The Night Mail

[Compound2632]

I do not myself model in 7 mm scale so have no particular interest but having read the announcement and the remarks by @Dave Hunt and @polybear above I'm inclined to agree that any society advertises itself best when it talks about what it is about, rather than what it is not about: in this case "finescale" 7 mm scale modelling to existing standards. The Scale 7 Group caters for those with a particular interest in those finer standards; other groups exist for other interests within the range covered by "0 Gauge". 

 

It seems to be aiming to occupy the niche that with the 4 mm scale world is occupied by the EM Gauge Society, with the difference that there is some RTR that falls within its scope. There are plenty of people who benefit from both the EM Gauge and Scalefour Societies.

[jamie92208]

4 hours ago, J. S. Bach said:

The PRR I1s (2-10-0) was the "Hippo'; the L1s (2-8-2) did not have a special nickname.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania_Railroad_class_I1s

 

My favorite PRR steam is the M1 (4-8-2).

Thanks for that, I obviously misread the class number in the photo. It was definitely the 2-10-0's.  The picture was of the Shamokin turn with the helpers on an ore train.  Phil Hastings and David P Morgan did a fabulous photo essay about the "Shamokin Shifter" in their book, "The Mohawk that Refused to Abdicate and other tales of steam".   I must get that book out and re read it. The photography is outstanding and David Morgan's prose is wonderful.

 

Jamie

[Oldddudders]

49 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

Thanks for that, I obviously misread the class number in the photo. It was definitely the 2-10-0's.  The picture was of the Shamokin turn with the helpers on an ore train.  Phil Hastings and David P Morgan did a fabulous photo essay about the "Shamokin Shifter" in their book, "The Mohawk that Refused to Abdicate and other tales of steam".   I must get that book out and re read it. The photography is outstanding and David Morgan's prose is wonderful.

 

Jamie

I don't have that book, but have huge respect for Trains's integrity as a magazine. And the DPM years were surely its heyday. I have a couple of Beebe & Clegg volumes which are impressive, but perhaps they needed a Rosemary Entringer to bring a little more order to things. 

[Happy Hippo]

I've passed all the comments about the new 7 mm Scale society on to those in charge and await a reply.

 

I also await a call from the doctor this morning as i've had a rather annoying cough for the past month or so.  In truth it's probably been longer, but with covid and lockdowns etc, the last place I wanted to be was cluttering up the doctors.

 

This is nothing to worry about:  I've had it before and it is asthma related.  It tends to get me if I catch my breath, especially if i'm tired.  since it's ow disrupting my sleep, I get tired more quickly which self perpetuates the cough

 

The cure will be probably be the prescription of an inhaler.

 

Fortunately, the doctor whom will be calling is the doctor who is the asthma specialist at the surgery, and saw me the last time I needed one. (About 6 years ago).

[Oldddudders]

As a mild asthma sufferer, 2020 is my best year in more than 40. I generally use a steroid inhaler during late July and August, but simply didn't need it this year. My mother, from whom I inherited it, found her asthma disappeared with the menopause. Perhaps at 72, I am heading in that direction! 

[Tony_S]

20 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

erhaps at 72, I am heading in that direction! 

Aditi’s siblings and her Dad all had/have late onset asthma. Something you get for your fortieth birthday. 

[Oldddudders]

10 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

Aditi’s siblings and her Dad all had/have late onset asthma. Something you get for your fortieth birthday. 

I was only 30 the night I needed adrenaline! 

[Happy Hippo]

2 hours ago, Oldddudders said:

I was only 30 the night I needed adrenaline! 

I got that the first day I realised that somebody was shooting at me.

[New Haven Neil]

I don't like to kick a man when he's down, but HH did ask me to show more of my layout.  This will reveal that I am no Dave Hunt or AndyP, however it is mine and I made it all.  It is 'inspired by' the Forest of Dean, not a model of anywhere, and pays no respect to prototype practice whatsoever, but it is OK to play trains on. it shares a garage with 6 bikes, tools, garden railway stock, kayak gear and all the junk there isn't space for in the (small, retirement for the use of) house.

 

The world's edge is here, in the fiddle yard....

 

8745 emerges from the scenic break, up the prototypical (something had to be!) gradient.  I got fed up with bridges as a scenic break and think this works OK.

 

Stepping back you can see the context of things, the exchange sidings in front of the 'main' rising at the rear.

 

 

The corner is filled with a hill and trees in an attempt to hide the 4 foot radius curve, all track is Peco Setrack (I know a place where I used to get it cheap....) with the curved road of the turnouts cut back quite a bit to reduce deviation. But not hesitation....for R4 listeners.

 

 

...which bring us to the entry to the yard.

 

 

Stepping back reveals the true horror of my garage....

 

 

At the left hand end of the yard, this corner and the siding  is where I am stuck with ideas currently, there will be a small industry there, a 'processing plant' without actually saying what it processes - the Forest was full of suitable places, I just can't decide what to do at the moment.

 

The left hand end leads to another single track this time fiddle yard, the 'NCB' whence empties are taken to, and fulls miraculously emerge shortly afterwards.

 

 

So there we go, showing my backside in Marksies window I think this is called!  I'm very much the 'average modeller' beloved of RM in the Cyril days, not terribly clever at all.

[polybear]

3 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

This is nothing to worry about:  I've had it before and it is asthma related.  It tends to get me if I catch my breath, especially if i'm tired.  since it's ow disrupting my sleep, I get tired more quickly which self perpetuates the cough

 

The cure will be probably be the prescription of an inhaler.

 

 

Bear has been there, done that etc etc.

It's very common for me to end up at the docs after the onset of a bad cough - usually a month or more and I start to get fed up with it.  Doc sends me for a chest x-ray, then I usually end up with an inhaler and sent on my way.  That usually sends it packing.  Fortunately I've not needed an inhaler for some years now, which is kinda handy.

 

Bear has had a "bit of a result" morning; buddy next door asked if I'd like to go to the dump with him and get shot of all the chipboard panels from much of the kitchen (i.e. a lot of chipboard) plus a big bag of broken plaster from the stair box.  As I live alone I can honestly claim to "share the same bubble" with him; both he and his wife (who's an O.T. and works for the NHS) are very careful and we both wore masks etc etc. whilst in the car.  He then had to go to specsavers to collect his new glasses, which conveniently is very close to Wickes so he parked up there and whilst he was gone I was about to buy some brackets which may (or may not) come in useful when constructing the new plasterboard framework.  Best of all though is that his car is big enough for a 6ft x 3ft sheet of plasterboard...

[polybear]

40 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

I got that the first day I realised that somebody was shooting at me.

 

It wasn't me - honest.  When it comes to cake Bears take no prisoners.

I trust you fired back?

[Happy Hippo]

7 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

It wasn't me - honest.  When it comes to cake Bears take no prisoners.

I trust you fired back?

No I was too busy trying to save all the cakes.  However, I was confident that my contribution would not be missed and others did respond on my behalf.

[Tony_S]

My Dad told a tale that would nicely combine the “coughing” and “shooting” posts. 
There he was , first time on night sentry duty patrolling part of  perimeter of an army camp somewhere in the NE of England early in WW2. It was a cold and foggy night. He heard a cough, the only response was another cough. Fortunately the cough turned out to be a sheep that had become visible just in time. He said he up until that moment not realised how sheep could cough like a human. He said he had been very close to opening fire. 
 

[Happy Hippo]

Neil,  

 

Thanks for taking the time to take the pictures and to post them here.

 

I wish I could have something like that in my garage.  That sort of arrangement floats my little boat  as trains appear to do something and because of the restraints of fiddle yard at each end, slows things down and you end up appearing to do things in a  more realistic time frame.

 

I wouldn't worry about the industry in the corner, it could just be a public wharf or perhaps an interchange  with a high wall and a couple of ng tippers on a length of track along the top.  It's all about illusion.  So that could just be a Parkend type wharf where lorries deliver stone from a not rail connected quarry, or a small coal yard.  Remember the siding at lower Soudley just before the tunnel only had room for about two wagons, so the fact it's a very short siding is not without a prototypical basis within the depths of the Forest.

 

As far as the NCB link is concerned, you could always run around in the yard and then propel up the branch, which was exactly what they did for the colliery at Churchway.  It also makes fiddling the train a lot easier in the NCB fiddleyard as there is no loco or bv to swap ends, so it's just a case of changing the empties for loads.  I use black packing foam (same as in the loco boxes) with a layer of coal droppings glued to the top to represent the loads.

 

Please continue to keep me entertained.

Edited December 2, 2020 by Happy Hippo

[New Haven Neil]

The coal loads are scraped polystyrene painted with black acrylic, (once the mess is cleared), they look OK and still allow the 1 in 30 to be climbed!

 

It isn't coming on too bad considering a year ago it was a different country, scale etc....

 

 

This is where the climbing main and exchange sidings now are.

 

 

 

 

[New Haven Neil]

...and this is where the yard is now!

 

[roundhouse]

Seeing NHNs shed, I have been banished to my shed today as my other half has loads of online meetings. Just got told off for going back to the house whilst she is in one of those meetings.

 

So I have been working on the E4 kit, the first kit that I have built in over ten years. Its now running with the bogie and body on after various filing to make clearance for the coupling rods etc.  I put an old decoder on it but forgot to check the decoder on the tester and no movement from the loco do that will now have to be removed but with just four wires it's an easy task. Then it will get a good run in on the High Line.

 

On the N scale circuit my Arnold Brighton Belle is having a good run, the longest run that it has ever had as normally it just gets an occasional lap or two on Banbury at shows.

 

 

[jamie92208]

9 hours ago, Oldddudders said:

I don't have that book, but have huge respect for Trains's integrity as a magazine. And the DPM years were surely its heyday. I have a couple of Beebe & Clegg volumes which are impressive, but perhaps they needed a Rosemary Entringer to bring a little more order to things. 

The book is superb. I could either post it to you or hand itbover at a service area whilst en route to the ferry in due course. Sarthe services are a regular calling point for us.

 

Jamie

[Happy Hippo]

1 hour ago, jamie92208 said:

The book is superb. I could either post it to you or hand itbover at a service area whilst en route to the ferry in due course. Sarthe services are a regular calling point for us.

 

Jamie

With the chance of Vaccines being rolled out over the UK, you might even be able to swing by the Hippodrome and collect that lead shot that is awaiting collection.

 

For those not familiar with this, I have a coffee tin full of lead shot which Jamie has requested.  This can then be handed to him or his representative, not fired at him a few bits at a time from a semi auto 12 gauge!

 

It is too heavy to post!

 

It also hurts if you drop it on your foot when you are wearing flip flops.

[Oldddudders]

1 hour ago, jamie92208 said:

The book is superb. I could either post it to you or hand itbover at a service area whilst en route to the ferry in due course. Sarthe services are a regular calling point for us.

 

Jamie

A great idea! If you let me know when your next trip north is due I can meet you accordingly. I can join the A11 westbound at La Ferté Bernard which will put me on the right side for the services with you coming up the A28. If Sherry is here, so much the better! I think we conclude that Christmas is probably off, since she would hope to be invited for a vaccination early in the New Year, so she may well be here in February.   

[Dave Hunt]

I like your layout Neil. It captures the essence of the area you are portraying and looks like a joy to operate. The scenic work looks splendid and the trees are good. At the moment I am wrestling with my first go at using static grass without much success whereas looking at your photographs you have cracked it. Any hints and tips gratefully received as at the moment all I am achieving is a mess of flat grass.

 

Richard, if Jamie can get over to visit the Muddy Hollow you must bring him here as I have a couple of wagons for him to use on LGA; cake will be provided (but don't tell the Bear). Thanks for your response concerning the new 7mm society; I look forward to seeing how things develop. 

 

Dave

[simontaylor484]

Hippo must be a dedicated modeller he is the only guy i know who has been shot at and collects the lead to weight his wagons with it. 

 

  The other guy i know who was shot at was lucky the round hit his police radio. He survived when the Traffic officer was shot in Leeds a few years ago . I was at school with him

 

 

Edited December 2, 2020 by simontaylor484
Missed off text

[polybear]

27 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

.......cake will be provided (but don't tell the Bear).

 

Too late.....

 

19 minutes ago, simontaylor484 said:

Hippo must be a dedicated modeller he is the only guy i know who has been shot at and collects the lead to weight his wagons with it.

 

 

Rumour has it that H catches it between his teeth......

[jamie92208]

36 minutes ago, simontaylor484 said:

Hippo must be a dedicated modeller he is the only guy i know who has been shot at and collects the lead to weight his wagons with it. 

 

  The other guy i know who was shot at was lucky the round hit his police radio. He survived when the Traffic officer was shot in Leeds a few years ago . I was at school 

 

 

That must have been the one near Christmas. An ex US Marine ISTR, a bad do. 

As to the various invites. We hope to travel once safe after Vaccinations. A coffee at Sarthe sounds a great idea.  The Muddy Hollow is not too far from Stafford and we hope to spend a night or two with a friend there on our way back home. Sounds like a plan is coming together.

 

Jamie

[Happy Hippo]

2 hours ago, polybear said:

 

Too late.....

 

 

Rumour has it that H catches it between his teeth......

Better than catching it in the cheeks of your behind!