Hornby - New tooling - Large Prairie

[unravelled]

6106 in December 1965, complete with plywood numberplate

And the other side, same day

 

Dave

[tomparryharry]

3 hours ago, unravelled said:

6106 in December 1965, complete with plywood numberplate

And the other side, same day

 

Dave

 

Looking at that photo, you have to understand a sense of achievement that would go with obtaining that locomotive. The euphoria must have been off the scale. 

[melmerby]

1 hour ago, tomparryharry said:

 

Looking at that photo, you have to understand a sense of achievement that would go with obtaining that locomotive. The euphoria must have been off the scale. 

I thought it was an an acronym for "Outer Usk Railway Society"

[tomparryharry]

21 hours ago, melmerby said:

I thought it was an an acronym for "Outer Usk Railway Society"

 

I have thought of a lot of acronyms. However, posting them here would invoke  short, sharp interviews with the Mods.....

[4069]

Oxford University Railway Society, actually- but presumably you all knew that.

[tomparryharry]

2 hours ago, 4069 said:

Oxford University Railway Society, actually- but presumably you all knew that.

 

No, I did not. You learn something new every day.

[Clearwater]

2 hours ago, 4069 said:

Oxford University Railway Society, actually- but presumably you all knew that.

I’m sure someone told me once that in the mid 60s, OURS used to hire a loco and a branch line for the day and drive it up and down.  Was the headboard from one of those occasions?

[KeithMacdonald]

27 minutes ago, Clearwater said:

I’m sure someone told me once that in the mid 60s, OURS used to hire a loco and a branch line for the day and drive it up and down.  Was the headboard from one of those occasions?

 

It is a dead society, it is no more.

 

Quote

Founded in 1931, the society lasted for over six decades, with a variety of activities on offer, from visits to various railway yards, signal boxes and the like to photography competitions. It also hosted speakers such as John B. Snell, managing director of the Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway, then the smallest railway in the world in terms of gauge; and also had its own library. They were even occasionally given permission to operate railways themselves, such as the former Radley-Abingdon line in 1959 and the Oxford-Princes Risborough in 1964. Despite unique events such as this, a lack of interest in the 1990s saw its demise, with the final death knell being a committee almost entirely full of academics in 1996.

 

OURS did, however, last longer than the James Bond Society, the Blackadder Appreciation Society, and the Tiddlywinks Society,

 

Ref: https://www.oxfordstudent.com/2018/02/26/dead-societies/

[Joseph_Pestell]

12 minutes ago, KeithMacdonald said:

 

It is a dead society, it is no more.

 

 

OURS did, however, last longer than the James Bond Society, the Blackadder Appreciation Society, and the Tiddlywinks Society,

 

Ref: https://www.oxfordstudent.com/2018/02/26/dead-societies/

 

I feel a Monty Python sketch coming on.

 

With so many Oxford undergrads coming from schools that would have railway societies, this is disappointing. Had I gone to Oxford (mid 1970s and I was offered a place), I would certainly have been a keen member.

[Clearwater]

14 minutes ago, KeithMacdonald said:

 

It is a dead society, it is no more.

 

 

OURS did, however, last longer than the James Bond Society, the Blackadder Appreciation Society, and the Tiddlywinks Society,

 

Ref: https://www.oxfordstudent.com/2018/02/26/dead-societies/

The John Johnson collection is worth a look if you have access to the Bodleian - all manner of interesting ephemera.

[The Johnster]

4 hours ago, Clearwater said:

I’m sure someone told me once that in the mid 60s, OURS used to hire a loco and a branch line for the day and drive it up and down.  Was the headboard from one of those occasions?

You may be thinking of the Cambridge Universtity Railway Club, which in the 50s and I believe into the early 60s used to have an annual operating day on the Mildnehall branch, in the 50s using 62785, the remaining GER 2-4-0 now preserved.  This practice may go back earlier than I've indicated, but it certainly happened in the 50s

[Clearwater]

7 hours ago, The Johnster said:

You may be thinking of the Cambridge Universtity Railway Club, which in the 50s and I believe into the early 60s used to have an annual operating day on the Mildnehall branch, in the 50s using 62785, the remaining GER 2-4-0 now preserved.  This practice may go back earlier than I've indicated, but it certainly happened in the 50s

Hi

 

No, I'm not.  Article from Keith above confirmed my view.  Don't disagree that a Cambridge society would have done similar thing to an Oxford one.

 

Thanks

[tomparryharry]

From mighty oaks, do tiny acorns grow.

 

Didcot is only 'up' the road from Oxford. In a roundabout way, from a railway society to a museum that has things like Firefly, to a Saint.  Not bad in my book. 

[The Stationmaster]

1 hour ago, tomparryharry said:

From mighty oaks, do tiny acorns grow.

 

Didcot is only 'up' the road from Oxford. In a roundabout way, from a railway society to a museum that has things like Firefly, to a Saint.  Not bad in my book. 

Although I don't think any of the GWS founders had been at Oxford uni - anybody know if any of them had?  Surely they'd all met as youthful train spotters on a certain footbridge at Southall?

[Henry 84F]

Apologies if already noted but there are some updated images on the product page now of what looks to be a final sample: 

 

https://www.Hornby.com/uk-en/br-class-61xx-large-prairie-2-6-2t-6145-era-4.html

 

Looking very good. Captures the look of the Large Prairie very well in my opinion. Due in the next few days according to Twitter.

 

Henry

[Ian Hargrave]

The mystic glamour of Oxbridge as being of a higher sphere apart from Philip Larkin’s dreary red brick kind is harder to accept now than it was 60 years on. Did any “other” academic seats of learning spawn specific railway oriented societies or clubs ?  My alumni,Bristol did not.Though to be fair it did in fact have a Tiddlywinks Club.

[melmerby]

My school had a trainspotting club, run by one of the teachers.

I went on the first "shed bash" where we did as many Manchester area depots in a day as you could by coach from Brum.

All was done officially as there were permits for the various locations and we even got a guided tour of Reddish depot and a visit into the cab of an EM1 electric where we were shown how the driver raises and lowers it's pantograph.

The ridiculous thing was that apart from Reddish once in the depots we were just let loose unsupervised in what were live steam depots with locos moving around!*

H&S would be apoplectic these days.

 

*EDIT it was a Sunday so most locos were stood down for the day.

Edited June 4, 2020 by melmerby

[KeithMacdonald]

1 hour ago, Ian Hargrave said:

Did any “other” academic seats of learning spawn specific railway oriented societies or clubs ? 

 

A few...

 

Quote

Chis Osment comments :-  The Exeter University Railway Society were on a brake-van trip on the back of a scheduled train to Meeth, so we walked out the viaduct and waited for the train to come for us.

 

http://www.cornwallrailwaysociety.org.uk/barnstaple-to-torrington-and-halwill-jct-ecl.html

 

Quote

 

We are the University of Birmingham Railway Society, or RailSoc for short. We are the society for anyone interested in everything and anything to do with railways. We cater for those who have career aspirations in the rail industry and a casual interest in railways. If you’re interested in any of the following types of events, please get in touch:

Industrial Visits

Heritage Railway Visits

Model Railway Exhibition Visits

Disused Railway Walks

Socials

 

 

https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/university/colleges/eps/eps-community/students/societies/railsoc.aspx

[The Johnster]

On 04/06/2020 at 13:25, Henry 84F said:

Apologies if already noted but there are some updated images on the product page now of what looks to be a final sample: 

 

https://www.Hornby.com/uk-en/br-class-61xx-large-prairie-2-6-2t-6145-era-4.html

 

Looking very good. Captures the look of the Large Prairie very well in my opinion. Due in the next few days according to Twitter.

 

Henry

Me likeee, me wantee, but me no see Dapol version yetee and anyway money for 94xx first!

 

Whistle cords and an opening cab roof shutter; nice.  Posable side shutters?  Probably not.  Plastic coal instead of empty bunker; boo, hiss.  Trouble is if I buy this I'll have to have whistle cords on all my locos...

[melmerby]

3 minutes ago, The Johnster said:

 

Plastic coal instead of empty bunker; boo, hiss. 

Why not just remove the coal and replace with whatever your choice is.

Most Hornby (as do Bachmann) locos have a basic coal space under the plastic coal.

[Miss Prism]

Looks like Hornby's first offerings have tall safety valve covers or are a compromise height between short and tall covers.

 

[St Enodoc]

8 hours ago, melmerby said:

Why not just remove the coal and replace with whatever your choice is.

Most Hornby (as do Bachmann) locos have a basic coal space under the plastic coal.

I usually just glue a thin layer of real coal on top of the plastic coal.

[melmerby]

10 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

I usually just glue a thin layer of real coal on top of the plastic coal.

I suppose it depends if you want a full or nearly empty bunker.

Many locos nearing the end of their duties would be low on coal.

[The Johnster]

22 hours ago, melmerby said:

Why not just remove the coal and replace with whatever your choice is.

Most Hornby (as do Bachmann) locos have a basic coal space under the plastic coal.

It's one of my soap boxes, and to be fair Hornby usually have the plastic coal as a separate part that can be broken out and disposed of, but I've had some bad experience with removing it from Bachmann small prairies where it has to be cut away from the lamp iron protector plate.  My beef is that, in reality, a steam locomotive spends most of it's time running with coal lower than can be seen over the edge of the bunker from a platform, and one hears of difficult runs when the arrival was done with an empty tender or bunker.  It would be just as easy to model the bunker empty, and perhaps include a bag of coal in the box, or would it be a choking hazard...

 

Bachmann's panniers are even worse, with mazak castings to ballast over the driven rear axle with the coal represented at the top and front bunker detail in the cab.  I would prefer to determine the level of coal myself, and have the bunker empty if I choose, than raise the level of an already full bunker further by adding a layer of real coal.  As you will realise, the Airfix Dean Goods was not my favourite ever RTR loco, combining a high plastic coal pile in the tender with two of my other soap boxes, tender drive and traction tyres, with a further sin; visible cogs on one side of the tender chassis that drew attention to themselves by revolving...

 

Along with etched number/name plates, real coal is one of the easiest, cheapest, and most effective ways of improving an RTR GW loco.  But I operate a full day timetable in which some locos are visiting the terminus several times a day, and it bothers me that a loco that came off shed at 6 in the morning still has a full bunker 12 hours later on it's last trip.

[robmcg]

Hornby Clan and Britannia models were sold for a time with a bag of real coal.

 

Also there are photos of ECML trans with visible coal at arrival at King's Cross... testament to Gresley, BR and drivers and firemen.