The Night Mail

[simontaylor484]

If I bought anymore ship models I would certainly look at improving it with etched parts in places such as Oerlikon and Bofors guns 

Edited January 13, 2022 by simontaylor484
Missed off text

[New Haven Neil]

17 minutes ago, Canal Digger said:

OK, below what scale is modelling point rodding with GEM levers impractical? 12inch/ ft?

 

If you're 'of an age' you may recall Phil English's 'Southallerton' (4mm 00) layouts in RM, they used GEM levers and piano wire rodding held with staples. It worked (I was one of his show operators) but was crude then, never mind now!

[polybear]

8 hours ago, TheQ said:

I built a shed 53ft long by up to 16ft wide.. For an EM gauge  layout.. Even then both stations have had to have had some compression and one of the two towns only had a population of 542 when the station  was built..

 

Do you have any photos of the layout you can post?  Sounds intriguing....

 

[AndyID]

10 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

So I suppose the question to you all is what compromises are you prepared to accept?

 

 

I prefer to think of model railways as a form of theater and as anyone who was ever involved in a theatrical production knows it's not so much about authenticity and much more to do with what you can get away with   Just like a theatrical production if it draws the audience in (and that might only be the owner) it's doing what was intended.

 

I'm all for compromise. Here's one example (anyone with a delicate disposition should immediately skip to the next post).

 

 

Looks innocent enough, but what is it? Is it 00 or EM?

 

None of the above. It's an 00 wagon but the turnout is 16.2 mm gauge and the timbers and their positions are scaled half-way between H0 and  00  

[Happy Hippo]

15 minutes ago, AndyID said:

 

I prefer to think of model railways as a form of theater and as anyone who was ever involved in a theatrical production knows it's not so much about authenticity and much more to do with what you can get away with   Just like a theatrical production if it draws the audience in (and that might only be the owner) it's doing what was intended.

 

I'm all for compromise. Here's one example (anyone with a delicate disposition should immediately skip to the next post).

 

 

Looks innocent enough, but what is it? Is it 00 or EM?

 

None of the above. It's an 00 wagon but the turnout is 16.2 mm gauge and the timbers and their positions are scaled half-way between H0 and  00  

I think you can probably draw that in Templot

[Happy Hippo]

And I bid you goodnight with this:

 

 

The locomotive formerly known as Prince....

 

[rodent279]

47 minutes ago, AndyID said:

 

I prefer to think of model railways as a form of theater and as anyone who was ever involved in a theatrical production knows it's not so much about authenticity and much more to do with what you can get away with   Just like a theatrical production if it draws the audience in (and that might only be the owner) it's doing what was intended.

 

I'm all for compromise. Here's one example (anyone with a delicate disposition should immediately skip to the next post).

 

 

Looks innocent enough, but what is it? Is it 00 or EM?

 

None of the above. It's an 00 wagon but the turnout is 16.2 mm gauge and the timbers and their positions are scaled half-way between H0 and  00  

All model railways are a trompe L'oeil. It's not what you see that is important, it's what you think you see, what's in the minds eye.

We're all big kids really, and kids have boundless imaginations. We don't lose that as we get older, we just learn to stop using it.

Edited January 13, 2022 by rodent279

[Happy Hippo]

22 minutes ago, rodent279 said:

All model railways are a trompe L'oeil. It's not what you see that is important, it's what you think you see, what's in the minds eye.

We're all big kids really, and kids have boundless imaginations. We don't lose that as we get older, we just learn to stop using it.

In that case I'll just close my eyes and see Aberflyarff (Low Level) in all it's glory, fully finished and with it tastefully extended into a roundy with a couple of 56xx and a 5205 added to the fleet.

 

In the background, Jamie and Dave,  occasionally encouraged by Danemouth's bullwhip, pedalling frantically in order to give the cycle driven generator enough power to keep the DCC sound units going.

[AndyID]

1 hour ago, Happy Hippo said:

I think you can probably draw that in Templot

 

Indeed you can, and I did

 

(But only the 2D design. The third dimension elements were added in TurboCAD.)

[J. S. Bach]

11 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

 ...snip... This can range from un-prototypical couplings to track and pointwork that has such incredible curvature that if scaled up, would be inoperable. ...snip...

 The below 1/48 is about 10 inch radius (measured at the centerline) and most if not all of my stuff will negotiate it:

 

 

Well, ok, maybe not that!

 

But these will:

 

 

 

 

[AndyID]

2 hours ago, rodent279 said:

All model railways are a trompe L'oeil. It's not what you see that is important, it's what you think you see, what's in the minds eye.

We're all big kids really, and kids have boundless imaginations. We don't lose that as we get older, we just learn to stop using it.

 

In adults (whatever they are) it's probably more of an emotional reaction based on our recollection of certain events. I've been at Crianlarich more times than I can remember (some while both Upper and Lower were still running) but I thought it was a bit boring - pretty, but hardly any action at all.

 

Whereas watching a Caley Jumbo loose shunting wagons at the sidings down the road kept me entranced for hours.

 

 

 

Edited January 14, 2022 by AndyID
Inability to proof read.

[J. S. Bach]

Hmmm, I got TNM to work on my new cell phone! Amazing for a Luddite like me! I don't think that I will try to add any pictures yet, though!!

Edited January 14, 2022 by J. S. Bach

[Florence Locomotive Works]

Evening all,

 

Busy week so far but I got the buffers turned up today and installed. They seem to suit the engine. 
 

I also managed to discover a massive bogie misalignment problem which will take most of tomorrow afternoon to rectify. It’s out of kilter with the center line of the engine by more than 1/8 inch, how I didn’t see this before I don’t know. 
 

 

Douglas

 

(The buffer stocks are the water gauge nuts off a 1924 Weeden Mfg Co boiler)

Edited January 14, 2022 by Florence Locomotive Works

[AndyID]

50 minutes ago, Florence Locomotive Works said:

The buffer stocks are the water gauge nuts off a 1924 Weeden Mfg Co boiler

 

I'd have been really impressed if you'd made them on the Toyo . Slightly tricky admittedly, but not impossible.

[polybear]

2 hours ago, AndyID said:

 

I'd have been really impressed if you'd made them on the Toyo . Slightly tricky admittedly, but not impossible.

 

Not if you start with hex brass bar.....

[Dave Hunt]

15 hours ago, br2975 said:

We also had an array of nicknames.....

 

Some of the ones I remember from RAF days were Wedge (the simplest tool known to man), Taps (acronym for thick as pig sh!t although he didn’t realise it) and Skid (whose first name was Mark). 

 

Dave

[Happy Hippo]

5 hours ago, Florence Locomotive Works said:

 

I also managed to discover a massive bogie misalignment problem which will take most of tomorrow afternoon to rectify. It’s out of kilter with the center line of the engine by more than 1/8 inch, how I didn’t see this before I don’t know. 

If you left it as it was the loco would track better going around sharp curves providing the offset was the same side as the inside radius of the curve.

 

Try the Lotus 38 for example.

 

 

Olddudders probably has more knowledge than I on this subject.

 

Although this type of car came from an era when you could see who was driving and they were men who required a lot more driving skill than those who tend to drive around their computer controlled robots in races today.

2 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

Some of the ones I remember from RAF days were Wedge (the simplest tool known to man), Taps (acronym for thick as pig sh!t although he didn’t realise it) and Skid (whose first name was Mark). 

 

Dave

Pink:  Pig in Knickers.

[PhilJ W]

3 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

Some of the ones I remember from RAF days were Wedge (the simplest tool known to man), Taps (acronym for thick as pig sh!t although he didn’t realise it) and Skid (whose first name was Mark). 

 

Dave

We also had a 'Skid', his surname was Marks.

[Oldddudders]

17 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

If you left it as it was the loco would track better going around sharp curves providing the offset was the same side as the inside radius of the curve.

 

Try the Lotus 38 for example.

 

 

Olddudders probably has more knowledge than I on this subject.

 

Although this type of car came from an era when you could see who was driving and they were men who required a lot more driving skill than those who tend to drive around their computer controlled robots in races today.

 

I only have slightly more! Yes, this was the final, triumphant step in a revolution that turned Indy on its bonce, and led to US single-seaters resembling F1 cars once and for all time, probably. The front-engined heaps with an offset 4-cylinder Offenhauser lump, typically driven by brave middle-aged men, were already on the way out, though. Speed through lightness had been Chapman's mantra, and Indy was astonished. And Clark needs no praise from me!

[simontaylor484]

14 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

And I bid you goodnight with this:

 

 

The locomotive formerly known as Prince....

 

Or Andrew as it is now

[Happy Hippo]

6 minutes ago, simontaylor484 said:

Or Andrew as it is now

Someone else who noted my humorous dig!

[Florence Locomotive Works]

5 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

you left it as it was the loco would track better going around sharp curves providing the offset was the same side as the inside radius of the curve.

 

Try the Lotus 38 for example.

Very true and a good point as well, however I don’t currently have the space for curves so the engine is set up to run along a 70 foot long over section in the garden which will be civilized by the laying of rails. 

Edited January 14, 2022 by Florence Locomotive Works

[Oldddudders]

Some years after the Lotus triumph at Indy, and certainly in the era of Bill Boddy as editor, I recall Motor Sport publishing an account of being in the paddock at Indianapolis. 

 

The script went something like this:

 

"Ok, this car has a Lola chassis, right?"

"It certainly does."

"And I see it has a Ford engine."

"Yup."

"So this car is a Lola-Ford, right?"

"No, this car is the City of Long Beach Special!"

[Happy Hippo]

3 hours ago, Florence Locomotive Works said:

 I don’t currently have the space for curves so the engine is set up to run along a 70 foot long over section in the garden which will be civilized by the laying of rails. 

Sounds like you'd be doing well in S7.

[Dave Hunt]

6 hours ago, Oldddudders said:

Some years after the Lotus triumph at Indy, and certainly in the era of Bill Boddy as editor, I recall Motor Sport publishing an account of being in the paddock at Indianapolis. 

 

The script went something like this:

 

"Ok, this car has a Lola chassis, right?"

"It certainly does."

"And I see it has a Ford engine."

"Yup."

"So this car is a Lola-Ford, right?"

"No, this car is the City of Long Beach Special!"

 

When Wilbur Shaw won the Indy 500 in a Maserati, wasn't it described as the Maserati Special?

 

Dave