Coarse Scale O Gauge

[Bassettblowke]

Government, armed forces, judiciary I could go on, representative of society ?  they are still there and thriving. No place for Fiona Hill no place for Andrew Carnegie nothing changes.

 

 

Edited November 26, 2019 by Bassettblowke

[Il Grifone]

8 hours ago, rockershovel said:

 

TBH, I think the majority stopped believing that particular canard, quite a long time ago. Orwell was of the opinion (“In Defence Of P G Wodehouse”) that “Bertie Wooster was killed around 1915” and I’d reckon that belief in the abilities of the upper classes was lost around that time. 

 

There are still 30-40% that seem to still believe it though ( witness orange clowns on both sides of the pond!).

We are asked to donate €2 for Venice flooding after 'they' just voted against provisions for climate change!

 

I won't go any further into this as it's straying into the taboo area of politics....

[Bassettblowke]

I will close on this, just imagine Joe Public fancies becoming an Army Officer so off he toddles to the recruiting office but flunks the entrance exam and is turned down flat. Next one who rocks up is a very well healed aristocrat, with the best of educations and swimming in cash but sadly somewhat dim and he also flunks the exam. Some 40 odd years later guess which one is poncing around in a Generals uniform. Now he may have only been a weekend warrior and kept at arms length from the regular army but it’s decidedly odd that someone judged incapable of filling a second lieutenants role should end up in charge of the army reserve forces. 

Sadly he passed away a year or so ago so you could possibly say this argument no longer applies and that society has moved on into the broad sunlit uplands of truly equal opportunities for all. 

Nah don’t think so

 

Edited November 26, 2019 by Bassettblowke

[rockershovel]

On the subject of “representatives of society”, my recent trip to Japan included a visit to Hiroshima. I wasn’t much interested in this, but No 2 Son was keen so we went. 

 

There is a Memorial and Park focussed around the Dome, which I am sure everyone will have seen. However... I did come away with a distinct impression that, left to their own devices, the Japanese would simply clear the site and move on. They don’t appear to be given to dwelling on the past, as a nation. The Nagasaki memorial is much smaller, and only constructed as recently as 1996.

 

The Hiroshima Memorial appears to have been primarily instigated by the “great and the good” of the “international community”, who ensure that their virtue doesn’t go unrecognised. Grinning forth from the large photo panel of the assembled grouping is none other than Richard Branson.. whatever you might feel about it, there’s no doubt that he is one of the most immediately recognisable living Englishmen, I’ve seen his smirking face in no end of places, from Florida to Indonesia, and he is highly regarded outside the U.K. 

 

This is particularly interesting because he is certainly NOT “old money” and very much “trade” (I dare say this is why the Americans hold him in such esteem, then again they also think the Duchess Fergiana is royalty). Brian Souter of Stagecoach also comes to mind, although he doesn’t have the Bearded One’s high profile he is probably more of a philanthropist.

[Nearholmer]

43 minutes ago, rockershovel said:

he is probably more of a philanthropist.

People who work for his firms have a good word for him, but oddly enough it isn’t that one.

[rockershovel]

34 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

People who work for his firms have a good word for him, but oddly enough it isn’t that one.

 

Come to that, I don’t recall Carnegie, Getty or Rockefeller being primarily remembered as good employers. Microsoft have “stock options” schemes which are very effective as incentives, but seem to be very uneven in their actual effect, but Bill Gates is always in the news for some Institute or foundation or other. 

 

It’s nothing new. When a businessman gets to feeling that he might stand in need of polishing his soul, those who actually MADE those profits rarely enter into his thinking. The principal exception I can think of are the Quaker industrialists of the 19th Century - Cadbury and Lever, especially - who built “model communities” for their workforces (Bournvile and Port Sunlight) although those workers don’t seem to have been universally appreciative. The British working man is lamentably short on gratitude, and displays a deplorable tendency to “gamble, and drink  as much beer as his wages will allow” (Orwell again), and the quite strict rules governing tenancies seem to have created considerable resentment at the time. 

 

Of course, in these times there are abundant approved recipients of largesse. Mrs Jellyby was never held in such regard, Stephen Blackpool and Bob Cratchitt never further from their employers’ minds. . 

[sncf231e]

Some Coarse Scale 0 Gauge (since that is what this thread is about, I thought  ):

Regards

Fred

[Bassettblowke]

5 hours ago, Bassettblowke said:

 

 

 

I suppose the principal difference between Carnegie and the others was he gave his wealth away and not just a PR job donation to charity to make himself look favourable. I don’t think you will find any of Carnegie’s descendants dripping in inherited wealth. He could have have donated a shed load of cash to a political party and got himself a Knighthood whilst keeping the rest of the dosh safely out of reach in Belize, but he didn’t he just gave it away. 

 

i also visited Hiroshima back in the early 70’s when memories were probably still raw, we were the first RN ship to visit for some considerable time so we weren’t quite sure of the reception we would get. The people were extremely courteous and friendly and the ship which during a visit would normally open to visitors for two days of the week had to remain open for the full week the demand was that great. I was 19 the same as the average age of the ships company many were much younger than me, to say we were bemused would be an understatement. Of the local people I never met one who had a word of English so communicating was a challenge, a different kettle of fish in Yokosuka where the USN had a large support facility. When the ship cast off to leave Hiroshima a band struck up and a huge crowd was waving us off although there’s  always the possibility they were glad to see the back of us.

Our visit to the peace park was laid on for us complete with a translator and from what I remember was quite a sombre experience. Outside in the grounds the park had the appearance and feel of a civic park with parents and children enjoying the sunny weather the shattered building with the Dome just another part of the surroundings. 

As regards Eric despite his impeccable social democrat pedigree he too has some aristo’s in the closet and I suppose if you have had an education you may well be a tad sniffy about the antics of the great unwashed who could’ve been turfed out of school at 12 and most definitely by 14. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists by Robert Tressell sums up the lot of the working class to perfection.

[Nearholmer]

Brilliant book, which I especially enjoyed because when I was still at school I used to work part-time for my uncle’s painting and decorating firm, including on some jobs in the exact area where it is set.

[rockershovel]

 

Saw this on eBay, it’s a remarkably pristine example of what Lionel were producing around the 1945-65 period.

Edited December 27, 2019 by rockershovel

[rockershovel]

I do like that Flying Scotsman. Works remarkably well in Coarse O, doesn’t it? 

[Bassettblowke]

Anyone recognise these they were acquired a while ago in a box of odds and ends principally B/Lowke track items. I haven’t got a clue so help would be appreciated, heavy non ferrous metal possibly a weight of some sort ?  But for what ?

Edited February 1, 2020 by Bassettblowke

[sncf231e]

I played in the garden this afternoon: A clockwork double header (Bassett Lowke and Bing) with Exley coaches:

 

 

Regards

Fred

[Mark Carne]

On 01/02/2020 at 12:39, Bassettblowke said:

Anyone recognise these they were acquired a while ago in a box of odds and ends principally B/Lowke track items. I haven’t got a clue so help would be appreciated, heavy non ferrous metal possibly a weight of some sort ?  But for what ?

Lead weights from Hornby locos, left is a rear weight from a early type No1 tank loco, circa 1929-30, centre is a weight that goes inside the bogie mounting on a No2 special tank or a No3, and the right one is a cylinder weight from an early type No0/No1/No1 tank loco, 1920-30.

 

Cheers, Mark

[Bassettblowke]

Mark 

Many thanks for “Weighing” in with the info initially I wasn’t to interested and put them in my pile of interesting but Unknown’s also known to my wife as ‘’that” box of crap. Over time my curiosity was aroused now that itch is scratched.

Phil 

[goldfish]

If you will forgive my continuing obsession with couplings. Drop link couplings were only a standard fitting on Leeds products from about 1920 to 1928, before and after that period 3-link couplings were the standard fitment. It is possible to use 3-link couplings with LMC pattern drop link couplings, but the problem of potential buffer lock remains. My solution is to graft a sprung drawbar onto a LMC pattern hook and drop link.

 

 

The original idea was to use them on LMC Bakelite wagons...

 

 

But they work equally well on Locomotives...

 

 

Or, with bit of metal bashing, as a replacement for ETS couplings...

 

[goldfish]

Perhaps not the thing to do with you prize locomotive, but in my humble opinion this is an improvement.

 

 

The resulting clearance is the same as with the drop link coupling, so no problems with sharp curves.

 

[Nearholmer]

No question that its an improvement visually. The more modern couplings work splendidly, and are easy to manipulate, but they are more than a tad too big.

 

I've only got these ones one a few odd vehicles, so have to ask: do they cope well with propelling moves?

 

 

[goldfish]

13 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

No question that its an improvement visually. The more modern couplings work splendidly, and are easy to manipulate, but they are more than a tad too big.

 

I've only got these ones one a few odd vehicles, so have to ask: do they cope well with propelling moves?

 

 

 

So far I have encountered no problems. They can be pushed through the double reverse 2' curves on my shunting plank with no problem.

[Nearholmer]

Interesting.

 

Propelling is a big thing on my layout, because the off-scene siding that represents the destination/origin of goods trains is only accessible from one end, its not a loop, and trains of about ten wagons have to be propelled into it through a crossover .......... real test of couplings, and really annoying when things don't go well, because it is very awkward to get at.

 

Not that I'm going for fleet-wide coupling replacement; it would cost a fortune, take an age, and destroy the integrity of some fairly good-nick 60+ year old wagons.

[goldfish]

18 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

Not that I'm going for fleet-wide coupling replacement; it would cost a fortune, take an age, and destroy the integrity of some fairly good-nick 60+ year old wagons.

 

Retaining the integrity of my LMC Bakelite wagons was one of the main drivers behind going down this route. Using a sprung draw bar requires no modification to the wagons. I regard the modern ETS stock as fair game, but I hesitate treat even my Hornby stock in the same way. I am currently looking at the possibility of replacing buffer beams on my Terrier so that I can fit sprung drawbar couplings. So far I have roughed up a replacement in styrene, which suggests that it is possible, but some cunning is going to be needed to get around the screw heads ETS put in the way.

 

[goldfish]

I might have been less precise about which couplings I have changed I my last posts.

The LMC Bakelite wagons are a straight substitution of sprung drawbar drop link couplings for sprung drawbar 3-link couplings.

The ETS couplings that I have replaced are the oversize "Hornby Dublo" type. So quite a drastic change. The Steeple Cab locomotive and low sided wagon had already been converted to 3-link couplings when I got them, so a bit of a cheat.

 

 

So far as propelling wagons fitted with these sprung drawbar drop link couplings goes, so far, so good. The LMC Bakelite wagons can be propelled around Lionel 036 reverse curves (18" radius) with out a problem. The coupling are only a little longer than the original 3-link couplings, and so work in the same way. If the wagons are fitted with LMC wide buffers there is contact between the buffers and the drop ink is in light tension. If the wagons are fitted with shorter, more scale sized, buffers, the couplings are long enough to keep the buffers apart.

 

 

[Bassettblowke]

The only coupling I can’t get along with is the Hornby hook and loop auto coupling these I normally replace with a drop link of whatever type I happen to have stashed. I tend to operate stock in fixed rakes all with the same type of coupler. Being an unadventurous soul I don’t do any pushing so no problems in that department. My favourite is the bonds drop link but they are not that common these days and they are in the minority the Ace type being the most common amongst my stock.

As regards changing couplings nothing I own could be considered being in above a good average condition so I don’t worry about originality, that said the majority of conversions can be easily reversed if so desired.

[brianusa]

Apart from Lionel tinplate and its oversize buckeyes, not much can be propelled without difficulty.  Most of my yard area is 031 curves and points, but very little derailments occur.

    Brian.

[Nearholmer]

30 minutes ago, brianusa said:

Apart from Lionel tinplate and its oversize buckeyes, not much can be propelled without difficulty

I beg to differ Brian.

 

Both old and modern BL/Ace/ETS type are fine, provided there is no gross height difference between couplers on adjacent vehicles.

 

Hornby hook & loop are very temperamental in my experience, creating side-thrust that causes trouble when propelling. Overall I thoroughly dislike them, and only tolerate them for reasons of integrity.