Vintage Playthings

Just back from a(nother) splendid jaunt in the heavenly surroundings of Pickering, Yorks.

The idea for the trip was conceived back when our trusty (and slightly rusty) 850 estate started to drift beyond economic repair, having traveled further than the distance to the moon...

She went off to the knacker's yard on a very sad day, made more palatable by her replacement...

We went back to see our friendly car dealer, from whom we had purchased the Volvo, intending to buy a sensible (i.e. boring) car, but were seduced by an MX5 in remarkable condition - closer to "showroom" than I've ever seen. The XYL and I couldn't resist and the Mazda became the first of the "Vintage" playthings to which my title refers (although hardly true of an MX5, "Vintage" sounds so much more friendly than "anachronistic" which, in some ways, she is).

In the years BC (i.e. before children) we had enjoyed holidaying in our MGB (which we still have "fermenting" in the garage), but years of estate cars and people carriers full of the paraphernalia of parenting and family life had tempted us into travelling with the kitchen sink. This time, we needed once again to plan before packing our bags - which made me think carefully about fishing tackle and radio tackle. The XYL similarly had to think about her telescopes and ornithological requisites. But it all fitted in surprisingly easily and we had a wonderful, comfortable blast over the top to white rose territory...

We stayed (of course) at The Limes at High Mill,

which is on the North York Moors Railway's boundary fence...

Here you see me operating m0xpd/a on 40m, using a dipole hung from the pole I got from Les, g4hzj, at AM Tools at Norbreck a few weeks back. Fortunately, the pole fitted into the car (along with the FT817, a Norcal 40, a wall-wart power supply and some keys).

The owners at High Mill, Cheryl and Mike, both worked as Radio Operators in an earlier life and so are sympathetic to our hobby - Cheryl didn't bat an eyelid when I strapped the pole to the fence!

Unfortunately, I was greeted by solid S9 QRM across the band 24/7 and didn't have much joy - best dx was to Rudy, ik4vfd, in Parma. It was nice to be able to chat to my neighbour Billy, m0jha (who lives a few clicks away from my home QTH in red rose land) and it is always a pleasure to reach Ian, g3roo, who was operating /m.

As already mentioned, the car forced a re-appraisal of my fishing tackle - an important consideration for trips to Pickering, as my readers already know. I took a three-piece modern 10-foot rod as insurance but also packed the second of my "Vintage Playthings"; a cane rod I built in the early days living in Wyoming.

I had purchased a collection of broken pieces of split cane rods in an alloy tube at a garage sale in Laramie back in the late 80's. I found three pieces that just about added up to a viable rod, stripped, varnished and added fixings and ended up with a pretty museum piece that I thought one day could grace a wall. Well - this last week - the rod came out of hibernation to perform FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME EVER its real function.

You can just see the price I paid on the alloy tube I still use as a rod case for this little treasure...

the $1 rod is hosting a Hardy Marquis #6 multiplier reel, with which it makes a very nicely balanced weapon.

It worked beautifully - I landed 122 fish in a week of fishing before breakfast and early evenings, of which about 20% were privileged to put a bend into the cane rod, as here against the background of ex-Southern loco, SR 825 (Class S15 Maunsell 4-6-0) running back to shed after a hard day's work...

[There is an interesting analogy to be drawn between the way in which a source (such as an amplifier or a fishing rod) drives its load (such as a fly line or an antenna). The source impedance of a split cane rod is very different to that of a modern carbon rod and both the load (the fly line) and the casting technique have to be modified to suit. I'll write about it one day.]

The fishing was - as ever - great at Pickering Trout Lake, as was the friendly atmosphere (although a belligerent member of the Caravan Club couldn't resist complaining about woodsmoke - I suppose it is obvious that the travelling NIMBY takes his back yard with him).

My last "vintage plaything" was triggered by sight of Sir Nigel Gresley (the A4 Class locomotive, not a ghost)...

I remembered I had a Hornby Dublo A4, "Silver King", sitting on 12 inches of 3-rail track on a bookshelf back home - a relic of my first childhood. As I'm well-and-truly into my second, I couldn't resist a peek inside the Pickering Model Shop, which sits opposite the MYMR Station, next to the equally irresistible Elizabeth Botham's TeaRoom (which I also visited - both at Pickering and at Whitby)...

Imagine my delight to discover that 3-rail track can be had second-hand at a reasonable price - a delight so intense that I couldn't just buy an oval of track, but had to buy the whole railway...

Isn't it wonderful how radios and toy railways both run on 12V - "That's the way God planned it".

BTW - I'm allowed to be honest and disparaging about "Toy" trains, 'cos I've built and operated a real locomotive...

Now Silver King has some rails to run over on the dining table back home...

All-in-all, a wonderful holiday, packed full of Vintage Playthings!

...-.- de m0xpd

Post Scriptum

Chatting to the good folks at Pickering Trout Lake, the owner said to me "...or we could just fill it in and use it as a Car Park".

I do most sincerely hope he was only joking. Come on all you anglers - you have been warned - USE IT - OR LOSE IT!