chesterfield

i live in Newcastle NSW (Australia) and purchased my copy from the Titfield Thunderbolt last month. With international postage from the U.K. it was very pricey and I for one am thrilled by the value. As a previous poster noted, anything that give some pleasure in the reading and is a useful reference for years is a joy.

I am so often disappointed by the constant whinging of modellers at the cost of things, including the gent who posted on this thread that when he compared the price to the number of pages he decided it was poor value and not for him. Without, it seems, reading any of the reviews or waiting for those who had seen it to give informed opinions on its value, which is very different to its cost! (Has he never bought a CD or LP? A few cents (pence) worth of plastic and printed paper - what a ripoff; and yet it can be a joy for years.)

I first encountered Iain Rice's modelling and writing in his MRJ 'Woolverstone' article, and have been a fan ever since. Like a previous poster noted, this book has been on my chair arm, and by my bed, since it arrived. It has pointed me to a number of layouts I've never heard of, and researching them on the web has made it worth the price all by themselves. I love the idea of cameo layouts, of which there are almost none in Australia - perhaps the Wide Brown Land produces an expansive mindset not conducive to such little slices of the world. But, as a co-owner of Ixion Models, I can't use the excuse that some locos are expensive, when I can get them for free...

I attended Railex in Aylesbury in 2014 with my friend and business partner Chris Klein, and met some of my modelling heroes; Gordon and Maggie Gravett and Chris Nevard foremost among them. Chris was there with his tiny 4mm layout 'Ironstone'; I was completely captivated and delighted by his method of refilling his wagons via the overhead hopper. Having, he said, tried all sorts of automatic 'ironstone' dispensers to ensure the wagons were not overfilled. In the end, he just picked up full wagons from the fiddleyard and tipped the contents via the hopper into the empty wagon below. Brilliant!

I highly recommend the book, and Titfield's service. It's just a Good Read. Thanks Iain and Wild Swan; keep them coming, if you can.

Lindsay O'Reilly.

Here's my take.

 

Knowing the precise content of a vehicle isn't necessary. It is the destination of the load that is the vital factor (unless there is a requirement to load more than one consignment into a wagon, in which case the weight/size of a load could be critical).

 

You need a reason to move a wagon from A to B in the first place. That is either because the wagon is being sent empty - to uplift a load elsewhere or because it is no longer needed at its current location - or it is being sent to where its load is destined.

 

I see the load cards as an alternative to the dice option where the wagon is sent to a (layout) destination according to the number on a dice. The load cards also avoid noting the destination of a wagon separately.

 

My understanding of John Flann's system is that each wagon (or set or wagons) always ply between the fiddle yard and a specific siding at Hintock. The load/wagon card combination provides a variance in which wagon moves the load and can also avoid the need to marshal the train in a specific order to keep tabs on which wagon goes where when the train stops intermediately. It also provides the added variance of what loads are dispatched on a given day.

 

n.b. "Wagon" includes any vehicle type.

We seem to be taking over Chapeltown loop - should we start a new thread?

First comment

Do you really NEED to know what is inside your van?

Surely you are delivering (in the first place) a wagon to be loaded. Once it is loaded, it has to go on its way asap.

For example,Mr Shopkeeper in Hintock orders 100 boxes of biscuits from Huntly and Palmer( they eat a lot of biscuits in Hintock)

H&P need a van which they request from the local SM.(car order)He happens to have a suitable van in his yard which he arranges to be shunted to H&P. They load ( Car order in Hold- it takes a day to load) End of day car order card moved from Hold to Pickup. Next shunting trip away it goes away with its car order

Earle Hackett is a prolific writer and presenter on this subject. His treatment of open wagons ( he models operations, set in the edge of the Applachians area) uses Load cards instead of car order cards.

Taking a leaf out of John Flann's book , I could see that system being used for rakes of wagons  ie one Load card for the rake- eg a NCB coal mine rakes of 10 wagons which are kept in their rakes always.

 Glad someone is interested in operating using something that is close to real life.Keep the discussion going please

Glad to hear all of that. Chapeltown Loop is the closest I have seen to US operating practice (read universal practice- quite a lot of layouts here use it)

Have you seen the car orders without numbers site? quite interesting concept- a supply a wagon on demand system.

Cheers

any sign of operations commencing once again?