Mike 84C

As I age things from the past seem so much easier to recall, I have two brothers both younger than me and the stuff they cannot remember about our younger days surprises me. Like digging a huge cesspit when the house was modernised. Mrs 84C says its an age thing! there's quite an age difference between us so I have to be careful not to live in the past. My little meme/avatar? says it all.

I also have one to build/ rebuild! the foot plate seems rather weak. Did you reinforce the foot plate in some way? I am tempted to solder a small K&S angle under the running boards. I'm also tempted to try your water pipe idea for the boiler. I do have a decent drawing which I shall study now I know the kit is a compromise!

Country living, I remember it well! Looks like most of Oxfordshire was still in the Middle Ages Post WW2. In our bit of North Oxfordshire our house had no leccy, Tilley lamps/Calor gas but only downstairs! No running water ,,till about 1957, pump in the kitchen, so strip washing was deriguer I had 2 brothers , And oh joy a bucket Elsan down the garden so in summer tomatoes grew all over the veg patch. We didnt ever get get mains drainage. my younger brother and I dug the hole for the septic tank when we came back from work (me) and him from school. Also got the electric then but that was about 1964 when parents had bought the house from the landlord. Never had central heating so b cold upstairs in winter! One's twenty's were rather happy days being mischevious . one little incident may make you smile. Local wood seller had a ex wd Hillman pickup, parked outside one of the village pubs, so a couple of us got some logs out of the back lifted it put, logs under the axle so the wheels were just off the ground and waited behind a low wall. The woodman got into top gear before the penny dropped! How he never heard us laughing I shall never know!. Country living ,village life Character forming!

Thats looking good already! On the other web site KMCE posted pictures his Clayton and did not seem so happy with the finish. I always follow your posts and you are about 10 times more productive than I am! I seem to have so many projects that its a bit , which one shall I do first, can't decide so go and read a book!!!! Progress is snail like. Ha Ha! And its good to hear from you too, thanks, Mike your a pal. Mike. PS My little avtar piccy is the only one I have found of me on a BR loco aged about 17/8

Here in rural Lincolnshire farmers are applying to build solar farms all over the place, its a disgrace!, I think that joe public should receive grants and better feed in tariffs so all suitable roof's can have solar panels. Not on good farming land. And why did DEFRA give grants for biomass boilers when there was an oppertunity to fit solar panels on farm buildings? Biomass, another word for wood chippings. In this area, brought down from the Borders in very large lorries, used as bedding for about 34/40 days in chicken sheds then when the crop of chickens is cleared, the litter is loaded onto very large lorries and taken to a power station in Norfolk where its burnt. Not so very green to me! Here in Sleaford there is a power station that burns straw bales this also arrives on very large lorry's. To which I give a vey wide berth. They always seem to be driven furiously and as I used to drive very large lorry's! I recognise the style.

There was a dramatic fuel shortage in Ireland during the 1940's. Those peat trains seem to have run mainly to Dublin and the peat was I believe for domestic consumption. The coal shortages post war caused CIE to try all sorts of fuel for locos including peat and oil firing. Timetables went out of the window with stops enroute for fire cleaning. An oil fired J15 0-6-0 looks very strange! as does a Maunsell mogul.

Hi Kirley, I like the detail, will make a good model. But how do propose to get rid of the "pebble dash " finish? It looks like a lot of of work! filling then rubbing down with wet and dry? I admit to fancying one of those GSR Clayton steam railcars but I fear that to much detail would be lost in the painting. Good luck I'm sure all will be well .

Thank you Stationmaster for an interesting in depth view of Aslef and RDW, certainly widened my knowledge! I was refering to the 60's/70's but I expect the criteria were the same.

What happened to recruiting loco crew to alleviate rest day working? In my 9years at Banbury & Bescot I never worked a rest day. Yet at other depots it happened regularly. I suspect that the TOC's just played into the hands of the NUR & Aslef for short term gain. After I left BR I did try to get re employed as train crew in the West Midlands where I had worked. At 28yrs I was too old. Aslef agrement ! When I worked for the Festiniog Rly several of my volunteer firemen and drivers, all having got good degrees went work as drivers with various TOC's!

Was rather mucky by the time she arrived at Banbury. Replaced a WR 2200 on our local trip to Burton Dasset SMJ in the morning and after lunch out to Adderbury, spot of shunting and back home. Very civilised! I did get to Oxford once and Leamington a couple of times with her. A brilliant little engine, good to work on and very strong.

Wish I had a colour picture of 46522 in lined green with late crest when it was at Banbury. Ex Bescot I believe. A photo is on the Warwickshire rlys site.

Ian Rice is the most prolific author on my railway bookshelves and the most read. I never meet him and now I cannot but when I read his books I always feel as if I've had a conversation with him. My thoughts are with his family.

For realism the fire hole Doors were left open and the firehole was covered by the flap which left about 5/6" uncovered so secondary air could pass onto the fire thus mixing with primary air coming through the grate this was promoted by the firehole deflector plate which directed the secondary air under the brickarch causing swirling air turbulence, mixing and improved combustion. The flap was worked by a chain attatched to a peg on the flap and to the handle of the firedoor mechanism. Load shovel with right hand, reach with left hand for the flap chain, pull down flap and follow through with left hand onto shovel handle, lift shovel, turn and aim/swing shovel at desired area of fire, pull ety shovel back with right hand and grab flap chain with left hand and flick flap closed. And repeat as necessary 6/8 times. Should take less 4 minutes for a whole round. Pull coal forward for next bout of firing. Firehole Doors only ever used if you were having a rough trip. That was firing, try the movements but do it bent over! And on a moving footplate at 60 mph.

I like the two L&Y locos, I assume both are for your father? I also have a Dreadnought to finish off, bought as a half built kit. It does not look like an easy or quick build. A fellow club member bought a Baltic kit and offered it me for a very silly price it is very, very badly built and I have a large boiler 0-8-0 to rebuild! It was sat in a loft unused for years! But it does run! Whose brake gear did you use for the 8 wheel tender? it just lifts the model.

Sorry for being pedantic but you should replace the chimney with a taper cast iron type. Yours looks like a parallel sided type as fitted to large 2-6-2t's.

7920, fired that a few times back in the day! Although 4932 seems to ring a bell as a bit of a dog. 6990,7912, 6951 & 52 and 6911 all regulars around 84C in the '60's.

They also had a large gauge, in the cab, with a red and white sector, red = no lubrication and the driver was meant to open the regulator into the pilot valve position which (I believe ) supplied steam to the mech; lubricator and hence oil to the cylinders. All a long time ago now! The sectors on the gauge had words like " NO OIL" & "OIL"

I like to pull a caravan and we often go to the Far North of Scotland or Norfolk maybe the Welsh borders . Can't see any EV making it from Lincoln to Stirling even with our smallish van behind. So its diesel for me till I'm taxed off the road which I'm sure will happen.

Large powerful tractor being driven flat out, about 30mph ,by an inexperienced 18yr old on drugs. The trailer looks to have a high centre of gravity and is well loaded with what looks like grain. The first bout with a car would have set up a pendulum motion which if not contained, which it was not, will roll a trailer over. In the 1970's short trailers with loaded 20ft containers were being rolled over at quite low speeds, putdown to the pendulum action of the load. I'm also very surprised he was not on a mobile phone its the norm for tractor drivers in Lincolnshire and the Fens.

Craftsmen have always applied "their" mark/name to their creations. It goes back to the old Guilds and the middle ages.

Rather reminds me of places I visited, maybe 50 yrs ago. The Bolero Club in Wednesbury? which was a fair bit darker inside! How strange, just got a fresh bar of soap out for the bathroom and the address on the label is Carractacus, The square, Clun. Sketch of the bridge over the river, village in the background. Very Clun. Nice soap!

We used to run daily from from Banbury to Hinksey yard at Oxford with coal for Blechington cement works and general wagons for Oxfrod /Didcot/Reading. Always ran engine first from Banbury and tender first from Oxford. Nothing worse than a Western 3800 tender first on a wet November storm sheet or not! That was my first firing turn as a passed cleaner with a 60 odd yr old driver called Frank Mobbs in the domestic link , he looked so fierce! but was a great bloke; taught me a very great deal. No1 was you didnt have to fill those B-- great western shovels with coal, half was ample! No2 how to stay clean. That was the name of the game! not get plastered in muck. He had about 50yrs more experience than me so I watched and learned. Did that job for about 4 months, I think the gods smiled at me for a little while!

I fired quite a few Halls of both breeds and always thought the modified ones were by far the better engine. And i'm not convinced you could tell the inferiority of a WD built LMS 8f over an LMS built one. Unless you are talking Austerity's a very inferior engine. All knocked into a cocked hat by a 3800, which really should have had a screw reverser. Just my opinion based on experience.

I never saw the bogies swopped when i worked on the rly; and did a fair bit of limboing about in pits underneathengines.

Welcome Back Manna, I agree with all the sentiments posted above. That is quite a haul of goodies! lucky man Manna! Times all your own thats a good place to be in, I also thought like that six yrs ago but theres always a list of stuff to be done! Enjoy your time and I shall look forward to your posts. 😎