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Great Southern Railway (Fictitious) - Signalling the changes...


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Ah, I prefer Oh Mr Porter over Oh Doctor Beeching any day - And it's such a shame that Northiam was scrapped as a nice themed gala on the MHR, as per the Titfield one on the NNR a few years back, would be fantastic! There's no preserved A12 or X6 either, so any event would be at best 'inspired by'.##

 

Is it bad that I can think of MHR volunteers who could fill the three lead roles? :O 

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So, last night, I headed off to York with my partner for a weekend away. This had been booked and paid for before I got the news about no longer having a job. Today we started working our way through the NRM. We'd picked this weekend because the L&YR signalling school model railway was being operated, and I'd never seen it before. Arriving a little early, we got chatting with the volunteer who was setting up, and after mentioning we'd come down from Scotland and an interesting chat about the Lock, Block and Brake requirements mentioned above, we were invited behind the barrier for a closer look!

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The layout dates from 1912, when it was built by apprentices at Horwich locomotive works, while the rolling stock was provided by Bassett-Lowke. It's a gauge 1 layout, although the locos and stock are rather shortened caricatures. The lamps (head, tail and side) are oversized to make them more visible to the trainees, and each "signalbox" has its own collection of red, yellow and green flags (in miniature!). In the morning, there was an explanation of absolute block signalling, with much ringing of bells and clattering of instruments and levers. In the afternoon came a demonstration of the cause of the Warrington collision of Nov. 4th, 1880 (see the BoT report here). A very minor collision, with no injuries and the only damage being broken buffer-castings!

We spent most of the day wandering around the North Shed, being basically the warehouse of material not on display in the main halls, and what a treasure trove it is! Sadly I didn't get as many pictures as I would have liked, but we will be going back again tomorrow to continue looking, as we haven't managed to look around the great hall yet.

We did get some shots of a couple of pre-grouping locos in the other building though. One for Gary here:
 

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And one a little closer to Linton (albeit in a slightly odd shade of green):

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And, of course, what trip to York would be complete without:
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There'll be plenty more tomorrow, and if anyone has any requests for detail shots, let me know before about 1pm!

Edited by Skinnylinny
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Well, being a cheeky sort - Some detail (and wider) shots of the 3-SUB car would be very useful. I took a few when I was up there last month, but nothing like enough. 

 

Also, a game for you to play - Count the NLR Adams 4-4-0T Models... ;) 

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Not especially, though some decent shots showing the whole of the car, and some overall shots of the bogies. I didn't get any of the front end of the unit, so any details round there would be very much appreciated. :) 

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I can do bogie shots but the end is hard to get to, the best position for photographing being in the turntable pit! With the driving car positioned between other stock, it's hard to get far enough back to get the whole vehicle in, but I think you ought to be well served for photos of the whole thing online. 

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I'm writing this from a Cross-Country train, returning from York to Edinburgh. The train showed simultaneously as "on time" and "cancelled" on the Network Rail website - it turns out it didn't run from its original starting point, so the original train was cancelled. They then started a new service from a few stops up the line.

The wonderful people who booked us the (one!) wheelchair space on this service managed to book us two seats at the opposite end of the carriage from the wheelchair space. About five minutes into the journey, with the help of the on-train staff and some lovely fellow passengers who were happy to swap seats, we ended up with two seats by the wheelchair space. However, the train's now so packed that people are sitting on the tables and peoples' luggage won't fit in the space, so the wheelchair is now behind a wall of cases.

 

Bring back booked compartments and loco-hauled stock (with luggage vans)! At least with loco-hauled stock, another carriage can be added to a train.

Oh, and the air conditioning has failed, so it feels like we're travelling in an oven.

The joys of the modern railway. I think that when I get home, I'll return to the pre-grouping era!

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3 minutes ago, Skinnylinny said:

I'm writing this from a Cross-Country train, returning from York to Edinburgh. The train showed simultaneously as "on time" and "cancelled" on the Network Rail website 
 

 

Aha! Schrodinger's train - you won't know which state it is in until you're on it.

 

Now I was once waiting for a late-running late evening train at an outer suburban station on the Munich S-Bahn; the clocks stopped at the booked arrival time and re-started when the train arrived. Evidently, in Germany, the trains run more reliably than the clocks!

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1 hour ago, Skinnylinny said:

I'm writing this from a Cross-Country train, returning from York to Edinburgh. The train showed simultaneously as "on time" and "cancelled" on the Network Rail website - it turns out it didn't run from its original starting point, so the original train was cancelled. They then started a new service from a few stops up the line.

The wonderful people who booked us the (one!) wheelchair space on this service managed to book us two seats at the opposite end of the carriage from the wheelchair space. About five minutes into the journey, with the help of the on-train staff and some lovely fellow passengers who were happy to swap seats, we ended up with two seats by the wheelchair space. However, the train's now so packed that people are sitting on the tables and peoples' luggage won't fit in the space, so the wheelchair is now behind a wall of cases.

 

Bring back booked compartments and loco-hauled stock (with luggage vans)! At least with loco-hauled stock, another carriage can be added to a train.

Oh, and the air conditioning has failed, so it feels like we're travelling in an oven.

The joys of the modern railway. I think that when I get home, I'll return to the pre-grouping era!

But  least you had wifi? 

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So, having got home late last night (after getting waylaid on the way home by some friends I hadn't seen in ages), and after a hospital appointment this morning, I've finally got a chance to go through the photos that were taken on Sunday and upload them.

First of all, we arrived early in order to get a chance to have a look inside the Shinkansen Series 0 - while this might be rather modern for the pre-grouping section, it is sobering to realise that at the time this sleek machine entered service in 1964, the HST was still 15 years away, and sustained speeds of 130mph were still a long way off the UK. Still are, in fact!
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Queen Adelaide's saloon is a rather beautiful piece of coachbuilding, and we spent a while admiring the intricately-lined underframe and headstocks, as well as its diminutive size compared to more modern rolling stock.

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We had booked tickets for the steam ride, as on the Sunday the rostered engine was the replica Rocket. We weren't disappointed, and it really brought home just how tiny this machine was compared to the hulking great 9F and larger overseas engines in the great hall! Fortunately, we got our ride in the open-topped carriage before the heavens opened in the afternoon.

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After this we had a wander around the rest of the Great Hall, admiring the elegant lines of the SECR D class...
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the stocky, workmanlike NER 1001 class...
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(which still has some absolutely gorgeous detailing - check out the lining on those coupling rods!)
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and of course the beautiful Topaz, resplendent in lake.
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We also had another poke around the various bits and pieces in the North Shed, the "archived" section if you will, where artefacts that aren't in the main museum are sort of half-heartedly on display, and found all sorts of treasures, from this model of an unknown loco (LB&SCR, based on the livery? The information card was missing)...
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...to an invalid chair...

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...to a company crest which confused me momentarily before remembering the existence of the Great Southern Railways Company of Ireland.
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...I might have to steal the garter though, unless I can get around to designing my own!

In response to sem34090's request - I've put up an album of the photos I was able to take of the 4-SUB driving car here on Imgur.

Edited by Skinnylinny
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And a little reminder of the eventual aim, an actual model railway! The signal box is nearly completed, needing just the steps, guttering, and a few bits of glazing, and three more parts for the interior: a signalman, a jacket hung on the peg inside the door, and a cat curled up, asleep, on the armchair. 

 

The box is shown here placed on the new E&LMRC layout which is still under construction but which makes an excellent photo plank for such things! 

 

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Well, it looks like the free time I currently have for modelling is about to be curtailed to some extent - I have received (and accepted) a job offer. It's a fair step down in terms of earnings, and a rather different field (being mostly IT based rather than engineering/manufacturing) working for a small chocolate company, but it's still much better than being on the dole.

On the other hand, hopefully I might be able to get around to getting some baseboards sorted out soon...

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On 07/08/2019 at 18:23, Skinnylinny said:

Well, it looks like the free time I currently have for modelling is about to be curtailed to some extent - I have received (and accepted) a job offer. It's a fair step down in terms of earnings, and a rather different field (being mostly IT based rather than engineering/manufacturing) working for a small chocolate company, but it's still much better than being on the dole.

On the other hand, hopefully I might be able to get around to getting some baseboards sorted out soon...

Congratulations and good luck, buddy! 

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Thanks to all for the good wishes!

So, after three days at the new job, I can definitely say I've worked in far worse places. The staff have all been very friendly, LGBTQ+-aware and friendly (to the extent that even before I'd been accepted for the role, the manager had checked what pronouns I use and passed on that information to the other staff so that they could get it right!), training has been provided at a measured rate to let me learn things gradually, and there is a small "Happy Box" of chocolates which didn't come out of moulds properly or failed for other reasons, and to which the staff are allowed to help themselves through the day. I'm going to have to be very careful about the combination of that one and my waistline...

Tuesday night was spent at the club bringing the signal box near to completion. Along with painting the back wall, I spent longer than I'd like to admit trying to get the steps and handrails straight and level. They don't come cut to length, so need trimming to fit, but they're so delicate to assemble, with no means of positively locating them and maybe a square millimetre or two of plastic touching between parts for the glue to stick. They're not perfectly straight, but they're the best I can manage. Still to do: painting the handrails, touching up the remaining paintwork, fitting the end glazing and painting the Modelu signalman to go inside, then working out how I intend to fit the lighting to the structure. Name boards will probably materialise once I've worked out if the station is to be Linton or Linton Town. I suppose the signalbox could be Linton regardless of what the station's called, could it not?

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Thanks to you both. :) unfortunately the stairs and landing aren't on the end I'd have preferred, but the ends can't really be swapped. I'm pondering flipping the layout from left to right, which, thinking about it, might be better for how the layout fits into the room, putting the fiddle yard at the foot of the bed and allowing freer access to the scenic section. Food for thought! 

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15 hours ago, Skinnylinny said:

..........., and there is a small "Happy Box" of chocolates which didn't come out of moulds properly or failed for other reasons, and to which the staff are allowed to help themselves through the day. I'm going to have to be very careful about the combination of that one and my waistline...
 

I remember my father telling me about the time he was sent to a chocolate factory to carry out repairs to an electric motor. Staff and visitors were allowed to eat as much chocolate as they wished. He said after being there all day he couldn't eat chocolate for weeks afterwards (and he was very fond of chocolate!)

Edited by JeremyC
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Every Christmas we used to stay with my uncle who was a GP in Northfield, Birmingham.  He claimed that half his patients worked for Austin at Longbridge and the other half for Cadbury at Bournville.  Every Christmas his patients would give him bags of reject chocolates (mis-shapes, white bloom on them, etc.).  Between my 5 cousins and myself, they didn't keep for very long.

Sadly he never received any 'reject' cars!

 

Jim

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