Wright writes.....

[Barry Ten]

15 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

I have no idea whether there is a difference in the top speed of various species of birds, whether they are male or female. In most species, other than humans, is there much difference? I'm not a biologist, nor a zoologist to know.

 

 

 

 

 

I feel the answer's somewhere in these volumes:

 

 

All nine volumes of Birds of the Western Palearctic, a birthday treat to myself.

 

[bbishop]

3 cylinder 4-4-0s, the SR Schools class!

4 cylinder 4-4-0, the Manson No 11 for the GSWR.  On the NBR, the "Diver" No 224 was rebuilt as a tandem compound,  Unrebuilt fairly quickly!  Bill

[Barry Ten]

15 hours ago, Chas Levin said:

Beautiful painting Ian! I would worry about the long-term stability and robustness of card for this sort of model: do you come across card-built locos often and if so, do they seem to last well?

I'd have to agree that the tender looks a little out of proportion: did they always run with that size behind them?

Edited: Just caught up on more recent posts about the reasons for small L&Y tenders...

 

One of the scale societies had some card-built carriages on display at a recent exhibition which I think dated to the immediate post-war period. They looked very good with no obvious signs of wear. Obviously a loco will be subject to different factors but  imagine if the card was of sufficient thickness and Shellac-ed (etc) then it wouldn't necessarily be any less lasting. I think we have to bear in mind that plastic and white metal are both also rather easily susceptible to damage if not handled with care.

[drmditch]

59 minutes ago, Tony Wright said:

Our resident sparrow hawk uses the gap between our neighbours' house and ours (we only have neighbours one side) as a sort of aerial corridor by which it ambushes the little birds. I have to say it seems to go like a bullet in a straight line, crashing into its victims in a whirl of feathers. 

 

I find that I'm extremely ambivalent about this. Being rural, we have just about every species of songbird visit our feeders, and I regret the odd one having to perish. But having a raptor as well is extremely rewarding.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

We all of us have to eat!

There also a suitable flight path into and out of my garden.

 

I first saw the sparrow hawk on a sunny and warm spring day last year. I was sitting outside at the north end of the garden, when there was a whirl of grey and brown feathers, and then my favourite male blackbird (it had some white feathers on it's right wing) was struggling for it's life.

The blackbird escaped, and the hawk used it's exit flight path and I rushed round the corner and just managed to see it's wing shapes against the blue sky.

 

I didn't know whether to be happy for the blackbird that had survived, or sorry for the hawk that had missed her lunch!

Later in the year the hawk was on the lawn eating a kill. I didn't want to disturb her, because I read that they only succeed in 20% or less of strikes and that doesn't give a good energy balance. I did manage to get a (poor) picture though:

 

 

 

I think that my hawk was/is female. They are browner and  larger than the males. I hope it has survived the winter and I will see it again. I don't think they live more than three years or so, and it must be a highly stressful life being a solitary hunter.

 

(Edited after consulting the RSPB website)

 

 

Edited April 11, 2021 by drmditch

[Dunsignalling]

Some years ago, we had a Sparrow Hawk roost under one end of the box roof for a season. 

 

After a couple of months the ground beneath resembled the aftermath of a small war.....

 

Incredible fliers, though.

 

John  

[Denbridge]

16 minutes ago, Barry Ten said:

 

One of the scale societies had some card-built carriages on display at a recent exhibition which I think dated to the immediate post-war period. They looked very good with no obvious signs of wear. Obviously a loco will be subject to different factors but  imagine if the card was of sufficient thickness and Shellac-ed (etc) then it wouldn't necessarily be any less lasting. I think we have to bear in mind that plastic and white metal are both also rather easily susceptible to damage if not handled with care.

Whilst not locomotives or rolling stock, Pendons earliest card  buildings are now well over 70 years old and seem as good as the day they were made. And Pendon wasnt always in an environmentally stable building.

[robertcwp]

13 hours ago, sandra said:

 

 

I also tested the speed of a couple of RTR locos. Bachmann 60117 Bois Russell reached 87 mph and Hornby 60020 Guillemot had a top speed of 100. This is a new locomotive to Retford which I have just converted to EM gauge. Here she is at the flat crossing.I intend to renumber the loco to 60006 Sir Ralph Wedgwood. It also still needs more work to improve the appearance but it can manage a 12 coach train no doubt because I’ve added extra weight weight to it. However these RTR locos do have a feeling of fragility to them compared with a heavy loco built from a white metal kit and I must say I do prefer the kit built locomotives.

 

Sandra

 

I see the A4 is on the empty stock train. This has lots of heavy, kit-built carriages so it's by no means a light train. The Bachmann BSK at the front might find another use shortly. Good news that the A4 fleet is expanding. 

 

Has something happened to one of the shunt signals?

[Tony Wright]

4 hours ago, robertcwp said:

I see the A4 is on the empty stock train. This has lots of heavy, kit-built carriages so it's by no means a light train. The Bachmann BSK at the front might find another use shortly. Good news that the A4 fleet is expanding. 

 

Has something happened to one of the shunt signals?

Was it ever a shunt signal's base?

 

 

 

It was like that last year...................

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

 

[sandra]

4 hours ago, robertcwp said:

I see the A4 is on the empty stock train. This has lots of heavy, kit-built carriages so it's by no means a light train. The Bachmann BSK at the front might find another use shortly. Good news that the A4 fleet is expanding. 

 

Has something happened to one of the shunt signals?

Robert,

 

I’ve now renamed and numbered the A4 and fitted a front numberplate which was previously missing. I used the original Hornby driving wheels and tender wheels just moved out on their axles and only replaced the bogie wheels and those on the Cortazzi truck. The frames have been widened using lead cut to the shape of the frames and glued in place. I find this effective as it adds weight directly over the driving wheels.

 

What plans have you got for the BSK, is this for the proposed Kings Cross/Glasgow train?

 

I don’t think that is a ground signal but I’m not sure. I’ll have to investigate tomorrow when I go in the shed but I can’t see any point in there being a ground signal at that location. There is a ground signal on the up side for wrong line movements.

 

Sandra

[BrushVeteran]

It wasn't there in my visit with Tony in July 2015 either

[Major Clanger]

33 minutes ago, sandra said:

Robert,

 

I’ve now renamed and numbered the A4 and fitted a front numberplate which was previously missing. I used the original Hornby driving wheels and tender wheels just moved out on their axles and only replaced the bogie wheels and those on the Cortazzi truck. The frames have been widened using lead cut to the shape of the frames and glued in place. I find this effective as it adds weight directly over the driving wheels.

 

What plans have you got for the BSK, is this for the proposed Kings Cross/Glasgow train?

 

I don’t think that is a ground signal but I’m not sure. I’ll have to investigate tomorrow when I go in the shed but I can’t see any point in there being a ground signal at that location. There is a ground signal on the up side for wrong line movements.

 

Sandra

It's South box's no.64, for entering the down lie by.  It was there in 2012 - I built, installed and photographed it... Its partner for coming out of the siding can just be seen at far right.

[Tony Wright]

37 minutes ago, Major Clanger said:

It's South box's no.64, for entering the down lie by.  It was there in 2012 - I built, installed and photographed it... Its partner for coming out of the siding can just be seen at far right.

Thanks Andrew,

 

It's not in any pictures I've taken since then.

 

A victim of track cleaning or a derailment?

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[Tony Wright]

57 minutes ago, BrushVeteran said:

It wasn't there in my visit with Tony in July 2015 either

Was it really that long ago, Grahame?

 

It's probably the first (and last) time an ex-L&NWR 0-8-4T has run over the flat crossing at Retford. I built it from a Brassmasters' kit (painted by Geoff Haynes) for a friend. The chassis was, err, tricky! 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[Chuffer Davies]

Hi Tony et al,

how do you go about populating your engine crew?  

Frank

[Tony Wright]

50 minutes ago, Chuffer Davies said:

Hi Tony et al,

how do you go about populating your engine crew?  

Frank

Cast metal loco crew figures from Monty's Models (Dart Castings?) and/or Millholme Models.

 

Often mutilated to fit, painted and superglued in place. 

 

Working steam-outline locos (though I accept a problem if on shed) must be crewed, in the same way they must be lamped-up and, for good measure, carry loco tools.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

Edited April 11, 2021 by Tony Wright
to add something

[Chas Levin]

8 hours ago, Barry Ten said:

 

One of the scale societies had some card-built carriages on display at a recent exhibition which I think dated to the immediate post-war period. They looked very good with no obvious signs of wear. Obviously a loco will be subject to different factors but  imagine if the card was of sufficient thickness and Shellac-ed (etc) then it wouldn't necessarily be any less lasting. I think we have to bear in mind that plastic and white metal are both also rather easily susceptible to damage if not handled with care.

Hello Barry, interesting - you'd have to conclude that lasting that long, those card-built carriages must be pretty robust. Fully agreed that plastic and WM are susceptible to damage (as is brass, if you hit it hard enough!) but one disadvantage with card is its tendency to absorb airborne moisture; if it's well sealed with something like shellac though, in theory that should be prevented - good to know it works in practice too.

8 hours ago, Denbridge said:

Whilst not locomotives or rolling stock, Pendons earliest card  buildings are now well over 70 years old and seem as good as the day they were made. And Pendon wasnt always in an environmentally stable building.

Same reaction - delighted to hear this, as I too have card buildings.

[robertcwp]

3 hours ago, sandra said:

Robert,

 

I’ve now renamed and numbered the A4 and fitted a front numberplate which was previously missing. I used the original Hornby driving wheels and tender wheels just moved out on their axles and only replaced the bogie wheels and those on the Cortazzi truck. The frames have been widened using lead cut to the shape of the frames and glued in place. I find this effective as it adds weight directly over the driving wheels.

 

What plans have you got for the BSK, is this for the proposed Kings Cross/Glasgow train?

 

I don’t think that is a ground signal but I’m not sure. I’ll have to investigate tomorrow when I go in the shed but I can’t see any point in there being a ground signal at that location. There is a ground signal on the up side for wrong line movements.

 

Sandra

The ground signal in this image: 

60085_Retford by Robert Carroll, on Flickr

I can't remember whether it was represented on the layout. Note the carriages stabled in the down siding.

 

Yes the BSK would be for the King's Cross-Glasgow, which will need four. I have the other three. I also noticed that the Scarborough through carriage was missing from the rear of the Northumbrian. I have a Thompson CK ready for it.

[robertcwp]

3 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

Was it ever a shunt signal's base?

 

 

 

It was like that last year...................

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

 

Clearly been missing a while then! I did find a box with some spares in the railway room but can't remember where.

[Ian Rathbone]

On 10/04/2021 at 21:08, Chas Levin said:

Beautiful painting Ian! I would worry about the long-term stability and robustness of card for this sort of model: do you come across card-built locos often and if so, do they seem to last well?

I'd have to agree that the tender looks a little out of proportion: did they always run with that size behind them?

Edited: Just caught up on more recent posts about the reasons for small L&Y tenders...

It was the only card loco I have painted. It came to me already painted so had been around for a bit. It needed lots of tlc but, of course, I couldn’t strip it, so lots of very gentle rubbing down was called for. As I recall its bodywork was very rigid so it had been built by someone who knew what they were doing but as it was ready painted I don’t know what pretreatment it had received in the way of shellac or primers. The splashers should have polished brass beading, something else that can’t be done in card, not on this engine anyway. 
 

A proper engine - again 7mm scale but live steam and scratch built. It has a pot boiler but can run for 20 minutes on one fill.

 

The ornate lettering is a transfer, but because of the heat, I couldn’t use transfers for the boiler bands so the lines were ruled directly on to the bands.

 

Ian R

[Tony Teague]

12 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

Cast metal loco crew figures from Monty's Models (Dart Castings?) and/or Millholme Models.

 

Often mutilated to fit, painted and superglued in place. 

 

Working steam-outline locos (though I accept a problem if on shed) must be crewed, in the same way they must be lamped-up and, for good measure, carry loco tools.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

Tony

 

Did you mean Millholme or perhaps Modelu?

(I wasn't aware Millhome did any figures).

Tony

[Tony Wright]

20 minutes ago, Tony Teague said:

 

Tony

 

Did you mean Millholme or perhaps Modelu?

(I wasn't aware Millhome did any figures).

Tony

They're Millholme, Tony,

 

In cast metal, not 3D printed.

 

I bought several, some time ago. They come in packs of two (driver and fireman, with different pose combinations) and were, at the time, £2.00 for a pair. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[Tony Wright]

12 hours ago, robertcwp said:

The ground signal in this image: 

60085_Retford by Robert Carroll, on Flickr

I can't remember whether it was represented on the layout. Note the carriages stabled in the down siding.

 

Yes the BSK would be for the King's Cross-Glasgow, which will need four. I have the other three. I also noticed that the Scarborough through carriage was missing from the rear of the Northumbrian. I have a Thompson CK ready for it.

Thanks Robert,

 

And there I was, offering to help with making the point rodding!

 

And, make the telegraph poles!!!!!!!!!

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

Edited April 12, 2021 by Tony Wright
to add something

[sandra]

12 hours ago, robertcwp said:

The ground signal in this image: 

60085_Retford by Robert Carroll, on Flickr

I can't remember whether it was represented on the layout. Note the carriages stabled in the down siding.

 

Yes the BSK would be for the King's Cross-Glasgow, which will need four. I have the other three. I also noticed that the Scarborough through carriage was missing from the rear of the Northumbrian. I have a Thompson CK ready for it.

Thanks for that Robert. I will try and find the missing ground signal. I do notice that many of the photographs taken of the flat crossing show stock stored in that siding. As there are now a number of spare coaches I think we should store a few in that siding to recreate this scene.

 

I presume this was intended to be a lay-by siding but it does seem to be in a strange location. Reversing any stock into it blocks both the down main and both lines of the GC. Also a few yards north there is a down goods avoiding line and a goods lay-by siding at the north end by Babworth box. So this siding seems to be unnecessary.

 

Sandra

[Tony Teague]

1 hour ago, Tony Wright said:

They're Millholme, Tony,

 

In cast metal, not 3D printed.

 

I bought several, some time ago. They come in packs of two (driver and fireman, with different pose combinations) and were, at the time, £2.00 for a pair. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

Always more to learn!

I use masterpiece falcon Figures, Modelu & Dart Castings.

Tony

[Major Clanger]

1 hour ago, sandra said:

Thanks for that Robert. I will try and find the missing ground signal. I do notice that many of the photographs taken of the flat crossing show stock stored in that siding. As there are now a number of spare coaches I think we should store a few in that siding to recreate this scene.

 

I presume this was intended to be a lay-by siding but it does seem to be in a strange location. Reversing any stock into it blocks both the down main and both lines of the GC. Also a few yards north there is a down goods avoiding line and a goods lay-by siding at the north end by Babworth box. So this siding seems to be unnecessary.

 

Sandra

Sandra,

 

Roy's intention was to build a rake of carriages (possibly a 6-car rake) to recreate the Leeds excursion which was advertised on the back wall. What the attraction of Leeds for 6 carriages' worth of Retford citizens was I don't know, but apparently it was a fairly regular excursion. Be careful if you put stock in the siding as I don't think it's level, so it might need spragging. I don't know who or what demolished the ground signal, but I think its remains were in a wagon in the fish dock sidings.