Prototype for everything corner.

[PhilMortimer]

Ah yes, the Swindon Magic Roundabout - brings back a few memories and not a little sweat and fear!! Used to have to negotiate it in my old S3 LWB Diesel Land Rover. I got quite good at it - as some one said, the trick is to keep going and I would generally lay on the accelerator as I negotiated it - leaving a diesel exhaust cloud like a destroyer at full chat. I still have the Landy with me in North America and still pull the same trick occasionally.

 

The last time I encountered this was the first time I brought my American then girlfriend (now wife) to the UK. She was still confused at driving on the left and encounterijg "normal" roundabouts and so when we encountered this, she just froze. Fortunately, I was driving and whipped through it in style, but she still hasn't forgotten the experience.....

[talisman56]

On 18/05/2020 at 20:06, KeithHC said:

Yes it is possible to avoid it. ...

 

Keith

 

Stay on the M4?

 

A predecessor to the Magic Roundabout in the 'awkward junctions' category I encountered on a regular basis long before the MR was conceived is the 'S(c)illy Isles' A307/A309 junction at the western end of the Kingston bypass...

 

Edited May 20, 2020 by talisman56

[Gibbo675]

Hi Folks,

 

My question is, is it possible to recreate the Magic Roundabout using just Peco Streamline or would you have to use Setrack points for the smaller peripheral roundabouts ?

 

Gibbo.

[jonny777]

14 hours ago, rab said:

The wife and I used to go to barn dances,

and there is a barn dance based on this roundabout.

I could never get that right so I'd be useless on the real thing.

 

is there one in Milton Keynes as well?

 

 

I don't know, but there is one in Hemel Hempstead. It is called Plough Roundabout. 

[Wickham Green too]

2 hours ago, jonny777 said:

 

 

I don't know, but there is one in Hemel Hempstead. It is called Plough Roundabout. 

Not Plough-Into Roundabout ?

[caradoc]

19 hours ago, The Johnster said:

Been there done that.  It is apparently impossible to drive around Swindon without encountering this, this, whatever this thing is...  Is there any truth in the tale that it is in fact a magic pentangle to seal a portal to hell, and if you're in Swindon, how do you know whether or not it's shut...

 

Coming as I do from Oxford, Swindon is definitely a place to be avoided, and indeed not even mentioned in polite company. However there is now a possibility of Swindon Town and Oxford United being in the same division next season (if there is a next season), which will inevitably cause some additional contact, and no doubt friction.

 

[The Johnster]

I always admired Diana Fluck, and the Cheltenham Flyer, for getting out as fast as they could...

4 hours ago, Gibbo675 said:

Hi Folks,

 

My question is, is it possible to recreate the Magic Roundabout using just Peco Streamline or would you have to use Setrack points for the smaller peripheral roundabouts ?

 

Gibbo.

Depends how much space you have, but, properly signalled and with the correct priority given to different classes of train, it could make an interesting layout!  You'd need a huge number of operators, though.

[Gibbo675]

11 minutes ago, The Johnster said:

I always admired Diana Fluck, and the Cheltenham Flyer, for getting out as fast as they could...

Depends how much space you have, but, properly signalled and with the correct priority given to different classes of train, it could make an interesting layout!  You'd need a huge number of operators, though.

Hi Johnster,

 

I would have thought that roundabouts would be permissive block ?!?!

 

Gibbo.

[montyburns56]

"Yeah, I've got to glue the sides and roof on and then it's almost done."

 

 

[montyburns56]

Hands up, who didn't know that the GWR also dabbled in 1500v DC electrification?

 

 

The Great Western Electric Railtour, Broadbottom, April 1979

 

 

Guide Bridge

[phil_sutters]

2 hours ago, caradoc said:

 

Coming as I do from Oxford, Swindon is definitely a place to be avoided, and indeed not even mentioned in polite company. However there is now a possibility of Swindon Town and Oxford United being in the same division next season (if there is a next season), which will inevitably cause some additional contact, and no doubt friction.

 

My parents who lived in Oxford never forgave Royal Mail for relocating their sorting to Swindon. It was never as reliable as when it was sorted locally - they said!

[melmerby]

2 hours ago, The Johnster said:

I always admired Diana Fluck, and the Cheltenham Flyer, for getting out as fast as they could...

Depends how much space you have, but, properly signalled and with the correct priority given to different classes of train, it could make an interesting layout!  You'd need a huge number of operators, though.

Make it DCC and controlled by TrainController or iTrain. Sit back and watch the fun.

[russ p]

2 hours ago, montyburns56 said:

Hands up, who didn't know that the GWR also dabbled in 1500v DC electrification?

 

 

The Great Western Electric Railtour, Broadbottom, April 1979

 

 

Guide Bridge

 

 

I remember seeing this as I was on another charter over the woodhead from Middlesbrough the same day. Hard to believe its 41 years ago

[Wickham Green too]

2 hours ago, montyburns56 said:

Hands up, who didn't know that the GWR also dabbled in 1500v DC electrification?

Well, nobody seems to admit to putting their mits in the air ....... I guess the GWR would have built locos similar to that but with railcar-style beaks on the end ( a bit like the class 89 all those years later ). Any search for 'GWR electrification', or the likes, only comes up with references to the current ongoing project, of course - or what it might have been if funded .......................

[john new]

10 minutes ago, Wickham Green too said:

Well, nobody seems to admit to putting their mits in the air ....... I guess the GWR would have built locos similar to that but with railcar-style beaks on the end ( a bit like the class 89 all those years later ). Any search for 'GWR electrification', or the likes, only comes up with references to the current ongoing project, of course - or what it might have been if funded .......................

 

The GWR did commission a study into electrification in the West Country but it was not progressed. (Probably one by  Merz & McLellan). I know a write up has been published, I remember reading about it, but I can't remember where.

 

 

[montyburns56]

"I'll just put the DMU body on the track while I work on the chassis"

 

 

 

[jonny777]

I think you bought those models on Ebay, as 'heavily weathered'. 

 

 

[Wickham Green too]

1 hour ago, john new said:

 

The GWR did commission a study into electrification in the West Country but it was not progressed. (Probably one by  Merz & McLellan). I know a write up has been published, I remember reading about it, but I can't remember where.

 

 

Indeed ...... now, putting Merz & McLellan into the search too, we find a page on good ol' rmweb ! : mweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/14790-imaginary-locomotives/page/23/

[melmerby]

1 hour ago, montyburns56 said:

"I'll just put the DMU body on the track while I work on the chassis"

 

 

 

If you are going to vandalise a train do it properly.

Don't just break a few windows like Footex hooligans

[Gibbo675]

7 minutes ago, melmerby said:

If you are going to vandalise a train do it properly.

Don't just break a few windows like Footex hooligans

Hi Keith,

 

That little lot looks like the remains of the runaway oil train that crashed into some DMU's at Chester in 1972.

 

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

 

Gibbo.

[melmerby]

2 hours ago, Wickham Green too said:

Well, nobody seems to admit to putting their mits in the air ....... I guess the GWR would have built locos similar to that but with railcar-style beaks on the end ( a bit like the class 89 all those years later ). Any search for 'GWR electrification', or the likes, only comes up with references to the current ongoing project, of course - or what it might have been if funded .......................

As they had aleady commissioned a Turbine loco from Switzerland, maybe it would have had Swiss influence (Middle Chrome Green Crocodile?)

 

Keep your eyes on the rods, there must be some wheelslip!

Not bad for a centenarian.

 

Probably more like this:

Edited May 19, 2020 by melmerby

[iands]

I know for practical reasons where a certain artistic licence is invoked and that some model layouts are foreshortened to accommodate stations, signals, junctions etc., in order to include as much interest as possible. But what about lineside speed boards indicating a change of line speed in a relatively short distance? Fear not, there is evidence of a prototype of that very situation - on the ECML crossing Fenham Bog north of Belford.

 

PS - it was a few years ago, so might have changed by now.

 

 

[Metr0Land]

2 hours ago, jonny777 said:

I think you bought those models on Ebay, as 'heavily profesionally weathered'. 

 

 

 

Fixed it for you

[russ p]

28 minutes ago, iands said:

I know for practical reasons where a certain artistic licence is invoked and that some model layouts are foreshortened to accommodate stations, signals, junctions etc., in order to include as much interest as possible. But what about lineside speed boards indicating a change of line speed in a relatively short distance? Fear not, there is evidence of a prototype of that very situation - on the ECML crossing Fenham Bog north of Belford.

 

PS - it was a few years ago, so might have changed by now.

 

 

 

Unfortunately that is still a fairly common occurrence,  absolute waste of money 

[The Johnster]

20 hours ago, john new said:

 

The GWR did commission a study into electrification in the West Country but it was not progressed. (Probably one by  Merz & McLellan). I know a write up has been published, I remember reading about it, but I can't remember where.

 

 

The GW were interested at one time in a scheme to electrify the South Devon Railway downline from Newton Abbott, and I assume the Cornwall as well, the issue being the same one it always is with the GW, the South Devon banks.  These are the legacy of Brunel's failed atmospheric railway, and are a major obstacle if you want to run a service through non-stop from Paddington to Plymouth and not have to stop to change locos or attach at pilot at Newton Abbott; your steam loco is near the end of it's journey, and coal is limited, and your fireman is tired.  Of course, the electrification needs you to stop at NA or EX for a loco change; most trains stop there anyway.  

 

I believe it was a 1,500v dc scheme that was being investigated, and like many things, it fell foul of German foreign policy decisions between 1939 and 45.  What the locos would have looked like is anyone's guess, but if you look at contemporary mainland European schemes, they tend to be boxy or crocodiley.  Twin or triple units were used in Scandinavia for the iron ore trains.

 

Nice thought, isn't it, an unlined green crocodile or triple box rod drive combo of about 6khp with a 60 wagon china clay humming up to Brent out of Plymouth at a rock steady 50mp not even at full throttle, while the down CRE passes behind a 3khp 2-D-2, fully lined out with shining brass window frames and air horns, and perhaps a polished copper shirtbutton roundel, followed by perhaps a 3 car articulated local emu stopper styled like a flying banana, good for 60mph with 3 fully loaded K40s in tow.  On the down, the next train is a fully fitted express goods, the 47xx having come off at NA, coasting downhill behind a 2.500hp mixed traffic 1-D-1, fully lined out but not with the polished metalwork.  For some reason in my mind's eye all these locos have silver painted roofs...