The Night Mail

[Dave Hunt]

5 minutes ago, SM42 said:

 

 

Andy 

 

Ah, that's better.....

 

Dave

[Winslow Boy]

2 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

For various reasons I won't go into, I haven't visited TNM for a while so when I was finally able to have a peek this evening I thought, "Oh, good, something to cheer me up after the recent doom and gloom." But what did I find? Inflated house prices, royal poo, ugly locomotives and poor old Stubby being made redundant. Then just as I was being cheered by the thought of one of Jamie's coaches bumping along on one bogie even that was snatched away. About the only bright spot left is the idea that we could end up with King Polybear the first, which would probably result in the kitchen at Buck House being rebuilt and appearing in RMW.

 

Dave   

 

Just so long as doesn't take him as long as  the one at Chez Bear we'll be ok 

[SM42]

3 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

Ah, that's better.....

 

Dave

 

Glad to be of service. 

You should see the other bottle.

 

Andy

[Dave Hunt]

12 minutes ago, SM42 said:

 

Glad to be of service. 

You should see the other bottle.

 

Andy

 

I'd rather see the contents as I lift a glassful.....

 

Dave

[Stubby47]

Thanks gents, your good wishes are appreciated. 

 

I got back from holiday on the 4th, and was told my role was 'at risk'. Confirmation was given today.

I get about 6 months total money, longer if we eke it out, but that's the bare minimum that can be paid, after 12 years service.

 

Onwards and upwards.

[simontaylor484]

Whilst it seems bad now Stu it may provide you with an opportunity to start something afresh like the business you mentioned and you will never look back 

[Stubby47]

19 minutes ago, simontaylor484 said:

Whilst it seems bad now Stu it may provide you with an opportunity to start something afresh like the business you mentioned and you will never look back 

 

That's my intention 

 

(See my link below )

[Dave Hunt]

With models like that on display, Stu, I'd expect you to get plenty of business. The best of luck Mate.

 

Dave

[polybear]

1 hour ago, Winslow Boy said:

 

Just so long as doesn't take him as long as  the one at Chez Bear we'll be ok 

 

King Poly will have an army of flunkies to do the work for him  - and the loyal subjects get to pick up the tab 

Fear not - my first Royal Decree will be to exclude all current TNM's  from shelling out.  New starters don't get that privilege however - we don't want any fare dodgers now do we.....

[BR60103]

We bought a new iPad on Friday. Today I took it back.

The primary justification for this is for holidays. We may need to do banking as well as keeping up with emails (and MRWeb).

While I was trying to set it up, I couldn't find a place for the SIM card that connects to the cell phone network. I went in today and was told that it didn't have one and that the ones that did weren't available in store, just online. And they were over $200 more! So I did a reset and took it back. They were quite good at giving a refund. Thanks, Staples.

The next nearest store didn't have any in stock and seemed to be even more expensive. (I think the model I had bought was last year's.)

They all agreed with me that a cellular connection was probably more secure than somebody's wifi if I was doing confidential stuff.

 

[polybear]

Bear can exclusively reveal why HRH didn't pull the chain himself:

(And , er, thanks to @Stubby47 for puttin' Bear right off his Sultana Bran  as I casually surveyed his website...)

Actually, I'm somewhat surprised it still has a seat - must've been the upgrade for the Royal Visit.

And I did have to do a double-take on the poster on the door - I thought it read "Org*sming......."

 

[SM42]

5 minutes ago, polybear said:

  

And I did have to do a double-take on the poster on the door - I thought it read "Org*sming......."

 

 

I remember once the RMT proudly announcing that they had been "Organising women for 100 years"  

 

A strange, somewhat risky and quite patronising boast I thought at the time.

 

Andy

[Happy Hippo]

After sharing some of my research into the Walnut Tree West signal box and it's purpose, a friend asked whether I would consider building this instead of some of my other schemes.

 

Sadly the answer is no as even with some foreshortening and compression of the model I simply do not have the space.  The ideal scenic breaks of the north entrance of Garth Tunnel and the cutting on the approach to the eastern end of the viaduct would make a scale model of at least 16 metres long plus the off scene storage for trains of up to, say 50 mineral wagons, makes it eye wateringly expensive both in space needed and stock.  The boards incorporating the dolomite quarry would also add  to the depth of boards required.

 

Yes I could make a compressed version, with a much shorter viaduct, but it would not be the same.

 

However, I'm not down heartened by this as it was never my intention to try and build such, but merely to do a bit of research.  This is, something we railway modellers forget, and I suppose it goes back to the 'model railway of  a model railway' rather than a model of, or a model based upon,  a real location.

 

One of the areas of the research had been the placement of various signals at the location.  Although I have the approximate locations of the various home signals, I still need to find out about the discs controlling the entry and exit from the quarry.  Those that study signalling will concur that although the ideal would have been a  pair of discs, as per the trailing crossover, this is not a given, and there are various other arrangements that could exist.

 

The distant signals were south of the Garth Tunnel, and by necessity on the eastern side of the viaduct.  A little more trawling photos of the viaduct has resulted in a picture surfacing of a pulley with wire running through it.  This appears to be attached to the viaduct via a wooden block.

 

On the premise that it is educational, I reproduce it here from the Classic machinery site..

 

Note the picture was taken after the down line had been lifted, so the picture  was taken sometime after August 1965.

 

On my original thread, leekman pointed out that the supplementary operating Book #12, deleted the (down) line in Dec 65.

 

From this I am assuming that track lifting of the down line must have been taken pretty quickly after the line south of the  Garth Tunnel had been lifted.  The tracks officially terminating at the northern tunnel mouth in August 1965. 

 

The next picture is taken from above the northern Tunnel portal and clearly shows the whole track arrangement, but not the signals I'm still curious about, came from Dave Hilling's Flikr page:

 

Edited October 21, 2021 by Happy Hippo

[BSW01]

14 hours ago, Stubby47 said:

 

That's my intention 

 

(See my link below )

Stu

 

Is there any chance you can add you link to a post please, as when I’m using my iPad, your signature does show up! 

 

Cheers

 

Brian

[Stubby47]

Happy to:

http://www.stubby47.com 

 

Can I ask if the signatures show if you hold the iPad in landscape view?

 

My android phone shows them then, but not in portrait View.

Edited October 21, 2021 by Stubby47
Making the link into an actual link...

[simontaylor484]

They are fantastic models Stu I love the copy of the Sun behind the toilet

One of the best headlines ever after the sinkinh of the Belgrano. 

[Happy Hippo]

Here we go again...Yawn!

 

Just looked at a 25 inch to the mile map courtesy of  the NLS.

 

There is a signal post which I suspect is the down distant signal in the cutting on the eastern side of the valley just prior to the  viaduct eastern abutment.

 

I suspect as the rest of the map does not show the Dolomite works/quarry not WTW signal box, although it does show a small building at the point at which the siding would have left the up main.

 

Although the signal post positioning makes sense, it is strange that none of the other signals posts for WTW's area of responsibility are marked.

 

As it stands, the signal is too far from  both Penrhos Lower Junction SB  and Pentyrch SB to be operated from either, so possibly the map detail is incomplete.

 

Yet another  oddity is that when trains serving the siding at WTW had to return to Aber junction, the train engine left the brake van and wagons on the down line between the crossover and the tunnel mouth.   he loco then proceeded all the way to Tyn Y Caeau junction to switch to the up line and then retraced it's steps back to WTW.  Then the loco backed over the crossover, picked up its train and them moved onto the viaduct where it waited until the signal man had set all the signals and then switched out the box. Brian Mills stated he'd actually got a footplate ride (and drive) of this move in 1962.    This might make sense, apart from the fact there was a trailing crossover at Pentyrch, midway between WTW and TYC Junction.

 

Did this mean that Pentyrch SB was also switched out by this time, as the traffic flows were reducing considerably.

 

The same sort of question could be posed, after the cessation of through running.  The crossover at TYC that was used to switch from down to up lines being converted to spring points.  So why was the spring point conversion not carried out at the  Pentyrch SB trailing crossover?  This would have reduced the light engine working by about 50% of the distance. 

 

I don't suppose that the fiscal scrutiny in those days was as micromanaged as finely as it is today.

 

 

[DenysW]

Stu -

 

When I was made redundant in the mid-90s the world seemed quite binary: full-time or still looking. Bad experience of 18 months on the dole. Both my son and my son-in-law were out of work early this year; both have picked up 24 hr/week jobs (Aldi, Waitrose). Plus Uber-Eats is piece-work - my son became a bicycle delivery-boy (Transportation logistics executive), limiting himself to when the Leicester rain wasn't torrential. Until he got the better offer from Aldi.

 

Embrace the opportunities not to risk all on one approach - entrepreneur or nothing.

 

Best wishes,

 

Denys

[Oldddudders]

My heart goes out to virtually everyone in today's working environment. It is worlds away from the lush fields of job vacancies some of us found on leaving school, when a job for life was commonplace. 

[Dave Hunt]

Having been severely upset recently by finding a squashed hedgehog on the road outside our house and thinking that it could have been the little one that I found in the garden a few months ago and have been trying to feed up fpr winter survival, I'm a bit more optimistic having found the the food I've been putting out is being eaten and the hedgehog house has had some visits. Of course, it could be a different hedgehog or even a different species, although whatever it is would need to be able to negotiate a tunnel about five inches diameter, but I live in hope that either it is 'my' hedgehog or another one that has moved in.

 

In other news, I've now started ballasting my layout, which is almost making me nostalgic for the years weeks I spent doing the cobbled road and yards. Since it's an MPD layout I'm trying to simulate ash/cinder ballast employing Steve Fay's method using kiln dried sand and boy, is that a bu**er to brush and glue in place neatly enough.  I know that it doesn't need to be too neat for a loco shed but it does have to be relatively smooth and getting the right finish takes ages. Another fun aspect of our hobby .

 

Off now to see the scnozzle sister to have things looked at and to try to book flu jab appointments. 

 

TTFN  

 

Dave

[Happy Hippo]

21 hours ago, simontaylor484 said:

I must admit King Poly Bear the first has a bit of a ring to it

I wonder if his first name might be Roly?

 

With all the LDC he consumes it might be quite appropriate...

[Tony_S]

3 hours ago, Stubby47 said:

Can I ask if the signatures show if you hold the iPad in landscape view?

 

My android phone shows them then, but not in portrait View.

Edited 41 minutes ago by Stubby47
Making the link into an actual link...

On my iPad the signatures show in portrait and landscape. iPadOS 15.0.2 with Edge as browser. 
Edit

I have just checked and the signatures are not displayed on my Android phone, in either orientation. 

Edited October 21, 2021 by Tony_S
Update

[Happy Hippo]

Just a reminder from our past.

 

21 Oct 1966.

 

Never have I seen so many parents coming to school to collect their children.

 

[Stubby47]

6 hours ago, DenysW said:

Embrace the opportunities not to risk all on one approach - entrepreneur or nothing.

 

 

Absolutely. & Thanks.

 

I have given myself about 4 months to see if this will take off enough to provide an income, but am fully aware that I may need some form of employment if it doesn't. 

 

SiL works for Sainsbury as a home delivery driver, Europarts are advertising for drivers as well.

I am confident I could find gainful employment within a short period, but I need to concentrate on the modelling first, and having 6 months off, paid, seems the ideal time.

 

So not feeling too bad about the R word, every cloud, etc.

Edited October 21, 2021 by Stubby47

[SM42]

Well today has got windier and windier.

 

This afternoon we had gusts to 60mph and we are currently one phase down on the electrickery.

 

This takes out some lights, some wall sockets,  the heating, but worst of all the cooker,( but the clock still works)

 

Had 3 hours in Szamotuly this afternoon watching the trains and it was what can only be described as bloomin draughty. 

Never did see the 1619hrs arrival though

 

Some pics below

 

Fortunately the weather seems to be calming down a bit. Just need that green phase back now. 

 

Station building

 

Lots of work going on at the moment and the subway is closed. The yellow fencing marks the route to a temporary foot crossing to access the only platform in use

 

ED78 012 calls with a service to Szczeczin 

 

 

Signal box by the level crossing at the north end of the station

 

 

Andy

 

Edited October 21, 2021 by SM42