The Night Mail

[bbishop]

Evening all, I did a two person CFR (community first responder)nshift yesterday and will do the same tomorrow to keep my skills up.  Then Waterloo Tuesday, optician Wednesday and builder Thursday, so life is on the busy side.  So plenty of gossip on Tuesday when I'm in "read only" mode.  Bill

[bbishop]

When the rector announced the first reading at Evening Prayer was 1 Kings 10, I thought, yeah ...  Dave and Jamie will know, the rest of you can look it up in the Bible.  Bill

[Happy Hippo]

Bill, I remember it is something to do with the first railway?

 

Sheba turns up at Jersualem in a large train.

 

Epheisians 6:13 is a popular one with the Army.

 

As is Winston Churchill:

 

“We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm.”

 

And I am Rough!

 

 

Edited August 2, 2020 by Happy Hippo

[Happy Hippo]

46 minutes ago, bbishop said:

 So plenty of gossip on Tuesday when I'm in "read only" mode.  Bill

I'll start by making lots of wrong assumptions and statements about German railways.

 

That ought to keep you lively!

 

[jamie92208]

9 hours ago, bbishop said:

When the rector announced the first reading at Evening Prayer was 1 Kings 10, I thought, yeah ...  Dave and Jamie will know, the rest of you can look it up in the Bible.  Bill

I've never tried all those spices but I'll Raise you Isaiah 6:1

I did say I'd tried.

 

Jamie

 

Edited August 3, 2020 by jamie92208

[Happy Hippo]

Another sunny start, so some housework beckons prior to the onslaught arrival of the grandchildren.

 

At least with the good weather forecast they will spend a lot of time in the garden.

 

I really should have made a mechanical pusher for the swing(s)

 

Time to get next door's guinea pigs from their overnight quarters and into their garden pen.

[Dave Hunt]

11 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

I've never tried all those spices but I'll Raise you Isaiah 6:1

I did say I'd tried.

 

Jamie

 

 

Note that the seraphs were flying so obviously the good guys!

 

And let's not forget Philippians 3:16.

 

Dave

 

(sorry if this post is a bit opaque for some)

 

Dave

Edited August 3, 2020 by Dave Hunt
Predictive text again!

[jamie92208]

26 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

Note that the seraphs were flying so obviously the good guys!

 

And let's not forget Philippians 3:16.

 

Dave

 

(sorry if this post is a bit opaque for some)

 

Dave

And of course they are painted in Midland lake.

 

Jamie

 

 

[Happy Hippo]

1 hour ago, Dave Hunt said:

And let's not forget Philippians 3:16.

OK so I won't scrap the current layout (just yet).

[Happy Hippo]

6 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

And let's not forget Philippians 3:16.

Nor St Augustine (of Hippo) who was very keen on the old testament way of thinking:

 

 

A Pie for a Pie and a Cake for a Cake springs to mind!

[Erichill16]

First running session of the year of my friends ‘Midgley Garden Light Railway’. Pleasant day but only three of us there. Mr Midgley uses live steam and battery power so my LGB loco had to pull around a radio controlled battery pack. 
 

Edited August 3, 2020 by Erichill16

[Erichill16]

The second shot shows one of  Mr M‘S battery powered models. I don’t seem to have a picture of a live steamer from yesterday. But here’s one from a few years back, I think it was a 16mm event, all very civilised and no social distancing necessary. Ah them were the days.

Edited August 3, 2020 by Erichill16

[bbishop]

Not too busy today, but one big sick.

Support role at LAS Headquarters tomorrow, keep posting guys.  Bill

 

[The Johnster]

Was it not the same St Augustine of Hippo, old school hell and damnation hard man, who prayed ‘Lord, grant me chastity.  But not yet...’.  

[Florence Locomotive Works]

Evening all,

 

Well HH, I eventually did end up resoldering the water gauge fitting, and it is far less wonky now.  Ye Olde Heath Robinson's cotton mill has been turned into the lineshaft powered workshop linked below (not sure why the link is so big). Said workshop consists of a geared wheel lathe, bandsaw, and a fake circular saw, as I don't have a Meccano saw blade. I spent most of today at the grandmother's house helping go through the garage cabinets, a boring but satisfying job. I was paid for my labors in the form of a Pimento-Bacon Burger, which was excellent. Some very nice Pork Tenderloin was eaten for dinner, along with potato salad, and some rolls. Other than that I have little to report.

 

stay healthy, 

 

Douglas

 

 

Edited August 4, 2020 by Florence Locomotive Works

[Tony_S]

The Meccano lineshaft was very popular with my students when I taught physics. They liked any excuse to see the steam engine. 

Edited August 4, 2020 by Tony_S

[Stubby47]

I've been pondering.....

 

In 4mm scale, we have P4, EM, and of course 00.

 

These all relate to the track gauge, the scale is assumed.

 

Why then is 009 so called ? Why not EM9 or P49, or even 4-9 ?

[Happy Hippo]

34 minutes ago, Stubby47 said:

I've been pondering.....

 

In 4mm scale, we have P4, EM, and of course 00.

 

These all relate to the track gauge, the scale is assumed.

 

Why then is 009 so called ? Why not EM9 or P49, or even 4-9 ?

I think it is an abberation of what the NMRA tried with their narrow gauge nomenclatures:

 

So, HOn3 was HO scale narrow gauge representing 3 foot gauge. 0n2 being 1:48 scale (American 0) representing the Maine two foot empire.

 

To copy them we'd need: 00n3.5, 00n3 etc. 

 

But the USA use the 'scale' and then relate it to the prototypical track gauge, so applying that theory, our 009 really ought to be 00n2.25. (which would translate into Tallyllyn/Corris Railways but none of the others.

 

 

Your method could get confusing to some, as P48 is already in use as the American equivalent of S7.

 

The British narrow gauge track systems don't help by having all sorts of fraction of both the foot and the inch thrown into the equation.  The Ffestiniog running on 1' 11.5" gauge whilst it's neighbour the Penrhyn was using 1' 10.75" gauge.  

 

Yes it's only .25" difference but it would require proper scale modellers to create a new scale and gauge to make it fit. 

 

Lets not visit the approximate metric and imperial crossovers between UK and continental European gauges, as it will drive you to distraction.

[Happy Hippo]

Since Bill, wanted the chatter to carry on whilst he is stuck on duty, I did promise some stuff about German railways.

 

I have long held a fascination for German narrow gauge.  Both the Feldbahn portable systems and the more permanent  Schmalspurbahn systems, known as  that were scattered throughout the state.

 

Probably the most famous of the feldbahn systems was the Heeresfeldbahn which was the German equivalent of the WDLR, but others existed hauling peat, potatoes, clay etc just as many narrow gauge lines did world wise.

 

But the real gem is the large systems in particular the Harz railway system which is still in use to day as a tourist attraction.

 

All the locos are in the 99 class,  despite varying types and wheel arrangements, so I presume  the '99' prefix refers to all to narrow gauge steam locomotives.

 

The Harz line is metre gauge, so it dwarves the likes of the British Tallyllyn, but at a scale of  around 1:22 allows the use of readily available 45 mm gauge track, which as we know is popular for garden railways.

 

This brings me back to revisiting the comments about David Jenkinson and his Gauge 1 line (also 45mm!)  DJ had the concept of a simple double track loop in his garden where he ran complete trains but from various nations. 

 

My concept is a single track, which is more typical of narrow gauge operations, and to run representative narrow gauge trains.  A Harz 2-10-2t with a string of bogie coaches:  A GP38-2 on a mixed train of box cars and hoppers; a 7/8th scale SR&RL No 24.

 

The list goes on, and it is of course a pipe dream as the cost would require a rather large win on the national lottery to achieve.

 

But it keeps the brain active.

Edited August 4, 2020 by Happy Hippo

[Dave Hunt]

When I lived in Roermond in the Netherlands in the early '70s the local model shop had a fine display of Fleischmann and other German HO models that attracted my attention and I was tempted to start a layout based on German railways. Then living in Germany a few years later would probably have crystallised the idea except for the fact that I was in a model railway club populated by Brits and modelling 4mm UK stuff so the itch eventually went away. When I lived in America in the mid '80s I also became interested in the D&RG narrow gauge as well as visiting the superb model railroad in Balboa Park, San Diego, where the huge HO layout caught my attention. On returning to U.K. I became fascinated with a friend's G scale (if that's the correct nomenclature) garden railway and started developing plans for one of my own but a few house moves got in the way as well as most of my modelling time being taken up with working on Bob Essery's Dewsbury and Pete Kibble's Severn Mill. Fortunately common sense prevailed and the various ideas for projects faded away leaving just the main interest in S7 Midland or today I would probably have a myriad of unfinished projects living in boxes rather than just the one large (ish) MR example that is enough to keep me fully occupied for the rest of my time in this life. I did have an invitation from Bill to help exhibit Hochstadt (sorry, no umlauts again) at Guildex but that is obviously now in abeyance, which is a pity as I was very much looking forward to it.

 

And as HH has said, a lot of this stuff carries a very big price tag with it. I remember David Jenkinson buying an Aster Gauge 1 locomotive (can't remember which particular one) and being taken aback at the eye watering price he paid as well as the cost of my friend's narrow Gauge garden stuff being in the new mortgage range. Mind you, were I to depend on RTR 0 Gauge stuff it wouldn't come cheaply. Thank the Lord that my main interest is in scratch building (says he ignoring the cost of the lathe etc.).

 

Have a good day all, y'hear?

 

Dave

[Happy Hippo]

1 hour ago, Dave Hunt said:

I remember David Jenkinson buying an Aster Gauge 1 locomotive (can't remember which particular one) and being taken aback at the eye watering price he paid as well as the cost of my friend's narrow Gauge garden stuff being in the new mortgage range. Mind you, were I to depend on RTR 0 Gauge stuff it wouldn't come cheaply. Thank the Lord that my main interest is in scratch building (says he ignoring the cost of the lathe etc.).

 

Have a good day all, y'hear?

 

Dave

When I was in Bielefeld, there was a very good model shop that sold Aster live steamers.

 

Rather than spend my money on German furniture and big Volvo cars, I decided to invest my money (tax free of course) in buying Aster loco kits.

 

I never touched them, but saved them, unopened until I returned to the UK.

 

The 'investment', which had been looked on with a rather jaundiced view by Nyda, suddenly became a very shrewd idea when it was seen what they realised in profit.  The BR 52 Kreigslok went for twice what I paid for it. ( a German loco Bill!)

 

I only wish I'd been able to get more at the time.

 

These days, this is the sort of investment I'd be making.

 

[Happy Hippo]

After a rather strenuous, if repetitive, morning controlling operations on the garden swing, I am wishing I had been able to claim to be the Fat Controller in the book , 'Henry the Green Engine'.

 

'My doctor has forbidden me to push'.

'My doctor has forbidden me to pull'.

 

Unfortunately, such exhortations fell on deaf ears.

 

This afternoon I have been tasked with making some fruit bread rolls:  Apparently, in this project I am two be assisted by two young enthusiasts.

[Happy Hippo]

Here is part of a review about a book on HMRI.

 

I have extracted it from the Steam World site as there is a slight inaccuracy:

 

'Prosser & Keay tell HMRI’s important and exciting story – warts and all – from its establishment just ten years after the opening of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway, in 1830, to the end of the second decade of the 21 st century. Accidents large and small, infamous and less well known, chronicle and explain the steady progression in railway safety, pressed relentlessly for 180 years by the RI/HMRI. For 166 years from 1840, RI/HMRI Inspectors were drawn from the ranks of the Royal Engineers and a foreword has been written by Major John Poyntz, who retired in 2006 as the last RE Railway Inspector.'

 

The inaccuracy concerns John Poyntz whom I met during my first tour after commissioning.

 

I had been posted to Ordnance Depot Antwerp as a training officer, and John Pontz was attached to the local RCT detachment as a movements officer.

 

So the statement that the Inspectors were drawn from the RE is not true, as John was RCT.  This comes about because although the RE used to be in charge of military railways, this matter was transferred over to the RCT at around the time that the Longmoor Military Railway closed.  After that, 79 Railway Sqn RCT was responsible for the Army's military railway systems, and John had at one time been the OC.  

 

So although it would be true to say he was the last inspector drawn from the ranks of the Army, he was not RE!

 

Call me a pedant, but misinformation of the accidental type is sometime worse than deliberate misinformation.

 

 

 

 

[Dave Hunt]

I got to know John Poyntz through my mate Bob Meanley who organised some boys' days out to such places as the French NRM at Mulhouse, the Dutch one at Utrecht etc. , one of the participants being John. Once in Amsterdam we were having a chat in a pavement bar when one of the other chaps came and said, "Mind if I join you?" to which John replied, "As long as you have your majority." The chap looked a bit nonplussed and asked what he meant. "Rank of Major or above old chap," replied John. "Would the fact that I was planning to invite you for a footplate trip on my locomotive be of any help?" the chap said. "Ah," said John, " That in itself confers the rank of Colonel at least. Do sit down." A great bloke.

 

Dave 

[Happy Hippo]

21 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

I got to know John Poyntz through my mate Bob Meanley who organised some boys' days out to such places as the French NRM at Mulhouse, the Dutch one at Utrecht etc. , one of the participants being John. Once in Amsterdam we were having a chat in a pavement bar when one of the other chaps came and said, "Mind if I join you?" to which John replied, "As long as you have your majority." The chap looked a bit nonplussed and asked what he meant. "Rank of Major or above old chap," replied John. "Would the fact that I was planning to invite you for a footplate trip on my locomotive be of any help?" the chap said. "Ah," said John, " That in itself confers the rank of Colonel at least. Do sit down." A great bloke.

 

Dave 

He certainly is, and was a very good facilitator, and knows a huge amount of influential people.

 

But it was the simple things like running into him when boarding a cross channel ferry, which got us a visit to the bridge and quite an involved discussion about navigating around the minefields that were still extant in the North Sea that tend to stick in my mind!

 

Of course it was also nice to be able to return favours and when we both found ourselves at the School of Ordnance on separate courses, I was able to act act as his chauffeur during a couple of evenings when he wanted to look at the remains of military railways around Blackdown camp and the ranges at Bisley.