03 Sep 09 The Locomotive Exchange Trials of 1948
Soon after the railways were nationalised in 1948, the then recently formed British Railways Board (BRB) decided to carry out a comprehensive review of the locomotive stock which had been inherited from the ‘Big Four’ independent railway companies. It soon became apparent that the whole stable of steam locomotives constituted of hundreds of different class types, many of which were nearing retirement or in some cases, were already life-expired. From the outset the government-owned organisation needed to reduce costs as soon and as practical as possible. This would not be easy with a railway almost bankrupted by war. However, work began straight away and in its first year, the BRB had recruited the renowned locomotive engineer Robert A Riddles, formerly of the LMS, to assume responsibility for the Mechanical & Electrical Engineering department. Riddles was given the task of developing a new small range of new steam locomotive designs, which would eventually replace the older pre-nationalised classes.
Riddles’ settled for a plan of action which was to utilies the best pre-nationalisation designs and incorporate the finest qualities of each into his standardised locomotives, thus amalgamating the best of the engineering feats from all of the former railway companies. His first move towards producing new designs were the ‘Locomotive Exchange Trials’. Riddles started his quest by choosing a quantityof express type locomotives from each of the newly-formed Regions and utilising them on ‘foreign’ territory. As an example, LMS engines were run over the Southern Region where there were no water troughs. To compensate for this they were married together with four-axled ex-War Department tenders with larger water tanks. These were specifically given LMS lettering for the occasion. In a similar way, ex-Southern Region locomotives used elsewhere were paired with ex-LMS tenders with water scoops. This yielded some important information for the design team on how suitable particular locomotive classes were to certain stretches of line.
On completion of the Locomotive Exchange Trials, Riddles’ Chief Draftsmen went back to the drawing board and began to shape the first of the then new ’standardised’ steam locomotives. Officially, these comparisons were to identify the best aspects of the four varying approaches to locomotive design in order to incorporate them in the new BR standard designs. However, the testing had little scientific rigour, and taking Riddles’ background into consideration and other political influences, it was almost predictable that LMS practice was largely followed by the new standard designs regardless, and it is not really surprising that virtually all of Riddles’ final products would closely resemble the designs pioneered by the LMS, particularly those locomotives which were products of Stanier and Ivatt.
However, the trials served as a useful publicity stunt for BR to show the unity of the new British Railways. By 1950 the first of the new express locomotive designs had been finalised at Derby and in the same year, the British Transport Commission placed an order with Crewe Works for the building of twenty-four of the type. What came forth from Crewe on 2nd January 1951 was a 4-6-2 Pacific locomotive looking bearing a significant resemblance to the Coronation class of engines designed by William Stanier, also formerly of the LMS. The imposing engine, finished in a plain black scheme with no lining, was scheduled for a test run between its birthplace and Carlisle on 11th January 1951, a dynamometer carriage being one of the carriages it was to haul. After the run, which proved to be a promising start for the type, the locomotive, numbered 70000, was repainted into the much more familiar lined BR Brunswick Green and delivered to Marylebone station on the last but one day of January to be named. No. 70000 was appropriately called ‘Britannia’, after the female personification of the British Empire, and it marked a very promising step forward for BR.
To commemorate the Sixtieth Anniversary of the 1948 Locomotive Exchange Trials, in 2008 Hornby Railways released a Limited Edition Model of a 4-6-2 West Country Class Locomotive ‘Bude’ No 34006. This model, represents the classic pairing of a Southern Region Bulleid Pacific with a Stanier Tender. For the collectors out there, the Hornby R2685 West Country Class ‘Bude’ with Stanier Tender was only produced in a limited run of 2008 and each of the model trains came with a numbered Certificate of Authentication.
03 Sep 09 Growing Wedding Flowers And Wearing Diamonds
Planning a wedding is a joyous and stressful time for many couples, so why not find ways to make it easier on your selves? These hints and tricks can help you pick out the best flowers for your wedding without going to pieces.
Choose a theme: When it comes to your wedding, you’ll want to think of the overall theme before you go in and choose the flowers. This is the simplest way to narrow the field. If you want something more traditional, then you can find flowers like roses and lilies for a classic touch. Are you color coordinating your wedding? When deciding on the flowers, remember that naturally colored flowers are much easier to source and kinder to your pocket. If you want to go all out and make your theme as real as possible, you may have to look harder to find the flowers you need. So it is important that you know that your wedding make up ideas must match your wedding.
Seasonally speaking: Going for the in-season flowers on your wedding day makes your job easier. In summers and warmer months, bright blooms are easy to find, while the winters or cooler climate brings the in more resilient varieties like chrysanthemums. Your florist will be able to tell you which flowers are available at different times of the year. Seasonal flowers grown locally will be much cheaper than those flown in from other places. That is why everyone should learn how to grow black roses
.
Complicating it all: Rather than choosing several different types of flowers, stick to one dominant flower and accentuate it with less prominent blooms. You could even accentuate with ferns or other greenery in place of flowers. Fresh flowers are always more appealing but if you don’t want to be too extravagant, silk flowers can work just as well. Silk rose petals can be sprinkled on all the tables and centerpieces can be gifted to relatives. Flower for your wedding are a way to decorate and illustrate a theme to your guests. Take your time to choose flowers that create a beauty accent and then marvel at how they look in your pictures. The whole event will be enhanced by the jewelry worn. Both the bride and groom should strive to know how to clean white gold and diamonds
.
03 Sep 09 Where To Buy Parvaid And Things You Need To Know
The question of where to buy Parvaid doesn’t seem like it should be too hard – all you need to do is go to the local store and pick up a bottle.
Sorry, but you know that life is usually a lot more compex than that!
Parvaid is an herbal product that is chemical and synthetic-free. It is both effective and safe. Lamentably, it is not a chemical-based drug, which means that most vets who are trained in Western Medicine totally dismiss organic products as nothing but some alternative solution that can’t possibly work as it is not “FDA”-approved.
Herbal products classed as food supplements or botanicals, which is true of Parvaid and all of the other products required to treat Parvo, do not need to be evaluated by the FDA and therefore need not be approved by the US Food and Drug Administration.
Whenever you run into non-traditional and non-mainstream products, you will find a wall of resistance. Most vets know nothing at all of organic treatments, and in many cases they will be rather dismissive of any product that does not come from a drug manufacturer as they get many financial incentives for pushing the big pharmaceutical companies’ drug; the small, independent herbalist, on the other hand, can’t match the payoff levels that a Pfizer can dangle in front of a struggling vet.
So, trying to get inexpensive herbal products into established distribution chains is not easy. The financial rewards are not present, there will be far less residual income, which is because herbal products normally provide long-term relief vs. drugs that produce multiple side-effects creating a scenario of still further drugs to counter-act the side-effects, and to continue to put a band-aid on the problems, you could end up taking pills and such for the rest of your life – and that, of course, is a nice, steady earner for vets, month in, month out.
What it boils down to is this – vets could get paid once (by really treating the problem and not the symptoms) or they could get paid many times, so it’s not too surprising that they choose the latter option.
Unfortunately, in this country we once had a proud tradition of using organic and natural products to solve all manner of ailments, but 200 years ago or so, drugs began to surface, massive marketing campaigns were launched proclaiming how wonderful drugs are and that they are the only route to good health, and so the propaganda machine continued at full force.
Companies in the organic marketplace have never been able to compete with the pharmaceutical fat cats, with their deep pockets, and for the most part, still can’t. If you brainwash people, day after day after day, with hype-filled ads that play on their emotions, they will get so worn down that they will come to believe the only viable solution is drugs.
The “pop a couple of pills and everything will be OK” mentality is all that most people know, because it’s what they grew up with. But nowadays bugs (i.e. germs, bacteria, parasites, viruses) are getting very strong and resistant to traditional treatments. Chemical-based drugs are much easier to find, but it’s highly likely that they won’t offer you the level of relief that you need.
Products such as Parvaid work with the body to help it heal from within. It would be nice to be able to go to your local market and find these organic type products, but as they are not mainstream and there are no big companies willing to promote this type of alternative treatment plan, you will not readily find these types of products in supermarkets, or even in the larger pet stores such as Pet Co or Pet Smart. You may, however, have some success if you look in small independent pet stores or feed stores.
But before you do this, there are a few things you need to know first.
Very few of the smaller retailers who sell Parvaid really know much about the product or how best to use it for maximum effect, because to them, it’s nothing more than another item on the shelf.
Because here’s the thing – if you want to give your dog the best possible chance of surviving Parvo, then you not only need to know the correct way to administer the product but also how to make and give a few home remedies at the same time. Unfortunately, most retailers neither have the necessary knowledge nor expertise.
Also the manufacturer requires a minimum of four (4) different products to treat sick Parvo dogs or exposed Parvo puppies as well as exposed adult dogs. Many retailers do not carry all of the required products.
So, here’s your dliemma: do you spend valuable time trying to hunt down a retail store within driving distance (which may be several hours away if you’re unlucky), in the hope that they stock all of the products you need, and then return home and try to cope by yourself as best you can, or you do buy the products online?
The advantage of buying from a retail store is that you will probably save some time and some money (i.e. you won’t incur any shipping costs, although you will pay for gas), but the disadvantage is that you will get absolutely zero support. If anything does go wrong, because no matter how good the products are (and they are!), some dogs don’t respond to the standard treatment protocols for any number of reasons and therefore need adjusted dosage schedules, you’ll probably find that you’ll get no help from the store you bought the products from as they simply won’t have the knowledge and experience that you’ll need.
If you buy Parvaid online, then you must look at who is selling the products, how much experience do they have in case you need help, which is most of the time, and how trustworthy is their website.
As you know, there are no shortages of fly-by-night sites out there with many scammers that take money but never deliver.
So, one key to look for is how much material is available on the subject of Parvo. If there is very little info then they probably don’t know much about it and are just selling another product.
Something else to look out for is the range of shipping methods that they use. If they only offer USPS Priority Mail for example, that means they have no clue about how deadly this virus is and time is against you, so UPS or FedEx Overnight services are the ONLY acceptable shipping methods for sick animals.
We have dealt with well over 850 cases of Parvo, we only use FedEx Overnight for sick animals (Monday – Saturday deliveries), we wrote a 100+ page book all about Parvo which you can download instantly to your computer, Parvo Treatment 101 (no charge), we have developed (and frequently update) the most comprehensive Parvo Home Remedy Plan that will help sustain your sick dog until your products can be delivered, and throughout the treatment schedule, that you will find anywhere on the Internet, and we are the only company who offer all customers completely free and unlimited 24 x 7 phone support and personal coaching.
If you have Parvo on your property in the case of dogs, or Feline Distemper in the case of cats (unfortunately, cats can become infected from Parvo dogs in the form of Feline Distemper), then you will need support throughout this horrifying ordeal.
If you have not already done so, please visit ParvoBuster to help get your pets back on their feet again, and don’t forget to check out the many Parvaid testimonials left by some of our many satisfied customers.
03 Sep 09 Behold the Samsung SGHT919 Touch-Screen Phone
Touch-screen phones are being increasingly touted as the ‘ideal’ mobile device to own and given the huge range of models in the market, it becomes difficult to identify one with some standout personal traits. In such a scenario, you might want to try out the Samsung SGH-T919 or the Samsung Behold as it is commonly known. It gains from the collaboration of T-Mobile with Samsung and offers a magnanimous touch screen that isn’t perhaps the biggest among its contemporaries but scores over them with the amazing 240×400 pixel combination offering seriously sharp and vibrant graphics.
The design is rather simple on the outside, resembling a big candy bar but what is notable is the rather huge camera (5-megapixels!) that sets in harmoniously with the phone’s rear side. The Samsung Behold has been touted as the most click-friendly touch screen phone as it offers three shooting modes, i.e. panorama, continuous and mosaic and the incredibly smart ’smile shot’ mode that can detect if the clicked subject is smiling. The Behold SGH T919 presents itself as a really powerful phone but has an easy-to-comprehend TouchWiz interface, which makes navigation effortless.
The punctuation keys are very handy to type long messages and there is a button that deactivates the T9 predictive text format. The phone emphasizes upon the ease of use and the four main icons are located near the display — phone dialler, menu, phone book and browser. A unique feature of the SGH T919 is its Accelerometer — used for altering orientation of the display when you rotate the phone. Other notable features include the USB mass storage system along with POP3 e-mail, PC syncing, the new Telenav Navigator and Bluetooth (stereo profile). The Samsung Behold T919 isn’t the most high-end among touch screen phones, but therein lies its appeal — a really smart and not-so-expensive phone, blended with all the touch screen essentials and some unique elements.
If you would like to take ownership of a Samsung Behold without breaking the bank, take a look at these time limited offers on both new and used discount Samsung SGHT919 Behold phone.
