QUOTE (Greg H @ 9 Nov 2008, 23:48) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Please feel free to address me as you wish, Mr Considine, but please do try to spell my name correctly.
Greg H.
Hi Greg/Mr Heathcliffe (sorry couldn't work out which you prefer),
I have enjoyed browsing the Forum as and when it takes my fancy - I dip in on various debates and discussions - and by and large I find everyone who takes the time to log on and add their bit to be friendly (sometimes funny) and always constructive.
I sense some friction in your postings and that is, in my opinion, unfortunate, because clearly you feel strongly about this subject and you are very much entitled to your opinion, which I respect. But just because you don't agree with another member's point of view, please don't get cross!
There is surely merit in having some kind of generic system as a guide. I agree that it would be helpful to have more specific notes about a given loco or item of rolling stock's period of operation, but when it comes to reviews for example, this becomes a bit tricky, especially where coaches and wagons are concerned. Do we take the running number of a mineral wagon and try to learn its history so that the running dates given in a catalogue or with a review are 100% accurate? Of course we can't. A general timescale can be given, however, the idea of the era or epoch system is to match locos with suitable rolling stock as much as anything. If I want to be precise, I will research my given subject and run what I perceive to be a reasonable interpretation of the facts I uncover. But as one learned researcher has already said on this thread, you cannot know everything and the system as it stands serves to narrow things down - you take it a stage further if you really want to. Anyone who is happy to run a Western believing that it was introduced several years before it was actually built probably doesn't care that much anyway.
I for one find that carriages and wagons especially, benefit from the narrowing down process that the era system offers. I'm sorry that you don't appear to agree with what most people on this Forum have been saying, and I guess you are not likely to change your view however much I try to articulate the point here. But as I said before, I respect your view, but please don't be too hard on well meaning folk who take the time to offer their considered opinion on the subject.
Black 5 Man.
Greg H.
Hi Greg/Mr Heathcliffe (sorry couldn't work out which you prefer),
I have enjoyed browsing the Forum as and when it takes my fancy - I dip in on various debates and discussions - and by and large I find everyone who takes the time to log on and add their bit to be friendly (sometimes funny) and always constructive.
I sense some friction in your postings and that is, in my opinion, unfortunate, because clearly you feel strongly about this subject and you are very much entitled to your opinion, which I respect. But just because you don't agree with another member's point of view, please don't get cross!
There is surely merit in having some kind of generic system as a guide. I agree that it would be helpful to have more specific notes about a given loco or item of rolling stock's period of operation, but when it comes to reviews for example, this becomes a bit tricky, especially where coaches and wagons are concerned. Do we take the running number of a mineral wagon and try to learn its history so that the running dates given in a catalogue or with a review are 100% accurate? Of course we can't. A general timescale can be given, however, the idea of the era or epoch system is to match locos with suitable rolling stock as much as anything. If I want to be precise, I will research my given subject and run what I perceive to be a reasonable interpretation of the facts I uncover. But as one learned researcher has already said on this thread, you cannot know everything and the system as it stands serves to narrow things down - you take it a stage further if you really want to. Anyone who is happy to run a Western believing that it was introduced several years before it was actually built probably doesn't care that much anyway.
I for one find that carriages and wagons especially, benefit from the narrowing down process that the era system offers. I'm sorry that you don't appear to agree with what most people on this Forum have been saying, and I guess you are not likely to change your view however much I try to articulate the point here. But as I said before, I respect your view, but please don't be too hard on well meaning folk who take the time to offer their considered opinion on the subject.
Black 5 Man.
