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e mans my year in numbers statistics for 2024 show just what a curious year this has been 177 days in the office up by 14 26 blog posts written down by 58 16 gigs up by 2 7 plays attended down by 27 4 countries visited down by 1 14 steam locos seen in action up by 1 over the last 12 months the blog racked up 28 442 views up from 20 456 views from 7 582 visitors up from 4 874 visitors still a long way short of the figures from 2015 45 918 page views and 13 486 visitors but significantly up from the figures seen over the last three years despite my pitiful track record at blogging over the year blog views 2019 2024 the top five most popular posts in 2024 were ashburton high school from 2021 249 views evening star and the pines express from 2016 191 views the last inhabitants of the bourbon tower from 2017 132 views a fortified line in the forth from 2020 128 views and folkestone harbour from 2013 106 views leave a comment tabar on the thames posted in england london by folkestonejack on august 7 2024 the thames was graced with another unusual visitor today with the smoky arrival of a talwar class frigate from the indian navy ins tabar assisted by the tugs vb peter and vb ambition the tabar made its way through tower bridge around 5 15pm to plenty of cheering and cries of bharat mata ki jai long live mother india from the indian community who provided quite the welcoming party ins tabar approaches tower bridge assisted by vb peter the tabar arrives in london having just participated in exercises with the german navy near the kiel canal earlier in the year the tabar had participated in a parade down the neva river in st petersburg as part of the russian navy days renewing a strong russian connection that can be traced back to the commissioning of the ship on 19 april 2004 in kaliningrad the ship will stay in london berthed next to hms belfast until 11th august leave a comment rfa proteus in london posted in england london by folkestonejack on may 15 2024 it was a real surprise to see the royal fleet auxiliary ship proteus on the thames last year last year for her official dedication unfortunately my efforts to grab a shot of her departure from london went wrong when i uncharacteristically mistimed my arrival at the riverside sufficient only to catch a glimpse of her receding into the distance i never expected to get a second chance but was delighted when she returned this week rfa proteus on the thames on this occasion rfa proteus was visiting london as part of the first sea lord s sea power conference 2024 after a short stay in the capital rfa proteus passed under tower bridge at 7 45am this morning with the assistance of two tugs vs ambition and serviceman on arrival at a spot on the thames opposite surrey basin lock the two tugs helped turn rfa proteus round before continuing on their way rfa proteus was formerly a supply vessel used to service offshore oil and gas platforms going by the name of mv topaz tangaroa in her previous guise the vessel was purchased by hm government for the royal navy to help provide undersea surveillance and protect seabed telecommunications cables and oil gas pipelines in the light of events in baltic waters gallery tagged with rfa proteus leave a comment naval delights at portsmouth posted in england portsmouth by folkestonejack on may 4 2024 a visit to portsmouth is always a pleasure it s just one of those places that i have long associated with the sheer joy of childhood whether setting out on a holiday to jersey by sealink ferry from the passenger port or visiting to explore the wonders of modern naval power during their navy days it was always wonderful to check out which ships were visiting either way with my brother happily checking out the pendant numbers in his trusty book of naval ships i am never away for too long and take up any excuse to return a view over portsmouth towards the naval dockyard today s trip to the historic dockyard offered a little more of that excitement with a harbour tour that took in the visiting french anti submarine frigate aquitaine the first of her class construction of the aquitaine began in 2007 at the shipyards in lorient and she was handed over to the french navy in 2012 the aquitaine was formally commissioned in 2015 other domestic sights on our harbour tour included the aircraft carrier hms prince of wales hms duncan d37 a type 45 destroyer hms severn p282 a river class offshore patrol vessel hms iron duke f234 a type 23 frigate rfa wave knight a389 a wave class fast fleet tanker and the rather sad sight of hms bristol d23 at the end of her life hms bristol was the only vessel of the type 82 class of desytroyer to be built for the royal navy officially commissioned on 31st march 1973 and decomissioned on 28th october 2020 a life much extended by use as a training ship at portsmouth as the last survivor of the falklands taskforce as well as its one time flagship there have been calls to preserve her as a museum ship on our tour we were told that she would be scrapped at a turkish scrapyard within a few months the sad sight of a rusting hms bristol at portsmouth as she awaits her fate in the scrapyards in the dockyard itself i was pleased to finally get a chance to step on board hms m33 cutting a striking sight in her dazzle paint scheme hms m33 was ordered in march 1915 launched in may 1915 and remarkably first saw action at gallipoli later that year it s hard to imagine any warship taking such a speedy path to service today it s hard not to be taken in by the story of miss muggins the black and white cat who lived aboard hms m33 during the north russia campaign and survived a number of scrapes including falling overboard and emerging from an explosion inside the officers mess with only a burnt tail i can t imagine there have been many other royal navy warships with a catflap inserted into the wheelhouse door hms victory in her stripped back state i hadn t particularly planned to revisit hms victory but the current restoration work presents an unusual opportunity to see her skin peeled back to reveal the structure underneath a view not witnessed on this scale since she was originally constructed you can climb three levels of scaffolding to get up close to this restoration effort of course once you are on board hms victory it is impossible not to be moved by the extraordinary tale of the battle of trafalgar and nelson s fall however it s well worth visiting the nearby museum to discover the fascinating story of how she was preserved in the first place including an intervention from kind edward vii which i was not at all familiar with gallery leave a comment pioneering railway posted in budapest hungary by folkestonejack on april 20 2024 one of the many unusual aspects of life in the soviet and eastern bloc was the emergence of children s railways where young pioneers aged between 10 14 years covered almost all aspects of operations with adults usually only taking on the role of engine drivers the idea behind this was to help build up the skills of the students and foster good team working no doubt providing many a springboard into a lifetime career on the state railways around 80 children s railways are known to have been planned or constructed in the soviet union with many more set up in eastern block countries like hungary and poland while long being aware of their existence i had never actually made it to one until now the children s railway in budapest is a good place to start with its 11 2km route making it the longest children s railway in the world diesel hydraulic locomotive mk 45 2005 waits to haul a service out of hűvösvölgy the children s railway in budapest is just over 75 years old having been officially opened on 31st july 1948 it was extraordinary to discover that the first section of track and three stations had been completed in just 66 days the entire line was completed on 19th august 1950 it is easy to reach the children s railway from central budapest after a pleasant tram journey from széll kálmán tér to hűvösvölgy we made the short walk over to the terminus of the children s railway and picked up a one way ticket for the ride through the buda hills to széchenyihegy the motive power for our journey was provided by a mk45 series diesel hydraulic locomotive no 2005 built at the 23 august works in romania the route offers a perfectly pleasant ride through a largely wooded route with only brief glimpses of views far across the landscape but the railway is really the star here we marvelled at the efficiency of the children selling and checking tickets operating the signalling and manually switching the points at every station we passed through the children in full uniform saluted the train the museum at hűvösvölgy once we arrived in széchenyihegy we watched the loco run around and then set off on its return journey before finding our way to the upper station of the cogwheel railway to begin our journey back to the city centre there is a wonderful small museum on the station platform at hűvösvölgy which is only open at weekends in april after travelling on a weekday we came back for the museum on a saturday and enjoyed the spectacle of a steam hauled heritage train departure with one of the 490 series tank locomotives 490 056 built at the máv factory the museum tells the fascinating story of the railway accompanied by photographs paintings models and redundant machinery it s well worth a look inside gallery leave a comment clockwork treasures from the forbidden city posted in england london by folkestonejack on april 9 2024 in november 2012 i was lucky enough to be able to visit the forbidden city in beijing at the end of a tour to see some of the last surviving real steam operations in china i m not sure how much homework i had done but my reaction to discovering the zimingzhong in the hall of worshiping ancestors was unequivocal the absolute highlight of my day was rather unexpectedly a visit to the exhibition of clocks in the hall of worshiping ancestors i was completely blown away by the utterly amazing timepieces on display the most elaborate inventive and beautiful clocks i have ever seen and all utterly amazing in their own right i had timed my visit for the day s second display of working clocks at 2pm with about five clocks wound up for people to watch their extraordinary movements towers rising pieces twirling etc i had enthused endlessly on my return to the uk but the trouble with such things is that you really need to see them for yourself to appreciate just how elaborate and utterly bonkers these are i was therefore absolutely delighted to discover that 23 of these marvels would be going on display at the science museum in the exhibition zimingzhong clockwork treasures from china s forbidden city and that i could share my delight with friends and family clockwork treasures on display at the science museum the label of clock hardly seems to do these justice so i thought the exhibition title of clockwork treasures particularly apt these extraordinary creations made in britain and china during the 18th century for the emperors of china have never been exhibited in the uk before forget what you know about clocks on entering the exhibition and marvel at zimingzhong in the form of birds rams elephants towers temples and even a pond with three lotus flowers i thought it a particularly nice touch that various mechanical demonstrators had been set up around the exhibition to demonstrate how they worked such as opening domes and waterflow mimicking features which you could wind up and let go some of the zimingzhong had useful cutaways to show the mechanical marvels that lay inside while others were demonstrated in videos provided by the palace museum it is a real privilege to see these up close once again and marvel at the intricate details crafted and assembled at extraordinary expense by highly skilled workers it is mind blowing to think that 1 500 of these zimingzhong exist in the care of the palace museum and are lovingly looked after by the staff of the the palace museum conservation hospital i thought it was one of the most enjoyable exhibitions in a long time so was rather surprised at how quiet it was when we visited though to be fair it was easter monday it is such a pity these amazing creations deserve to be seen and appreciated however a quiet visit does allow you to get up close and marvel at the intricacy of the design zimingzhong clockwork treasures from china s forbidden city is at the science museum until sunday 2 june 2024 gallery leave a comment exploring in and around southend posted in england southend on sea by folkestonejack on march 30 2024 in my short stay in southend on sea i had time enough to explore a bit more of the local area taking the time to enjoy the lovely walks along the coast to chalkwell leigh on sea and up to hadleigh castle the weather on good friday was distinctly grey and blustery with the odd burst of rain but the next day delivered blue skies and sun far exceeding the weather forecasts it was just warm enough for folk to head to the beach and there were queues at every pub in leigh on sea as folk came out to enjoy a little easter sunshine the crowstone i was pleased to finally get around to visiting the crowstone having known about this for years the crowstone is one of those wonderful historical relics that you find dotted around the country a granite obelisk erected in 1837 marking the limits of the city of london s jurisdiction over the thames this replaced a post from 1755 which in turn was a replacement with some accounts hinting at a succession of posts stretching back centuries before this indeed the rights the stones were in place to protect were purchased by the city of london from richard i in 1197 at one time there was a tradition of the lord mayors of london coming out by boat to check on the crowstone every seven years accompanied by great festivities the names of visiting lord mayors were then inscribed upon the stone all of this ceased in 1857 when the thames conservancy took over control of the river the crowstone was never entirely forgotten though and in 1950 a plaque was added by the port of london authority when the heavily worn and crumbling 18th century post that sat alongside was moved to a location inland in the grounds of prittlewell priory in my time in the area i visited twice once early in the morning at low tide so i could get up close and then later in the afternoon at high tide to appreciate just how much the water envelopes the stone well remembering diamond geezer s account of visiting at high tide the blog a london inheritance has a wonderful account of the crowstone and its counterpart the london stone on the opposite side of the thames another interesting spot just along the coast offers a sight of the minesweeper hms wilton now adapted as the home of the essex yacht club hms wilton was the world s first warship made from glass reinforced plastic ...