Joseph_Pestell

Not sure that's a coupe, which would be unusual for a coach from the 1950s, I think what we are looking at is the '1' on the door entering the narrow vestibule leading to the corridor to the first class compartments which are past the toilet, and the fixed window just this side of the door is the one for the van area; it will have bars inside it which cannot be seen in this photo because of the reflection.  The chap leaning out of the vestibule droplight in the second class end is obscuring whether the fixed light behind him is a toilet window with small ventilators or another van window, but I would suspect toilet and a simple 'driving compartment' for the guard at that end; this is of course a double ended slip coach.  But they were certainly remarkable vehicles, and fascinated the childhood me by having vacuum tanks; how could you store nothing, which is what a vacuum is, isn't it, in a tank?   I was well into high school physics before I understood that the purpose of the tanks was not to keep 'nothing' in, but to keep 'everything' out...  Their tail lamps are a whole nother area of study as well.

 

Slipping is one of the madder ideas to come out of the UK railway world (on a par with the insanity of dangling several hundredweight of mailbags inside the loading gauge in the path of express mail trains and hurling them across moving vehicles at 70 mph or so); let's just hook one off the back at high speed and leave it to it's own devices, chaps...  But, until 1960, that's what they did, with special sealing vacuum pipes braking the slip momentarily as it detached from the train to ensure a clean break and of course the lessening of the load encouraging the loco to speed up a little at the same time; clever stuff!  Slip guards were under a lot of pressure, as loco crew were highly sceptical of their ability to stop even a single coach (and sometimes it was a 'portion' consisting of several vehicles) anywhere near where they were required, and a stop short or, worse, an overshoot, would be difficult to live down as said loco crew were not backward in coming forward with some fairly scathing comments!  Most slip destinations were places with a pilot engine on duty which could rescue any that didn't fetch up in the right place!

 

They could, for obvious reasons, be a bit confusing for passengers as well, especially as no railway ever devised a functioning corridor connection for them that was anything other than potentially lethal; certainly none made it past the drawing board.  This meant that passengers travelling in the slip portion did not have access to the restaurant car where the railway had another opportunity to part them from their cash; I am not qualified to define this as a drawback or an advantage...  Another drawback was the unbalance in the timetables; the advantage gained in the slipping direction was lost on the return working when the train had to stop at the place that was not important enough for it in the slipping direction to pick up the coach it had so carelessly discarded, and perform a shunt and a brake continuity test; I suspect that's what the Castle in the picture is doing.  Either that or the slip made it's way home with another train, probably as empty stock in a parcels and not generating any revenue.  A slip is not what would be regarded nowadays as an optimal use of paying customers' space (we called them passengers in my day), and this one only has 3 second class and 2 first class compartments, which equates to 24 second and 12 first class seats, only 36 seats in a 64 foot long coach!

 

Not surprising that economic reality put paid to them; it was cheaper by and large just to stop the whole train to provide service to that destination, and it is perhaps surprising that they lasted as long as they did.  I remember them in trains, just, (I was 8 in 1960), but never saw a slip operation carried out.  Come on, Didcot, you can do a TPO pickup!

Looking at the pic again, you are probably right that it is a narrow vestibule plus a window into the guard's van area. But that vestibule seems like a waste of space given that one of the first compartments has a door on that side as well.

Might be a bit difficult to build up enough speed at Didcot to make a slip coach working. But perhaps on one of the preserved lines??? I think that people would turn up to see that.

Just 34 passengers on a 10-coach train! No wonder the tickets are a bit pricey.

Just depends on the surrounding landscape.

A footbridge is unlikely for any station on an embankment unless a subway might be vulnerable to frequent flooding.

If the station is in a cutting, a subway is unlikely but there might also be no requirement for a footbridge if passengers could use a nearby roadbridge.

Not for me to suggest which clubs should survive. But seems to that a disproportionate number of clubs in the London area, particularly in the Premiership.

That is the compartment side, so presumably what Chris is looking for.

What a remarkable vehicle! They seem to have added a coupe first class compartment in what was previously part of the guard's van area.

I have never had much of a problem with RMWeb when travelling in France. Sometimes quicker than here at home where the Broadband speeds are often "escargot".

A very poignant piece (found while checking the F1 race times - I'm not a DT reader): http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2017/04/28/farewell-leyton-orient-grandad-said-never-kid-never-should-have/

 

It could well be the end of London's second oldest club.  Not my team, but English football will be poorer without them.

 

Supporters of rich clubs probably won't understand.

What a great piece of feature writing.

Plain fact is that there are too many clubs in London. And having West Ham move in next door must have been the final nail in the coffin for Orient.

Last full day here in France, firstly the Rover P5B coupe has moved so I can't double check the reg plate. Out and about this morning spotted a Puegeot 304 fastback coupe and then an early 70's Dyane in immaculate condition. On the forecourt of an out of use petrol station in Aigre was this pair

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Thats it back to the UK tomorrow.

That 11B looks pretty good apart from the paintwork. Did you make him an offer?

Just a quick update. We have dismantled the layout to tidy up some areas underneath and fix some ongoing infrastructure issues. At the same time Dave is building the transportation system. This will allow us to stack the majority of the boards on two "shelved" trolleys. Only 6 of the boards will be bolted front to front for travelling purposes, this will save a lot of time setting up and taking down.

 

As each scenic board comes down they are being worked on to fit final details etc.

 

The first one is the Prince of Wales road bridge board, here's a pic under the railway.image.jpeg

You can imagine the storm of protest that ad would attract these days.

Edit to add: Not an expert on Minis, but I think that poster must date from around 1970, so somewhat out of era for the layout.

More french gems today, this time in Aigre. There was some sort of village festival so the 2CV van was pride of place outside the townhall, a display on the theme of publicity was inside including a Peugeot 203 van being sign written during the vestival. I'm pretty sure the 2CV Dolly belonged to the sign writer. Renualt 4 was spotted as I walked back through the town.

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The final picture of the day is the surprise of the holiday so far, tucked away in garage yard was this P5B coupe. Apologise for the poor photo I couldn't get any closer, pretty sure my memory says the registration is PMC 322L however DVLA has no record and that number is available to purchase.

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FMC???

They were big as well, 63ft long and over 9ft wide.

The LYRS site gives these as being 67'7" long and 9'4" wide. The Southport units were a massive 10' wide and 63' long.

I had thought about an interior, but it would only be basic , and probably not worth the cost. Easier to either not bother, as in smaller scales it is not that visible, or build oneself.

 

I have an idea that they had tramcar-style seats (reversible backs). Might be worth doing those as a set if nothing suitable already somewhere on Shapeways.

Al / Joseph,

 

I have a Sectional Appendix to the WTT for 1960 which confirms that all of the High Peak from High Peak Junction to Hopton Top could be worked without a brake van in the rear. In practice the section west of Middleton Top was worked with a brake van, but I've yet to see evidence of one in use on the two lower sections.

 

Hope this helps,

 

Geraint

Thank you. That is very helpful information although it cuts down the operating interest of the layout a bit. I probably need to add to the "works" activity to justify a few vans delivering materials as well as the mineral wagons for the incline.

The more obvious something is the less likely it is to be observed.

 

I think I just made that up!

No you did not, it's a well-known and called "hiding in clear sight".

As you get older, you will find more and more things that are capable of doing this. Happens to me on an almost daily basis now.

Interesting to note that this printer/material combo is much quicker. That must have a big impact on print costs.

Were these not based on contemporary US designs? Or did the US copy the L&Y?

The issue of cutting the web on C&L track (and other makes that are available) has been mentioned on the various BH 00 track threads. Personally, I prefer the C&L solution as it makes it easier to lay straight lengths when required.

Still very few butterflies here. I wonder if they knew that there would be the late frosts that we are suffering from.

If operation is where the OPs main interest lies, it's a good plan. Overall of course, it's a bit toy-like, but that is part of its charm. And there can still be some excellent modelling of cameos within the whole which would make good locations for photography.

Like others, I do feel that it is a bit too cramped. It probably needs about 14' x 8' to do it properly in 00.

I also feel that the MPD might be worth omitting completely and that, because of that centre reversing road, it might be more suited to multiple-unit working than steam.

Agreed, a 6'6" x 2'6" board is very much at the upper end of what can be handled, especially when it has volume  (hillside) as well. Certainly a two-man lift (or that hospital bed I mentioned earlier).

I would almost certainly be building in the garage (warm as it is where all the pipework runs to the heatpump) so doorways not a problem - at this end anyway.

Possibly, but I'm certainly hoping to be inspired by the 7mm entries, in terms of showing me what my own eventual 7mm cameo might look like (although I'm not planning on entering a 7mm layout in the competition).

I think that I have found a solution that works in 7mm scale (on a 6'6" x 2'6" door + cassettes). Just about feasible in standard gauge but I might revert to narrow gauge if it turns out to be too cramped.

A quick prototype question, please.

Did trains from High Peak Jct to the Wharf have a brake van? I would assume that they did.

I am asking because considering building something for the "cameo layout" challenge and the use (or not) of brakevans would impact on the trackplan which would need to be simpler than this.

When I posted earlier about the Semley meet, I did not mention (because I was having a senior moment) that one of the cars there was a Dellow. I think that name has come up before on this thread but I had never seen one. Two seater sports job built in 1948 and rather attractive, especially the front end.

What possible rationale do you have for that statement ?

 

From the one word, 'Thurso', the model could be anything from the whole town, hills, sea and Scarpa Flow, or could just be a small part of the station....

I was not meaning to cause any offence! Ignoring the whole town, hills, sea and Scapa Flow, because too big to fit within the concept, a small part of the station is not going to meet  "refined running and prototypical operation" criterion (quoting MRJ 254). At some stations it might, but I don't see Thurso as one of them. In common with many branch termini, it is too generously laid out to work like that.

Obviously there is a whole debate to be had about whether the concept unfairly helps 2mm/N modellers against those who use the larger scales. It is certainly a hard ask in 7mm.

Martin Finney's layout sounds amazing think I'll buy a copy.

It is. And I just have.

Fortunately, the threads about the Cameo Layout Comp highlighted the fact that Semley appears in the latest MRJ. I don't normally bother with MRJ as the contents are a bit too refined for me. But I have been aware of this layout for some time now and very glad to finally see it. A superb model of our local station (or it would be if it had not closed).