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Fascinating old adverts for railway equipment


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Good evening all 😀

I have some old scans of railway equipment adverts from the 1960's, some are not perfectly straight, some are unintentionally hilarious, but all are interesting in some way - I like to think!

First up is this impressive beast!!!!!!

R1.jpg

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Next up, how can you follow an ultrasonic Rail testing vehicle " no longer confined to the limits of fish plates?

Well how about a lever called 'David'!!! 

I'm guessing the name is a reference to the biblical tale of David & Goliath - I wonder how many of those levers are still out there?

As a bit of background to some of these adverts, many are from foreign companies hoping to get a slice of the UK rail market. I hope therefore, that though some obviously overseas locomotive types may appear from time to time, I am still within the rules of  a UK prototype thread 🙂

R2.jpg

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1 hour ago, D7063 said:

Cheers Richard - what a fascinating link, the 1926 advert looks like a 'Railway Modeller' track plan. I'm guessing from your location that you are quite familiar with 'Summersons'

😀

I’m not a Darlo native but I was aware of the variety of rail supply companies that used to be around here.  I also thought that the 1926 advert would make a good scenic feature - a complex pointwork layout in a yard next to the mainline but not connected to it in any way. A good place to plonk my first failed attempts at hand built track!

 

RichardT

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Good evening

A little shunter with a big strap line this evening!

(And not a particularly modest one!)

It looks quite a neat little loco with a fairly modest output according to the 'specs, there is an overhead electric version and a battery option too (looking more like a loco for use down a mine).  Shunting engines of this type seem to  pop up all over mainland Europe (I think I've seen similar lurking in the background of some of  @DaveF Swiss pictures. I often wondered why the lower powered shunters on offer from European manufacturers  didn't go for outside con rods as much as we did in the UK?

R3.jpg

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Good evening al!

Another permanent way related ad for this evening, I'm sure I've seen these in use on a preserved line somewhere, rail is heavy stuff (to quote the obvious) and these look handy!

Of interest is the carriage of the train passing the work site, you'd think it was a 'railtour', what with all those heads sticking out of the windows!

I suppose these days the travelling public isn't so interested in manually operated PW equipment (or were those hydraulic rams powered by something other than a hand operated pump?)

They'd also be lucky to have an opening window on a modern train to stick their head out of!

Anyone want to hazard a guess as to the difference between a 213M5 and a 216M6 model might be?

😀

R4.jpg

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4 minutes ago, D7063 said:

P.S - I like that phone number, was it for a Mr 'Ken Sington', or was it Kensington 😆 I wonder if anyone rang and asked for Ken!

 

The good old days of an operator connecting the call to 536 0026 - no STD codes then!

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On 19/09/2022 at 18:25, D7063 said:

Next up, how can you follow an ultrasonic Rail testing vehicle " no longer confined to the limits of fish plates?

Well how about a lever called 'David'!!! 

I'm guessing the name is a reference to the biblical tale of David & Goliath - I wonder how many of those levers are still out there?

As a bit of background to some of these adverts, many are from foreign companies hoping to get a slice of the UK rail market. I hope therefore, that though some obviously overseas locomotive types may appear from time to time, I am still within the rules of  a UK prototype thread 🙂

R2.jpg


There were still some at Redcar Bulk Terminal four years ago!

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Good evening folks 😀

Today we're getting "...in pace with railway modernisation" courtesy of a manufacturer of rubbing plates and buffer cheek liners. We are also being whisked toward modernity by what looks like the prototype 'Deltic' (amazing how often a version is depicted in these art works) and a first gen DMU.

I think the first gen DMU has a met cam look to it - does it represent any particular prototype?

In the background are other symbols of the technological age - cooling towers. In the sixties wasn't it once said that electricity would be 'too cheap to meter'?

 

A far cry from todays energy prices!🙁

 

The 'lion fixing a puncture' emblem makes an appearance too!

R5.jpg

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2 hours ago, D7063 said:

I think the first gen DMU has a met cam look to it - does it represent any particular prototype?

In the background are other symbols of the technological age - cooling towers. In the sixties wasn't it once said that electricity would be 'too cheap to meter'?

Agree it looks most like a Met Camm.

 

I believe the 'too cheap to meter' remark was connected with the use of Nuclear power, probably soon after Clader Hall opened in 1956. That particular dream didn't quite work out.

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5 hours ago, D7063 said:

Hi Bernard, I think you're right about the 'too cheap to meter' being around the time of the Calder hall nuclear power plant opening. Was the 'White heat of technology' quote from the same speech I wonder - Harrold Wilson?

Wilson's 'white heat' speech was in 1963, so rather later, but obviously related to that whole range of emerging 'big technologies' of the time (like jets, nuclear power, electronics, etc.).

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22 hours ago, D7063 said:

Good evening folks 😀

Today we're getting "...in pace with railway modernisation" courtesy of a manufacturer of rubbing plates and buffer cheek liners. We are also being whisked toward modernity by what looks like the prototype 'Deltic' (amazing how often a version is depicted in these art works) and a first gen DMU.

I think the first gen DMU has a met cam look to it - does it represent any particular prototype?

In the background are other symbols of the technological age - cooling towers. In the sixties wasn't it once said that electricity would be 'too cheap to meter'?

 

A far cry from todays energy prices!🙁

 

The 'lion fixing a puncture' emblem makes an appearance too!

R5.jpg

 

By-Eck !

 

I did my gap year at what became MINTEX-Don - and I've a pretty good idea of what was in that "resin-impregnated fabric"...

 

 

Kev.

(..love the thread though.)

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Good evening all

Tonight's advert is for something that I must be honest, I have never given much thought to - railway carriage glazing!!

Air fair bit of 'artists license' has been used to give the impression of space & comfort, and the view of what looks like the Swiss Alps is in sharp contrast to some of the sites available to the UK traveler of the time!

 

I think they have laboured the pun about 'good vision' a little too far though!😀

Interesting that this Scottish company has used what looks like a South African EMU to illustrate its products - I'm guessing they were after some trade a bit closer to home. They certainly have an expansive worldwide network though.

Depends on your point of view, but I think the view that contrasts most to the one in the advert is possibly the one of 'Crossfields Chemicals' afforded from Warrington Bank Quay Station!

R6.jpg

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5 minutes ago, SHMD said:

 

By-Eck !

 

I did my gap year at what became MINTEX-Don - and I've a pretty good idea of what was in that "resin-impregnated fabric"...

 

 

Kev.

(..love the thread though.)

'Ow do Kev😀 could the secrets of the resin, be a health endangering trade secret? ( a bit like the 'fine aroma' chemical plant at Widnes!!!) - glad you like the thread too!

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6 hours ago, D7063 said:

Hi Bernard, I think you're right about the 'too cheap to meter' being around the time of the Calder hall nuclear power plant opening.

 

It was made at the opening ceremony of Calder Hall, although I cannot remember who said it. Although Calder Hall was the first commercially sized nuclear power station, it turned out the prime aim was less to generate cheap electricity than to develop weapons grade material for less peaceful use - like bombs. 

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9 minutes ago, D7063 said:

Interesting that this Scottish company has used what looks like a South African EMU to illustrate its products - I'm guessing they were after some trade a bit closer to home.

If they, and the rest of the traditional railway supply industry, had relied on the domestic market they’d have been out of business in five years.

 

RichardT

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2 minutes ago, Derekl said:

 

It was made at the opening ceremony of Calder Hall, although I cannot remember who said it. Although Calder Hall was the first commercially sized nuclear power station, it turned out the prime aim was less to generate cheap electricity than to develop weapons grade material for less peaceful use - like bombs. 

Thanks Derek - didn't the reactors also need to be 'on load' all the time, and the only way of ensuring enough demand at night was to encourage the use of storage heaters through 'economy 7'?

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10 minutes ago, D7063 said:

Interesting that this Scottish company has used what looks like a South African EMU to illustrate its products

 

I am not sure what that is, but it is definitely not a South African EMU. The SA version of an EMU is cruder, with sharp boxy corners and no buffers.

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