The Night Mail

[J. S. Bach]

Nice. I wonder if it has been "colorized"? One frame at a time if it has been!

[Compound2632]

4 minutes ago, J. S. Bach said:

Nice. I wonder if it has been "colorized"? One frame at a time if it has been!

 

I think its a stereoscopic technique -see Friese-Greene.

[J. S. Bach]

Very interesting, I had never heard of him.

[polybear]

8 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

Colour film of London 1924.

https://www.facebook.com/RigaMasterWorkshop/videos/1364122183974385

 

If only it were still like that.....

[J. S. Bach]

Especially with the trolleys still running!

[Happy Hippo]

1 hour ago, J. S. Bach said:

Especially with the trolleys still running!

There is a trolley bus turning circle at the top end of Cathedral Road in Cardiff.  It now acts as a feeder into the Llandaff Fields car parking area.

 

I wonder how many people know what it's original purpose was.

 

Danemouth will be able to give chapter and verse as he has great knowledge about various Cardiff buses.

[BMS]

I remember that coming down Llandaff fields from Llandaff tech to catch a trolley you couldn't stop running until you were on it; the initial acceleration was high compared to open platform buses. Route no 8 as i recall or was it 6.

[jamie92208]

I suspect that Trolley in J S Bach's post means tram to us on this side of the pond.  There was a London tram in the film. However there are still trolleybus turning circles in Huddersfield.  I'm not sure when London got it's trolleybuses but suspect that it was after 1924.

 

Jamie

Edited July 13, 2021 by jamie92208

[chrisf]

8 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

I suspect that Troley in J S Bach's post means tram to us on this side of the pond.  There was a London tram in the film. However there are still trolleybus tur i g circles in Huddersfield.  I'm not sure when London got it's trolleybuses but suspect that it was after 1924.

 

Jamie

The first ran in 1931.

 

Chris

[chrisf]

27 minutes ago, BMS said:

I remember that coming down Llandaff fields from Llandaff tech to catch a trolley you couldn't stop running until you were on it; the initial acceleration was high compared to open platform buses. Route no 8 as i recall or was it 6.

Route 4 went to Roath Park, Route 6 to Pier Head.  Those who have visited the Cardiff Small Show will know that Pontcanna scout hut is very near to the erstwhile Llandaff Fields turning circle.

 

Chris

[Adam88]

The full film is on BFI player and covers a car journey from Land's End to John O'Groats in 1926 (it even includes a polar bear in a Scottish zoo).  The London scenes are tacked onto the end.  The colour does not quite convince me but it is better than the majority of the current day colourised attempts.  Unfortunately the digitisation process shows its age, another forum on RMWeb recently showed a (home made?) machine taking frame-by-frame high resolution digital images of fifty+ yearold super 8 railway films.  The results there were really top notch.

 

[Danemouth]

5 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

There is a trolley bus turning circle at the top end of Cathedral Road in Cardiff.  It now acts as a feeder into the Llandaff Fields car parking area.

 

I wonder how many people know what it's original purpose was.

 

Danemouth will be able to give chapter and verse as he has great knowledge about various Cardiff buses.

 

I do indeed remember the turning circle at LLandaff Fields - our school played cricket there. Last time I was there I noted that one of the posts that supported the trolley wires still remains!

 

I also remember the other end of the Number 4 Trolley mentioned by @chrisf at Roath Park which was a roundabout between the Recreation Ground and the lake - it had a green cast iron shelter branded CCTD? All long since gone.

 

Dave

[J. S. Bach]

5 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

There is a trolley bus turning circle at the top end of Cathedral Road in Cardiff.  It now acts as a feeder into the Llandaff Fields car parking area.

 

I wonder how many people know what it's original purpose was.

 

Danemouth will be able to give chapter and verse as he has great knowledge about various Cardiff buses.

There is one in Baltimore, MD (ROLAND PARK) that started out as a trolley loop. When the line was converted to trackless trolleys it remained a loop and when the line was dieselized, it stayed in service. A view of a trackless on Howard Street:

 

This was actually a special move (2078 was being towed to the Baltimore Streetcar Museum; careful viewing of the image will reveal the lack of overhead!) and we covered some of the original trackless route on the way. That line of cars behind 2078 was actually part of the move. I was asked to ride 2078 to hold the front doors closed, they stayed closed with no problem so I rode in one of the passenger seats. I guess that makes me the last passenger to ride a trackless in Baltimore! A couple of more views:

 

Note that the bus is long gone but 2078 is still around!

 

Finally at its original home at the Bush St. MTA facility.

 

 

 

 

[Compound2632]

3 hours ago, Adam88 said:

The colour does not quite convince me but it is better than the majority of the current day colourised attempts.  

 

I think the reason it does not convince is because Frieze-Greene's process used only two filters - a three filter method such as that used by Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky around the same time as Frieze-Greene's work is needed for realistic colour reproduction. Prokudkin-Gorsky only took still photos, not film, as far as I'm aware. 

[jamie92208]

On 13/07/2021 at 13:10, jamie92208 said:

I suspect that Trolley in J S Bach's poTst means tram to us on this side of the pond.  There was a London tram in the film. However there are still trolleybus turning circles in Huddersfield.  I'm not sure when London got it's trolleybuses but suspect that it was after 1924.

 

Jamie

One of the Huddersfield ones was quite famous as it was a turntable cantilevered out over quite a steep slope at Longwood. Drivers didn't always get it right.

A bit of a woopsie.

 

Jamie

Edited April 23, 2022 by jamie92208

[Adam88]

27 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

 

I think the reason it does not convince is because Frieze-Greene's process used only two filters - a three filter method such as that used by Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky around the same time as Frieze-Greene's work is needed for realistic colour reproduction. Prokudkin-Gorsky only took still photos, not film, as far as I'm aware. 

I'd forgotten about the SPG method, if only someone with his skills could have captured the glory of our Edwardian railways.

 

It's all about sampling.  The two filters might only sample two points or two small bands of the colour spectrum depending on their effectiveness.  You can see the effect of exposing alternate frames in the two colours in some of the scenes in the full film, The Open Road, where there is rapid movement such as the men scything.  Curiously I found the flesh tones quite acceptable but often peoples' clothing, vegetation, trees, pastureland and water looked odd.  I wonder if the two filter colours had been chosen to optimise the flesh tones or whether I was subconsciously making allowances.

[PhilJ W]

4 hours ago, Adam88 said:

The full film is on BFI player and covers a car journey from Land's End to John O'Groats in 1926 (it even includes a polar bear in a Scottish zoo).  The London scenes are tacked onto the end.  The colour does not quite convince me but it is better than the majority of the current day colourised attempts.  Unfortunately the digitisation process shows its age, another forum on RMWeb recently showed a (home made?) machine taking frame-by-frame high resolution digital images of fifty+ yearold super 8 railway films.  The results there were really top notch.

 

Link here.

https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-the-open-road-2006-online

29 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

One of the Huddersfield ones was quite famous as it was a turntable cantilevered out over quite a steep slope at Longwood. Drivers didn't always get it right.

A bit of a woopsie.

 

Jamie

IIRC this one was caught by a strong gust of wind that sent the trolleybus spinning. 

[Adam88]

24 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

Link here.

https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-the-open-road-2006-online

IIRC this one was caught by a strong gust of wind that sent the trolleybus spinning. 

 

You're getting confused.

 

 

The Longwood incident was just dodgy reversing.

 

[Florence Locomotive Works]

Afternoon all,

 

I have just returned from work, and it was most interesting. I arrived at 9:30, and we began work soon after. This consisted of my watching my boss disassemble a JUNGHANS (I believe of Wurttemburg) mantle clock movement. It needed two new mainsprings, and a few new bushes. This meant I got to observe bush replacement and pivot burnishing on the lathe. I also got to see the mainspring winder in action, which accidentally managed to ruin the pivot of one of the winding arbors. That required a good 20 minutes on the lathe to fix, normally it takes about 5. 
 

After the spring had been wound back inside the barrel it was installed in the movement frames and reassembly could commence. It did in due course and it was noticed that the bush that carries the escapement lever needed replacing, and that had to be removed and fixed. After that a test wind was had and then lunch. After lunch I left, and will be returning on Thursday. 
 

 

Douglas

Edited July 13, 2021 by Florence Locomotive Works

[Dave Hunt]

A friend of my Dad's had a colour glass plate photograph of a flower garden that he said was produced by the  three filter method in about 1910. I can't remember who he said made it but it was taken in England. Not only was the colour beautifully rendered but he said that it was to all intents and purposes immune to UV fading and he kept it on a windowsill.

 

Dave

[PhilJ W]

Colour photography began as far back as the 1840's. Not long after the first pioneer photographs.

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_photography

https://www.boredpanda.com/first-color-photos-vintage-old-autochrome-lumiere-auguste-louis/?utm_source=pinterest&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=organic

[J. S. Bach]

All I can say is WOW!

[Happy Hippo]

12 hours ago, Florence Locomotive Works said:

 

After the spring had been wound back inside the barrel it was installed in the movement frames and reassembly could commence. It did in due course and it was noticed that the bush that carries the escapement lever needed replacing, and that had to be removed and fixed. After that a test wind was had and then lunch. After lunch I left, and will be returning on Thursday. 
 

 

Douglas

Just wait until you have to deal with a clock that is not fitted with bushes.  Drilling oversize holes and refitting with a bush that might have to have been drilled off centre and then aligning it correctly, no doubt is a real joy when you get it right.  You'll also get to use one of those fancy jewellers blow torches which is a proper blow torch operated by your lungs.  (I believe that you can now get these where the fuel is not spirit, but propane!)

 

Do I sound slightly envious?

 

You bet I do!

[Dave Hunt]

I once returned to work after being on leave and a colleague mentioned that his grandfather had died so he had been clearing out his workshop. "It's a pity you weren't around," he said, "Or you could have helped me sort out the tools and machines. Since you weren't I just got a chap in who gave me 250 quid for the lot (this was in about 1995)." I asked what sort of things he had and as he described some of them I went cold; amongst other things were a Pultra watch maker's lathe with a full set of collets and what sounded like a Proxxon micro milling machine. I did tell him that he ought to contact the person who bought them to say that he had effectively been ripped off but he didn't follow up on it.

 

Dave

Edited July 14, 2021 by Dave Hunt

[Happy Hippo]

2 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

I once returned to work after being on leave and a colleague mentioned that his grandfather had died so he had been clearing out his workshop. "It's a pity you weren't around," he said, "Or you could have helped me sort out the tools and machines. Since you weren't I just got a chap in who gave me 250 quid for the lot (this was in about 1995)." I asked what sort of things he had and as he described some of them I went cold; amongst other things were a Pultra watch maker's lathe with a full set of collets and what sounded like a Proxxon micro milling machine. I did tell him that he ought to contact the person who bought them to say that he had effectively been ripped off but he didn't follow up on it.

 

Dave

I have an expressive term for people who rip off the bereaved. It is unprintable because it is full of unmentionables, and would cause much physical discomfort and associated anguish for whom it was directed at.