Martino

After 14 years in Florida, the South Buckinghamshire Light Railway is no more. Pending a move to the North Georgia Mountains, the track has been lifted and the stock put into storage. The SBLR will return (as they at the end of James Bond movies) but just not sure when!

As a very (VERY) young sprog, my father used to take me down to the Farnham Road bridge over the the GW main line west of Slough to see the ‘tannia puffers’ go past. My school (LVS Slough) backed onto the GW main line at Slough station so between ‘63 and ‘70 saw all manner of steam passing in the early days, then thundering Westerns, Warships, Hymeks, Blue Pullmans. Train spotting on Slough Station. Chasing trains on the Slough Estate Railway (and being offered cab rides) . Watching the passing hydraulics at Taplow. Lost interest after that, but when my kids were young down alongside the line west of Twyford to see the 50s and HSTs. Now, there aren’t many opportunities as railroads are few and far between in our part of Florida……

That’s it. Thank you Mr Stationmaster.

Reading the posts about driving tests etc., got me remembering that there was a BR driving school or similar on the A4 Bath Road, just south of Taplow station. It had various hills and junctions, a shed and office. There were a collection of Scammel mechanical horses there. The area was located between the A4 and the railway embankment just east of the bridge that took the GW main line over the A4. Anyone remember that?

Sitting in front of the fire with a single malt (well it is that time of year), I got to thinking that I always understood that the GWR called such places either Engine Sheds, Sheds or Works. However I see that the current trend is to refer to them as MPDs. Isn’t that something that was an LMS term adopted by British Railways?

Any tunnels on the CM&DPLR?

Track inspection today by resident five lined skink.

The signal box was completed and installed a year ago. In general it has stood up pretty well. The windows however have become fogged and warped, being perspex/plastic. So in line with the engine shed, I’ve replaced the glazing with 1mm thick scientific microscope glass. A change of battery in the solar powered lights and we’re good to go for another year. Now move on to the station building, with rather more windows.

I realize that it’s probably correct but “The next station stop is….” Why not just the “the next stop is…” or “the next station is…”? The use of ‘train’ when one means ‘locomotive’ or ‘engine’. Talking about differences in American and UK English, being a Brit in the UK and having to attend council meetings and such, I’m always confused when they say “we’ll table that’. It’s completely the opposite of the British meaning.

Today was a day for running the railway!

Some experiments on the SBLR today. The engine shed had its windows replaced. I had used the conventional method of using thin perspex but this was affected by light (it fogged) and heat (it warped). So I replaced the perspex with scientific microscope slides. Real 1mm thick glass. We’ll see how that holds up. Also replaced the illumination, in both the engine shed and the goods shed. Next job will be to replace the glazing in both the signal box and the station building.

It’s funny that I always wonder why I model what I do. My dreams were to create a GW/WR engine shed, probably in 00, but more recently in 7mm. But I’ve ended up with an outside, 16mm, pseudo British narrow gauge, imaginary railway running all round the garden in Florida. …bizarre. I’d still like to do the engine shed in 7mm - but what to with my small 00 collection? As Nearholmer says, but in my case if it were nostalgia it would be 1960’s WR hydraulics, with a bit of steam, but it’s not. It’s trying to create a bit of imaginary (Midsomer, Ambridge?) England in Northwest Florida.

Running my track on slightly elevated blocks around my garden has been very effective, however the blocks have become and effective barrier for water that needs to drain off the lawn during heavy rain (tropical storms and the odd hurricane). I built one truss bridge that was effective in solving part of the problem and here’s another girder bridge cobbled together to sort out another area. It does need some brickwork piers at each end of course.

Truss bridge completed, painted and installed. Plants put in, and test trains run.

It’s a concern I have too. I have copies of BRILL, Bylines, Steam World and Back Track going back about 10 years. Before that I kept all my magazines (The above plus things like Railways Southeast). Never re read them of course, so when I moved house for the umpteenth time, and before moving to the US, I donated them to charity shops. Even earlier I had Railway Modeller’s dating back to the early ‘60s and late ‘50s. They got moved on too. The thing is I regret not having those RMs and the stuff I gave away 20 years ago. Will I regret getting rid of things now? I have a full set of Railway Wonders of the World that my father collected in 1935, which I look at from time to time. I also have some Car magazines from the early ‘70s that again, I occasionally browse. So, what to do

Just to prove it works!

Trial installation. Still needs decking and painting. Plus of course some beautification of the area. March is a cruel month in the garden!

Construction complete apart from the mountings where it sits on the embankment piers. Need to cut, stain and seal the wooden decking and then paint the whole thing. Next job? Earthworks.

Thank you both very much. That’s incredibly useful. The bridge is over a boggy valley so I think a timber base like Bryan y Felin will be the way to go. Very many thanks again.

I’m in the process of building a truss bridge for my garden railway. 16mm/ft and the bridge is constructed in aluminium. My railway is supposedly English narrow gauge (3’). Strangely, I’ve never been on truss bridge so don’t know if the actual deck would be solid (in which case what material?) or with the rails and sleepers just resting on cross members? Or would I get away with a metal mesh? I’ve searched here and on the web for photos of prototypes but can’t find anything showing the actual deck. Any suggestions would be very grateful received.

I’ve got a boggy bit in the garden where the embankment is acting as a dam in wet weather, so have decided to replace part of the embankment to allow drainage into the next door neighbour’s garden (he can thank me later). I need a bridge to cross the gap. A four foot truss bridge is in construction. Side one completed and the components for the second side plus top and bottom links have been cut. Sunday looks like a day of drilling and riveting.

Neither does Switzerland but they have a navy (actually the Lakes Flotilla) and a Swiss Merchant Marine. They certainly have docks, and one would presume that Austria does too - on the lakes ;-)

Language does not creep in. Unless a physical invasion occurs (last one in Britain was 1066 if I remember correctly) and the invaders mandate the change of language (which even the Normans didn’t manage with the man in the street Brit), then new words, phrases etc are adopted, voluntarily by the population. So ‘Americanisms’ are something adopted, encouraged, invited by the local population. One could even say (heaven forbid) that it is ‘cultural appropriation’ !

I’m sure Americans do use the term Bus Station, but in my experience they usually use Bus Terminal. I’m sure many US terms do creep into UK English but this is more the result of ‘adoption’ by the British, than imposition by the Americans (who frankly don’t care). Conversely there is creeping use of British English in the US as it’s thought trendy, hip and cool (or whatever the current term is) to use words like ‘bo**ocks’ and ‘Mate’ and many other words and terms that are gleaned from the ever popular Brit TV programs that are popular. English, whether UK English, US English, Canadian English, Australian English, New Zealand English, South African English and many other varieties are all ‘living’ languages and are adapted constantly. Spellings vary too and in many cases American English uses the spelling that UK English used in the dim and distance past. It’s the UK English that has changed adopting pseudo French spellings by adding ‘ou’ to worlds like color/colour, neighbor/neighbour, harbor/harbour. Even ‘Fall’ was more popular in England in the past and Autumn is a relatively recent adoption. How has UK English almost universally change the pronunciation of Garage to Garidge? That makes me as unhappy as the adoption of Train station. As for Aluminium and Aluminum I would refer to: https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/aluminum-vs-aluminium Even within the UK regionally, and certainly within the US, there are many different phrases, spellings and pronunciations. Few are ‘wrong’, just different. I don’t hear too many accusations of ‘Australianisms’ although there are many in common use in the UK these days. Personally, I think we should celebrate the variety of our common English language, and to use a word in regular usage in this part of the US but termed archaic in UK English, it would behoove us so to do. Exit from soapbox with huge smile and large wink!