rogerzilla

It looks good but, based on the S*m's Tr**ns review, the motor isn't quite up to the job of hauling such a heavy loco, even before you add a train.

The 6/7 Jan 2024 winter steam gala looks really interesting - the SVR does turn on carriage heating (unlike some) and the steam will be spectacular in the cold. I suppose the biggest risk is of snow keeping visitors away. We'll be going, anyway.

I'm surprised they haven't done a rebuilt WC in Southern sunshine black to annoy the purists and delight the collectors and SVR fans. It's better than purple!

Was at the autumn steam gala on Saturday. Was easier to get a seat than it was at the spring gala. Hagley Hall sounds great. I'm not a big S160 fan but it was something different. Mayflower seemed to have a slipping issue - it barely made it into Arley. There are points just before the bridge, so I suppose sanders were out of the question.

A mere two - the high-gloss Osprey and the high spec NRM-condition Mallard (which is far too matt).

Why was the LN 135 degree valve arrangement not repeated? In theory it was a sound idea but it never seems to have given any advantage. Was it actually flawed (apart from the obvious issue that you can't use only two sets of valve gear), or was any advantage just masked by the other deficiencies of the design, mainly that it was hard to fire*? *which is ironic given that two very successful locos use at least some of the LN firebox design!

3 gives smoother power delivery. Its main problem is that you need an extra set of valve gear or a Gresley derived arrangement. 4 cylinder locos normally use 2 sets of valve gear with rocking levers, since the inside cylinders have the opposite valve events to the outside ones. 4 doesn't give smoother power delivery (in virtually all cases) because it gives the same power pulses as a 2-cylinder loco, although it reduces surging and hammer blow because the reciprocating masses mostly cancel out. 4 is better for large, fast and heavy locos because you can fit more cylinder volume in the loading gauge and it's easier on the track. The BR Standards eschewed 4 cylinders because they used a high running plate to fit 2 large ones, and E S Cox reckoned the reciprocating mass issue was overstated, preferring not to balance half of it with wheel weights - as was normal practice but causes hammer blow - and instead tweaking the drawbar springing to reduce the surging effect.

In Zell am See last week - here's the loco of one of the push-pull trains, and it was also Dampfzug Donnerstag! Sorry the steam photo isn't from a better angle - we were waiting for a full-size train to Salzburg that was due to arrive at any moment.

Resale value, or just whatever thrill people get from exclusivity.

So it's exactly like the purple WC - makes more money for Hornby, but shafts the buyers of the first batch, who presumably looked at the high price and decided its limited run would make it worthwhile in terms of future value.

I remember when something similar (HS1, I think) was being built, there was an opportunity for the public to attend an open day. The tagline was, predictably, "Come and see our giant boring machine". Careful how you stress that "o".

The problem with that approach is that the original design or manufacture was flawed, hence the number of V2s with outside steam pipes after the monobloc had to be replaced. Iron alloys might be better these days but there's not much residual experience of making large steam loco castings.

It still amazes me that Mallard was steamed up and run in the 1980s.

Is there any plan to add a second platform at Highley? It always strikes me as a bit of a bottleneck, as trains can't pass without one of them unloading passengers and shunting onto the middle road.

I don't think the signal lights are even paraffin these says (the loco headlamps are, unless it's Taw Valley). It's just that not much light from a yellowish source gets through a blue spectacle. The red ones are a lot brighter.

Night running is back for the autumn gala. Be amazed at how invisible oncoming trains are, and how weak the green semaphore lights. Bridgnorth is well worth a visit after dark just to see them all simmering away. No idea on guest locos yet.

SOP if your car's engine conked out on a level crossing was to put it into 1st gear and crank it clear using the starter motor. You can't do that any more, as the clutch or brake pedal has to be depressed on most cars before you operate the starter. Of course, you should never drive onto a level crossing unless the exit is clear, so you should never.need to stop on one. People don't even understand box junctions or KEEP CLEAR zones, though.

Amos? There be panniers in the lower acre again. Get Jethro and his border Burrell down there to chase them off!

Hixon is the prime example of that. You couldn't really block a crossing with anything worse than a giant transformer.

I think UK non-high speed lines are fairly unique in the world by being fully fenced. Elsewhere, there is more of an onus on the public to keep off the tracks.

I wonder how there was time to get an emergency vehicle to the scene but not stop the train. I suppose the vehicle happened to be in the immediate vicinity and maybe US trains don't all have cab radio.

It's not a UK crossing, nor is it especially stupid, but the typically American reaction to the sight of Stuff Being Wrecked makes this worth 10 seconds https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-us-canada-65859078

Ah yes, they were doing that in the late 80s too. I never saw if they changed the loco, or just put it on the other end.

Common in the 80s due to breakdowns! In the 50s and early 60s, water for steam heating boilers may have been an issue as water troughs (some early diesels had water scoops - Ramsbottom would have been proud) and columns started to disappear.

A work colleague (who happens to be an ex-policeman) was on a busy train and the passenger seated next to him was browsing the Internet on a laptop. It started with fantasy gaming sites, then "glamour" sites, then men and women doing things to each other with no clothes on, and then men doing things to other men with no clothes on. My colleague asks the guy, "Do you think you should be looking at that stuff on a train?" and is ignored. So my colleague, who is absolutely immune to embarrassment, stands up and announces to the entire coach, "Hey everyone, this guy's looking at gay porn." Laptop slammed shut, guy leaves train at next stop. I like to think it wasn't even his stop.