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The Night Mail


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I had three of the stripped down baseboards on the driveway this afternoon trying to fathom out a track plan for a new shunting plank using the point work and some of the spare track.

 

Since it's all flat bottomed rail, I might be forced to buy in some suitable motive power in liveries other than black and green....................  Then I'd have to buy in suitable rolling stock to match the locos.

 

This is not how it is supposed to go.

 

However, I suppose I could make the shunting plank American or German?

 

 

I'll  just go and shake the fairy out of the money tree and tell her this is a good plan!

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3 minutes ago, SM42 said:

 

 

We really should learn from our european neighbours when it comes to doors.

 

The door is a plug fit in the frame with a flange on the door, not the frame, to stop it falling through the hole.

 

Door and frame are supplied together, It is, therefore, the bricklayer's job to make the wall fit round the door frame.

 

Andy

Yes the hiring I was living in when stationed in Germany, was like this.  Everything fitted like a glove, the insulation, both sound and thermal was outstanding we even had roller shutters on the outside of the windows.  and this was back in the 1980's.

 

We came back to UK into what the Army termed an Officer's Quarter and spent a fortune having to double glaze the windows using plastic sheet and duct tape.  Trouble was it kept blowing down, even though the windows were shut!

 

Our October gas bill for 1985 was,  (British gas insisted on getting paid monthly as we were an Army family) wait for it.............................

 

£112!

 

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Still need to be wary of cheap, replacement doors though.

 

It nominally fits the frame, but only where it touches.

 

Any pretence at insulation is therefore lost.

 

Still  there's 15cm of insulation on the outside of the house so that makes up for the draughty internal door as the draughts are warm.

 

Andy

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U.K. doors drive me crazy. No 2 in the house are the same. They’ve been cut, shaped, and b*stardised to fit. Canadian doors come as complete standard units. All pre hung. Just make the hole fit the door. Which reminds me, I need to get one last door done. The existing frame looks like something from Beetlejuice. 

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I'd echo HH's experience of living in service accommodation in UK and Germany. From 1974 to 77 we lived in what was supposed to be a junior officer's quarter at Valley in Anglesey but really would have been classified as sub standard as a council house. From there we went to Wildenrath, first into a hiring in the nearby village, which was to a much higher standard, and then to an on-base quarter that had been built in the early '50s to a NATO specification. Not only was it much better constructionally but it also had a cellar (which I believe was compulsory for German houses at the time) - guess wht that was used for? 

 

Dave

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3 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

I had three of the stripped down baseboards on the driveway this afternoon trying to fathom out a track plan for a new shunting plank using the point work and some of the spare track.

 

Since it's all flat bottomed rail, I might be forced to buy in some suitable motive power in liveries other than black and green....................  Then I'd have to buy in suitable rolling stock to match the locos.

 

This is not how it is supposed to go.

 

However, I suppose I could make the shunting plank American or German?

 

 

I'll  just go and shake the fairy out of the money tree and tell her this is a good plan!

 

You will have a problem if the track clips are a British style, and German points have a double sleeper under the 'V'.  Mind you, I've used Peco track for Blindheim.

 

Bill

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3 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

 

Since it's all flat bottomed rail, I might be forced to buy in some suitable motive power in liveries other than black and green....................  Then I'd have to buy in suitable rolling stock to match the locos.

 

 

You could always go to the W.C. and P., or even try some S.and M.??

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10 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

Presumably Canadian houses don't settle.

They sure do but adjusting a complete door+frame unit is no more difficult than adjusting a bespoke door. Normally though, and I've been through this multiple times with new and rebuilt properties, the frame retains its shape and the surrounding wall is what changes when settling. No different than PVC doors and windows in the UK. 

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Military accommodation is generally so poor it has to be done up to be sold, and I don't mean just a paint job. Double glazing installed and central heating being fitted for the first time are common.

 

Even when RAF Coltishall single Airmans accommodation was done up to turn it into a prison. They got double glazing which we didn't have...

 

As for my house it's 1906, no standard size doors or windows, the nearest size internal mass made doors are too tall, and then the house is as they say here, on the "huh" it tilts. One bedroom has a floor 2 inches lower one side than the other hence the door frames are  at an angle. Great fun shaping doors to fit especially as you have to remember to take wood off both ends or you break the doors own framing.

This means some doors close themselves, others swing open by themselves.

As for the four outside Doors they too are non standard sizes, they all need replacement... that will be expensive..

Edited by TheQ
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The reason for doors and frames being 'unique' to each property is down in part to the fact most buildings in this country are built from bricks and mortar rather than timber frames. As several contributors have already mentioned brick buildings have a tendency to move with time in part due to inadequate foundations, once its underground it can't easily be checked. This wasn't a problem several hundred years ago as the mortar was made using lime and therefore could 'move' however in the late nineteen hundreds Portland cement started to be used and was more rigid. In addition to this the building industry was until the last hundred years on a small scale ie. A builder would build an individual house or perhaps a dozen as finances only allowed this There were exceptions to this such as Hampstead garden suburb etc but only because they had substantial financial backing over an extended period. The construction industry really hasn't changed apart from the size of the 'builders' but the basic financial model is still the same- only pay for what you can sell, so investing in off site facilities to produce a standardized units is a rarity and more common on the Continent.

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1 hour ago, Oldddudders said:

Weren't they a bus company?

I have a couple of Midland Red buses on my layout. Not on the bridges though. I have a model of the number 154 I used to catch to school. I also have a couple of Stratford Blue buses. They used to go to Stratford but there was a long distance service to Oxford. As I child I thought it would be exciting to go there on a bus but never did.  The trip on the 154 was 4 1/2 d from the nearest stop to home. However it was only 4d (old pence for younger readers) from the next stop which wasn’t much further if you used footpaths near the park. Anyway these half pennies saved gave me enough for the occasional pack of crisps from the school tuck shop. Mum found a packet in my blazer pocket and made me reveal my source of cash. She said she would only give me enough for the bus fare for the 4d journey. My Dad did a “for goodness sake, he is walking a bit further, let him keep the money”. Mum replied that Dad was ignoring the extra cost of shoe leather. I think he gave up. 
Tony

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My Great grandfather would walk from Cathays  to the Taff Vale Railway workshops at West Dock (Cardiff) to save the cost of the tram fare.

 

He would then sole his own shoes, as he didn't see the point of saving the tram fare if he was then going to have to employ a cobbler to do something he was more than capable of doing himself.

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49 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

My Great grandfather would walk from Cathays  to the Taff Vale Railway workshops at West Dock (Cardiff) to save the cost of the tram fare.

 

He would then sole his own shoes, as he didn't see the point of saving the tram fare if he was then going to have to employ a cobbler to do something he was more than capable of doing himself.

My Grandfather told me that he used to wear his boots on the wrong feet to even up the heel wear. He walked from Acocks Green to the Longbridge Austin factory. He had a cobblers last too for diy shoe repairs. It ended up in my Dad’s shed and I as a small child was somewhat curious about its purpose. 
Tony

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