Castle Aching

[WFPettigrew]

36 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

It's those alien dinnerplate ladies' hats again...

 I am more bothered about the chap straddling the cut at the back right..

[Tom Burnham]

I can imagine the ladies' hats being retained by hat pins (also useful in close combat, according to my mother who used to watch the fights outside the Hare and Hounds pub, of which she had a good view from her bedroom window when she was supposed to be in bed and asleep) but I wonder how the Charlie Chaplin-esque bloke in the back row kept his bowler on?

[Dave John]

It is an excellent picture Schooner. 

 

I do tend to archive such and then look at them as I paint another batch of figures. I still have issues, getting a paint thin enough to get the detail I want tends to lose the matting agent and leads to shininess. Details which show on pics such as watch chains are a nightmare.

 

I have I think probably attempted snooker on the same tables as Jim, eyesight and alcohol limited my ability. Did ye ever end up at the woodside club ? 

[Edwardian]

14 hours ago, Schooner said:

Footling around in old photo archives, as I am want to do, I was reminded that the Parish Agenda sometimes takes A Turn Sartorial

"The Cirencester Wesleyan Brotherhood on a ramble to Edgeworth (posing at Daneway), 11 August 1906. It is difficult to identify exactly where the group is posed, but it could be near the wharf or Summit Lock (more formally Daneway Bridge Lock), or even close to the western portal of the canal at Sapperton. However, at this date the party could possibly have come from Cirencester by canal barge. They were just about to start the ramble to Edgeworth, some two miles away."

 

Nice to see a group of Edwardians in what must be close to average travelling attire, thought I'd share.

 

That is a great photograph, thank you, not least because we are likely to be seeing everyday wear.

 

I note how many man are not wearing ties; query whether they wear collars or not? 

 

A couple of men wear boaters, which have evidently yet to be come ubiquitous and are here still outnumbered by bowlers, most of which are high-crowned Victorian looking types. Flat caps are equally prominent.

 

As Brother Compound notes, here is the trend to dinner plate women's hats, and even the ladies' version of a boater is super wide and low.

 

I really do like that style of ladies' coat many of them are wearing over the standard and skirt. As a general trend, it seems that the older women are a little more dressier/formal, with suits or dresses, than the younger. 

 

Still, overall, I cannot help but think of the next morning's headline "18 Methodists drown when plank over canal collapses. Publicans rejoice"

[Compound2632]

4 hours ago, Edwardian said:

I note how many man are not wearing ties; query whether they wear collars or not? 

 

For a brotherhood, there's an overwhelming number of females. (That was of course the primary function of rambles of this sort - ensuring the younger generation don't marry out of the religion.) On close inspection, I do think most of the men are wearing ties - 12 out of 17, one a bow tie, one not visible. 

 

There's a rather dapper looking hatless (!) chap on the left, between the boater and the bowler in the front row, wearing a collar brooch (if that's the term) in lieu of a tie - but definitely a collar.

Edited April 29, 2023 by Compound2632

[Schooner]

4 hours ago, Edwardian said:

I note how many man are not wearing ties; query whether they wear collars or not? 

Interesting...I'm not sure.

 

Looking at it full-screen and zoomed in, there's a hint of texture around nearly all their throats and the height of the collar-line makes me think collars are being worn. Ties too, but perhaps of a colour too light, or other adornment too small, to be distinguishable? It would be remarkably casual if not; perhaps the state they'd return in but not set out, I think. Could they be wearing something like the funny little things worn at The Other Place?

 

And would you not dress up for a weekend Brotherhood outing? Assuming they have the financial resources for a suit of clothes in between the everyday and Sunday Best (not a given), I would have expected some effort to be made. It certainly looks like the ladies have, although as we know that signifies little about what the men felt was appropriate...!

 

 

 

Edited April 29, 2023 by Schooner

[Caley Jim]

10 hours ago, Dave John said:

It is an excellent picture Schooner. 

 

I do tend to archive such and then look at them as I paint another batch of figures. I still have issues, getting a paint thin enough to get the detail I want tends to lose the matting agent and leads to shininess. Details which show on pics such as watch chains are a nightmare.

 

I have I think probably attempted snooker on the same tables as Jim, eyesight and alcohol limited my ability. Did ye ever end up at the woodside club ? 

 

10 hours ago, Dave John said:

 

I have I think probably attempted snooker on the same tables as Jim, eyesight and alcohol limited my ability. Did ye ever end up at the woodside club ? 

I lived at home in Bargeddie, so didn't tend to frequent establishments in the city. 

[ChrisN]

It seems to me that they are wearing collars, even if they are just stiff stand collars without a tie.  Even up to the early sixties I remember that dress codes were very strict, and right up until he diesd my dad would talk about 'putting on a collar and tie', eeven though he had not had shirts with detachable collars for probably forty years.

 

I think it was @Donw would said his grandfather, who was a carpenter, and had a brown three piece suit.  On Sundays, he wore it all, but took the jacket off when he was working.

[Edwardian]

To get us in the mood...

 

 

[Edwardian]

A question, if I may.

 

I hope to resume work on the CA station buildings over the weekend, and planning the outline of the engine shed complex has lead me to consider the totality of buildings.

 

The idea has always been that the ground falls away at the front of the layout to a stream. It's often an idea to have a falling contour at the front of a baseboard where appropriate in order to avoid too much baseboard front in shots of the layout, though it tends to run contrary to wire and tube point operation (but I cannot face revisiting the track yet!).

 

It struck me that the stream could be a good source for the water tank adjacent to the engine shed, and I further thought that a stationary boiler, perhaps from one of the line's original 1850s locos, could power a pump. Perhaps the pump coild be driven off a loco axle?  I wondered if anyone had any information/pictures of such an arrangement, including the pump house and intake pipes to the water source? 

 

Also, I suspect Norfolk water might need softening. 

[Hroth]

8 hours ago, Edwardian said:

To get us in the mood...

 

 

 

I hope the Volunteers will be parading at the Drill Hall tomorrow!

 

Huzzah!!!

 

[16Brunel]

7 hours ago, Edwardian said:

a stationary boiler, perhaps from one of the line's original 1850s locos

 

Your precedent, m'lord...

[uax6]

12 hours ago, Edwardian said:

A question, if I may.

 

I hope to resume work on the CA station buildings over the weekend, and planning the outline of the engine shed complex has lead me to consider the totality of buildings.

 

The idea has always been that the ground falls away at the front of the layout to a stream. It's often an idea to have a falling contour at the front of a baseboard where appropriate in order to avoid too much baseboard front in shots of the layout, though it tends to run contrary to wire and tube point operation (but I cannot face revisiting the track yet!).

 

It struck me that the stream could be a good source for the water tank adjacent to the engine shed, and I further thought that a stationary boiler, perhaps from one of the line's original 1850s locos, could power a pump. Perhaps the pump coild be driven off a loco axle?  I wondered if anyone had any information/pictures of such an arrangement, including the pump house and intake pipes to the water source? 

 

Also, I suspect Norfolk water might need softening. 

 

The wire in tube could be run to a small section that doesn't fall away, sort of like a signalbox area, or looped down from track level to the lower level..

 

Would a wind pump be suitable for the tank, a bit Col Stephens, but I wouldn't have though out of place. Even a small oil engine could be used, the good Col had one a Kinnerly Junc for such a used. How about something like the set up of Lion for pumping the water? 

 

As Norfolk water is hard as nails, I would guess it would be softened, but when did the use of softening agents come into use for locomotives? The LMS were installing softening plants in the late 20's, so is it too early for the WNR?

 

Questions, why are there so many questions?

 

Andy G

[Hroth]

There should be a photo of Lion being used as a pumping engine somewhere*, but can I find it???

 

 

* I mean "somewhere on the internet" rather than "in Liverpool Docks"

Edited May 6, 2023 by Hroth

[RodneyS]

There are some photos in this interesting video.

 

 

[Hroth]

2 hours ago, RodneyS said:

There are some photos in this interesting video.

 

 

 

Interesting, but a bit heretical....  🤪

 

I appreciate that he was trying to illustrate some points in his thesis, but it would have been nice to see the whole photo at one point instead of panned closeups of an old fairly coarse screen print!

 

My best grab...

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 6, 2023 by Hroth
Extra

[Edwardian]

Pretty convincing, actually

[Tom Burnham]

On 06/05/2023 at 07:27, uax6 said:

 

Would a wind pump be suitable for the tank, a bit Col Stephens, but I wouldn't have though out of place. Even a small oil engine could be used, the good Col had one a Kinnerly Junc for such a used. 

 

Andy G

Col Stephens used off the shelf Aermotor windpumps, made in thousands for American farms.  They were cheap, spares were readily available and they were supposed to have been designed so that one person could put them up from the kit of parts - the idea was that after you'd bolted the first stage of the tower together, you could balance on it to assemble the next stage and so on. Once you'd got to the required height, you would put a beam across the top, fix a block and tackle to it (an optional extra I believe) and haul the "engine" up.  Later models had the gears running in a sealed oil bath, so that instead of having to climb the tower to grease the cogs once a week, you just had to top the oil up once a year. You'd probably still need professional help to locate and dig the actual well, of course.

Unless the well was very shallow and you were in a very windy area, an Aermotor wouldn't give you enough water for a serious engine shed.  Some main line companies invested in wind pumps in the late 19th and early 20th century. The Brighton line had some on the Brighton to Portsmouth line, and these were larger (and presumably much more expensive) jobs, made I think by Duke and Ockenden of Littlehampton - who are still in the water pumping business as Dando.

Incidentally I suspect the wind pump Col Stephens put in just outside Robertsbridge was never used very much, but was mainly there to give weight to his negotiations with the SE&CR over their charges for using water from their large tank there...

[Edwardian]

Some further progress on the CA station buildings.

 

 

[Annie]

5 hours ago, Edwardian said:

Some further progress on the CA station buildings.

Wonderful, - bravo!

[nick_bastable]

at last some movement please no more  prevarication

 

and that station building looks terrific 

 

Nick B

[Skinnylinny]

Oh wow, those buildings are looking fantastic. Truly inspirational!

[Schooner]

Water Reed Thatched church in West Norfolk, note the traditional straight cut ridge detail

 

Interesting set of features, thought it might appeal. Not had a hunt for it yet, caption as per the source, but it's so distinctive perhaps it is already well known?

[Edwardian]

Due to Life, I've only managed a couple of hours on the station over the last couple of weekends, and, indeed, I have not added to the station building, but I have started on the platform, mainly because I did not feel I could really get much further with the complex until I had set the buildings at their correct elevation. 

 

Yesterday I managed nothing, as the entire day was devoted to dog-walking, lamb wrestling and another visit to Amberdale, which was a joy.

 

 

I have shown here a loco and coach to give some idea of how the scene will eventually appear. The Johnson slim boiler 4-4-0 (in dire need of de-Deeleyfication) was recently unearthed (last seen in 2015!) and I used it here because it represents pretty much the longest loco that could use CA. 

 

[uax6]

Glad to see that you have got the platform level low, its something that is quite noticeable in early times, although they are still low in a lot of places (but not quite <that> low).

 

That big hole worries me, I bet its quite deep....

Andy G