displays which include one for piloting and navigation, a tactical situation indicator, and two for display systems information including operating modes and overall status. Variants of this HUD have also been chosen for the IAF's Mikoyan MiG-27 and SEPECAT "Jaguar" upgrades for standardisation. The rear cockpit has a larger monochrome display for air-to-surface missile guidance.

 

The Su-30MKI on-board health and usage monitoring system (HUMS) monitors almost every aircraft system and sub-system, and can also act as an engineering data recorder. From 2010, indigenously designed and built HUDs and Multi-Function Displays (MFD) were produced by the Delhi-based Samtel Group Display Systems.

 

The crew are provided with zero-zero NPP Zvezda K-36DM ejection seats. The rear seat is raised for better visibility. The cockpit is provided with containers to store food and water reserves, a waste disposal system and extra oxygen bottles. The K-36DM ejection seat is inclined at 30°, to help the pilot resist aircraft accelerations in air combat.

 

Avionics

The forward-facing NIIP N011M Bars (Panther) is a powerful integrated passive electronically scanned array radar. The N011M is a digital multi-mode dual frequency band radar. The N011M can function in air-to-air and air-to-land/sea mode simultaneously while being tied into a high-precision laser-inertial or GPS navigation system. It is equipped with a modern digital weapons control system as well as anti-jamming features. N011M has a 400 km search range and a maximum 200 km tracking range, and 60 km in the rear hemisphere. The radar can track 15 air targets and engage 4 simultaneously. These targets can even include cruise missiles and motionless helicopters. The Su-30MKI can function as a mini-AWACS as a director or command post for other aircraft. The target co-ordinates can be transferred automatically to at least four other aircraft. The radar can detect ground targets such as tanks at 40–50 km. The Bars radar will be replaced by Zhuk-AESA in all Su-30MKI aircraft.

 

OLS-30 laser-optical Infra-red search and track includes a day and night FLIR capability and is used in conjunction with the helmet mounted sighting system. The OLS-30 is a combined IRST/LR device using a cooled, broad waveband sensor. Detection range is up to 90 km, while the laser ranger is effective to 3.5 km. Targets are displayed on the same LCD display as the radar. Israeli LITENING targeting pod is used to target laser guided munitions. The original Litening pod includes a long range FLIR, a TV camera, laser spot tracker to pick up target designated by other aircraft or ground forces, and an electro-optical point and inertial tracker, which enables engagement of the target even when partly obscured by clouds or countermeasures; it also integrates a laser range-finder and flash-lamp powered laser designator for the delivery of laser-guided bombs, cluster and general-purpose bomb.

 

The aircraft is fitted with a satellite navigation system (A-737 GPS compatible), which permits it to make flights in all weather, day and night. The navigation complex includes the high accuracy SAGEM Sigma-95 integrated global positioning system and ring laser gyroscope inertial navigation system. Phase 3 of further development of the MKI, will integrate avionic systems being developed for the Indo-Russian Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft programme.

 

Sukhoi Su-30MKI has electronic counter-measure systems. The RWR system is of Indian design, developed by India's DRDO, called Tarang, (Wave in English). It has direction finding capability and is known to have a programmable threat library. The RWR is derived from work done on an earlier system for India's MiG-23BNs known as the Tranquil, which is now superseded by the more advanced Tarang series. Elta EL/M-8222 a self-protection jammer developed by Israel Aircraft Industries is the MKI's standard EW pod, which the Israeli Air Force uses on its F-15s. The ELTA El/M-8222 Self Protection Pod is a power-managed jammer, air-cooled system with an ESM receiver integrated into the pod. The pod contains an antenna on the forward and aft ends, which receive the hostile RF signal and after processing deliver the appropriate response.

 

Propulsion

The Su-30MKI is powered by two Lyulka-Saturn AL-31FP turbofans, each rated at 12,500 kgf (27,550 lbf) of full after-burning thrust, which enable speeds of up to Mach 2 in horizontal flight and a rate of climb of 230 m/s. The mean time between overhaul is reportedly 1,000 hours with a full-life span of 3,000 hours; the titanium nozzle has a mean time between overhaul of 500 hours. In early 2015, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar stated before Parliament that the AL-31FP had suffered numerous failures, between the end of 2012 and early 2015, a total of 69 Su-30MKI engine-related failures had occurred; commons causes were bearing failures due to metal fatigue and low oil pressure, in response several engine modifications were made to improve lubrication, as well as the use of higher quality oil and adjustments to the fitting of bearings.

 

The Su-30MKI's AL-31FP powerplant built on the earlier AL-31FU, adding two-plane thrust vectoring nozzles are mounted 32 degrees outward to longitudinal engine axis (i.e. in the horizontal plane) and can be deflected ±15 degrees in one plane. The canting allows the aircraft to produce both roll and yaw by vectoring each engine nozzle differently; this allows the aircraft to create thrust vectoring moments about all three rotational axes, pitch, yaw and roll. Engine thrust is adjusted via a conventional engine throttle lever as opposed to a strain-gauge engine control stick. The aircraft is controlled by a standard control stick. The pilot can activate a switch for performing difficult maneuvers; while this is enabled, the computer automatically determines the deflection angles of the swiveling nozzles and aerodynamic surfaces.

  

Operational history

 

The Sukhoi Su-30MKI is the most potent fighter jet in service with the Indian Air Force in the late 2000s. The MKIs are often fielded by the IAF in bilateral and multilateral air exercises. India exercised its Su-30MKIs against the Royal Air Force's Tornado ADVs in October 2006. This was the first large-scale bilateral aerial exercise with any foreign air force during which the IAF used its Su-30MKIs extensively. This exercise was also the first in 43 years with the RAF. During the exercise, the RAF Air Chief Marshal Glenn Torpy was given permission by the IAF to fly the MKI. RAF's Air Vice Marshal, Christopher Harper, praised the MKI's dogfight ability, calling it "absolutely masterful in dogfights".

 

In July 2007, the Indian Air Force fielded the MKI during the Indra-Dhanush exercise with Royal Air Force's Eurofighter "Typhoon". This was the first time that the two jets had taken part in such an exercise. The IAF did not allow their pilots to use the radar of the MKIs during the exercise so as to protect the highly classified N011M Bars. Also in the exercise were RAF "Tornado" F3s and a Hawk. RAF "Tornado" pilots were candid in their admission of the Su-30MKI's superior manoeuvring in the air, and the IAF pilots were impressed by the "Typhoon's" agility.

 

In 2004, India sent Su-30MKs, an earlier variant of the Su-30MKI, to take part in war games with the United States Air Force (USAF) during Cope India 04. The results have been widely publicised, with the Indians winning "90% of the mock combat missions" against the USAF's F-15C. The parameters of the exercise heavily favored the IAF; none of the six 3rd Wing F-15Cs were equipped with the newer long-range, active electronically scanned array (AESA) radars and, at India's request, the U.S. agreed to mock combat at 3-to-1 odds and without the use of simulated long-range, radar-guided AIM-120 AMRAAMs for beyond-visual-range kills. In Cope India 05, the Su-30MKIs reportedly beat the USAF's F-16s.

 

In July 2008, the IAF sent 6 Su-30MKIs and 2 Il-78MKI aerial-refueling tankers, to participate in the Red Flag exercise. The IAF again did not allow their pilots to use the radar of the MKIs during the exercise so as to protect the highly classified N011M Bars. In October 2008, a video surfaced on the internet which featured a USAF colonel, Terrence Fornof, criticising Su-30MKI's performance against the F-15C, engine serviceability issues, and high friendly kill rate during the Red Flag exercise. Several of his claims were later rebutted by the Indian side and the USAF also distanced itself from his remarks.

 

In June 2010, India and France began the fourth round of their joint air exercises, "Garuda", at the Istres Air Base in France. During Garuda, the IAF and the French Air Force were engaged in various missions ranging from close combat engagement of large forces, slow mover protection, protecting and engaging high value aerial assets. This exercise marked the first time the Su-30MKI took part in a military exercise in France.

 

The Indian Air Force first took part in the United States Air Force's Red Flag exercise in 2008. Participating in Red Flag costs the IAF ₹ 100 crore (US$17.5 million) each time. To reduce costs, the IAF decided to take part once every five years. The IAF is taking part in the Red Flag exercise in July 2013, at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, United States. For the exercise, it is dispatching eight Su-30MKIs, two Lockheed C-130J "Hercules" tactical aircraft, two Ilyushin Il-78 (NATO reporting name Midas) mid-air refueling tankers, one Ilyushin Il-76 (NATO reporting name Candid) heavy-lift aircraft, and over 150 personnel.

 

The IAF again fielded its MKIs in the Garuda-V exercise with France in June 2014, where they manoeuvred in mixed groups with other IAF aircraft and French "Rafale's".

 

On 21 July 2015, India and UK began the bilateral exercise named Indradhanush with aircraft operating from three Royal Air Force bases. The exercises included both Beyond Visual Range (BVR) and Within Visual Range (WVR) exercises between the Su-30MKI and Eurofighter "Typhoon". Indian media reported the results were in favour of the IAF with a score of 12-0 at WVR engagements. They also claim that the IAF Su-30MKIs held an edge over the "Typhoon's" in BVR engagements though not in as dominating a manner. The RAF issued a statement that the results being reported by the Indian media did not reflect the results of the exercise. According to Aviation International News In close combat, thrust vector control on the "Flanker's" more than compensated for the greater thrust-to-weight ratio of the "Typhoon".

 

On 27 February 2019, the Pakistani Air Force stated that it had downed an Indian Sukhoi Su-30MKI in an aerial skirmish. The Indian Air Force said this statement was a cover up for the loss of a Pakistani F-16 fighter, stating that all Sukhoi aircraft that were dispatched returned safely.

 

On 4 March 2019, an Indian Su-30MKI shot down a Pakistani drone in Indian airspace, according to local media reports.

Arriva Kent & Surrey Ltd.:

 

Volvo B9TL-5300 YV3S4J /

Wrightbus Eclipse Gemini (10.4m)

H45/29F - 4/2008

"Sapphire”

 

Ex-Arriva Midlands Ltd., Thurmaston, Leicestershire (WG-4207) (17/12/2020)

  

Endurance road test of this fine B9 from Leicester. This was the one I drove down on the second day of CAZ movements, however it decided to conk out somewhere on the A6 near Kettering! With a few hours spent on it over the last couple of months getting it back into serviceable condition.

The bus went out in full service this morning (19/04) on the 218/219s Tonbridge circulars. This marks the first B9 in service in Kent! 6200/2/4 are at Northfleet, 6201/5 are at Gillingham.

  

Bidborough Corner A26 London Road, Southborough, Royal Tunbridge Wells

 

Sunday 18th April 2021

CSX Train Sappi-3 rolls through Fairfield on 2/26/2023 with a duo of Guilford 300's as a light snow falls. At the time CSX was reactivating most of the dead and sidelined Pan Am/Guilford GP40's with a power shortage driving that move.

However, over the next year the GP40's would slowly be pulled from service with 306, 319, 326, and 330 being sidelined with rotten draft gear. 350,351, and 353 were stored serviceable with minor issues, while many other units were pulled from service. With many jobs that once used these units, being abolished over the summer of 2023, only a handful of GP40's were needed. This left the 305 and 315 as the only Guilford units left on CSX, while the 316 is being leased to B&E, along with a half dozen or so Pan Am GP40's.

 

CSXT

Train: Sappi-3

2/26/2023

Fairfield, ME

CSXT District 1 Freight Main Line

Embroidery

By Michelle Holmes

After reading ‘A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains’ I was inspired to create a series of works exploring the life of its extraordinary author Lady Isabella Bird. ‘Isabella Bird is the ideal traveller’ wrote the spectator critic in 1879 when the first edition of this book appeared. “Their never was anybody who had adventures as well as Miss Bird”

 

Isabella Lucy Bird 1831 - 1904 was the daughter of a clergyman, grew up in Tattenhall, Cheshire and was advised to travel to America and Canada in 1854 by her doctor to improve her health. This was the first of many journeys she was to undertake alone to then remote places such as Japan, Tibet, Korea and Morocco. ‘The single most curious aspect of Isabella’s curious life is that a women of her background, upbringing and physique managed to accomplish what she did’. (Taken from the introduction)

 

I particularly liked a note Isabella wrote for the second edition of the book.

 

‘For the benefit of other lady travellers, I wish to explain that my “Hawaiian riding dress” is the ‘American Lady’s Mountain Dress”, a half fitting jacket, a skirt reaching to the ankles and full Turkish trousers gathered into frills which fall over the boots, - a thoroughly serviceable and feminine costume for mountaineering and other rough travelling in any part of the world’

 

The works I have made continue my interest in representing the human figure in stitch. By illustrating a story I have been able to create a purely narrative piece, something which I have wanted to undertake for sometime. My central piece is ‘Lady Isabella Bird’s Travel Quilt’ in which I have introduced the main characters and locations of the story. It can be read like the page of a book. The other works are snapshots of particular elements of the stories which have captured my imagination.

   

During a shortage of serviceable articulated trams some old blue triple axle tram cars came to the rescue. Without the cumbersome trailers these trams could comfortably keep up with the schedule.

© Henk Graalman 894 (1969)

British Railways EM1 Bo+Bo class 76 1500V DC overhead electric locomotive number 76040 stands on its home depot of Reddish Traction Maintenance Depot in North Reddish with withdrawn British Railways The English Electric Company Limited Type 4 1Co-Co1 class 40 diesel-electric locomotive number 40144 visible behind. 08:30, Saturday 18th July 1981

 

Note, 76040 was built at British Railways’ Gorton works (works number 1047) in 1952 as number 26040 (an E prefix to denote an electric locomotive was added to the number at some time, possibly in association with the introduction of the TOPS classification system in March 1968), being renumbered 76040 in week ending 23rd February 1974. It was stored serviceable Reddish Traction Maintenance Depot on 19th August 1980 and restored to traffic in week commencing 2nd November 1980. It was withdrawn from Reddish Traction Maintenance Depot on 20th July 1981 and stored. It was sold for scrap to Frank Berry Limited, arriving at his Leicester yard on 15th April 1983 where it was scrapped (probably by Vic Berry Limited) by 6th May 1983

 

Ref no 02108

Plaid swing jacket, No Boundaries. Gray skirt with single pleat, Eddie Bauer. Black fishnet tights, Danskin. Black pumps, Bandolino.

 

One of my wardrobe staples is a pair of black, pointy-toed pumps with some sort of detail at the toe. I go through about a pair a year. The last pair is still serviceable, but the heels are chewed up from slipping into the cracks of the Cincinnati pavement and the vamp is starting to tear. I hadn’t begun to actively look for a replacement when I spotted this pair of Bandolino pumps at TJ Maxx a week ago. Hooray.

Having picked up the single-line token from the box at Midge Hall, Class 101 53334 with a Class 108 Trailer, formed a Preston to Ormskirk service on 26th September 1987. This was the period when problems with newly introduced Class 142s caused the re-introduction of DMU sets, often cobbled together with odd or mis-matched cars that were still serviceable.

Tram 469+814 in regular service in the very last month (March) and year (1968) of revenue service. This type of tram was scrapped if only minor technical issues were detected. However the 469 has been preserved and is still serviceable, currently (2020) in the Hannoversches Straßenbahn-Museum. © Henk Graalman 61xx

In the sunshine at Stagecoach Highland's Wick depot on January 1st 2021 are three of the fleets serviceable buses 54206, recently reliveried 53613 and 53628.

SK07 JVP is a ZF/ Volvo B7RLE Wright Eclipse Urban and is seen here operating service 26A to Bathgate via Howden, St John's Hospital, Ladywell, Knightsridge, Deans North and Livingston North Station and Boghall. JVP was new to First Scotland East in early to mid 2007 in the Midland Bluebird branch of First Scotland East.

 

69256 spent the majority of it's serviceable life in the Midland Bluebird branch operating in the Falkirk area untill it was transferred to the West Lothian branch of First Scotland East in November of 2019.

 

This also features in the background Lothian Country's Volvo B9TL Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 which was new to First Centrewest (London) as VN37893 BF60 UUD which is seen here operating service 276 to Loganlea via Bellsquary, Polbeth, West Calder and Addiewell.

 

This photo was taken at Livingston Bus Terminal on Wednesday the 7th of April 2021.

 

Disclaimers below:

Do not use any of my photos without written permission from me and only use what permission I give you and I will explicitly detail how you can use it.

 

If I find any photo of mine being used without my permission I will contact the flickr team to kindly remove it.

 

Thank you for reading and stay safe 👍.

Rue des Bourgades 05/07/2014 14h56

They are still out there and fully in use. This one was parked in the friendly Provençal village of Saignon.

 

Citroën 2CV

The Citroën 2CV (French: deux chevaux vapeur, literally "two steam horses", from the tax horsepower rating) was an economy car produced by the French automaker Citroën from 1948 to 1990. It was technologically advanced and innovative, but with extremely utilitarian and deceptively simple Bauhaus inspired bodywork, that belied the sheer quality of its underlying engineering. It was designed to move the French peasantry on from horses and carts. It is considered one of Citroën's most iconic cars. In 1953 'Autocar' in a technical review of the car wrote of, "...the extraordinary ingenuity of this design, which is undoubtedly the most original since the Model T Ford." It was described by motoring journalist LJK Setright as "the most intelligent application of minimalism ever to succeed as a car." It was designed for low cost, simplicity of use, versatility, reliability, and off-road driving. For this it had a light, easily serviceable engine, extremely soft long travel suspension (with adjustable ride height), high ground clearance, and for oversized loads a car-wide canvas sunroof (which until 1960 also covered the boot).

 

During a production run of 42 years between 1948 and 1990, 3,872,583 2CVs were produced, plus 1,246,306 camionnettes (small 2CV trucks), as well as spawning mechanically identical vehicles like the Ami, Dyane, Acadiane, and Mehari.

From 1988 onwards production took place in Portugal rather than in France. This arrangement lasted for two years until 2CV production halted. Portuguese built cars, especially those from when production was winding down, have a reputation for being much less well made and more prone to corrosion than French built cars.

[ Source and more information: Wikipedia - Citroën 2CV ]

 

Kenn Borek Air Basler BT-67 at Calgary International Airport (YYC)

 

The Basler BT-67 IS produced by Basler Turbo Conversions of Oshkosh, Wisconsin as a retrofitted Douglas DC-3 with modifications designed to improve the DC-3's serviceable lifetime. The conversion includes fitting the airframe with Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-67R turboprop engines, lengthening the fuselage, strengthening the airframe, upgrading the avionics, and making modifications to the wings' leading edge and wing tip.

 

Appr. 27 aircraft converted so far - Kenn Borek Air, based in Calgary, with 9 aircraft is one of the biggest operators of this type

See more car pics on my facebook page!

 

The fixed-roof MGB GT was introduced in October 1965. Production continued until 1980, though export to the US ceased in 1974. The MGB GT sported a ground-breaking greenhouse designed by Pininfarina and launched the sporty "hatchback" style. By combining the sloping rear window with the rear deck lid, the B GT offered the utility of a station wagon while retaining the style and shape of a coupe. This new configuration was a 2+2 design with a right-angled rear bench seat and far more luggage space than in the roadster. Relatively few components differed, although the MGB GT did receive different suspension springs and anti-roll bars and a different windscreen which was more easily and inexpensively serviceable. Early prototypes such as the MGB Berlinette produced by the Belgian coach builder Jacques Coune utilized a raised windscreen in order to accommodate the fastback.

 

Acceleration of the GT was slightly slower than that of the roadster due to its increased weight. Top speed improved by 5 mph (8 km/h) to 105 mph (170 km/h) due to better aerodynamics.

 

(Wikipedia)

 

The Saab 37 Viggen is a 3rd generation combat aircraft with two primary variants: the AJ 37 strike fighter and the JA 37 interceptor.

 

Both aircraft share many traits in common, such as a single engine, a relatively short operational range, delta wings, and being able to reach speeds of Mach 2.1. One interesting attribute about the Saab 37 is the fact that it was the first combat aircraft to have canards.

 

The Viggen was designed to be able to take off from almost anywhere, giving it the ability to operate from airstrips only 500 meters in length due to the canards and the powerful engine.

 

The Saab 37 was built to be a low-maintenance aircraft, with a requirement that it must be serviceable by concripts with even with only a small amount of training. Re-fueling and re-arming by 7 men was able to be done in less than 10 minutes.

 

Another interesting thing to note is that the Viggen had very advanced avionics for its time, with its CK 37 and/or CD107 digital computers being the most advanced in any aircraft as of the time the Viggen was made It had a good ECM suite as well the Ericsson PS 46 X-band pulse repetition frequency radar, which gave it look-down/shoot-down capabilities in excess of almost all other 3rd gen fighters. This radar was also given a data link allowing one Viggen to "paint" a target with its radar while sharing the targeting data with up to three wingmen that had their radar turned off. Finally, the Viggen's cockpit had a cathode ray tube HUD giving it an advantage over aircraft using traditional analogue/mechanical displays.

  

Saab JA 37 Viggen (36)

Category: (3rd generation interceptor)

payload +1

agility +1

range -1

speed +1

Short Takeoff and Landing +1

Advanced Radar +1 (+1.1 price)

Low Maintenance +1 (-1.1 price)

Drop Tanks +0

[REDACTED] -1

[REDACTED] -1

[REDACTED] -1

[REDACTED] -1

   

Pictured stored at Crewe Electric.

New in March 1963 as E3078 , renumbered to 85007 11/73 , renumbered again to 85112 12/90.

Stored serviceable at CE 11/90 , finally withdrawn 7/91.

Moved by rail to MC Metals arriving 11/92 and cut up 1/93.

 

23 2 91

With just 3 days to go before the end of the RHTT Season 20305 and 20314 approach Meadowhall working the 1117 Grimsby Town - Bridlington .

With the DRS 20's reappearance wriiten off for next year due to lack of serviceable loco's and the fact that DRS are running a farewell tour for the class in January 2020 , it remains to be seen what will work the South Yorks diagram next year .

 

11 12 19

20th April 2014.

 

West Midlands Travel Limited Mercedes-Benz O405N (612407-23-092503) / Mercedes-Benz B43F 1654 - T654FOB.

 

New to West Midlands Travel Limited May 1999.

 

Pensnett garage, Pensnett trading estate, Kingswinford, West Midlands.

 

Wearing the revised low floor livery 1654 is seen in far from the best of health in the rear yard at Pensnett. After receiving rtc damage the vehicle was withdrawn at Wolverhampton garage. It was then transported to Pensnett for the engine to be placed into sister vehicle 1515 with many serviceable parts also being removed. Now sold to PVS for scrap the vehicles awaits collection.

 

Image Copyright D.J.Ralley 2014.

 

IMAS, Hobart

TERROIR were Architects in Association with John Wardle Architects for the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) in Hobart.

 

IMAS received multiple recognition in the 2014 Tasmanian Australian Institute of Architects Awards; The Alan C Walker Award for Public Architecture; Alexander North Award for Interior Architecture; Sustainable Architecture Award; Urban Design Award; COLORBOND® Award for Steel Architecture

In establishing IMAS the University of Tasmania (UTAS) has recognized the importance of this field of scientific endeavour in the context of a sustainable future - both local and global. The new building will be a portal into an institute that brings together researchers from a number of parallel groups to create what will become an internationally renowned global research hub. Responsive to this vision, the new building will underpin the social, cultural and economic life of the City of Hobart.

Set in the highly contested public realm that is the historic Hobart waterfront the design for the new building recalls the scale and pattern of the traditional wharf structures and responds to the nature of the working port. With a view to engaging with the public realm the new building exposes the activities within, and invites interest through making a substantial exhibition space and theatre accessible to the public.

 

The 7,130M2 building will accommodate academics and researchers from UTAS, IMAS, CSIRO, Australian Antarctic Division (AAD), Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre (ACECRC), and the Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS). Higher Degree Research students will be dispersed through the building to benefit from direct engagement with this diverse group. Undergraduate students will experience the collaborative learning and teaching laboratory spaces located at the ground floor. These spaces will also be visible from the public thoroughfare.

 

Laboratory facilities will be certified by the Australian Quarantine Inspection Service to QC2 requirements. These spaces have been carefully planned to achieve flexibility and serviceability well into the future. Ultra cold rooms operating at -23° will accommodate the precious ice cores that are collected from Antarctica and transported back to Hobart. The Antarctic supply and research vessel Auroa Australis will berth at the adjacent Princes Wharf over the winter months.

 

In keeping with the greater vision for a sustainable future the new building will be heated and cooled by water drawn from the Derwent River. Inherent to the prominent site selected by UTAS this represents the single most significant opportunity to reduce energy consumption. The project will achieve a 5 Star Design rating assessed by the Green Star Education tool (V1)

Source:Terrior

LlanfairPG in 1975 and Class24 24042 is on a mixed freight service I think.

New to Ipswich as D5042 in October 1959 the loco had not got long in service as it was withdrawn serviceable from Crewe in August 1975.

Image from a slide in my collection by an unknown photographer.

This weekend gone was the EATMs Trolleybus weekend with 15 hours of trolleybus operations using as many serviceable vehicles as possible. A respectbale 10 trolleybuses could be sampled on the Carlton Colville short loop, reminding us that electric traction is not a new thing..... Here are 6 lined up ready for service in the Sunday morning.

Airbus A310-304

 

Msn 413

 

First flight March 7th 1986

 

Delivered new to May 29th 1986 to Air India, moved to Services Air as 5X-HJI and then 9Q-CVH.

 

Written off on December 24th 2015 following a runway overrun at Mbuji Mayi Airport in the Democratic Republic Of The Congo after a flight from Lubumbashi-Luano. Following an incident on August 19th 2015 where part of the runway broke up Congo Airways suspended flights from MJM on December 8th, and on December 20th the Congolese authorities concluded that the runway was poor but still serviceable. Four days later during a heavy rainstorm this aircraft was unable to stop and ended up hitting several dwellings located at the end of the runway resulting in 7 deaths on the ground.

This is actually a Canadian built Bolingbroke, RCAF serial ‘10201’, which is now fitted with a genuine MkI Blenhiem nose. It represents ‘L6739’, a MkI of 23sqn in September 1939.

This was its first Legends after it was rebuilt as a MkI.

2015 Flying Legends Airshow.

Duxford, Cambridgeshire, UK.

12-7-2015

 

The following info is from the Flying Legends website:-

 

“The Bristol Blenheim Mk.I is a truly unique British aircraft. As a type the aircrafts history is long and formative and an important milestone in the history of British aviation. Designed as a small airliner in the early 1930s by Frank Barnwell, Chief Designer of the Bristol Aircraft Company, it was funded by Lord Rothermere who named it ‘Britain First’. It proved much faster than the latest biplane fighters, with a speed of over 300mph, and Rothermere promptly donated it to the nation.

Barnwell then redesigned the aircraft as a bomber and it became the first stressed skin aircraft with hydraulic actuated undercarriage, flaps and turret to be accepted by the Royal Air Force. It was the fastest bomber of the day and it became the backbone of the RAFs light bomber force. At the start of WWII the RAF had 1089 Blenheim’s in service more than any other type.

The Blenheim bore the brunt of daylight operations during the early war years, whilst other bombers were switched to night operations, and the crews paid a heavy price. Many Blenheim’s were lost not only to fighters but to anti-aircraft fire especially when attacking ships. Even so it was well liked by its crews and Churchill paid homage to their bravery comparing them to the ‘Charge of the Light Brigade’.

The Blenheim was pressed into many roles for which it was not primarily designed, such as long range and night fighter duties. It became the first radar equipped night fighter and got the first kill using that equipment.

The first Blenheim project a Canadian licensed built MKIV, which they called Bolingbroke, was recovered in a derelict state and restored to fly after a twelve year rebuild by a small dedicated team led by a licensed aircraft engineer. It made its debut in May 1987 only to be destroyed in an accident exactly one month later, suffice to say that the accident was not due to a mechanical fault.

Determined not to be without a Blenheim another airframe was found and the same team gave themselves five years to complete the project with the aircraft flying in May 1993, it became the only flying example of a Blenheim representing the light bombers of the early war years. Flying for ten years from Duxford on behalf of the late Graham Warner, the aircraft was well known on the air show circuit and flew with great success building an enviable serviceability record amongst the vintage aircraft fraternity.

In August 2003 the aircraft suffered an accident whilst landing at Duxford, again through no mechanical fault with the aircraft, and suffered significant damage. The aircraft was dismantled with the ownership subsequently transferring to Blenheim (Duxford) Ltd in December 2003.

It was decided that the aircraft could be repaired and work started with a team jointly made up of full time staff and the original and some new volunteers. Initially work concentrated on the centre section and fuselage and it was at this stage a feasibility study was carried out to see if the aircraft could be converted to Blenheim MkI status. A MkI nose had come into possession of the team and it was realised that the production break at the rear of the fuselage was the same for all marks of Blenheim so the decision was made to go ahead with the conversion. The conversion did cause some headaches in that although the main fling controls are in the same position in the British and Canadian variants it is in the positioning of the ancillary controls such as throttles, pitch, carburetor and hydraulic controls, the positioning of instruments and the rerouting of hydraulic and electrical lines that would take time.

The MkI nose had been donated to the team and had an interesting history in its own right; it had been obtained by a Bristol employee Ralph Nelson after WWII and converted to a car. He had mounted it on an Austin Seven chassis and with help of colleagues completed the conversion. The car was battery powered and he drove the vehicle around Bristol until 1957 when it was damaged by fire. The conversion necessitated the nose being modified to create doors and interior fittings so basically destroyed the stress skin construction, so after jigging to maintain its integrity a considerable amount of manufacture of new airframe parts had to be carried out including reskinning. Fortunately Ralph had kept a considerable amount of the interior fittings and most of the control systems including the seat and these were refurbished and refitted.

A data plate in the nose revealed its build number and that it had been built by AVRO. Contact with Avro’s heritage Centre showed that the aircraft serial was L6739 being issued to 23 Squadron on 2nd September 1939. It fought throughout the Battle of Britain as a night fighter before being struck off charge in December 1940 after being damaged. Further research revealed that it had carried the codes YP-Q and a photo was found of it ground running at Wittering in February 1940. This has enabled the aircraft to be painted in the authentic colours worn in 1939-1940 and fitted with the MKI(f) gun pack.

The Mercury engines were overhauled in house being stripped down to their component parts and checked for wear and damage and reassembled. All ancillary items such as magnetos, carburettors, pumps and the many items that make up the engines examined and checked for airworthiness before being fitted.

After 11 years of painstaking work, on the 20th November 2014 Chief Pilot John Romain and James Gilmour as Flight Engineer took Blenheim MkI(f) on its maiden flight at Duxford for a successful 26 minute test flight, following some minor adjustments a further two test flights were carried out.

The Blenheim received its full Permit to fly at the end of 2014, enabling the aircraft to be ready for the 2015 season.”

McGills Scotland East

ADL Enviro200MMC

 

The "in-between buses"... as the McGills take over of Midland Bluebird seems to have highlighted some maintenance issues, the batch of 65 plate E200MMC's from Dundee have been transferred to provide some additional serviceable vehicles.

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based on historical facts. BEWARE!

  

Some background:

The Sd.Kfz. 124 Wespe (German for "wasp", also known as Leichte Feldhaubitze 18/2 auf Fahrgestell Panzerkampfwagen II (Sf.), "Light field howitzer 18 on Panzer II chassis (self-propelled)"), was a German self-propelled gun developed and used during the Second World War. During the Battle of France in 1940 it became apparent that the intermediate tank of the German forces, the Panzer II, had become unsuitable as a main battle tank and outdated. Though mechanically sound, it was both under-gunned and under-armored, and its small size prevented heavier armament and armor so that its development potential was limited. The chassis, however, proved serviceable for providing mobility to the 10.5 cm field howitzer, and important artillery weapon.

 

The design for the Wespe was produced by Alkett, based on the Panzer II Ausf. F chassis. Among other modifications the Panzer II's engine was moved forward, and the chassis slightly lengthened to accommodate the rear-mounted 10.5 cm leFH 18 howitzer. The boxy superstructure was left open at the top and rear and only lightly armored, with 10 mm armor plate, which was just enough to stop small arms fire. The vehicles were produced by FAMO's Ursus plant in Warsaw from February 1943 until June 1944, when Soviet forces approached the frontier. By that time, 676 had been produced. An additional 159 gun-less Wespe Munitionsträger were produced, too, to serve as mobile artillery ammunition carriers.

 

The Panzer II chassis also found use for the design of tank hunters: Existing chassis were converted to self-propelled artillery vehicles, such as the Marder II ("marten" in English). The latter was built on the basis of the original Panzer II chassis (with the engine at the rear) in two versions, the first mounted a modified Soviet 7.62 cm gun firing German ammunition, which had been acquired in significant numbers during the German advances the Ostfront, while the other mounted the German 7.5 cm PaK 40 gun. Its high profile and thin open-topped armor provided minimal protection to the crew, though. Nevertheless, the Marder II (as well as the similar Marder III, which was based on the Czech T-38 chassis) provided a great increase in mobility and firepower over contemporary German tanks during 1942 and into 1943.

 

By early 1944 the war situation had worsened for Germany and ever heavier tanks, esp. at the Eastern Front, appeared. The PaK 40 was effective against almost every Allied tank until the end of the war, only struggling to penetrate heavier vehicles like the Russian IS tanks, the American M4A3E2 Sherman 'Jumbo' assault tank and M26 Pershing, and later variants of the British Churchill tank. More firepower was needed, but the powerful new 88 mm PaK 43 was in short supply or earmarked for use in heavy battle tanks, which had received priority from the Oberkommando. An alternative anti-tank was the 7.5 cm KwK 42 L/70, the main armament of the Panther medium battle tank and of the Jagdpanzer IV self-propelled anti-tank gun. On the latter it was designated as the "7.5 cm Panzerabwehrkanone 42" (7.5 cm Pak 42).

 

The modified 7.5 cm gun had a longer barrel that increased muzzle velocity and operating pressure, resulting in much improved range and penetration. However, the new gun required a new armor-piercing projectile, the PzGr. 39/42. Apart from the addition of wider driving bands it was otherwise identical to the older 7.5 cm PzGr. 39. The wider driving bands added a little extra weight, from 6.8 kg for the old PzGr.39, to 7.2 kg for the new PzGr.39/42. The gun was fired electrically, the primer being initiated using an electric current rather than a firing pin. The breech operated semi-automatically so that after the gun had fired, the empty shell casing was automatically ejected, and the falling wedge type breech block remained down so that the next round could be loaded. Once the round was loaded the breech closed automatically and the weapon was ready to be fired again. Three different types of ammunition were used: APCBC-HE, APCR and HE.

 

This 7.5 cm Pak 42’s performance was almost equal to the bigger 88 mm PaK 43, and achieved a penetration of 106 mm hardened steel plate angled at 30° from vertical at 2.000 m (vs. 132 mm with the 88 mm PaK 43).

 

To increase the output of vehicles armed with the new 7.5 cm Pak 42, the Oberkommando ordered the conversion of existing vehicles, so that these reinforcements could be sent to the frontlines as quickly as possible, esp. at the East where the German troops were more and more caught in defensive battles. The chassis that appeared most suitable for this task was the Sd.Kfz. 124 Wespe, due to its internal layout. The 7.5 cm Pak 42’s long barrel (it was almost 5m/more than 16’ long) required a fighting compartment at the vehicle’s rear, with the engine in front of it – and the Wespe turned out to be suitable to accept the long weapon with relatively few modifications.

For the use on the open-top Wespe, the 7.5 cm Pak 42 was combined with the mount and shield of the old towed 7.5 cm PaK 40 gun, and this new construction simply replaced the Wespe’s original 10.5 cm leFH 18 howitzer. The superstructure’s armor was only minimally modified: the front opening was narrowed, because the longer 7.5 cm Pak 42 had a more limited field of fire than the 10.5 cm leFH 18. As a positive side effect, the superstructure’s walls could be slightly reduced in height (about 10 cm/4”) due to the 7.5 cm Pak 42’s lower gun carriage and front shield.

The vehicle’s internal layout and most of the equipment remained the same, just the crew was reduced from five to four, one loader was omitted. To cope with the slightly higher overall weight and the heavier front due to the long barrel, and the necessity to traverse the vehicle to aim, the gear ratio was lowered from 1:7.33 to 1:8 to reduce the stress on final gears and the wheels were replaced with reinforced alternatives that also used less rubber. Due to the smaller rounds, the internal ammunition supply rose from the Wespe’s forty 10.5 cm rounds to fifty-one 7.5 cm rounds, even though space for the crew became scarce when the Jagdwespe was fully loaded. No other armament was carried, even though a defensive 7.92 mm MG 34 machine gun was frequently installed at the commander’s position to the right of the gun, sometimes with a protective armor shield.

 

Like its basis, the “Jagdwespe”, how this makeshift vehicle was unofficially called, was only lightly protected, but this was intentionally done in order to reduce the overall weight and speed up the production as much as possible. The armor thickness was also limited in order to not adversely affect the vehicle’s overall driving performance, as this was the main point of this vehicle. The use of the Panzer II light tank chassis was another reason why the armor thickness had to be kept minimal, as the added weight could significantly affect its performance.

The front armor of the hull was 30 mm thick and placed at a 75° vertical angle. The sides were 14.5 mm thick, the rear 14.5 mm at 10° horizontal and the bottom was only 5 mm thick. The front superstructure armor was 15 (or 20 mm) thick and placed at a 30° vertical angle. The sides and rear of the superstructure were 15 mm and the top 10 mm thick. The fighting compartment was protected by only 10 mm thick all-around armor. The front armor was placed at 66°, side 73°, and rear 74° vertical angle.

 

Strangely, the “Jagdwespe” was allocated an individual ordnance inventory designation, namely Sd. Kfz. 125. This was probably done to keep the practice of the Marder family of light Panzerjäger’s taxonomy, which had received individual Sd. Kfz. Numbers, too, despite being based on existing vehicles. Initially, mostly unarmed Wespe artillery ammunition carriers were converted into Jagdwespe SPGs, but later on Wespe SPGs – primarily damaged vehicles that were refurbished – were also modified, and a few of the final newly build Wespe hulls were finished as Sd.Kfz. 125, too. However, since battle tanks still had priority, Jagdwespe production and output was only marginal, and less than 100 vehicles were completed until early 1945.

 

Like the various Marder versions before that fought on all European fronts of the war, there was a large concentration of the Jagdwespe on the Eastern Front. They were used by the Panzerjäger Abteilungen of the Panzer divisions of the Heer and served as well with several Luftwaffe units to defend airfields. Like the Marders before, the Jagdwespe's weaknesses were mainly related to survivability. The combination of a relatively high silhouette and open-top fighting compartment made them vulnerable to indirect artillery fire, aircraft strafing, and grenades. The armor was also quite thin, making them vulnerable to enemy tanks or infantry with more than light machine guns or pistols.

Operationally, the Jagdwespe was best employed in defensive or overwatch roles. They were neither assault vehicles nor tank substitutes, and the open-top compartment meant operations in crowded areas such as urban environments or other close-combat situations weren't a valid tactical option. But despite their weaknesses, they were more effective than the towed antitank guns they replaced, and the 7.5 cm Pak 42 with the extended barrel meant a significant improvement in firepower. The vehicle was small, easy to conceal for an ambush and relatively agile, so that it could quickly change position after a shot, and the Panzer II chassis was mechanically reliable, what made it popular with its crews.

  

Specifications:

Crew: Four (commander, gunner, loader/radio operator, driver)

Weight: 12.5 tonnes (27,533 lb)

Length: 4.81 m (15 ft 9 in)

6.44 m (21 ft 1 1/2 in) overall

Width: 2.28 m (7 ft 6 in)

Height: 2.21 m (7 ft 3 in)

Suspension: Leaf spring

Fuel capacity: 170 L (45 US gal)

 

Armor:

5 - 30 mm (.19 - 1.18 in)

 

Performance:

Maximum road speed: 40 km/h (25 mph)

Operational range: 220 km (137 mi) on roads

100 km (62 mi) cross-country

Power/weight: 12.7 PS/tonne

 

Engine & transmission:

6-cyl petrol Maybach HL62 TR with 140 PS (138 hp, 103 kW)

 

Armament:

1× 7.5 cm Panzerabwehrkanone 42/L 70 (7.5 cm Pak 42) with 51 rounds

1× 7.92 mm MG 34 machine gun with 2.000 rounds

  

The kit and its assembly:

This relatively simple German WWII what-if SPG was spawned from the thought that the light Wespe artillery SPG might also have been used for an anti-tank SPG, with relatively few modifications. The long-barreled 7.5 cm KwK 42/L70 appeared to be a suitable weapon for this kind of vehicle around 1944, so I tried to build a respective model.

 

The basis became the Italeri 1:72 “Wespe” kit, which is in fact a re-boxed ESCI kit. It goes together well, and you can build upper and lower hull separately for a final “marriage”. To change the Wespe’s look a little I exchanged the solid OOB wheels with those from a Panzer III, left over from a Revell/Mako kit. They are perfect in size, but due a lack of depth of their attachment openings (I only used the outer half of the Panzer III wheels) I glued them onto the hull before painting, normally I finish them separately and mount them in a final assembly step.

 

For the gun I had to improvise a little, because the open casemate would allow a good look at it. I settled for a straightforward solution in the form of a Zvezda 1:72 PaK 40. The gun was taken OOB, I just removed the wheel attachment points from its chassis and replaced the short gun barrel with a muzzle brake with a aluminum 1:72 L70 barrel for a Panther Ausf. F (with a Schmalturm) from Aber. Both elements were relatively easy to combine, and the gun shield could be taken over, too. Once the gun mount’s position in the Wespe hull was defined I narrowed the front opening a little with styrene wedges, added a deflector at its base, and reduced the height of the side walls for a coherent look. All in all the transplant looks very plausible!

Since the kit provides the option I decided to leave the driver’s hatch open and install the OOB driver figure on a raised seat. For the long barrel I scratched a support that was mounted to the front hull. Looks a bit awkward, though, because it obscures the driver’s field of view – but I could not find a better solution.

 

The only real trouble I had with the Italeri Wespe were the tracks: they were made from a really strange (and effectively horrible) vinyl material. This material repelled EVERYTHING with a kind of lotus effect – paints of any kind, even superglue! My usual method of mounting such tracks on the main wheels did not work at all, because the track would not hold at all. During these trials I also recognized that the tracks were too long – rather unusual, because 1:72 vinyl tracks tend to be too short so that some tension is needed to lengthen them properly. Two molded “links” had to be cut away, and on the kit’s box art you can see the overlength problem when you are aware of it! I guess that the ESCI designers once assumed that the tracks would be closed into a loop (= closing the track and using heat to literally weld it together) first and then forced onto/over the wheels. I was eventually able to outsmart the tracks through the massive use of superglue under the mudguards – while the tracks still do not really stick to the glue, the large surface of the dried instant adhesive keeps the tracks in place and under light tension. Not perfect, but the tracks remain in place…

  

Painting and markings:

Conservative, once more a variation of the Hinterhalt scheme. Once completed, the still separate hull, gun and shield received an overall base coat with RAL 7028 Dunkelgelb (TS-3 from a rattle can). On top of that I added vertical fields with Olivgrün (RAL 6003, Humbrol 86), and finally I applied branch-like thin stripes with a dark brown (Humbrol 98, which is darker and less reddish than the authentic RAL 8012, for a stronger contrast). The idea was to mimic dense brushes during spring and summertime, and to break up the vehicle’s outlines esp. through the brown lines. Following official camouflage practice the running gear area remained uniform Dunkelgelb, as a counter-shading measure against the upper hull, and to avoid “rotating” and therefore attention-catching color patches on the wheels when the vehicle moved.

 

Once the camouflage was completed the main wheels received rubber rims (with Revell 09 Anthracite) and the model received a dark red-brown washing. After that, the few decals were applied and overall dry-brushing with a mix of light grey and earth brown acrylic paint was done to emphasize edges and surface details, also on the gun and in the interior. Before their tedious fitting, the vinyl tracks (which came OOB in a metallic grey finish that looked really nice) had received a washing with black and brown acrylic paint as well as dry-brushing with medium grey, too.

  

A relatively simple and quick project, realized in a couple of days. The concept was quite clear, and thanks to good ingredients the result looks surprisingly plausible, with relatively few and little modifications. The different Panzer III wheels were not a necessary mod, but I like their look, and painting them while being already attached to the hull posed less problems than expected. The only real trouble came through the kit’s vinyl tracks, which I’d call rubbish and recommend a replacement. If they’d be made from a less repellant material, they’d be much easier to mount (and usable). However, the small Jagdwespe really looks like a juvenile Nashorn SPG!

 

THE FRIARS OF ATHENRY

In County Galway, there is an abbey at Athenry, the oldest town in all Connaught established by the English, who at the present day style it a city in the state and legal documents. It was built by the English in the reign of King John of England. Tuam, on the other hand, the archiepiscopal see and the metropolis of the whole province of Connaught, though a great city in olden times, is not at present of much importance. Athenry is now almost desolate though it still retains the name of a city; it is situated in a pleasant locality, where the air is most salubrious. I do not care to argue about the time the abbey was founded nor about the founder's name, that I may avoid jealous criticism, although I could produce many authentic documents on this point. Accordingly the abbey, made illustrious by its history and its friars, was erected in 1241 by Lord Bermingham, more correctly Brimigiam, and called in Irish, Mac Fheorais, from a certain Horatius Lord Brimigiam who was made baron of Athenry by the king of England, and was the premier of all the Irish barons created by the English. This abbey was in possession of fifteen hundred acres of land and abundant tithes. The said lord completed a fairly large church; but the cloister, chapterhouse, the beautiful guest-house, with two great and most commodious cellars, the novitiate, and the dormitory over the refectory and kitchens were built from the foundations by a wealthy man of that time called O'Heyne; and the southern part of the dormitory over the refectory and kitchen were built by a certain soldier, called Sir Thomas Delphin, an Englishman by birth.

 

Here follows a list of the possessions of this abbey: —

Within the town a piece of ground walled-in near the abbey, a large and excellent mill almost at the very gate of the abbey, and several houses; outside the town, the district of Glaimhe an Bháin, which had formerly belonged to the Benedictines; another very commodious piece of land near the town to the south, called the Friars’ Wood, in Irish Coill na mBráthar; at the north side a district called David's Village, in Irish Baile Dháibhidh, where there is a chapel belonging to the abbey; a mile from the town, to the north-east, there is another farm called Beann-dheara; another farm near Suidfhinn, is called Coill Craobhanta, where there is also a chapel belonging to this abbey. The chapel of Kilcorban, with a good farm attached, belonged also to this abbey, according to Ware, Thomas Burke, bishop of Clonfert, with the consent of his chapter, granted to the friars of the Order of St. Dominic the chapel of St. Mary's, Kilcorban, on the petition of John Fitz Reyry and his brethren of the same Order, and Eugene IV., confirmed the grant, 12th March, 1444, as Ware says, speaking of the monastic foundations of the county Galway. In the parish of Grainseagh, between Binmor and Rathglas, it had a large and fertile district called Rathchalaíg Tuadh Lubaín an Teampuill, with a farm and chapel. This is, as far as my memory goes, what I often read in an old parchment document during the year of my novitiate, 1665. I take notice of these matters here, that some knowledge of them may be preserved among the younger members of this community, and that thus they may more easily explore them, if Jesus Christ take mercy on our country when our sins have been expiated. For we are visited with an iron rod by Him whose judgments are faithful and true, more desirable than gold and precious stones and sweeter than honey and honeycomb." May the God of mercies grant, through the most Sacred Blood of His Son, that we may keep them and repair our transgressions by worthy penance.

 

FATHER DOMINIC BURKE, from 1638 to 1649, was twice prior of this community, to the great spiritual benefit of the house. After finishing his studies in. our most important and religious convent of Bologna, in Italy, he returned home, and on being made prior after some time, repaired the whole abbey and sumptuously decorated the church. During his period of office, the illustrious Edmund Burke of Kilcornan, built the chapel of the most Holy Rosary. The studies flourished under this prior with great success and splendour. This father was vicar-provincial of the entire province for a year. He was confessor to Lord Ulick Burke, Marques of Clanricard, then vice-gerent of the lord-lieutenant of the kingdom, to whose devoted liberality it was principally owing that he was able to repair and decorate the abbey. He was a grave pious, and prudent man, beloved by all; he was faulty, however, in one respect, viz., in opposing Rinuccini, the apostolic nuncio, carried away by his zealous adherence to the aforesaid marquis and being also induced to follow some prelates of his own name. These were Dr. John Burke, archbishop of Tuam; Dr. Hugh Burke, bishop of Kilmacduagh; Dr. Andrew Lynch, bishop of Kilfenora, and many others, even regulars, such as Father Valentine Browne and Father Peter Walsh the Franciscan. This was very unwise conduct. Kind reader, spare me; I say nothing out of malice, but simply state historic facts. This very Father Dominic Burke was an uncle of my father and the two bishops Burke were uncles of my mother, all of whom I venerate and truly love, but I love truth itself more. Father Dominic repented afterwards of the opposition given by him to the apostolic legate; as likewise did the bishops. In 1649 he was attacked by a disease from which he died the same year a pious and resigned death, fortified by the last sacraments of the church. Of all the Dominicans of Ireland, this father alone opposed the nuncio. The latter testified that it seemed to be inborn in the Dominicans to defend the Holy See.

 

FATHER JOHN O'FAHEY, of the same community, studied very hard and with very great success in Italy. After returning home, he was made lector of philosophy in his own native convent, and afterwards master of students and lector of theology: offices which he filled with great applause, and yet preached with learning and eloquence on all festival days. He was a model of great mortification and piety at home and abroad; he always went on foot wherever he had occasion to go; from his profession he never wore linen, being ordinarily clothed in torn garments; and he strongly opposed those who did not submit to the legate of the Holy See. The Catholics had a great veneration for him. On the subjugation of the kingdom and the consequent prostration of religion, he was compelled to leave his country; and he went a second time to Italy and lived at Viterbo where he died a pious death.

 

The good Father William Burke, called the elder, master of sacred theology, made a brilliant course of studies in Spain and taught in our convent of Burgundy. He was an excellent speaker in his native tongue, as well as in English, Spanish and Latin. He was Provincial of Ireland from 1648 inclusive to 1654, and in 1650 was a delegate of the Catholics of Ireland to his most serene highness, the Duke of Lorraine. During his provincialship, he went from home as an exile to Louvain and finished his term of office while living there. Returning to his convent on the restoration of the king, he was made prior; afterwards also at Rathbran in the county Mayo, where he had been born of the illustrious family of the Bourkes of Turlagh. Having attained to a great age, full of years and fortified by the sacraments of the church, he died a pious and penitent death in Rathbran convent, about 1685.

 

FATHER WILLIAM BURKE, otherwise Fitz Redmond, a scion of the distinguished house of the Burkes of Iserkealla, studied in Spain, and after his return lived a most exemplary life in his convent until he was exiled in the course of the year 1650. On the subjugation of the kingdom by the usurper Cromwell, he came to France and remained there until his death in the convent of Vannes, belonging to the religious and learned Congregation of Brittany.

 

FATHER EDMOND BURKE of Gortnameaccan, also of noble birth, studied at Burgos in Spain, and on his way home was captured by Algerian Moors with two other fathers. They were kept in most severe slavery for three years when the Catholic King, Philip IV., sent a ransom for them. This father died a pious death in Andalusia

 

FATHER BRIAN O'HEYNE, after almost finishing his studies in Andalusia, fell sick on the day he said his first mass and died on the eighth day of his sickness, fortified by the last sacraments, with the reputation of virtue: as Father Tully and Father Conor O'Mahony have related in our convent.

 

FATHER JOHN O'DEA, after finishing his studies with success, died a religious and pious death while staying in a convent where no studies are carried on, called in Spanish a pensocha.

 

FATHER DOMINIC BURKE, a most amiable and religious youth, began his studies and almost finished them at Avila, and having been sent to the convent of the Blessed Virgin of Atocha, gave his soul to his Creator after singing his first mass in the convent of the Passion at Madrid, piously refreshed with the adorable Eucharist and extreme unction, 18th August, 1675. He was a cousin of the most illustrious prelate, Dominic Burke, to whom we shall soon refer again.

 

BROTHER WILLIAM BURKE, just after being professed for the same convent, was sent to Spain; and being received into the noble convent of Burgos, began his studies there. He was much beloved, being of the distinguished family of the Burkes of Iserclerain, but was much more loveable by his life, for he had mortified himself so much by a hair-shirt and an iron chain bound around his tender body (as was written to me from that place) that in the year 1679, after a short illness, comforted by the sacraments of the church, he finished his life with a great reputation of virtue. The Acts of the provincial chapter of the province of Castile testify to all this, and they do not commonly give similar testimony without a strong and unshaken foundation.

 

FATHER OWEN O'HEYNE, a pious and upright religious, died towards the end of his studies at Plasencia in Spain, about 1685.

 

BROTHER EDMOND VALE died a pious death in the convent of Holy Cross Segovia.

 

BROTHER PIERCE O’DALY died at Zeres de la Frontera: he was very humble and pious.

 

FATHER TIEGE FITZPATRICK, a youth of great intelligence and very pious, died in the same place before he had finished his studies, refreshed with the last sacraments.

 

BROTHER JOHN LYNCH, about to return home owing to a disease contracted in Spain, died at Bayonne: he was very upright.

 

FATHER HUBERT DELPHIN studied in Spain with singular success. He was an upright and pious man and of a most lively intelligence, and was very distinguished as a preacher. He was so well versed in Sacred Scripture that he seemed to know it entirely by heart. He was preacher-general, prior of Urlar and afterwards of Athenry, and while ruling the latter convent with great piety and prudence, died a pious death in 1653.

 

FATHER THOMAS TULLY, bachelor of sacred theology, while returning home with two others after finishing his studies with distinction at Vittoria in Spain, viz.. Father Edmund Burke, already mentioned, and Father Conor MacMahon, to whom we shall refer immediately, was captured by the Moors, and spent three years in cruel slavery with perfect resignation. On the restoration of our king, he came home and arriving safely at his own convent, opened a school with Father MacMahon, by command of the provincial. Father O'Hart, in a very solitary locality, which they carried on for ten years with great renown and success. In 1665, when I received the habit, there were about three hundred scholars of all ages in that school. Worn out by his constant labours in teaching, preaching, hearing confessions and catechizing, this most charming and truly religious man, after piously receiving the last sacraments, died to the great grief of all the Catholics in 1672.

 

FATHER CONOR MACMAHON, his companion, was sent to Kilkenny convent to teach, and died there in the beginning of 1654. This father was for three years master of novices in the observant convent of Segovia, and Father John Martinez de Prado had such an admiration for his ability and memory, that he was heard to say he believe that this father had by heart the second section of the second part of St. Thomas’s Summa, so that the great man frequently consulted him on moral questions. He was a true Israelite, in whom there was no guile, and was given above everything to mental prayer, at which he accustomed us twelve novices placed under his care to remain so long, that often several fell to the ground from weakness and the knees of all were ulcerated.

 

FATHER GERALD DAVOCK, master of sacred theology, 6n his return home after his studies in Spain, was made lector of philosophy, and then master of studies. He filled these posts satisfactorily and also preached with eloquence. On the dispersion of the religious, being captured by the Protestants, he was relegated with many other regular and secular priests to an island in the sea called Boffin, where with great patience he bore seven years of want. However, on the restoration of the king they were all liberated, except Father Bryan Cooney, who died a happy death there for the glory of God. Around the waist of this heroic man, there was found after death, a leathern cincture, studded with sharp and piercing iron nails. He was still at that time the worthy provincial of the Order of the great patriarch, St. Francis. Our Father Davock lived a very pious and religious life for a long time after his liberation from this island and laboriously cultivated the vineyard of the Lord by word and example. He came from Ireland to Louvain, to make a visitation of this college of ours of Holy Cross, in 1664, and made many wise ordinations. Broken down by old age and wearied by the severity of the persecution then newly risen again, he slept piously in the Lord, in 1675, fortified by the last sacraments.

 

FATHER JOHN DAVOCK, a distinguished man, most acceptable not only to the Catholics, but also to the English Protestants, owing to his charming manners, died at Athenry, under the weight of years in 1686, after receiving the last sacraments, amid the prayers of his brethren standing around. He was once prior of his convent, and lived for a long time in England with the marquis of Clanricard, as his confessor and intimate companion.

 

FATHER THOMAS BURKE, the elder, pursued his studies in the convent of St. Paul, at Palencia in Spain, and much later on lived at Rivadavia in Galicia, until in fact the return of the restored king to England. A year aft his return home in 1665, he was elected prior of his convent. He received many excellent young men to the habit; a second and a third time he was prior of his convent and once of Roscommon, and although he did not preach owing to a stutter, he understood many matters very well; was a distinguished moral theologian and a man of a good and very exemplary life. He was so old and feeble that the Protestants could not banish him from his country. However they turned him out of his convent and soon after, comforted by the last sacraments, he departed from this miserable life, at the age of ninety, in 1692.

 

FATHER JOHN BURKE, professed at Zamora, in 1666, finished his studies there, and on his return was made questor and was indeed serviceable to his convent as he was also in teaching catechism and preaching to the people. He was made preacher-general and prior of Youghal convent. Exiled with the others, he came to Nantes in Britanny, where he died after two years, fortified by the last sacraments.

 

Another FATHER JOHN BURKE likewise died an exile in the convent of Petrahita. He was a hard-working curate to his uncle, the parish priest of Athenry, for many years, and yet did not cease to beg for his convent.

 

FATHER MARK BROWN also died in exile at the convent of Quimper in Brittany, in 1704. He was an upright and religious man.

 

FATHER TIEGE UA DÁLAIDH, in English Daly, preacher general, should not be forgotten, who in his fourteenth year received the habit at Athenry and having made his profession, went to Spain and devoted himself commendably to his studies there. He was an adept in the Gregorian chant; his voice was strong and very sweet; he preached the Word of God with energy and eloquence, and he was dear to all, being very exemplary and of mild disposition. For several years he lived in the house of Sir William Burke, earl of Clanricard, as his confessor. He was once prior in the convent of St. Peter Martyr, at Portumna, and twice in his own native convent for which he was preacher general, and he received several most respectable young men into the Order in both houses. Being at length made provincial, just before the intermediate chapter was held at Athenry, he was brought to death's door by a three days' sickness, and after receiving the sacraments of the Church with devotion and contrition, passed from this to a better life, in 1682.

 

FATHER IGNATIUS LYNCH studied in Salamanca and thence returned home, and on being made prior of his convent after a little time, showed himself to be a zealous and good syndic, by the way he procured and administered the goods of the community. He was twice prior there and once at Galway; he ruled prudently and peacefully in all humility, following the counsel of the wise, which is a great virtue and part of the science of the saints. Fortified by the last sacraments and showing marks of great piety, he placed his soul in the hands of his Creator, in 1695.

 

FATHER HUBERT DELPHIN the younger, a cousin of the important man of the same name already mentioned, after finishing his classical and philosophical studies at Rome and on being ordained as a secular priest, administered a parish with prudence and vigilance for twelve ears. That he might escape, however, the constant dangers of a life in the world, he chose the better part, viz., the habit and profession of the Dominican Order at Athenry; sent thence to Spain, he went through the three years' course of theology at Salamanca. On being afterwards made procurator general at Madrid for the Irish province, he looked after this business with true fatherly care for one year, but owing to sickness he was not able to attend to it any further. On getting leave from his superiors, he came back to Ireland, where he began to devote himself to preaching, and was soon made preacher-general. Then being exiled with the rest of the religious of all the orders, he came to Nantes accompanied by four simple novices. Whilst searching for a place of novitiate for these young men, who were till three months off the full year of probation, he suffered many hardships, tramping up and down Paris on foot until he had placed them in the general novitiate in the suburb of Saint Germain. He stayed with them instructing them in the way of virtue until their profession, and then came to Louvain to the college of the Holy Cross, welcomed by all. He was treated with singular favour by Count Berló, bishop of Namur, so that on obtaining fatuities for the purpose from that prelate, he was fortunate in receiving many heretics into the bosom of our holy Mother the Church. At length on the twentieth of November, after making his confession and devoutly offering up the holy sacrifice of the mass, worn out with a violent cough and comforted by extreme unction on the same day, he delivered his soul into the hands of our Redeemer, in the year 1700 and the sixty-sixth of his age.’ He was an extremely good man and was zealous for the glory of God, the honour of the Church and the dignity of his Order.

 

Members of the same community slain in testimony of the Catholic Faith from the year 1651: —

First of all, FATHER VINCENT GERALD DILLON, thrown into prison at York in England wasted away by the hardships, and the filth and stench of the prison, received, the crown of victory, after showing a great example of patience and constancy.

 

FATHER STEPHEN PETIT, of the same community, whilst bearing the confession, of a Catholic soldier, was killed by a distant shot from a Protestant soldier, and is piously believed to be a martyr.

 

BROTHER JAMES O'MORAN, a laybrother; BROTHER DOMINIC or DONAGH BLACK; BROTHER RICHARD HOVEDON; happy victims for Christ, were slain at the sacrilegious hands of the Protestants.

 

FATHER JOHN O’QUILLAN, a living model of religious observance most devoted to prayer and fasting although in infirm health, always contented with poor garments, was so talented that he learnt almost all the sciences without a master. In several conferences he refuted the Protestants with great learning; he animated the Catholics; for the authority of the Holy Apostolic See suffered every risk. Captured at length by the Protestants and pierced with many wounds, he cheerfully gave his life for Christ, claiming the crown of virginity fortitude. His head, cut off from the body and set on a spike, was exposed as a trophy.

 

The end crowns the work: so like a beautiful ear the same religious stalk, we place before our readers illustrious DR. DOMINIC BURKE, bishop of Elphin was born in Ireland about 1639, of parents distinguished for their constant profession of the orthodox faith and belonging to good old families. About 1648, the whole kingdom was shaken with furious and raging war, drawn by a desire of spiritual perfection, he met a soldier of the gospel and was professed in the Order of Friars Preachers. After this he set out Spain, but being captured by the English at sea, brought to Kinsale and thrown into prison. He escaped, with the special aid of Jesus Christ, by jumping the top of the prison wall into the mud left by the outgoing tide. For two days he lay hid in a neighbouring wood, covered with mud up to his neck because he not dare to seek the river to wash himself, luring these two days he neither ate nor drank. At length he timidly approached the house of a certain Catholic gentleman of the Roche family, who received him most kindly and gave him hospitality until he had recovered his strength. Then his host sent him on his way well-clothed from head to foot and with money enough for his journey (for he had been robbed by his Protestant captors of his own clothes and money) and this assistance be arrived safe at his mother’s house.

 

Astounded at his adventures, she begged him earnestly not to expose himself again to the dangers of the sea; he prevailed on her, however, to let him go, and getting money from her for his journey, took ship at Galway and arrived safely in Spain; where being received into our religious convent of Holy Cross at Segovia, he spent six years at his studies. On the completion of his course, as the persecution was still raging in Ireland, he went to Italy and remained there for about sixteen years. Owing to his upright and spotless life and his fervent zeal in promoting religion, he was greatly esteemed by all, and especially by the excellent and wise Father Gentili, twice provincial of the great and observant province of Lombardy and afterwards archbishop of Genoa. So being appointed master of novices at Venice, again at Milan, in the magnificent ducal convent of Our Lady of Graces, and lastly in the general novitiate of Bosco, he filled these positions laudably and piously for ten continuous years. In the general chapter of our Order, held at Rome in 1670, he was definitor, and was an honour to his province and of great service to the college of Holy Cross, Louvain. Without solicitation on his part but called like Aaron, he was suddenly promoted by Pope Clement X., in 1671, to the see of Elphin, and was consecrated at Ghent. Returning home immediately, he exercised the ministry of a good and vigilant pastor by word, example, and the administration of the sacraments.

 

It can hardly be related how severely he suffered in the horrid persecution, raised in 1680 against all Catholics in England and Ireland without distinction. Two hundred pounds sterling were offered by the lord-lieutenant and the Privy Council of the kingdom as a premium for whoever would capture him; so that he ordinarily journed by night during this persecution. For four months he lay so closely hidden a solitary house that he did not even once take a step outside the door; bat on the approach of Maundy Thursday, on which he had to consecrate the holy oils, he forthwith started on a journey of forty miles, travelling always by night. I was his sole companion all that year, until the arrest of Dr. Oliver Plunkett, the archbishop of Armagh, who from the prison in Dublin used often to send warnings to the bishop of Elphin regarding the means proposed from time to time in the Cabinet and the Privy Council for his capture. The bishop was thus greatly aided in eluding their ambuscades and bloody hands, into which if he had fallen, he would have met the same fate as befell the primate the following year; as I mention when speaking of the death of Father Thomas O'Hart of the Sligo convent. Our bishop, though poor and without any revenue (for the Protestant pseudo-bishops possess all the ecclesiastical revenues in those unfortunate kingdoms), had an immense dislike to receive gifts from anyone, and especially ecclesiastics; and that he might live respectably and yet not be a burthen to his clergy who had nothing whatever to live on except the free alms of the faithful, he rented a good large farm from his near relative, William Burke, earl of Clanricard. He greatly improved this farm with buildings, fences and the judicious plantation of trees; and by means of it was aide to live observing the laws of kind and liberal hospitality, according to the primitive custom of the Church, as long as there was any cessation from the storm of persecution.

 

During the war of the Protestant rebels against our truly Catholic King James, this venerable bishop was obliged to transfer his domicile outside his on diocese to Galway, where the citizens treated him with all marks of affection and honour, freely shared their means with him, so that he kept open table there, no other prelate of the kingdom doing the same. He was always an energetic defender of the Mendicant Orders whom he called the right eye of the Church; and this very clearly appeared in King James's Parliament at Dublin, where he closed the mouths of the adversaries of the regulars. He was most devout to the Holy Virgin Mother of God; so that in addition to the Canonical Office, he daily recited with fervour the entire rosary, and very often twice a day. King James as well as the Queen loved him exceedingly. On being exiled, he declined to remain in the abbey offered to him by the most Christian King, Louis the Great, but preferring the poverty of mendicants, he came over to Louvain and elected to pass his life amongst his brethren in the college of Holy Cross. Our house, however, threatened at the time to fall into ruins through old age, and the danger was so imminent to those living in it, that it was necessary to put it into repair; and so when our house was broken up he betook himself to the Irish Franciscan Fathers living in this same town, and being treated most kindly by them, lived in great content. At length after going through many labours for God and the Church, and weighed down with the burthen of about seventy-six years, he was comforted by the Blessed Eucharist and extreme unction after confessing his sins, and with full use of his faculties to the very last, he calmly gave up his soul to our Saviour, on New Year's Day, 1704, between nine and ten o'clock at night. He lies buried in their chapel near the high altar.

 

Belonging to this community there are still living:

FATHER REDMOND O'KENNY, at least ninety years of age, left by the Protestants in Ireland, owing to his Weakness and senility, though evicted from his convent. He studied in Spain and has ministered with zeal and access in his convent and also among the people now for about sixty years. This father is at present the senior of all the members of his community and of the whole province, and is truly a good man.

 

FATHER JOHN O'HEYNE [the present writer] , a bachelor of sacred theology, is the next in seniority of profession. He studied at Salamanca and taught philosophy in France; as master of students, second and first regent, he taught at intervals in the college of Holy Cross at Louvain, where he was vicar for a year. On his first return to Ireland, by command of Father William Burke, the provincial, he taught a large school, until he was obliged by the violence of the persecution to hide and be the companion for a year of the bishop of Elphin. Thereupon he was specially sought after by the Protestants, he was compelled to fly from the kingdom. On finishing his term of regency at Louvain, he returned home a second time, and remained there for eight years evangelizing the people, and was prior of Urlar. Finally exiled with the rest of all the religious orders, after the various mishaps of distressful exile, he is living in Louvain at Holy Cross, in the sixtieth year of his age and the fortieth of his profession.

 

FATHER DOMINIC DELPHIN, of the same community, studied at Pamplona, and after returning home was very useful to his convent. He is a thoroughly religious and devoted man. Since the beginning of the exile he has been residing in the convent of Ypres.

 

FATHER BARTHOLOMEW O’HEYNE studied at Palencia in Spain, and after his return became a good preacher. He vas prior at Naas, Athy, Portumna and Athenry and is an upright and religious man, He lived at Nantes for several years after the exile and is now staying, as I hear, in the convent of Saint John of the Angels, in the province of France.

 

FATHER ANTHONY MACHUGH, of the same community, studied brilliantly at Salamanca, and was esteemed by all there as an eminent religious. When he had returned home he was made lector of philosophy at Athenry, and taught with success, together with Father John O'Heyne, until the persecution. This Father Anthony devoted himself most ardently to preaching in the district in which he quested for eighteen continuous years, and indeed his preaching produced great fruit in the large barony of Dunmore. He was also assiduous in hearing confessions, serviceable in catechizing, and active and successful in promoting the holy rosary. He remained at home after the exile of the religious, suffering for the name of Christ, and at present is prior of his convent. He is a man gifted with great piety and always most modest.

 

FATHER THOMAS BURKE, bachelor of sacred theology, began his studies at Louvain, continued them in the convent of Saint Jacques, Paris, and finished them in Rome, at Saint Sixtus's, where he taught philosophy, and for some months, theology. He was also prior there, and on his return home after some years, was prior of his convent. On being exiled, he set out for Rome where for a second term he was made prior of Saint Sixtus's. He is now living in the convent of Saint Mary's of the Minerva: he is an upright and good religious.

 

FATHER JOHN MAC GILLA-CELLAIGH, in English Killkelly, studied at Avila in Spain and after his return was a constant and agreeable preacher. For six years he was the socius of the provincial and also prior of his convent. He repaired the dormitory and mill of the convent; he made a fine enlargement of the church porch. As far back as eighteen years ago he was proposed as preacher-general for his convent by the provincial chapter, and indeed with reason, He is good and pious, active and expert in affairs, and a ready and a clever writer. He is staying at present m the refuge of the Dominicans in the town of Bilbao in Spain.

 

FATHER PIERCE KENNA studied with success in the magnificent convent of Valladolid. After returning home he perseveringly pursued the distinguished calling of a preacher for twenty-four years, so that his preaching became celebrated. He was prior of Tralee and twice prior of Kilmallock. He clothed at least eighteen novices in the habit, who made their profession at his hands. The gentry and the common people held him in great esteem. On being exiled he lived for a long time in the convent of Blois, but he is now residing in the hospital of Chateau-Thierry in France.

 

FATHER REDMOND BURKE, of the same community, studied in Andalusia and on his return preached satisfactory, as I have heard from many; was prior of Ballindune and of Sligo and governed with prudence. He is an upright man and a great observer of silence. Since the time of the exile he has been living somewhere in Brittany.

 

FATHER AUGUSTINE BURKE studied with success at Pamplona and after his return preached well and with unction. This mature and modest religious was prior of Roscommon and is living in exile in Bayonne in France.

 

FATHER THOMAS BODKIN studied in France and after his return lived piously in his convent. He is living in exile in the convent of Saint John of the Angels.

 

FATHER MATTHEW TULLY studied in Spain. Being exiled he is living in the convent of Quimper in Britanny: he is a model religious.

 

FATHER THOMAS TULLY, after finishing his studies in Spain, was assigned to San Sebastian in Vizcaya, where he is spending his time piously, as I am informed.

 

FATHER TEIGE O'DALY, having now finished his studies, is residing in the convent of the Incarnation, Bilbao: he is an upright and prudent man, as I am informed

 

FATHER FRANCIS DAVOCK, also an exile, is living in the convent of Corunna in Galicia.

 

FATHER JAMES DAVOCK studied in Spain, and was a very provident procurator for our refuge at Bilbao. He left that place to return home and is still remaining in France.

 

FATHER EDMOND BURKE, bachelor of sacred theology, studied at Pamplona, Salamanca, and in the convent of Atocha near Madrid, with success. He was made lector for the college at Louvain and taught philosophy there. He was master of students, second regent, and now is first regent as well as prior of the college of Holy Cross.

 

FATHER MARTIN DELPHIN studied in Rome and is lector of philosophy here at present.

 

FATHER THOMAS MACNEVIN studied in Spain and at Louvain, and is now chaplain of a regiment of the Spanish army in Belgium.

 

FATHER ANTHONY MACHUGH, the younger, is a student at Grenoble.

 

FATHER COLMAN O'SHAUGHNESSY is studying at Louvain.

  

FATHER ANTHONY BURKE studied in Italy; and after the late exile, went there a second time and is ministering in the hospital at Modena.

 

FATHER AUGUSTINE BERMINGHAM, as I hear, is a lector at Ferrara in Italy

 

FATHER CLEMENT BODKIN is living in the convent of Saint John of the Angels in France.

 

FATHER JOHN BURKE of Clocheroke is in Spain.

 

FATHER HUBERT BURKE gave two courses of philosophy; at Saint Sixtus's, after spending four years at his studies I at Avila, Pamplona and Granada. He is now second rent at Saint Sixtus's.

 

FATHER OLIVER O'DAVORAN made good studies in Spain, and is confessor to the nuns of our Order at Dijon in France.

 

FATHER JAMES MACEGAN is in Spain.

 

FATHER RICKARD BURKE is in Italy.

 

FATHER PIERCE FURLONG has been in prison for the last three years in England.

 

FATHER JOHN O'MORAN is staying at Estella in Navarre.

 

There are therefore thirty-two alive belonging to this community of Athenry.

   

//What a disaster

 

William Saunderson-Meyer says the floods just another blow to a province that was already on its knees

 

KwaZulu-Natal has declared a provincial state of disaster to try to cope with the devastating floods of the past week.

 

This is normally a temporary mechanism of which the primary purpose is to facilitate speedy national government assistance to hard-pressed provincial and local authorities. It also triggers the release of emergency funds from the National Treasury.

 

But in KZN’s case, they might as well make it permanent. This is a province that has been on its knees for some time and it ain’t getting up any time soon.

 

After all, KZN hasn’t even staunched the bloodied nose it suffered nine months ago. That’s when one wing of the African National Congress government — the Radical Economic Transformation followers of former president Jacob Zuma — tried to bury the other — the so-called reformists led by President Cyril Ramaphosa.

 

KZN hasn’t even properly tallied the body blows it suffered then. The official estimates for the insurrection were 45,000 businesses affected, R50bn in economic damage, 129,000 jobs lost, and 354 killed.

 

These estimates are probably on the low side. For example, the number of people who were killed in the mayhem doesn’t include the many whose bodies were simply never found and counted.

 

And the true economic cost is incalculable. There’s been substantially increased emigration of minorities, cancelled investment, and the loss of international confidence in KZN as a safe tourist destination. In at least a dozen small, country towns, all the business infrastructure was destroyed, paradoxically by the very people who worked and shopped in those buildings.

 

Now the floods. The death toll is over 300 and still rising. Some 6,000 homes have been destroyed and road, water sewage and electrical infrastructure uprooted. As I write this, roaming mobs are opportunistically plundering container depots, stranded trucks, abandoned homes and vulnerable businesses, reportedly unhindered — as was the case during last year’s riots — by the police and army.

 

Naturally, no disaster is complete without a scapegoat. Ramaphosa, as is his style, was quick off the mark to finger the culprit — climate change.

 

“This disaster is part of climate change. It is telling us that climate change is serious, it is here,” Ramaphosa told reporters while inspecting a devastated Durban. “We no longer can postpone what we need to do, and the measures we need to take to deal with climate change.”

 

What balderdash. Whatever role climate change may or may not have played in the larger scheme of things, it’s nonsense to pin on it responsibility for the plight of KZN. That lies with the ANC government.

 

First, this was not an unforeseeable bolt from the heavens. The forecasters warned months back that this was likely to be an exceptionally wet summer because of the La Niña weather pattern that occurs every few years.

 

There are also historical precedents for extreme weather in KZN, which a prudent administration would have taken note of.

 

In 1984, Tropical Storm Domoina wreaked havoc in a swathe from Mozambique, through Swaziland to KZN. Although the current downpour is worse, the scale is nevertheless in the same ballpark.

 

This latest storm — as yet unnamed — dumped 450mm of rain on Durban in 48 hours. Domoina let loose 615mm in 24 hours on Swaziland and northern KZN.

 

But the true difference between those events, 38 years apart, lies in the lack of preparedness on the part of today’s authorities. In 1984 the SA Air Force deployed 25 helicopters to airlift people to safety. In the 2000 Mozambique floods, 17 SAAF helicopters rescued more than 14,000 people.

 

This time, according to a News24 report, the SA Police Service and the SAAF, combined, have been unable to put a single chopper in the air. The erosion of South Africa’s military means that of the SAAF’s 39 Oryx helicopters, only 17 are serviceable.

 

Durban-based 15 Squadron has not a single helicopter available for search and rescue — they are reportedly primarily used as VIP transport — but two SAAF choppers supposedly have been despatched from Gqeberha to help. The SAPS airwing has only one serviceable helicopter but “the pilot on duty has been booked off sick”.

 

Second, throughout the province, local government is also in a state of disaster and unable to do its job. The scale of the KZN impairment can be measured in the flood destruction of homes.

 

Some 4,000 shanties have been destroyed, many because officialdom was too lax to forbid building on the floodplain and against precariously unstable hillsides. Another 2,000 of the homes swept away were so-called RDP houses, shoddily built during the kickback-and-steal bonanza of the government’s Reconstruction and Development Programme of the late 1990s.

 

In Durban, the eThekwini metro is bloated and inert. It carries a rates and services debt of R17bn, of which R1bn is owed by the national government.

 

Durban is also infamously corrupt. Former mayor Zandile Gumede — along with 21 co-accused — is facing fraud, corruption and money-laundering charges in connection with a R320m municipal tender.

 

Yet at the weekend, even as the rain was bucketing down, she won the ANC’s regional leadership contest hands-down, despite the party’s supposed “step-aside when accused” rule.

 

The ANC-aligned Ahmed Kathrada Foundation has no illusions about the party it supports. It issued a statement calling on the government to ensure that unlike the plundering of Covid-19 emergency relief funds, the KZN disaster funds were not stolen or misused.

 

Fat chance. The ANC has already announced that its parliamentary constituency offices in KZN would become “hubs for humanitarian support” and appealed for the donation of relief supplies. Watch the trousering by the ANC’s public representatives of anything that the public is dumb enough to leave with them.

 

It’s in KZN where the ANC’s brazen indifference to the law and antipathy towards the Constitution is at its most obvious and most destructive.

 

On Monday, Zuma's corruption trial once again failed to take off in the Pietermaritzburg High Court when he successfully blocked the process with another round of delaying legal actions. His lawyers also had some carefully threatening words for the judiciary in a separate Supreme Court of Appeal action.

 

They urged SCA President Mandisa Maya to reconsider the dismissal of his latest corruption prosecution challenges. They warned that last year’s deadly July unrest was “in part, traceable to a perceived erroneous and unjust judicial outcome” that put Zuma briefly in prison for contempt of court.

 

“When such conceived mistakes are committed, the citizens (wrongly) feel entitled to resort to self-help…”

 

Floods, fires and locusts are devastating but at least happen relatively rarely. The ANC, alas, is a seemingly unending plague.

 

www.politicsweb.co.za/opinion/kzn-what-a-disaster

This is 16th bus that was kept for the route 200S contract and its role on the 200S and now route 7A has been covered largely by a spare 12m 2009 Volvo B7RLE with only 15 serviceable B12BLE available to release 16 newer Scania Omnilinks from the 7A

Typical of a Summer June Saturday as the rain teems down....

 

Two of the 3 serviceable DRS's Class 20s - 20309+20305 Blast their way through Radcliffe-on-Trent with Retro Railtours 1Z50 05.04 Crewe to Skegness charter on Saturday 13th June 2015.

 

20305 - the former 20095 in real money was making its debut to Skegness after a 55 year wait. As for 20309 it was making its umpteenth visit as it was the former 20075 which spent many year based at Toton.

 

I can't recall as to what exactly Travel West Midlands, Metrobus 2990 had been in collision with, but whatever it was, it was quite tall with the damage extending to the roof. I'm not absolutely sure, but this makes me think that 2990 was the bus that had returned to Wolverhampton's Park Lane bus garage one evening with a problem whilst operating a night service with passengers aboard.

 

If it was the bus, then the driver had parked the vehicle up on the garage apron with passengers aboard, then left the bus to get assistance. During those fateful few minutes, a drunken male passenger decided to take to the controls, driving the bus just a few yards before colliding with the building that housed the bus wash. I'm sure that fellow Flickrite 'Speedbird 25' will remember if this is was the bus involved.

 

The picture shows 2990, parked up at the bottom of the yard at Park Lane with other none serviceable buses, awaiting its turn for repair. The coach behind 2990, belonged to a local church or youth group.

 

3rd June 1997.

XM655 is an Avro Vulcan B Mk2, and the youngest Vulcan in existence (the third to last produced; XM656 and XM657 have both been scrapped). Delivered to 9 squadron at RAF Cottesmore in November 1964, she tranferred to the Waddington Wing in January 1968. She then served with 101 and 44 squadrons, and was with 50 squadron when she was put up for disposal in late 1983. She was bought by businessman Roy Jacobsen who had hopes to fly her on the airshow circuit.

 

She was the first Vulcan “civilianised” and was flown in to Wellesbourne Mountford about a week after a Cat 3 Check, on the 11th of February 1984. Hundreds of people were there to watch her arrive. She had flown only 5,744 hours, making her a very viable proposition for taking to the air once more. However, the Civil Aviation Authority made it clear that the aircraft would not be flying again without stringent conditions being satisfied. While efforts at funding the work necessary were begun and the aircraft was put on the civil register as G-VULC, little real progress was made. A plan to fly the aircraft in America got as far as registering the aircraft on the American civil register as N655AV but no further. After two years Roy Jacobsen lost interest in XM655 and bought another Vulcan (XL426) which was delivered to Southend. Parking fees were mounting at Wellesbourne and after a number of years the airfield owners took Jacobsen to court to recover them. The result was that the ownership of the aircraft passed to Wellesbourne Airfield.

 

XM655 had stood without attention for so long that she was in quite poor condition. Ten years of neglect had finally put paid to any lingering hopes of her ever flying again. At one stage she had been broken into, the cockpit instrumentation vandalised and the co-pilot’s control column removed with a hacksaw. The wingtip panels were also damaged at some point. With the transfer of ownership however, the future began looking brighter.

 

The Delta Engineering Association was formed to look after XM655 and they made it clear from the outset that their intention was to get her into ground running condition only. The aircraft was gradually brought back to life – all the hydraulics were overhauled, the damage to the cockpit was repaired and a number of engine runs undertaken.

 

Delta moved from Wellesbourne to Kemble in March 1996, and after the brief and unhappy existence and demise of the XM655 Association, the volunteers remaining at Wellesbourne decided that the best way forward would be a properly constituted membership organisation to look after XM655. As a result the 655 Maintenance and Preservation Society (655MaPS) was formed in late 1998.

 

Thanks to the generosity of Wellesbourne Airfield and with funds provided by the society’s members and other donors, 655MaPS have been able to assemble an impressive collection of workshops, storage units and ground equipment to support and service XM655.

 

The rear spar has been inspected and found to be in excellent condition. XM655 now has fuel in her tanks at all times to keep the system and the seals ‘wet’. All the aircraft systems are powered up and exercised regularly.

 

The aircraft has been repainted several times to keep the inevitable corrosion of the more than 50 year old structure under control, the flying control surfaces (elevons and rudder) have been reskinned, the jet pipe end caps have been replaced and the three engines with the longest running hours have been removed, opened, inspected and re-installed.

 

Engine ground runs (EGRs) are carried out approximately every three months, together with slow taxi runs to ensure the steering and braking systems are functional. Once each year, usually in June, XM655 takes part in Wellesbourne Wings and Wheels, which is our major public event of the year. Reports of past events can be found on the Taxi Runs page, and details of the next event are on the Events page.

 

XM655 is virtually complete in terms of installed equipment, with the H2S Radar, the Terrain Following Radar (TFR) and Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) systems all still in-place, as well as the complete suite of Electronic Counter Measures (ECM) equipment. The only notable item missing when XM655 left RAF service was the in-flight refuelling probe; not surprising considering the world-wide hunt for serviceable probes which had occurred during the Falklands conflict a couple of years earlier. Eventually, a replacement probe was obtained and installed, and XM655 regained her familiar profile.

//What a disaster

 

William Saunderson-Meyer says the floods just another blow to a province that was already on its knees

 

KwaZulu-Natal has declared a provincial state of disaster to try to cope with the devastating floods of the past week.

 

This is normally a temporary mechanism of which the primary purpose is to facilitate speedy national government assistance to hard-pressed provincial and local authorities. It also triggers the release of emergency funds from the National Treasury.

 

But in KZN’s case, they might as well make it permanent. This is a province that has been on its knees for some time and it ain’t getting up any time soon.

 

After all, KZN hasn’t even staunched the bloodied nose it suffered nine months ago. That’s when one wing of the African National Congress government — the Radical Economic Transformation followers of former president Jacob Zuma — tried to bury the other — the so-called reformists led by President Cyril Ramaphosa.

 

KZN hasn’t even properly tallied the body blows it suffered then. The official estimates for the insurrection were 45,000 businesses affected, R50bn in economic damage, 129,000 jobs lost, and 354 killed.

 

These estimates are probably on the low side. For example, the number of people who were killed in the mayhem doesn’t include the many whose bodies were simply never found and counted.

 

And the true economic cost is incalculable. There’s been substantially increased emigration of minorities, cancelled investment, and the loss of international confidence in KZN as a safe tourist destination. In at least a dozen small, country towns, all the business infrastructure was destroyed, paradoxically by the very people who worked and shopped in those buildings.

 

Now the floods. The death toll is over 300 and still rising. Some 6,000 homes have been destroyed and road, water sewage and electrical infrastructure uprooted. As I write this, roaming mobs are opportunistically plundering container depots, stranded trucks, abandoned homes and vulnerable businesses, reportedly unhindered — as was the case during last year’s riots — by the police and army.

 

Naturally, no disaster is complete without a scapegoat. Ramaphosa, as is his style, was quick off the mark to finger the culprit — climate change.

 

“This disaster is part of climate change. It is telling us that climate change is serious, it is here,” Ramaphosa told reporters while inspecting a devastated Durban. “We no longer can postpone what we need to do, and the measures we need to take to deal with climate change.”

 

What balderdash. Whatever role climate change may or may not have played in the larger scheme of things, it’s nonsense to pin on it responsibility for the plight of KZN. That lies with the ANC government.

 

First, this was not an unforeseeable bolt from the heavens. The forecasters warned months back that this was likely to be an exceptionally wet summer because of the La Niña weather pattern that occurs every few years.

 

There are also historical precedents for extreme weather in KZN, which a prudent administration would have taken note of.

 

In 1984, Tropical Storm Domoina wreaked havoc in a swathe from Mozambique, through Swaziland to KZN. Although the current downpour is worse, the scale is nevertheless in the same ballpark.

 

This latest storm — as yet unnamed — dumped 450mm of rain on Durban in 48 hours. Domoina let loose 615mm in 24 hours on Swaziland and northern KZN.

 

But the true difference between those events, 38 years apart, lies in the lack of preparedness on the part of today’s authorities. In 1984 the SA Air Force deployed 25 helicopters to airlift people to safety. In the 2000 Mozambique floods, 17 SAAF helicopters rescued more than 14,000 people.

 

This time, according to a News24 report, the SA Police Service and the SAAF, combined, have been unable to put a single chopper in the air. The erosion of South Africa’s military means that of the SAAF’s 39 Oryx helicopters, only 17 are serviceable.

 

Durban-based 15 Squadron has not a single helicopter available for search and rescue — they are reportedly primarily used as VIP transport — but two SAAF choppers supposedly have been despatched from Gqeberha to help. The SAPS airwing has only one serviceable helicopter but “the pilot on duty has been booked off sick”.

 

Second, throughout the province, local government is also in a state of disaster and unable to do its job. The scale of the KZN impairment can be measured in the flood destruction of homes.

 

Some 4,000 shanties have been destroyed, many because officialdom was too lax to forbid building on the floodplain and against precariously unstable hillsides. Another 2,000 of the homes swept away were so-called RDP houses, shoddily built during the kickback-and-steal bonanza of the government’s Reconstruction and Development Programme of the late 1990s.

 

In Durban, the eThekwini metro is bloated and inert. It carries a rates and services debt of R17bn, of which R1bn is owed by the national government.

 

Durban is also infamously corrupt. Former mayor Zandile Gumede — along with 21 co-accused — is facing fraud, corruption and money-laundering charges in connection with a R320m municipal tender.

 

Yet at the weekend, even as the rain was bucketing down, she won the ANC’s regional leadership contest hands-down, despite the party’s supposed “step-aside when accused” rule.

 

The ANC-aligned Ahmed Kathrada Foundation has no illusions about the party it supports. It issued a statement calling on the government to ensure that unlike the plundering of Covid-19 emergency relief funds, the KZN disaster funds were not stolen or misused.

 

Fat chance. The ANC has already announced that its parliamentary constituency offices in KZN would become “hubs for humanitarian support” and appealed for the donation of relief supplies. Watch the trousering by the ANC’s public representatives of anything that the public is dumb enough to leave with them.

 

It’s in KZN where the ANC’s brazen indifference to the law and antipathy towards the Constitution is at its most obvious and most destructive.

 

On Monday, Zuma's corruption trial once again failed to take off in the Pietermaritzburg High Court when he successfully blocked the process with another round of delaying legal actions. His lawyers also had some carefully threatening words for the judiciary in a separate Supreme Court of Appeal action.

 

They urged SCA President Mandisa Maya to reconsider the dismissal of his latest corruption prosecution challenges. They warned that last year’s deadly July unrest was “in part, traceable to a perceived erroneous and unjust judicial outcome” that put Zuma briefly in prison for contempt of court.

 

“When such conceived mistakes are committed, the citizens (wrongly) feel entitled to resort to self-help…”

 

Floods, fires and locusts are devastating but at least happen relatively rarely. The ANC, alas, is a seemingly unending plague.

 

www.politicsweb.co.za/opinion/kzn-what-a-disaster

FLEET NO. : 438

REGISTRATION NO. : D278 FAS

CHASSIS : Leyland Tiger TRCTL11/3RH / No. 8600438

BODY : Alexander TE / No. 28TE/2186/3 C53F

GEARBOX : Semi Automatic (Hydrocyclic)

DATE REGISTERED : 06/87

WITHDRAWN : 03/08

OTHER OWNERS : Highland Scottish, Fife Scottish

PURCHASED BY 123 GROUP : 04/08

CURRENT STATUS : Serviceable

 

Seen here during an April 2011 visit to the Heartbeat Country.

The paint tins were there when we moved in. They are not ours, obviously, but I don't know whether they are the next-door neighbour's or belonged to the previous owner. I don't want them, but are they mine to remove? One doesn't like to mention the matter to the neighbour, a nice bloke, in case it comes across as a complaint. I wouldn't want to sour relations. Oh dear, it's all so difficult. Some handy odds and ends were left in the house by the previous owners and I now find myself the owner of five ladders of various types. My own step-ladder was rather too tall for convenience (my own silly fault) and this smaller, well used, but perfectly serviceable ladder is very acceptable.

From a second film put through a recently acquired Agfa Isolette with Solinar lens. The focus ring is a bit stiff (perhaps the Jerries were using left-over doodlebug grease in the 1950s) and I wanted to make sure the camera focused satisfactorily. I actually measured the distance to the tins with a steel rule (found in the garage and superior to my faithful Stanley) and focus looks spot-on. Rollei Retro 400S stand developed in Agfa Rodinal.

South Coast, KwaZulu-Natal.

 

//What a disaster

 

William Saunderson-Meyer says the floods just another blow to a province that was already on its knees

 

KwaZulu-Natal has declared a provincial state of disaster to try to cope with the devastating floods of the past week.

 

This is normally a temporary mechanism of which the primary purpose is to facilitate speedy national government assistance to hard-pressed provincial and local authorities. It also triggers the release of emergency funds from the National Treasury.

 

But in KZN’s case, they might as well make it permanent. This is a province that has been on its knees for some time and it ain’t getting up any time soon.

 

After all, KZN hasn’t even staunched the bloodied nose it suffered nine months ago. That’s when one wing of the African National Congress government — the Radical Economic Transformation followers of former president Jacob Zuma — tried to bury the other — the so-called reformists led by President Cyril Ramaphosa.

 

KZN hasn’t even properly tallied the body blows it suffered then. The official estimates for the insurrection were 45,000 businesses affected, R50bn in economic damage, 129,000 jobs lost, and 354 killed.

 

These estimates are probably on the low side. For example, the number of people who were killed in the mayhem doesn’t include the many whose bodies were simply never found and counted.

 

And the true economic cost is incalculable. There’s been substantially increased emigration of minorities, cancelled investment, and the loss of international confidence in KZN as a safe tourist destination. In at least a dozen small, country towns, all the business infrastructure was destroyed, paradoxically by the very people who worked and shopped in those buildings.

 

Now the floods. The death toll is over 300 and still rising. Some 6,000 homes have been destroyed and road, water sewage and electrical infrastructure uprooted. As I write this, roaming mobs are opportunistically plundering container depots, stranded trucks, abandoned homes and vulnerable businesses, reportedly unhindered — as was the case during last year’s riots — by the police and army.

 

Naturally, no disaster is complete without a scapegoat. Ramaphosa, as is his style, was quick off the mark to finger the culprit — climate change.

 

“This disaster is part of climate change. It is telling us that climate change is serious, it is here,” Ramaphosa told reporters while inspecting a devastated Durban. “We no longer can postpone what we need to do, and the measures we need to take to deal with climate change.”

 

What balderdash. Whatever role climate change may or may not have played in the larger scheme of things, it’s nonsense to pin on it responsibility for the plight of KZN. That lies with the ANC government.

 

First, this was not an unforeseeable bolt from the heavens. The forecasters warned months back that this was likely to be an exceptionally wet summer because of the La Niña weather pattern that occurs every few years.

 

There are also historical precedents for extreme weather in KZN, which a prudent administration would have taken note of.

 

In 1984, Tropical Storm Domoina wreaked havoc in a swathe from Mozambique, through Swaziland to KZN. Although the current downpour is worse, the scale is nevertheless in the same ballpark.

 

This latest storm — as yet unnamed — dumped 450mm of rain on Durban in 48 hours. Domoina let loose 615mm in 24 hours on Swaziland and northern KZN.

 

But the true difference between those events, 38 years apart, lies in the lack of preparedness on the part of today’s authorities. In 1984 the SA Air Force deployed 25 helicopters to airlift people to safety. In the 2000 Mozambique floods, 17 SAAF helicopters rescued more than 14,000 people.

 

This time, according to a News24 report, the SA Police Service and the SAAF, combined, have been unable to put a single chopper in the air. The erosion of South Africa’s military means that of the SAAF’s 39 Oryx helicopters, only 17 are serviceable.

 

Durban-based 15 Squadron has not a single helicopter available for search and rescue — they are reportedly primarily used as VIP transport — but two SAAF choppers supposedly have been despatched from Gqeberha to help. The SAPS airwing has only one serviceable helicopter but “the pilot on duty has been booked off sick”.

 

Second, throughout the province, local government is also in a state of disaster and unable to do its job. The scale of the KZN impairment can be measured in the flood destruction of homes.

 

Some 4,000 shanties have been destroyed, many because officialdom was too lax to forbid building on the floodplain and against precariously unstable hillsides. Another 2,000 of the homes swept away were so-called RDP houses, shoddily built during the kickback-and-steal bonanza of the government’s Reconstruction and Development Programme of the late 1990s.

 

In Durban, the eThekwini metro is bloated and inert. It carries a rates and services debt of R17bn, of which R1bn is owed by the national government.

 

Durban is also infamously corrupt. Former mayor Zandile Gumede — along with 21 co-accused — is facing fraud, corruption and money-laundering charges in connection with a R320m municipal tender.

 

Yet at the weekend, even as the rain was bucketing down, she won the ANC’s regional leadership contest hands-down, despite the party’s supposed “step-aside when accused” rule.

 

The ANC-aligned Ahmed Kathrada Foundation has no illusions about the party it supports. It issued a statement calling on the government to ensure that unlike the plundering of Covid-19 emergency relief funds, the KZN disaster funds were not stolen or misused.

 

Fat chance. The ANC has already announced that its parliamentary constituency offices in KZN would become “hubs for humanitarian support” and appealed for the donation of relief supplies. Watch the trousering by the ANC’s public representatives of anything that the public is dumb enough to leave with them.

 

It’s in KZN where the ANC’s brazen indifference to the law and antipathy towards the Constitution is at its most obvious and most destructive.

 

On Monday, Zuma's corruption trial once again failed to take off in the Pietermaritzburg High Court when he successfully blocked the process with another round of delaying legal actions. His lawyers also had some carefully threatening words for the judiciary in a separate Supreme Court of Appeal action.

 

They urged SCA President Mandisa Maya to reconsider the dismissal of his latest corruption prosecution challenges. They warned that last year’s deadly July unrest was “in part, traceable to a perceived erroneous and unjust judicial outcome” that put Zuma briefly in prison for contempt of court.

 

“When such conceived mistakes are committed, the citizens (wrongly) feel entitled to resort to self-help…”

 

Floods, fires and locusts are devastating but at least happen relatively rarely. The ANC, alas, is a seemingly unending plague.

 

www.politicsweb.co.za/opinion/kzn-what-a-disaster

Taken inside of an abandoned old van found in the Camp Washington neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio.

 

I have to wonder what the story behind this old, but still serviceable looking boot is and where is it's mate?

//What a disaster

 

William Saunderson-Meyer says the floods just another blow to a province that was already on its knees

 

KwaZulu-Natal has declared a provincial state of disaster to try to cope with the devastating floods of the past week.

 

This is normally a temporary mechanism of which the primary purpose is to facilitate speedy national government assistance to hard-pressed provincial and local authorities. It also triggers the release of emergency funds from the National Treasury.

 

But in KZN’s case, they might as well make it permanent. This is a province that has been on its knees for some time and it ain’t getting up any time soon.

 

After all, KZN hasn’t even staunched the bloodied nose it suffered nine months ago. That’s when one wing of the African National Congress government — the Radical Economic Transformation followers of former president Jacob Zuma — tried to bury the other — the so-called reformists led by President Cyril Ramaphosa.

 

KZN hasn’t even properly tallied the body blows it suffered then. The official estimates for the insurrection were 45,000 businesses affected, R50bn in economic damage, 129,000 jobs lost, and 354 killed.

 

These estimates are probably on the low side. For example, the number of people who were killed in the mayhem doesn’t include the many whose bodies were simply never found and counted.

 

And the true economic cost is incalculable. There’s been substantially increased emigration of minorities, cancelled investment, and the loss of international confidence in KZN as a safe tourist destination. In at least a dozen small, country towns, all the business infrastructure was destroyed, paradoxically by the very people who worked and shopped in those buildings.

 

Now the floods. The death toll is over 300 and still rising. Some 6,000 homes have been destroyed and road, water sewage and electrical infrastructure uprooted. As I write this, roaming mobs are opportunistically plundering container depots, stranded trucks, abandoned homes and vulnerable businesses, reportedly unhindered — as was the case during last year’s riots — by the police and army.

 

Naturally, no disaster is complete without a scapegoat. Ramaphosa, as is his style, was quick off the mark to finger the culprit — climate change.

 

“This disaster is part of climate change. It is telling us that climate change is serious, it is here,” Ramaphosa told reporters while inspecting a devastated Durban. “We no longer can postpone what we need to do, and the measures we need to take to deal with climate change.”

 

What balderdash. Whatever role climate change may or may not have played in the larger scheme of things, it’s nonsense to pin on it responsibility for the plight of KZN. That lies with the ANC government.

 

First, this was not an unforeseeable bolt from the heavens. The forecasters warned months back that this was likely to be an exceptionally wet summer because of the La Niña weather pattern that occurs every few years.

 

There are also historical precedents for extreme weather in KZN, which a prudent administration would have taken note of.

 

In 1984, Tropical Storm Domoina wreaked havoc in a swathe from Mozambique, through Swaziland to KZN. Although the current downpour is worse, the scale is nevertheless in the same ballpark.

 

This latest storm — as yet unnamed — dumped 450mm of rain on Durban in 48 hours. Domoina let loose 615mm in 24 hours on Swaziland and northern KZN.

 

But the true difference between those events, 38 years apart, lies in the lack of preparedness on the part of today’s authorities. In 1984 the SA Air Force deployed 25 helicopters to airlift people to safety. In the 2000 Mozambique floods, 17 SAAF helicopters rescued more than 14,000 people.

 

This time, according to a News24 report, the SA Police Service and the SAAF, combined, have been unable to put a single chopper in the air. The erosion of South Africa’s military means that of the SAAF’s 39 Oryx helicopters, only 17 are serviceable.

 

Durban-based 15 Squadron has not a single helicopter available for search and rescue — they are reportedly primarily used as VIP transport — but two SAAF choppers supposedly have been despatched from Gqeberha to help. The SAPS airwing has only one serviceable helicopter but “the pilot on duty has been booked off sick”.

 

Second, throughout the province, local government is also in a state of disaster and unable to do its job. The scale of the KZN impairment can be measured in the flood destruction of homes.

 

Some 4,000 shanties have been destroyed, many because officialdom was too lax to forbid building on the floodplain and against precariously unstable hillsides. Another 2,000 of the homes swept away were so-called RDP houses, shoddily built during the kickback-and-steal bonanza of the government’s Reconstruction and Development Programme of the late 1990s.

 

In Durban, the eThekwini metro is bloated and inert. It carries a rates and services debt of R17bn, of which R1bn is owed by the national government.

 

Durban is also infamously corrupt. Former mayor Zandile Gumede — along with 21 co-accused — is facing fraud, corruption and money-laundering charges in connection with a R320m municipal tender.

 

Yet at the weekend, even as the rain was bucketing down, she won the ANC’s regional leadership contest hands-down, despite the party’s supposed “step-aside when accused” rule.

 

The ANC-aligned Ahmed Kathrada Foundation has no illusions about the party it supports. It issued a statement calling on the government to ensure that unlike the plundering of Covid-19 emergency relief funds, the KZN disaster funds were not stolen or misused.

 

Fat chance. The ANC has already announced that its parliamentary constituency offices in KZN would become “hubs for humanitarian support” and appealed for the donation of relief supplies. Watch the trousering by the ANC’s public representatives of anything that the public is dumb enough to leave with them.

 

It’s in KZN where the ANC’s brazen indifference to the law and antipathy towards the Constitution is at its most obvious and most destructive.

 

On Monday, Zuma's corruption trial once again failed to take off in the Pietermaritzburg High Court when he successfully blocked the process with another round of delaying legal actions. His lawyers also had some carefully threatening words for the judiciary in a separate Supreme Court of Appeal action.

 

They urged SCA President Mandisa Maya to reconsider the dismissal of his latest corruption prosecution challenges. They warned that last year’s deadly July unrest was “in part, traceable to a perceived erroneous and unjust judicial outcome” that put Zuma briefly in prison for contempt of court.

 

“When such conceived mistakes are committed, the citizens (wrongly) feel entitled to resort to self-help…”

 

Floods, fires and locusts are devastating but at least happen relatively rarely. The ANC, alas, is a seemingly unending plague.

 

www.politicsweb.co.za/opinion/kzn-what-a-disaster

//What a disaster

 

William Saunderson-Meyer says the floods just another blow to a province that was already on its knees

 

KwaZulu-Natal has declared a provincial state of disaster to try to cope with the devastating floods of the past week.

 

This is normally a temporary mechanism of which the primary purpose is to facilitate speedy national government assistance to hard-pressed provincial and local authorities. It also triggers the release of emergency funds from the National Treasury.

 

But in KZN’s case, they might as well make it permanent. This is a province that has been on its knees for some time and it ain’t getting up any time soon.

 

After all, KZN hasn’t even staunched the bloodied nose it suffered nine months ago. That’s when one wing of the African National Congress government — the Radical Economic Transformation followers of former president Jacob Zuma — tried to bury the other — the so-called reformists led by President Cyril Ramaphosa.

 

KZN hasn’t even properly tallied the body blows it suffered then. The official estimates for the insurrection were 45,000 businesses affected, R50bn in economic damage, 129,000 jobs lost, and 354 killed.

 

These estimates are probably on the low side. For example, the number of people who were killed in the mayhem doesn’t include the many whose bodies were simply never found and counted.

 

And the true economic cost is incalculable. There’s been substantially increased emigration of minorities, cancelled investment, and the loss of international confidence in KZN as a safe tourist destination. In at least a dozen small, country towns, all the business infrastructure was destroyed, paradoxically by the very people who worked and shopped in those buildings.

 

Now the floods. The death toll is over 300 and still rising. Some 6,000 homes have been destroyed and road, water sewage and electrical infrastructure uprooted. As I write this, roaming mobs are opportunistically plundering container depots, stranded trucks, abandoned homes and vulnerable businesses, reportedly unhindered — as was the case during last year’s riots — by the police and army.

 

Naturally, no disaster is complete without a scapegoat. Ramaphosa, as is his style, was quick off the mark to finger the culprit — climate change.

 

“This disaster is part of climate change. It is telling us that climate change is serious, it is here,” Ramaphosa told reporters while inspecting a devastated Durban. “We no longer can postpone what we need to do, and the measures we need to take to deal with climate change.”

 

What balderdash. Whatever role climate change may or may not have played in the larger scheme of things, it’s nonsense to pin on it responsibility for the plight of KZN. That lies with the ANC government.

 

First, this was not an unforeseeable bolt from the heavens. The forecasters warned months back that this was likely to be an exceptionally wet summer because of the La Niña weather pattern that occurs every few years.

 

There are also historical precedents for extreme weather in KZN, which a prudent administration would have taken note of.

 

In 1984, Tropical Storm Domoina wreaked havoc in a swathe from Mozambique, through Swaziland to KZN. Although the current downpour is worse, the scale is nevertheless in the same ballpark.

 

This latest storm — as yet unnamed — dumped 450mm of rain on Durban in 48 hours. Domoina let loose 615mm in 24 hours on Swaziland and northern KZN.

 

But the true difference between those events, 38 years apart, lies in the lack of preparedness on the part of today’s authorities. In 1984 the SA Air Force deployed 25 helicopters to airlift people to safety. In the 2000 Mozambique floods, 17 SAAF helicopters rescued more than 14,000 people.

 

This time, according to a News24 report, the SA Police Service and the SAAF, combined, have been unable to put a single chopper in the air. The erosion of South Africa’s military means that of the SAAF’s 39 Oryx helicopters, only 17 are serviceable.

 

Durban-based 15 Squadron has not a single helicopter available for search and rescue — they are reportedly primarily used as VIP transport — but two SAAF choppers supposedly have been despatched from Gqeberha to help. The SAPS airwing has only one serviceable helicopter but “the pilot on duty has been booked off sick”.

 

Second, throughout the province, local government is also in a state of disaster and unable to do its job. The scale of the KZN impairment can be measured in the flood destruction of homes.

 

Some 4,000 shanties have been destroyed, many because officialdom was too lax to forbid building on the floodplain and against precariously unstable hillsides. Another 2,000 of the homes swept away were so-called RDP houses, shoddily built during the kickback-and-steal bonanza of the government’s Reconstruction and Development Programme of the late 1990s.

 

In Durban, the eThekwini metro is bloated and inert. It carries a rates and services debt of R17bn, of which R1bn is owed by the national government.

 

Durban is also infamously corrupt. Former mayor Zandile Gumede — along with 21 co-accused — is facing fraud, corruption and money-laundering charges in connection with a R320m municipal tender.

 

Yet at the weekend, even as the rain was bucketing down, she won the ANC’s regional leadership contest hands-down, despite the party’s supposed “step-aside when accused” rule.

 

The ANC-aligned Ahmed Kathrada Foundation has no illusions about the party it supports. It issued a statement calling on the government to ensure that unlike the plundering of Covid-19 emergency relief funds, the KZN disaster funds were not stolen or misused.

 

Fat chance. The ANC has already announced that its parliamentary constituency offices in KZN would become “hubs for humanitarian support” and appealed for the donation of relief supplies. Watch the trousering by the ANC’s public representatives of anything that the public is dumb enough to leave with them.

 

It’s in KZN where the ANC’s brazen indifference to the law and antipathy towards the Constitution is at its most obvious and most destructive.

 

On Monday, Zuma's corruption trial once again failed to take off in the Pietermaritzburg High Court when he successfully blocked the process with another round of delaying legal actions. His lawyers also had some carefully threatening words for the judiciary in a separate Supreme Court of Appeal action.

 

They urged SCA President Mandisa Maya to reconsider the dismissal of his latest corruption prosecution challenges. They warned that last year’s deadly July unrest was “in part, traceable to a perceived erroneous and unjust judicial outcome” that put Zuma briefly in prison for contempt of court.

 

“When such conceived mistakes are committed, the citizens (wrongly) feel entitled to resort to self-help…”

 

Floods, fires and locusts are devastating but at least happen relatively rarely. The ANC, alas, is a seemingly unending plague.

 

www.politicsweb.co.za/opinion/kzn-what-a-disaster

With 7 of 8 Chiltern 68s stopped awaiting repairs, 68018 has been drafted in as a thunderbird for the one remaining serviceable loco, seen here stabled on the South end of Wembley LMD

Zepce, 6 July 2018.

 

These former Dutch gas buses were new in 1999 and were exported to Bosnia in 2009 following the arrival of MAN and VDL buses in Eindhoven. Unfortunately they are not registered or serviceable in the country due to issues with documentation regarding the use of LPG. Three of these buses are owned by the company, two were present at the depot, the third one was elsewhere, but also unserviceable.

The third Leyland Titan B15 demonstrator also remained unregistered, running on trade plates for the duration of it's life. This was said to be the first one finished to a serviceable standard and its main purpose was for cooling and transmission development.

It is seen at an open day at the Leyland plant in the mid seventies with a healthy load of happy punters sampling Leylands new bus of tomorrow. One of Leyland's white coated engineers can be seen stood by the drivers cab.

This bus was still running on factory trade plates as late as 1982, presumably by this time working on Olympian related development. The bus was later scrapped.