Deliberately Old-Fashioned 0 Scale - Chapter 1

[GRASinBothell]

I was intrigued that Nearholmer's carriage truck turned out to be Bing, since it's so very different from mine. So, I thought I'd share a few pictures of mine.

Presumably at some point, Bing redesigned it. Any idea which is the older version?

Gordon

[Lacathedrale]

Grrr - in the saga of 'The Schools' - I decided to cut my losses and put it back together as-is. Managed to get it working! Managed to get the motor reinserted into the chassis! Managed to get all the motion reconnected! ... In screwing in the 2R/3R plug, the micro-connector on the inside came undone, it being about 1/4" too short to reach (no doubt snagged inside the body somewhere). The only solution I can see? Take the whole thing apart AGAIN and attempt to get it back together with the cables slightly further towards the smokebox. Gosh, enough to drive one to drink1

[Nearholmer]

it’s at times like this that one turns to the soothing words of Alice Cooper:

 

School's out for summer
School's out forever
My school's been blown to pieces

 

 

[Compound2632]

28 minutes ago, GRASinBothell said:

 

 

Intriguing red Midland wagon there...

[sncf231e]

38 minutes ago, GRASinBothell said:

 

Presumably at some point, Bing redesigned it. Any idea which is the older version?

Gordon

The Bing 1912 catalogue shows your version (catalogue number 10382/0). The 1930 catalogue shows Nearholmers version (catalogue number 10/585/0). There are of course many catalogues in between which I do not have. Your version is the oldest but I do not know when the change was made. I am not a Bing specialist (I am not a any brand specialist at all).

Regards

Fred

[brianusa]

33 minutes ago, Lacathedrale said:

The only solution I can see? Take the whole thing apart AGAIN and attempt to get it back together with the cables slightly further towards the smokebox. Gosh, enough to drive one to drink1

 

Having gone through similar experiences with toy trains, even cars, it has always cost more than had it been taken to  someone who knew what had to be done, in the first place.  I never touch anything that I can't fix easily and simply!

         Brian.

[Lacathedrale]

@brianusa I can't help but agree at this point   - I took it apart again, put it back together again - all connected up nicely. Tightened the last bolt, turned it over - and the bloody thing had come unplugged again! Argh!

[GRASinBothell]

2 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

 

Intriguing red Midland wagon there...

That is a Bing 62/510/0 MR open/mineral wagon.

At least, that's what it looks like, based on Arne's treatise over on the Classic O Gauge Trains Forum.

One of a grand total of 5 Bing O gauge wagons I own, so no, I'm not a brand specialist either!

Gordon

[GRASinBothell]

Oh, and thank you Fred. I appreciate that.

Gordon

[PatB]

9 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

All the Wainwright D frothing elsewhere has got me anticipating (I never froth; well, hardly ever) the Ace 0 gauge one due sometime next year.

 

Once bigger locos took over on the KC expresses, these Ds moved to the Reading-Redhill-Tonbridge, and Tonbridge-Tunbridge Wells-Brighton routes, which are two of my home-turf favourites, so, to find photos of them during the 1930s/40s.

 

Not easy, because these were their wilderness years, no longer colourful, shiny and new, and not yet fascinating old-crocks.

 

But, this is a real cracker of an image. I can't fathom the headcode, but I'm pretty sure its going via "The West" to Brighton, so is part-way through a really interesting and scenic trundle, and is about to head for the single track section that ran through the back gardens of several posh villas to link the SER to the LBSCR.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/blue-diesels/5660346923/in/album-72157626406560965/

 

Next one is slightly too late a date, but another beautiful photo, the site instantly recognisable to yours truly. The train is on what is now the Spa Valley Railway, and is signalled on towards Birchden Junction. The other route takes trains towards either the East Grinstead Line, or the line via Edenbridge Town.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/55082908@N07/47960199328

 

I will keep poking around, looking for images from the right period, in odd spare moments.

 

The loco in that Tunbridge shot has a distinctly tinplateish look to it. Something to do with the semi-gloss finish, exaggerated smokebox rivet detail and lack of fiddly bits elsewhere.

5 hours ago, sncf231e said:

The Bing 1912 catalogue shows your version (catalogue number 10382/0). The 1930 catalogue shows Nearholmers version (catalogue number 10/585/0). There are of course many catalogues in between which I do not have. Your version is the oldest but I do not know when the change was made. I am not a Bing specialist (I am not a any brand specialist at all).

Regards

Fred

 

Might the Bing branding have been dropped following WW1? I would have thought that anything with identifiably German branding on it would have become somewhat unpopular.

[Nearholmer]

Mr Carne is the man when it comes to Bing, but two thoughts on trademarks:

 

- they sometimes omitted them from work commissioned by others, for instance Bassett Lowke, and I think that may be why the Louvre wagon has none; and,

 

- “Made in Bavaria” seems to have been the very thin disguise of German origin for the British market after WW1, but maybe the French were more sensitive (or knew where Bavaria is!).

 

 

Edited September 10, 2020 by Nearholmer

[Lacathedrale]

To take my mind off the very annoying Schools, I've been sketching out some more ideas. I think my house move is closer to imminent than in the distance, so a layout which is accessible/removable is a high priority. First port of call was the standard Terminus to FY arrangement:

 

 

6 turnouts to store six trains, with a maximum of three out and three back, with a push-pull shuttle out and back over the crossover, without reshuffling in the FY.

 

Pros: fairly simple arrangement

Cons: very short distance from throat to fiddle-yard - only about 5'6" of running from turnout to turnout, and the 'finite' nature of a single-ended fiddle yard, costs £300 more

 

While exploring that, I've realised that if I can find a way to bridge the bottom of the 'carport' I can fit a very nice run - eight feet of space for another station, carriage sidings, engine facility, etc. and an eight foot long bridge (should such a thing even be possible!). Depending on the scenic treatment of the storage loops (or lack thereof) there's lots of space to have trains stopped at signals, etc.

 

 

Pros: 'infinite' fiddle yard, much longer run, £300 cheaper

Cons: 8' long steel/aluminium slot-in bridge required, much more in the way of baseboards/etc. required and potentially wasted if the design changes

 

Any thoughts?

 

[Nearholmer]

This classic car, do you really need it?

 

My railway only secured a proper home when I finally, with much soul-searching, sold my ancient Landrover, thereby making the garage available.

 

I missed the discomfort and the countryside, so now I bump along bridleways on my bike instead. Here is what this morning looked like in the middle of nowhere.

[Florence Locomotive Works]

11 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

Mr Carne is the man when it comes to Bing, but two thoughts on trademarks:

 

- they sometimes omitted them from work commissioned by others, for instance Bassett Lowke, and I think that may be why the Louvre wagon has none; and,

 

- “Made in Bavaria” seems to have been the very thin disguise of German origin for the British market after WW1, but maybe the French were more sensitive (or knew where Bavaria is!).

 

 

There is also the problem that in Bavaria, you a Bavarian first and German second. All Bavarians I’ve met have been this way. Perhaps this was Bing’s* way of coping by putting the blame of losing the war on “Germany” and not the proud state of “Bavaria”. 
 

*The company, not just the man and founder.

Edited September 10, 2020 by Florence Locomotive Works

[Nearholmer]

That gym space, do you really need it?

 

The exercise solution is as above. :-)

 

I’ve still got a really long bridge that I made for our previous garden railway  somewhere - will dig it out and show you the construction method for possible inspiration - all aluminium, so very light.

[Nearholmer]

18 minutes ago, Florence Locomotive Works said:

Perhaps this was Bing’s* way of coping by putting the blame of losing the war on “Germany”

Nope, it was an attempt by British importers to help their customers get over any qualms.

[sidmouth]

On 09/09/2020 at 16:24, Nearholmer said:

All the Wainwright D frothing elsewhere has got me anticipating (I never froth; well, hardly ever) the Ace 0 gauge one due sometime next year.

 

Once bigger locos took over on the KC expresses, these Ds moved to the Reading-Redhill-Tonbridge, and Tonbridge-Tunbridge Wells-Brighton routes, which are two of my home-turf favourites, so, to find photos of them during the 1930s/40s.

 

Not easy, because these were their wilderness years, no longer colourful, shiny and new, and not yet fascinating old-crocks.

 

But, this is a real cracker of an image. I can't fathom the headcode, but I'm pretty sure its going via "The West" to Brighton, so is part-way through a really interesting and scenic trundle, and is about to head for the single track section that ran through the back gardens of several posh villas to link the SER to the LBSCR.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/blue-diesels/5660346923/in/album-72157626406560965/

 

Next one is slightly too late a date, but another beautiful photo, the site instantly recognisable to yours truly. The train is on what is now the Spa Valley Railway, and is signalled on towards Birchden Junction. The other route takes trains towards either the East Grinstead Line, or the line via Edenbridge Town.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/55082908@N07/47960199328

 

I will keep poking around, looking for images from the right period, in odd spare moments.

 

30742 Charters - 80078 on the Spa Valley Railway by Martin Creese, on Flickr

 

a little more recent to the lovely image of the D at Groombridge . Still nice to see steam in the same spot

[Lacathedrale]

Just to prove it didn't beat me 17-0:

 

https://youtu.be/UJiUiXGnlgg

[Nearholmer]

Since we are now into high-quality B&W railway photos, this is the album from which the D at Groombridge comes. https://www.flickr.com/photos/robmcrorie/albums/72157655884004185

 

 

The quality of the images is superb, and if you persist there are some others near the end taken at High Rocks Halt, including one I really like of a Fairburn tank towering over what looks like an ex-LBSCR 2PP set. It includes a good image to serve my milk train obsession too, a Brittania pulling such a train on the LSWR main line during the 1953 Bulleid loco crisis.

 

[Nearholmer]

A picture for Zomboid, in case he visits, because in another thread he expressed a belief that I share: that a train formed of a not-huge loco, a van and a three-set is about all one ever needs for railway entertainment in model form.

 

Something I only learned recently is that some old ex-LBSCR six-wheeler vans were fitted-up to be used in push-pull trains on the Reading-Redhill And Guildford-Horsham lines during the 1930s. Another bit of smart re-cycling by the SR.

Edited September 11, 2020 by Nearholmer

[rockershovel]

Deciding between a classic car and an O Gauge model railway definitely sounds like “first world problems”, as my children say. Old Land Rovers are “Third World problems”, though! Why anyone needs an actual, specific REASON to get rid of one, I wouldn’t know. 

[Simond]

It’s true, you don’t actually NEED a cat, a boat, a motorbike, a car, classic or otherwise, hifi, an iphone, a beer, a classic malt, a decent local, a pannier tank, trainset, children or a partner.

but IMO they do make life MUCH more pleasant.

 

ATB

Simon

 

[Edwardian]

On 10/09/2020 at 19:29, Florence Locomotive Works said:

There is also the problem that in Bavaria, you a Bavarian first and German second. All Bavarians I’ve met have been this way. Perhaps this was Bing’s* way of coping by putting the blame of losing the war on “Germany” and not the proud state of “Bavaria”. 
 

*The company, not just the man and founder.

 

Bavaria. Traditionally the 'enemy within'; always allying with France (rather like Scotland!)

[St Enodoc]

5 hours ago, Simond said:

It’s true, you don’t actually NEED a cat, a boat, a motorbike, a car, classic or otherwise, hifi, an iphone, a beer, a classic malt, a decent local, a pannier tank, trainset, children or a partner.

but IMO they do make life MUCH more pleasant.

 

ATB

Simon

 

I agree with some, but not all, of the above.

[Simond]

YPYM - YTYC,