The Night Mail

[polybear]

39 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

I received a What's App message from my daughter informing me that her husband was very keen to buy an electric trainset for their son's birthday.

 

Much as I am a very keen to encourage children to get into the model railway hobby, I advised against it!

 

Without going into detail of the the why and why not reply I sent, I suggested that instead they may consider a Duplo battery electric train  as it is compatible with the Duplo and Lego they already have. 

 

Plus the fact that the recipient will only be three years old next month.

 

But daddy needs to run it in & safety test it first, which of course can take some time....

[Danemouth]

And now something for HH. Danemouth took delivery of 9479 today so here she is with her pannier friends - that makes five in total

 

 

Doubtless our friendly neighbourhood Pachyderm will new feel ecstatic

 

Dave

[Happy Hippo]

1 minute ago, Danemouth said:

And now something for HH. Danemouth took delivery of 9479 today so here she is with her pannier friends - that makes five in total

 

 

Doubtless our friendly neighbourhood Pachyderm will new feel ecstatic

 

Dave

I'm glad to see that Bachmann declined to fit the inclined plate between the front frames that hid the back covers for the valves. For those not of a GW/BR(W) persuasion, the cover was only fitted to the first 10 locos so was not really representative of the majority of the fleet.

 

My pannier philosophy was to buy one in early BR livery and one with the later crest.  so I think you might need some more if you are following that sort of thinking.

 

My loco buying has ceased, apart from my pre orders as I am advised there are some new locos on the 7 mm scale horizon. I would not want to buy say £400+ for a GWR tank kit, only to find that there is a cheaper (and more finely constructed than I could manage) version due for release.

 

Had I still been active on the 4mm front, I would have certainly bought a pair of the 94xx and renumbered then as two of the 34XX that lived at Radyr.

[Chris116]

2 hours ago, polybear said:

 

But daddy needs to run it in & safety test it first, which of course can take some time....

When I was five my parents bought me a Lone Star Treblo Electric train set. My father spent over an hour trying to set it up so the overload button did not operate. In the end I told him we could look at it later. He was rather surprised when he returned to my bedroom half an hour later to find me happily running the two trains. It was the last time I let him anywhere near a layouts wiring! It also only took me a few hours to work out that rubber bands were useless in transmitting the power from motor to wheels. Six months later I got a Tri-ang TT set which I loved. 

Edited January 22, 2021 by Chris116
Spelling Mistake!

[jamie92208]

41 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

But daddy needs to run it in & safety test it first, which of course can take some time....

But not before it has been quality controlled by grandpa hippo.

 

Jamie

[Compound2632]

1 hour ago, Danemouth said:

And now something for HH. Danemouth took delivery of 9479 today so here she is with her pannier friends - that makes five in total

 

 

Is there some arcane Western rule that panniers, like churches, should face east?

[Danemouth]

4 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

 

Is there some arcane Western rule that panniers, like churches, should face east?

They are facing the junction which is North of Danemouth

 

Dave

[Tony_S]

3 minutes ago, Danemouth said:

They are facing the junction which is North of Danemouth

 

Dave

I hadn’t really thought of it until mentioned above that the north end of my model railway is actually pointing north. Probably the most accurate part of its construction!

[Happy Hippo]

1 hour ago, Compound2632 said:

 

Is there some arcane Western rule that panniers, like churches, should face east?

In S Wales most engines the shed staff did try to face their charges with the chimney up the valley, but that was to maximise the amount of water over the top of the firebox crown on what were some pretty fearsome gradients.

 

However when you scrutinise various WTT you find that some trips ended up with the loco facing chimney down hill, and this is backed up by photographs.

 

Very few Valleys sheds had turntables.  Merthyr being a notable exception*, so any turning was done by either routing along various lines, or the use of triangular junctions.  The junction just North of Pontypridd being a prime example.

 

*  An often forgotten reason for a turntable was to turn snow ploughs, although most GWR examples I've seen pictures of seem to bolt to the front buffer plank of the loco.  There are some very good ones of 3208 at Llandudno Junction (yes a Midland Region shed) so attired.

 

 

Edited January 22, 2021 by Happy Hippo

[Compound2632]

20 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

*  An often forgotten reason for a turntable was to turn snow ploughs, although most GWR examples I've seen pictures of seem to bolt to the front buffer plank of the loco.  There are some very good ones of 3208 at Llandudno Junction (yes a Midland Region shed) so attired.

 

Turn snowploughs? Unnecessary:

 

[simontaylor484]

How about the new Hornby playtrains range for the little Hippo.

Edited January 22, 2021 by simontaylor484

[Happy Hippo]

4 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

 

Turn snowploughs? Unnecessary:

 

Western engines were usually strong and brave enough to go around on their own.

 

If not we resort to super snow blowers :

 

 

 

[Happy Hippo]

10 minutes ago, simontaylor484 said:

How about the new Hornby playtrains range for the little Hippo.

Not GWR. 

 

He will be brought up proper

[SM42]

3 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

I received a What's App message from my daughter informing me that her husband was very keen to buy an electric trainset for their son's birthday.

 

Much as I am a very keen to encourage children to get into the model railway hobby, I advised against it!

 

Without going into detail of the the why and why not reply I sent, I suggested that instead they may consider a Duplo battery electric train  as it is compatible with the Duplo and Lego they already have. 

 

Plus the fact that the recipient will only be three years old next month.

 

 

Although I don't know the recipient, I suspect that you need to mutliply that age next birthday by a factor between  10 and 15

 

Andy

 

 

[Happy Hippo]

6 minutes ago, SM42 said:

 

 

Although I don't know the recipient, I suspect that you need to mutliply that age next birthday by a factor between  10 and 15

 

Andy

 

 

His father is a bit of a tech geek, so when I mentioned DCC and sound fitted locos some time back,  his eyes really lit up.  I suspect he now wants to play at trains which is a thing not as many of his generation did as children.

 

Although the little one is very much into trains and will spend hours on the floor pushing around the Brio style wooden locos, his motor control and delicacy of movement is on par with his peers, so anything less than very sturdy and built from sleepers and iron girders (bit like a Blackburn Buccaneer) would not have a long working life.

[SM42]

I've just looked out of the window and I think I may need the snow ploughs too.

 

Andy

[Florence Locomotive Works]

30 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

His father is a bit of a tech geek, so when I mentioned DCC and sound fitted locos some time back,  his eyes really lit up.  I suspect he now wants to play at trains which is a thing not as many of his generation did as children.

 

Although the little one is very much into trains and will spend hours on the floor pushing around the Brio style wooden locos, his motor control and delicacy of movement is on par with his peers, so anything less than very sturdy and built from sleepers and iron girders (bit like a Blackburn Buccaneer) would not have a long working life.

I would suggest chunky can-be-driven-through-a-wall-and-be-fine Lionel O gauge Postwar, but with you being in the UK it may not be that feasible. The other problem is the weight, enough to hurt when you drop one.

[Tony_S]

35 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

r pushing around the Brio style wooden locos

The Brio came before and after the Lego/Duplo trains at our house. I noticed recently that Brio not only had motorised locos now but some form of remote control. 

Edited January 22, 2021 by Tony_S

[J. S. Bach]

On 21/01/2021 at 08:41, Happy Hippo said:

 ...snip... but I cannot believe your media get as worked up and must watch when we elect a new government.

That made me laugh; until I "joined" ER, the last of your PMs that I could name was Mrs. Thatcher! And I would not even know your current one if he had not been mentioned there.

[J. S. Bach]

On 21/01/2021 at 13:22, polybear said:

 

Journalists (in the main - there are one or two good 'uns) aren't interested in truth.  Their only interests are sh1t stirring, making a name for themselves, selling papers.  Brexit, C-19 and Trumpie?  They must be like pigs in sh1t.

Not to mention demanding that a Minister resigns cos' the toilet roll has run out and there's no replacement.

"if it bleeds, it leads"

[Dave Hunt]

I can't agree that 3 years old is too young for 'proper' train sets. When my elder son was 3 we lived in the Netherlands and his maternal grandparents sent some money to buy him a present. At the time one of his greatest delights was to be taken to Roermond station and watch the trains so when we asked him what he wanted for his birthday it was no great surprise that he said, "Trains." We bought him an Arnold N gauge set that we used to set up on the dining table and apart from the enjoyment he got from running sessions, it rekindled my interest in model railways that had been dormant during the years that I had spent chasing girls, riding motorbikes, joining the RAF, getting married etc. Fifty years later here we are ......

 

Dave

[Happy Hippo]

My first railway was clockwork Tinplate from the Hornby stable, I was two! Followed just before I started infants school with a 3 Rail HD Duchess of Montrose.  This was joined by a rather oddly scaled 56xx from Trix.

 

My brother came along when I was fourteen so was playing with Farish N gauge stuff.  In those days it was very chunky and took quite a bit of punishment.  The rather lighter construction of a Minitrix Ivatt Mogul could not cope with being taken out into the garden and pushed through the mud with his toy tractors!  My mother didn't think to try and stop him as I always let him play with my trains!

 

Despite a complete strip down and my father taking it into the BBC workshops in Cardiff for an ultrasonic clean, (domestic ultrasonic cleaners did not exist in those days) it never did run very well after that.

 

That's why I ended up going down the garden railway route.  Made from sheet metal and timber baulks it was nearly bombproof .......... Sounds like we're back with the Bucc again........

 

Then my brother lost interest in model trains.

 

 

 

 

 

[jamie92208]

I also started with Hornby tinpkare vlockwork. My father had built a layout that hinged off the back room wall with extension pieces that made a circuit. The boxes that suported the extension doubled as stock storage. My brother and I played with it till he lost interest and started chasing girls and flying aeroplanes. I then sold it all and bought some 00 electric stuff. The rest as they say is history.

 

I built a layout for my boys that initially hinged off their bedroon wall then hung from the ceiling on creel fittings. When my brother and I retired at about the same time in 2002 I built him a layout in his garage that hinged off the wall.  He still plays with it, sometimes  assisted by his grandchildren.  I am instructed that I must build a layout for young Emily. There are rumours that ther's a 00 pannier in the shed somewhere.

 

Jamie

[SM42]

10 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

 There are rumours that ther's a 00 pannier in the shed somewhere.

 

Jamie

 

 

Surely you mean on the shed

 

Andy

Edited January 22, 2021 by SM42

[PhilJ W]

1 hour ago, J. S. Bach said:

That made me laugh; until I "joined" ER, the last of your PMs that I could name was Mrs. Thatcher! And I would not even know your current one if he had not been mentioned there.

As much as we try we can't forget them so easily.