On 13th April 2009, Easter Monday, we went to the Watercress Line where they were holding ‘A day with Thomas’.

It was a fantastic day out, with lots to do for the kids, but also an impressive amount of what I’d call ‘old school geekery’, with Lord Nelson and Bitterne running the full line with 6 carriages each, as many as the platforms could handle.

I was very impressed with how accurate Thomas appeared to be. I was expecting any old train with a face on, but he did seem to be very similar to the character. There were a few more trains moving around, including Diesel, Percy (with Toad) and Daisy.

The best part was the random announcements of “And the sun… continues… to shine!”. All announcers should do that every so often.

Highly recommended as a day out.

This is a photo I took with my 10D in New York from the “Top of the Rock”. I am trying to get a lot more human interest into my photos, and I think I hit the mark with this one. Let me know what you think, in particular whether you think that adding people to photos like this makes them better.

I’d appreciate the comments on flickr, it increases its ‘interestingness’ and more people will then view the photo. Thanks

I’m going to put this up for sale here for a couple of days, to see if there is any interest, if not then it will be on ebay by the weekend.

More recent photos to follow soon.

I bought this car in 2002 with 40,000kms on the clock, basic greddy turbo kit and roll cage. Since then it has been improved and tweeked, retaining a sensible power output of around 200bhp @ 7psi. It has been used on track days, and occasionally for drifting and sprints. It has always been reliable, to the point that I believe it is now the highest mileage turbo there is – daily driving has brought the mileage up just over 160,000 kms, or 100,000 miles. The engine is as strong as it has ever been, and I have no reason to doubt its ability to do another 100,000 miles.

In terms of speed, it is similar to a Caterham. 0-60 is around 6 second, but cornering is where it really shines. The cage, suspension and diff give an unbelievable amount of grip. At the last sprint – MX5 OC, Curborough 2007 – it was 3rd quickest behind a MaX5 car and another car running 15psi.

The main downside to the car is that the paintwork is knackered. T-cut will not fix it as in places the laquer is pealing. Do not let that put you off, it is a very fast, sound car, with all the bits you would ever want to add to an MX-5.

Here are the details;

1992 S-Spec
Greddy Turbo
15psi.com Saab intercooler kit
Full Roll cage – Stiffens the chassis a lot, roof still fits.
Custom ECU
Brand new K&N filter, iridium spark plugs
Recent magnecor leads
KYB AGX shocks
Torsen Differential
Knocklink knock sensor
Sony MP3 CD player, alpine speakers
Manual control of A/C fan for additional cooling in traffic or paddocks.
1.8 Mazda clutch and brake conversion – proven strong on track.
Brake master cylinder brace
Rota group 15” N alloys, 5.1kg each, 2x new toyo’s, 2x worn toyos
Original 14” 7 spoke and BBS wheels included if wanted, both sets are tatty but lightweight and good for track use.
Mazda bodykit with chin and rear spoiler.
Bipes ACU – disconnected, but good for ebay. Needs removing (5 minutes of soldering work).
Autometer gauges
HKS Silent HiPower exhaust
Walbro fuel pump
Polished knob *phnar*.

The bad points are;

The paint.
The roof is split near the rear window.
The A/C doesn’t work and should ideally be removed.
One alloy has been kerbed

I took this set of photos using a converted Canon 300D while on holiday in the Lake District. Unfortunately there were no summery leaves to play with, but I am very pleased with the resulting photos.

I borrowed the camera from a friend, and details of the conversion of his camera can be found on his blog. ‘Strangeparty – converting a 300D to infrared’

This is also my first real post, please let me know what you think of the blog, the gallery software, and the ability to post comments.

Under construction.

Wow, I know what you’re thinking. It’s all changed. It’s under construction for now, until I get a theme and gallery set up, meanwhile the old site should still be visible at http://oldsite.esses.co.uk/

One week old