The Night Mail

[Northmoor]

12 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

Hailstones? You want hailstones? Yesterday afternoon my cleaner Alison had a storm descend which left her lawn white, took most of the blossom off her many apple trees and damaged many of her plants. More than 12 hours later, I see today's pic shows some of the hail still visible. 7 or 8 miles away as the crow flies, we didn't even have a drop of rain, merely a couple of loud thunder rumbles. 

7 or 8 miles - Pah!

One day many years ago I was driving into Dunfermline.  On a not especially large roundabout, it was dry on the way in, on the exit the whole road was wet with standing water deep enough to give the steering a slight "kick".  It had actually rained heavily in one location and not at all probably less than 100 feet away.

[Happy Hippo]

So typical of the Telfland bubble was today's weather.

 

We were working in the garden and decided to enjoy the sunshine whilst enjoying a drink.

 

So the sun went in.  Sitting in the conservatory enjoying our pre dinner drink (not the first I hasten to add), out came the sun again.

 

We've just finished eating , and thought to try our luck and sit out for an hour or so but it's now raining.

 

I am reduced to annoying fellow Night Mailer's.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[polybear]

3 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

I am reduced to annoying fellow Night Mailer's.

 

 

Just so long as you brought cake....

[Florence Locomotive Works]

I too, am working in the garden today.

 

I have been graciously tasked with the removal of 5-6 dead azalea bushes, which died during our very very hard winter.
 

 
 

 

However, there is an upside to this labor.

 

A decree has come down from higher powers for a Gauge O permanent way to be constructed around the very few remaining bushes! 
 

It will be shaped in an oval, but a track plan and details are to follow later, as I still have 3 bushes to do battle with. 
 

Douglas

[Dave Hunt]

6 hours ago, Northmoor said:

7 or 8 miles - Pah!

One day many years ago I was driving into Dunfermline.  On a not especially large roundabout, it was dry on the way in, on the exit the whole road was wet with standing water deep enough to give the steering a slight "kick".  It had actually rained heavily in one location and not at all probably less than 100 feet away.

 

Something like that cost me the first car I bought when I was posted to Singapore in 1968. It was a Mk 2 Consul and after paying for it I drove off in bright sunshine on a dry road but on rounding a bend about 200 yards away the road was flooded and I aquaplaned into the monsoon drain at the side, ending upside down but in one piece and fortunately above the water level. The car was a write off and I'd only owned it about two minutes. Unfortunately I hadn't got round to insuring it (not many of us ever did) so when I bought another Mk. 2 Consul the next day I was a bit more careful.

 

Dave  

 

PS, the cars were second hand and not in what could be described as in prime condition so the expense wasn't as great as would first appear. 

Edited May 2, 2021 by Dave Hunt
Adding PS

[PhilJ W]

1 hour ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

Something like that cost me the first car I bought when I was posted to Singapore in 1968. It was a Mk 2 Consul and after paying for it I drove off in bright sunshine on a dry road but on rounding a bend about 200 yards away the road was flooded and I aquaplaned into the monsoon drain at the side, ending upside down but in one piece and fortunately above the water level. The car was a write off and I'd only owned it about two minutes. Unfortunately I hadn't got round to insuring it (not many of us ever did) so when I bought another Mk. 2 Consul the next day I was a bit more careful.

 

Dave  

 

PS, the cars were second hand and not in what could be described as in prime condition so the expense wasn't as great as would first appear. 

Probably former taxi's.

[J. S. Bach]

I think that I got lucky yesterday! I had been looking through a Hatton's catalog that came with a used coach that I had bought and kept coming back to the Dapol O scale 0-6-0 panniers. This had been going on for a few weeks and yesterday for some odd reason I ended up on their website. Hmmm, while I am here, just let my view those panniers! After looking and looking, I could not find the one that I really wanted so I logged off. 

 

 

 

 

Note: The pannier was straight DC and GREEN!

[Florence Locomotive Works]

Afternoon again,

 

So here are the details. 
 

 

In the above image we see a mild attempt at drawing a prospective track plan for the new permanent way. It will be an oval. The main problem facing the railway is that the ground slopes slightly towards the camera, so the part in the foreground will have to be elevated. The sidings have been out there as simply an idea. 
 

The track will be sat upon some sort of rectangular geologic material, more than likely bricks. 

 

Now some of you, in particular the Hippo, are probably thinking. “Does not the mogul perform badly outside due to the wind?” Well, yes and no. The wind only bothers the engine when it is standing still raising steam, so a concept named by me as a “steaming box” is to be used. This is a box which will sit over the engine and rest upon the track whilst it raises steam, and as it rests on the track any heavier than air gases can float away, in theory. Feel free to add to this though. 
 

More to come,

 

 

Douglas

[jamie92208]

2 minutes ago, Florence Locomotive Works said:

Afternoon again,

 

So here are the details. 
 

 

In the above image we see a mild attempt at drawing a prospective track plan for the new permanent way. It will be an oval. The main problem facing the railway is that the ground slopes slightly towards the camera, so the part in the foreground will have to be elevated. The sidings have been out there as simply an idea. 
 

The track will be sat upon some sort of rectangular geologic material, more than likely bricks. 

 

Now some of you, in particular the Hippo, are probably thinking. “Does not the mogul perform badly outside due to the wind?” Well, yes and no. The wind only bothers the engine when it is standing still raising steam, so a concept named by me as a “steaming box” is to be used. This is a box which will sit over the engine and rest upon the track whilst it raises steam, and as it rests on the track any heavier than air gases can float away, in theory. Feel free to add to this though. 
 

More to come,

 

 

Douglas

Can you make one of those boxes to cover a hippo when he us raising steam.....

 

Jamie

[tetsudofan]

Cars and Singapore reminds me of my year in Singapore around 1976 when the bank allowed me to buy a car for the duration of my stay.

 

Ended up buying an old four-door Ford something which got me around Singapore, over the causeway to Johor Bahru a couple of times and even provide a lift to the President of the bank when he visited Singapore to open the branch.

 

The car was basically a rust bucket and I sold it to a guy working for one of the Canadian banks. When he found out that it was a rust bucket he was not happy but in the long run he turned out to be the winner.

 

A short time after he bought the car the Singapore Government changed the procedure for buying new cars (in their desire to cut pollution etc.) which vastly increased the price of new cars....... unless you were currently a registered owner of a car and wanted to buy a new car,

 

The value of rust buckets therefore shot up and when the Canadian left Singapore he was able to sell the rights to his car to a well-off Singaporean ......... and left a happy bunny!

 

Keith

[Florence Locomotive Works]

25 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

Can you make one of those boxes to cover a hippo when he us raising steam.....

 

Jamie

For a small fee roughly equivalent to the national debt of a small country. 

[Winslow Boy]

13 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

Can you make one of those boxes to cover a hippo when he us raising steam.....

 

Jamie

 

Don't think they make them that big.

[Happy Hippo]

8 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

 

Don't think they make them that big.

When Nyda enquired about getting me a box she was told that it would require planning permission.

 

It's the only reason I'm still extant

[Tony_S]

Our paraffin stoves that we took on holiday before converting to gas had little windshields that clipped round the meths tray so you could light them in windy weather assuming the match didn’t blow out before it igniting the meths. I am sure the one for Douglas’ loco will be much grander though. 

[Happy Hippo]

38 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

Our paraffin stoves that we took on holiday before converting to gas had little windshields that clipped round the meths tray so you could light them in windy weather assuming the match didn’t blow out before it igniting the meths. I am sure the one for Douglas’ loco will be much grander though. 

Pot boilers on locomotives have always been problematical and their ability to maintain steam generation is very much in the hands of the wind.

 

Locomotives fitted with side tanks are slightly easier to get right as they do have the advantage of slab sides to protect the fire.

 

One of the developers of reliable pot boiler fireboxes was Jack Wheldon.  Those who have seen the earlier meths fired versions of the Roundhouse Lady Anne and Dylan will see his influence in the design of the enclosing firebox.  This firebox also used 'finger tip' contact, where the firebox only touched the frames at four small points of area, which reduced the heat transfer.

 

The Meths fired Dylan was a saddle tank so the exhaust from the fire fed up into the tank which was hollow before being deflected back down.  That tank could get rather warm.

 

I have a 'spare' Roundhouse 0-4-0 chassis kit and it is my intention to build a freelance 7/8ths loco with a spirit fired boiler, rather than the now almost  ubiquitous gas fired version.  From a construction point of view a simple pot boiler is far easier to build.  

 

 

 

 

[J. S. Bach]

15 hours ago, Florence Locomotive Works said:

For a small fee roughly equivalent to the national debt of a small country. 

Liechtenstein comes to mind.

Edited May 3, 2021 by J. S. Bach

[New Haven Neil]

16 hours ago, J. S. Bach said:

I think that I got lucky yesterday! I had been looking through a Hatton's catalog that came with a used coach that I had bought and kept coming back to the Dapol O scale 0-6-0 panniers. This had been going on for a few weeks and yesterday for some odd reason I ended up on their website. Hmmm, while I am here, just let my view those panniers! After looking and looking, I could not find the one that I really wanted so I logged off. 

 

 

 

 

Note: The pannier was straight DC and GREEN!

 

Well, what green would that be?

 

[Tony_S]

16 minutes ago, J. S. Bach said:

Liechtenstein comes to mind.

I see what you mean. I was curious so looked up Liechtenstein’s national debt, on Wikipedia.

[J. S. Bach]

54 minutes ago, New Haven Neil said:

Well, what green would that be?

I think that the word "GREAT" was plastered somewhere on the side.

[Happy Hippo]

Dave if you want a cheap pannier look no further than the Rails of Sheffield site:

 

CLASS 64XX 0-6-0PT EX LIONHEART PANNIER 6417 IN GREAT WESTERN GREEN WITH SHIRTBUTTON EMBLEM

 

By Dapol | Code: 7S-024-002 | O Gauge

AVAILABILITY: IN STOCK: £400.00 -39%

 

£245.00

 

 

I have both the 64xx and 74 xx models and they are excellent.

 

 

 

 

[simontaylor484]

17 hours ago, Florence Locomotive Works said:

For a small fee roughly equivalent to the national debt of a small country. 

Sounds like its footprint too

[New Haven Neil]

1 hour ago, J. S. Bach said:

I think that the word "GREAT" was plastered somewhere on the side.

 

Naahhhh, must be a mistake.

 

[simontaylor484]

Its certainly good value for money compared to some N gauge locos i have my eye on even if it is ex GWR.

Not that it bothers me im more modern well 80s to now.

 

There are a couple of kettles i would like an unrebuilt Eddystone west country for one as that was my Grandads nickname in the Navy his surname was Lightowler.

[J. S. Bach]

1 hour ago, Happy Hippo said:

Dave if you want a cheap pannier look no further than the Rails of Sheffield site:

 

CLASS 64XX 0-6-0PT EX LIONHEART PANNIER 6417 IN GREAT WESTERN GREEN WITH SHIRTBUTTON EMBLEM

 

By Dapol | Code: 7S-024-002 | O Gauge

AVAILABILITY: IN STOCK: £400.00 -39%

 

£245.00

 

 

I have both the 64xx and 74 xx models and they are excellent.

Thank you for the link; however the Hatton's are class 57xx at £199.75 inc. VAT which would be deducted on my order to the US. That is a significant difference.

Edited May 3, 2021 by J. S. Bach
To add some information.

[J. S. Bach]

1 hour ago, New Haven Neil said:

 

Naahhhh, must be a mistake.

 

The road number reminded my of a trolley line in Pittsburgh, PA; the 77/54 NORTHSIDE CARRICK via BLOOMFIELD, called the "Flying Fraction":

 

http://www.newdavesrailpix.com/pitts/htm/usr_h_pit_pcc_1419_7754northsidecarrick_rhkj.htm