Horse (as in Eeyore) Power

[daftbovine]

I assume that when the canals were in their heyday there would have been long queues at locks which must have slowed things down considerably.

[Nearholmer]

You can, of course, gear-up a horse to drive a train faster, and there were various attempts, including the below, invented by an Italian chap, and tested on the LSWR, and in Belgium, IIRC.

 

Good way of tiring out difficult horses, I guess.

 

K

Edited May 26, 2017 by Nearholmer

[eastglosmog]

I assume that when the canals were in their heyday there would have been long queues at locks which must have slowed things down considerably.

Indeed there were - why some canals (Trent and Mersey, Bridgewater and Oxford for example) built a second line of locks beside the original line at critical places.

[eastglosmog]

You can, of course, gear-up a horse to drive a train faster, and there were various attempts, including the below, invented by an Italian chap, and tested on the LSWR, and in Belgium, IIRC.

 

Good way of tiring out difficult horses, I guess.

 

K

Old hat - Cycloped was at the Rainhill trials in 1829!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cycloped

[Reorte]

I assume that when the canals were in their heyday there would have been long queues at locks which must have slowed things down considerably.

For several years most of the High Peak Canal had been completed apart from the locks at Marple, which had a temporary railway between the upper and lower sections. I can't recall how it was operated, although with most of the cargo going downhill gravity would seem the obvious choice. Presumably the extra overhead from loading and unloading meant it was only ever the temporary solution that it was intended to be, although it's interesting to compare with the end of the canal where the original extra locks were rejected and the final stage (and beyond up to the quarries) ended up as a horse-drawn tramway instead. I believe (I'd need to check the book to be sure) that the idea was thrown around from time to time of turning the tramway into a more conventional railway, although nothing ever came of that.

[ejstubbs]

For several years most of the High Peak Canal ...

 

Peak Forest Canal, not High Peak.

[Nearholmer]

Eastglsmog

 

I don't think Cycloped was geared-up, was it?

 

Kevin

[BG John]

Flying Dutchman would make a nice model. Just need to work out how to make the horse move!

[Titan]

I assume that when the canals were in their heyday there would have been long queues at locks which must have slowed things down considerably.

 

Thing is I believe that the canals are now busier than they have ever been, particularly during the summer. Not unknown for the queuing time for locks to be hours. Of course it is now almost all leisure traffic.

[Talltim]

Surely Eeyore was a donkey not a horse?

[Nearholmer]

Going round in circles?

[£1.38]

We mustn't forget that individual railway wagons were often subject to long delays too, quite apart from waiting at signals. They were put in lay-by sidings for faster traffic to pass, shunted, left in sidings and marshalling yards awaiting a train and often waited for some time on arrival before being unloaded.

 

Speed limits on canals are quite restrictive though. I can walk quite a lot faster than canal vessels.

[bgman]

Surely Eeyore was a donkey not a horse?

Eeyore, eeyore e-always wanted to be a horse !

[jjb1970]

Commercial deep sea shipping has slowed right down in receent years to reduce fuel use. Obviously we're told it is to make shipping greener....

When I worked for Maersk they built a class of box boats designed to cruise at 30kts and with a trials speed of almost 37kts. They were delivered straight to layup and have been a disaster for Maersk. The giant triple E ships Maersk built hada service speed of 23kts but operatein service at 16kts. That's a masive reduction and 10kts less than the speed the Emma Maersk class which preceded the triple E class cruised at in service. Customers have responded well and appear to value the lower cost more than the longer transit time.

[Trog]

The giant triple E ships Maersk built hada service speed of 23kts but operatein service at 16kts.

 

Is that not about the same speed as the Clippers and Windjammers of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries used to manage. 

[eastglosmog]

Eastglsmog

 

I don't think Cycloped was geared-up, was it?

 

Kevin

Indeed it was - the cog driven by the treadmill was much smaller in diameter than the rail wheel.  What the designers of  Cycloped and all other similar gadgets forgot was that a horse is quite capable of galloping at 20-30mph.  All these contraptions did was loose power due to friction in the numerous gears and pullies making it impossible to reach speeds the horse could do on its own!

 

Flying Dutchman would make a nice model. Just need to work out how to make the horse move

Do you think the one linked to by Nearholmer in post 12 could be scaled down?

[BG John]

Do you think the one linked to by Nearholmer in post 12 could be scaled down?

With its back legs waving about in the air, defying gravity?

[brianusa]

Back to horses between the rails.  One of the most lasting, if not the last, was the Lee Moor Tramway AKA the Plymouth and Dartmoor railway which most know ran from the quarries high on Dartmoor down to quays on the Cattewater in Plymouth.  Even I can remember this being active, or at least seeing horses pull a couple  of wagons.  When the line was eventually closed, we were able to play around parked wagons and work the signals at the Coypool crossing.  Different times!

 

Brian.

[Nearholmer]

Not wishing to trample on precious memories, Brian, but I think that the Nantlle might have outlasted the Lee Moor, and the Fintona tram/railway-car continued pretty late, too. I suppose if you count Douglas Bay we still have a regular horse-hauled rail-borne transport system in these isles (just).

 

Kevin

Edited May 27, 2017 by Nearholmer

[Orange Cat]

If anyone fancies modelling a horse tramway appropriate sound chips are available. I imagine trying to get the horse's legs to move in time to the sound file, or even at all, would be a challenge. That said, I did see a Tamika kit for a working model of a racehorse in Hobbycraft today. They also had ones for dogs, described on the box as Dog (four legged walking type). What other type of dog is there?

[Talltim]

Surely Eeyore was a donkey not a horse?

Sorry, completely missed the first page of the thread!

[jamie92208]

If anyone fancies modelling a horse tramway appropriate sound chips are available. I imagine trying to get the horse's legs to move in time to the sound file, or even at all, would be a challenge. That said, I did see a Tamika kit for a working model of a racehorse in Hobbycraft today. They also had ones for dogs, described on the box as Dog (four legged walking type). What other type of dog is there?

 

Some years ago there was an article about making a horse with legs that worked in the Tramway and Light Railway Society (TLRS) journal. IIRC it was in 4mm and featured a horse pulling a tram.  The legs were operated by cams driven by a shaft fro a Black Beetle with a shaft that went forward into an orifice in the horse!!!.

 

Jamie

[Titan]

They also had ones for dogs, described on the box as Dog (four legged walking type). What other type of dog is there?

 

Four legged Sh**ting type?

Edited May 27, 2017 by Titan

[BG John]

Four legged Sh**ting type?

The average dog has slightly less than four legs, so there are some three legged walking types around as well!

[Nearholmer]

Caught the reading of a very relevant book on the radio this morning as I was driving: farewell to the horse, by a German author, about the decline in practical use of hoses since the 1880s. Sounded very interesting, with plenty of facts and figures that would appeal here. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08rptqw

 

Kevin

 

PS: why are zillions of horses going to Ireland today? There must be forty or fifty big, fancy horse-lorries waiting to get on the boat? Here are a few being exercised while waiting.

Edited May 29, 2017 by Nearholmer