Fascinating old adverts for railway equipment

[Nearholmer]

I think there are some that use a steel fishplate that is fully encapsulated in resin, so maybe that’s what this is.

 

No, Googling tells me that this design uses laminated wood, impregnated with resin, cured under heat and pressure, so a wooden fishplate.

 

And, RMWeb has a thread about them!

 

 

Edited October 17, 2022 by Nearholmer

[MartinRS]

7 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

I think there are some that use a steel fishplate that is fully encapsulated in resin, so maybe that’s what this is.

 

No, Googling tells me that this design uses laminated wood, impregnated with resin, cured under heat and pressure, so a wooden fishplate.

 

I can remember seeing wood insulating fishplates in use between Sheffield Victoria and Woodburn Junction on the old GCR route in the mid-1970s. When I asked the S&T senior technician what type of wood it was made from I was told it was Obeche.

 

Steel fishplates had a moulded plastic plate on the rail sides and plastic sleeves for the bolts.

[Nearholmer]

1 minute ago, MartinRS said:

Steel fishplates had a moulded plastic plate on the rail sides and plastic sleeves for the bolts.

Those are the ones I’m used to seeing, but there seem to be other, more exotic versions.

[MartinRS]

3 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

Those are the ones I’m used to seeing, but there seem to be other, more exotic versions.

 

Well it was 45 years ago ! I guess things have changed since then.

[Grovenor]

In the 60s Permali plates were very common, probably the most common, the strength was fine for track with 60ft rails but could not cpe with the stress of long welded hence the more complicated designs with steel fishplates with various kinds of encapsulation, and lots of electrical failure modes. Only reached a reasonable level of reliability when all glued up solid in the factory.

[Grovenor]

Here's something a little older.

[D7063]

17 hours ago, Grovenor said:

Here's something a little older.

I like the way that the 'portable corrugated lamproom' appears to offer more protection than the 'portable corrugated  iron dry earth closet' !!!

[D7063]

Good evening all

Tonight we have a masterpiece of technical drawing in this advert, with sectioned views of both a ball bearing and a roller bearing (I'm pretty certain that  they aren't photo's - but happy to be corrected). I can remember some lengthy discussions about when it was more appropriate to use a ball bearing than it was to use a roller bearing, but can't remember what the outcome was!!!!!

Plain bearings such as bronze bushes had a higher initial rolling resistance than ball bearings as I recall...

[Grovenor]

[D7063]

2 minutes ago, Grovenor said:

That's fantastic, thanks for posting Keith, judging by the names of the railway companies this is another 'vintage' one I'm guessing?

[Nearholmer]

I’m left wondering how the Baker Steer & Waterloo fitted that in a tube tunnel.

[Grovenor]

Vintage yes, it seems publishers back then did not bother to include the publishing date in their books but I think its circa 1910.

[Bucoops]

12 hours ago, D7063 said:

Good evening all

Tonight we have a masterpiece of technical drawing in this advert, with sectioned views of both a ball bearing and a roller bearing (I'm pretty certain that  they aren't photo's - but happy to be corrected). I can remember some lengthy discussions about when it was more appropriate to use a ball bearing than it was to use a roller bearing, but can't remember what the outcome was!!!!!

Plain bearings such as bronze bushes had a higher initial rolling resistance than ball bearings as I recall...

 

Is that the R of RHP when Hoffmans merged with a couple of other bearing companies?

[D7063]

10 hours ago, Bucoops said:

 

Is that the R of RHP when Hoffmans merged with a couple of other bearing companies?

Could well be... one for google I think :)

[D7063]

Good evening everybody - tonight's advert asks "What's in a name?"

Well in this case it's a 10 ton Diesel electric crane - with 5 motor drive no less!!!

[Morello Cherry]

Is it me but do Saxby and Farmer share the same office address as McKenzie, Holland? 58 Victoria Street?

[Nearholmer]

I think they both folded into Westinghouse not long after WW1.

 

The offices above shops along Victoria Street were the bases for oodles of “London Reps” from different firms, and to some extent still are even now, because they are conveniently located for hobnobbing with both potential customers, especially London Underground, and with civil servants and MPs, and it’s five minutes walking distance to ICE and IMechE (twenty minutes to ‘Electricals’).  I think many firms had tiny ‘broom cupboards’, and some merely brass plaques and letterboxes, because SW1 was such a good thing to have on an advert or letterhead.

[4069]

4 hours ago, Morello Cherry said:

Is it me but do Saxby and Farmer share the same office address as McKenzie, Holland? 58 Victoria Street?

No- S&F were at 53 Victoria Street, and McK&H at 58. However, a company formed in 1901 acquired a controlling interest in both companies, and many others in the UK signalling industry (including W R Sykes) under the name of the Consolidated Signal Co, so they were all part of the same group from then on. Merger with Westinghouse followed in 1907, but various trading names continued in use for many years.

[Derekl]

On 16/10/2022 at 22:11, daveyb said:

The reason to run Calder Hall at a strong rate (as opposed using up base load from the newer, bigger coal fired units) was more to with the (very secret) business of producing enough plutonium for our fledgling independent nuclear deterent and H bomb experiments.

 

Yes, that was my understanding which I didn't make clear - they were much more interested in making plutonium than electricity, although that wasn't mentioned in the PR activity surrounding the opening of Calder Hall for reasons that are obvious. 

Wandering yet more off topic, my late father was a journalist in Barrow in the early 1950s. He covered sheep dog trials as he was the only one in the office who could drive to the rural locations. Through those contacts he found and reported on widespread destruction of sheep in the Windscale area following a radiation leak. The story was canned under the "D Notice" procedure as a breach of national security.

Back to topic....

[D7063]

Good evening :)

This particular advert looks older than it actually is (all of these ads have been from the 60's), and the 60 lever frame puts me in mind of a weaving loom from a cotton factory!

If they had 80 years experience in the 60's they must have been one of the pioneering railway companies!

(maybe that's why the advert has an old feel to it!)

Edited October 20, 2022 by D7063
tidied up the wording

[Nearholmer]

The mention of joints and packings in that one prompts me to offer this, not obviously railway one:

 

 

The railway link is twofold: Walker supplied into the railway industry, and their huge works at Woking bordered the railway and had an immense advertising sign facing the track, which is inextricably linked in my mind with Bulleid Pacifics batting past, green EMUs of various kinds, and the sole Q1 that I knowingly saw. Oh, and the mosque and railway children’s home. And, the house in which H G Wells lived and where he wrote, among other things, ‘War of the Worlds’. So many interesting things in such a small area!

 

I believe Walker had a genuine stuffed lion on display in their boardroom, which is pretty stylish f a tad ‘pre-conservation’.

 

 

 

Edited October 20, 2022 by Nearholmer

[Jeremy Cumberland]

15 minutes ago, D7063 said:

Good evening :)

This particular advert looks older than it actually is (all of these ads have been from the 60's), and the 60 lever frame puts me in mind of a weaving loom from a cotton factory!

If they had 80 years experience in the 60's they must have been one of the pioneering railway companies!

(maybe that's why the advert has an old feel to it!)

Not really a pioneer; they were founded in 1881.

 

John Saxby was perhaps the earliest of what we would recognise as a signalling engineer, patenting an interlocking mechanism in 1856 while he was working for the LBSCR before setting up his own company in 1861, joined shortly arfter by Farmer. McKenzie and Holland dates from about the same time, so both of these firms predate the Railway Signal Company by about 20 years.

[4069]

12 hours ago, Jeremy C said:

Not really a pioneer; they were founded in 1881.

 

John Saxby was perhaps the earliest of what we would recognise as a signalling engineer, patenting an interlocking mechanism in 1856 while he was working for the LBSCR before setting up his own company in 1861, joined shortly arfter by Farmer. McKenzie and Holland dates from about the same time, so both of these firms predate the Railway Signal Company by about 20 years.

Although that advert dates from the 1960s, the RSCo had been part of Westinghouse since 1920. It continued to make "traditional" equipment at Fazakerley until closure in 1974. Badge engineering was not just a motor industry practice!

Edited October 21, 2022 by 4069

[Fat Controller]

14 hours ago, Jeremy C said:

Not really a pioneer; they were founded in 1881.

 

John Saxby was perhaps the earliest of what we would recognise as a signalling engineer, patenting an interlocking mechanism in 1856 while he was working for the LBSCR before setting up his own company in 1861, joined shortly arfter by Farmer. McKenzie and Holland dates from about the same time, so both of these firms predate the Railway Signal Company by about 20 years.

To this day, SNCF signallers and signallers use 'Saxby' as a sort of shorthand to refer to manual interlockings. 

[Jeremy Cumberland]

19 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

The mention of joints and packings in that one prompts me to offer this, not obviously railway one:

 

 

The railway link is twofold: Walker supplied into the railway industry, and their huge works at Woking bordered the railway and had an immense advertising sign facing the track, which is inextricably linked in my mind with Bulleid Pacifics batting past, green EMUs of various kinds, and the sole Q1 that I knowingly saw. Oh, and the mosque and railway children’s home. And, the house in which H G Wells lived and where he wrote, among other things, ‘War of the Worlds’. So many interesting things in such a small area!

 

I believe Walker had a genuine stuffed lion on display in their boardroom, which is pretty stylish f a tad ‘pre-conservation’.

 

A friend of mine has just been offered a job at James Walker's factory in Cockermouth (which would probably be a stone's throw from where I live if I was any good at throwing stones). I saw him today and asked him if they had a stuffed lion in the board room in Woking. He confirmed that their head office was still in Woking (at "Lion House"), but said he wasn't senior enough to get to go there. "But", he said, "I know someone who is."  I await developments.