The Night Mail

[jamie92208]

32 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

I don't suppose it would faze you whichever phase was connected........

 

(see what I..........)

 

 

Well, it's been a slow morning so far.

 

Dave

But it might be an electrifying experience.

 

Jamie

[PhilJ W]

31 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

But it might be an electrifying experience.

 

Jamie

[rockershovel]

8 hours ago, AndyID said:

 

Now I know how to say "intercity" in Polish.

But does it mean the same thing? In UK "Intercity" denotes a fast train with limited stopping points. In Netherlands it denotes a train which leaves one city and in the fullness of time, arrives at another after multiple stops. It also appears to be impossible to actually travel directly from any given starting point, to almost any destination in that country. 

[New Haven Neil]

1 hour ago, jamie92208 said:

 

 

Now it's time to go and get a couple of barrow loads of logs from the woodshed.  I really must try and progress the idea of a 7 1/4 gauge line down the 1 in 40 gradient to the house.

 

Jamie

 

P

 

 

 

Friend Nick can give guidance.....fat git holding tram down isn't Nick.....ahem.

 

 

 

[bbishop]

1 hour ago, Dave Hunt said:

I don't suppose it would faze you whichever phase was connected........

 

(see what I..........)

 

 

Well, it's been a slow morning so far.

 

Dave

Dave, I'm rather please you're at a loose end, because I could do with some help.  I'm preparing a mini talk on LSWR 4-4-0s (WGBeattie and early Adams) and could do with an external comparator and in some respects the Midland Railway could be ideal.

 

I am comparing heating surface, grate area, boiler pressure and cylinder volume.  I'm also including locomotive weight because it became a limiting factor for the Adams machines. 

 

Could you provide the Midland Railway figures for (say) the period from 1870 - 1890.  I probably could do with wheel arrangement because the MR stayed with 2-4-0s for a while - the LSWR liked 4-4-0s.

 

General topic for discussion - did the MR have a small engine policy or was it a light train policy?  Because the LNWR seemed to build smaller locomotives, then stuck two of them on a train.  That's why I can't use the LNWR as a comparator.

 

Second topic.  Why did the MR call them engines, because to the LSWR they were locomotives and the engine was just the cylinders, valve gear, rods and wheels.

 

Bill

[Oldddudders]

Does Robert Billinton have a role here? He was Johnson's assistant at Derby for 15 years before going back to Brighton on Stroudley's death in 1889, and so will have had a major hand in the detailed development of the Midland 4-4-0s. His subsequent LBSC B2 and B4 were distinctly Midland-ish.

 

Perhaps he deserves a mention, even thought the Southern found the T9 to be superior?

[Happy Hippo]

Neil, you are having too much fun.

 

Please stop teasing us, otherwise I shall be forced to drone on about more obscure S Wales railways.

[Tony_S]

1 hour ago, New Haven Neil said:

 

Friend Nick can give guidance.....fat git holding tram down isn't Nick.....ahem.

 

 

 

Are these the secret tests for the changes to HS2 that might be announced soon?

[New Haven Neil]

1 hour ago, Tony_S said:

Are these the secret tests for the changes to HS2 that might be announced soon?

 

Well it is in Yorkshire.....

[DenysW]

"General topic for discussion - did the MR have a small engine policy or was it a light train policy?"

 

Wikipedia's 'Locomotives of the Midland Railway' article has a long, only slightly defensive, article on this. Truth is probably 90% with Wikipedia and 10% that MR also got locked into a rut, ignoring the increasingly numerous routes requiring a a single, large, lightly-loaded engine rather that double-heading.

[Happy Hippo]

20 minutes ago, DenysW said:

"General topic for discussion - did the MR have a small engine policy or was it a light train policy?"

 

Wikipedia's 'Locomotives of the Midland Railway' article has a long, only slightly defensive, article on this. Truth is probably 90% with Wikipedia and 10% that MR also got locked into a rut, ignoring the increasingly numerous routes requiring a a single, large, lightly-loaded engine rather that double-heading.

M'lud,

 

I would refer the matter to my learned friend, the Chairman of the Midland Railway Society.

[coastalview]

19 hours ago, Northmoor said:

Oi, I went to one of those ex-Polytechnics (well it was one when I arrived, a Uni when I left).........!

To be fair, every University trades on its reputation to some degree but remember that just because they had a great reputation for a subject 20 years ago, doesn't mean they still provide the same standard of teaching; a department may have been led by a charismatic professor who's now retired, replaced by a bunch of businessmen good at bringing in industry funding based on that old reputation.  Consider that the former Polys have been Universities for nearly 30 years.

At the end of the day, it depends what you want to get from your time at Universities.  

Absolutely agree with this I went to a Poly, and strangely enough both my kids went to former Polys. 

[jamie92208]

3 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

M'lud,

 

I would refer the matter to my learned friend, the Chairman of the Midland Railway Society.

How much space have you got in your talk. Dave has been known to drone on wax lyrical for at leadt 2 hours to answer that question.

 

Jamie

Edited October 27, 2021 by jamie92208

[pH]

13 hours ago, AndyID said:

 

It was actually a serious question (or about as serious as you would ever expect from me.) IIRC something went slightly wrong during its construction and the two sides didn't quite line-up where they were supposed to meet in the middle. I can't find anything about it now but I remember making jokes about the "kink" when we drove over it (shortly after we passed Jackie Stewart's garage )

 

 

I don’t remember alignment problems, but it did need additional stiffening of the box girders after construction, as a result of the collapse of a similar bridge in Australia.

I think the main problem with it was that, by the time it was opened, it was an answer to a problem that no longer existed. The approved tourist route to the western Highlands in the 1950s and early 1960s avoided Glasgow to the south by leaving the A74 at Blackwood, going through East Kilbride and Paisley, then crossing the Erskine Ferry. The ferry lineups in summer were epic. Then the first parts of the motorway route round the north of Glasgow (M74, M73, M8) were opened, leaving only (!!) Great Western Road and part of the A8 to deal with, and that became the recommended tourist route.

 

My brother-in-law reckons he paid a significant proportion of the tolls collected on the bridge. He lived in Dumbarton, my sister-in-law lived in Greenock and they went out together for several years before they were married.

 

The Stewart family home was just west of the garage on the A82. My wife’s aunt and uncle, then one of her cousins, owned it at a later time. People kept stopping outside, in the slow lane of the A82, to look at the house!

Edited October 27, 2021 by pH

[SM42]

8 hours ago, rockershovel said:

But does it mean the same thing? In UK "Intercity" denotes a fast train with limited stopping points. In Netherlands it denotes a train which leaves one city and in the fullness of time, arrives at another after multiple stops. It also appears to be impossible to actually travel directly from any given starting point, to almost any destination in that country. 

 

Yes in general. Limited stops.

 

PolRegio or TLK as it used to be, stop at every hole in the fence. Or maybe they don't 

 

Here is a Polregio service calling at Stare Bojanowo on Monday. 

Very swish

 

 

 

There are so many operators now, it is hard to keep up from afar.

 

Andy

Edited October 27, 2021 by SM42
To add photo I forgot to adf

[Happy Hippo]

30 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

How much space have you got in your talk. Dave has been known to drone on wax lyrical for at leadt 2 hours to answer that question.

 

Jamie

I thought that was just his introduction to the subject!

[DenysW]

As The Boss only really tolerates LMS (although I've ground her down on K. Bay. Sts. B., and, to a lesser extent, articulated locomotives) I should perhaps join the Midland Railway Society.

 

For the avoidance of doubt, K.Bay.Sts. B ran green tank engines, none of them panniers.

Edited October 27, 2021 by DenysW
Extra text

[DenysW]

"Oi, I went to one of those ex-Polytechnics ..."

 

As did I (an ex-CAT to perfectionists). Some are now good, many have individually-good departments. But The Boss, until retirement, was responsible for shepherding students in Solihull into the best university that would accept them on grades they stood a reasonable chance of getting. Things were getting bad (for all concerned) when the University of Wolverhampton was suggested as the first choice.

[Happy Hippo]

If we get any more Midland Railway Society members on this forum they'll have to form a choir. (If only to try and rival the excellent close harmony singing of the Welsh element!)

 

 

[Happy Hippo]

2 minutes ago, DenysW said:

"Oi, I went to one of those ex-Polytechnics ..."

 

As did I (an ex-CAT to perfectionists). Some are now good, many have individually-good departments. But The Boss, until retirement, was responsible for shepherding students in Solihull into the best university that would accept them on grades they stood a reasonable chance of getting. Things were getting bad (for all concerned) when the University of Wolverhampton was suggested as the first choice.

Especially the Telford Campus!

[Dave Hunt]

Reference DenysW's post earlier - 

 

"General topic for discussion - did the MR have a small engine policy or was it a light train policy?"

Wikipedia's 'Locomotives of the Midland Railway' article has a long, only slightly defensive, article on this. Truth is probably 90% with Wikipedia and 10% that MR also got locked into a rut, ignoring the increasingly numerous routes requiring a a single, large, lightly-loaded engine rather that double-heading."

 

Ah, the Midland's small engine policy. There was actually no such thing. What the Midland did have was a policy of building engines to suit its infrastructure and operating system as well as prioritising spending on development of its routes and facilities whilst running its trains to time. I've written literally tens of thousands of words on the matter in books and articles, including some postings on RM Web, so, rather than taking a great deal of space in this forum I would refer those interested to page 26 et seq of The Midland Railway Company RM Web forum. There is much more to the subject but the material there will suffice to give a rough idea.

 

Dave

Edited October 27, 2021 by Dave Hunt

[Happy Hippo]

1 hour ago, DenysW said:

As The Boss only really tolerates LMS (although I've ground her down on K. Bay. Sts. B., and, to a lesser extent, articulated locomotives) I should perhaps join the Midland Railway Society.

 

For the avoidance of doubt, K.Bay.Sts. B ran green tank engines, none of them panniers.

What's not to like?

 

1 minute ago, Dave Hunt said:

Ah, the Midland's small engine policy. There was actually no such thing. What the Midland did have was a policy of building engines to suit its infrastructure and operating system as well as prioritising spending on development of its routes and facilities whilst running its trains to time. I've written literally tens of thousands of words on the matter in books and articles, including some postings on RM Web, so, rather than taking a great deal of space in this forum I would refer those interested to page 26 et seq of The Midland Railway Company RM Web forum. There is much more to the subject but the material there will suffice to give a rough idea.

 

Dave

The GWR could easily have heeded that mantra.

 

Run the whole line quite well with just  5 classes of loco.

 

Castle

Grange

28xx

41xx

57xx

 

Please note that even my beloved 56/66xx does not make the cut.

 

Mind you some of the lesser routes would require upgrading somewhat

[Dave Hunt]

7 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

What's not to like?

 

 

 

That looks as though it was inspired by looking at the Norfolk & Western's Y6 and turning it into a tank engine.

 

Dave  

[Tony_S]

1 hour ago, DenysW said:

But The Boss, until retirement, was responsible for shepherding students in Solihull into the best university that would accept them on grades they stood a reasonable chance of getting.

That is nice to know. I went to secondary school in Solihull and then the advice about university choices at my school was dire. I ended up using the clearing system. Later when I was teaching in a sixth form college I did try my best to help the students with their choices. Aditi was suddenly given the job of UCAS coordinator in her college when the chap who did became ill and didn’t return to work. She was helping one student who had only put London establishments on as she didn’t want to give up her part time work. Aditi asked her if she realised that Kings College’s grade requirements were much higher than her predicted grades. The student said she hadn’t checked as it was only a college and she thought it was easier than a university. 

[Dave Hunt]

20 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

 

The GWR could easily have heeded that mantra.

Run the whole line quite well with just  5 classes of loco.

Castle

Grange

28xx

41xx

57xx

 

A very valid assessment HH and one that could be applied, albeit with a few more types, to the LMS. When Josiah Stamp became President of the LMS Executive in 1926 he urged a massive reduction in the number of locomotive classes in service, giving as his preferred option no more than ten. 

 

Dave