The Night Mail

[Happy Hippo]

Lately, Nyda's veg patch has been plagued by woodpigeons.

 

Earlier this evening, one of the greedy little flying rats failed to notice Mr Tutu coming to say hello.

 

A couple of pasties will shortly follow.

 

 

[Danemouth]

3 hours ago, Stubby47 said:

I've heard stories of pre-pay meter collectors finding very few 50ps in the box, but those that were there were wet and the bottom of the box was rusty.

 

Turned out 50p shaped ice 'cubes' had been used, made from imprints in plastercine.

 

When I started work with Wales Gas Board in 1965 I remember walking past a gasholder that was being demolished. The ironwork had been removed and a large 30+ foot hole was being filled by lorries bringing in rubble, soil etc. As I watched a couple of men came out from the cashiers office carrying several coin bags which were emptied into the pit. Turns out they were an accumulation of filed halfpennies that had been removed from the coinboxes of the old "shilling" meters over the years.

 

Dave

[polybear]

3 hours ago, Stubby47 said:

I've heard stories of pre-pay meter collectors finding very few 50ps in the box, but those that were there were wet and the bottom of the box was rusty.

 

Turned out 50p shaped ice 'cubes' had been used, made from imprints in plastercine.

 

At the first factory site Bear worked at there was an on-site Clubhouse with a couple of fruit machines installed in the bar;  the Police were called in when 50p's made out of solder started turning up in the coin boxes.  The Police found traces of silicone sealant on the solder - moulds were used to cast the shapes.  The first stop was the Potting Shop in A Building, where they did a lot of mould work with various rubber compounds; a fellow Apprentice was doing a stint in there at the time and was one of those questioned.  As far as I know they never did find out who was behind it.

Incidentally, the two machines were set for maximum payout (i.e. the player gets the best possible chance of winning as set by the machine, without the clubhouse making a loss).  In ten months the profit was £60K, in the mid 1980's....

[simontaylor484]

Hippo is now preparing a camouflaged lying up position near the veg patch filled with various bis of anti pigeon artillery. 

 

The iron dome of Telfland 

[PhilJ W]

4 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

We don't need a 'Groan' button, but a 'Dear God Noooo!' button.

Will this do? 

 

42 minutes ago, Danemouth said:

 

When I started work with Wales Gas Board in 1965 I remember walking past a gasholder that was being demolished. The ironwork had been removed and a large 30+ foot hole was being filled by lorries bringing in rubble, soil etc. As I watched a couple of men came out from the cashiers office carrying several coin bags which were emptied into the pit. Turns out they were an accumulation of filed halfpennies that had been removed from the coinboxes of the old "shilling" meters over the years.

 

Dave

My dads job was Car Parking Supervisor for the London Borough of Havering. The payment machines were set up not only to reject* foreign coins but collected them in a special bin. This came in handy for any staff taking foreign holidays. We made frequent visits to Germany and the Deutschmarks came in handy. *At the time (70's-80's) British coins were the only ones that did not contain ferrous metal so to capture foreign coins only required a magnet. 

[Happy Hippo]

1 hour ago, simontaylor484 said:

Hippo is now preparing a camouflaged lying up position near the veg patch filled with various bis of anti pigeon artillery. 

 

The iron dome of Telfland 

It's currently under the silver birch and between the pyracantha and the fence on the top of Bantam Hill.

 

However getting there whilst it's till dark and waiting until dawn is not as much fun as it used to be.  The prickles are not pleasant at any time of the day ,but in the cold and dark, when it's a bit damp..... Ugh!

 

I really ought to make up a more comfortable hide on the other side of the garden between the potting shed and the hedge.  

 

Come to think of it, making a small pillbox type structure at that location would be very comfy with an armchair instead of an insulated mat. A table, coffee sandwiches, the extension cable for the electric kettle etc.

[SM42]

5 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

Lately, Nyda's veg patch has been plagued by woodpigeons.

 

Earlier this evening, one of the greedy little flying rats failed to notice Mr Tutu coming to say hello.

 

A couple of pasties will shortly follow.

 

 

 

Don't forget to spit out the pips

 

Once upon a time, a young SM42 was minding his own business at work, walking the estate,  when he was approached by an employee of what was then the MEB.

 

He had been trying to find out who was responsible for the electricty that a lineside meter (in its own little brick with wooden door cabinet) was measuring

 

The bills went to the railway, but the cable attached did not. 

 

They headed off to Post Office's rather large parcel sorting establishment. This he found quite confusing.

 

"Ahh" says I, " it was once a large rail connected parcels depot and before that reasonable sized  railway establishment"

 

Such goings on were reported on return to the office and shortly afterwards the Post Office received a rather large bill for the free electric they had been using all these years.

 

Andy

Edited May 15, 2021 by SM42
being economic with letters, profligate with others

[SM42]

2 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

It's currently under the silver birch and between the pyracantha and the fence on the top of Bantam Hill.

 

However getting there whilst it's till dark and waiting until dawn is not as much fun as it used to be.  The prickles are not pleasant at any time of the day ,but in the cold and dark, when it's a bit damp..... Ugh!

 

I really ought to make up a more comfortable hide on the other side of the garden between the potting shed and the hedge.  

 

Come to think of it, making a small pillbox type structure at that location would be very comfy with an armchair instead of an insulated mat. A table, coffee sandwiches, the extension cable for the electric kettle etc.

 

Couldn't you just dig a tunnel to it?

 

That way you can relax in the warmth of the Hippodrome and deploy unseen when under attack.

 

I can send you some wig pins to dig the tunnel with.

 

Andy

[bbishop]

When I worked for a housing association, I was involved in setting the service charge budgets.  One would expect the electricity budget for a large terrace house split into two flats to be in the order of £100 (basically the light in the shared lobby).  So when I spotted several thousand pounds, I flagged it to the relevant manager.  The upstairs flat had tapped the association supply and guess what was growing in the attic?  Bill

[Stubby47]

In about 1982 I worked for Manweb in Chester and wrote a program to graphically display the 1/2 hourly meter readings of any selected sub-station. ( This was on monochrome 80 col x 32 row CRT displays).

It was soon obvious by the graph profiles which sub-stations were mainly domestic, mainly commercial, or had an unusual shape which indicated some form of misuse.

[Dave Hunt]

34 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

Come to think of it, making a small pillbox type structure at that location would be very comfy with an armchair instead of an insulated mat. A table, coffee sandwiches, the extension cable for the electric kettle etc.

 

Don't you find them a bit soggy?

 

Dave

[Florence Locomotive Works]

Afternoon all,

 

Today construction began on my very first scratch built locomotive. This will be a probably battery powered gauge 1 small boiler “Lanky Bomber”, (ey up) aka a Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway 7f 0-8-0. It’s quite a simple engine, and as I have all the tools necessary to build one I thought I might have a go. The frames are being cut this evening from some suitable steel plate, and frame stretchers will be made from brass. 
 

 

Wheels will be from Slaters, as Walsall Model Industries doesn’t offer a 4 foot 6 inch driving wheel with a crank, rather curious IMO. I chose the engine as A: It’s big. B: It’s a very simple assortment of shapes. And C: It’s doesn’t have splashers as such, its more one giant easy to make one that runs the whole length of the engine.

 

A few structures may be simplified, such as the piano box, but that can be easily made from wood. For the boiler a long suitably sized tube will be used, and wooden pieces which will form the outline of the firebox added around it. This will then probably be covered in a thin sheet of brass with putty to smooth it out.

 

Currently all that’s been done is the measuring of the frames and the calculating of the wheel location relative to where the stretcher bolts will be placed.

 

Photo credit: https://www.lyrs.org.uk/Locomotives (may not be the exact engine, one similar)

 

Douglas

Edited May 15, 2021 by Florence Locomotive Works

[Adam88]

19 minutes ago, Florence Locomotive Works said:

Afternoon all,

 

Today construction began on my very first scratch built locomotive. This will be a probably battery powered gauge 1 small boiler “Lanky Bomber”, (ey up) aka a Lancashire  and Yorkshire Railway 7f 0-8-0. It’s quite a simple engine, and as I have all the tools necessary to build one I thought I might have a go. The frames are being cut this evening from some suitable steel plate, and frame stretchers will be made from brass. 
 

 

Wheels will be from Slaters, as Walsall Model Industries doesn’t offer a 4 foot 6 inch driving wheel with a crank, rather curious IMO. I chose the engine as A: It’s big. B: It’s a very simple assortment of shapes. And C: It’s doesn’t have splashes as such, its more one giant easy to make one that runs the whole length of the engine.

 

A few structures may be simplified, such as the piano box, but that can be easily made from wood. For the boiler a long suitably sized tube will be used, and wooden pieces which will form the outline of the firebox added around it. This will then probably be covered in a thin sheet of brass with putty to smooth it out.

 

Currently all that’s been done is the measuring of the frames and the calculating of the wheel location relative to where the stretcher bolts will be placed.

 

Photo credit: https://www.lyrs.org.uk/Locomotives (may not be the exact engine, one similar)

 

Douglas

 

Careful when you get to doing the livery.  Apparently one member of the LYRS got to that stage and to his horror found it perfectly lettered for the Lancashire & Lancashire Railway.  The only compensation must have been that the other side would have said Yorkshire & Yorkshire.

 

 

[Happy Hippo]

Douglas, being as the loco is eight coupled, you may find getting it around tight curves a bit of a problem.

 

Are you planning on a bigger circuit for your railway exploits?

[Florence Locomotive Works]

1 minute ago, Happy Hippo said:

Douglas, being as the loco is eight coupled, you may find getting it around tight curves a bit of a problem.

 

Are you planning on a bigger circuit for your railway exploits?

Yes probably Richard, or it may be confined to a street piece of track on the pavement in the garden.

[BR60103]

Jason Shron from Rapido gave us a talk a while ago. He said that when they were developing the Stirling Single there was a report from the manager in China:

"It go straight."

Great. That's what we want it to do.

"No, no. It go straight!"

No curve taking ability at all.

 

[Florence Locomotive Works]

Right well,

 

 

New plan. 
 

 

Im now building a coarse scale Caledonian Dunalastair, a engine which is in my top 3. This has happened as the gauge one engine was too big to have its frame cut out with a hacksaw. 
 

 

So above is the first rough cut out of the frame. Obviously a lot of filing is needed, but it’s a start. I’m still undecided as to what to do with the motorizations though. 
 

 

Douglas

[jamie92208]

It looks god, Douglas, I presume that you are going to fasten two bits of plate together and shape and drill them at the same time.

 

Jamie

[polybear]

8 hours ago, Adam88 said:

 

Careful when you get to doing the livery.  Apparently one member of the LYRS got to that stage and to his horror found it perfectly lettered for the Lancashire & Lancashire Railway.  The only compensation must have been that the other side would have said Yorkshire & Yorkshire.

 

 

 

Richard Branson suggested to BA that they & Virgin operate a Concorde as a joint partnership - with one side of the aircraft in BA colours and the other in Virgin colours.  Unfortunately BA have a big downer on Virgin so it never happened.

[Happy Hippo]

45 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

Richard Branson suggested to BA that they & Virgin operate a Concorde as a joint partnership - with one side of the aircraft in BA colours and the other in Virgin colours.  Unfortunately BA have a big downer on Virgin so it never happened.

Didn't the SVR paint 'City of Truro' in GWR livery down on side and BR mixed traffic livery on the other?

 

 

You can see the back of the tender is still green!

[Dave Hunt]

Welcome to the wonderful world of locomotive scratchbuilding, Douglas. I find that the sight of a locomotive that I have made from scratch (well, usually excluding the motor and wheel castings, or sometimes the finished wheels) one of the most satisfying things.

 

As Jamie suggests, frames should be cut when fixed together to ensure that everything is square when they are erected. I too use steel for frames (20 or 25 thou as that is about scale in 7mm) and solder the blanks together with a gas torch before cutting and drilling then unsolder, again with the gas torch, before cleaning up, which is the biggest job.

 

As far as getting long wheelbase engines round curves is concerned, judicious use of sideplay on the intermediate wheelsets will usually do the job. In Gauge 1 the typical minimum radius curve that such 'real' engines would negotiate without restriction would scale to about 15 feet but with a bit of sideplay built in that can easily be reduced to a more manageable size. My S7 engines, even the Compound and the Schenectady Mogul, will negotiate 7ft curves quite happily and that's with hardly any extra sideplay at all.

 

I wish you every bit of luck in your endeavour.

 

Dave

[jamie92208]

I once had a friend supply extra stock to run on Long Preston.   Keith's layout was virtually straight, end to end and his locos had great difficulty on 6' radius curves.  After the first day of the show he took them all home to lengthen the drawbars and  increase the bogie sideplay.

 

Jamie

[New Haven Neil]

On 15/05/2021 at 09:19, Happy Hippo said:

16 mm Today just dropped into letterbox.

 

Always a good read I started flicking through the pages, to cherry pick what I'd read first.

 

I've only got as far as the obituaries:  Therein are the names of five members, all of whom I knew well.

 

NHN Neil probably knows most, if not all of them as well.

 

I've got a sudden urge to set up my test track and run a live steamer...

 

No SMT here yet - Fraggle's remoteness, and no Saturday postal service means incoming post is a few days behind.  oddly outgoing (as old Trackshack customers may recall) is an excellent service.

 

Likely I will have known those you refer to ('to whom you refer', Lewis....) this getting older lark is a bummer.

[Happy Hippo]

1 hour ago, Dave Hunt said:

Welcome to the wonderful world of locomotive scratchbuilding, Douglas. I find that the sight of a locomotive that I have made from scratch (well, usually excluding the motor and wheel castings, or sometimes the finished wheels) one of the most satisfying things.

 

As Jamie suggests, frames should be cut when fixed together to ensure that everything is square when they are erected. I too use steel for frames (20 or 25 thou as that is about scale in 7mm) and solder the blanks together with a gas torch before cutting and drilling then unsolder, again with the gas torch, before cleaning up, which is the biggest job.

 

As far as getting long wheelbase engines round curves is concerned, judicious use of sideplay on the intermediate wheelsets will usually do the job. In Gauge 1 the typical minimum radius curve that such 'real' engines would negotiate without restriction would scale to about 15 feet but with a bit of sideplay built in that can easily be reduced to a more manageable size. My S7 engines, even the Compound and the Schenectady Mogul, will negotiate 7ft curves quite happily and that's with hardly any extra sideplay at all.

 

I wish you every bit of luck in your endeavour.

 

Dave

When I have built frames, I've drilled some holes outside of the frame position and bolted the two pieces of metal together.  invariably you will drill some fixing holes in the side frames which you can then transfer the bolts to.  One you've finished just unbolt, debur and paint.

 

 Or am I missing the fun of having to clean everything up after?.  

[Adam88]

7 hours ago, Florence Locomotive Works said:

Right well,

 

 

New plan. 
 

 

Im now building a coarse scale Caledonian Dunalastair, a engine which is in my top 3. This has happened as the gauge one engine was too big to have its frame cut out with a hacksaw. 
 

 

So above is the first rough cut out of the frame. Obviously a lot of filing is needed, but it’s a start. I’m still undecided as to what to do with the motorizations though. 
 

 

Douglas

 

I, II, III or IV?

 

Edited May 16, 2021 by Adam88