Wright writes.....

[gr.king]

Going by the photograph the primary thing that makes me consider that Little Salkeld not only looks a good layout, but is head and shoulders above almost all other N gauge, is the hand-built and correctly proportioned track. The subdued scenic colours and scratch-built "natural" appearances to the regionally appropriate buildings reinforce the impression. I had to double check for confirmation that the layout is N gauge rather than 2FS or a larger scale altogether.

 

Although the tendency is not restricted to N gauge, far too much N gauge modelling features ready-made, girder-like rail profiles (even in the supposedly fine-scale versions) and badly proportioned moulded track bases combined with vivid colours and obviously plastic, geometrically regular buildings.

[Tony Wright]

3 hours ago, Jesse Sim said:

Evening Tony, did those wagons I sent with the D2 come in handy at all? 

Afternoon Jesse,

 

I'll let you know when I've opened the package! 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[Tony Wright]

Time for another of my grumps, I'm afraid! 

 

It has nothing to do with railway modelling, but (perhaps) more indicative of how I perceive our 'modern' world.

 

Mo and I had to do two things in Stamford this morning. Visit our local bank/building society and begin a new contract for Mo's mobile phone.

 

All the (young) folk who attended to us were efficient and well-mannered, but, Oh dear, what has happened to modern speech? Consonants, particularly 'T's, in the middle of words seem to no longer be pronounced. Neither do any consonants at the end of words. Not only that, what has happened to the pronunciation of 'th' now? It's become universally 'f' among those of more tender years it would seem. The chap in the phone shop said 'You get 'free' special features with this phone'. 'Good', said I, 'It's nice to have something which we don't have to pay for'. He looked at me with astonishment. He meant, of course 'three' features (what they were, I have no idea, nor want to know!), but by not pronouncing his words properly, the meaning was rather lost. He also 'qualified' most of his comments with '100%'. Since I had no reference point as to what he was referring to, I was rather bewildered. Were the phones 100% better for making calls than, say, using a banana? He also told us he really knew his stuff. Perhaps it's me who's the dim one! 

 

I recall years ago, in my teaching days, from time to time kids would be referred to the LEA speech therapist. Not being able to pronounce 'th' properly was considered a bit of an impediment, as was an inability to pronounce 'r' correctly. Whether such things go on now, I have no idea, but the local school speech therapist in Stamford must have been exceptionally busy! Perhaps it's no longer considered important. 

 

I have no wish to be considered insensitive to those with 'genuine' speech impediments, but surely some of this is down to lazy speech? Anyway, are miserable old gits like me allowed to make 'critical' observations on anything these days? 

 

Fear not, my next post will be about railway modelling. 

[The Stationmaster]

49 minutes ago, Tony Wright said:

Time for another of my grumps, I'm afraid! 

 

It has nothing to do with railway modelling, but (perhaps) more indicative of how I perceive our 'modern' world.

 

Mo and I had to do two things in Stamford this morning. Visit our local bank/building society and begin a new contract for Mo's mobile phone.

 

All the (young) folk who attended to us were efficient and well-mannered, but, Oh dear, what has happened to modern speech? Consonants, particularly 'T's, in the middle of words seem to no longer be pronounced. Neither do any consonants at the end of words. Not only that, what has happened to the pronunciation of 'th' now? It's become universally 'f' among those of more tender years it would seem. The chap in the phone shop said 'You get 'free' special features with this phone'. 'Good', said I, 'It's nice to have something which we don't have to pay for'. He looked at me with astonishment. He meant, of course 'three' features (what they were, I have no idea, nor want to know!), but by not pronouncing his words properly, the meaning was rather lost. He also 'qualified' most of his comments with '100%'. Since I had no reference point as to what he was referring to, I was rather bewildered. Were the phones 100% better for making calls than, say, using a banana? He also told us he really knew his stuff. Perhaps it's me who's the dim one! 

 

I recall years ago, in my teaching days, from time to time kids would be referred to the LEA speech therapist. Not being able to pronounce 'th' properly was considered a bit of an impediment, as was an inability to pronounce 'r' correctly. Whether such things go on now, I have no idea, but the local school speech therapist in Stamford must have been exceptionally busy! Perhaps it's no longer considered important. 

 

I have no wish to be considered insensitive to those with 'genuine' speech impediments, but surely some of this is down to lazy speech? Anyway, are miserable old gits like me allowed to make 'critical' observations on anything these days? 

 

Fear not, my next post will be about railway modelling. 

Not to worry Tony - back in my big railway days in the early 1990s I received a letter from a young fellah who officially had charge of one part of the Freight business's traction assets - a sort of 'fleet manager' I suppose.  He, rather amusingly, seemed unable to understand the difference between affect and effect.  So when I responded, literally, to his question about how using a particular type of loco would effect the haulage of a new traffic flow he was extremely puzzled by the sentence in my reply which said 'by being coupled to it'.  And he was equally unable to comprehend why I went on to explain the affect of using that particular Class of loco instead of the ones on which our planning had been based - the subsequent 'phone conversation was almost as good as the written exchange.

 

It was almost a relief in a subsequent job to find myself debating with SNCF opposite numbers the precise wording and punctuation of minutes to ensure that they conveyed precisely and unambiguously the same meaning in our two different languages.  And it was always a particular pleasure to deal with one SNCF chap who once upon a time had been a loco Driver at Le Mans depot but had clearly had an education which had taken him to a level of artistry with the written version of his native tongue and was also most punctilious when it came to pronunciation - a big help to me as it happened.  (He also knew some excellent restaurants, even more helpful  )

[ecgtheow]

I am not a pedant because languages are living & so change over time but the Stationmaster may have got a bit mixed up. "Affect" is nearly always used as a verb whereas "effect" is used primarily as a noun though sometimes as a verb too. So writing that the affect of using a particular class of loco would be unusual (source Oxford English Dictionary).

 

In good humour,

 

William

[Killybegs]

Some of these strange pronunciations (to our ears) may also be down to local dialects or ethic origins and we are certainly not supposed to criticise those. Indeed, it would seem that unless one adopts such manner of speech, one is unlikely to get a job in broadcasting and certainly not doing voice overs on TV adverts. Thank goodness for the mute button on the remote. 

Yours,

Grumpy of Donegal

[CF MRC]

4 hours ago, gr.king said:

Going by the photograph the primary thing that makes me consider that Little Salkeld not only looks a good layout, but is head and shoulders above almost all other N gauge, is the hand-built and correctly proportioned track. The subdued scenic colours and scratch-built "natural" appearances to the regionally appropriate buildings reinforce the impression. I had to double check for confirmation that the layout is N gauge rather than 2FS or a larger scale altogether.

 

Although the tendency is not restricted to N gauge, far too much N gauge modelling features ready-made, girder-like rail profiles (even in the supposedly fine-scale versions) and badly proportioned moulded track bases combined with vivid colours and obviously plastic, geometrically regular buildings.

The greatest shame with N gauge Peco track, is that when the ‘code 55 rail’ was introduced the extrusion die was made with a rail head that was far too wide, with the rest is of course buried within the sleeper moulding.  Fifty five thou high rail is a good compromise in N as it represents the height of the rail and chair plate.  Indeed, we used 55 thou NS strip made to our order for Chiltern Green 40+ years ago.   A good artist can disguise the track base but the rail head always looks too heavy, to my eye. 

 

I also fully agree with the various comments about pronunciation, it is not the use of local dialects on radio and TV, it’s just sloppy diction, probably just dumbing down to make the listeners who don’t speak clearly feel comfortable.  

 

Tim

[Porcy Mane]

Is the diction in this passage correct?  

 

 

I took the liberty with a bit photoshop editing with those pics I took a couple of weekends ago. Hard to believe I walked past that very gate in the quite recent past whilst looking for remnants of Mrs. Lopsided.

 

https://goo.gl/maps/xYfZEp49anL2

 

P

Edited February 18, 2019 by Porcy Mane

[Jesse Sim]

I have a few mates who say ‘free’ instead of ‘three’, we all laugh it off and call them illiterates. But I can say that my whole group of Bloke’s and Sheila’s say ‘100%’ when agreeing with something, or just saying ‘hunnid’. 

 

Looks like I’ll be copping more English lessons again this November! 

[jwealleans]

Including some Apostrophe Drill......

[Headstock]

On 16/02/2019 at 20:01, Tony Wright said:

Not long returned from a lovely day at the Biggleswade Show. My thanks to all at the East Beds Club for looking after Mo and me so well and for putting on such a friendly (and high-quality) event. 

 

 

The star of the show for me was Little Salkeld in N, built by Paul Moss. It really is beautiful work.

 

Speaking of beautiful work, Steve (Atso) brought along some of his 3D-printed carriages in 2mm/N. These are some of the finest models (in any scale) I've ever seen, and it'll be my privilege to photograph them in the not-too-distant future. 

 

I was able to fix a couple of models, and some more money will be heading to CRUK. Not only that, many of the donated RTR models were sold on the club second-hand stall; again the monies will be going to CRUK. 

 

All the loco kits being sold on behalf of a bereaved family have gone as well, as well as loads of bits and pieces. My thanks to all the purchasers. 

 

I'm frequently (now) not surprised when some folk question the price I'll put on a kit. I had a mostly-built Millholme Stanier Mogul for sale. It included all wheels (Romfords/Markits), a Mashima motor and a Branchlines' gearbox. For the price I asked, effectively the kit came free (with a few bonus bits as well). Yet, some quibble about this. Thankfully, a very-enlightened builder bought it and two more kits as well. 

 

 

 

Evening Tony,

 

Fantastic scenic modelling, there is something particularly evocative about a well executed railway cutting. However, best in show? No lamps on the loco again and a pretty unbelievable formation behind the loco. A BG and no less than one, two, three and four corridor composites and a brake third! No way on that one.

[CF MRC]

1 hour ago, Porcy Mane said:

Is the diction in this passage correct?  

 

 

I took the liberty with a bit photoshop editing with those pics I took a couple of weekends ago. Hard to believe I walked past that very gate in the quite recent past whilst looking for remnants of Mrs. Lopsided.

 

https://goo.gl/maps/xYfZEp49anL2

 

P

That is a bit spooky, especially with the Google street view below.  The irony is, that it is such a small part of CF, especially when I put it onto the layout over the weekend.  Will look forward to seeing it all together again at Basingstoke (9-10th March).

 

Tim

[Philou]

An enquiring mind should like to know ............. what is the problem with a BG and no less than one, two, three and four composite coaches plus a brake third? I shouldn't want to make the same error.

 

Cheers,

 

Philip

[micklner]

Do N gauge lamps actually exist ? They must be the size of a pinhead ?

[nerron]

A Cockney when asked his age replied "firty free" He was then asked to spell thirty three to which he replied "you can't spell firty free it is a number!"

[Northmoor]

6 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

The chap in the phone shop said 'You get 'free' special features with this phone'. 'Good', said I, 'It's nice to have something which we don't have to pay for'. He looked at me with astonishment. He meant, of course 'three' features (what they were, I have no idea, nor want to know!), but by not pronouncing his words properly, the meaning was rather lost. He also 'qualified' most of his comments with '100%'. Since I had no reference point as to what he was referring to, I was rather bewildered. Were the phones 100% better for making calls than, say, using a banana? He also told us he really knew his stuff. Perhaps it's me who's the dim one! 

 

In my experience, a young man working in a mobile phone shop is, it's safe to say, unlikely to be taking a break from curing cancer.

[Headstock]

33 minutes ago, Philou said:

An enquiring mind should like to know ............. what is the problem with a BG and no less than one, two, three and four composite coaches plus a brake third? I shouldn't want to make the same error.

 

Cheers,

 

Philip

 

Evening Phillip,

 

one composite would provide enough first class seats for a train or portion of five carriages, two would be possible under some circumstances, three would be unheard of and four would be science fiction.

 

21 minutes ago, micklner said:

Do N gauge lamps actually exist ? They must be the size of a pinhead ?

 

Evening Mick,

 

yes. https://www.osbornsmodels.com/springside-n2--n-scale-gwr-head--tail-lamps-red-5-17190-p.asp

 

I was rather disappointed that one of you Thompson Pacifics was not on display when mention was made of the six wheel tenders some pages back.

[micklner]

As requested                          

[grahame]

45 minutes ago, nerron said:

A Cockney when asked his age replied "firty free" He was then asked to spell thirty three to which he replied "you can't spell firty free it is a number!"

 

That's more likely to be a 'mockney' rather than a cockney. You wouldn't have been able to understand a true cockney, especially if he was talking in rhyming slang.

 

G 

[Manxcat]

Good luck with the Glasgow accents this weekend at Model Rail Scotland Tony. I'll be available as an interpreter in case of an emergency, should the need arise!

 

Archie

[CF MRC]

53 minutes ago, micklner said:

Do N gauge lamps actually exist ? They must be the size of a pinhead ?

Yes they do.  The best are from from Alan Butler at Modelu. 

 

Tim

[Atso]

9 minutes ago, CF MRC said:

Yes they do.  The best are from from Alan Butler at Modelu. 

 

Tim

 

Yes, they are the best but yours aren't quite standard products, are they Tim?

[Headstock]

17 minutes ago, micklner said:

As requested                          

 

Cracking wee beasties Mick. Are we looking at magic resin or is there a Hornby A4 cab in the mix?

[johnarcher]

5 hours ago, ecgtheow said:

I am not a pedant because languages are living & so change over time but the Stationmaster may have got a bit mixed up. "Affect" is nearly always used as a verb whereas "effect" is used primarily as a noun though sometimes as a verb too. So writing that the affect of using a particular class of loco would be unusual (source Oxford English Dictionary).

 

In good humour,

 

William

All right, just for fun (and also in good humour), affect as a noun is indeed unusual, but quite possible. In aesthetic theory (especially in baroque music) it is a direct emotional response to a sound or sight. So maybe if the class of loco used was in a livery that clashed horribly with that of the stock it might cause a negative aesthetic/emotional affect?

[Atso]

1 hour ago, Headstock said:

one composite would provide enough first class seats for a train or portion of five carriages, two would be possible under some circumstances, three would be unheard of and four would be science fiction.

 

I guess it depends on period and locations as well. The c. 1934-37 2.04pm Cambridge to King's Cross set I'm modelling has no less than three composites in a six coach formation. A higher number of first class seats than you might expect for such a service but it was also made up of available cascaded stock - still evidence that it could happen, regardless whether it was to actually serve first class passengers.

 

I've been lucky enough to get a peek at both the 1935 and 1938 GN section Carriage Working Books recently. There are a surprising number of composites and composite brakes in several of the GN mainline expresses that worked to and from King's Cross - I've not seen the ECML workings yet. I suspect that this is because these trains typically had quite a few through carriages working to multiple other destinations and therefore it was deemed prudent to offer both first and third class seating for each section.

Edited February 18, 2019 by Atso