The Night Mail

[Happy Hippo]

1 hour ago, bbishop said:

Another rant.  In the present circumstances who in their right minds will take kids out on for trick-or-treat.  On Saturday evening one group banged on my door or rang the bell for about ten minutes.  The bell needs an adult. I knew they were there, they knew I was their (watching the rugby) but no way was I opening the door.   Bill

Our grandchildren went trick or treating.  My daughter got them all dressed up and then they went visiting every room in the house, behind the door of which was some  form of treat.  Grapes, veggie sticks and chopped up veg seemed to be the majority of rooms.

 

Unfortunately what you describe just shows how gormless some members of the great British public actually are.

 

Today's domestic tasking will be to draw up a list of  materiel required for repair and renovation tasks over the next couple of weeks and either collect or arrange delivery.  Paint and skirting boards seem to be top of the list:  The paint because it has to be mixed; the skirtings because my vast stockpile in the garage has been eroded over the past 6 months, and there finally comes a point where one has to resupply.

 

Our shopping slots over the next couple of weeks have been booked, and I have enough tasks and materiel on the modelling front to keep me going until about Easter 2022!

 

I will mentally focus on remembering what we had to do when curled up in an OP: staying alert and staying hidden.  Doing it from your home is a damned sight more warm and comfortable. Although I'll draw the line at  having a range card and  making a detailed record what the foxy lady  and her three hot daughters are up to!

[Compound2632]

Round us, the accepted custom in normal years is that if you are willing to be trick or treated, you have a pumpkin on display. This year the substitute activity has been to decorate your house or front garden with giant spiders and webs - some creative use of bin bags.

[Oldddudders]

Sherry's theatre company had managed to put on some sort of show on Saturday afternoon, and Sherry was stewarding, which required showing each punter to a seat, which had been designated in singles or pairs to enable social distancing. She and friend Jackie then went back to Sherry's flat for a cuppa, before repairing to the Buccaneer for dinner. But when they came home there was an egg broken on the door to the flats. Kitchen spray had very little effect, Sherry found, so she's asked the managing agents to come and get it cleaned. As the only owner-occupier, she is also the only one who gets things sorted out. The tenants just look the other way, fearful that if they make waves they'll be thrown out. 

 

Apparently the egg signifies trick-or-treater displeasure that they haven't been rewarded. 

[polybear]

44 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

Apparently the egg signifies trick-or-treater displeasure that they haven't been rewarded. 

 

And having had my car "egged" for no reason (it wasn't halloween) whilst driving down the round it can actually cause damage - the edges of the shell being sharp can mark the paint.  I hope the little b*stards die painfully (I'm in a generous mood today - on a bad day I'm far, far worse....)

[jamie92208]

5 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

I have enough tasks and materiel on the modelling front to keep me going until about Easter 2022!

 making a detailed record what the foxy lady  and her three hot daughters are up to!

2 points.

 

1.  Only 2022, I think mine 2 will occupy me till at least 2122. 

 

2.  Photos please.

 

Jamie

 

 

Edited November 2, 2020 by jamie92208

[Tony_S]

Apparently my small nieces went trick or treating round their own house too, after putting up “scary” pictures they had made.

No one (trick or treaters) called at our house on Halloween. I don’t think anyone even called anywhere. One neighbour came over with 50kg of salt tablets for us. They were at a very good price so he had got enough for all of the neighbours who have a water softener. I actually had got plenty in stock but it doesn’t go off and is easy to store. 
Tony

[Winslow Boy]

11 hours ago, Stubby47 said:

Ah, I understand now .

 

At the garden, there are several buildings, both stone & brick, with a covering of ivy over the eaves and roof edges, as well as on the walls as well.

Now you see Mr S if I saw that I would be itching to get up there with a pair of secateurs and trim that foliage off the roof. So if I was to represent that scene m...,.,.......g wise I would be including a man on a ladder with another at the bottom - H & S, plus a wheelbarrow full of prunings. It just demonstrates my previous comment about real life intruding into the m.....,..........g world.

Edited November 2, 2020 by Winslow Boy

[Happy Hippo]

18 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

Now you see Mr S if I saw that I would be itching to get up there with a pair of secateurs and be trimming that foliage off the roof. So if I was to represent that scene m...,.,.......g wise I would be including a man on a ladder with another at the bottom - H & S, plus a wheelbarrow full of prunings. It just demonstrates my previous comment about real life intruding into the m.....,..........g world.

From an engineering point of view, anything that climbs up the walls will eventually get into and under the roof.

 

Ivy being particularly adept at getting under slates and cracking them.

 

Someone else decided to plant some ivy next to the house and it got under some ornamental slate cladding on the front wall of the house.  The cladding was cemented in place, but Ivy is stronger, and just forced the slates up until they cracked.

 

I'm in the process of replacing all the ornamental cladding, with new slate strip which I'm cutting from reclaimed slates.

 

Ivy gets stripped from the trees as if left unchecked it just strangles the life out of them.

 

In the case of one dead Ash tree in the garden when we first moved in, Ivy was the only thing holding the tree up.

[Tony_S]

This 

Whale-way train

has produced so many puns on Twitter. 

[Oldddudders]

30 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

This 

Whale-way train

has produced so many puns on Twitter. 

Did I get the drift? This is a polyester sculpture, holding up a train? There must be a very strong former under the coating!

[Tony_S]

9 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

Did I get the drift? This is a polyester sculpture, holding up a train? There must be a very strong former under the coating!

I assumed it was just a fluke. 

[Winslow Boy]

1 hour ago, Happy Hippo said:

From an engineering point of view, anything that climbs up the walls will eventually get into and under the roof.

 

Ivy being particularly adept at getting under slates and cracking them.

 

Someone else decided to plant some ivy next to the house and it got under some ornamental slate cladding on the front wall of the house.  The cladding was cemented in place, but Ivy is stronger, and just forced the slates up until they cracked.

 

I'm in the process of replacing all the ornamental cladding, with new slate strip which I'm cutting from reclaimed slates.

 

Ivy gets stripped from the trees as if left unchecked it just strangles the life out of them.

 

In the case of one dead Ash tree in the garden when we first moved in, Ivy was the only thing holding the tree up.

To an entomologist the ivy provides a ideal habitat as it plays host to all sorts of creepy crawlies - please accept my apologies for the use of this highly technical term.

[J. S. Bach]

11 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

Sir, your taste in locos is great, how I would love an 0 Scale G motor.

Jamie

When I lived in Baltimore, I could hear them blowing for the crossing at Knecht Ave.; such a nice sound, it was around a 136 Cy note. The air-horn was a large single-trumpet Leslie Typhon. I have one of them but have never sounded it yet. And I have owned it for thirty-some years!!

 

Here are photos of one that I have (three-rail scale Williams), I also have two two-rail ones but both need a lot of work to run again.

 

 

Note that the track is Atlas O-72.

 

Edited November 2, 2020 by J. S. Bach
To add a note.

[jamie92208]

17 minutes ago, J. S. Bach said:

When I lived in Baltimore, I could hear them blowing for the crossing at Knecht Ave.; such a nice sound, it was around a 136 Cy note. The air-horn was a large single-trumpet Leslie Typhon. I have one of them but have never sounded it yet. And I have owned it for thirty-some years!!

 

Here are photos of one that I have (three-rail scale Williams), I also have two two-rail ones but both need a lot of work to run again.

 

 

 

 

That looks great.  Some years ago I went to the Sunset models warehouse south of Sacremento. They had rows of 2 and 3 rail G's on a shelf but even with a hefty discount it was beyond my price range. I did buy a pair of Pennsy O1a's which caused great amusement at LAX security when I checked them in as hand luggage.

 

Jamie

[Happy Hippo]

1 hour ago, jamie92208 said:

That looks great.  Some years ago I went to the Sunset models warehouse south of Sacremento. They had rows of 2 and 3 rail G's on a shelf but even with a hefty discount it was beyond my price range. I did buy a pair of Pennsy O1a's which caused great amusement at LAX security when I checked them in as hand luggage.

 

Jamie

I stopped the whole security line at Orlando when I was taking a live steam shay through from Florida to New Orleans for a steam up.

 

'Hey you guys, you've got to see this'.

 

No scare, just about 20 X ray operators all crowding around wanting a look at the inside of a boiler.

[Florence Locomotive Works]

I was going through security in New Orleans airport about two years ago with a live steam Wilesco D6 and D10 crammed in my bag. This caused quite a stir, and they pulled me over, asked me if I was intending to study physics, I replied no, and was sent on my way, with a large crowd of onlookers. 

Edited November 2, 2020 by Florence Locomotive Works

[New Haven Neil]

I must admit to having an HO GG1, full spec sound Broadway Limited in Tuscan Red.  Welllllll the NH sort of copied them for the EP's, or was it the other way around, I can't remember now!  It has a diecast body, two motors, and is probably about as powerful as the O scale ones!

[Oldddudders]

18 minutes ago, New Haven Neil said:

I must admit to having an HO GG1, full spec sound Broadway Limited in Tuscan Red.  Welllllll the NH sort of copied them for the EP's, or was it the other way around, I can't remember now!  It has a diecast body, two motors, and is probably about as powerful as the O scale ones!

No, the PRR borrowed some EP3s in 1933 and designed the GG1 internals on the same basis. 120 mph was a good speed, they felt!

[Erichill16]

Evening, 

I wonder if any of the readers of this encyclopedia of railway knowledge could help me out. 
Some of you may have read that I’ve recently purchased a Dapol class 73 in green and I would like to now what colour Mk1 coaches I can run with it. Obviously BR green ones are appropriate but I don’t have any and don’t want fork out for any. So, when the Southern Regions green  Mk1s got repainted did they go to Blue/grey? I think the answer to that question is yes,so in that case where there any cross country service which would have a class 73 pulling maroon Mk1s.

I have good book on Mk1 coaches but can’t find it and that’s probably because I’ve lent it out to someone.
Regards Robert

[Happy Hippo]

Robert, what you have described sounds suspiciously like a Rule One scenario.

 

I was looking to buy a Mk 1 BG in maroon for the parcels/newspaper train that runs between Cardiff and Aberflyarff:  I was sure that either Ellis Clark or Dapol would be my friend, but on looking at their lists of what is to be made, the BG is conspicuous by it's absence. Drat and Double drat.

 

I'll grumble about my planning woes with the off scene parts of Aberflyarff tomorrow, or even later!

 

I am in reasonably good books with the domestic authority at present, having shampooed all the house carpets except for the sitting room.  With any luck, I can crack on with that tomorrow.

 

I have kept out of the discussions about American locos, just in case it tips me over the edge and I suddenly run amok with a credit card and start buying up Geeps.

 

My lack of knowledge about such intricacies about sub class differences in say, the GP38 area matters not, I'd buy them because I like them, if I was given half a chance.

 

Perhaps if I were to get rid of all my 4mm stuff, and buy a small selection of US outline stock for the grandchildren.............?

 

 

 

 

[Florence Locomotive Works]

17 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

Perhaps if I were to get rid of all my 4mm stuff, and buy a small selection of US outline stock for the grandchildren.............?

I would consult them first. I started off with Lionel o gauge when I was 8, and moved on to Marklin and German railways a year or so later. I was modeling in that up till about a year ago when I got my first live steam loco, a 1934 Bowman 234, now sold. 
 

Funnily enough, as a bit of tangent, I never got to run that engine. I tried steaming it once but the end of 6 wick  burner seemed to leak a little. Never got the time to steam it after that, and it was replaced by my  BL Mogul (which was a gift) only 3 months after purchasing. I ended up selling it on to someone back East in August.

 

Douglas

Edited November 2, 2020 by Florence Locomotive Works

[pH]

2 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

I have kept out of the discussions about American locos, just in case it tips me over the edge and I suddenly run amok with a credit card and start buying up Geeps.

 

My lack of knowledge about such intricacies about sub class differences in say, the GP38 area matters not, I'd buy them because I like them, if I was given half a chance.

Stay away from GP38s - they are seriously addictive!

[jamie92208]

I once mentioned to a friend that I rather liked American stuff in O Scale, particularly  Union Pacific.  He replued, "Don't go there, that's the way to penury and divorce".  However I have managed to acquire some UP stuff over the years without a divorce.  Penury I won't comment on.   

 

Jamie

[Dave Hunt]

Not a lot to report today except for a visit from the central heating boiler man for the annual service and 'flu jabs for Jill and me this afternoon. I also have to look into the situation regarding MOT tests during lockdown as my car is due before the end of the month. Niffnaff and trivia - pah!

 

Have a good day and stay safe.

 

Dave

[Oldddudders]

12 hours ago, Erichill16 said:

Evening, 

I wonder if any of the readers of this encyclopedia of railway knowledge could help me out. 
Some of you may have read that I’ve recently purchased a Dapol class 73 in green and I would like to now what colour Mk1 coaches I can run with it. Obviously BR green ones are appropriate but I don’t have any and don’t want fork out for any. So, when the Southern Regions green  Mk1s got repainted did they go to Blue/grey? I think the answer to that question is yes,so in that case where there any cross country service which would have a class 73 pulling maroon Mk1s.

I have good book on Mk1 coaches but can’t find it and that’s probably because I’ve lent it out to someone.
Regards Robert

Sadly I have to gently point out that while the EDL - or 73 as the younger generation would know it - is a superbly versatile piece of motive power, it only has 600 hp on diesel power. So its use on passenger trains, except on electrified lines, was distinctly limited. And I think their only use on any sort of regular passenger service was after July 1967, when the Bournemouth line electrification went live, and they were able to provide power for TC trailer units. By that time I suspect quite a few were in blue, anyway. Is it a JA or a JB? The former were numbered E6001-6, and inasmuchas they could not be coupled to a JB, I fear they even lacked the control gear to work with TCs.

 

Then we come to passenger services in the mid-sixties. Relatively few were loco-hauled, really, apart from the morning paper trains from Vic and Waterloo. DEMUs worked most of the non-electrified routes, other than the West of England trains from Waterloo, most of which had Warship diesels, and the Bournemouth - Weymouth shuttles, which were worked by Pull-Push-fitted Cromptons (Class 33). Some Inter-Regional services were loco-hauled, but none would have had an EDL as the rostered power. A few Oxted-line services were loco-hauled in the peak, but exclusively by 33s. 

 

But none of that matters a stuff. Blue and grey were indeed the final colours carried by SR Mk1s, so if you have some then go for it. Running trains that may be slightly wrong is a lot better than not running trains at all.