Jim Martin

Monday at 14:00

With all this clambering around on the locomotive footplate, I wonder how many enginemen ended up falling off moving trains

April 19

I tested the "wrong side doors" thing on a 777 on the way to work this morning. Moorfields is basically an island platform (it's actually an underground station, but access to the Northern Line platforms is from between them), so the platform is always to the right of the train. I pressed the door button on the left side of the train when we ducked into the tunnel, and the correct door opened when we stopped.

April 18

21 minutes ago, ruggedpeak said:

As an aside, one thing a lot of Swiss trains, trams and buses have is a pre-arrival facility on fully powered doors. If you push the door button whilst the unit is in motion that door will open as soon as the driver releases the doors at the stop/station. It also lights the button or a separate light by the door to indicate this in operation.

I don't know if this helps dwell times but suspect it does have some impact. It is something I always use as it means I don't have to think about waiting to push the button until the door release has been actuated (as against when the train stops!). I get irritated by stock not fitted with! I don't recall it in the UK but I have only used a limited range of stock so may be in use. Anyway, it is a good thing as you can approach the door push the button and know the door will open immediately.

The new Merseyrail Class 777s have this feature. Very useful it is, too: I travel home from Moorfields; and when the weather is nice I'll catch the first train out of town, wherever it's going, so that I can wait in the open air. Stand by the door, press the button as soon as the train pulls out of Moorfields and there's a prompt right there when you get to Sandhills. Not once have I found myself getting off at Kirkdale (or worse) because I forgot that I was meant to be changing trains.

April 14

16 hours ago, rodent279 said:

TBH, reading the Telegraph comments, it makes the D@!ly F@!l look rational, level headed and even handed.

The comments are always the worst part of any newspaper website. I generally read the Guardian, and it's the same there.

April 1

On 28/03/2024 at 10:59, grahame said:

It's almost like someone had gone in and stripped them out before demolition

It's quite possible that they did. Architectural salvage is big business. Google "genuine victorian fireplace": some are very grand indeed, but there's a market for more modest ones as well.

March 16

On 14/03/2024 at 18:28, Hibelroad said:

I was at the York show some years ago and rather surprised to find what appeared to be a copy of the MRJ Inkerman Street layout in 4mm scale. I asked if it was copied from Inkerman Street but the operator at the time was rather non committal and largely ignored me. However there is something to be said for copying what you know works, no need to reinvent the wheel.

I don't recall this - I don't go to that many exhibitions - but I do recall one bit of Inkerman Street-related "copying". The passenger train was a three-coach set of LMS stock; but instead of a set of three 57' coaches (I could be wrong about the exact lengths: I'm not an expert on LMS coaches) it was modelled as one of a rare batch that included a single 54' coach. Within months, one of the kit manufacturers had introduced that exact set. It might even have been advertised as "the Inkerman Street set", or something like that. As I recall, there was a mildly peevish paragraph about it in MRJ at the time, complaining that they'd been trying to do something a little different from the norm; and now it was the norm.

March 7

24 minutes ago, melmerby said:

Can't order prescriptions over the phone.

That's surprising, because I think it's a pretty common use of online services by GP surgeries. My GP really isn't any great shakes and they've had this feature for a couple of years.

February 7

As an alternative to the David Ratcliffe book (which is worth having, if you can get hold of it), you could try this: https://www.classicmagazines.co.uk/product/5542/source/specoffweb. It's out of stock at that website, but you may be able to find a copy online. As a guide to the sort of subjects covered, see this thread:

Note that for reasons that probably make sense to the guys behind Rail Express, the magazine ("REx") and the modelling section which has been included in every single issue for years and years (sometimes abbreviated to "REM") have separate number series, so REM144 would not be in REx144. Go figure.

The articles in Rail Express cover the whole country over a broad span of time, so I'd doubt that any one article would contain more than one or two formations relevant to you; but most of them would contain something.

Jim

February 6

Green Lane station on the Merseyrail (formerly Mersey Railway) line from Birkenhead to Chester is in a cutting, which is partially covered by the former trackbed of the lines into Mollington Street depot, which run almost on the same axis as the lines through the station.

This shot is from Google Maps: the light-coloured parallel lines are steel girders which span the cutting. You can make out the Liverpool-bound platform beneath them. The southbound platform is beneath the now abandoned and overgrown trackbed (just do an image search on the station name for views of how this all looks from platform level).

The high-level lines included those into the depot, goods lines to Birkenhead docks, several sidings and the lines into Woodside station, which at one time had expresses to London. Most of this is still visible on Google Maps.

South of here, the Merseyrail tracks climb to the same level as the mainline tracks.

January 18

38 minutes ago, Steven B said:

Here's my attempt at a 2x153 -> 155 conversion. Far from perfect but I'm still proud of it:

(click image for the Gallery)

The biggest issue today is finding dummy class 153 to form half the conversion.

I'd hope if Dapol did release a class 155 (or refresh as per the class 56) that they'd improve the issues around the lower body sides (no turn under) and the height of the windows (which are a little shallow, but not to the same extent at the class 142!).

Steven B.

That's nice work! I'm pretty sure I never rode a 155 (although I have been on a 153) but it looks pretty good to me.

January 17

I've seen the Class 155 done as a conversion from a couple of 153s - reversing what happened in real life, I guess! Still, it looked like a big job, as I recall.

Also, Dapol are planning a revised Class 66? I did not know that. How's that going to compare with the Revolution model, I wonder?

January 14

On 12/01/2024 at 13:41, njee20 said:

Weird reading that, I've got 20 BYAs and they run brilliantly.

Sticking some washers/shims under the bogies will solve it. Yes you probably shouldn't have to, but hey.

Well I had 9 (I've sold some off since) and they were all awful. Maybe it was a production batch thing: I bought all mine from the same retailer, Hattons, not in a single purchase but at about the same time; and they all ran really badly and made a screeching sound as they did.

This are the photos that accompanied my original blog post. In the first photo you can just about see the shiny spots where the wheel flanges have rubbed against the ribs. Once the ribs came off, all my BYAs ran perfectly, as do my other wagons fitted with the same bogie.

Jim

January 11

Plus ça change...

December 30, 2023

15 minutes ago, melmerby said:

Just how many wanted to travel from Aylesbury to Nottinghamshire?

It was a railway built to bolster the status of the MSLR. It was never successful as a a main line as most of the traffic available had already been cornered by other lines.

Some people want the GCR route reopened because they're fundamentally opposed to any route closure at all; and if it was reopened, they could describe the original decision to close it as "short-sighted", a favourite term of theirs, even though the network has got along perfectly well without it for 60 years.

I grew up in GCR territory (High Wycombe) and I've got a pretty sound knowledge of the company. I used to model it, a few years ago; and I'm edging towards doing so again, if only as a change of pace from the WCML in the 21st century. I'm emphatically not "anti-GCR". But it closed because use of the railways was in decline generally and the connections it offered could largely be replicated by alternative routes: South-West to North-East services via Banbury are perfectly possible without the Banbury-Woodford Halse link.

The London Extension became a favourite of anti-HS2 campaigners not because they liked the GCR route, but because they didn't like HS2. Describing it as "a high speed route" without adding "in 1897" is dishonest, but a certain amount of dishonesty is part of the game of PR and campaigning (and I'm not saying that HS2's supporters were altogether above it).

December 24, 2023

1 hour ago, n9 said:

I guess this might vary by scale, but I'm particularly interested in N.

The reason is that today, after 18 months of work on my layout, I finally reached a point where I seriously contemplated ripping out all of my Peco Code 55 track and starting over with something distinctly less ~~#@*!~~ troublesome.

Why I think Peco Code 55 is so awful isn't the reason for this post. It's that some time later, it dawned on me that maybe my expectations are just not realistic. And I really don't have a baseline.

How often do trains derail on your layout?

And how often does the hand of god come out for other reasons?

Are you talking about particular rolling stock, or is it just everything? I know a lot of n-gauge container wagons, for example, being very light, have poor reputations for coming off the rails.

December 24, 2023

22 minutes ago, Steamport Southport said:

Pick up the LNWR Carriages A concise History book by David Jenkinson for an overview of LNWR coaches.

But out of those it's the Non Corridor book that is most relevant . Not many short coaches about in the 1920s on the LNWR I'm afraid.

Get it from Bowen Cooke on eBay as it is the LNWRS. Put it in your Watch list and they'll probably send you an offer!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/155934276871?hash=item244e683d07:g:7ewAAOSwWNRia6pT

Jason

Thanks. I've just noticed where it says "excluding the 30'1" 6-wheelers" in tiny letters on the front of that book, so I guess that the literal answer to my question is "not much at all"!

I suspect that you're right about the most useful book for my purposes, though, so I'm going with your recommendation. Cheers!

Jim

December 24, 2023

How much overlap is there between Millard, Selected L.N.W.R. Carriages: a Detailed Commentary; Millard, London & North Western Railway Thirty Foot 1in Six Wheeled Carriages; and Millard & Tattersall, L&NWR Non-Corridor Carriages?

I'm looking for a decent understanding of the kind of stock used on regional passenger trains in the North-West in the 1920s. I assume that these would mainly be made up of non-corridor stock.

Thanks, as ever (and Happy Christmas!)

Jim

December 21, 2023

46 minutes ago, Red Devil said:

3mm Society list these not certain if it's exactly what you're after.

R001C Fox’s Patent Lightweight Pressed
Steel 8ft Coach Bogie LSWR, LBSCR,
GCR, GNoSR, H&BR, GER, HR,
CR,G&SWR 3.40
RM002 Fox’s Patent Heavyweight Pressed
Steel 8 ft. Coach Bogie SECR, LBSCR,
GNR, ECJS, NER, NBR, LYR,Barry.
Similar to some MR, M&NBJS &
M&GSWJS 3.40

Thanks! I could have sworn that I'd checked the Society website, but evidently I didn't (or else I made a very poor job of it). Maybe I'm confusing it with the 3SMR site, which I definitely looked at. In my defence, I was doing it on my phone, which is rarely a good way of viewing lengthy pdfs.

I'm interested in an NER prototype, and the heavyweight bogie with the tiebar looks like it'll be just the job (in my OP I said that I didn't want the tiebar, but I've just looked at a photo of the prototype and it actually does have them).

Jim

December 21, 2023

3 hours ago, phil-b259 said:

Exteriors or interiors?

I ask because contrary to what some may think carriage washing machines have got significantly more advanced these days and its quite possible that the depot modifications to make them suit the new rolling stock might also make them incompatible with the old!

That means the only way of cleaning the outside is via a labour intensive manual process (assuming you have the spare staff) with a hosepipe and brush (not the easiest thing to arrange if your yard is full of 3rd rail either)

Interesting point. I meant externally: the insides are pretty much as they ever have been. You wouldn't want to eat your dinner off them, but they're acceptable.

I wouldn't be surprised if you were right about the carriage cleaners. Merseyrail has been gearing up for the 777s for what feels like forever, so it's quite possible that the infrastructure has been modified to suit them (apart from obvious infrastructure changes, like all the work on station platforms that's been done over the last few years).

December 21, 2023

I'm considering a 3mm project, building a couple of carriages, and I was wondering where, or even if, I could obtain 8-foot wheelbase Fox bogies and wheels. 3SMR do a white metal Southern 8' bogie which might be adapted, but I really want something without a tie bar. Any ideas?

Jim

December 13, 2023

On 12/12/2023 at 10:16, Jim Martin said:

I'm sitting on one right now, on a Southport to Hunts Cross train. By no means the first time I've ridden on one, but the first time I've even seen one in service on the Southport line. I rode home from work yesterday and it was a 507.

I don't know if this marks the launch on the Southport line (not before time, since the 507/8s are pretty much clapped out, not to mention that Merseyrail seem to have given up on cleaning them altogether) or if this is another test; but here it is.

Jim

Sadly, my train home last night was a 507 (albeit cleaner than most) and this morning's commute was on another 507, this one carrying the usual livery of overall (including the windows) dirt colour.

So the 777 revolution on the Southport line is at best partial.

December 12, 2023

On 03/12/2023 at 12:49, Steamport Southport said:

Might be worth considering that those Merseyrail Class 777s are only just appearing in service, certainly none were running when that poll was conducted. I travel on Merseyrail at least once a week and have only been on them twice!

I'm sitting on one right now, on a Southport to Hunts Cross train. By no means the first time I've ridden on one, but the first time I've even seen one in service on the Southport line. I rode home from work yesterday and it was a 507.

I don't know if this marks the launch on the Southport line (not before time, since the 507/8s are pretty much clapped out, not to mention that Merseyrail seem to have given up on cleaning them altogether) or if this is another test; but here it is.

Jim

December 7, 2023

5 hours ago, phil-b259 said:

But it’s important to note from a modelling perspective that it’s no use simply chucking in an impedance bond or two because you think a 3rd rail based layout should have them!

As with signals, their placement is driven by operational needs - which in the context of bonds means providing a continuous return path for traction current. Thus drawing out full details of track circuits, Insulated Block Joints and substations etc is an essential part of designing a 3rd rail layout and it’s not a task which should be left till after track is laid.

I meant in more general terms. These are only third-rail examples because I travel a lot on this Merseyrail electric network, so that's what I see. My actual layout plans are for an overhead electric line. I fully expect to have more questions in due course, based on things I've seen at Wigan North Western!

December 7, 2023

1 hour ago, phil-b259 said:

I was trying to keep things simple in conceptual terms (but may have got things muddled when trying to do so)

These extracts from various technical documents show what goes on more clearly.

Wow! Just seen these (while on the train, as it happens). Lots to look at here: thanks again.

Jim

December 7, 2023

12 hours ago, phil-b259 said:

What you have here are two Impedance Bonds connected back to back.

They are not to do with the signalling system as such - but if they weren't there or become defective then the IBJ (which is required as a consequence of there being a signalling system) will go up in flames as the DC traction return current tries to find its way back to the substation!

An impedance bond is a device that takes advantages of the inherent difference in how DC and AC electricity behave when confronted with two properties called capacitance and inductance.

To a DC current, capacitance (i.e. a capacitor) is a open circuit and it can never pass through while if a DC current encounters an inductor (a coil of wire) it treats it as though it wasn't there and passes straight through.

However if its an AC current we are talking about then at certain frequencies the capacitance and inductance values can combine to block said electrical current or at other frequencies let it pass.

Thats how your old fashioned analogue radio works - by turning the dial you adjust the capacitance and inductance values such that only your desired frequency is let past and onto the amplifier / loudspeaker stage.

Now, back to the picture, as you can see in the middle we have an insulated block joint separating two track circuits. The electrical currents flowing in each of these two track circuits must be kept completely isolated from each and each rail within one track circuit kept electrically separate from each other - other yet somehow the traction current which is drawn from the 3rd rail and ordinarily* uses both the running rails to get back to the substation after its gone through the trains motors on the 3rd rail system) must be able to flow freely from one track circuit to another.

Thats where the Impedance Bond comes in which is basically a coil of wire linking the two running rails. However if we use AC currents in our track circuit current and 'tune' the bond through the use of appropriate value capacitor in the right place we can get it to behave as though its an open circuit as far as the AC track circuit current is concerned. Therefore each running rail seems isolated from the other electrically speaking until a train axle (which does not have capacitors or coils of wire attached to it) sorts out the track circuit.

By contrast the DC traction current just just sees a short circuit between each running rail - and whats more the DC current in that coil can be used to induce a current on another coil (i.e. the bond is behaving as an isolating transformer) to take the traction current away and either redistribute it to the next piece of track via another impedance bond or be taken away by cables to the substation

In the south of England back to back bonds are usually joined by an aluminium plate rather than cables, but from a functional perspective using cables is no different. One other thing you tend to see on multi track lines you will usually find that the aluminium plates on adjacent lines are connected together so as to give the maximum of return paths for the traction current via as many rails as possible - the use of impedance bonds preventing the track circuit currents from getting where they shouldn't do.

Impedance bonds are looked after by the signalling department because they need to be kept in good order for track circuits to remain stable - but they are only required because the line has been electrified under the 3rd rail system and are not seen elsewhere.

*Note through its good practice to maximise the amount of return conductors and use as many rails as possible, this is not physically possible through pointwork. In such a situation because the running rails are not electrically linked together in any way Impedance bonds are not necessary - though they will still be required at the point the single rail traction return changes back to using both rails.

You can also get impedance bonds which are located mid way through a track circuit to redistribute the traction current or to make connection with the substation (which may not always line up with where your track circuit finishes / starts

Impedance bonds are also used on tracks without IBJs - again because even if you use clever techniques to keep the track circuits separate from each other there is still a need to tie both running rails together to extract / redistribute the traction return

Thanks very much. I don't know how I passed O-level physics, because all of that seems new to me (although, in fairness, that was so long ago that electricity may not have been discovered).

Track really is fascinating. There's so much stuff layered on top of each other. I intend, finally, to build my long-planned layout in 2024 and there are so many things you could add to the track that the problem is likely to be deciding what to leave out.

Jim

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