Oxford 2020 Toy Fair announcements

[Worsdell forever]

24 minutes ago, gc4946 said:

It's interesting that they've announced the first J26 releases in post-1946 LNER numbering and BR liveries. Maybe it's because of the combination of details they've tooled up for their first releases. Perhaps they'll release NER and earlier LNER versions in due course.

 

Looks like the locos announced all have diagram 57A boilers (less boiler bands) and Ross pop safety valves rather than the original Ramsbottoms in a broad trumpet.

 

[mdvle]

1 hour ago, BMacdermott said:

Although this is 'off topic' for the Oxford thread, I felt it appropriate to make a brief statement that The 00 Poll Team does its best to 'combine' similar items where we believe it would be reasonable for a maker to produce variants. Although Class 116 was announced (Kernow), that didn't happen - so it was back in The Poll for 2019. One of the Railbuses failed to appear, so that was re-listed. The D16/3 Claud Hamilton with Decorative Valance was listed separately as we felt the tooling was significantly different. Same goes for B16s.

 

To clarify, I wasn't (intending) to complain about the poll or the poll team.  Your grouping of items makes sense, both from a poll perspective and from a manufacturing perspective.

 

My complaint, if any, is with manufacturers who don't follow through and decide only 1 of a group of similar items are sufficient to be made - and thus why I was congratulating Oxford on doing what we as modellers should want with the follow up announcement of the other class of loco that very close to the originally announced product.

[MarkSG]

At the risk of displaying my ignorance, can anyone explain what a Pilchard wagon was, and when/where it was used?

[SP Steve]

3 minutes ago, MarkSG said:

At the risk of displaying my ignorance, can anyone explain what a Pilchard wagon was, and when/where it was used?

 

Dave Larkin has then down as being predominately Eastern / North Eastern region beasts. Carrying BR Diagram 1/571 he surmises that they were in fact an LNER order (their diagram 204) that BR proceeded with after nationalisation.

[MarkSG]

9 minutes ago, SP Steve said:

 

Dave Larkin has then down as being predominately Eastern / North Eastern region beasts. Carrying BR Diagram 1/571 he surmises that they were in fact an LNER order (their diagram 204) that BR proceeded with after nationalisation.

 

So does that mean these are early BR beasties, then?

[SP Steve]

51 minutes ago, MarkSG said:

 

So does that mean these are early BR beasties, then?

 

They were built by Butterley to Lot 2121 in 1950-1 and numbered fifty in total so not a massive fleet. I believe they were used until the early 1980s so they had a decent life span.

[Hroth]

3 hours ago, Mallard60022 said:

I shall report you for being politically incorrect

 

Its "unwoke" nowadays, old chap!

 

Though that sounds more like your alarm clock didn't function....

[Steamport Southport]

How did I miss the AC Invacars?

 

https://www.hattons.co.uk/stockdetail.aspx?SID=519506

 

A useful wagon load for a Lowfit.

 

https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/brlowfit/e1696e884

 

 

 

Jason

Edited January 21, 2020 by Steamport Southport

[BMacdermott]

10 hours ago, Steamport Southport said:

How did I miss the AC Invacars?

https://www.hattons.co.uk/stockdetail.aspx?SID=519506

A useful wagon load for a Lowfit.

https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/brlowfit/e1696e884

Jason

 

Hello Jason

 

They would certainly go well with the SR Container Wagons as we listed in The 00 Wishlist Poll - details below. The Short Wheelbase wagon was High Polling; the Long Wheelbase was Middle Polling.

 

SR Container Wagon – 9ft & 10ft wheelbase (Diags.1382 & 1399 of 1931/1938)

The SR built 350 of the Diag.1382/A (with 9ft wheelbase) between 1931 and 1932, and 755 of the Diag.1399 (with 10ft wheelbase) between 1938 and 1947. Although designed for containers they were just as useful for carrying cars. One particular traffic was that of ‘invalid carriages’ (as they were then known) – small 3-wheeled cars made by AC Cars of Thames Ditton for a long-running government contract. However, they were also used for other new car traffic and labelled as ‘Return to Morris Cowley’ or ‘Bathgate ScR’.

Link: See page 75 of Terry Gough’s book, A Pictorial Guide to Southern Wagons & Vans.

Link: See page 31 of Mike King’s book, Southern Wagons in Colour.

 

SR Container Wagon – 18ft 7in wheelbase (Diag.1383 of 1931)

The SR built 150 of the long vehicles which had a wheelbase of 18ft 7in and an overall length of 32ft or 32ft 5in (for the fitted ones). Although designed for containers they were similarly used for the ‘invalid carriage’ traffic above. A number passed into general railway service.

Link: http://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/srconflat/e27604956

Link: http://www.bluebell-railway.co.uk/bluebell/wagon/39617.html

 

Brian (on behalf of The 00 Poll Team)

[The Stationmaster]

Some interesting choices by Oxford with a definite lean towards the dry side so they must have decided that it's an area with some good market scope.  Very definitely NFM as it happens as even teh : Pilchard never seems to have strayed from that part of the world although the crane, in some form or other, did get around a bit lot so suits many folk.

 

The only that does interest me at this stage is the J26 which in some respects is an odd choice following the not over-different J27 - all NER 0-6-0s look the same.    Well not exactly because the big advantage of the J26 is that it's more or less a J25 with a much bigger boiler so a natural development would be for Oxford to carry on counting backwards on NER 0-6-0s and bring out a J25 next.    And they have all sorts of uses  not only lighter lines on home turf but 50 of them spent much of the war on loan to the GWR - see where I'm heading 

 

Better make sure the J25 is in the next poll Brian and don't be put off by folk who say 'it's just another ex-NER 0-6-0

Edited January 22, 2020 by The Stationmaster

[BMacdermott]

46 minutes ago, The Stationmaster said:

 

Better make sure the J25 is in the next poll Brian and don't be put off by folk who say 'it's just another ex-NER 0-6-0

 

Hello Mike

 

The J25 is certainly in The 00 Poll and was High Polling in 2019.

 

Brian (on behalf of The 00 Poll Team)

[Dunsignalling]

15 hours ago, Hroth said:

 

Its "unwoke" nowadays, old chap!

 

Though that sounds more like your alarm clock didn't function....

And how many still use one of those these days?

 

Just one of the functions subsumed into the all-pervasive personal communication device.

 

John

[Worsdell forever]

1 hour ago, The Stationmaster said:

The only that does interest me at this stage is the J26 which in some respects is an odd choice following the not over-different J27 - all NER 0-6-0s look the same.    Well not exactly because the big advantage of the J26 is that it's more or less a J25 with a much bigger boiler so a natural development would be for Oxford to carry on counting backwards on NER 0-6-0s and bring out a J25 next.    And they have all sorts of uses  not only lighter lines on home turf but 50 of them spent much of the war on loan to the GWR - see where I'm heading 

 

Better make sure the J25 is in the next poll Brian and don't be put off by folk who say 'it's just another ex-NER 0-6-0

 

A lot depends on where the motor is in the boiler, also the P2/3 frames were slightly longer.

[Worsdell forever]

1 hour ago, The Stationmaster said:

...all NER 0-6-0s look the same.  ...

 

https://www.lner.info/locos/J/ner_398.php

 

https://www.lner.info/locos/J/j26.php

 

Surely it's all GWR locos that look the same...

[MikeParkin65]

17 hours ago, MarkSG said:

At the risk of displaying my ignorance, can anyone explain what a Pilchard wagon was, and when/where it was used?

I seriously thought this was just a private owner (John West?) van livery lol

[The Johnster]

On 21/01/2020 at 14:47, tomparryharry said:

The Baccy crane is nice, but not for me. I always associate them with bad things about the Big Railway. Funny, but that's the way it is.

 

I know what you mean, but they are a feature of big depots.  And there is another side to them; Canton's 75tonner was used by the Civil Engineers to install bridge beam girders, on the Rhymney where the bridge crossing the Taff's Roath Branch had to be replaced to accommodate the A48 Eastern Avenue bypass in the late 60s, and again installing the big beams of the Newport Road bridge north of Queen Street, again involving the Taff Vale and Rhymney.  This took place over 2 weekend occupations and Johnster was the guard on both, the Canton crane sharing the honours with a big hydraulic road crane.  Not the toughest task I'd ever undertaken, book on 22.00 to work the crane off the shed to Queen St platform, bank up the stove, change into decent clothes, Top Rank with the secondman until about 02.30, steak'n'chips in the 24 hour Fitzalan Cafe, head down until half 5 for cup of tea and bacon sarnie courtesy of the Civil Engineer's boys, relief on site at 06.00, give your 'ticket' to the relief, and go home. 

 

Shame to take the money at double time and a half, but I never gave it back all the same...

[tomparryharry]

16 hours ago, The Johnster said:

I know what you mean, but they are a feature of big depots.  And there is another side to them; Canton's 75tonner was used by the Civil Engineers to install bridge beam girders, on the Rhymney where the bridge crossing the Taff's Roath Branch had to be replaced to accommodate the A48 Eastern Avenue bypass in the late 60s, and again installing the big beams of the Newport Road bridge north of Queen Street, again involving the Taff Vale and Rhymney.  This took place over 2 weekend occupations and Johnster was the guard on both, the Canton crane sharing the honours with a big hydraulic road crane.  Not the toughest task I'd ever undertaken, book on 22.00 to work the crane off the shed to Queen St platform, bank up the stove, change into decent clothes, Top Rank with the secondman until about 02.30, steak'n'chips in the 24 hour Fitzalan Cafe, head down until half 5 for cup of tea and bacon sarnie courtesy of the Civil Engineer's boys, relief on site at 06.00, give your 'ticket' to the relief, and go home. 

 

Shame to take the money at double time and a half, but I never gave it back all the same...

 

I seem to recall the Canton crane going eastwards towards Ebbw Junction, being towed by a couple of EE type 3's, and going  almost full chat. A couple of minutes later, the riding vans came along as a second train, being hauled by another class  37, and that was also 'giving it the beans'.  I feel a similar emotion when I give way to ambulances & fire engines. " Some poor bastard is underneath that lot."  

[Dunsignalling]

The latest issue of The Southern Way, No.49, includes a nice photo (on page 70) of the Stewarts Lane crane, along with its match wagon, which appears to have been cut down from an open merchandise wagon.

 

John

[The Johnster]

Canton’s crane had a dedicated brake van which was coupled to it, always stocked with coal (as was the crane itself of course), lamps filled and trimmed, fully equipped and prepped to go at a moment’s notice.  The breakdown crew were mostly solidly constructed Per Way types on 24h callout, living within a short distance of the shed; it was reckoned the train could be off shed within 20 minutes of  being called out. 
 

The sight of the crane out on the road,  especially if the vans followed, or the absence of them from their positions on the coaling stage roads at Canton, was certainly chilling, but I was lucky enough never to witness the activity at the destination of such workings.  
 

If it was just the vans, nobody gave it any more thought than ‘ah, they’re off the road over the dock again, then’. Being off the road over the dock was much like an Allied Carpets sale.  I worked the vans on two occasions, both ‘over the dock’ and once to ASW Tremorfa, which had a very good, 24 hour, and free, canteen. 
 

Such jobs were the remit of ‘spare’ sets of men, and in the bottom link, my first 3 years, there was quite a bit of spare duty, and any work that came your way was much appreciated to relieve the boredom.  A spare set booked on every 2 hours, and you either got an early finish as you weren’t much use afters 6 hours, or got a job, which usually entailed overtime.  
 

This is why you were useless after 6 hours, and had started to become less useful after 4.  Rules stated that traincrew (and signalmen) had to have a minimum 12 hour break before booking on for their next duty, and your booked work could not be more than 2 hours before or after the booking on time of the previous day’s  booked duty, though I’m not sure if this was a rule or the agreement with the unions.  
 

This led to manning problems especially in the London area and especially on the Southern’s suburban network; still does, of course, but I believe the 12 hour rest period and 2 hour duty shift requirement no longer apply.  Vacancies at London depots were constantly available, with London weighting and as much overtime/rest day work as you wanted, if that’s what you wanted.  Not many of us did, including Johnster. 
 

We’re drifting a little, though; mea culpa!