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There will be a total eclipse of the Sun on the 1st August 2008. A solar eclipse is a celestial phenomenon which occurs when the Moon passes between the Sun and the Earth, in such a way that the Sun is wholly or partially obscured from view from the earth & casts a shadow on the surface of the Earth . The solar eclipse will be visible totally in parts of Russia, Mongolia and China and will be partial in parts of North America, Europe and Asia including India.

A Total Eclipse only happens during a new moon day ( Amavasya in Indian languages), when the Sun and Moon are in conjunction as seen from the Earth. There can be between 2 and 5 solar eclipses each year on Earth, with upto 2 of them being total eclipses. Total solar eclipses are however rare at any location because during each eclipse totality exists only along a narrow corridor in the relatively tiny area of the Moon’s umbra.

If you are as interested in seeing it as I am, remember that looking directly at the Sun even for just a few seconds, can cause permanent damage to the retina. This damage can result in permanent impairment of vision, and even blindness. The best way to see it is through a pin-hole camera, on Television or at a planetarium.

The eclipse begins at 9.32 BST and ends at 11.03 BST, with the maximum at 10.16 BST.

The next solar eclipse is on 26 January 2009 and the next total solar eclipse is on 22 July 2009, there is also a partial Lunar Eclipse (when the Earth passes between the Sun & the Moon, casting a shadow on the moon & making it appear blood red). occuring on Augst 16 2008, Most of Europe and Africa will see the entire eclipse. All of South America and Australia will be able to see part of it.

From the publishers of Heritage Railway Magazine comes Alan Castle’s definitive ‘I was there’ account marking the 40th Anniversary of the end of the Steam Train era in Britain, and detailing those last few days of steam during August 1968, and commemorating the fact that on 11th August 1968 most of those Steam trains that hadn’t already been scrapped would be running for the last time ever.

This fantastically illustrated 132 page book also contains some great old photographs, and tells the story of what happened during those last few days of Steam, from the perspective of those who were there & saw it happening. From the gradual line closures to the fifteen Guineas Special Railtour that was held round the country to mark the End of Steam.

I thought Steam: The Grand Finale was a fascinating book. Very informative, with some wonderful photographs. There are also rumours that LMS 45110 will be taking part in a re-enactment to mark the 40th Anniversary, which if true is something I’d like to go and see.

Due to unprecedented demand, the Daily Mail Newspaper has extended it’s offer of DVD versions of literary classics, another week with six more DVDs starting the week after next. Additional titles now being offer in addition to the 12 titles mentioned previously are:

* “Mansfield Park” (The 2007 TV version starring Billie Piper)
* “Wuthering Heights” (The 1978 TV mini-series starring Kay Adshead (2 Disc)
* “Northanger Abbey” (The 2007 TV version starring Felicity Jones)
* “Middlemarch” ( starring Rufus Sewell)

Free inside next week’s Mail on Sunday is a DVD of the 1982 film Enigma, which is a Cold war spy thriller starring Martin Sheen as Alex Holbeck, an escaped East German dissident turned CIA agent, who uses his own radio broadcast in Paris to expose the evils in the East German system.
He is approached by the CIA, and asked to go to East Germany and steal an Enigma decoder card from the KGB, who are planning to kill five dissidents all over the world on Christmas morning. The CIA are keen to prevent this happening and have decided that Holbeck, who is a master of disguise and knows his way round East Germany, is just the man for the job.
Holbeck’s main contact is his old East German girlfriend Karen (Brigitte Fossey), Who is recruited to seduce the Russian KGB officer (Sam Niell) who was sent to catch him . However Matters are complicated when Karen starts to fall in love with the Russian…
Judging by what I’ve read I get the feeling that they were aiming for a James Bond or Jason Bourne type feel to this movie.

THE last steam locomotive still owned by the British Army - The awesome ex War Department LMR 2-10-0 locomotive No 600 “Gordon” was recently formerly handed over to the Severn Valley Railway in a special ceremony at Highley on Friday, July 25th.

More than 30 ex-Sappers from the Royal Engineers who worked with the locomotive throughout its 26-year Army career at the Longmoor Military Railway in Hampshire, were at the SVR to witness the handover.

LMR No 600 “Gordon” was built during the war to the War Department “Austerity” 2-10-0 design, by the North British Locomotive Co at its Hyde Park Works in Glasgow in 1943 -it was only the second engine to emerge out of a class which eventually numbered 150 engines. The Locomotive was named in honour of the Royal Engineers most famous General, Charles Gordon (”Gordon of Khartoum”).

After the war it was used by the Royal Engineers on the Longmoor Military Railway where it worked until that closed in 1969. Then in September 1971 it arrived at the Severn Valley Railway after having spent a short period in store, where it has been in steam ever since. As of 2005 it is awaiting an overhaul. It has been given a cosmetic overhaul and has been placed in the new Engine House at Highley with several other steam engines while it awaits its overhaul.

I wish I’d been there to see it in steam back before 2005 - It must have been a great sight, Oh well I’ve seen it at The Engine House - very impressive (and big!) it was too.

‘Bless me Father, for I have sinned. I have been with a loose girl’.

The priest asks, ‘Is that you, Dicky?’

‘Yes, Father, it is.’

‘And who was the girl you were with?’

‘I can’t tell you, Father, I don’t want to ruin her reputation.’

‘Well, Dicky, I’m sure to find out her name sooner or later, so you may as well tell me now. Was it Mary Walsh?’

‘I cannot say.’ ‘Was it Teresa Brown?’

‘I’ll never tell.’

‘Was it Margaret Doyle?’

‘I’m sorry, but I cannot name her.’

‘Was it Anne O’ Neil?’

‘My lips are sealed.’

‘Was it Catherine O’ Tool, then?’

‘Please, Father, I cannot tell you.’

The priest sighs in frustration. ‘You’re very tight lipped Dicky, and I admire that. But you’ve sinned and have to atone. You cannot be an altar boy now for 4 months. Now you go and behave yourself.’

Dicky walks back to his pew, and his friend Tommy slides over and whispers, ‘What’d you get?’

‘4 Months holiday and five good leads’.

Next week the novel “Life Class” by Pat Barker is being offered for £2.99 when you buy the Times Newspaper, The book has been described as a sensitive exploration of the devastating effects of The Great War, aswell as being described as ‘Breathtaking … sharply written and elegantly constructed.’ So I may get it.

It is set during the spring of 1914, and follows a group of students at the Slade School of Art, who have gathered for a life-drawing class, Students in the class are - Paul Tarrant, who finds himself easily distracted by an intriguing fellow student named Elinor Brooke. until a chap named Kit Neville, who is already a well-known painter - makes it clear that he, too, is attracted to Elinor, so Paul withdraws into a passionate affair with an artist’s model instead.

As spring turns to summer, Paul and Elinor each reach a crisis in their relationships until finally, in the first few days of World War I, they turn to each other. Paul’s new life as a volunteer for the Belgian Red Cross is a world away from his days at the Slade. The longer he remains in Ypres, the greater the distance between himself and home becomes, and by the time he returns, Paul must come to terms with the fact that life, and love, will never be the same again….

During the summer months the stations along the Severn Valley Railway are a blaze of colour, with many magnificent floral displays. so from the 26 to the 27 July an event called “The Severn Valley in Bloom” is being held, which celebrates all the hard work put in by the staff to provide these displays of summer flower beds and hanging baskets along the length of the Severn Valley Railway.

Type 52 Diesel No D1013 “Western Ranger”

I am hoping to visit this weekend and have a look . (Plus I might also go and have another look at The Engine House aswell). In addition There is also a geological ramble around the SVR, lead by Dr Peter Oliver of the Earth Heritage Trust, Dr Oliver is also an expert in the geology of the Severn Valley. Which all sounds rather interesting.

I recently started reading this Bond novel, in which the villainous organisation SMERSH finally decides to eliminate Bond after he foils one too many of their nefarious schemes.

To do this they send an sexy young agent named Tatiana Romanova to seduce him & lure him into a trap which they have set in Istambul. Naturally Bond can’t believe his luck & thinks “wahey! get in there my son!” and walks straight into the trap & a deadly game of double cross ensues with Bonds life at stake.

I finally got round to sorting out all the photos I took at Trevithick 200 last weekend, and putting them into a gallery. The gallery can be found at the address below:

http://whizzbang.biz/trevithick200.html