OneGuyFromBarlick

Well folks; having decided to 'delurk' at last, I guess I should do an bit of an intro.

I'm from Gippsland, Victoria, Australia; more specifically, the Latrobe Valley.
Which is in a sense the 'engine room' of Victoria - we have six thermal power stations here, of the thirteen in the State. Including all of those of over 1GW output capacity - four brown coal fired steam cycle plants; and two smaller open cycle natural gas fired gas turbine plants.

I have a working/educational background in the chemistry field, and have worked in industries such as research/consulting, 'non-ferocious' metals mining, and 'upstream' oil and gas production. My major pastimes include quite a bit of workshop-related stuff [mechanical repairs, welding, blacksmithing, electronics] and outdoors pursuits [fishing, hunting, motorcycle touring, exploring historic minesites].

What brought me to the OGFB site? A thread on a motorcycle forum site, by a South African, about steam engines! Which featured quite a few links to Stanley's posts on the old OGFB forum. THIS was that thread...

Thanks for that Doug although I'll admit it threw me a bit, couldn't reconcile an intro with an established poster. (Put the name at the bottom of posts just for me. I will forget it!) I suppose you've picked up my Oz connection, my dad was an Aussie....

Welcome Doug.We're almost neighbours. I live on the Mornington Peninsula.

Thanks for the welcome, folks.

Stanley, I reckoned an intro was appropriate as, although I'm long time registered, I haven't posted until now. When I first signed up, it was only so that I could view the 'members only' pics, really.
But something went awry with my account setup, and if I logged in, I couldn't access the forum index! So I just viewed the forums as a guest, without trying to log in again, until recently.

You are a welcome addition to the active posters. I had a look at that site that you mentioned. It looks as though I have at least one fan out there....

I've certainly much enjoyed your writings on OGFB, Stanley. I really liked your autobiography, and also the intriguing story of your discovery of your dad's WWI record.

My paternal grandfather and his two brothers also served in the AIF in WWI [they all enlisted in 1916]; I found that it was actually necessary to read all three of their service records, to get the complete picture.
Bits like having to get a special endorsement paper from a local enlistment committee, due to having German-born grandparents - that was only fully elaborated in one of those records.

It's amazing what you find out when you start digging Doug. Things are never as simple as they seem on the surface.....