Folks,

Dux:

She's a beauty! I wondered about those round windows. In heavy rain it must have been difficult to see very far ahead. Of course they weren't going all that fast by today's standards. Old 1300, made in Norich 1886. Amazing how young the crew still looks.

Life was hard back then for most everyone. Uncomfortable as life in the cab must have been for those singed in the front, frozen at the back, shoveling the coal, I'd wager they counted themselves far better off than those poor sooty blokes down in those anthracite shafts who had dug the same coal out of the earth.

Yes, there is a plethora of detail to be seen in that photo. I well remember my scale modeling days when I spent hours pouring over photos of planes or ships reproduced in books and magazines. Today it must be a sight easier using Google?

I am pleased to report that I now have SDOE installed, patched and running after all these years. Unfortunately even with an elderly system that is still advanced far beyond the listed max requirements, there is a huge amount of stuttering and freezing. Much more than we experienced early on with Rowan's BoB, Dux. Our Friend Jens is helping me tweak the INI file and the settings. If all goes well I will also install the stand alone WW1 addon. I saw some screen shots today that look much better than SDOE WW2. I would be happy to be able to fire that one up. I have not been able to get FCG to accept the advances of my Radeon.

Our Canadian pal C51 is getting ready to go back to school after his summer vacation from teaching Toronto kids music. According to him, at the end of last year's term several of his students had figured out which end of their horns they should blow into. He has been playing bass professionally with a local group over the summer and doing some painting. He says he will have some canvas on display in Orangeville starting today. He has also been flying a few missions in BoB WOV.

C51 still wants to fly the P51 D in something. He has IL2 but says that he does not like the padlock in that sim and that he has had much difficulty using it. For consistent pleasure and performance, he prefers BoB. It is becoming obvious that BoB has set a standard for us here that few sims seem to be able to meet.