7TunnelShunter

This may be very naive...min which case enjoy the laugh :-) Thinking about the date and coal to Plymouth, could this be traffic for the Admiralty to power his majesty's steaming navy? Repurposing of loco coal wagons to "grey funnel coal wagons"? Just a thought to explain large quantities of coal from not the usual GWR loco sources ending up in Plymouth. Chris

Hi The more usual way of riding a brake stick was to, insert the brake stick and lock your arms, so you lift your feet off the ground. You then ride in a vertical orientation and can easily drop your feet and start running to alight. The downside, when the stick breaks the shunter often falls forward and is impaled on the stub... hence the rules forbidding riding on shunting poles and brake sticks. If you watch 'Shunter Black's night off" available on YouTube you can see this practice in action in the 1940s. Chris.

Before nationalisation of the pits, individual pits or at least the pit owners purchased the props and transported them to the pits where seasoning occurred above ground. This was usually effected in returning empties to avoid hiring wagons from the railway companies. I generally assumed that the props were of a uniform size and that normal wooden bodied wagons were used, but images of pits being imported through Hartlepol for the Durham coal field show them of varying sizes, loaded in a variety of configurations and even loaded into hopper wagons - anything to avoid paying those pesky railway companies. Images from Hartlepool Then and Now http://www.hhtandn.org/relatedimages/8821/unloading-pit-props Provided for personal research use. Best wishes Chris

I read this thread with interest - lots of great info. So far I have pit-prop loads (4mm) from; 1. garden prunings - issue of consistency and a lot of twigs to get enough good ones to make a single wagon load but they look right, 2. cocktail sticks/tooth picks - these need staining/painting and weathering to represent the bark but look too thin when cut to a 8' scale length 3. bamboo skewers - these look to be the right proportions when cut down but also need the painting/staining treatment for pit props. However, yesterday I came across this image http://www.hhtandn.org/relatedimages/5682/unloading-pit-props-into-rolling-stock This Hartlepool Docks in the 1950s with pit props being unloaded from Baltic ships into wagons for onward transport, presumably to pits in NE England. Three things stand out; 1. Individual wagons are loaded with a mix of pit props in a longitudinal orientation, in a lateral orientation (both contained by vertical props allowing loading above the height of the wagon sides) and vertically stacked pit props. In general one end of the wagon is filled with longitudinally arranged props hard against the wagon end, and the space at the other end is filled with either vertically placed or laterally stacked props. Other images show no consistency with respect to any end doors on the wagon. 2. The second wagon is a 'hopper' - it too is getting loaded with props. I had not thought of using a hooper, but will now for variety. 3. - And this was the main point of this post, counting the props loaded vertically across the wagon shows 19-20. Measuring a 4mm scale Oxford Rail open I have to hand gives me an internal width of 19.5mm, so to pack (rounding for ease) 20 model props into 30mm gives a true diameter of 1.5mm. This is the size of the cocktail sticks from my local supermarket, which previously looked too small. So I am not going to scrap my other loads but I will now be concentrating on some more, and diverse, arrangements of painted cocktail sticks. All the best Chris edited for typos

Hi It is clearly a hand coloured/tinted postcard and whoever did it, for whatever reason, tinted the ?7 plank with 25" GW red but the ?5 plank with 25" GW grey. Either they were looking for some sort of aesthetic, were using up red tint or intriguingly had some reason for tinting the 7 plank red. Certainly odd and to be taken with Sodium Chloride (other salts are available etc.) Best wishes Chris

Today I came across this fantastic film; the std gauge to narrow gauge transfer sequence immediately made me think of this project... Enjoy Best wishes Chris

So you just do buddleia then...

The short answer would be that that 'fresh' fish would be in shallow wooden boxes packed with ice and further ice added on around the pile of boxes. See https://www.steampicturelibrary.com/neyland-fish-platform-c1910/print/698854.html Neyland was the original landing point for fish into Milford Haven (the estuary) that was subsequently shifted to Milford Haven the port! Image shows boxes and fish being loaded into open wagons including GWR open with sheet rail. I assume that after ice was added the wagon would be sheeted. I was surprised by this image as these are, I think, unfitted and so speed limited, not sure if they would have more ice added on route. Herring would normally be 'salted' before packing in barrels and so would be preserved rather than fresh, and of course could also be smoked - to become a bloater ! NPCS Bloaters were build from the WW1.

Choir Boys ? We used to put them over the hump at STJ !

Unfitted freight and mineral trains would be restricted to 25mph maximum - due to the limited brake power available. However, I am sure a light engine would have been capable of higher speeds, after all they would have steam and/or vacuum brakes on the engine.

Hi Simon Your work to date looks good ... I have been at my layout for 3 years and have got the track down but have basically lost the motivation to program the Cobalt IP motors ! I also use a SPROG and Pi as prime movers. Like you I am in BNE and doing 1930s GWR, I find I get motivation form some of the great stuff on RM Web but also from meeting the local British outline modellers... have you come across the British Railway Modellers of Australia, there are local groups in North, South and West Brisbane and the general format is monthly get togethers at each others houses to look at layouts, run our stock on each others layouts and provide ideas and motivation. PM me if you want an introduction. There are a few GWR/BR(W) enthusiasts. Keep up the good work. Best wishes Chris

It would be a brave car driver that obeyed the green traffic lights!

According to an early post on the Flying Banana thread ... before it went off on a PECOBOO Esk trip ... the twin horns were fitted later after an incident with PW gangs not hearing the cars approach. The original/earlier variants had horns mounted high up on each side - not supplied/modelled by Dapol. I believe Dapol have therefore got it right in including them with the latter livery variations and not with no. 11. "According to J H Russell the air horns on the sides of the cab were provided after complaints from PWay staff about the quiet approach of the new railcars. Pictures from around 1936 don't appear to show visible horns on the Nos. 8-16 series as built. They were possibly behind the grille under the nose. Some later pictures show horns under the nose and on the cabsides. The latter could apparently be heard about three miles away. Russell's book has a picture of No.11 in 1938 with no horns visible at the bottom but cabside horns fitted. By this time the bogie covers had also disappeared."... Dapol Streamlined Railcar Thread - Page 21 Post 502 Waits for fall out from the Flying Banana Intelligencia. Best wishes and keep up the stunning work Chris

There are people around here with too many spam cans, they could be pressed into service

When propelling loose fitted (unfitted) wagons into sidings on the level or a falling gradient, in the 70s, I was taught to always pin down (so they rubbed not fully on) one or two of the lead wagons - so if things broke away when I stopped the loco they would not run away, so your idea is prototypically correct. Keep up the great work. Best Chris