Castle Aching

[Martin S-C]

On 02/06/2019 at 16:16, Edwardian said:

So, finally, my third Impulse Purchase; mystery figures. They came in a set, painted.

 

 

These are of a make unfamiliar to me.

 

They were sold as 'OO figures', which they're clearly not, but as I use smaller figures with the smaller buildings to the rear of scene and these are in period dress, I thought buying them was a no-brainer and that, as they cannot be foreground figures, their relative crudeness would not matter.

 

I think these are the "London by Gaslight" figures made by John Hine Studios which were sold in blister pack sets of small cameos, such as "Jack the Ripper with Holmes and Watson. there are a number of others including drunks, soldiers, flower sellers, street traders, a chimney sweep (IIRC), that sort of thing. I picked up a few sets on e-bay last year. They come (not very well) painted.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/John-Hine-Studios-039-LONDON-BY-GASLIGHT-039-Figures-JACK-THE-RIPPER-HOLMES-amp-WATSON-/303170924889?hash=item4696653159%3Ag%3A-uQAAOSwa2lc7oUh&entryapp=dlp&nma=true&si=qy2PUN6yQt9A97qlEaTN15auUXc%3D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

[RedGemAlchemist]

26 minutes ago, wagonman said:

Mmmm. Someone hasn't been to Norwich recently, nor walked up Gas Hill...

Agreed. That is murder, especially in hot weather. 

Edited June 30, 2019 by RedGemAlchemist

[south_tyne]

36 minutes ago, wagonman said:

 

Very true, but these people were sailors and merchants rather than Ag Labs. They enjoyed a slightly less hard scrabble existence though one that was not infrequently marked by sudden deaths by drowning.  [I see Compound/Stephen has beaten me to it]

 

Apologies, we talking at cross-purposes, so I have royally confused things! Sorry... It's all relative mind isn't it, I wouldn't fancy the life of a merchant seaman nowadays, never mind then!

[Schooner]

To keep the conversation only tangentally related to railways:

 

The collier brigs were, by this point, particularly bad - just about everything to do with them was awful.

 

Their route was both treacherous and busy, with the overwhelming majority of vessels wrecked or run down (although notably the Brotherly Love served 114 years before she was lost to collision). No trade-wind relaxation period like the deep sea merchantmen, or the occasional easy cargo like other coasters. Competition, primarily from screw colliers rather than the railways, kept wages stagnant for 30 years and kept the boats at sea (removing the traditional lay-up period in January and Febuary when the North Sea is at her ugliest), whilst driving down crews from the traditional reckoning of c.5 men and a boy per 100 registered tons (most brigs being around 200-300 tons). Indeed, a Board of Trade report concluded that undermanning was the primary cause of loss of life in the trade. Deck cargos became the norm in a bid to improve profitability, despite being effectively illegal, worsening working conditions and having a detrimental effect on stability. 

 

Very few jobs at sea in the days of sail had much to commend them, but the life of collierman was, in a word, pish. 

 

 

Edited June 30, 2019 by Schooner
PS. I absolutely think a brig unloading into carts on the beach would be a lovely thing to model

[Martin S-C]

On 03/06/2019 at 10:33, Regularity said:

Yes.

Copenhagen. Vienna. Paris. Amsterdam. Brussels. Luxembourg. Oslo. Warsaw. Kiev...

They never got Moscow or London, so they didn't get the whole set.

[Martin S-C]

On 02/06/2019 at 15:33, Edwardian said:

- A modern image lorry.  Lamps and one rear and one front mud-guard missing. This can go to my long-standing Grouping stockpile (sssh!)

 

 

 

Aha! You've been rumbled sir! A man who collects 1920s stock and secretly stashes away modern lorries is nothing more than an Interwardian.

[Martin S-C]

On 04/06/2019 at 02:15, Annie said:

Yes we should return to a time of joy and innocence

 

 

 

How charming. A self-portrait in your youth perchance?

[Donw]

2 hours ago, wagonman said:

 

Mmmm. Someone hasn't been to Norwich recently, nor walked up Gas Hill...

 

We have a Gasworks Hill near here part of my usual morning dog walk, that is about 230ft at the summit about 25ft above the top of our garden ( the path crosses the same ridge that is at the top of the garden  the walk goes up to the farm then down to Watchet up Gasworks Hill which goes up then down to the School in Williton then back up to our house. All round the Walk there are real hills visible The Quantocks around 1000ft ,The Brendon Hills up  to 1380ft  and Dunkery Beacon at 1705ft . Unless you are looking out to sea any backscene purporting to be around here would have a lot of hills to contend with. Unless you were quite close to Gas Hill in Norwhich it would not be a big feature and most certainly one would not expect to see sizable hills on a Norfolk backscene so even if set at say Weybourne looking up to Kelling heath it would not particularly suggest Norfolk. Particular features can often suggest an area. Put Glastonbury Tor on a backscene and you know it is Somerset.  The Wrekin does the same for the Shropshire plain. I think with the Castle mound modelled the backscene for Castle Aching is best if mostly sky and Edwardian has done a grand job.

I am also minded I have something to get finished.

 

Don

[Annie]

2 hours ago, Martin S-C said:

How charming. A self-portrait in your youth perchance?

If only Martin, if only.

[wagonman]

While Schooner's account of life on the collier brigs is all too true, the ships that sailed from the North Norfolk ports – and this would have applied also at Wolfringham Staithe, so as to get back vaguely on topic – were smaller (80-120 tons), schooner or ketch rigged, and locally owned and crewed so they tended not to be quite as dangerous/unpleasant: imagine the family hassles if you sent your brother-in-law to a watery grave.

 

Once again various issues of the Glaven Historian have information on local ships...

www.bahs.uk

 

[shameless plug, sorry]

[corneliuslundie]

Surprisingly there is another connection with the Londonderry Railway since Lord L bought steam powered colliers which did for the sailing ships which had previously transported coal to the Great Weal.

What I didn't say previously was that the Londonderry Railway was until 1900 owned lock, stock and barrel by His Lordship. Even better than having one's own model railway, methinks - apart from the apparently interminable quarrels between staff, if the book is anything to go by.

Perhaps Edwardian should be the sole owner of the WNR. Forget about shareholders, debenture holders and all those nuisances.

Jonathan

[wagonman]

On 30/06/2019 at 16:57, Schooner said:

 

 I absolutely think a brig unloading into carts on the beach would be a lovely thing to model

 

 

That happened regularly at Cromer back in the day...

[Edwardian]

I'm attracted to the idea of beaching sailing vessels to unload. 

 

Our other minor ports are Fakeney and Birchoverham Staithe. 

 

The prototype for Fakeney is entirely obvious .....

 

 

 

Steam had come to Blakeney in the 1900s.  There are some rather splendid paintings of local vessels Here

 

 

Birchoverham Staithe is equally obviously very much Burnham Overy Staithe, where mud banks and tidal creeks abound, the gradual silting up of the channels restricting the traffic to smaller sailing vessels. 

 

 

As a result of this slow decline, Birchoverham Staithe would be very much in its dog days by 1905.   

 

Wolfringham Staithe, on the other hand, is inspired by the wooden staithes served by the Holy Island tramways in these paintings by Ralph Hedley (1880s)

 

Edited July 2, 2019 by Edwardian

[Donw]

I dont know about the Norfolk coast but at places like Great Wigborough in Essex the Thames Barges would go up the creeks on a high tide and as the tide turned they would settle on the mud  which would probably allow up to 10 hours to unload/load before the next high tide when they could depart. Of course you had to know  what you were doing go too far up the creek unladen on a high spring tide and you may find the next tide not quite high enough for a fully laden boat.

I have watched the boats hurrying back to Wells as the tide ebbed. Then seen them readying to catch the rising tide to get the maximum fishing time. The more adventurous trying to get away before the tide had risen sufficiently coming to a halt on a sandbanks with insufficient cover then being able to continue 10 minutes later.

 

Of course the harbour trade at Birchoverham would have been affected by the coming of the WNR. There would still be local fishermen and some of their catch could well be rushed (?) off in suitable vans attached to passenger trains. This could include supplies of nfresh fish to Castle Aching and onwards. I suspect local crops like Grain and Potatoes might well have migrated to  the railway. Coal is a possibility although Wolfringham Staithe seems more likely and it would be facing competition from the Nottingham coalfields via the M&GN.

 

Don

[wagonman]

3 hours ago, Edwardian said:

 

 

Our other minor ports are Fakeney and Birchoverham Staithe. 

 

The prototype for Fakeney is entirely obvious .....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Err, not that obvious. The photo is of the East Quay at Wells...

[wagonman]

It's good to see Patrick Kearney's meticulous copies of old C19 Pier Head paintings getting a bit of exposure. We lived in the same village and I can vouch for it that he was quite a character. His own work was very different in style to these naive works.

 

I dare say that Wolfringham Staithe would have been visited by the Minstrel, Fiducia and even possibly the SS Taffy.

[Compound2632]

3 hours ago, Donw said:

Coal is a possibility although Wolfringham Staithe seems more likely and it would be facing competition from the Nottingham coalfields via the M&GN.

 

 

... also South Yorkshire coal via the GN & GE Joint Line. (Ain't I being even handed?)

[Caley Jim]

8 hours ago, corneliuslundie said:

Perhaps Edwardian should be the sole owner of the WNR. Forget about shareholders, debenture holders and all those nuisances.

I hope that would not mean disbanding the Board of Directors, aka the Parish Council!

 

Jim 

[Edwardian]

Eyes front!

 

 

[Northroader]

Good music for a march into Poland.

[Regularity]

7 hours ago, Donw said:

Coal is a possibility although Wolfringham Staithe seems more likely and it would be facing competition from the Nottingham coalfields via the M&GN.

Nottingham coal was exported from Kings Lynn, so depending on the type of coal, the traffic could be two-way.

[Hroth]

1 hour ago, Edwardian said:

Eyes front!

 

 

Or, as you might sing

 

Dunken bunken flunken splunken....

 

46 minutes ago, Northroader said:

Good music for a march into Poland.

As was suggested as a car merchandising slogan,

"Berlin to Warsaw on one tank...."

 

(I think you might guess who came up with that one!)

 

[RedGemAlchemist]

2 hours ago, Edwardian said:

Eyes front!

 

 

Just makes me think of End of Evangelion.

 

10 minutes ago, Hroth said:

Or, as you might sing

 

Dunken bunken flunken splunken....

No, I sing Rock Me Amadeus...

[Hroth]

58 minutes ago, RedGemAlchemist said:

No, I sing Rock Me Amadeus...

 

 

Hmm, I can see how that might go

Rock me Rock me Amadeus
Amadeus Rock Me Do

 

[Compound2632]

3 hours ago, Northroader said:

Good music for a march into Poland.

 

2 hours ago, Hroth said:

Or, as you might sing

 

Dunken bunken flunken splunken....

 

As was suggested as a car merchandising slogan,

"Berlin to Warsaw on one tank...."

 

(I think you might guess who came up with that one!)

 

 

This won't do. Beethoven was a Belgian.