The Night Mail

[br2975]

2 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

I suspect in her darkest thoughts, Jill believed it was a repeat of the Polecat saga.

 

Of course, whilst I am girding myself up for an attempt at some of the cosmetic work on the Hippodrome's Doric Arch, I to was having very dark thoughts.

 

Some years back, the late Iain Rice produced a rather natty S Wales track plan called Tai Bach. It is what I would term the American style, in that instead of concentrating on one station or yard, the modeller can follow the train through the landscape stopping off at various industries along the way. 

 

 

 

 

Suddenly I was thinking C2 Working in S Wales using blue Class 37s and strings of 16 and 21 ton mineral wagons (br2975's ears have pricked up) but not in 7 mm scale but in this new fangled TT 120.  Although for what I have planned N gauge might also fit the bill.

 

Of course, these thoughts were hot on the heels of Bachmann's entry into the 7mm NG scene with the wonderful Quarry Hunslets.

 

And just after I'd shelved plans for a N Wales BR(M) modelling project🤣.

 

I'd best return outside and work the stupidity out of my system.

 

 

.

Yes, my ears pricked up !

.

I have this plan, filleted and filed........................... somewhere.

.

However, it appears to me that I.A.R. went a bit C.J.F. when designing this - if the grid is composed of 12" squares, as this is a lot to squeeze into a 9'6" x 7'6" space.

.

Many of the loops are but 24" in the clear, and Tai Bach yard's longest siding (of the two) is but around 36"

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I would suggest backdating the idea to a Pannier, or two, and relocating the concept some forty miles up the Severn Estuary to the Forest of Dean 

.

But it does set the brain into a tizz, and sends one off to find some scrap paper and a pencil.

[iL Dottore]

Maybe there was one of these near Bear Towers?

 

But @Hroth is right. They often don't stop - not even for police https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/23915831.appeal-subaru-failed-stop-police-wimborne/?utm_source=ground.news&utm_medium=referral

[New Haven Neil]

6 minutes ago, br2975 said:

I would suggest backdating the idea to a Pannier, or two, and relocating the concept some forty miles up the Severn Estuary to the Forest of Dean 

 

....which was my interest in it!  It is rather squeezed in, the gradients/clearances are a bit, err, Triang.  May need Magnadhesion.

Edited April 16 by New Haven Neil
Speelink

[Winslow Boy]

6 minutes ago, New Haven Neil said:

 

....which was my interest in it!  It is rather squeezed in, the gradients/clearances are a bit, err, Triang.  May need Magnadhesion.

Is that a type of arch? Won't it clash with his Doric's.

[Tony_S]

1 hour ago, Winslow Boy said:

No go for something out there like Chilean Bean vine or a flowering potato.

We must be very dull. We have a honeysuckle and clematis on one side of as garden arch, and a climbing rose on the other side. Aditi sometimes has sweet peas on the rose side. I am now going  to suggest some climbing beans with pretty flowers instead of the sweet peas. 

Edited April 16 by Tony_S

[Tony_S]

1 hour ago, New Haven Neil said:

 

....which was my interest in it!  It is rather squeezed in, the gradients/clearances are a bit, err, Triang.  May need Magnadhesion.

It looks like a US short line layout has had Welsh placenames added. As HH mentioned it was one of Iain Rice’s plans influenced by US models.  I think any of my smaller US diesel models  would handle the curves and inclines.  No buffers and Kadee couplers make such things possible. 

Edited April 16 by Tony_S

[Canal Digger]

2 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

Don't worry Andy, it's just your brain practising for old age. You may ask how I know this..........?

 

Dave

Seeing as you have given us permission Sir, how do you know?

 

Well nobody else was going to ask ...

[Dave Hunt]

What was the question?

 

Dave

[Happy Hippo]

1 hour ago, br2975 said:

.

Yes, my ears pricked up !

.

I have this plan, filleted and filed........................... somewhere.

.

However, it appears to me that I.A.R. went a bit C.J.F. when designing this - if the grid is composed of 12" squares, as this is a lot to squeeze into a 9'6" x 7'6" space.

.

Many of the loops are but 24" in the clear, and Tai Bach yard's longest siding (of the two) is but around 36"

.

I would suggest backdating the idea to a Pannier, or two, and relocating the concept some forty miles up the Severn Estuary to the Forest of Dean 

.

But it does set the brain into a tizz, and sends one off to find some scrap paper and a pencil.

A 36" siding in N or TT120 might be better, but as always, I looked at this as a concept rather than as a slavish copy.

 

As you write, it gets the thought of pencil and paper making contact once more.

 

I certainly concur with the suggestion of backdating it and shifting it into Forest land.

 

Of course, if you had either Dave's or Jamie's real estate (or any other of the country set of TNM) , you could build an enlarged version in 7 mm scale.

[Winslow Boy]

45 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

A 36" siding in N or TT120 might be better, but as always, I looked at this as a concept rather than as a slavish copy.

 

As you write, it gets the thought of pencil and paper making contact once more.

 

I certainly concur with the suggestion of backdating it and shifting it into Forest land.

 

Of course, if you had either Dave's or Jamie's real estate (or any other of the country set of TNM) , you could build an enlarged version in 7 mm scale.

Aarhm aarhm Manutopea.

[Winslow Boy]

1 hour ago, Tony_S said:

We must be very dull. We have a honeysuckle and clematis on one side of as garden arch, and a climbing rose on the other side. Aditi sometimes has sweet peas on the rose side. I am now going  to suggest some climbing beans with pretty flowers instead of the sweet peas. 

I've seen some lovely clematis and roses combined. The knack is choose carefully so that the flowers complement one another. I can't get honeysuckles to flower no matter what I do. I have one inter planted with a pyracantha more by accident than chose though.

[Tony_S]

2 hours ago, Winslow Boy said:

I've seen some lovely clematis and roses combined. The knack is choose carefully so that the flowers complement one another. I can't get honeysuckles to flower no matter what I do. I have one inter planted with a pyracantha more by accident than chose though.

We have a few examples of honeysuckle. The one in the frame is very strong and survived the previous arch blowing over. The older stems are quite woody.    I have just asked Aditi. The honeysuckle is Graham Thomas, it is supposed to be deciduous but down here doesn’t lose all its leaves. Already about to flower, and flowers for ages. The clematis that grows with it is Etoile Violette. I didn’t ask what the rose is but it is red if that helps. Aditi probably knows. Danse du Feu, I am informed. She does seem to know what most of her plants are called. Aditi reckons all the plants on the arch are doing well as we have had lots more rain this winter. 
Aditi likes,plants because when she was little she used to wander around the garden with her Dad. He loved growing things. His first degree was actually in botany before he then started a medical degree. There must be a family tradition as my nieces seem to help willingly with Aditi’s brother’s garden. The eight year old likes weeding. Though I did once ask if she was totally sure what she was hoeing were weeds. 

Edited April 16 by Tony_S
Corrected name of the rose.

[Winslow Boy]

8 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

We have a few examples of honeysuckle. The one in the frame is very strong and survived the previous arch blowing over. The older stems are quite woody.    I have just asked Aditi. The honeysuckle is Graham Thomas, it is supposed to be deciduous but down here doesn’t lose all its leaves. Already about to flower, and flowers for ages. The clematis that grows with it is Etoile Violette. I didn’t ask what the rose is but it is red if that helps. Aditi probably knows. Danse du Geu Imam informed. She does seem to know what most of her plants are called. Aditi reckons all the plants on the arch are doing well as we have had lots more rain this winter. 
Aditi likes,plants because when she was little she used to wander around the garden with her Dad. He loved growing things. His first degree was actually in botany before he then started a medical degree. There must be a family tradition as my nieces seem to help willingly with Aditi’s brother’s garden. The eight year old likes weeding. Though I did once ask if she was totally sure what she was hoeing were weeds. 

Strangely enough I find weeding very therapeutic. I suspect that it's the combination of seeing the ground clean  afterwards and the feel of the soil on my skin- enough though I wear gloves. There have been scientific studies done that have shown an improvement in mental health when handling soil.

[SteveyDee68]

On 07/04/2024 at 11:05, iL Dottore said:

When people tut-tut about “private medicines” low hours, they are ignoring the non-patient facing work GPs and other clinicians have to do (true for all GP practices - no matter where you are in the world).
 

My GP friend (now retired) had surgery hours 07:30 - 11:30 and 14:00 - 18:00 M, T, W, F. Thursday was 07:30 - 11:30. However, lunchtimes were spent reviewing patient test results (they usually came in the morning post) and Thursday afternoons he did house calls (mostly to care homes and the like). As a member of the local GP association he was on call one night in every 14.

 

The problem nowadays with GPs (almost a universal problem) is that more and more women have become GPs. The problem with that is not their expertise or ability, but rather the fact that as women they have to juggle marriage, career, motherhood and family in a way men don’t have to. So if a women GP can work part time, she generally will.

 

Rather strangely, those who rail against doctors and dentist earning well (after completing years of gruelling training and gaining expertise and experience in a high stress and high pressure environment [specialist training]), seem to be very quiet about the huge amounts of money footballers and other “sports personalities” earn.

Inverse snobbery at work, perhaps?

Something my ex-NHS colleagues can attest to.

According to a number of them, one of the advantages of private practice was the near total absence of the bureaucratic cr*p they had to deal with in the NHS - allowing them to concentrate on patient care. On the NHS what should be a simple case note (“syringed out ears, examination found nothing of note”) becomes a multi-line, if not multipage, exercise of pointless expansion of the “bleeding obvious”.

Now, if you (as a politician) wanted to run down an organisation to the point where you (as a politician) can “justify” privatisation and more likely than not making yourself/relatives/friends lots of money in the process, couldn’t this be one of those subtle nails in the coffin dreamt up by some secretive politically/ideologically driven “think tank”?

 

”How do we make this job so miserable that people end up hating it and leaving?” asks a government minister of a particular political ideology.

 

”Well, Minister,” replies the civil service mandarin with an obsequious smile, “How about we make the paperwork so onerous that nobody can stand being in the job very long?”

 

“I like your thinking,” replies the minister, “But will it work?”

 

”Ah, here’s your despatch box with today’s briefing notes, Minister - shall we sit down and read through them together?”

 

”Good Lord, is that the time? I think we need to break for a spot of (tax payer subsidised) lunch in the member’s bar, leave those until this afternoon, or maybe even just give me the main points later, in bullet point form, say three maximum? Jolly good.”

 

Exit minister stage right (pursued - if there was any justice in the world - by a bear)

 

Steve S

[BR60103]

11 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

Suddenly I was thinking C2 Working in S Wales using blue Class 37s and strings of 16 and 21 ton mineral wagons (br2975's ears have pricked up) but not in 7 mm scale but in this new fangled TT 120.  Although for what I have planned N gauge might also fit the bill.

 

I've suggested following a layout plan, but in a smaller scale. Keeping the lengths but bringing the track separations down to scale.

You don't want to reduce the 13.5" pinch point any farther.

 

One of my early layouts was an OO plan rendered in N.

 

Edited April 17 by BR60103

[J. S. Bach]

9 hours ago, Tony_S said:

It looks like a US short line layout has had Welsh placenames added. As HH mentioned it was one of Iain Rice’s plans influenced by US models.  I think any of my smaller US diesel models  would handle the curves and inclines.  No buffers and Kadee couplers make such things possible. 

I guess that my SP SD40T-2 would not work there?

[J. S. Bach]

Night Owl from the Piedmont.

[Oldddudders]

4 hours ago, J. S. Bach said:

I guess that my SP SD40T-2 would not work there?

ISTR the Tunnel-Motor version cost an extra 20k dollars in those days.

[Happy Hippo]

I've just looked out of the window to find bright blue sky overhead.

 

In this neck of the woods, that is a precursor for less clement weather by mid morning.

 

Yesterday's mail revealed an appointment for a week tomorrow to attend  the PRH day surgery unit, in order to have my errant nail bed surgically removed. (For the second time.)

 

That means I'll miss a Trayne Klubbe meeting, although I might go to the modelling show at the NEC in Birmingham on either 27th or 28th of this month by way of convalescence.

 

 

 

[Winslow Boy]

25 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

I've just looked out of the window to find bright blue sky overhead.

 

In this neck of the woods, that is a precursor for less clement weather by mid morning.

 

Yesterday's mail revealed an appointment for a week tomorrow to attend  the PRH day surgery unit, in order to have my errant nail bed surgically removed. (For the second time.)

 

That means I'll miss a Trayne Klubbe meeting, although I might go to the modelling show at the NEC in Birmingham on either 27th or 28th of this month by way of convalescence.

 

 

 

You see I told you Andy that's what those coppers were doing. Getting ready for the Hippos 'traversing' of Hipposhire to the NEC.

[Happy Hippo]

19 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

You see I told you Andy that's what those coppers were doing. Getting ready for the Hippos 'traversing' of Hipposhire to the NEC.

If I go, it will be by train.

 

However I won't go if it is a replacement bus service, because I'd have to leave the NEC to get home before I arrived there!

 

For those eager for a weather update, it is now clouding over rapidly, and looking suspiciously like another dose of rain.

[Northroader]

IMHO the Iain Rice track plans can be improved by reducing the number of sidings.

[Winslow Boy]

1 hour ago, Happy Hippo said:

If I go, it will be by train.

 

However I won't go if it is a replacement bus service, because I'd have to leave the NEC to get home before I arrived there!

 

For those eager for a weather update, it is now clouding over rapidly, and looking suspiciously like another dose of rain.

Those coppers were practising for the rail replacement bus my dear Hippo.

 

Brilliant blue skies with the odd wisp of white cloud here in Manutopea. Lovely weather.

[Happy Hippo]

14 minutes ago, Northroader said:

IMHO the Iain Rice track plans can be improved by reducing the number of sidings.

I actually looked at the exchange yard and thought some of the sidings would be better as loops.

 

But that is the joy of a schematic plan that someone else has come up with:  There is no reason to slavishly copy it, but you can adapt it to suit your own concept.

 

My personal thought on this plan was it was really intended to be for N gauge, especially as it ties in sizewise with other plans for N, that the Iain Rice  designed.

[Tony_S]

1 hour ago, Happy Hippo said:

My personal thought on this plan was it was really intended to be for N gauge, especially as it ties in sizewise with other plans for N, that the Iain Rice  designed.

Perhaps you could do it in 009. Lots of available locos and wagons now.