Listen – Talking Business

Your Big Project – Series 1 Episode 7 – Listen

Welcome to Listen, talk seven in the series ‘Your Big Project‘. Hopefully this series of podcasts will improve the chances of success for your project. We always consider the good, the bad and the extremely ugly!

I talk about the need for everyone, from the top downwards, to listen. The listening should have started as part of the Best Practice programme. Listening at that stage means you will have incorporated Best Practice into the system!

Listen gives you a chance of delivering a working system that is accepted in your organisation. Listening is a task for all of the team.

The talk is based on the experience I have gained through my involvement in a number of systems projectsI hope that you find it useful.

I hope that you gain ideas from the successes and failures of others and that you have a life changing success.

Please click on the link to access the .PDF slide pack for this talk:

Presentation 7 Listen

This series of podcasts is also available through iTunes (Apple Podcasts), Spotify and Stitcher.

Join me in two weeks for episode eight of Talking Business – Your Big Project.

The theme music Lifestyles used in this podcast is licensed from AKM Music.

© The MrT Podcast Studio 2019

Watercress People (1)

Episode 15

Welcome to Watercress People (1), where I have the opportunity to interview some of the people who make the Watercress Line happen – for you and me.

My first interview in Watercress People (1) is with Colin Fuller who was one of the original people involved when British Rail closed the line in the 1970s.

I then talk to Steve Crowther, the Chair of the Mid-Hants Railway Preservation Society. We discuss the roles of the Society and the Mid-Hants Railway Limited in creating the Watercress Line experience. Steve is also the Station Master at Alresford Station.

The final interview in Watercress People (1) is with Colin Marsh who is a Porter at Medstead & Four Marks station. We discuss life at this quiet country station.

There are no photographs to accompany this episode.

To visit the Watercress Line website please follow this link Watercress Line.

The next episode of Life on the Watercress Line is in two weeks.

You can also listen to this podcast on iTunes, Spotify and Stitcher.

The theme and incidental music Steam Railway used in this podcast is licensed from AKM Music.

© The MrT Podcast Studio 2019

Darwin and Evolution (A) – Talking History with Farnham U3A

Season 2018 / 2019 – Talk 9 A – Darwin and Evolution (A)

Sam Osmond tells the story of the life of the Victorian scientist Charles Darwin and his theory of Evolution in Darwin and Evolution (A).

We hear about his early life, and how he went to Edinburgh to study to be a doctor. Sam tells us about his time at Cambridge where he was studying to become a clergyman. As Darwin was more interested in entomology, botany and geology he only got an ‘ordinary’ degree.

He was lucky to get a berth on the 5 year voyage of the Beagle. We hear of the visits the Galapagos Islands. There Darwin saw an amazing range of wildlife and geology. He studied the wildlife and noted the difference in the finches on different islands.

In Darwin and Evolution (A) Sam discusses the books he published and how some Christians were, and still are, offended by them.

Please note: there is a slight echo on the recording and some disturbance from builders renovating the room next to the meeting room.

The Farnham U3A site is at Farnham U3A Home Page.

The music Media Magazine used in this podcast is licensed from AKM Music.

© The MrT Podcast Studio and Farnham U3A History Group 2019

Darwin and Evolution (B) – Talking History with Farnham U3A

Season 2018 / 2019 – Talk 9 – Darwin and Evolution B

Sam Osmond continues the story about the life of the Victorian scientist Charles Darwin and his theory of Evolution in Darwin and Evolution (B) .

We hear about Herbert Spence, a leading Victorian philosopher, and his  ideas about evolution. Sam discusses selective breeding, a topic Plato wrote about over 2,000 years ago. 18th century selective breeding ‘improved’ livestock.

We learn that DNA analysis of fossils supports the theories discussed in Darwin and Evolution (B).

Please note: there is a slight echo on the recording and some disturbance from builders renovating the room next to the meeting room.

The Farnham U3A site is at Farnham U3A Home Page.

The music Media Magazine used in this podcast is licensed from AKM Music.

© The MrT Podcast Studio and Farnham U3A History Group 2019

Keeping Tight Control – Talking Business

Your Big Project – Series 1 Episode 6

Welcome to Keeping Tight Control, talk six in the series ‘Your Big Project‘. Hopefully this series of podcasts will improve the chances of success for your project. We always consider the good, the bad and the extremely ugly!

In Keeping Tight Control I talk about the need to keep to the scope defined as part of the Best Practice programme . This means that the Project Manager will have to work hard to prevent scope creep. The Project Manager is likely to have few friends but will be respected!

Keeping Tight Control gives you a chance of delivering a working system – on time – on budget. The task is one for all the team.

The talk is based on the experience I have gained through my involvement in a number of systems projectsI hope that you find it useful.

I hope that you gain ideas from the successes and failures of others and that you have a life changing success.

Please click on the link to access the .PDF slide pack for this talk:

Presentation – Keeping Tight Control

This series of podcasts is also available through iTunes (Apple Podcasts), Spotify and Stitcher.

Join me in two weeks for episode seven of Talking Business – Your Big Project.

The theme music Lifestyles used in this podcast is licensed from AKM Music.

© The MrT Podcast Studio 2019

A Day Out With Thomas (B)

Episode 14

Welcome to A Day Out With Thomas (B),  a favourite event for visitors, of all ages, to the Watercress Line. I join Thomas and his friends who are out in the summer weather to entertain everybody!

Rusty and I talk about his role and later I catch part of his magic show. I visit the swing seat roundabouts, a very popular attraction at Ropley. After that I take the first train to Alresford. At Alresford I speak to a family who are out for the day.

In A Day Out With Thomas (B) I talk to Richard who is on Thomas’ footplate staff and then talk with Karen who is doing the commentary.

It is a lovely day with lots of really happy people. You can do the same at the next A Day Out With Thomas event.It runs from the 13th to 22nd April and details are here.

Please click on a thumbnail to open the gallery:

To visit the Watercress Line website please follow this link Watercress Line.

The next episode of Life on the Watercress Line is in two weeks.

You can also listen to this podcast on iTunes, Spotify and Stitcher.

The theme and incidental music Steam Railway used in this podcast is licensed from AKM Music.

© The MrT Podcast Studio 2019

US Rail Journeys – From the Sierra Nevada to Richmond, Ca

Series 1 Episode 16

From the Sierra Nevada to Richmond is the last part my journey westwards on the California Zephyr. I left you at the end of the last episode at the top of the Sierra Nevada. Today we come down the mountain and travel through California to Richmond.

The speed limit is 30 mph as the train descends the mountain. We certainly don’t want to be on a ‘runaway train’. At one time there was hydraulic mining, where the topsoil was washed away by water. This was banned because of the damage it caused.

Our first stop is Colfax, named after a US Vice-President. There is a statue of a miner panning for gold at the station. We travel on to Roseville where we pass large rail yards and a wagon repair depot. For more details click here.

Next we reach the State Capital at Sacramento, click here, where we pass the locomotive works. We then pass through Davis and Martinez before we reach the end of my journey at Richmond.

I hope you have enjoyed the series. There will be a second series of US Rail Journeys in the Autumn (Fall). In series two I will travel on the Southwest Chief, the City of New Orleans and the Sunset Limited.

Click on a ‘thumbnail’ to open the gallery for the journey from Across the Sierra Nevada to the Donner Pass.

My thanks go to the passengers and crew on our journey from Chicago to the Bay Area, aboard the California Zephyr, for their tolerance of the man waving the microphone. It truly is a magnificent journey.

Want more information?

Full definition copies of the photographs taken by MrT are available on Flickr. In addition a selection are on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

This podcast is also available through iTunes (Apple podcasts), Spotify and Stitcher as well as this website.

Steam Railway is used as the theme music under licence from AKM Music.

© The MrT Podcast Studio 2017 to 2019