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Mike 84C

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Everything posted by Mike 84C

  1. FR used to buy a product known as LMD which marine engines ran on. Its a by product from processing heavy crude to produce tarmac coating used for road construction. Higher sulphur than gas oil and can/ could only be burnt on the high seas and external combustion eg, loco fireboxes. Mainly produced in the UK by Nynas.
  2. Festiniog locos were oil fired for years but have been converted to coal for quite a number of years now. Fire risk was one of the reasons for oil firing plus the ability to steam the boiler harder which was needed back in 1970/80's. Maybe not now?
  3. Anyone know who the driver is on the diesel at Barrow Hill ?
  4. Ardley stone was usually hauled by 5600 0-6-2's and 6100 2-6-2's from Leamington shed. When that shed closed the work came to Banbury and you tended to get whatever sort of locos. 9f, 8f, 5mt even 4mt.
  5. My safety glasses, which I cannot find now, were a very similar shape with a black frame and had a triangular piece on each arm that was supposed to stop dust. Never saw that situation before but every day's a school day!
  6. I wonder if that driver is wearing those protective goggles locomen were issued with? Never wore mine! must see if I still have them would they class as artifacts now?
  7. Top man John Besley, should have popped your glasses in your top pocket. Only allowed for reading back in the day!
  8. I rather like the loaded wagons but securing a car around the windscreen seems an odd thing to do even with the large amount of padding. Surely ropes around the wheels/tyres would be less likely to cause damage?
  9. Atlantics of the GCR, NBR, NER, L&Y all had narrow grates. Any I missed!!?
  10. Your Tipplers look rather good, just like I remember them zipping along behind a 9f or maybe something else! And that is me in my little title picture. Maybe see you at Spalding?
  11. Nothing available at a local builders builders merchants? Or maybe chat up a friendly builder pal?
  12. I also used the closed cell neoprene rubber with the sticky back but mine came in 2" wide rolls! I cut the rolls into 1" wide rolls, this made curves much easier to lay and then glued cork on top of the rubber using bath sealant. Result! very quiet running trains. I got the idea from an article in Model Railroader. Downside its quite expensive, or so I thought.
  13. I am being a little contentious here but having just finished Tim Hillier-Graves book about Edward Thompson I have to say how much I enjoyed it . I knew nothing of the man except who he was and what he did , also the alleged background to his destruction of Gresleys legacy. I believe he was a pragmatic engineer who reacted to a situation, in a period of great financial restraint and did the best job he thought possible with what he had. Dick Hardy is quoted several times in THG's book and Dick Hardy was a man with very good judgement of most things railway. I speak with experience of DH, he was a friend and I worked with men who knew him as a "boss" I can also see traits in ET that relate to my own parents and grandparents. And although we were not sent away to public school our upbringing was quite strict and in many ways Victorian, military, do as you are told, do not question my authority, be quiet, think before you speak and say something worth saying. I expect others can relate too that! I fully realise that THG is putting events and information as he sees it, all I say is read his book. And I thank THG for taking the time to write about Edward Thompson.
  14. If you could get hold of an SR shovel they were a prized bit of kit! You d'not have to fill the pan on a Western shovel, half is usually enough! But fill it with slack and let the blast pull it over the flap makes a really good smoke effect. We used to relieve Saltley men at Tyesley lots of them had their "own" shovels usually an SR one and hand brushes. My driver made one fireman leave his shovel 'cos the one he left me was useless! He was pretty p----d off! but I did return it to him next day and had a good shovel for the rest of the week!!
  15. Defo the burns! and the gloves but never felt quite secure firing wearing gloves. Why firebricks in the back corners? No depth of fire there was a sure way of needing a "blow up". You developed a twist and flick to fill the back corners and a shovel that was not "flat". I used to get the blade vey hot, and bend it behind a side rod then under the injector waste pipe to cool. You could fire through the trap on one of those horrible GN/LNE "chipshop" oval doors with an angled shovel. I stress never a Western shovel on a 9F.
  16. Could it have a connection with Walsall Saddlers football team? And I think the area in general was well known as a leather working area.
  17. 92203, very good engine. Wish I had a ££££ for every ton I shovelled in the firebox. Could I still do it at 76? 🤣
  18. Looks nothing like the Hinksey I remember in the 1960's. More like Russia or other communist country's where the railways just stagger on.
  19. Visited Abbotsford House this summer?! Fantastic house and gardens, very close to Melrose. Worth the effort.
  20. About a month ago my swimbo and I paid a visit to the Scottish Mining Museum at Newtongrange EH22 4QN. Its in the old Lady Victoria pit. I was not sure how my wife would enjoy it but she did, very much! helped no doubt by the anecdotes of 86yr old ex miner John our guide. Brilliant! He did use a fair bit of slang which we translated for a Dutch couple in the tour group. I purchased from the museum shop "Fife the mining kingdom" by Guthrie Hutton who seems to have written a series of photo books illustrating Scottish mining. Very interesting, lots of photos of old collieries with good photos of old NB, and PO wagons and smaller collieries. just what you need for a layout. If you are in the area on holiday, I drove up from Melrose, its well worth a visit. But I hope we all know that already!
  21. Started reading but after half an hour really lost the will to live! What to me becomes clear is, our politicians have changed little in 60years. Talk is cheap (or expensive if you cost out MP's) and why do anything when you can talk about it. I worked on the railway in those days and was part of the staff redundancy the ministers talked of. Mick
  22. Thanks for that info; Mike. I also had a wander through and recognised Les Greer who spent a short while at Banbury before going to Nine Elms. I believe he came to 84C/2D from Willesden. Sadly Rod Williamson died early this year but his ashes did get shot out of Royal Scots chimney passing through Ludlow where he was born. I had a mental picture of a genie wearing a grease top, grinning and shouting "come on lads the pubs open"! happy days!
  23. Anyone know who the crew is on 34018? If they are Nine Elms men I wonder if the fireman is Rod Williamson? He went to NE from Salop and then to Wolverhampton HL. I met him in Wolverhampton hostel, shared a room before he joined the police force.
  24. How would the valve gear layout as fitted to the L&Y / LMS Dreadnought work? that had rocking arms to transfer the drive O/S to I/S the frames. One was also converted to a compound. I'm sure Stanier knew all about Hughes work.
  25. Good luck Manna! plenty of potential there, I can see you are into projects! 😎
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