“BEYOND DOVER”

[Northroader]

I never did manage to do that stunt of underlining text and it’s really a link! So I missed that underlying bit of your message.Crafty!

 

Edited February 10, 2023 by Northroader

[Nick Holliday]

On 08/01/2023 at 19:31, pete_mcfarlane said:

Off the top of my head:

 

Pen and Sword have done some books on German steam recently,

Unique books have a series of photo albums: https://www.uniquebooks.pub/unique-books-shop-2021

Middleton Press (European NG lines)

Oakwood Press (French NG)

Mainline and Maritime

Platform5 (mostly spotter books on the current European scene)

And there's Stenvalls, who are Swedish but do books on European railways in English. 

 

 

Lightmoor Press do a small number of books covering European and more distant locations. Not immediately apparent from their main index page, but mainly narrow gauge (or monorail).

[Mikkel]

On 01/02/2023 at 12:41, Northroader said:

Well, I started this thread three years ago today, and thanks to everyone for their support since then. To celebrate I thought I’d plant a tree, or two. Now, I’m no Constance Spry, but the essential fact you need to grasp when you’re sitting your diploma for flower arranging is that: YOU MUST ALWAYS PUT AN ODD NUMBER OF FLOWERS IN A VASE, NEVER AN EVEN NUMBER. With this in mind, I’m adding another one to the right hand clump, and an odd one in the left hand corner, next to where the station building is going. (The other two in the pack can go on one of the other lines)

 

Been on the road for a while, so a bit late to this. Congratulations on the anniversary, this thread has contributed much to expanding my horizons on the railway front, thank you for that. Photos like this one are also a joy. I know there's a station building on the way, but you could stop now and it would still be an attrative little scene.

 

 

[Northroader]

OUEST LOCOMOTIVES.

 

“How are those two OUEST locos. coming along, Bob?” You ask. Well, coming along slowly, thank you, says I. I’ve got them to what I call the running chassis stage now. There’s the main chassis, - frames, spacers, bushes, wheelsets, motor and gears, pickups,-  all together; then with old 19th century locos I find I can usually make a base for the superstructure by having a full length, full width footplate / platform. The fastening arrangements to the chassis are done, usually a screw fore and aft through the spacers, then valance and buffer beam added with buffers and drawgear. At this stage you can run it on the track attached to some wagons, although there’s no lead ballast yet added to balance and give some adhesive weight.

The bicyclette was a doddle, and I decided to save time and material by making footplates at the cab end and the smokebox end and joining the two by brass strips, 10mm x 2mm outboard of the wheels. The only tricky bit was making the reverse curves all match.

 

The Buddicom was a different kettle of fish. I started with a complete footplate, but all the central portion had to be cut away to clear the drivers and motor. Fortunately there’s a deep valance each side for support, and .060” brass rods at the key places. It’s the first time I’ve tried an outside cylinder job, and by the time I got there I’d scrapped two sets of crosshead assemblies, and taken well over two months modelling time. (Mind, I do go at a limited pace) Main problems were the clearances between the leading wheels and the back of the valance, and the sprung buffers projecting into the piston rod travel area. The crosshead ended up as a flat plate sliding behind the valance, and I’ve put a couple of pictures in to show what’s happened here. To lift a quote from Rene Panhard: “C’est brutal, mais ca marche!”

Now I can move on to superstructure proper for the pair, rolling boilers and suchlike. Here’s a family group with the Boer joining in.

 

While we’re looking at OUEST engines, I thought I’d link in to to two jobs progressing over on the French version on RMweb, as they’d be very good bread and butter additions to the fleet. The only snag with them is the straight link motion hanging off the main crank pin, this would be a big challenge, although watching it work is completely mesmerising.

The first one is an 0-6-0 shunter, although it did appear on trip goods and branch workings, and as there were 104 built over a long period 1861-1902, it does strengthen the OUESTs case to have the best fleet of tank engines in France. Numbers 1001-1104, Etat 30.601-30.704, SNCF 030TA 601-704. They were withdrawn in the 1960s, although some were sold to light railways and industries. The link describes fettling up a H0 kit for one.

 

https://forum.e-train.fr/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=94994

 

Then the largest class of 0-6-0s the OUEST had. 350 built 1872-8, numbers 1904- 2244, Etat 030.531- 860, SNCF 030C.531-860. The link describes the creation of a CAD file to help with making a model, complete with the motion working, really magic to watch.

 

https://forum.e-train.fr/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=94058

 

The last of these went in 1966, and thereby hangs a tale. I’d got married the previous year, and thought I’d impress my blushing bride with the joys of being married to a railwayman, so free pass to Paris for a couple of days, then over to Montparnasse and on to a Brest express. Change at Quimper, and railcar down the branch line to Douarnenez, a Brittany fishing port, with the smart little beach resort of Treboul, a short walk round the corner for a couple of days there. In the station there was this old goods engine lurking down the yard. I’m damned sure it was one of these, but gaining brownie points with free passes is one thing, losing them by going a couple of hundred yards to slobber over a dirty old steamer is another, so I never did know for sure. You can’t do it now, the branchline is been turned into one of those green cycle paths.

Edited February 17, 2023 by Northroader

[Compound2632]

7 hours ago, Northroader said:

“How are those two OUEST locos. coming along, Bob?” 

 

Very nicely, by the look of it.

[Mikkel]

Indeed. Complex shapes you've got going there, very nicely executed.

 

On 17/02/2023 at 13:18, Northroader said:

“C’est brutal, mais ca marche!”

 

Excellent, another one for the office door. Got several off RMweb by now (Al's "Department of unintended consequences" being a favourite).

 

 

[Northroader]

ITALIAN GOODS WAGONS.

 

Here’s a link to add to your Italian Portfolio, which should be filling up nicely. With it comes a question of ethics, insofar as the link is to a site which deals in virtual modelling. There’s a lot of it about, and I do admire the realism that some folks can achieve, as well as the way you can tuck the whole lot away inside your computer, and not worry about finding space to put it. I’m an old dog incapable of learning new tricks, so will stick to hacking about wood, plastic, and brass, in an untidy heap. The question is, should you use virtual images off a site to assist in making your models, or do you insist on having prototype drawings and photographs? If not, fill yer boots, as they say, although my expertise is limited in getting a decent download, and the blue print on a black background isn’t that helpful.

 

http://www.ildeposito.net/index.html

 

 

 

[Northroader]

SÃO LUCAS - some bits.

 

First off I needed frames for the loco wheels, and these have been done in .060” plastikard. I’ve took pictures before painting them, as it’s easier to make out what’s happening. The side frames, middle spacer, and motor support are in 3ply, and the spacers each end in 5ply. (I’ve seen somewhere that there’s less chance of warping with an odd number of layers, certainly they’ve stayed quite flat so far) The lead and driving axle bushes are cemented into the frames. The trailing axle bushes are soldered inside a tube running across the frames, a sort of cannon box, which can ride vertically in slots, and I intend to spring the tube. So now I have the frames for a 5’6” gauge 2-2-2T:

 

Next job is the bodyshell for a small station building. It’s done with a ply base, then for the walls I’ve used 5mm foamboard, and stuck together with pva glue. It’s the first time I’ve tried this, and I have to admit I’m quite taken with this form of construction, it being quite sturdy, and no warping. The structure is made with door openings on the platform side, the street side is round the rear, and not visible, so this is being left plain.

 

Edited September 12, 2023 by Northroader

[Northroader]

NORTH EUROPEAN SCENERY, POLISH NARROW GAUGE.

 

The few times I’ve been to Germany, I tend to veer right when I get to Cologne, off down to Koblenz, Wurzburg, Heidelberg, and so on. This means I think of a hilly country, deep winding river valleys with picturesque towns, forested slopes mixed with steep vineyards, a very picture postcard job.

The Atlas assures me that if I had instead headed left at Cologne, it would be most different, as I would enter the North European Plain, an extent of wide open flatness going away far off into Russia. Being Shropshire born and bred, I can understand a Northern plain and a hilly south, even if on a more circumscribed scale.  I thought for now we could venture out to find some preserved steam in the beyond. Today it’s in Poland, at a place called Znin, but back in this thread’s timescale, it was Prussia, accounting for a Germanic look to some of the buildings. (I hope to return to this in another post) It’s also the first narrow gauge, 600mm, I’ve touched on in this thread, but it could just as easily use the setting to place a standard gauge line.

 

First off a travellers account of a charter trip, with a useful photo gallery:

(there’s a sequence of posts on this, culminating with the gallery)

 

https://folkestonejack.wordpress.com/2016/04/23/night-at-the-muzeum/

 

Then a very nice French made video, (in two parts) following a steam train along the line with a 1930s 0-8-0 in charge:

 

 

 

The terminus is some sidings across the road from the mainline station, and a right angled curve out past a corner situation with running shed and workshops. Then across a back street with old houses and a prominent church in the distance. Once out in the country it’s rolling farmland, a tree lined stream winding through gentle slopes, a bank of woodland, a broad mere with reedy banks, running along a quiet country road, wide open skies, scenery rather than Scenery.

 

Edited March 7, 2023 by Northroader

[Johann Marsbar]

11 minutes ago, Northroader said:

NORTH EUROPEAN SCENERY, POLISH NARROW GAUGE.

 

The few times I’ve been to Germany, I tend to veer right when I get to Cologne, off down to Koblenz, Wurzburg, Heidelberg, and so on. This means I think of a hilly country, deep winding river valleys with picturesque towns, forested slopes mixed with steep vineyards, a very picture postcard job.

The Atlas assures me that if I had instead headed left at Cologne, it would be most different, as I would enter the North European Plain, an extent of wide open flatness going away far off into Russia. Being Shropshire born and bred, I can understand a Northern plain and a hilly south, even if on a more circumscribed scale.  I thought for now we could venture out to find some preserved steam in the beyond. Today it’s in Poland, at a place called Znin, but back in this thread’s timescale, it was Prussia, accounting for a Germanic look to some features. (I hope to return to this in another post) It’s also the first narrow gauge, 600mm, I’ve touched on in this thread, but it could just as easily use the setting to place a standard gauge line.

 

First off a travellers account of a charter trip, with a useful photo gallery:

 

https://folkestonejack.wordpress.com/2016/04/23/steam-in-znin/

 

Then a very nice French made video, (in two parts) following a steam train along the line with a 1930s 0-8-0 in charge:

 

 

 

The terminus is some sidings across the road from the mainline station, and a right angled curve out past a corner situation with running shed and workshops. Then across a back street with old houses and a prominent church in the distance. Once out in the country it’s rolling farmland, a tree lined stream winding through gentle slopes, a bank of woodland, a broad mere with reedy banks, running along a quiet country road, wide open skies, scenery rather than Scenery.

 

 

This is the station at Gasawa, photographed in 1999.......

 

 

 

[Dave John]

A really good video Northroader. 

 

The rolling stock has much of the look of the stuff I am trying to create over in the 1/50 scale project, so many thanks for posting it. 

[Player of trains]

Seconding the video, it's a place I would love to visit one day. I can't help but adore these 0-8-0s, it possibly has to be one of the biggest family trees of locomotive design as I understand it, ranging from Pre-WW1 designs though the 20s and 30s though distribution and variation as a standard design in the Soviet Union and then into China with the Q designs 

[Northroader]

1 hour ago, Dave John said:

A really good video Northroader. 

 

The rolling stock has much of the look of the stuff I am trying to create over in the 1/50 scale project, so many thanks for posting it. 

 

FRENCH METRE GAUGE.

 

Glad you enjoyed the videos, Dave. It’s nice to scatter rabbit holes on this thread for unsuspecting persons to fall down, so here’s another one to push your thoughts along on the 1/50 project:

 

https://memoire.ciclic.fr/4664-mort-du-c-f-d-la

 

French, metre gauge, highly atmospheric, the site for this is of course, here:  

(Don’t worry about language, I just look at the pictures)

 

http://www.passion-metrique.net/forums/index.php

 

And, on this forum, Jamie’s doing something similar:

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 7, 2023 by Northroader

[kitpw]

27 minutes ago, Northroader said:

It’s nice to scatter rabbit holes on this thread for unsuspecting persons to fall down

...a rabbit hole with more than a faint whiff of Gauloises and steam engine.  Wonderful!

 

 

[Johann Marsbar]

I went on the Znin-Gasawa line on a couple of my trips to Poland - 1999 and 2001 - and I think the operation of the tourist train was still under the control of PKP at that point.

There certainly didn't seem to be any operational steam available and traction was provided by LYd 2 diesels.....

 

 

The carriage livery was certainly a bit different!

[Northroader]

The perway is carefully checked:

[TT-Pete]

Sometimes the YouTube algorithim gets it exactly right and throws me up little gems like this;

 

 

 

[burgundy]

Fascinating!

I wonder where the hydravions landed/beached in the UK?

Best wishes 

Eric

PS I have a vague memory of cars being loaded and unloaded like that on the ferry to Stornoway somewhere around 1960. 

[Compound2632]

2 hours ago, TT-Pete said:

Sometimes the YouTube algorithim gets it exactly right and throws me up little gems like this;

 

The fourgon with luggage containers is interesting, especially to students of the ports of Heysham and Fleetwood, where similar arrangements existed from c. 1905 for the London - Belfast services. What vehicles were used on the Southern side? Interesting to see the containers being craned onto the ship.

 

When the car were being craned onto the quayside, it seemed as if it was driven straight off - i.e. the driver had been in the car as it was craned. But perhaps there was an edit...

[sncf231e]

49 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

 

 What vehicles were used on the Southern side?

These were not as special as the NORD version; until WW2 6-wheel flat cars were used and after WW2 4-wheel cars. I just forgot about these cars when making this video.

Regards

Fred

[Northroader]

Thanks for the Calais film, Pete, I really liked that. It was nice to see the “Flèche D’Or” being worked by the homegrown 231A “Super-Pacifics”  (299 kms. in 3hr. 5mins in the1930s) They look great engines, by the time I saw the train postwar it was either Chapelon PO 231E or PLM 231K, to my mind not so impressive.

 

In other news, I’m afraid my health has took a wrong turn, having had an Aortic Aneurism sixteen days ago. I gather in the operation I had a cardiac arrest at one time! I’m out of hospital for nearly a week, but totally shattered for now, and thinking about the future. Considering downsizing and moving closer to my daughters, which will mean dumping pretty well all my models and books, but I want to keep this thread going as best I can. A bientot.

[TT-Pete]

4 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

When the car were being craned onto the quayside, it seemed as if it was driven straight off - i.e. the driver had been in the car as it was craned. But perhaps there was an edit...

 

I watched it in slo-mo, you are right it did drive straight off, perhaps they had "jockeys" as with loading motorail services? Also lot of people including women and children milling around the quayside, the car owners/passengers perhaps? Oh could you see that modus operandi in the present age? There would be high-vis aplenty, barriers and officious jobsworths telling you to stand back...

 

Edited March 28, 2023 by TT-Pete

[TT-Pete]

YouTube is at it again, this just turned up in my feed - coincidence? dig the the plummy RP accent voiceover :^)

 

 

[Northroader]

One trip sticks in my mind from then, me and a mate went off to France early sixties, and used the Pullman. It was a case of needs must, all the seats were  taken on the non Pullman train, so we looked big and paid the supplement. The coach bodies were on rubber mountings, sound proofing extensive, so we were rolling along in near silence, just a bit of a rumble. The main sound you could hear was a very gentle creaking from all the wood panelling. It was a beautiful ride.

[DenysW]

On 28/03/2023 at 15:04, Northroader said:

Considering downsizing and moving closer to my daughters, which will mean dumping pretty well all my models and books, but I want to keep this thread going as best I can. A bientot.

Based on my (much milder) experience with an appendectomy, don't commit to drastic life-style measures until you've had a chance to convalesce. In my case the medical advice was no work for 4 weeks, no driving for 8 weeks. I suggest that you ask how soon you can drive, double that time, and start to make your mind up at the end of the longer period.

 

Best Wishes, as well.