[Ukraine fundraiser] BR 132: not just another blue and yellow diesel

[Stevie]

Picked up from post box today, must say the mug looks better than the pictures, absolutely stunning. Many thanks for all your hard work and I hope all the mugs are gone .

[readingtype]

Thanks for these kind comments. Either (1) I am not the star photographer I would like to be or (2) mugs are harder to photograph in tea breaks than previously thought or (3) all of the above :-) Ben

[readingtype]

On 16/07/2022 at 08:34, Stevie said:

 I hope all the mugs are gone .

 

Still one or two left. Buy yours today! Ukraine is still suffering. https://ben9412.wixsite.com/br132mug

[Nick C]

Just discovered this thread - mug ordered.

[Nick C]

and arrived today, thank you! It doesn't say on it - @readingtype are the mugs dishwasher safe?

[readingtype]

9 hours ago, Nick C said:

It doesn't say on it - @readingtype are the mugs dishwasher safe?

Very much so. They're not inkjet printed but glazed, which is a (much) older technique that should keep the colours for a decent length of time.

 

Ben

[Nick C]

2 minutes ago, readingtype said:

Very much so. They're not inkjet printed but glazed, which is a (much) older technique that should keep the colours for a decent length of time.

 

Ben

Great, thank you! 

[Michael Hodgson]

Very pleased with these mugs, which I only opened yesterday even though they arrived last week, because I had been so busy chasing around on other matters as our Ukrainian guest also arrived last week, so we have been helping her with the formalities and settling in.

[readingtype]

Well, following a good day at the French Railways Society Summer Rendezvous last Sunday, I'm basically out of mugs. I have passed over £460 to the Help Ukraine Emergency Appeal and there will be a bit more once I have the final figures in. There are a couple of mugs in the wild awaiting owners, but that's it.

 

Thanks very, very much to everyone who encouraged me, and thanks again to those who donated. It's been great to get your reports too -- hearing a mug's made it to its new owner is surprisingly satisfying :-)

 

Sadly out in the world this conflict is far from over, but thanks to your help there has been some relief for some of those directly affected.

 

Ben

[readingtype]

Things are still not so great over in Ukraine.

 

Meanwhile, I am very much hoping to visit the railway museum in Riga at the end of the week, and in particular I will be looking out for a Series L steam loco in their collection, which I hope will be on display. This is a mighty Soviet 2-10-0 freight hauler with 'Boxpok' driving wheels that first appeared in 1945. The design originated at the Kolumna Works near Moscow and the first Ls were built there. But from 1950 Ls were also built at the Voroschilograd Works, AKA the Luhansk plant celebrated by the Ludmilla mug project from two years ago.

 

This has set me thinking about fundraising mugs again. With large steam engines on them. No promises whatsoever, and maybe there won't be any interest anyway...

 

To give some idea of what I am talking about, here is the Russian language Wikipedia article on the L and a some photos of a preserved Series L at the rail transport museum in Kyiv [edit: and a live one in celebration of Euro 2012 - I really needed to look more carefully].

 

I can't resist including this photo of the plaque on the loco's dome casing, from that second page: It's a bit scrambled to this very poor reader of Cyrillic but basically says: Mintransmash USSR Voroschilograd Works [named] October Revolution, 1951. Credit for the photo: Gennadiy Moysenko 2012

 

Edited May 14 by readingtype
More info about a link

[John Tomlinson]

14 minutes ago, readingtype said:

Things are still not so great over in Ukraine.

 

Meanwhile, I am very much hoping to visit the railway museum in Riga at the end of the week, and in particular I will be looking out for a Series L steam loco in their collection, which I hope will be on display. This is a mighty Soviet 2-10-0 freight hauler with 'Boxpok' driving wheels that first appeared in 1945. The design originated at the Kolumna Works near Moscow and the first Ls were built there. But from 1950 Ls were also built at the Voroschilograd Works, AKA the Luhansk plant celebrated by the Ludmilla mug project from two years ago.

 

This has set me thinking about fundraising mugs again. With large steam engines on them. No promises whatsoever, and maybe there won't be any interest anyway...

 

To give some idea of what I am talking about, here is the Russian language Wikipedia article on the L and a some photos of a preserved Series L at the rail transport museum in Kyiv [edit: and a live one in celebration of Euro 2012 - I really needed to look more carefully].

 

I can't resist including this photo of the plaque on the loco's dome casing, from that second page: It's a bit scrambled to this very poor reader of Cyrillic but basically says: Mintransmash USSR Voroschilograd Works [named] October Revolution, 1951. Credit for the photo: Gennadiy Moysenko 2012

 

 

Sadly I never got to the museum in Riga on my visit to Latvia in 2012.

 

I did however come across this "L" at Gulbene (where there's a narrow gauge line), click on pics for details,

 

 

 

It appears to be another Voroshilovgrad example,

 

 

Have great trip!

 

John.

Edited May 14 by John Tomlinson
added second photo

[readingtype]

49 minutes ago, John Tomlinson said:

It appears to be another Voroshilovgrad example

 

I must learn how to spell that...

 

50 minutes ago, John Tomlinson said:

Have great trip!

 

Thanks!

Ben

[readingtype]

It turns out there is a railway museum at Vilnius railway station too. And from the footbridge, visible on a plinth in the distance that I wasn't able to get closer to:

 

I think I was awake when I read that there are something like 300 series Ls still in existence.

 

Ben

[readingtype]

Although the Vilnius L was out of reach, the museum in Riga delivered. Here's a first go at tracing one of my photos.

 

Thing is, I did also come across an SO series. Perhaps that is powder to keep dry.

 

Ben

[John Tomlinson]

4 hours ago, readingtype said:

Although the Vilnius L was out of reach, the museum in Riga delivered. Here's a first go at tracing one of my photos.

 

Thing is, I did also come across an SO series. Perhaps that is powder to keep dry.

 

Ben

 

This is the CO = SO that is/was outside Luhansk works on a plinth. I gather that there was heavy fighting generally in the city in 2014, when the Russian annexation took place, so it may well have been destroyed. Click on pic for details as this example almost certainly wasn't the 1000th one built.

 

The "L" is generally a more striking loco, and IIRC the development into the 2-10-2 "Lv" became the model for the Chinese "QJ", of which thousands were built (might be wrong on this) 

 

 

Edited May 27 by John Tomlinson
typos

[John Tomlinson]

You've started me on a look through my old snaps now, or those on digi anyway, there's loads of slides also.

 

This is "L" class L1831 in the museum at Donetsk in May 2010. Can't say I'm too optimistic about the existence of this one either!

 

 

Edited May 27 by John Tomlinson