MRJ 260

[Tricky]

Just not quite the same quantity. I’ll have a word in Ned’s ear to get cracking.

[Hroth]

All this talk of horsesh*t reminded me of our local fruit and veg man who still used a cart pretty much as illustrated on said mag cover.....

This would have been as late as 1970/72.

 

We lived in a Police house, one of a block of 4, with a 'Tardis' call box outside another everyday object that's gone, along with the trolley buses which used to glide past on a fairly irregular basis.

 

There were regular ques for the nags deposits, no doubt for roses, rhubarb or other garden delights.

 

Nothing to do with MRJ of course but well worthy of a letter to the editor, written in biro perhaps as I'm fresh out of quills.

My Great Aunt lived in Birkdale near to Ginger McCains stables and the horses used to be walked down her road for exercise on the beach. She would dart out with her shovel for any "libations" to put on her rhubarb and roses.  Its a fair bet that we ate rhubarb tarts who's existence was assisted by Red Rum.....

[Axlebox]

https://www.flickr.com/photos/front_curtain/4276879986/in/photolist-gv3W1v-Y572p2-8AWTG8-7vW8q7-FdEFM1-ncs8ZS-d9GHki-iEqrS-9YUFCQ-NqLGSM

[BlackRat]

I bet there's a few Irish who have eaten pies assisted by Shergar!

[Horsetan]

https://www.flickr.com/photos/front_curtain/4276879986/in/photolist-gv3W1v-Y572p2-8AWTG8-7vW8q7-FdEFM1-ncs8ZS-d9GHki-iEqrS-9YUFCQ-NqLGSM

 

There's an album full

[Robin2]

I committed the cardinal sin of asking two questions at the same and, as is always the case, the important one was not answered - so here goes a second time

 

Does anyone know why it takes so long for MRJ to appear in WH Smiths shops?

 

...R

[Porcy Mane]

Looks vaguely similar I’d say.

 

The only thing that is missing is the "whiff" of rising steam.

 

 

All this talk of horsesh*t reminded me of our local fruit and veg man who still used a cart pretty much as illustrated on said mag cover.....

This would have been as late as 1970/72.

 

 

 

As Mr Axlebox will confirm our local Frut & Veg  man (one of three) that delivered door to door continued to do so up until the late 1980's. His reasoning was the Hos was considerably cheaper to run. Whenever the hos left a deposit it was usually whisked away to a local garden within minutes. There was then some hoohaa about handing a horse etc  and retail vegetables at the same time so both the horse and the fruiter went into retirement. 

 

P

[brightspark]

 

 

Raiway stables couln't give the stuff away out of season, so you would see trainloads of the stuff being carted of to places like this.

 

https://britainfromabove.org.uk/en/image/EAW047788

 

P

 

I don't think that can be correct. Manure was a valuable commodity. I am not what other uses it had, but urine, for instance, was an essential part of the tanning process.

My Dad grew up in Poplar before the war, and we discussed how much manure there was on the streets as I was planning a model based on the area. He recalled that the streets were very clean as the manure was normally collected as soon as it was dropped, sometimes sooner. In his words "If a horse so much as twitched 'is tail, there'd be some kid shoving a bucket up 'is arse". This would then be sold to keen gardeners nearby as everyone tried to supplement their food with a bit home grown produce.

 

Andy

 

BTW I quite enjoy the word-craft of Mrs T and look forward to the day when he is given the guest editorial. If only to see what the letter that follows it would be about.

[Horsetan]

....Does anyone know why it takes so long for MRJ to appear in WH Smiths shops?

 

Who knows? I'd like to be able to say that it depends where you live, but their internal distribution amongst branches seems highly unpredictable. In the case of Ealing, it usually appears a week or two after everyone else has had theirs, although very occasionally I've been surprised to find that I've had it one or two days before everyone else, and always on a Thursday. You're probably better off predicting whether a coin will land "heads" or "tails".

 

.... I quite enjoy the word-craft of Mrs T and look forward to the day when he is given the guest editorial. If only to see what the letter that follows it would be about.

 

Pour encourager les autres?

Edited January 27, 2018 by Horsetan

[Regularity]

I committed the cardinal sin of asking two questions at the same and, as is always the case, the important one was not answered - so here goes a second time

 

Does anyone know why it takes so long for MRJ to appear in WH Smiths shops?

 

...R

WHS simply seem to be slower at getting it onto their own shelves, despite also supplying many of the competitors who do get it out on the scheduled date.

 

I doubt that MRJ is one of their biggest selling magazines, but if they are like this with others, it suggests that they may be losing sales across the board.

 

You’d have to ask them: if anyone reading this works for them, then telling us unofficially would probably get them the sack, and everyone else on here doesn’t work for them, so we may never know.

[petethemole]

Interesting - correspondence re: Mrs Trellis. Reading the page 40 letter more closely, M3005 [as it was one of the batch M3003-M3011 delivered in 1948 after nationalisation] was new in 1948. That puts the "cop" from the Tea Shop window just about 70 years ago. Let's tentatively assume that he was aged between 8 and 12 at the time [as he was reading the Meccano Magazine]. That makes him say, 80+ now.

RAF Hucknall closed [as an RAF station] in 1957 though Rolls Royce continued to use it for civil test flying subsequently. If "Mrs Trellis" was a national serviceman and served at RAF Hucknall, that closure date and assuming that he was say, 20 years old i.e., at the end of his 2yrs NS upon Hucknall's closure as an RAF station that puts his DOB at around 1937 - i.e., a minimum age of 81 years now.

 

 

A search on Google suggests he was in 98 Squadron ground crew in 1956, so I would agree.

[Craigw]

A search on Google suggests he was in 98 Squadron ground crew in 1956, so I would agree.

 

He has a rather nice Cambrian in GWR days layout which has been in MRJ and has (according to the MRJ index) written 7 articles over the years. That rather entitles him to write a letter if it tickles his fancy. I would even be happy to read a letter an issue from a few of the regulars in here after they have written 7 articles.

 

Mine is currently flying to Australia courtesy of Nigel Bird.

 

Regards,

 

Craig W

[Porcy Mane]

I don't think that can be correct. Manure was a valuable commodity.

Quite correct, but valuable to whom? There was a time when in certain areas, particularly those associated with Alum mining where one was obliged by Royal Decree to leave your urine in earthenware jars outside your front door for collection. A bit like milk being delivered but in reverse! That was before the evolution of the chemical industry when far more efficient, productive and less costly means were developed for tanning leather .

 

Look at the size of these N.E.R. stables in Sunderland.

 

https://goo.gl/maps/X912BYMKRc72

 

How many horses must have worked out of here and how many tons of manure would have been removed daily? This was just one set of railway stables in the area. Then there were two local and large collieries that had shifts of ponies working underground on a 24 hour cycle. All producing waste that had to be disposed of. Just across the river the large Vaux brewery had massive stables and most of their deliveries were by horse dray. Far more manure being produced than could be used by local allotment gardeners with their one or two load requirements each year. Train loads of manure could be run to rural stations for use on local farms but this traffic was seasonal.

 

The above was all in a very high population density area were the majority of households had neither a garden nor allotment. What they did have was an outside earth closet that had to be emptied daily, that process almost universally being carried out by yet another hos & cart. Another thing most dwellings had outside was a boot scraper and this wasn't just for scraping off mud picked up from unmade roads, paths & curtilages.

 

So with all this crap being produced it wasn't surprising that large companies would invite tenders for disposal of surplus as with Shadrack Godwin as mentioned in Post #73

 

One thing that was certain was the streets of all urban towns were paved with anything but gold BUT where there was muck, there was definitely brass.

 

P

[John_Hughes]

And the delivery horse doubled as a shunting horse for those stations that didn't have their own mechanical power on hand.

 

The delivery round would often be a fixed route, regardless of what was to be dropped off, and people would stick a card in their window if they had a consignment to be picked up. A very sensible procedure, when you think of it; I don't think I've ever seen such a card in a model window.

 

In small towns everyone knew the railway horse, and some folk kept windfall apples as a treat for the animal - I remember my father doing just that, and joking that he was only paying the horse back for helping his roses to grow!

[Robin2]

Who knows? I'd like to be able to say that it depends where you live, but their internal distribution amongst branches seems highly unpredictable.

That may be true, but it does not sit well with the fact that Railway Modeller and many other magazines always appear on the WH Smith shelves on the appointed day.  I travel around so I shop in several different branches at different times.

 

And I have a feeling that when MRJ 260 hit the WH Smith shelves it did so on the same day in every branch.

 

I suspect the issue lies with MRJ's distributors. Hopefully someone from the MRJ Team will come along with an answer.

 

...R

[New Haven Neil]

Mrs NHN, who is 'horsey', is in agreement the horses poo isn't right - it should be more like little ovoids, unless the 'oss in question is unwell.  In which case, having examined the photo of what is rather good modelling I have to say, she has decided the 'oss is sufficiently unwell that he shouldn't be working.

 

I can't believe I posted that.....

[Penlan]

Re WHS, in the past I've picked up a copy in Penzance on the first day it's been available, anywhere, judging from postings at the time, in fact on one issue, I think I may have been ahead of just about everybody who posts on here that they haven't got their copy yet....  If that makes sense.
On another occasion I picked up my copy in Smiths in PZ and read it on the train to Paddington, where it was NOT available on the news stand there.  Of course there has occasionally been the reverse of the above... 

[Siberian Snooper]

i have just liberated a copy from Smiffs in  Norwich.

 

When I was a paper boy, I always got my copy of  RM a week early, as the paper shop where I worked got it about a week in advance of the due publication date and when it arrived, the gaffer would put my copy on top of that mornings stack of papers.  So i would say that the MRJ distribution is a bit hit and miss.

[Horsetan]

Mrs NHN, who is 'horsey', is in agreement the horses poo isn't right - it should be more like little ovoids, unless the 'oss in question is unwell.  In which case, having examined the photo of what is rather good modelling I have to say, she has decided the 'oss is sufficiently unwell that he shouldn't be working.

 

I can't believe I posted that.....

 

Bill provided me with some samples of his, er, "end product" so I took photos and will post them up later. He is on a fairly low calorie feed to help his digestion, plus biotin, turmeric and garlic pepper.

[Bulwell Hall]

And the delivery horse doubled as a shunting horse for those stations that didn't have their own mechanical power on hand.

 

The delivery round would often be a fixed route, regardless of what was to be dropped off, and people would stick a card in their window if they had a consignment to be picked up. A very sensible procedure, when you think of it; I don't think I've ever seen such a card in a model window.

 

In small towns everyone knew the railway horse, and some folk kept windfall apples as a treat for the animal - I remember my father doing just that, and joking that he was only paying the horse back for helping his roses to grow!

 

Amongst my photographic collection I have a postcard view of a shop front in West St, Bridport, Dorset.  It is difficult to date but I would take a guess at 1920s or early 1930s.  Hanging by a cord from a nail in the wall by the shop door is a large card - roughly 8" x 12" landscape format - marked with G.W.R. in large and shaded capital letters with 'Carman to Call' in smaller unshaded capital letters beneath.  It looks rather grubby so is obviously well used.  Unfortunately I am not able to scan the photo at present but I thought it worthwhile mentioning it as I have not seen such a card anywhere else but guess they would have been commonplace at one time.  Hope this is of interest.

 

Gerry

 

P.S.  There is a healthy pile of horses..te in the road outside the shop as well!

[Captain Kernow]

This was discussed in Richard's thread, along with how to model horse droppings in 7mm scale.

Thanks, I was in a hurry and must have missed it.

[Tricky]

Oops, trying to post on the wrong thread. Ignore me...

Edited January 29, 2018 by Tricky

[Blue Max]

Still not had my copy of 260, guess I need to give them a ring!!

[Horsetan]

Right, here's some that Bill made earlier....

 

 

 

[Compound2632]

Always work from a good photo of the prototype.