The Night Mail

[Florence Locomotive Works]

9 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

Arrestor hooks and cables!

 

Talking of cables, can anyone here remember the 7mm scale railway that had the  working wagon turntable and incorporated capstan shunting?

Bullo Pill wasn’t it? That’s the only one I’ve seen or heard reference to, a very obscure railway somewhere around Gloucestershire, serving a dock that used to hold the SS Freshspring. 

[pH]

4 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

Can I hold out until Christmas?

 

It's only a morsel!

I presume this is now a record of a historical artefact. 
 

That is the same dinner service as we have, given as a wedding present many (many) years ago. I can’t remember ever seeing it in use anywhere else before, in the UK or after we moved here.

[Happy Hippo]

2 minutes ago, pH said:

I presume this is now a record of a historical artefact. 
 

That is the same dinner service as we have, given as a wedding present many (many) years ago. I can’t remember ever seeing it in use anywhere else before, in the UK or after we moved here.

 

No the cake is still extant.

 

The dinner service is our best one:  It's one of Wedgewood's range called Quince. (Only obtainable on the second hand market now.)

 

We collected it prior to getting married and use it on high days and holidays.

[pH]

5 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

We collected it prior to getting married and use it on high days and holidays.

We use ours in the same way. It’s very appropriate for Thanksgiving here.

[Danemouth]

15 minutes ago, pH said:

That is the same dinner service as we have, given as a wedding present many (many) years ago. I can’t remember ever seeing it in use anywhere else before, in the UK or after we moved here.

 

And we had the same dinner service - "Wedgewood Quince" as a wedding present almost 40 years ago.

 

Dave

 

p.s. Happy Hippo ours was bought in Howells of Cardiff 

[New Haven Neil]

1 hour ago, Oldddudders said:

I couldn't say I really knew him at all, but he was a senior manager in the BR freight business.

 

 

Yup, that's him.

 

http://www.modelrailwayjournal.com/index.php?s=Chris Pendlenton&t=authors

 

 

Edited December 18, 2020 by New Haven Neil

[J. S. Bach]

11 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

Arrestor hooks and cables!

 

Talking of cables, can anyone here remember the 7mm scale railway that had the  working wagon turntable and incorporated capstan shunting?

Burntisland? No, on second thought that might have been an OO layout, I think.

Edited December 18, 2020 by J. S. Bach
To make a change/addition.

[Compound2632]

8 minutes ago, J. S. Bach said:

Burntisland? No, on second thought that might have been an OO layout, I think.

 

Think again and ask yourself: why is it set in 1883?

[bbishop]

And I've cancelled Christmas.  Just too many risks.  Which means I won't have my Christmas cake until later, just don't know how much later.   My Christmas meal will be a veggie burger with a fried egg on top.  And sprouts of course!  Bill

[polybear]

29 minutes ago, bbishop said:

And I've cancelled Christmas.  Just too many risks.  Which means I won't have my Christmas cake until later, just don't know how much later.   My Christmas meal will be a veggie burger with a fried egg on top.  And sprouts of course!  Bill

 

Cancelling chrimbo is fine, but cancelling cake is a step to far....

The burger sounds pretty good

[bbishop]

Bought "just in case" from the half price cabinet in Sainsbury's.  Bill

[Dave Hunt]

12 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

As far as I'm aware, cassettes using ½" x ½" aluminium angle were introduced to the world - or maybe just to me? - by Chris Pendleton in MRJ, with his North Shields layout. His cassettes used the aluminium angle as the running rail and as a wall to protect the stock. Assuming the angle is ¹⁄₁₆" thick, the clearances between the inside faces are:

• P4 - 10'3"
• EM - 10'1"
• 00 - 9'8"
• S7 - 7'10"
• 0 - 7'8"

That's getting a bit tight in 00. What do you do in 7 mm scale? Use the angle outside up?

My mistake, both layouts were S7 and it wasn't half inch angle but more like three quarter inch.

 

Dave

[Tony_S]

2 hours ago, bbishop said:

And sprouts of course! 

We bought some sprouts and froze them for Christmas but we have already eaten them “as they looked so nice”. The replacements never got frozen. A whole load of parsnips got turned into soup (curried parsnip if anyone is interested ). Our next food order is  scheduled for 24 December. It is supposed to include turkey (not frozen) but there is an emergency chicken in the freezer just in case. It is a very small chicken. Free range, organic chickens raised by the Duke of Cornwall are not that big. Or we could just have eggs and chips which was my first choice for lunch on Dec 25rh. 
Tony

Edited December 18, 2020 by Tony_S

[PhilJ W]

My Christmas dinner is going to be a venison steak. Never have been a great lover of turkey and the last couple of Crimbo dinners has been wild caught salmon.

[Happy Hippo]

12 hours ago, Danemouth said:

 

And we had the same dinner service - "Wedgewood Quince" as a wedding present almost 40 years ago.

 

Dave

 

p.s. Happy Hippo ours was bought in Howells of Cardiff 

I think quite a lot of ours came from there as well.

 

Howells was only a hundred yards or so from the model shop (long gone) that was at the bottom of the Hayes, so ordering china was not too much of an ordeal.

[Happy Hippo]

Another aspect of the Torri Gwynt saga is transportation.  

 

I am mindful that should i want to take it to a railway show in the future, it needs to fit into the back of the car.  At present I can get a complete air rifle range into the back of my X3, but I can't get  the entirety of Splott West Sidings in.  It's not so much the baseboards that are the problem, but all the other paraphernalia that makes up the supporting structure.

 

It's a good system:  Four adjustable trestles with custom made wooden top caps are placed out, then a pair of supporting beams are made up from six timber beams.  These slot into the top caps and the boards are placed on top of the complete assembly. drop in locking bars prevent the boards sliding around/off.

 

It's bulky but very quick to assemble as it's first out of the van and is usually up and ready for the boards to be placed on top by the time the van has been unloaded.

 

But you'll notice the fact that it's bulky and also requires a van.

 

I think TG will require some careful design in the packing and storage department.

 

It's a given that the four boards will bolt together in two pairs for storage.  due to the height of the scenery, it will probably be one fiddle board to one scenic board as this will reduce the thickness of the bolted together package.

 

The whole ensemble will probably end up on a variation of the South Greenfield integral leg system. four legs on the master board and then piggy backing with a pair of legs on the outer end of each of the other boards.

 

However, with a baseboard length of only four feet, the legs may require to be hinged in the middle to enable a suitable operation height to be achieved.  this will impact on the thickness of the sides of the baseboards as I hate having 'bits' hanging down below the protection offered by the baseboard side frame.

 

As with all these plans, it's a case of try it and see, but be prepared to have a couple of alternative fallbacks.

 

Taking measurements and having dimensioned scribblings often helps.

 

 

Edited December 19, 2020 by Happy Hippo

[Tony_S]

28 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

 

I am mindful that should i want to take it to a railway show in the future, it needs to fit into the back of the car.

The modules I took over from AndrewC fitted perfectly into a Freelander. When I took them home from the club premises I had quite a job fitting them into my Freelander. The interior of my Freelander 2 was about an inch narrower.than the first model. It made a considerable difference. Later on when we replaced the Freelander with an Evoque we had the same problem with suitcases being just a bit too big. 

[Happy Hippo]

26 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

The modules I took over from AndrewC fitted perfectly into a Freelander. When I took them home from the club premises I had quite a job fitting them into my Freelander. The interior of my Freelander 2 was about an inch narrower.than the first model. It made a considerable difference. Later on when we replaced the Freelander with an Evoque we had the same problem with suitcases being just a bit too big. 

Perhaps I just need to buy a van. A VW Transporter with a dsg gearbox would be nice

[Tony_S]

12 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

Perhaps I just need to buy a van. A VW Transporter with a dsg gearbox would be nice

VW vans seem popular with my neighbours. Though this year I have noticed a few other make vans appear. My neighbour said this year he has just had to get what is available. The blue Transit with racing stripes he often brings home is quite pretty. Aditi was interested in vans earlier this year but of the motorhome variety. I think I managed to divert her from thoughts of acquiring one.  

[jamie92208]

17 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

Perhaps I just need to buy a van. A VW Transporter with a dsg gearbox would be nice

Apparently Volvo estates have fallen out of favour with funeral directors for the same reason. Slightly too short for a standard coffin.

 

My V70 will take any of the baseboard crates for LGA. Most of them with with just the seats folded up. The trapezoid main line end boards need the seat squabs taking out.

 

The layout as a whole needed something a little larger.

Here after the first pick up from Peter's farm where South Greenfield was built and tested.

Then with everything else after the last pick up at the clubrooms.

Jamie

[Danemouth]

3 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

I think quite a lot of ours came from there as well.

 

Howells was only a hundred yards or so from the model shop (long gone) that was at the bottom of the Hayes, so ordering china was not too much of an ordeal.

 

Ah! "The Model Shop" in Mill Lane, and of course Bud Morgan in the Castle Arcade.

 

Dave

[Happy Hippo]

58 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

VW vans seem popular with my neighbours. Though this year I have noticed a few other make vans appear. My neighbour said this year he has just had to get what is available. The blue Transit with racing stripes he often brings home is quite pretty. Aditi was interested in vans earlier this year but of the motorhome variety. I think I managed to divert her from thoughts of acquiring one.  

A Transit with a mattress in the back and a bucket in the corner.  Motor home on the cheap!

[PhilJ W]

A people carrier can carry a lot of layout and operators. About 20-25 years ago I had a Nissan Prairie and it was remarkable how much could be packed in considering that the external dimensions were the same as a Ford Orion except for the height. A fellow club member had an Escort estate that his layout would just fit. One day someone rear ended him (the layout was not in the car). When he got the car back after the repair he found the layout was difficult to load into the car. There was it turned out an existing dent that had been removed and that had enabled the layout to fit.

[Happy Hippo]

4 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

A people carrier can carry a lot of layout and operators. About 20-25 years ago I had a Nissan Prairie and it was remarkable how much could be packed in considering that the external dimensions were the same as a Ford Orion except for the height. A fellow club member had an Escort estate that his layout would just fit. One day someone rear ended him (the layout was not in the car). When he got the car back after the repair he found the layout was difficult to load into the car. There was it turned out an existing dent that had been removed and that had enabled the layout to fit.

It doesn't matter what you have, it's always a case of wanting a few more inches.

[rockershovel]

15 hours ago, bbishop said:

And I've cancelled Christmas.  Just too many risks.  Which means I won't have my Christmas cake until later, just don't know how much later.   My Christmas meal will be a veggie burger with a fried egg on top.  And sprouts of course!  Bill

 

Sounds like some obscure medieval flagellant rite....

 

I’m quite enjoying all this, in an odd sort of way. We have been spared the frantic round of present shopping and  distribution which my good wife regarded as essential. We have definitely had more contact with people we don’t see often, but would like to. I went carol singing on the Green last week, and enjoyed it. I’ve got tickets for the Cathedral carol concert on Xmas Eve, and the feud between No 1 Son and my daughter appears to abating, and about time too. Interesting things appear on the doorstep daily. 

 

I will probably have to buy aftershave in the New Year, for the first time in living memory, but it’s a small 

price to pay.