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So far l believe l have actually achieved only one legacy, and as I sit here typing it is still incomplete. I have succeeded to get a street light erected at a dangerous road junction. Knowing the time it has taken to get it in place and the difference it will make to the people in my village is probably the only satisfaction I will get. I hope it out lives me, but knowing my luck a lorry will destroy it before it’s even working......

 

As for anything else I doubt l will be missed by anyone outside my immediate family....

 

Andy g

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7 minutes ago, uax6 said:

So far l believe l have actually achieved only one legacy, and as I sit here typing it is still incomplete. I have succeeded to get a street light erected at a dangerous road junction. Knowing the time it has taken to get it in place and the difference it will make to the people in my village is probably the only satisfaction I will get. I hope it out lives me, but knowing my luck a lorry will destroy it before it’s even working.

That reminds me of the cruellest of life's ironies, or possibly just a lack of checking up by a local council.

A friend's mother frequently commented that the regular failure of the street lamp across the road from the bus stop near their house made getting off the bus and crossing the road very treacherous.

She was right: a motor cyclist (completely blameless) hit her in the dark and she died instantly.

They were repairing the street lamp (not just putting in a new bulb) as the funeral cortege passed by.

 

I hope your lamp survives!

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There were a few odd low periods when I was working full-time, when I concluded that the best words that could be put on my headstone were “he kept his in-tray tidy”, so I stopped doing that.

 

Fortunately, 90% of the time I have found my work interesting/stimulating, but I’ve often seen people at work who clearly didn’t/don’t, and having tasted that for short periods, I really feel for them - a lot of people get stuck in very deep ruts.

 

In the long run, the headstone would probably read “he didn’t even keep his in-tray tidy”.

 

 

Edited by Nearholmer
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Doesn’t everyone feel like that at a certain age? Except possibly really smug and/or deeply un-insightful people.

 

I certainly do, and hope to goodness that it’s a transitional phase, leading to acceptance and inner calm (= weary resignation) as the possibility of doing anything about it, whatever it is, recedes rapidly over the horizon of the past.

 

 

 

Edited by Nearholmer
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34 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

In the long run, the headstone would probably read “he didn’t even keep his in-tray tidy”.

 

Still better than "He kept a tidy desk but an empty mind"...

 

OK.

 

Lets change the subject.   Oxford Rails announcement of a GER 10 ton van, a J26 AND a Cowans Sheldon 15 ton steam crane.

Any good?

 

Carefully placing a tin hat on head and crouching in a dugout.

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Good Idea Hroth. Move over a bit, I'll come and sit in the dugout with ye. 

 

The Caley bought two of the 15  ton cranes in 1886. So I have bought one. Well, ordered it.

 

My thinking is this; its advertised at 17 quid but will go up. If its say 50 quid sort of then its much less than I have ever seen a D+S kit and I haven't seen one go past in years. So even if it needs a fair bit of work to convert to EM and adjust for the the Caley then its still not horrendously expensive. Good drawings and photos are available.

 

 Folk seem to be hassled by the lack of a match truck but a quick flick through Tatlow shows such a variety that Oxford would be daft to try and cover them all. If you aren't too bothered there are lots of rtr wagons that would look ok from a distance. If you are then for heavens sake, it's just a wagon. Build one. I will have to given the Caley used a six wheel outside W iron wooden thing. 

 

Those shells coming in yet ? 

 

 

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1 hour ago, Hroth said:

 

Oxford Rails announcement of a GER 10 ton van, a J26 AND a Cowans Sheldon 15 ton steam crane.

Any good?

 

 

 

First the N7 and now this.

 

What has Oxford Rail got against the Great Eastern?

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10 hours ago, Dave John said:

Good Idea Hroth. Move over a bit, I'll come and sit in the dugout with ye. 

 

The Caley bought two of the 15  ton cranes in 1886. So I have bought one. Well, ordered it.

 

My thinking is this; its advertised at 17 quid but will go up. If its say 50 quid sort of then its much less than I have ever seen a D+S kit and I haven't seen one go past in years. So even if it needs a fair bit of work to convert to EM and adjust for the the Caley then its still not horrendously expensive. Good drawings and photos are available.

 

 Folk seem to be hassled by the lack of a match truck but a quick flick through Tatlow shows such a variety that Oxford would be daft to try and cover them all. If you aren't too bothered there are lots of rtr wagons that would look ok from a distance. If you are then for heavens sake, it's just a wagon. Build one. I will have to given the Caley used a six wheel outside W iron wooden thing. 

 

Those shells coming in yet ? 

 

 

 

Well, the price will probably go up significantly, but I make two predictions:

 

- It will still be relatively remarkably good value compared with what other manufacturers would have to charge.  See the comparative pricing of the Warwells and also how relatively inexpensive the rail-gun was.

 

- There is just about a better than even chance that Oxford has learnt enough not to completely screw this up, so it will be a reasonable or at least redeemable model.

 

That said, does the Parish agree with me that one would look well in West Norfolk green?

 

If there is support for this idea, I invite tenders for the design of a WNR match truck!

 

 

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10 hours ago, Edwardian said:

 

First the N7 and now this.

 

What has Oxford Rail got against the Great Eastern?

What have you got against Oxford? :P

Anyway, I thought the N7 wasn't too bad, certainly much better than the Dean Goods. Indeed I have been very tempted to try and get one, given their low price and apparent quality.

The announcements sound good to me, and despite my knowledge of their flaws I actually find Oxford Wagons quite good.

For my purposes even their 0415 was perfectly adequate, though it is no longer Adams, Radial or a Tank. At the time it was roughly half the price of the then-new Hornby one.

They seem to be improving with each model, and if one ignores the Dean Goods they haven't been completely awful thus far. And they still manage to produce stuff cheaper than Hornby, despite their recent association...

 

Could be worse. DJM could still exist...

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12 hours ago, Edwardian said:

Mine might read:

 

By the time he'd worked it all out, it was too late to do anything about it.

I'd pre-order that one now and have several dozen run up whilst you're about it as they'll sell like the proverbial warm patisserie !

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1 hour ago, Edwardian said:

 

Well, the price will probably go up significantly, but I make two predictions:

 

- It will still be relatively remarkably good value compared with what other manufacturers would have to charge.  See the comparative pricing of the Warwells and also how relatively inexpensive the rail-gun was.

 

- There is just about a better than even chance that Oxford has learnt enough not to completely screw this up, so it will be a reasonable or at least redeemable model.

 

That said, does the Parish agree with me that one would look well in West Norfolk green?

 

If there is support for this idea, I invite tenders for the design of a WNR match truck!

 

 

Are talking again about these legendary ready-to-run no filing or soldering required pre-grouping  locomotives and rolling stock that can supposedly be purchased in modelling emporia ? I'll believe it when I see it*

 

* 'it' being a RTR Furness 0-6-0 or, better still, a NER P4 hopper wagon. 

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12 hours ago, Edwardian said:

Mine might read:

By the time he'd worked it all out, it was too late to do anything about it.

Bravo ... How many could actually claim that?

Charles I, Mussolini on a lamp post ? Napoleon in St Helena ? 

Death where is thy mystery ?

dh

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13 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

Trotting along behind, slightly out of breath, not keeping up ...... can anyone point to a photo/CAD-render of the intended GE van?

 

Kevin, below is the image Oxford has shown, so all we have to go on ...

 

490576296_GER10-tonvan.jpg.ddee2510ede386e9ea355a2767edafbc.jpg

 

These represent a decisive break from the rather Great Western-looking (Holden) outside-framed 16' covered wagons built to 1902.

 

This new style was built to a length of 19'3" from 1903 to 1910, to GER diagram 47. I believe the D&S kit, one of which I have, covers this type.  That allows me to have one on CA, together with some of the older type.

 

From 1911, however, the wagons were built to 19' (same w/b), to diagram 72.  This was a result of the abortive plans for a GC-GN-GE merger, which nevertheless led to some agreed standards for wagon construction.

 

Both diagrams had steel underframes, as seen in the picture above.

 

So, the question is really which diagram has Oxford gone for. D.47 of 1903 or D.72 of 1911?

 

Well, we can try to derive that from the running numbers announced (though there are inconsistencies between the Oxford website and the RMWeb announcement!): 

 

OR76GEGV001 Great Eastern GER 10t Covered Van No.32109
OR76GEGV002 NE GER 10t Covered Van No.630616
OR76GEGV003 BR GER 10t Covered Van No.E612630

 

The GER number is given as 32109.  I cannot see that as within the series for either diagram.  As Stephen (Compound) has pointed out, 32109 belongs to one of the batch of 100 wooden under-framed vans built by the Gloucester RC&W Co. in 1920, to GER diagram 78 [P. Tatlow, LNER Wagons Vol. 1 (Wild Swan, 2005) p. 206]. 

 

The appearance of these wooden-under-framed vans also differs from the others in the body style.  It appears to have wooden framing, not metal stanchions and strapping. I conclude that the number of the GER version, given on the Oxford site as the nonsensical 23109, is another example of Oxford's @rse - elbow identification issues.

 

The LNER version suggests this was GER 30616. While the D&S kit notes claim this as within a 1911 number series, the Tatlow volume has the 30561-810 number series down as used for the 19'3" D.47.

 

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Quote

its advertised at 17 quid but will go up. If its say 50 quid sort of then its much less than I have ever seen a D+S kit and I haven't seen one go past in years.

 

Last time I saw Dan list one he was doing them at £65.  They've always been available.   Brassmasters stocked them at one time.   Slightly brave choice as what i recall from building a D & S one was (1) they're all slightly different and (2) they're a tw*t to get to go round corners.

 

The GE van is excellent news if they get it right - there were fitted and unfitted variants and a banana version as well.  If you want to do pregrouping stock it's an open goal. 

 

I've seen a suggestion that the GE running number is a typo for 23109.

Edited by jwealleans
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1 hour ago, Edwardian said:

That said, does the Parish agree with me that one would look well in West Norfolk green?

 

If there is support for this idea, I invite tenders for the design of a WNR match truck!

 

Now there's an idea - an old tender frame in use as a match truck (surely a jib runner? The crane looks to have standard coupling/buffing gear at each end)

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14 minutes ago, jwealleans said:

 

Last time I saw Dan list one he was doing them at £65.  They've always been available.   Brassmasters stocked them at one time.   Slightly brave choice as what i recall from building a D & S one was (1) they're all slightly different and (2) they're a tw*t to get to go round corners.

 

The GE van is excellent news if they get it right - there were fitted and unfitted variants and a banana version as well.  If you want to do pregrouping stock it's an open goal. 

 

I've seen a suggestion that the GE running number is a typo for 23109.

 

The GE van is indeed excellent news, and a commendable choice. 

 

Oxford had b*ggered up every steam-age wagon so far, then came the Warwell, which seemed a fair job.  There is hope and we should reserve judgment and hope for the best.

 

Naturally the early diagram would suit, but I don't really need another, and either would be a good choice and a positive development if a proper job is made of it. 

 

 

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50 minutes ago, CKPR said:

I'd pre-order that one now and have several dozen run up whilst you're about it as they'll sell like the proverbial warm patisserie !

NB I was commenting that many of us in this parish would concur with these sepulchral sentiments and in no way predicting or hastening your early demise !

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I see no-one has mentioned the proposed Oxford Rail pilchard wagon. A bit of a specialist traffic IMHO, unless you are modelling the lines up to London from Cornwall. Still, not as specialist as that other traffic which required special wagons: the tadpole trade. You would think that would come from East Anglia, but it was the GWR that provided the wagons. Or have I got this wrong?

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2 hours ago, Edwardian said:

That said, does the Parish agree with me that one would look well in West Norfolk green?

 

If there is support for this idea, I invite tenders for the design of a WNR match truck!

 

Possibly pushing it a bit for the WNR to have such an advanced and expensive piece of kit? Taking the M&GN as a point of reference, I can't find any mention of cranes in Digby's Guide but the Disused Stations entry for Norwich City has a couple of 1912 photos of a hand crane - probably 5 ton capacity. This sort of crane usually needed a pair of match wagons, fore and aft - one to support the jib, the other to accommodate the overhanging weight box. The match wagon in the photo - a simple flat with toolboxes - is presumably the tail wagon, the jib wagon having been moved out of the way. I would imagine that if a 15 ton crane was needed, Mr Marriott would have borrowed (hired) one from one of the parent companies. This 5 ton hand crane looks like ones the Midland had but from the design of the match wagon clearly isn't a Midland one.

 

If your directors do feel that a 15 ton crane is a luxury they can't afford to be without - foregoing a couple of second-hand locomotives - then I'm sure a private builder can be found to knock off a copy of the Midland design of match wagon.

 

 

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