Annie's Virtual Pre-Grouping, Grouping and BR Layouts & Workbench

[Edwardian]

The Army did something similar. Our aging Scimitar CVR(T)s (Combat Reconnaissance Vehicles (Tracked)), or "little tanks" to anyone else, were to a design almost as old as I am, and were made of rather thin and highly flammable  aluminium, were relatively slow (compared with the Main Battle Tanks they were supposed to scout ahead of) and woefully under-gunned, each engagement requiring 3 rounds to have a hope of damaging the enemy and each shot manually laid into target with cross-hairs and Mark I Eyeball. 

 

Promised something new for years, what the army in fact got was a Dukedog in the form of Sabre; turret from withdrawn Fox CVR (the wheeled variant) which looks similar to a Scorpion/Scimitar turret but is in fact shallower, married to Scorpion hulls (essentially the same as Scimitar).  What this was supposed to achieve, other than make-do-and-mend, I'm not sure, but the real highlight was replacing our perfectly reliable and deadly GPMGs (General Purpose Machine Guns) with a new co-axial MG, an American thing designed to be used in helicopters. This had a number of drawbacks. It had a lower rate of fire as it was operated by a wee electric motor instead of gas* (apparently American servicemen find cleaning gas parts of accrued carbon gunk too onerous and cannot be relied upon to do so) and the ammunition was gravity fed. So, from above, which is fine in a helicopter, which tends to have rather more head room than a very small low-profile tank turret. Oh and, where does all the brass go? Out of the open helicopter door, obviously, like in all those films. Great, but we're in a tank turret so, when not jamming it was a case of very hot bullet casings hitting you in the cheek and bouncing around the turret. MoD procurement; the Gold Standard for wasteful incompetence. Our REME detachment had to do some homemade mods before the weapons became usable.   

 

But, then, for the first time we did get 'factory fitted' side bins for our kit, instead of having to scavenge them. So it all evens out, really.  

 

If there is one thing life has taught me it is never assume that anyone in charge is anything other than incompetent. In a military context, that may not stop you dying as a result, but at least you'll be spared a sense of disappointment as you do. 

 

* Gas operated weapons use a portion of high-pressure gas from the cartridge being fired to re-cock the weapon automatically between rounds, i.e. to eject the spent case and insert a new round into the chamber.  Thick grey 'gunk' accrues on the 'gas parts' of the weapon, which needs to be partially stripped and cleaned as a result. 

[Regularity]

3 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

Well, they were de-facto pre-grouping engines since there was not much post-grouping about their design

You could say that about quite a lot of Collett’s designs: a few detail updates, and a new cab, but most of the designs were updated of previous one, sometimes from the Armstrong era (e.g. the 4800).

That’s not necessarily a criticism, mind. If something is more or less the right size for the job, then don’t re-invent it. CME’s were responsible for delivering efficient and capable machinery and plant, getting maximum work out of minimal expenditure.

[Annie]

Morning GWR Cheer Up Picture:  Staying with the outside framed 4-4-0 theme here's No.3270 'Trevithick' looking very bright and shiny circa 1896.

(Picture shamelessly borrowed from the Didcot Railway Centre)

 

[Compound2632]

10 hours ago, Annie said:

Morning GWR Cheer Up Picture:  Staying with the outside framed 4-4-0 theme here's No.3270 'Trevithick' looking very bright and shiny circa 1896.

 

A very handsome locomotive, up to a point:

 

[Annie]

26 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

 

A very handsome locomotive, up to a point:

 

Well yes I have to agree with you about that Stephen.  

 

Swiftly finds an emergency replacement 4-4-0.................

Flower class No. 4107 'Cineraria' as built in 1908.

[Compound2632]

1 hour ago, Annie said:

Well yes I have to agree with you about that Stephen.  

 

Swiftly finds an emergency replacement 4-4-0.................

Flower class No. 4107 'Cineraria' as built in 1908.

 

 

Yes, a handsome machine. If one is going to change the look from elegant Victorian to thrusting Edwardian, one has to go the whole hog:

 

[Regularity]

1 hour ago, Compound2632 said:

thrusting Edwardian

Do you know something about him which the rest of us don’t?

 

 I think we should be told!

[Edwardian]

1 minute ago, Regularity said:

Do you know something about him which the rest of us don’t?

 

 I think we should be told!

 

I've long since run out of thrust!

 

These days ....

 

 

[Edwardian]

Once upon a time, however ...

 

[Edwardian]

 

 

 

[Compound2632]

I have just googled the phrase "thrusting young man"; this yields a diverse range of citations but Bill Clinton is in the first half-dozen, one behind J.S. Bach. Make of that what you will...

Edited April 22, 2022 by Compound2632

[Annie]

I have no idea what any of you are talking about.  Here's a nice picture of ex-Bristol & Exeter Railway No. 2021 which is far more fun.

 

[Regularity]

9 hours ago, Annie said:

I have no idea what any of you are talking about.

I’m not sure we ever do, either!

[Annie]

Afternoon GWR Cheer Up Picture:  'Bulldog' class No.3376 'River Plym' at Penzance in 1921.  An interesting photo as it was taken just before the station was rebuilt for the second time.  'River Plym' was a Penzance engine and I have it represented on my WIP Penzance to Camborne & Branches layout.

 

[MikeOxon]

4 hours ago, Annie said:

'Bulldog' class No.3376 'River Plym' at Penzance in 1921. 

I think it must a 'trick of the light' but the footplate looks narrower over the front bogie than over the drivers in that photo.

[Annie]

This is the latest very old Trainz TS2004 locomotive to come out of the works after overhaul to update it for TRS22.  It's a 43xx Mogul and with them having being used in Cornwall I needed to have at least one on my WIP Penzance to Camborne & Branches layout.

I would think this is one of Paulz Trainz earliest models and it is one of those engines that I look on as being a virtual O gauge coarse scale live steamer rather than an exact model of the prototype.  The original tender wasn't the best so No.4369 has been paired with the same narrow bodied 3000 gallon tender as I paired with the 'Bulldogs' after their overhaul.  As it came to me No.4369 had lined out boiler bands and lining nowhere else so the simple solution to that was to paint the boiler bands green.  With the way the texturing is done I'd need to make mesh pieces to carry any additional lining and that definitely wasn't going to happen.  A bit of a polish around on the paintwork and No.4369 was starting to look better all things considered.

 

The biggest issue I had though was that the driving wheels had a mesh fault with parts of the spokes being textured on their inside faces so that on viewing them from the outside they were partly invisible.  In the end I was able to sort it out using a mesh editing tool so that the wheels now look the way they should, but it had me scratching my head for a while there.  The pony truck and driving wheels needing their height adjusting as well so they would sit properly on the rails so once that was done I was starting to feel a bit more optimistic about making the best of this old model.

 

The next stage was almost exactly what I've done with my other older GWR engines with updating sound files and engine specs as well as improving the smoke animation from the chimney.  The various steam animations from the whistle, safety valves and draincocks still need to be updated as they can be a wee bit of a mission all of their own to get sorted properly.

 

No.4369 on shed at Longrock MPD.

 

Waiting at Ponsandane sidings with a goods train for Gwinear Road.

 

Heading towards St. Erth.  No.4369 runs well and sounds nice as well.

 

 

Edited April 23, 2022 by Annie
can't spell for toffee

[Compound2632]

10 hours ago, MikeOxon said:

I think it must a 'trick of the light' but the footplate looks narrower over the front bogie than over the drivers in that photo.

 

There seems to be a vertical highlight on the leading edge of the driving wheel hornguide plate, that is lined up with the drop in the footplate; then, because the footplate projects so far from the framing, the front, lower, part of the footplate doesn't cast a shadow until the start of the narrow forward frame extension. It is a very disconcerting effect. It got me looking at other photos of Bulldogs but none where the light was at the same angle or the engine so highly polished. This photo came closest to matching the angle:

 

 

[Embedded link to Warwickshire Railways image gwrt2987.]

 

This engine is a good deal less shiny.

[Annie]

8 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

 

There seems to be a vertical highlight on the leading edge of the driving wheel hornguide plate, that is lined up with the drop in the footplate; then, because the footplate projects so far from the framing, the front, lower, part of the footplate doesn't cast a shadow until the start of the narrow forward frame extension. It is a very disconcerting effect. It got me looking at other photos of Bulldogs but none where the light was at the same angle or the engine so highly polished. This photo came closest to matching the angle:

 

 

[Embedded link to Warwickshire Railways image gwrt2987.]

 

This engine is a good deal less shiny.

That is a very fine picture of a 'Bulldog'.  As fond as I am of the engines built at Wolverhampton it's the post-1990s straight framed 4-4-0s that are among my favourite early 20th century GWR engines.  As Stephen has pointed out the 'Dukes' are almost elegant and they would be with a different boiler, dome and smokebox.    As reluctant as I am to refer to 'thrusting Edwardianism', - Stephen is quite right in that the straight framed 'Bulldogs', 'Birds' and 'Flowers' do have that quality about them.

After studying this photograph of No.3450 'Peacock' and comparing it to the photograph of No.3376 'River Plym' I can see now what Mike has referred to as a 'trick of the light' seeming to change the width of the footplate over the front bogie.  (I woke up speaking like this, but I'm sure it will wear off soon enough)

 

F. Moore coloured postcard. Bulldog No.3701 'Stanley Baldwin' pre-1912.

 

 

[Penrhos1920]

On 08/03/2022 at 12:56, Annie said:

Morning Cheer Up Picture:  7 March 1892.  No.3003 'Avalanche' with the Great Western Railway’s first train of corridor coaches for the Birkenhead and Paddington service.  It was comprised of four vehicles, one first class, one second class, one third class and a brake third.  The luggage van is just an ordinary luggage van and not an official part of the set (sorry luggage van  ).

Lighting in the corridor coaches was by oil-gas with duplex burners and there was steam heating. Electric bells were provided to summon the guard. Gangways were at the side which didn't make for an easy life if the coaches were reversed at any time. 

 

As is usual there's lots of interesting details to be seen in this old photo.  I do like that goods shed.

(Photo and some words shamelessly borrowed from the Didcot Railway Centre)

 

As you might expect I have a couple of these side corridor coaches.  A 1st/3rd Composite and a Brake 3rd by Steve Flanders.  I should have a dig about in my digital trainset box and see if I've got any more that I've forgotten about.

Edit: Steve also did a  diagram  J4 1st class Sleeper coach and a diagram A1 1st class coach.  The 1st/3rd compo I already have is a diagram E38 and the Brake 3rd is a diagram D12.  The only problem with finding these two coaches is that I now have to fix the opacity settings on all their windows, - soooo many windows.  

 

 

 

Sorry I’m a bit late.  The coaches in the Didcot photo do not have flat sides.  They were 4 of only 8 coaches built by the GWR to the ‘Bay Window‘ style.  The coaches measured 8’6 across the doors and had the usual tumblehome at the bottom below the waist.  Between the doors the body width was gradually increased to 9' 0¾ over the windows at the compartment partitions. Similarly the width also increased from the floor up and the gutter down, making them a more like oriel windows, rather than bay windows.  The other coaches built to this style were the J3 and J5 sleepers.  There are some drawings of some of these coaches with side corridors and the later centre corridors on my website:  GWRCoaches.org.uk.

 

PS the diagrams in the photo are from the front: K4, C6, A1, C7, D5

 

PPS the GWR royal saloon and dynamometer cars also had ‘bay windows’ but were different again.

 

[Annie]

1 hour ago, Penrhos1920 said:

 

Sorry I’m a bit late.  The coaches in the Didcot photo do not have flat sides.  They were 4 of only 8 coaches built by the GWR to the ‘Bay Window‘ style.  The coaches measured 8’6 across the doors and had the usual tumblehome at the bottom below the waist.  Between the doors the body width was gradually increased to 9' 0¾ over the windows at the compartment partitions. Similarly the width also increased from the floor up and the gutter down, making them a more like oriel windows, rather than bay windows.  The other coaches built to this style were the J3 and J5 sleepers.  There are some drawings of some of these coaches with side corridors and the later centre corridors on my website:  GWRCoaches.org.uk.

 

PS the diagrams in the photo are from the front: K4, C6, A1, C7, D5

 

PPS the GWR royal saloon and dynamometer cars also had ‘bay windows’ but were different again.

 

Thank you very much for the information about the coaches in the Didcot photo.  I've had Steve Flanders's  J4 1st class Sleeper and A1 1st class coach for some time now and I've always been a little curious about them.  These were the only 'Bay Window' style coaches he made and as he likes to make GWR digital models as a relaxing hobby I suppose he must've found the drawings and thought he'd have a go at making them.  I don't really have a use for these coaches, but it's nice to have them in my collection.

 

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[Annie]

Very Early Morning Cheer Up Picture:  Meet 'Ajax'.  Ajax was built in 1841 by Jones, Turner and Evans in Newton-le-Willows for the Kaiser Ferdinands-Nordbahn in Austria. Now preserved in Vienna, Austria.

(Picture courtesy of Wikipedia Commons)

[Northroader]

Now you’re cooking with gas, Annie. KFNB, yeaahhh!

[Annie]

Supplementary Morning Cheer Up Picture:  Tram engines No. 68217 and 68225 at Wisbech East Shed.  Photo was taken Friday 25th August 1950. 

(Photo Credit: Henry C Casserley)

 

[Annie]

6 hours ago, Northroader said:

Now you’re cooking with gas, Annie. KFNB, yeaahhh!

[Annie]

Presently helping out with beta testing a friend's Trainz layout before it's uploaded to the DLS.  I particularly like these green tank engines he's using to work the quarry branch.  I could find a use for those.  I do know what they are by the way and where they did work in reality, but do you?

 

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