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2750Papyrus

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Posts posted by 2750Papyrus

  1. Hi Graham.

     

    Congratulations on two magazine articles and awards at the same time.  I must dig out the Grantham DVD and watch it again!

     

    I enjoy watching both layouts. You were kind enough to reply recently to my enquiry regarding the Shap pilot and I understand an article about the fiddle yard is imminent.  However, I personally prefer Grantham. whilst Shap has the scenic grandeur of the hills, Grantham has much more operational interest with the Nottingham branch, goods yard, loco depot and, yes, the road vehicles.  Additionally, it has such a broad range of rolling stock, ranging from the then latest streamliners to Victorian 6 wheelers and pre-grouping locos.  Many of these older prototypes are rarely seen modelled and may be unknown to many exhibition visitors. 

     

    Would it be possible for you and your fellow exhibitors to pen some articles about some of these interesting road and rail vehicles?

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  2. On 19/03/2024 at 07:21, Tony Wright said:

    Good morning John,

     

    From the days of the great cricket commentators; along with Brian Johnston, there were the likes of John Arlott, Peter West and Jim Swanton to entertain and educate us about the gentlemen's game.

     

     

    I think the last of the "old school" commentators was Henry Blofeld.  I can remember him not following the Loughborough scientific sporting theories voiced by a then-recently retired cricketer.

     

    "Henry, how on earth did you get to Cambridge?" he was asked.

     

    He replied "Well, actually, my father took me in the Bentley".

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  3. 52 minutes ago, jwealleans said:

     

    Indeed.   When there was talk of abolishing the apostrophe, my alma mater, Queens' Cambridge, was to be one of the four (I believe) recognised exceptions where it had to be retained.

     

    For those not asleep by now, Queens' was founded twice, by Margaret Beaufort and Elizabeth Woodville, and so has the plural possessive.   The similarly named college in another place wasn't even founded by one queen, so no exceptional punctutation for them.

     

     

     

     

    I may have mentioned before that my school (the Stationers' Company's School) was very keen on the correct use of apostrophes.  If necessary, extra time was allocated for the necessary lessons to be learned, called detention...

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  4. I thoroughly enjoyed watching the sequence on Sunday.  My apologies for distracting you from your duties as fiddle yard operator - it certainly kept you on your toes and I don't think I could work a two hour shift!

     

    Can I ask about about operation of the signalling at the summit?   I could not work out on the day or by watching the video whether operation of the signals on the layout was automatic or by the summit operator. 

     

    Following on from that query, on the prototype, do we know how movement of the released banker from the down side across the up main to the up sidings was controlled?  I did note some conflict of priority on the model between the pilot movement and a through train on the up main, and wonder if this also occurred on the prototype. 

     

    I can imagine that a less busy location might permit such movement under the direct (flagged) control of the signalman, but not here.  Did the pilot require possession of a full block section of the up main "down the hill" or did the up main contain a short block to permit this movement? 

     

    Thanks again for letting us re-live the days of "watching the trains go by" on a busy main line.

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  5. 2 hours ago, John Tomlinson said:

     

    One wonders if the "first fifty" built one way was misinterpreted to think that included 73050, whereas of course fifty on 73000 gets to 73049. Something that wouldn't have been a problem under the TOPS numbering scheme, with every series starting at "1". Just a theory!

     

    John.

    More than 65 years ago, my then best friend claimed that my Trix "Britannia" and class V were unrealistic because their numbers contained so many zeroes, which you never saw on the real railway! 

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  6. 9 hours ago, billbedford said:

     

    But, but, but not even railwaymen could make them profitable. 

    A railwayman like Gerry Fiennes had the ability to determine whether a line could be saved to provide a profitable service to the community or whether there was no such possibility, leaving closure or subsidy as the only options.

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  7. Many of us in our youth learned to call Princess Coronation locos "Duchesses" after the Hornby Dublo model.  As a child, I had books and pictures showing the streamlined version, but the sloping smokebox left when they were defrocked was a detail I only learned later.

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  8. The Mayor of Bedford last year commissioned consultants to look at alternative routes for the Bedford - Cambridge to the East-West Rail preferred route.  The report has now been published but didn't really identify one route as better than others; instead it seems to  emphasise the economic benefit to Bedford of such a link.  

     

    East West Rail: Bedford mayor unveils eight alternative routes - BBC News

     

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  9. I have no interest in a new type 31 but am very pleased to see automatic uncoupling offered at last. The German Trix 2-4-2 tank had this feature at both ends 70 years ago and Flying Scotsman had a tender fitment.

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  10. My former employment involved both pitching and assessing projects.  For the latter, I tended to adopt a "rule of three":-

     

    1) assume it will take 3 x as long as quoted

    2) assume it will cost 3 x the quote

    3) assume the benefits will be one third of those quoted.

    4) If it still makes sense, go for it.

     

     

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  11. 1 hour ago, K Hatton said:

    Not sure if anyone else noticed (or cared) but the 2024 update states these are due for August - hopefully this turns out to be true as that's my birthday month 🤞🏻

     

    Also the observation car (R40227), the double open first (R40224) and the brake 3rd/kitchen 3rd (R40223) are all available to pre-order on Hornbys website but the other pair of twins (R40225/6) are nowhere to be seen (even when searching the catalogue numbers). 

    The Ellis Clark website shows the quad-art sets as Q3 2024 also. 

     

    Could be an expensive summer - a delivery slip somewhere might be convenient!

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