The Night Mail

[pH]

1 hour ago, Dave Hunt said:

Prompted by the earlier comments re O Winston Link's books on the Norfolk & Western and it being my birthday on Sunday, I had a look online for some of the less common ones but gave the idea up when prices like £179 were involved.

 

Dave

 

Don't give up, Dave. There are books where, when I've first looked at prices online, I've thought "No way can I afford to pay that!". But  I've kept looking occasionally and have eventually got all that I've wanted at much better prices than I saw initially. I presume you've tried all the usual places but, just in case, I'll say that I've got books (all second hand) from Abebooks, Biblio, Ebay and Amazon.

[Florence Locomotive Works]

Gentlemen,

 

The worlds most annoying piece of brass has been removed from the boiler!

 

 

I came back to it this evening with a better frame of mind and the right tools, and after some careful heat application and some extra solder, it came out after 4 months. 
 

As you can see in the images, the fake boiler backhead plate was removed for better access.

 

 

The part did get rather chewed up from various pliers though. 
 

 

So now I intend to clean up the backhead, and re install the stock whistle after going through the threads with the correct BA tap (I have a full set now). 
 

Douglas

Edited April 23, 2021 by Florence Locomotive Works

[BR60103]

We had snow yesterday -- Hudson's Bay met Colorado low.  The Magnolia blooms look very brown today. 

Income tax due at end of month -- no extension this year. I took a chance and found the program at the drug store -- not quarantined as "non-essential".

 

[polybear]

5 hours ago, Florence Locomotive Works said:

I came back to it this evening with a better frame of mind and the right tools, and after some careful heat application and some extra solder, it came out after 4 months. 

 

Didn't you run out of gas?

[jamie92208]

6 hours ago, pH said:

 

Don't give up, Dave. There are books where, when I've first looked at prices online, I've thought "No way can I afford to pay that!". But  I've kept looking occasionally and have eventually got all that I've wanted at much better prices than I saw initially. I presume you've tried all the usual places but, just in case, I'll say that I've got books (all second hand) from Abebooks, Biblio, Ebay and Amazon.

I can concur with that comment Dave. I got a copy of a classic, 'The Mohawk that refused to Abdicate'  from Ebsy for $5 plus shipping. It was an ex library copy with damaged binding but that doesn't affect the content. It might be worth setting up a search on Ebay for Winston Link, that gives you alerts when new listings appear.

 

Douglas, well done that man, good luck with getting the new one installed.

 

Jamie

 

 

Edited April 23, 2021 by jamie92208

[Dave Hunt]

Thanks for the various tips on book buying chaps. I'll try to utilise them.

 

Extremely well done Douglas. I can see that you are going to be a model engineer of some renown and soon you'll be giving some of us old fogeys a few tips. Just avoid the subjects of cake, whisky and muddy hollows as we already have the world's leading experts here.

 

Dad is now in a community hospital in Ludlow, which is sixty miles away but at least he is allowed one visitor on a booking system so I'm going to see him on Sunday at two o'clock. Sunday also happens to see the completion of my 74th circuit of the solar system so activities such as sinking libations of happy water will have to wait until I get home.

 

Prior to that I will be chairing the Midland Railway Society AGM tomorrow on Zoom so I may see a few RMWebbers then.

 

Have a good POETS day all.

 

Dave

 

 

[New Haven Neil]

So who else had the beat of a Bulleid pacific in their head watching the Meccano version?  Oh, just me then....as an engineer, I was taught to listen to the sounds of machinery and try to isolate what made which sound, by synchronising movements to sounds and so on.  Those big marine diesels I worked on only did 120 rpm flat out, so it was easier than a car engine to imagine and diagnose!

 

 

[Happy Hippo]

22 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

Dad is now in a community hospital in Ludlow, which is sixty miles away but at least he is allowed one visitor on a booking system so I'm going to see him on Sunday at two o'clock. Sunday also happens to see the completion of my 74th circuit of the solar system so activities such as sinking libations of happy water will have to wait until I get home.

Well, I'm glad your Dad has moved out to a community hospital where he will be well looked after during the next stage of his recovery.

 

However, I think the NHS is to be congratulated on managing to find him a place in a hospital the furthest away from your home in Market Drayton without managing to leave Shropshire.

 

In case you don't want the flog along the A53/A49, an alternative from our neck of the woods is down to Much Wenlock then pick up the B4378, right onto the B4368 and then left onto B4365 which will drop you down to Ludlow Racecourse.  It's all well signposted.

[PhilJ W]

45 minutes ago, New Haven Neil said:

So who else had the beat of a Bulleid pacific in their head watching the Meccano version?  Oh, just me then....as an engineer, I was taught to listen to the sounds of machinery and try to isolate what made which sound, by synchronising movements to sounds and so on.  Those big marine diesels I worked on only did 120 rpm flat out, so it was easier than a car engine to imagine and diagnose!

 

 

I've always found the marine two stroke diesels fascinating to watch.

[Dave Hunt]

When I was in Singapore in the late '60s I went for a two day sail (sink?) on HMS Oberon, which I think was almost the last of the old WW2 submarines in the RN. Talk about cramped!! At the time I was a youngster flying Hunters out of RAF Tengah so the Captain and First Lieutenant reasonably assumed that I would be mainly interested in such things as the weapons system, tactical displays etc. and went to great pains to show and explain them to me. They were a bit bemused when I evinced more interest in the engine room and spent as much time as I could talking to the Chief Engineer and his team .

 

Dave

[Florence Locomotive Works]

18 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

HMS Oberon

I seem to remember that was related somehow by class to the one that sunk in the Thames estuary or somewhere off the Kent coast? I can’t remember if we have anybody ex navy in this thread, but I doubt the mods would allow it.

Edited April 23, 2021 by Florence Locomotive Works

[New Haven Neil]

3 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

I've always found the marine two stroke diesels fascinating to watch.

 

These ones were more interesting to watch with the uniflow exhaust valves operated by rockers, but went wrong a lot more often!  See those valve springs at the back - when they go, you duck!!!!  This is a Burmeister & Wain, the one in the other photo is a Sulzer - superior machine.  Sorry about the pants photo.....only one I have, it's not mine.  The modern ones have done away with the pushrods and rockers and use hydraulic actuation, nothing to watch!

 

 

 

[Happy Hippo]

Why do marine engineers always wear white overalls?

 

 

I know that foot guard officers wear red tunics so you cannot see any blood, and French Officers wear brown trousers.

[New Haven Neil]

50 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

Why do marine engineers always wear white overalls?

 

 

I know that foot guard officers wear red tunics so you cannot see any blood, and French Officers wear brown trousers.

 

Badge of office in my day - officers wear white, crew blue.

[polybear]

3 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

.... so the Captain and First Lieutenant reasonably assumed that I would be mainly interested in such things as the weapons system......

 

Bear suspects DH's main interest was focused on whether or not the bl00dy thing would come back up again....

[simontaylor484]

No i dont think the submarine service would be for me. Sleeping in a coffin virtually ooh no. I sat the Admiralty Interview Board at Hms Sultan in Gosport back in 2000 i was unsuccessful but we were warned not to mention Submarines at all or you would most likely end up on one.

[PhilJ W]

Perhaps they use different criteria in the navy now than they did during WW2. I had a colleague who was called up c. 1942, his job at the time was a butcher's delivery boy. The navy packed him off to Malta to a submarine depot ship in the butchers department. Logical of course but the CPO in charge his civvy job was as a mortuary assistant. Someone's lateral thinking or warped sense of humour. Just hope he didn't get the jobs mixed up when he returned to civvy life.

[Tony_S]

Dad said when he was old enough he volunteered for service in the army. He said he had been told if you volunteered you had some choice about what you got to serve in.  He wanted to be in a tank regiment and that is what he got. His uncles had told him being in the infantry wasn’t a good idea. His Dad had been keen for him to join the navy.

[Tony_S]

Did some modelling this afternoon.

I had better post here as I used some plastic (clear glazing from Metcalfe kit) from my railway bits box. I was going to upgrade a Scalextric Mondeo  but accidentally ordered a Sierra chassis. I managed to source a Sierra body with no interior, headlights or mirrors. Only the interior (plasticard), driver(bits box) and mirrors ( purchased) to fit now. It is very very fast. I may still do the Mondeo one day. 

Edited April 23, 2021 by Tony_S

[PhilJ W]

12 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

Dad said when he was old enough he volunteered for service in the army. He said he had been told if you volunteered you had some choice about what you got to serve in.  He wanted to be in a tank regiment and that is what he got. His uncles had told him being in the infantry wasn’t a good idea. His Dad had been keen for him to join the navy.

My dad joined the Territorial Army in 1938. He opted for the artillery (long range snipers) as his dad had been a gunner. He was mobilised on the 31st of August 1939, three days before the start of war. He was an apprentice steel fabricator at the time with less than a year to go on the apprenticeship. He went back after the war and was just given his qualifications but never actually worked as a steel fabricator. 

[pH]

27 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

Dad said when he was old enough he volunteered for service in the army. He said he had been told if you volunteered you had some choice about what you got to serve in. 

My father-in-law knew he was going to be called up in August 1939, and would almost certainly have been in the army. So he volunteered for the navy in July 1939 and served as a signaller till 1945.

 

My dad knew he was going to be called up in 1941, so volunteered for a specific branch of the RAF. Once he had signed up, he was told he was going to be in a different branch and “That’s an order!” So there were limits to the choice.

[Tony_S]

Dad was just 18 when he went off to the army. His employer did tell him that there would be a job for him when he left the army. He didn’t leave until 1949 and only then as he was released due to his first wife being very ill. He was offered a job, basically his old job on his old pay. He did note that others who hadn’t volunteered had stayed and made a lot of progress.  However he did get another post there. He met my mother there. He wasn’t impressed by the management and became active in the union.

[Dave Hunt]

3 hours ago, polybear said:

 

Bear suspects DH's main interest was focused on whether or not the bl00dy thing would come back up again....

The first time we sank submerged I was riveted by the creaking, pinging and other assorted noises that accompanied the increase in the readings of the depth gauge. When we surfaced some time later and I followed the Captain up into the conning tower I was never so happy to see daylight. The next time we sank went down submerged I was ready for the noises offstage but I can't honestly say I got used to it. A few days later I took the No. 1 for a trip in a two seat Hunter and after we landed he said, "I don't know how you do that every day." Horses for courses I guess.

 

Dave

[J. S. Bach]

12 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

Extremely well done Douglas. I can see that you are going to be a model engineer of some renown and soon you'll be giving some of us old fogeys a few tips. Just avoid the subjects of cake, whisky and muddy hollows as we already have the world's leading experts here.

Dave

 

 

Don't forget green panniers! 

[polybear]

 

42 minutes ago, pH said:

My father-in-law knew he was going to be called up in August 1939, and would almost certainly have been in the army. So he volunteered for the navy in July 1939 and served as a signaller till 1945.

 

My dad knew he was going to be called up in 1941, so volunteered for a specific branch of the RAF. Once he had signed up, he was told he was going to be in a different branch and “That’s an order!” So there were limits to the choice.

 

Bear wonders which of the three services (Army, Navy, RAF) gave the best chance of surviving WW2?  Given the choice I'd guess the RAF - assuming you weren't aircrew, of course.

 

23 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

The first time we sank submerged I was riveted by the creaking, pinging and other assorted noises that accompanied the increase in the readings of the depth gauge. When we surfaced some time later and I followed the Captain up into the conning tower I was never so happy to see daylight. The next time we sank went down submerged I was ready for the noises offstage but I can't honestly say I got used to it. A few days later I took the No. 1 for a trip in a two seat Hunter and after we landed he said, "I don't know how you do that every day." Horses for courses I guess.

 

Dave

 

Bear's first Boss (an ace guy) worked at Vickers, Barrow-In-Furness on subs - conventional and polaris boats.  He went to sea numerous times; one party trick was the crew would stretch a string across the control room bulkheads whenever visitors were on board - the string would sag quite a bit when the sub dived, which made them go very quiet.  Then they'd pull the string tight again -and the visitors could watch it go tight and then snap as the sub surfaced.....