OO Military Vehicles

In message , Chris Wilson writes

Don't forget that was a proper British gallon of 4.546 litres, and not one of those underweight and undersized US ones of only 3.785 litres.

I can remember when petrol was 5/- a gallon. That's 25p to those who don't know what shillings are.

"Jane Sullivan"

I can remember when gas (petrol) went to Can$0.509 per imperial gallon and we thought that was a rip-off. In this area, it's now Can$1.1179/Litre.

-- Cheers Roger T.

Home of the Great Eastern Railway

Bloody yanks, HO guage petrol in a OO guage world. ;-)

I was taught to count in l.s.d, lbs and ounces etc etc etc ... the real world came as a hell of a shock when I sat my first entrance exam at the age of 8 and was presented by a question that asked about something hitherto unknown designated as a "kilogram" ... ah the perils of a private education ... I still have an atlas from that time ... most of the world was stained pink and coloured gentlemen was known as .... can't say that now.

LOL Quite a few years ago now I was the facilities manager in charge of an RAF explosive storage area. At one point, before the annual inspection, I was in the process of producing a report on the condition of all the cranes and hoists in the site. I was unaware of the safe working load of one particular hoist, so I sent one of the young lads out to read it off the data plate. He came back and told me "It's twenty centiweights, Sarge".

I had a rapdily sinking feeling as I didn't know what a centiweight was and would now have to find a new way of thinking to deal with these new very metric-sounding weights and measures that the youngsters seemed to know all about. Then I had a flash of inspiration. "What is a centiweight?" I asked the lad.

"Dunno, Sarge. That's what it says on the plate. 20 cwt"

Then again we are the generation that can deal with dual dimensions. I'm constantly being asked for bits of wood that are "50mm square by 87 inches long" :-)

In rural France, when shopping for veg, I often see older people asking for 'une livre' of something- this being some old measurement that's not quite equivalent to 500gms... Given that the French metricated back in the late

" Les Pickstock"

Nothing unusual in that Les, we railway modellers have always used mix dimensions. Look back to model magazines of the 1950s and 1960s you'll see mixed imperial, metric and scale feet and inches everywhere.

"Take a piece of 2mm card six feet seven inches long......" would be typical.

-- Cheers Roger T.

Home of the Great Eastern Railway

" Les Pickstock"

Nothing unusual in that Les, we railway modellers have always used mix dimensions. Look back to model magazines of the 1950s and 1960s you'll see mixed imperial, metric and scale feet and inches everywhere.

"Take a piece of 2mm card six feet seven inches long......" would be typical.

-- Cheers Roger T.

Home of the Great Eastern Railway

The reason is that metric measurements are so irrelevant to everyday living the French continued using imperial measures for food until it was outlawed by the EU a few years ago. You can still ask for an imperial measure but shops are not allowed to price it that way. The deli counter at my local co-op has a weighing machine that will display the price per pound if asked. Ham is typically £18 per lb and cheese is £23 per lb. The EU has just proposed a directive which will also outlaw the sale of beer in pints in pubs.

(kim)

Hey Roger... you're in stereo again!

"Enzo Matrix"

Dunno what's causing it. It's not on all newsgroups all the time and it's not consistent. :-(

-- Cheers Roger T.

Home of the Great Eastern Railway

Long ago I tried scratchbuilding an item of early French rolling stock from a copy of the original drawing as published in a book. As the model came together I realized there was a dimensional problem - French feet and inches were not the same as English feet and inches! Now that I've looked further I find that every French region and German state had different dimensions - eg a Wuerttemberg "Mile" was defined as the distance a man could walk in one day. It's no wonder Europe went metric!

That had to do with the French Revolution. The new regime wanted to sweep away all links with the former monarchy. When Napoleon invaded Europe the French imposed their measurement system on every country they occupied. The Soviets followed suit in 1917 after murdering their own Royal Family.

(kim)

When every state and region has it's own system of measurement, imposing a rational system has some advantages!

Considering the fact that Russia was a feudal monarchy until 1917, murdering their despotic monarchy seems reasonable, at least to me.

Which particular crime did the women and children of the family commit which made it 'reasonable' to murder them?

(kim)

What in particular makes it right for a small group of people to "rule" others and to keep a majority of the population in slavery? Read any of the small number of books written about the conditions that the average person or railway construction worker (keeping it on subject :-) lived under in Czarist Russia and you'll soon see that a few aristocrats murdered is neither here nor there in the scheme of things.

Regards, Greg.P.

It is still legal to display the price in pounds and ounces but only if the price is displayed less prominently than the metric equivalent. The actual weighing must be metric

That's over =A350/kg! What sort of cheese is that? At that price, it's no wonder Enzo wears the cheese!

MBQ

Greg,

You might also want to comment on the regime that followed, and discuss the differences between absolute monarchy and dictatorship. :-)

Jim.

That's over £50/kg! What sort of cheese is that? At that price, it's no wonder Enzo wears the cheese!

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Probably the exact same sort of cheese it was at £23/lb!

Cheers, Steve