Stanley Melrose

Bump!

I must award black marks to Hornby and Rails. I ordered a blue coach from Rails as soon as they sent me an email announcing it. This morning I received an email from Rails telling me they had cancelled theirs because of the Hornby announcement and inviting me to pre-order the Hornby one. I did this immediately but it appears they had sold their pre-order quantity in the few minutes available to me. So now I can buy neither and that's what comes of Rails and Hornby playing silly games. Time to grow up, chaps . . .

My R3810 was paid for at the weekend and I sent Rails an email asking when I could collect it. I had pre-ordered the blue coach so they replied that they would hold my R3810 until I could collect both. Then I asked when the blue coach would be available and was told it would be a while. I've now agreed to collect my R3810 later this week and wait for news of the blue coach to make another journey to Sheffield to collect that order. As a lockdowner, it will be a treat to go all the way to Sheffield and back for change of scenery and get a bit of charge in the car battery. I wonder how much litter there is now on the Dronfield by-pass? Last time I drove along it, there was so much it was a complete disgrace and a sad reflection on the behaviour of fellow citizens in the current situation.

I can't help wondering from looking at the photos on Wright Writes if the cut-out in your V2 body is sufficient for OO width frames but not for EM of P4 width frames? Assuming Comet frames set the appropriate distance apart for the wider gauges, is it be possible for you to modify the body to suit the wider gauges?

You could always throw caution to the wind and buy these <https://www.ebay.com/itm/10pcs-plastic-bevel-gear-white-gear-helical-gear-for-DIY-reduction-gear-box/132760566338?_trkparms=aid%3D1110006%26algo%3DHOMESPLICE.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D225086%26meid%3D4f49a59a6b72429a881d1a6dcde0e803%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D2%26mehot%3Dpf%26sd%3D152726693943%26itm%3D132760566338%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D0%26pg%3D2047675%26algv%3DSimplAMLv5PairwiseWebWithBBEV2bDemotion%26brand%3DUnbranded&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851> HTH Stan

Ah that would be the Liverpool Echo and the headline to which you refer was above the second article about the good doctor. The first was headlined: DR FUCHS OFF This was when he set out on his epic journey but was forced back for some reason. The headline you quote was when he set off for the second time. The Echo was famous for its somewhat dubious headlines when I lived in Liverpool almost 60 years ago. For example: DOCTORS COMPLAIN - LACK OF OPENINGS FOR YOUNG MEN NO WATER SO FIREMEN IMPROVISED BALLOON RACE - 6 DROP OUT

I have in my hand a 14mm x 50mm LiPo battery with a claimed capacity of 2400mAh. I also have 16mm x 34mm 2800 mAh and 18mm x 65mm 4000mAh rechargeable batteries plus lots of smaller capacity rechargeable batteries. Just search on the internet. Thanks to our vaping smokers and those who need wobbly toys, rechargeable batteries are developing at a great rate - as are small electric motors for said toys . . . Stan

Confirmation from John Jennision: Its definitely a Stanier 4000 gallon riveted tender – paired with 44894 from January 1960 Regards John

I have the RCTS books as well as the 5 Irwell Press ones and several others but hadn't bothered to investigate their contents. I admit that Mike Edge's comments made me look again at the larger photo rather than the small one in the book to which I referred and I'm very inclined to agree that the sides of the tender do turn over as those of good Stanier tenders should. Shame I hadn't scanned the photo before but it seems that all the quoted sources are correct and that Black 5s were never equipped with anything other than Stanier 4000 gallon tenders. QED and goodnight . . . Stan PS Jason where do you sit at Anfield for Liverpool games?

The top corners of the high sided 3500 tenders are rounded, Those on the photographed tender have a distinct angle. Anyway, I've sent a copy of the scanned photo to John Jennison so we'll see what he has to say . . . Stan

Yes, I have pretty much every book published on Black 5s which is why on seeing the photo to which I referred, I was astonished and contacted the publisher to seek confirmation that what I was looking at was what I stated. Although the photo is sufficiently clear that I can see that the tender's sides look like those of the Fowler tenders, it is one quarter of a page in an A5 size book so not very large. I've scanned it so others can judge for themselves. Stan

That's a possibility but the sides of the tender in the photo extend higher up than those on the self-weighing tenders and are definitely the shape of those on a Fowler tender. The self-weighing tenders had inset bunkers, something like the WDs, as far as I have seen in any photos. I'm happy to be corrected but have you looked at the photo that I mentioned in my previous post? Stan

In the book "The Lads from Liverpool" page 47 bottom right, there's a small photo of a Black 5 (identified by the caption writer as 44894 at Liverpool Lime Street in December 1964) which appears to my eyes to be equipped with a Fowler tender. I contacted the publisher Silver Link in an attempt to see if the photographer could provide any more detail, e.g. a bigger, clearer copy of the photo, but without getting very far. Unless anyone can provide further information, I would take this, if my conclusion is correct, that at least one Black 5 did at that time have a Fowler tender fitted but for how long and why, I have no idea. Stan

What about the guy who bought a couple of budgies on higher perches . . .

Really glad you were able to figure it out . . . Keep safe in these stressful times!