Delta Force 2 – The Novalogic server turns a pretty poor single player game into a very addictive multiplayer game. I was engrossed with the sniper vs sniper games!

I have to agree that Ghost Recon and Desert Siege are excellent and the most comparable games I’ve played before are Hidden & Dangerous and its add on – classics.

I’ve tried connecting to ubisoft.com to have a blast on the multiplayer but my new laptop is causing a few problems with the modem connection. Even though it has the usual 56k modem the connection rate displayed is 1.2kbps? Maybe someone knows what I’m doing wrong? Maybe its because I went for cheapness bought from Time.

The national standard was set at 4 foot 8 inches. The 7 foot gauge had to be changed at considerable cost.

Yes good point about the rolling stock but the railway needs to function as an entire system i.e. larger track gauge requiring larger tunnel gauges equal greater construction costs, shorter life and higher maintenance costs for bridges and other structures etc.

Opps sorry mate my mistake. Just get carried away talking up us Civil Engineers. But one question why’d you set the GWR gauge to 7 foot?

Never expected the thread to go this far but good to hear everyone’s views. Thanks! Forgive me for the longish post.

Keltic, a few of LU’s tunnels run close to the bottom of the Thames River but we’re lucky that the clay soil is fairly impermable to water. I remember a story that one of the tunnels is only 3 metres below the river bed and that there was a risk of the many unexploded WWII bombs in the Thames could destroy it. A crazy plan was devised where a huge hopper of sand would be lifted by helicopter and dumped onto the riverbed to plug any holes in the tunnel. Fortunately LU went for strengthening the tunnel lining instead.

It’s a favourite pastime for Londoners to moan about the Underground but much of it is past its shelf life. Some parts are 130 years old.

Its gradual decline began during the post war years. Much of this is due to the way its funded ie state funded. In general the older something is the more it costs to repair – just like an old house. But the real problem is for example, imagine if you were responsible for maintaining the system, a long term maintenance project costs £100million and the government agrees to pay £20m over the next 5 years. What if the after only 2 years Gordon Brown comes back and says look I need the money for the health service so I can’t afford to pay you? The effect is that you can only plan in the short term not being able to afford to cure long standing problems and end up pumping in money in an ad hoc basis. In the government’s eagerness to rid it of the public purse a controversial plan is privatise the engineer’s section and get private firms to raise the necessary cash.

AFAIK there are only plans by LU to install air conditioning for the larger sub-surface trains and not the tube trains. The deep level tubes such as the Bakerloo and Central line are only 12 foot diameter tunnels. Fitting a suitable aircon unit would take up too much space and reduce passenger space. Another reason is that they would consume too much power from the traction current that the trains are powered by. Instead engineers are looking at ways to cool the tunnel itself.

Major projects in the pipeline are an upgrade to the signalling systems (allowing a greater frequency of trains) and much of the tracks. Other options to reduce overcrowding are to add additional carriages to the trains but only if station platforms can be extended. The problem how do you this while keeping the trains running? From what I’ve heard the New York Subway has two tracks for each direction so a 24 hour service can be ran.

Londoner’s are still awaiting the construction of Crossrail a new underground rail link across London when built will relieve the crowded Underground. But after a decade of political arguing it is yet to get started.

Elsewhere in London is the tunnelling work carried out in Stratford for the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, a high speed link to central London. The French had completed there own link to Paris in time for the opening of the Chunnel – 13 years ago! French engineers are held in high regard and are considered quite innovative – the first to use reinforced concrete with Britain’s great engineers including French born Sir Marc Brunel and his son Sir Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

In ending British engineering can be quite good once it eventually mobilises itself.:D

RE: Eastern kits

I agree with your comments that Kopro is the same as Airfix but the Airfix MiG-15 can’t hold a candle to the Kopro MiG-15 kits. Having said that there is a noticeable difference in quality between the Bilek and Kopro MiG-19 kits. I haven’t come across Dragon’s 1/72 MiG-15 but I have no major complaints about their MiG-17/J-5 models.

What’s your opinion on the ICM MiG-31 kit? I’m hoping its better than Kangam’s effort. Now I’m just pondering over whether to put Iraqi or Afghan decals on the Bilek Su-20/22 I’ll be starting soon.