The Night Mail

[New Haven Neil]

12 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

A friend of mine (a big lad) used to be in the Met., and spent time in a group that used to involve a Police van full of big lads patrolling, ready to snuff out any trouble PDQ.  Not quite SPG - but kinda heading that way....

He had fun

 

My old boss did also - he was an Inspector in one of those.  Hard by name (Hardman) and hard by nature!  Best boss I ever had.

[figworthy]

12 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

They have to be table top versions

 

Designs for 3D printing are available for download.

 

Adrian

[Dave Hunt]

I know we don't do politics here but I'd just like to say that in 2024 the wellbeing of not just the USA but to a great degree the world will be to a significant degree in the hands of our Douglas and his ilk. I just hope that most of them are like Douglas. 

 

Dave

Edited January 6, 2021 by Dave Hunt

[PhilJ W]

Well I know of one who wont be coming back in 2024.

 

[BR60103]

14 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

The same person who put a stone in the centre of a snowball.

 

Jamie

 

Refer to Canadian novel Fifth Business by Robertson Davies.  A staple of Canadian literature.

 

[Happy Hippo]

11 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

I know we don't do politics here but I'd just like to say that in 2024 the wellbeing of not just the USA but to a great degree the world will be to a significant degree in the hands of our Douglas and his ilk. I just hope that most of them are like Douglas. 

 

Dave

After that the country will be run by the Pandemic kids:

 

Home schooled by alcoholics!

[Happy Hippo]

My trip to the fang farrier was a success and the broken tooth has been repaired.

 

it was interesting to see that their protective face gear has been upgraded to exactly the same gear that I've taken to using for dusty work and when I'm using spray equipment.

 

The two wagon kits have arrived safely.

 

It's sunny so I have to get out into the garden and do something useful.

 

Of course there is always something that sneaks in to bit you, and it was a letter advising me that the X3 requires it's annual service and VOSA test.

 

That means a big hole in the hobbies fund.

 

What excitement awaits after lunch I wonder?

[Compound2632]

15 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

The two wagon kits have arrived safely.

 

Do say...

 

As for @SM42's great uncle's "hit by a tram" defence, it was clearly gross negligence on the defendant's part not to look both ways when resisting arrest.

[Winslow Boy]

5 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

 

Do say...

 

As for @SM42's great uncle's "hit by a tram" defence, it was clearly gross negligence on the defendant's part not to look both ways when resisting arrest.

Of course you know why he was hit by the tram don't you. It was to avoid running into the truncheon of the attending officer.

 

[SM42]

16 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

Of course you know why he was hit by the tram don't you. It was to avoid running into the truncheon of the attending officer.

 

 

I don't think they were too forensic in establishing the circumstances leading to the tram - drunkard interface. 

 

I too am intrigued about the two wagon kits arriving. 

 

I have a similar problem in that many arrive safely. Getting built  is another problem entirely 

 

Andy

[Happy Hippo]

16 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

 

Do say...

 

 

A pair of Parkside 21t hoppers.

 

 

(Pic from Peco website)

 

They are purchased to see:

 

If they can be misappropriated for quarry traffic: I know the real ones were, but much later on in their careers.

 

I want to see how easy it is to fit springing to the 'floorless' chassis.

 

Elsewhere in RMWeb, some time back, a method of springing using guitar wire was shewn for wagons with a solid floors, and I'm curious as to how it can be adapted to fit these.  The problem with PD wagons is that the axle boxes are left to flop around in the W irons in an attempt at compensation. 

 

I'm not an advocate of this type of engineering, preferring things so when any movement occurs, it should be under a modicum of control. 

 

 

 

[polybear]

1 hour ago, Happy Hippo said:

My trip to the fang farrier was a success and the broken tooth has been repaired.

 

 

 

Jeez, that's one brave farrier you've got there.  Have you seen the size of the goobers on a Hippo

 

[jamie92208]

58 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

Of course you know why he was hit by the tram don't you. It was to avoid running into the truncheon of the attending officer.

 

We used to apply the 'attitude' test. However the participants never seemed to fully grasp the syllabus or the requires solution, so usually failed and got a free ride to the nick.

 

Whilst physical size was an advantage, what really matterred was 'presence'.  I had one PC who was only 5' 6"  but not only was he nearly the same width, he had also been a face worker at Frickey colliery. He definitely  had presence and took seconds to no one.  There was also a young female officer in Huddersfield  that I had on my shift. 5' 4" , blonde and drop dead gorgeous, yet her presence was superb. I saw her disappear into crowds of drunken youths and she always came out with a prisoner.  The problem was how to measure that quality.

 

Jamie

Edited January 7, 2021 by jamie92208

[Compound2632]

1 hour ago, jamie92208 said:

5' 4" , blonde and drop dead gorgeous, yet her presence was superb. I saw her disappear into crowds of drunken youths and she always came out with a prisoner.  The problem was how to measure that quality.

 

I've seen teachers like that. (Though for "crowds of drunken youths" substitute "year 10 bottom set" and for "prisoner", well...)

[SM42]

1 hour ago, polybear said:

 

Jeez, that's one brave farrier you've got there.  Have you seen the size of the goobers on a Hippo

 

 

Hippos having a flip top head certainly makes  farriering a lot easier.

 

Andy

 

[Happy Hippo]

Further to the stock photo of the PD 21 Tonner.....

 

After making the post, I visited the Railways in South Wales Facebook page and lo and behold, there was a picture of the very type of wagon!

 

As usual, many thanks to Robert Masterman for permission to reproduce the picture here.

 

It's far more representative of a real wagon that any picture from a box cover can ever portray.

 

Unfitted 21T Coal Hopper B416099, captured by Bob at Radyr Yard in 1967.

 

It's still fitted with oil boxes.  Some were later fitted with roller bearings.

 

That step looks a bit bent!

 

Edited January 7, 2021 by Happy Hippo

[bbishop]

Richard, I've built dozens of PD wagons and have never had problems with "floppy" compensation.  I do make one adjustment.  I file a Peco fibre washer smooth and then insert it behind the top hat bearing.  Obviates any slop in the bearings.  Bill

[Florence Locomotive Works]

Well I took Seamus back to his original form more or less, with a few embellishments. I wasn’t very happy with the non working but very good looking ploughing engine guise, so I took the more conventional route of turning him into a Fowler B4 road locomotive. Not you average B4 though, a “colonial” model with the wide rear wheels that Mamod makes. 
 

Story of the Steam Plough Works. Lane, R. Michael, Northgate Publishing Company 1980.

 

The photo above was taken from the fantastic book cited. This Fowler B4 was constructed in 1898 for Uganda Railways, to assist in construction of the line out of Mombasa towards Muami, roughly 4000 feet (1200 meters) above sea level. The engine and its 2 siblings, one of which was armored, were last seen in the 1930s by a East African Railways engineer, one at a sawmill at Maji-Muzuri, (which I believe is in Kenya) and the others at a tea plantation along with a elderly Marshall’s of Gainsborough portable engine. There is a fantastic story about them aiding in the killing of some lion packs, which I can reproduce here if someone wants a “Chums” magazine tail!

 

 

I essentially based the engine off that mentioned above, so a few modifications were needed. They had the criteria of having to be removable though. 
 

Firstly, a canopy was made from Meccano, and it clips onto the bunker. The other end rests on the crankshaft bearing bracket. 
 

 

A belly tank was also hand carved from ash, (the wood) and is fitted via a Meccano threaded rod and a brass space holder pressing it against the forward wall of the firebox. This arrangement is illustrated above. 
 

 

The front wheels also got a bit of work done. Mamod uses single spokes wagon type wheels, which don’t have the double spoking of traction engines. I solved this problem by cutting rods of balsa just over the dimensions of the spokes, and wedging them in the gaps. These were then painted. 

 

All said I’m very very pleased with it, as it has fulfilled a dream I have since I was 3 of having a traction engine. A few more things need doing, such as the making of the wood rack on the belly tank, and a solid flywheel of a Mamod steam wagon needs finding. 
 

A few more photos, one showing the first mock-up.

 

 

[rockershovel]

Dressing up Mamod Engines with Meccano has a long and honourable tradition! 

[Tony_S]

51 minutes ago, Florence Locomotive Works said:

I’m very very pleased with it, as it has fulfilled a dream I have since I was 3 of having a traction engine

I was older than 3 but still at school but I  remember looking for many years at the Mamod steamroller on display in the model shop I had to pass on my way home. It seemed somewhat beyond what I could imagine having enough money for!

[Happy Hippo]

Drat and Double Drat!

 

My chest x-ray, scheduled for this coming Monday has been cancelled and put back a fortnight.

 

Normally it would be a shrug of the shoulders, but over the past few days, I've noticed  a slight crackling in my breathing when I'm lying down.

 

Since it's a change in condition from when I spoke to the doctor last month, I need to report it (as advised) as it's a change of condition... Probably fluid on the lung(s).  So I don't really want to wait another fortnight, plus whatever time it takes for the x ray to be pushed back to the surgery, before I get another consultation.  (Bill, I'm not showing any other symptoms related to heart failure!)

 

As you can imagine, trying to get through to the surgery is impossible at this time of day, so I am going to spend a long time in a telephone queue.

 

What is annoying is that on my way to do the 'click and collect' shop, I will drive to the surgery this morning to collect a prescription from the attached pharmacy.  In normal times that would have been the ideal time to drop into reception for a chat.

[Winslow Boy]

2 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

Drat and Double Drat!

 

My chest x-ray, scheduled for this coming Monday has been cancelled and put back a fortnight.

 

Normally it would be a shrug of the shoulders, but over the past few days, I've noticed  a slight crackling in my breathing when I'm lying down.

 

Since it's a change in condition from when I spoke to the doctor last month, I need to report it (as advised) as it's a change of condition... Probably fluid on the lung(s).  So I don't really want to wait another fortnight, plus whatever time it takes for the x ray to be pushed back to the surgery, before I get another consultation.  (Bill, I'm not showing any other symptoms related to heart failure!)

 

As you can imagine, trying to get through to the surgery is impossible at this time of day, so I am going to spend a long time in a telephone queue.

 

What is annoying is that on my way to do the 'click and collect' shop, I will drive to the surgery this morning to collect a prescription from the attached pharmacy.  In normal times that would have been the ideal time to drop into reception for a chat.

Could try emailing them  Big H. Even before lock down our surgery 'discourged' is made it  b..,....y impossible to ring them. To paraphrase a well known saying ' if only patients would stop  coming in we would be able to get some work done' 

Good luck.

 

 

 

[Happy Hippo]

49 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

Could try emailing them  Big H. Even before lock down our surgery 'discourged' is made it  b..,....y impossible to ring them. To paraphrase a well known saying ' if only patients would stop  coming in we would be able to get some work done' 

Good luck.

 

 

 

I think my name must be in the reception staff's little red book, because they are always nice to me.

 

I waited until about 1000 and then I did get through to the surgery quite quickly.  I started off as #3 in the queue; was my usual polite self to one of the nice receptionists and explained the situation. Although no appointments were available,  I was told to stay in the house and they would get back to me before 1300. Lo and behold shortly after midday one of the GPs rang me and had a discussion about the issue.

 

Looking at my record and the symptoms, it's still considered an asthmatic problem, although with the slight changes to my previous condition (used, high mileage and driveable) there is possibility I have picked up a mild chest infection.  I will be summoned into the surgery next week so they can conduct some tests about my breathing.  I suppose this will get added into the pot when the x rays finally get back. 

 

Now off to look at Brymbo Middle.  (That's the signal box diagram, not a film about some over the hill C&W singer)

[polybear]

9 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

I think my name must be in the reception staff's little red book, because they are always nice to me.

 

Do you give them free cake at chrimbo by any chance?

Thought not.

[New Haven Neil]

I too have been braving the local version of the NHS today, with varying results.  The phone consultation with a young and rather tasty sounding locum GP went well, script etc issued no problem, the referral for a hip x-ray less well. 

 

The surgery is in the grounds of the local cottage hospital, which has an X-ray department.  So they make a referral, but not an appointment, for which I have to contact the X-ray department myself.  Dialling the cottage hospital number got me bumped on to the switchboard at the main (only other) Noble's hospital on the island, in the Big City way down south. Their switch board then transfers the call to Ramsey X-ray, which is promptly answered by ......the same telephonist in Noble's, in the Big City.  Oh dear. A circular arrangement of transferred calls, which they can't take off from there. Grrrrr.

 

So I had to call the minor injuries unit, apologise for calling them, but ask them to go to X-ray (it's not a big place) and sort out them taking my call so it didn't get transferred to Noble's again.  I'm always nice to the staff, I was once the manager of an NHS outpatients department for my sins so I know how hard it can be, but sometimes patience wears thin.

 

To add insult to injury, they could squeeze me in this afternoon, but Mrs NHN has taken my car (automatic) to work at......the cottage hospital today, of all places......and I can't drive hers (manual) as I can't handle the clutch with my hip & foot issues. #sigh#