Castle Aching

[Andy Hayter]

 I keep coming back to the point that pooling makes an enormous difference to the contents of a goods yard pre and post-Great War. Compare this late-19th century view of Birmingham Central with one taken on the eve of grouping. NB. sheets and ropes were also pooled by then, so that's not necessarily a NER wagon under that NE sheet.

 

 Logically you must be right.  Prior to pooling foreign wagons would be returned as soon as they were empty to avoid demurrage charges.  With pooling a company would/could hold onto a foreign wagon for some days while arranging the next load and the next destination might not be back in the home company's territory - so you get foreign wagons held for longer and then sent to destinations that they would never have gone to prior to pooling.

 

Additionally I think that the Great War will have had a big influence on commerce, with some concentration of industries such that regional self sufficiency became less possible, which equals more freight movement.   The local hand craftsmen had gone to war and replacements came from industry.  Splitting the impact of these two factors is I suspect impossible.  

[Compound2632]

 Additionally I think that the Great War will have had a big influence on commerce, with some concentration of industries such that regional self sufficiency became less possible, which equals more freight movement.   The local hand craftsmen had gone to war and replacements came from industry.  Splitting the impact of these two factors is I suspect impossible.  

 

So the rise of consumerism is a result of the changed social circumstances after the Great War, starting earlier than I think is usually proposed - the rise of home ownership and the suburban middle classes usually being thought of as Stanley Baldwin's response to universal suffrage: keep just enough of the voters sufficiently prosperous to have a vested interest in keeping the Tories in power. The usual post-war story we're told is that the survivors came home and displaced the women from the jobs they'd been doing while the men were away - which is probably broadly true on the railways but not in other areas, particularly, agriculture, which was in desperate straights before the outbreak of the second war.

 

Quite a few morals for today there but rather off-topic for Edwardian Castle Aching, though I don't think agriculture was flourishing then either.

[Edwardian]

Had to go up to The Smoke yesterday, but was compensated by the sight of two Quarry Hunslets and a Bug Box on the concourse at King's Cross.

 

Made a nice change from tourists pretending to push a platform trolley through a wall, and allowed be to get closer to the beasts than I did at Launceston, so more detail shots for the reference library.

 

Finally found a non-irritating use for my 'phone.

 

Settled in with a beer and a volume of Ahrons on the way back.  Well, as they say, all work and no play .... 

[Compound2632]

Finally found a non-irritating use for my 'phone.

 

Settled in with a beer and a volume of Ahrons on the way back.  Well, as they say, all work and no play .... 

 

Glad to see your trip to that austere temple of pagan engineering had a positive side! I hope you had sight of Scott's masterpiece of Christian architecture next door rather than disappearing straight down the hole in the concourse.

 

Presumably it was Vol. 1 of Ahrons you had with you, to suit your route?

[Northroader]

I hope those casks are all empties!

Yes, they’re empties going back, but never fear, reinforcements are on the way!

Edited February 17, 2018 by Northroader

[Edwardian]

Yes, they’re empties going back, but never fear, reinforcements are on the way!

DB4907BC-5DAB-4AD6-9243-FA6DAAFDCC23.jpeg

 

Excellently built and painted if I may say so, and characterful in spades.

 

They remind of the song The Night Merret Invented Champagne, or something like that ....

[St Enodoc]

Excellently built and painted if I may say so, and characterful in spades.

 

They remind of the song The Night Merret Invented Champagne, or something like that ....

Ah yes, I remember it well.

[Nearholmer]

They are beauties

[Edwardian]

They are beauties

 

Aren't they though?

 

Velinheli appear to be a modern re-build of some sort, and Hugh Napier dates from 1904, an original Penrhyn 'Large Quarry'.

[RedGemAlchemist]

Always liked Quarry Hunslets. Shame there isn't a standard gauge version...

[Edwardian]

Always liked Quarry Hunslets. Shame there isn't a standard gauge version...

 

Visit the Madder Valley line, they have a standard gauge George England Prince-type.

[RedGemAlchemist]

Visit the Madder Valley line, they have a standard gauge George England Prince-type.

Oh really? Awesome, now I have an excuse to build one for the KLR

[2mmMark]

Oh really? Awesome, now I have an excuse to build one for the KLR

 

This should help!

 

https://www.pendonmuseum.com/jahern/mar1946.html

[Edwardian]

This should help!

 

https://www.pendonmuseum.com/jahern/mar1946.html

 

Brilliant, thank you.

 

Regarding Madder Valley, the current BRM includes a disc with some Pendon footage.  The point was made in the film that it is becoming very difficult to keep Ahern's original locos operational, even for the occasional running days, and stap me vitals if I did not see a green L&Y Pug lettered "MVR", and an Electrotren pseudo-Taff Vale 0-6-0ST oozing out-of-the-box freshness!

 

Some of the additions to the locomotive roster looked fun. I found a video on You Tube shot in September last year. Ignore the camera shake (I am sure I could do no better) and turn off the porn film music, and you get quite a bit of footage of trains running on the MVR. There seemed to be 3 or 4 of Ahern's original locos at work, including Welsh Pony, but also seen is the Pug spotted in the BRM video, a brace of Terriers, and something like a half-cab Jinty, all wearing MVR greens. Then, when I thought I could doubt my senses no further, a black Beattie Well tank waddled across the scene!

 

Quite a serious out-break of RTR at Pendon!

 

Still, needs must ... and it beats a replacement (horse-drawn?) 'bus service.  I rather liked these cheeky interlopers, but as additions, not replacements, for Ahern's locos.  I was glad to note from the BRM video that they are taking the replacement chassis option for some of the original locos, I hope that this means they will continue to feature as working models.

 

The video of the September session is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-iRJk5uZ9g.  Be warned, there is a preamble and then an exhaustive tour of the gift shop, so the first footage of Madder Valley is at 3 minutes and 52 seconds. The video goes onto include the Dartmoor Scene and, presumably, the Vale Scene, though I have yet to get that far. The BRM video is far shorter, but, professionally made.  Nothing in life is free, of course, so at the end of the BRM production, somewhat incongruously, a box-shifter tells you how to put a small noise-making box into a sort of box on wheels (I think it may have been a 'diesel' or some-such), but you don't have to watch that bit.

[corneliuslundie]

Yes, Velinheli seems to have had quite a lot of changes in its life:

http://www.launcestonsr.co.uk/locomotives/velinheli/

It is getting to be like that old knife - two new blades and three new handles.

Jonathan

PS You really should visit Pendon, though, to see it properly and to get a feel for the scale of the Vale scene. And you need to visit the cafe to see the Teignmouth coast bit.

They also sell ModlU figures.

[Edwardian]

Yes, Velinheli seems to have had quite a lot of changes in its life:

http://www.launcestonsr.co.uk/locomotives/velinheli/

It is getting to be like that old knife - two new blades and three new handles.

Jonathan

PS You really should visit Pendon, though, to see it properly and to get a feel for the scale of the Vale scene. And you need to visit the cafe to see the Teignmouth coast bit.

They also sell ModlU figures.

 

I did visit once, but would love to go again.

 

Unfortunately I am at a standstill with CA.

 

I need to add some droppers and to make the track for the sidings, but the soldering iron no longer seems to work.

 

It may just be a fuse, but, of course, I don't have any spares. 

 

B*gger!

 

There is only so long I'll be able to keep it in the dining room to work on.  Only yesterday Hints Were Dropped.

 

B8gger.

[robmcg]

Edwardian, that 2-4-0T in the top pic in your last post is uncannily similar to a New Zealand D-type 2-4-0T built I think by Neilson and Co. or possibly Dubs,  carriages like that on NZ Railways too, from c1874-1890 I mention it because one was in use about a mile from where I was born until 1965,  when I was 14. A friend and myself found it on a scrapyard siding on a Sunday in 'our' local industrial area, it had been driven there under its own steam, the fire dropped, but was still full of coal and water.  Being 14 we tried to light the fire and raise some steam...  we failed, but it would have been a good adventure to tell our friends at school on Monday.

 

I just thought you ought to know. 

[RedGemAlchemist]

Unfortunately I am at a standstill with CA.

 

I need to add some droppers and to make the track for the sidings, but the soldering iron no longer seems to work.

 

It may just be a fuse, but, of course, I don't have any spares. 

 

There is only so long I'll be able to keep it in the dining room to work on.  Only yesterday Hints Were Dropped.

Sorry to hear that, Edwardian. Though this here is the reason I use pre-made track. Or will do / will be doing potentially / plan to. Either way, the Hints have been Dropped, then doom is imminent. Best prepare the bomb shelter 

[Edwardian]

Edwardian, that 2-4-0T in the top pic in your last post is uncannily similar to a New Zealand D-type 2-4-0T built I think by Neilson and Co. or possibly Dubs,  carriages like that on NZ Railways too, from c1874-1890 I mention it because one was in use about a mile from where I was born until 1965,  when I was 14. A friend and myself found it on a scrapyard siding on a Sunday in 'our' local industrial area, it had been driven there under its own steam, the fire dropped, but was still full of coal and water.  Being 14 we tried to light the fire and raise some steam...  we failed, but it would have been a good adventure to tell our friends at school on Monday.

 

I just thought you ought to know. 

 

Not that I had compared Ahern's model with the prototype, but I had assumed that he had re-gauged, or re-sized, one of the Isle of Man Beyer Peacocks.  Note to self: Could you fit a 16.5mm gauge motorised chassis under an Oxford Diecast IoM BP?

 

But I had no idea about the NZ D Class.  I had no idea that there was such a similar design from another builder. Thanks to Wiki, we can picture both:

Edited February 17, 2018 by Edwardian

[Andy Hayter]

So the rise of consumerism is a result of the changed social circumstances after the Great War, starting earlier than I think is usually proposed 

 

​That was not quite what I was proposing, although just perhaps this was the first stumbling steps in consumerism.

 

What I was trying to portray was that as a consequence of the war, and subsequently, as a result of the loss of life or maiming of survivors, there was a period where local artisans were no longer available - temporarily or totally - at least in the number of the past.  Much of the demand however would remain unabated - or even bottled up because people did not do things during the war that still needed doing once the conflict was over.

 

So for example if your roof needed repair, there may be no local reed cutters and no local thatcher.   You might be able to put off repair but after a while the answer would be to import reed from elsewhere (if you still had a thatcher) or maybe even to change the roof to slate or tiles - both likely to be imported if you had a thatch roof.

Similarly the Blacksmith if still around in 1919 would likely be heavily involved in farrier duties - the country still had to eat and horses were the mainstay of mechanised husbandry.  So if you need a new wrought iron gate, an industrially produced item would perhaps be all that was available rather than the local artisan gate or fencing panels of a decade earlier.

On its own none of this points towards a rise in consumerism, since in these examples people were only  buying what they would have anyway - just that the locally produced items in some case would no longer be available and substitutes would be required.

Where there might be a change is that if a part broke on for example your threshing machine, your blacksmith might no longer be able to economically repair it (he had more profitable work now due to the loss of other blacksmiths in the conflict) and you might be forced to buy a new part if you had an urgent need.

 

Edited to add:  The loss of simple farm hands would force some farmers to move to more mechanised methods of production - whether horse propelled or just possibly using an engine of some form.

Edited February 17, 2018 by Andy Hayter

[Nearholmer]

I think it’s worth drawing a distinction between when ‘small stuff’ began to be centrally mass-produced, and distributed by rail, and when ‘big stuff’ was.

 

To explain ....... domestic odds and sods, from an oil lamp, through a bottle of horse liniment, to a box of matches, were mass-produced and distributed quite early, but they were physically small things, and a village only ne3ded, or could afford, so much of that kind of thing. What they did need probably arrived in the home-line “road van”, or “station truck”, whatever it was called, or as railway parcels. No foreign wagons involved.

 

It was ‘big stuff’ that involved foreign wagons, and that meant primarily coal for a very long time in a place like Sussex where bricks, timber, aggregate, lime, the raw material for Portland cement, animal products, etc practically jump out of the ground and into your hand. It was only in the 1960s that bricks started to be imported, for instance.

 

Heavier ironwork, up to and including machinery, is interesting, because every county had a few decent ironworks, but only a few of those showed the deep ingenuity that led them to become “market leaders”. I don’t think any in Sussex did, but Aveling in Kent, Ransomes and Garratt in Suffolk, Howard’s in Beds, and others did. So, I think that things like rainwater goods and manhole covers, and basic farm implements, were the province of every ‘county’ ironworks, but that more complex machinery and engines, and things like patent framing, kitchen ranges etc were bought over considerable distances, by mail or telegram order (primitive internet shopping).

 

Without facts to back me, my gut feeling is that even in SR days most goods traffic was fairly local, in county in the south of England (I don’t know about natural resources in the north or wales or Scotland), although the wagon mix would have been more eclectic onc3 pooling had taken place, as a result of very gentle mixing of the fleets.

 

Kevin

Edited February 17, 2018 by Nearholmer

[Edwardian]

The Memsahib, bless her, purchased some fuses on the way back from the horse.

 

Still not working.

 

What is the Idiot's Guide when a soldering iron stops working?

[Nearholmer]

If nothing is getting warm at all, and the fuse hasn’t blown, suspect an open-circuit.

 

If no obvious sign of open-circuit, such as a damaged lead (the conductor may sometimes fray-through, inside the insulation and sheathing, therefore invisibly), then the heating element has probably burned out. Another possibility is death of the internal temperature regulator, if one is fitted.

 

Depending upon the make/quality of iron, one either throws it away and gets another, or buys and fits a new element.

 

If the element gets hot, but not the tip, the problem lies in the way the tip is fitted, or has heavily oxidised, there being insufficient conduction of heat from element to tip.

 

Why do elements burn out? It can be no more than a case of bad luck, but if you don’t have a proper iron-stand, which dissipates excess heat from the iron when not in use, and/or an iron with dodgy internal temperature regulation, they can simply get too hot.

 

American chap here has made a video that shows how very simple a soldering-Iron is https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iV2v8MnM-FA

 

There are several othe4 videos on you tube showing various faults/repairs.

 

K

Edited February 17, 2018 by Nearholmer

[Donw]

I assume you have a meter of some kind (to  check for shorts on the trackwork it is useful)  so the  first step is to check whether there is a circuit through the iron it will also check whether fuses have blown . If it is indeed open circuit. Unless you can find a wire come loose I would suggest you need a replacement. 

 

On other matters I am not sure whether it is based on a real one but to me it is near enough to a Hunslet   http://www.djbengineering.co.uk/kit-cf-saddle.shtml

 

The real tragedy is that I cannot spend that much on another loco for the proposed garden line ( I have three plus kits or parts for two more so justifying a third would be hard).

 

Still I do have this one. Running on a friend's layout

 

Don

[Nick Holliday]

Nick

Back to the self-sufficiency point I made before, or, put another way, what did the Eastern Counties (or Hants, Wilts and Dorset) have that Sussex might want?

And, I think the answer would be ‘precious little’. In fact, I can’t think of anything, so I’d love to know what that GER wagon contained. Surely not ten tons of Colman’s mustard.

Kevin

I can't vouch for the contents, but a photo of Arundel, currently on eBay, pre-1914 judging by the dumb-buffered single bolster wagon, and the small LB&SCR lettering, https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Arundel-Railway-Station-Photo-Ford-Jct-Amberley-Pulborough-Line-LB-SCR-9/263164534825?hash=item3d45d42029:g:UgMAAOSwOsBZnowb has a GER van and an early GWR OF van.