Castle Aching

[Nearholmer]

My guess is that the Met issue of a shorter-calf-length skirt was to avoid the con-rail.

 

Trailing a damp serge skirt over the con-rail would have a similar affect to doing the same with the archetypal “long black Mac”, which was a well-known way of “getting a belt” when they were standard issue.

 

Facings are pale blue, piping yellow https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/30100554

 

It was a very natty uniform, wasn’t it? I can’t find pictures of the male equivalent,

 

 

Edited August 4, 2019 by Nearholmer

[St Enodoc]

23 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

My guess is that the Met issue of a shorter-calf-length skirt was to avoid the con-rail.

 

Trailing a damp serge skirt over the con-rail would have a similar affect to doing the same with the archetypal “long black Mac”, which was a well-known way of “getting a belt” when they were standard issue.

 

Facings are pale blue, piping yellow https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/30100554

 

It was a very natty uniform, wasn’t it? I can’t find pictures of the male equivalent,

 

 

You can spot a Southern man anywhere in the world from his high-stepping "Ministry of Silly Walks" gait as he crosses the line.

[webbcompound]

1 hour ago, Edwardian said:

What interests me about that Met uniform is that, rather than a single overall colour (a very dark blue?), as seems the norm for railway company servants, we have a contrasting facing colour.  This is an essentially military feature, as a regiment's facings were traditionally a means of identification.  Here another military feature is the polish cuff.  This and the collar and cuffs are neatly edged with braid/cord.   

 

 

Probably responding to suggestion from influential women that this should be considered war work and on a par with military service (and before anyone froths in about this not being shooty and getting shot a significant proportion of the military were in non combat roles away from the  front)

Edited August 4, 2019 by webbcompound

[Edwardian]

2 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

My guess is that the Met issue of a shorter-calf-length skirt was to avoid the con-rail.

 

Trailing a damp serge skirt over the con-rail would have a similar affect to doing the same with the archetypal “long black Mac”, which was a well-known way of “getting a belt” when they were standard issue.

 

Facings are pale blue, piping yellow https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/30100554

 

It was a very natty uniform, wasn’t it? I can’t find pictures of the male equivalent,

 

 

 

Very natty ..... 

 

 

Makes me want a Met layout, c.1916!

 

The pictured services all seem to be going to Neasden.  I profess total ignorance of the locale and of the Metropoilitan Railway.  Neasden seems to sit before the Met starts branching off to the north west.  By 1916 I expect that much of the system was electrified.  I expect Neasden would see only electric services, is that correct?

 

Ignoring the huge dépôt, Neasden & Kinsbury looks an attractive and compact site, sitting between two bridges, on one of which sits the station building, and with the Great Central running parallel to the Met ..... 

 

Edited August 4, 2019 by Edwardian

[Hroth]

4 hours ago, Northroader said:

 

What you don't get in this pic is ALL the smoke, soot and grime (though there is a hint of stygianity...), as discussed when we were considering the Mersey Railway Beyer-Peacock 0-6-4 earlier, which resulted in the do-or-die decision by the Mersey to convert from steam to electric.

 

Weren't the Met tanks B-Ps too?

 

 

 

[Nearholmer]

The Met electrification had got to Arrer on the ill and Uxbridge in 1905, I think, with EMUs running to Uxbridge, and electric/steam changeover for the other services. Goods were steam worked certainly to Neasden, and possibly Finchley Road, but electric south thereof.

 

Harrow would make the better layout, but quite a big one, even in 4mm/ft, with GC, engine changes, a junction, and a coal yard. And, a really good rotary-converter substation.

 

The other marvellous site in that era was Bishop’s Road, GWR/Met steam/electric changeover, which has its own thread here somewhere. https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/107223-bishops-road-paddington-what-do-we-know/&tab=comments#comment-2167863

 

 

 

Edited August 4, 2019 by Nearholmer

[Northroader]

Harrow makes a good station, but it does sprawl, and the GCR does complicate things. My favourite Met. station would be Aldgate, cramped site in a cutting, tight curves, narrow platforms, trains turning round, arched roof. ( View of the north end junction)

Edited August 4, 2019 by Northroader

[Skinnylinny]

Tight curves, cramped site in a cutting, trains turning around... why does this all sound familiar? Quite a difference from Castle Aching though!

[corneliuslundie]

Thanks for your helpful comments about folding. The worst pieceS, with one fold in 25 thou brass, are just 105 thou wide where it is not narrower, and about 200 mm long. Fortunately, I have worked out that i can use plastic strip instead of these TWO pieces, and we had already decided to use wooden strip where possible, to enable us to add the bevelling, in place of most of the U shaped pieces - about 80 thou by 80 thou. When folded these are too narrow to slip onto my steel rule.

So there seem to be just three etched pieces to fold for each side of the van, plus the solebars and steps and a few more possibly on the ends. Cur next problem. The solebars are again a U shape with embossed rivets - using my basic rivetting tool, so it is only possible to grip the flanges in my folding tool, and they are about 60 thou. Anyway, one done.

I do not have a "hold and fold" but shall certain;ly investigate. My folding tool is very reluctant to grip anything this narrow.

As a small token of thanks, a suitable and suitable clad (fur coat, of course) pre-grouping poster which I hope has not been seen here before, even if it is not British.

Jonathan

[Nearholmer]

There was a truly superb finescale model of Edgware Road, late 1860s, under construction, but I haven’t heard of it for ages, since, I think, the demise of one of the team building it.

[Annie]

3 hours ago, Edwardian said:

 

Very natty ..... 

 

 

Makes me want a Met layout, c.1916!

 

The pictured services all seem to be going to Neasden.  I profess total ignorance of the locale and of the Metropoilitan Railway.  Neasden seems to sit before the Met starts branching off to the north west.  By 1916 I expect that much of the system was electrified.  I expect Neasden would see only electric services, is that correct?

 

Ignoring the huge dépôt, Neasden & Kinsbury looks an attractive and compact site, sitting between two bridges, on one of which sits the station building, and with the Great Central running parallel to the Met ..... 

 

 

That is indeed a very natty uniform and I've always liked that series of pictures of Met women staff.  My Mum was a woman in uniform on the railways here in New Zealand during WW2 and for some years after, but I do have to admit that the NZGR uniform was not quite so elegant.

[sem34090]

I do like the look of that uniform. Wouldn't want to wear it myself, mind...

 

And I have long since succumbed to the charms of the Met. 

[ChrisN]

Metropolitan Railway in 1910.  This is out in the country though.  It is quite annoying as it misses out Rickmansworth, which as I use sometimes I was interested in.

 

Being a Londoner I have always wondered about building an Underground layout, probably the widened lines, but, it would have to be after I have finished my present layout and my 009 one, then it would have to compete with an LC&DR, and a suburban GWR one.  You probably know that on the Inner Circle, one company ran trains clockwise and the other one anti-clockwise.  I am not sure which was which but Sem would probably know.

 

Now stop me if I have already told you this one.  My neighbour when I was young, used to go on the Inner Circle as a lad, when it was still steam hauled.  He said he would buy a ticket for the next stop, but would go round the other way.  He said they always knew because he would stick his head out of the window, I assume to try and see the engine,  and his face would be black by the time he got off.

[sem34090]

18 minutes ago, ChrisN said:

Metropolitan Railway in 1910.  This is out in the country though.  It is quite annoying as it misses out Rickmansworth, which as I use sometimes I was interested in.

Interesting film, that.

18 minutes ago, ChrisN said:

Being a Londoner I have always wondered about building an Underground layout, probably the widened lines, but, it would have to be after I have finished my present layout and my 009 one, then it would have to compete with an LC&DR, and a suburban GWR one.  You probably know that on the Inner Circle, one company ran trains clockwise and the other one anti-clockwise.  I am not sure which was which but Sem would probably know.

I think that the District ran the Anti-Clockwise ('Inner Rail' in LU Speak) and the Met the Clockwise ('Outer Rail'). I could very well be wrong though!

18 minutes ago, ChrisN said:

Now stop me if I have already told you this one.  My neighbour when I was young, used to go on the Inner Circle as a lad, when it was still steam hauled.  He said he would buy a ticket for the next stop, but would go round the other way.  He said they always knew because he would stick his head out of the window, I assume to try and see the engine,  and his face would be black by the time he got off.

Indeed it was quite possible for passengers to be fobbed off in this way. If a passenger went to, say, the District Railway office at Victoria, wishing to travel to Sloane Square (and assuming that the above is true), their District Railway ticket would only permit them to travel anti-clockwise, and thus almost the full circle!

[Nearholmer]

Superb bit of film, which I will watch properly later. Many very familiar locations.

 

Marlborough Road was one of the stations that closed many years ago, and it got used for many things, becoming a restaurant in fairly recent years, but we converted it into a traction substation about five years ago, as part of the power upgrade to support the latest trains and timetable.

[RedGemAlchemist]

1 hour ago, sem34090 said:

I do like the look of that uniform. Wouldn't want to wear it myself, mind...

Maybe not you, but there's a lady we all know who shines white light and wants to show how everything still turns to gold might enjoy such an attire...

Edited August 4, 2019 by RedGemAlchemist

[ChrisN]

3 minutes ago, sem34090 said:

Interesting film, that.

I think that the District ran the Anti-Clockwise ('Inner Rail' in LU Speak) and the Met the Clockwise ('Outer Rail'). I could very well be wrong though!

Indeed it was quite possible for passengers to be fobbed off in this way. If a passenger went to, say, the District Railway office at Victoria, wishing to travel to Sloane Square (and assuming that the above is true), their District Railway ticket would only permit them to travel anti-clockwise, and thus almost the full circle!

 

I am fairly sure it was true as he told me with that twinkle in his eye of, "I did this as a lad and got away with it."  I think he would have gone to the Metropolitan Ticket Office and then used the District, or vice versa.  Of course when he told me I had no idea about one railway one way and one the other so never asked.  I grew up with my dad talking about the 'Inner Circle' but have only recently found out why it was called that.

[sem34090]

2 minutes ago, RedGemAlchemist said:

Maybe not you, but there's a lady we all know who shines white light and wants to show how everything still turns to gold might enjoy such an attire...

Oh yes, don't you worry - She's already said how much she likes it!!!

[Annie]

36 minutes ago, ChrisN said:

Metropolitan Railway in 1910.  This is out in the country though.  It is quite annoying as it misses out Rickmansworth, which as I use sometimes I was interested in.

 

Upper quadrant signals in 1910!  I wouldn't have believed it before seeing this excellent piece of film.

[Nearholmer]

The circle was certainly operated by one partner on the inner, and the other on the outer, but I’m 99% sure that revenue was pooled, so some of these tales are possibly urban myths.

 

Killjoy Was Here.

 

UQ signals? The District had three-position UQ automatic signalling in one area by this date. Like so much else on The Underground post 1900, it was American!

Edited August 4, 2019 by Nearholmer

[Hroth]

On 04/08/2019 at 14:12, Edwardian said:

 

Very natty ..... 

 

 

Makes me want a Met layout, c.1916!

 

The pictured services all seem to be going to Neasden.  I profess total ignorance of the locale and of the Metropoilitan Railway.  Neasden seems to sit before the Met starts branching off to the north west.  By 1916 I expect that much of the system was electrified.  I expect Neasden would see only electric services, is that correct?

 

Ignoring the huge dépôt, Neasden & Kinsbury looks an attractive and compact site, sitting between two bridges, on one of which sits the station building, and with the Great Central running parallel to the Met ..... 

 

 

The last, circular photo, can be dated reasonably closely as prints like that were produced by the first Kodak Brownies, which were current between February 1900 and October 1901.  Giving a little latitude for getting the film processed by Kodak, its probably no later than the end of 1902.

 

The prints were intentionally presented in a circular format as the cheap lens used in the camera produced a fair amount of edge distortion.

 

 

21 hours ago, sem34090 said:

Wouldn't want to wear it myself, mind...

 

Might stop the punters asking you questions about SWT services.... 

 

 

 

Edited August 5, 2019 by Hroth
not for content, just punctuation that's been annoying me since I posted....

[Annie]

One of the members of the creator group I belong to built an outstanding digital representation of a section of the GCR-Met joint lines.  It was for his own use so he didn't release it as freeware for downloading, but he did post a good many great screenshots on the Auran Trainz forum.  Having an interest in the GCR I was sorely tempted to try something similar myself, but by then I was working on my 'what-if' GER minor lines project and I didn't want to get distracted.              

[sem34090]

22 minutes ago, Hroth said:

Might stop the punters asking you questions about SWT services.... 

I wouldn't bank on it...

[Regularity]

9 hours ago, Edwardian said:

the collar and cuffs are neatly edged with braid/cord

Always important for them to match, in my experience: much more aesthetically pleasing.

Not sure about the cord edging, though...

[corneliuslundie]

There has of course been one Underground layout, below Copenhagen Fields!

Jonathan

Plus an appropriate pre-grouping offering - you will need to read the text.