RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted June 1, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 1, 2021 The IRO is a modern creation - and none the worse for that. Arguably it has never been more necessary than now. And you have demonstrated why the signal engineers opted to have an Institution rather than an Association.... 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold 5BarVT Posted June 1, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 1, 2021 But an association would give the signalman something to fall back on . . . ! Paul. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Stubby47 Posted June 1, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 1, 2021 1 hour ago, Oldddudders said: The IRO is a modern creation - and none the worse for that. Arguably it has never been more necessary than now. And you have demonstrated why the signal engineers opted to have an Institution rather than an Association.... 1 hour ago, 5BarVT said: But an association would give the signalman something to fall back on . . . ! Paul. What has all that got to do with chocolate biscuits? 3 3 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Barry O Posted June 1, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 1, 2021 8 hours ago, Gedward said: A Mars a day, helps you work rest and play. As first written by the late Mureay Walker.. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium St Enodoc Posted June 2, 2021 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted June 2, 2021 7 hours ago, acg5324 said: Indeed.....came across plain chocolate ones recently....very nice. Ooooh, they sound good! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium St Enodoc Posted June 2, 2021 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted June 2, 2021 7 hours ago, 5BarVT said: The IRO (Institution of Railway Operators) feels a lot more relevant (as an outsider). As a signal engineer I am MIEE (O.K. MIET, but I’m old and grumpy) because that’s how I had to get C.Eng. back then. I’m also FIRSE and go to their meetings and conferences (well, did) because that has been far more useful to me in practice. Paul. 6 hours ago, Oldddudders said: The IRO is a modern creation - and none the worse for that. Arguably it has never been more necessary than now. And you have demonstrated why the signal engineers opted to have an Institution rather than an Association.... In my view, the IRO is a most welcome addition to the group of professional bodies associated with the rail industry. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted June 2, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 2, 2021 8 hours ago, St Enodoc said: In my view, the IRO is a most welcome addition to the group of professional bodies associated with the rail industry. Of course in the old BR days, there were evening classes in Rules & Signalling and multiple other skills, with certificates for passing an exam. I think the footplate grades had Mutual Improvement Classes. All of this went out with the bathwater decades ago. Anent advertising slogans - Du vin, du pain, du Boursin. Lunch today. 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium St Enodoc Posted June 3, 2021 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted June 3, 2021 15 hours ago, Oldddudders said: Of course in the old BR days, there were evening classes Correspondence courses too, Ian. I took a couple of those over the years (not in Rules & Regs though, although perhaps I should have done) 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium St Enodoc Posted June 5, 2021 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted June 5, 2021 (edited) On 31/05/2021 at 12:42, St Enodoc said: Which reminds me that it is many a long year since I ate a mint and plain chocolate Jacobs Club biscuit... Found these in our local Aldi this morning (other supermarkets are available)! Milk not plain but a good second-best. Edited June 29, 2022 by St Enodoc images restored 10 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Popular Post St Enodoc Posted June 6, 2021 Author RMweb Premium Popular Post Share Posted June 6, 2021 (edited) I had a number of other things to do this weekend, including yesterday's BRMA monthly meeting at @RudderC Charles' place, where he had set up his extended 0 gauge layout. The extension runs beyond the existing Uley Junction fiddle yard and joins a double-track continuous run, which has some loops on one side. Apart from being a test track, the idea is to give Charles' grandchildren a layout on which to run trains round and round. It was a very enjoyable afternoon and it stayed dry - fortunately, because the extension occupies half of Charles' drive outside the garage. Today I did get into the railway room and extended the single line and Wheal Veronica branch track bases. These now reach a point where the tracks are perpendicular to the long Porthmellyn Road wall and parallel with the short Nancegwithey Viaduct wall. This made it easy to check the horizontal alignment before fixing everything in place. First, I installed two more long joists across the L-girders then added three further shorter joists, approximately radial to the tracks. I cut these three joists to length so that they can support the fascia in due course. Next, I worked my way round adding risers, using the spirit level to give a falling 1 in 100 gradient on the single line and a rising 1 in 50 gradient on the china-clay line. I also packed the track bases with 1mm styrene on one side of the risers to give some superelevation. The vertical separation between the two tracks here is just over 30mm. I think that before I cut and erect any more track base I'll lay a yard of track on both these lines, which will let us run round and shunt at St Enodoc station. Edited June 29, 2022 by St Enodoc images restored 32 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium St Enodoc Posted June 6, 2021 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted June 6, 2021 A Slater's Toplight brake third went for just over GBP 70 overnight. Not to me though. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Barry O Posted June 6, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 6, 2021 David White will get around to re-releasing them.... sometime... Baz 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Chamby Posted June 6, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 6, 2021 1 hour ago, St Enodoc said: I had a number of other things to do this weekend, including yesterday's BRMA monthly meeting at @RudderC Charles' place, where he had set up his extended 0 gauge layout. The extension runs beyond the existing Uley Junction fiddle yard and joins a double-track continuous run, which has some loops on one side. Apart from being a test track, the idea is to give Charles' grandchildren a layout on which to run trains round and round. It was a very enjoyable afternoon and it stayed dry - fortunately, because the extension occupies half of Charles' drive outside the garage. Today I did get into the railway room and extended the single line and Wheal Veronica branch track bases. These now reach a point where the tracks are perpendicular to the long Porthmellyn Road wall and parallel with the short Nancegwithey Viaduct wall. This made it easy to check the horizontal alignment before fixing everything in place. First, I installed two more long joists across the L-girders then added three further shorter joists, approximately radial to the tracks. I cut these three joists to length so that they can support the fascia in due course. Next, I worked my way round adding risers, using the spirit level to give a falling 1 in 100 gradient on the single line and a rising 1 in 50 gradient on the china-clay line. I also packed the track bases with 1mm styrene on one side of the risers to give some superelevation. The vertical separation between the two tracks here is just over 30mm. I think that before I cut and erect any more track base I'll lay a yard of track on both these lines, which will let us run round and shunt at St Enodoc station. I always find this stage of layout building particularly rewarding, with visible progress being made rapidly. My own approach would be slightly different to yours I think. (An observation, not criticism). I would probably have completed the viaduct and done more scenery on the already built sections before moving on to further board-building. I like to have my modelling in progress going on at all stages, so that any given time I can do the tasks that my mood takes me to on the day. Otherwise I find that sometimes the day-to-day modelling can get a bit repetitive. I’m guessing from your activities, that expanding the operational aspects of the layout is your early priority, rather than getting it to look more complete at this stage! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium TrevorP1 Posted June 6, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 6, 2021 Very much enjoying watching the progress John. I admire your discipline. Although I have an overall 'aim' for the coming months, now that the layout is up and running I'm like Phil in that I prefer to have several projects on the go so that I can work on each as the mood takes me. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium St Enodoc Posted June 6, 2021 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted June 6, 2021 12 minutes ago, Chamby said: I’m guessing from your activities, that expanding the operational aspects of the layout is your early priority, rather than getting it to look more complete at this stage! Correct! 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium St Enodoc Posted June 6, 2021 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted June 6, 2021 Just now, TrevorP1 said: Very much enjoying watching the progress John. I admire your discipline. Although I have an overall 'aim' for the coming months, now that the layout is up and running I'm like Phil in that I prefer to have several projects on the go so that I can work on each as the mood takes me. I am making (slow) progress on Porthmellyn Road Signal Box, which, when finished, will let me build the platforms around it. What drives me on, though, is the prospect of expanding the sequence further. To do that I need more track! As those who know me will attest, scenery isn't my strong point but I do intend to address that at some stage. I will probably start with the tunnel and viaduct then work my way round progressively in due course. 12 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Clive Mortimore Posted June 6, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 6, 2021 2 hours ago, St Enodoc said: I had a number of other things to do this weekend, including yesterday's BRMA monthly meeting at @RudderC Charles' place, where he had set up his extended 0 gauge layout. The extension runs beyond the existing Uley Junction fiddle yard and joins a double-track continuous run, which has some loops on one side. Apart from being a test track, the idea is to give Charles' grandchildren a layout on which to run trains round and round. It was a very enjoyable afternoon and it stayed dry - fortunately, because the extension occupies half of Charles' drive outside the garage. Today I did get into the railway room and extended the single line and Wheal Veronica branch track bases. These now reach a point where the tracks are perpendicular to the long Porthmellyn Road wall and parallel with the short Nancegwithey Viaduct wall. This made it easy to check the horizontal alignment before fixing everything in place. First, I installed two more long joists across the L-girders then added three further shorter joists, approximately radial to the tracks. I cut these three joists to length so that they can support the fascia in due course. Next, I worked my way round adding risers, using the spirit level to give a falling 1 in 100 gradient on the single line and a rising 1 in 50 gradient on the china-clay line. I also packed the track bases with 1mm styrene on one side of the risers to give some superelevation. The vertical separation between the two tracks here is just over 30mm. I think that before I cut and erect any more track base I'll lay a yard of track on both these lines, which will let us run round and shunt at St Enodoc station. Hi Sainty That looks like you have given it some thought and engineered it. What is wrong with bish bash bosh method I use????? 1 4 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium St Enodoc Posted June 6, 2021 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted June 6, 2021 41 minutes ago, Clive Mortimore said: Hi Sainty That looks like you have given it some thought and engineered it. What is wrong with bish bash bosh method I use????? Well, the basic design is engineered, as you put it, but the detailed execution is definitely bish-bash-boshed (or knife-and-forked as we often say in the Big Railway business). 2 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium St Enodoc Posted June 8, 2021 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted June 8, 2021 On 05/06/2021 at 11:57, St Enodoc said: Found these in our local Aldi this morning (other supermarkets are available)! Milk not plain but a good second-best. I sampled one today. They're longer, narrower and thinner than I remember. The biggest disappointment was that instead of thick, hard chocolate that you could bite off carefully leaving the wafer intact, the coating seemed to have melded into the biscuit. Verdict: It tasted good but the changed structure made it a slightly disappointing experience. Still, a second-rate mint chocolate biscuit is better than no mint chocolate biscuit... 3 2 3 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold 5BarVT Posted June 8, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 8, 2021 1 minute ago, St Enodoc said: chocolate that you could bite off carefully leaving the wafer intact Which was the main attraction (in my mind). Paul. 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Stubby47 Posted June 8, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 8, 2021 Mint, or orange, or fruit, in chocolate is an abomination that should have been strangled at birth. Just sayin'. 3 1 1 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted June 8, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 8, 2021 On 02/06/2021 at 12:21, Oldddudders said: Of course in the old BR days, there were evening classes in Rules & Signalling and multiple other skills, with certificates for passing an exam. I think the footplate grades had Mutual Improvement Classes. All of this went out with the bathwater decades ago. Anent advertising slogans - Du vin, du pain, du Boursin. Lunch today. Having found a few minutes to pop and update on layout developments beyond the Tamar I find myself among chicolate biscuits and 'qualifications;. The old Rules I & Signalling course were an excellent way of adding a tax free fiver (provided you got high enough marks in the exam) to your income in the days when a fiver was still worth a bit. Interestingly such courses still continue on one part of NR land and they even take 'outsiders' (for a fee) and the courses are highly regarded as they are run by a chap who really cares and actually knows what he is doing. As far as the IRO is concerned I looked down their list of boxes to tick to acquire a certain level in the Institution when i was doing consultancy work as it was suggested that it might impress clients. I quickly found that I could actually tick every box for the top 'rank' including such unusual things as managing hire contracts (I was one of the earliest in that field after 1994) but as I was semi-retired I never bothered. The only thing that worried me about the IRO was when I came across somebody who was writing training papers for them which dealt in detail with work he had never done in his railway career in my view anmy professional qualification is only as good as the knowledge it imparts and tests by examination and experience so I was left wondering about that. 4 3 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Popular Post St Enodoc Posted June 11, 2021 Author RMweb Premium Popular Post Share Posted June 11, 2021 (edited) If you thought that the single line track base that I installed last weekend looked a bit steeper than 1 in 100, you were right. I'd messed up the calculated heights of the risers, so I adjusted those before laying a yard of track on each line and connecting them to the Branch track bus. There is now enough track to shunt the short china-clay trains (I have a cunning plan) but not the long ones and I still haven't got an offcut of track to lengthen the single line spur as far as the end of the track base. So, going further round the bend with more plywood was the order of the day for the rest of this afternoon. I cut a further quadrant for each line and erected three more joists to support them. I started with the inner (Wheal Veronica) line, so I could work forwards from the back without getting in the way of myself. No dramas with that but not enough time afterwards to erect the single line track base, so that's just lying on the joists in its approximate horizontal alignment. This shows where I've got to so far. At the right-hand end of the Wheal Veronica line, the track base is about 30mm higher than at St Enodoc station. I might go a bit higher but probably not much. On the left you can see the fishplate that will support the single line track base. If you compare this with Sunday's photo, not only can you see the extended Wheal Veronica track base but also, I hope, the shallower gradient on the single line. There's only about 5mm or so difference along the whole quadrant but that made the gradient about 1 in 70 instead of 1 in 100 - almost certainly enough to make the 42xx locos struggle up the hill with the long china-clay train. Here's the extent of the track so far. In the middle, in front of the joist with its name on it, you can see the red and black feeders from the bus to the new track. Finally for today, a view back Up towards St Enodoc, with the buffer stops left out of shot deliberately to make it look as though the tracks might be longer than they are. You can just see the new feeders in this photo too. Edited June 29, 2022 by St Enodoc images restored 27 2 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Clive Mortimore Posted June 11, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 11, 2021 All looks to complicated for me. 1 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Stubby47 Posted June 11, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 11, 2021 3 minutes ago, Clive Mortimore said: All looks to complicated for me. Nah. Lay the board, lay the track, try a train. If it struggles, make the slope shallower, if it whizzes up, make the slope steeper. Simples (No indigenous peoples where intentionally or unintentionally insulted in this post). 5 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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