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

[Nick C]

3 minutes ago, Edwardian said:

 

That is probably a matter of local practice.  The street I referenced has many styles and periods, made up of terraces of generally no more than 4 houses.  These are not alleys leading to some back street, but passages into the back plots of the houses, therefore there is no logic to the suggestion that they would be more or less likely given the length of the terrace. 

One street I looked at while finding the links for my last post was in Guildford, and had terraces of four houses, with alleys between each block, and a passageway in the middle - all the houses then had their front doors on the sides, opening either into the alley or the passage depending on their position in the terrace...

[Compound2632]

9 minutes ago, Edwardian said:

These are not alleys leading to some back street, but passages into the back plots of the houses

 

A key distinction.

[Skinnylinny]

I have another two semi-detached kits, so the complete terrace would be... 10 houses? Two of which are above the shops. I do like the idea of a passageway between some of the houses to a back lane, and also the covered passage (here in Edinburgh the term would be "vennel", but in West Sussex I've heard "twitten" (does this extend to Surrey?), and I've also heard "ginnel" and "snicket") between each pair of houses to provide access to the rear. The difficulty with a twitten is that I'd need to extend the roof neatly to cover it. 

I'm leaning towards having a terrace up the slope of the road towards the right of the layout, where the road climbs to meet a junction, where it will pass over the line to form the scenic break. This allows me to use the break between the buildings for the step as the road climbs. Maybe an occasional access gap?

[Compound2632]

1 hour ago, Skinnylinny said:

I do like the idea of a passageway between some of the houses to a back lane, and also the covered passage (here in Edinburgh the term would be "vennel", but in West Sussex I've heard "twitten" (does this extend to Surrey?), and I've also heard "ginnel" and "snicket") between each pair of houses to provide access to the rear. The difficulty with a twitten is that I'd need to extend the roof neatly to cover it. 

 

When I was growing up the word was gully. That was on the north side of Brum, my parents both having grown up in the area too. But looking it up, I learn that this sense of gully is of Indian origin. I can't account for that - none of my ancestors were British in India, nor am I descended from any Maharajah, though my maternal grandfather claimed descent from the High Kings of Tara, as all Irish do (probably correctly).

[CKPR]

On 05/10/2021 at 14:27, Compound2632 said:

 review of this or another of Clark's books. It was signed AW and RJE.

Given that the M&GN tangentially comes within the orbit of  the Midland, possibly Arthur Whitehead and Robert (Bob) Essery ?

[Compound2632]

11 hours ago, CKPR said:

Given that the M&GN tangentially comes within the orbit of  the Midland, possibly Arthur Whitehead and Robert (Bob) Essery ?

 

Yes, to a certainty. LMS Society members. Since the tone of the review might not be seen as doing credit to the reviewers, I was trying to avoid spelling it out whilst leaving the information there for those who would know.

Edited October 7, 2021 by Compound2632

[Nick C]

16 hours ago, Skinnylinny said:

I have another two semi-detached kits, so the complete terrace would be... 10 houses? Two of which are above the shops. I do like the idea of a passageway between some of the houses to a back lane, and also the covered passage (here in Edinburgh the term would be "vennel", but in West Sussex I've heard "twitten" (does this extend to Surrey?), and I've also heard "ginnel" and "snicket") between each pair of houses to provide access to the rear. The difficulty with a twitten is that I'd need to extend the roof neatly to cover it. 

I'm leaning towards having a terrace up the slope of the road towards the right of the layout, where the road climbs to meet a junction, where it will pass over the line to form the scenic break. This allows me to use the break between the buildings for the step as the road climbs. Maybe an occasional access gap?

"Twitten" is a lovely Sussex term! It refers more the narrow pathways between properties, rather than the covered passages through the building. At least in the (semi-rural) area where I grew up, they were more often between high hedges or walls than close buildings.

[Regularity]

Jitty in Northampton: believed to be a derivation from the the architectural term “jeté” (thrown) for an upper storey jutting out above the path beneath - get two buildings either side of a narrow road/path/passage, and you can see why.

[Tom Burnham]

Archways through a building could well raise the question of the fascinatingly named flying freehold.

[Boldon Boy]

The firewall/party wall did not always extend above the ceiling height of the top floor.   In the 1960s I moved into a 3-storey house, in a terrace of 4 houses which the title showed had been built in 1840-41, which had nothing except the chimney flues above ceiling level.   There was no felt or wooden sarking either, just pantiles hung on laths!

[Caley Jim]

In Scotland the term for such a passageway is either a vennel or a close (with a soft 's'). The former usually applies to a public passage between two buildings leading, for example, through to another street, while a close is a covered passageway giving access to the rear of the property. If it's wide enough for a vehicle to pass through it's referred to as a pend close.    In Lanark there are several closes which become open passageways leading through onto North Vennel, which is now a full width road! 

 

Jim

[Compound2632]

3 hours ago, Boldon Boy said:

The firewall/party wall did not always extend above the ceiling height of the top floor.   In the 1960s I moved into a 3-storey house, in a terrace of 4 houses which the title showed had been built in 1840-41, which had nothing except the chimney flues above ceiling level.   There was no felt or wooden sarking either, just pantiles hung on laths!

 

Now, in The Magician's Nephew, C.S. Lewis has Polly and Digory exploring the continuous attic that links their row of houses; since they are in London, this ought to have been impossible. But as far as I'm aware Lewis never lived in London, so he was probably unaware of this technicality.

[Edwardian]

15 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

 

Now, in The Magician's Nephew, C.S. Lewis has Polly and Digory exploring the continuous attic that links their row of houses; since they are in London, this ought to have been impossible. But as far as I'm aware Lewis never lived in London, so he was probably unaware of this technicality.

 

Surely you're not suggesting Oxford academics are somehow divorced from the realities of life!?!

[Compound2632]

11 hours ago, Edwardian said:

Surely you're not suggesting Oxford academics are somehow divorced from the realities of life!?!

 

No. As a confirmed disliker of London, I don't regard what goes on there as synonymous with "the realities of life". In fact, I would go so far as to suggest that "real life" is best experienced elsewhere.

 

Ideally in an Oxford college, of course.

Edited October 8, 2021 by Compound2632

[Skinnylinny]

Goodness, I go away for a few days and you all bring the thread over the 100 page mark! 

I'm back in Edinburgh again, from a week at my partner's, and last night I attached the first servo point motor to Linton Town, using a 3D printed servo mount with inbuilt microswitch for frog switching. I also tried mounting a servo for operating one of the signals but unfortunately I had cut the operating rod rather too short, so I had to bodge a mount (for now!) by lightly gluing the servo to some pieces of scrap wood to the correct height. Now that it's in place, I can measure up to produce a better-proportioned mount for that one signal. Grrrrr!



It's unlikely I'll get much more work done on the layout this week, as I'm travelling down south on Wednesday for the Uckfield model railway show next weekend, among a couple of other things. If you're at the show on Saturday, do come and say hi - I'm the one with the bright purple hair, as always!

[Skinnylinny]

There is movement! The first servo has had its movement limits programmed, and I'm playing around with different speeds. Currently I'm working on the basis of a slow pull "off", and a faster return to "on", and I'm not doing any fancy stuff for bounce or anything fancy like that yet!
 

 

[Caley Jim]

That signal looks good, Linny. 

 

Jim

Edited October 10, 2021 by Caley Jim

[Skinnylinny]

Thanks, Jim - it's one of my laser-cut slotted-post ones. I'm rather pleased with how it's come out! Unfortunately the ladder got knocked off the back a while ago, so I need to dig out a new one for it, along with a safety loop and lamp platform.

[Annie]

30 minutes ago, Skinnylinny said:

Thanks, Jim - it's one of my laser-cut slotted-post ones.

I remember when you posted about making your slotted post signals Linny.  They are really nice pieces of work.

On my own digital trainset I use a lot of Mckenzie & Holland slotted post signals since they are a good fit for the late 19th century to pre-WW1 era.

 

 

Edited October 10, 2021 by Annie

[Skinnylinny]

Well, it has been a busy week or so - I went down south to visit my grandmother who has been in hospital (mostly being kept in under observation after surgery) and visited the Oak Hill works while I was down. The Uckfield show was excellent as always - I especially liked Sherton Abbas in 7mm and Llawryglyn in P4. Indeed, Llawryglyn had a lovely Met tank in Cambrian livery shuffling around, and an interesting discussion was had about the LSWR Met tanks.

 

I especially liked the period photographer!

Unfortunately I missed the Sunday at the show, as I'd been offered a rare opportunity - a footplate day (as an observer!) on the K&ESR on "Yank tank" no. 300. A bit modern for my tastes, but with five Mk1s on, it certainly made some noise on the gradients between Rolvenden and Tenterden! We were even treated to that footplate staple, shovel-fried bacon rolls. 



After a lie-in, I tagged along with Gary for a visit to the Bluebell Railway on Monday where we met @Sophia NSE and were treated to the sight of not only the visiting Schools class 30925 Cheltenham in steam for a photographers' charter but also the O1 65 with the Metropolitan teaks as the service train. We didn't go for a ride, though - just a gentle wander around the station, Steamworks, and museum. 

By this point though, the fatigue was really kicking in, even with a lot of early nights and resting, so I spent most of Monday evening and Tuesday in bed asleep! Another trip was made to London for more visiting on Wednesday before the coach back up to Edinburgh again.

I did acquire a few bits at Uckfield, though - two bow pens (plain and divider) from Golden Arrow Models, an LB&SCR cattle wagon and SER brake van from @woko, a DJH LSWR 0395 class kit (sans chassis) from an Uckfield club member, and (hopefully!) enough bits from C&L Finescale to build a bullhead-rail single slip - I've decided this is the easiest way to goad Peco into releasing theirs! That being said, kitbuilding to fit the location would mean that (all going well) I could get the timbering looking better than set-track, with long timbers across the crossover linking the adjacent line a bit further. Should be an interesting experience either way!

Edited October 22, 2021 by Skinnylinny

[Sophia NSE]

It was lovely to meet you! I love how tiny the O1 looks next to the Schools in your video

[Skinnylinny]

The LB&SCR cattle wagon body I acquired from @woko has now had its supports removed and a misting of primer. There are one or two tiny spots where I'll tickle it with primer, mainly where I messed up removing supports. Otherwise, it's come out beautifully and I'm really looking forward to getting it onto the layout!

 

 

I've also laid out the timbering for the single slip, to get a feel for it. From memory, the important points (pun definitely intended!) are to make sure that there's a timber supporting the tip of the frogs, slide chairs for the blades, and insulating fishplates so that I can change the polarity of the frogs. 

 

 

My plan is to lay the short straight sections at each end, in order to ensure everything lines up, then the curved stock rail, before working out the rest, starting with the frogs. 

 

 

Wish me luck! 

[Sophia NSE]

Looking good. You'll be sending trains to Chart Sutton in no time! (It might take a while for me to send them back though )

[Nick C]

5 hours ago, Skinnylinny said:

The LB&SCR cattle wagon body I acquired from @woko has now had its supports removed and a misting of primer. There are one or two tiny spots where I'll tickle it with primer, mainly where I messed up removing supports. Otherwise, it's come out beautifully and I'm really looking forward to getting it onto the layout!

 

 

I've also laid out the timbering for the single slip, to get a feel for it. From memory, the important points (pun definitely intended!) are to make sure that there's a timber supporting the tip of the frogs, slide chairs for the blades, and insulating fishplates so that I can change the polarity of the frogs. 

 

 

My plan is to lay the short straight sections at each end, in order to ensure everything lines up, then the curved stock rail, before working out the rest, starting with the frogs. 

 

 

Wish me luck! 

I think I've got an SMP single slip plan lying around somewhere, happy to pop it in the post if you want it (assuming I can find it... )? Otherwise, printing one off from templot would be wise, it's much easier with a plan to work from. 

[Tom Burnham]

Was the USA a rough ride?  I have the impression that loco crews prefer the Austerity out of currently serviceable larger (by K&ESR standards) locos.  A great experience, anyway!