The Night Mail

[Dave Hunt]

My knowledge of the history of Welsh railways is limited to the bits the Midland and LNWR were involved with but modelling-wise I have fond memories of exhibiting at shows in The Rhondda and in Splott, both being very enjoyable but severely liver damaging. However, I can find my way around Wales very well albeit not at ground level and having lived temporarily in both North and South Wales I can even tell the accents apart. One of the landmarks I am familiar with in mid-Wales is a farm, the barn roof of which has for decades carried the message in large capital letters, "P*SS OFF BIGGLES". If this is intended to have the effect of discouraging low flying aviators it doesn't work very well as it actually makes the spot magnetically attractive.

 

Back to the cleaning up operations post-deluge.

 

Dave 

[Happy Hippo]

2 hours ago, tomparryharry said:

Regarding the Barry Railway bridge piers:- Yes, they were hollow. I've read the same where the Llanbradach & Pen-yr Heol viaducts were demolished. 

 

Cheers,

Ian. 

My father told me that about the brick pillars.

 

He told me the reason was that a solid pillar of that size would have problems from an engineering perspective. First of all there is the sheer weight of a solid pillar on the available foundations.  Secondly, with a solid pillar made from bricks and mortar, the expansion and contraction of the pillar would not be uniform and that could lead to an increased risk of the pillar cracking.

 

What truth there is in that I don't know, but it does make some sense.

 

My father was an engineer and in such matters he was not prone to spinning a yarn

[Tony_S]

55 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

My father told me that about the brick pillars.

 

He told me the reason was that a solid pillar of that size would have problems from an engineering perspective. First of all there is the sheer weight of a solid pillar on the available foundations.  Secondly, with a solid pillar made from bricks and mortar, the expansion and contraction of the pillar would not be uniform and that could lead to an increased risk of the pillar cracking.

 

What truth there is in that I don't know, but it does make some sense.

 

My father was an engineer and in such matters he was not prone to spinning a yarn

I don’t know if you saw the recent “Railway Architecture” series (weekly on Yesterday channel) but there were frequent comments about construction of pillars (brick, stone, iron and wood) . I thought it was interesting.   
It seems to be Yesterday Play still

https://yesterday.uktv.co.uk/shows/the-architecture-the-railways-built/

Tony

[tomparryharry]

1 hour ago, Happy Hippo said:

My father told me that about the brick pillars.

 

He told me the reason was that a solid pillar of that size would have problems from an engineering perspective. First of all there is the sheer weight of a solid pillar on the available foundations.  Secondly, with a solid pillar made from bricks and mortar, the expansion and contraction of the pillar would not be uniform and that could lead to an increased risk of the pillar cracking.

 

What truth there is in that I don't know, but it does make some sense.

 

My father was an engineer and in such matters he was not prone to spinning a yarn

 

I don't doubt your father for an instant. It makes perfect sense. there must be a fair few of those bricks in there, An ideal opportunity for salvage. Worse still, I bet they were all just dumped, or used as base core for the A470. 

[Philou]

Not only a saving in weight but a saving in bricks too. Bricks = £money.

 

Here are the pillars being demolished, but unfortunately no hollow centres visible from the viewpoint. The bricks of these didn't go into the A470 as it had already been built:

 

WalnutTreeDemolition.pdf

 

Cheers and I'll try not to mention W Rs again ...........

 

Philip

[Philou]

Oooh ..... oooh before I forget, on the previous page, a picture was posted up by @Happy Hippo showing the Crumlin catwalk - so thank you for that. Regarding the question of 'how did you get to the catwalk?', I can't answer that but I can guess that access was at either end via the brick approaches, or there was a way down between the brick pillar parapets and the steelwork. There is a picture during demolition works that shows an arch at parapet level between each span which would indicate a complete means to walk through without having to walk along the tracks. From one of the websites from wherein I borrowed some pictures, the author related that as a 'yoof' he walked the catwalk from one end to the other, but didn't say how he got there. (I had assumed, wrongly, that he was referring to the parapet at the top of the spans).

 

The arch walk-throughs can just be seen below the cross-bracing, together with protective hand-railing:

 

Better view of the arch walk-throughs:

 

Cheers,

 

Philip

 

[Happy Hippo]

3 hours ago, tomparryharry said:

 

I don't doubt your father for an instant. It makes perfect sense. there must be a fair few of those bricks in there, An ideal opportunity for salvage. Worse still, I bet they were all just dumped, or used as base core for the A470. 

I suspect the whole of the eastern approach arches went into the A470, as the only reason they came down was to make space for the road improvements that went on at the time. That was also the case with the most eastern pillar.  As we know the western approach arches are still extant.  However I don't know what happened to the remains of the other three pillars that were demolished.  Christiani Shand, who istr was the contractor for the A470 improvements would only have knocked down the minimum amount. As time is money!

[Happy Hippo]

Clarification of my comments regarding the demolitions of Walnut tree Viaduct:

 

The route of the A470 can be clearly seen to go through both the eastern approach arches and the first pillar. The second pillar (just to the right of the River Taff) is still extant and was famous for being decorated to commemorate the queen's Silver Jubilee in 1977.  Even today the paint is still faintly visible.

The two pillars to the left of the picture were later taken down when the area around them was redeveloped along with the one which is just out of sight.

both of the two western most pillars were angled as seen in this aerial shot:

 

 

as you can see the viaduct had to come down before the A470 went through as the pillar and the eastern abutments stood right in the middle of the projected improvements

 

Also in the second photo,  you can see the Dolomite works on the western side of the valley, and slightly below and to the left you can just make out Walnut Tree West signal box which was just north of the Garth Tunnel.

 

The cliff like area on the rhs is Portobello quarry.

 

One bit of demolition we have not mentioned is Tongwynlais tunnel on the old Cardiff Railway.

 

The trackbed can be clearly seen on the eastern side of the valley and just out of shot on the lower rhs is the tunnel.  Again, the A470 improvements absorbed the  site.

Edited August 15, 2020 by Happy Hippo
spelling

[Philou]

11 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

Even today the paint is still faintly visible.

 

The 1977 greeting is not paint - it's that rather gaudy faux stone cladding that was all the rage in the 70s. Most of the terraced streets in Cardiff had some examples in them. In fairness, someone took a lot of time and trouble setting it out and getting scaffolding in place to do it. The 2002 one below is paint.

 

Cheers,

 

Philip

 

 

[Happy Hippo]

6 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

 One of the landmarks I am familiar with in mid-Wales is a farm, the barn roof of which has for decades carried the message in large capital letters, "P*SS OFF BIGGLES".

Biggles being an absolutely spiffing chap as well as being a first class aviator has not been back there since, gentleman that he is.

 

However the rest of the riffRAFf (sorry had to get that in) had and still have no such moral compunction.

 

Personally, if it had been me, I'd only have gone back in the dark as unable to read the message, could have claimed ignorance of it's presence.

 

Farmer Jones, a miserable louse

Painted  rude words t'on roof of house.

But his sleep was torn asunder.

 

Dave Hunt went past.

 

MIGHTY THUNDER! 

 

 

[jamie92208]

32 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

Biggles being an absolutely spiffing chap as well as being a first class aviator has not been back there since, gentleman that he is.

 

However the rest of the riffRAFf (sorry had to get that in) had and still have no such moral compunction.

 

Personally, if it had been me, I'd only have gone back in the dark as unable to read the message, could have claimed ignorance of it's presence.

 

Farmer Jones, a miserable louse

Painted  rude words t'on roof of house.

But his sleep was torn asunder.

 

Dave Hunt went past.

 

MIGHTY THUNDER! 

 

 

When West Yorkshire got it's helicopter, callsign X99, it obvioulsy spent quite a bit of time over East Leeds. One of the houses at the bottom end if the Halton Moor Estate had "X99 F**K OFF" painted on it's roof.  Obviously it got checked regularly.

 

Jamie

[Happy Hippo]

When South Wales Police decide to drop in on you for a chat.

 

Dim Parcio springs to mind

 

 

Still, at least they were not as unfortunate as West Mercia Police who  ended up with a batch of cars all with a VIN of TWP!

 

It caused hilarity whenever they went to Welshpool.

 

*  Caused by a tail rotor failure, the pilot, ex RN, had practical experience of a t/r failure when flying a SeaKing some years previously.

Edited August 15, 2020 by Happy Hippo

[Philou]

On t'intertubes, there is a video of that very same helicopter 'dropping in'. Happened in the Whitchurch/Coryton area IIRC.

[Happy Hippo]

8 minutes ago, Philou said:

On t'intertubes, there is a video of that very same helicopter 'dropping in'. Happened in the Whitchurch/Coryton area IIRC.

No 9 Coryton Drive

 

[bbishop]

Thanks for keeping me amused today.  I'm next on duty this coming Tuesday.  Bill

[jamie92208]

28 minutes ago, bbishop said:

Thanks for keeping me amused today.  I'm next on duty this coming Tuesday.  Bill

 

We'll do our bext Bill. I just wonder whether the WAG's will mind us using their topic

Jamie

Edited August 15, 2020 by jamie92208

[Happy Hippo]

It's wet here.

 

I hope Dave is not still swabbing the floor of his workshop trying to evict the remains of the great deluge.

 

The PH is due shortly:  The reason for the visit is for him to remove a great deal of accumulated junk that he stored around the Hippodrome in the three years prior to his departure.

[Happy Hippo]

Most of the accumulated junk has now been placed in the PH's vehicle.

 

Despite a huge amount going, there still seems to be no storage space available.

 

I suspect a complete re arrangement of the garage will now be needed in order to imagine more space.

 

The garden designer the Obergrumpenfuher asked to call by visited yesterday.

 

I had visions of a Laurence Llewellyn-Bowen type character with long white silk sleeves etc flitting around the garden like an overgrown butterfly.

 

Wrong!

 

The gentleman that arrived was obviously a  back row rugby forward and rumbled around the garden like a small tank.

 

 

 

 

[jamie92208]

1 hour ago, Happy Hippo said:

Most of the accumulated junk has now been placed in the PH's vehicle.

 

Despite a huge amount going, there still seems to be no storage space available.

 

I suspect a complete re arrangement of the garage will now be needed in order to imagine more space.

 

The garden designer the Obergrumpenfuher asked to call by visited yesterday.

 

I had visions of a Laurence Llewellyn-Bowen type character with long white silk sleeves etc flitting around the garden like an overgrown butterfly.

 

Wrong!

 

The gentleman that arrived was obviously a  back row rugby forward and rumbled around the garden like a small tank.

 

 

 

 

I take it that you secretly slipped him your copy of the plan with the 7 1/4 gauge line shown on it.

 

Jamie

[Happy Hippo]

A surprise visitor to our office this afternoon. He usually follows me around the garden hoping for snacks:

[Happy Hippo]

Although it is not raining at present, a look out of the window reveals a damp start to the day.

 

Over the past few days, I've been carrying out small amounts of weeding in the area beyond the veg patch.

 

The problem with it is the ground is very heavy and consists mainly of clay.  when dry it's like a rock, when when it sticks to your the tools and your boots with great determination.  Rather that work myself into a complete froth, doing a small section each day seems to be doing the trick.

 

It's a pity I have not applied that principle to my modelling strategy.

 

However, I'm telling myself that once the garage and workshop reorganisation is completed....

 

I just need to get rid of the car engine out of the corner of the garage, although the PH now reckons we will need a small crane to shift it and get it onto the trailer.

 

What I want to know is now he got it out of the car and into the corner of the garage on his own?  He didn't need a crane then.

 

Of course once this incredible transformation is complete, I will have no more excuses and my modelling procrastination will have to come to an end.

Edited August 17, 2020 by Happy Hippo

[Dave Hunt]

I see from your post with the lovely little Robin that you have been testing the compressibility of your forefinger again Richard. 

 

After 51 years of marriage I can still be surprised by Jill. I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I'd really like to get some curtains for the front of the layout and she offered to sew them up for me if I got the material. I had no idea that she knew anything about sewing machines but it turns out that she did a Singer course when she was fourteen and can still remember enough of it to have a go. Hence she has borrowed a machine from a friend and is currently practicing with it before starting on hemming the 28 feet of curtain material I got on line so I now have to get the wire, hooks etc. to put them up.

 

The workshop/shed is now back to a close approximation of how it was prior to North Hipposhire becoming something like the setting for Hard Rain and today I'll turn off the dehumidifier that has been running continuously since last Wednesday evening. It's pulled something over eighty litres of water out of the atmosphere in there so I'm hoping that the bits I can't reach such as behind the built in cupboards have dried out. The only lasting evidence of the flood now seems to be some rusty track, easily cleaned, some areas of bare concrete floor where the paint has lifted and some warped and stained sheets of plywood, foam board etc.

 

Time to get on with it.

 

Dave

[Happy Hippo]

22 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

I see from your post with the lovely little Robin that you have been testing the compressibility of your forefinger again Richard. 

 

After 51 years of marriage I can still be surprised by Jill. I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I'd really like to get some curtains for the front of the layout and she offered to sew them up for me if I got the material. I had no idea that she knew anything about sewing machines but it turns out that she did a Singer course when she was fourteen and can still remember enough of it to have a go. Hence she has borrowed a machine from a friend and is currently practicing with it before starting on hemming the 28 feet of curtain material I got on line so I now have to get the wire, hooks etc. to put them up.

1.  As is usual with such high precision engineering works involving galvanised nails and a large hammer, it was the very last one that got me:

 

Bang, bang, bang!

 

'Would you like a cup of tea?'

 

'Yes please'

 

Thud, 'expletive removed.'

 

'I'll be in in a few moments I need to drill a hole in my finger nail'.

 

2. When Nyda made the drapes for Splott West Sidings, she suggested and fitted some weights in the bottom seam so that the drapes hung down with few creases.  It also reduces the amount they move around in a breeze.  They were fitted with a few inches clearance from the floor, which keeps the bottom hem cleaner and stops it wicking up water in the event of a minor deluge such as you have experienced recently.

 

[Tony_S]

1 hour ago, Happy Hippo said:

 

'I'll be in in a few moments I need to drill a hole in my finger nail'.

A few of my nail trauma incidents have been as a consequence of drilling through the nail but one of the medical relatives once mentioned he favoured using a a red hot needle or paper clip to burn a hole through a bruised nail to release pressure. 

[Happy Hippo]

17 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

A few of my nail trauma incidents have been as a consequence of drilling through the nail but one of the medical relatives once mentioned he favoured using a a red hot needle or paper clip to burn a hole through a bruised nail to release pressure. 

Yes I've seen that done, but I don't like the random depth of the stabbing!

 

I pop the drill bit in my micro mill, sterilise the bit,  put the required digit in the machine vice and clamp so  it won't shift, switch on, then use the fine down feed to just break through the nail.