Bernard Lamb

No mum.

When you go shopping you do not have to boycott hummus.

Bernard

11 hours ago, adb968008 said:

The model of 78010 (early emblem) is not aws fitted, does not have the batterybox.

 

The late crest ones are aws fitted.

I did not say it was.

Do you want to start an argument for the sake of it?

I think that most, nay almost all, people on here are intelligent enough to understand by looking at the photographs what I was talking about.

It is very unlikely that an early emblem example could be seven years old.

Bernard

On 15/10/2023 at 17:37, phil-b259 said:

 

I would say its far easier to tone it down with some weathering than it would be to bling it said pipework once it had arrived.

 

Consequently Hornby's approach strikes me as the sensible approach - provide the loco 'ex works' / 'just been built' condition and leave it up to the end user to tone it down as much or as little as they like.

Fair enough, if the model has the correct details as per that time.

We have here a locomotive that is around seven years old (AWS fitted) so it is totally wrong.

Just got mine and will report tomorrow. I do find some things a bit odd, but not surprised given Hornby's history.

Bernard

15 hours ago, David C said:

Fascinating stuff - but then I am just a bit prejudiced having been interested in narrow gauge for many years!

 

David C

Glad it is of interet David.

How about this from the same area. The quarry at Hengstberg. Date not known.

Bernard

Mary had a little lamb

She kept it in a bucket

And every time the lamb got out

The bulldog tried to put it back in again.

I know I have posted it before but as we seem to be having a burst of notalgia I will join in.

Bernard

1 hour ago, The Stationmaster said:

I don't know about St Pancras but i do know that the value of the seizures of illegal contraband etc made by the Customs people at Waterloo International considerably exceeded the cost of their presence at that border point.  Yes - there was a full Customs provision at waterloo and it was in operation while Britain was part of the EU.  

 

Apart from the more obvious things such as drugs, weapons,  and cash, there were numerous things which could be bought at a much lower price in mainland Europe than they could be in Britain.  For example it paid someone to come back into the Uk with expensive Swiss wrist watches strapped all the way up both arms to his elbows - the only puzzling thing about that was he couldn't understand wht y the Custims Officers were laughing when he took his hacket after being taken away to be searched. 

 

And having seen them in action French Customs Officerse are considerably rougher in their treatment of suspects than their very polite British equivalents.  On one occasion I saw French Customs Officers strip search a female suspect in public on a cross border train from Belgium and she wasn't wearing very much at all by the time they moved her to somewhere less obtrusive.  And I have yet to be lined up for 'examination' by a sniffer dog by UK Customs although that happened to me at the Gare du Nord - where it was a regular practice at one time.  The way many Customs organisations work nowadays is very unobtrusive and you simply don't realise they are there or are watching.

 

But if you think UK Customs are some sort of right wing extremists I would suggest a trip to Australia where you will really find out what good old-fashioned style Customs Officers are like as they go through your lugage item by item (although they tend to be rougher on Aussies than on overseas visitors.  Uk Customs ceased to be like that many decades ago.

Several times I have encountered the doggies. In Europe and in other places. The USA - Canada border can be quite an experience at times. I went through by bus one time while there was a fishing dispute going on. Everything and everybody had to exit the bus and then all bags were gone through item by item. They then got the driver to take up some floor panels and the dog was set loose. I have also had dog searches at Folkestone on the shuttle. I think that they had a target time of a minimum of three hours delay for every bus. Canadians got it worse than Europeans.

My best experience of stoppy customs people was at the border between Turkey and Bulgaria. This was many years ago. I was with a group and I was dealing with the passports and currncey exchange. The chap was as nice as pie, as I had all the papework in order. He asked me if I was in a hurry. I enquired as to why and he told me what was going to happen and suggested that we found a good seat where we could enjoy the fun. A group of Germans in a VW Beetle were getting a bit lippy about being held up and so the Bulgarians decided to teach them a lesson. The customs official acussed them of having drugs. They denied it. Several heavily armed people suddenly appeared and started to strip the car. Obviuosly they found nothing. They took out the seats and various other parts that could only be refitted with the correct tools. Then they left. The customs officials came over to join us for a beer and a good laugh. 

Austrlaia is OK unless you have any items of food that you might have forgotten about.

Nepal can also be 'interssting'.

Bernard

1 hour ago, Captain Kernow said:

I haven't got one of these (yet), but I also need functioning screw link couplings on my locos.

 

Are the buffer beams on this model metal, then?

 

I presume so Captain.

A bigger problem is that this class has a horizontal slot, rather than the much more common vertical slot.

That is going to present a problem. A tight twist in the shank, or a very narrow, height wise, shank? Neither option looks an easy solution in respect of functionality and appearance.

Will get a chance to look on Monday as mine is on the way.

Bernard 

Simon,

For a starter layout model I would go for the hobby version. It looks like very good value. You can always add pipe work and other detailing as you feel like. I have even detaied GDR period Piko diesels and they look quite acceptable as layout locos. Just watch the prices, as some on Ebay look to be from chancers. Check the Piko web site for current retail prices.

Bernard

16 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

 

German trains certainly aren't what they once were, my experiences over the last decade have left me with very positive thoughts about British trains. And my German colleagues are scathing about their trains.

 

I know I already said this but the  EU railway which impresses me is Belgium. The trains are basic and there's nothing immediately wonderful about anything (except  Antwerp station, which is remarkable) but it has an extremely logical,  well designed service pattern which works. Tremendous connectivity, reliable, easy to use and cheap. If I was to nominate a European railway that Britain should study it would be Belgium. 

My wife has to go to Cologne next month. She asked me to look at train travel. The first problem was finding a web site that could cope with the different operators. It seemed better to book the different legs with different companies to get the best deal. The main problem was to get the cheapest tickets for each leg that would connect. I found a reasonable deal but it was complicated to book, so I gave up. What chance would a punter have who had much less knowledge of the railway system. She had a travel voucher for £100 from a raffle, so she got in contact with the travel company. They came up with a deal that was very close to what I had found, but pointed out that due to the unreliability of German trains the connections would be dodgy. She is going to fly and her voucher will almost cover the cost. far less than the train with much better back up if there are any problems.

Bernard

One of the best was Frank Carson.

His jokes were often very simple and if you saw the script it would seem to be rather dull.

However his delivery in a live performance was brilliant. He could read an audience and change the presentation to suit. You never got the same show twice. It did not work on TV or radio.

Bernard

Oh dear.

11 hours ago, Blandford1969 said:

Thanks, I only have a partial drawing which shows the cab and a little way forwards. The rest is coming drom drawings of D20s. Where are the differences in the drawings to reality?

 

I'm lucky that I purchased a complete set of D20 fittings from Arthur Kimber at the same time I bought one of his D20 kits to have a D20/1 as well. 

The main problem with the DJH kit is the tender which has oval cut outs as per the NER drawing, rather than the shaped version actually carried by all tenders of thetype used on the D20s.

I do not have the drawings or any kits that Arthur produced, but going from photographs they look pretty good.

I think the front frames on one variant are also suspect on the DJH kit.

Bernard

1 hour ago, Blandford1969 said:

Tony I know you are a great proponent of kit and scratchuilding and hope this effort might be ok in this thread. It has taken me over a year to get this far in part due to my own challenges, but its got to the stage where it is starting to look better. Yes its not a perfect ready to run, but its unique and I can say every bit has been cut, filed and put together by me. 

 

This is the cab for rebuilt D20/2 2020. I have worked from the original drawings, I must be mad as each cab side contains 17 parts if you include the handrail knobs and wite. Next will come cutting the slots in the front for the wheel spasher and then starting to attach it onto the running plate which may yet need a couple more attempts with the piercing saw to get something satisfactory.

 

It may be slow but it is so satisfying even this far. 

Nothing better than a D20. Well done.

However be aware that the original drawings were destroyed in a fire and the archive drawings were made according to the current practice at the time and not how the locomotives were originally  built. DJH fell into this trap.

Bernard

I don't know about Phil being paid the correct rate or not, but I feel I ought to be remunerated for having to put up with this rubbish.😀

Bernard

Doing a spot of reading recently I came across various photographs of a paper mill that had an extensive run of 600mm Feldbahn track. People seem to like the odd and quaint, so I will post a few of them here. The mill had a very interesting history, but that is for another time and involves the war.😀

The mill belonged to Wiede & Sohne and was located in Pauschwitz south east of Leipzig.

it was built around 1893 and was rail connected. Very soon a short run of 600mm track was laid to form an interchange siding and eventually this was extended to become a system with over 8kms of track. The line was worked by horses. However in 1927 a decision was made to purchase a locomotive from O & K. This was a 10hp petrol machine. Another joined it later in the year and a third arrived in 1928. The last having a cab, at extra cost,  to provide protection for the driver. In 1938 these machines were converted to run on LPG, kept in a cylinder on top of the engine compartment.

Bernard

Early days with horse power. Unloading lime or kaolin.

The mill with 60mm tracks.

Loading paper circa 1939. Note LPG cylinder.

O & K 1928.

13 hours ago, MJI said:

I find lack of commas annoying, and can cause confusion.

 

The main one is on a few ands, or ors.

 

Missing the one before the and, or the or. Changes the meaning of the sentence .

 

Stations between Birmingham and Bristol include, Worcester, Cheltenham,  and Gloucester.

 

Remove the last comma and it reads like it is one station for the two towns.

I was going to comment, but JamesSpooner got in first.

Most people use everyday English and are sufficiently aware of the peculiarities of the English language to know that there is a pause, without the need to actually put in a punctuation mark, such as the Oxford or serial comma, before the last item in a list.

For some reason the good folk at Oxford seem to want to plough their own furrow. I have also come across it being used by people from a university in one of the old colonies.

In short people who use it fall into two camps. The elite and the thick.

Apologies for the construction of the above piece. I was told once that i could write a good report......... For an Engineer. I also live in a household where German is probably more commonly spoken than English.

Bernard

If the hoarding is visible from a public place, then you are at liberty to take a photograh of it. You own the copyright of that photograph. As far as I can see what you do with it is up to you. If you turn it into something that is hostile to the company that produced the original design, that might be a different matter.

Bernard

5 hours ago, melmerby said:

The problem was the long term maintenance & eventual decommisioning don't seemed to have been factored into the costs.

Particularly so when it comes to cutting up nuclear submarines.

Just how many are hidden away waiting for a viable solution as to disposal?

Benard

4 hours ago, LNER4479 said:

On a slightly lighter note, the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust was responsible for introducing a new word into the German language. When redesigning the rivetted dia. 118 boiler into an all-welded design (designated dia. 118a), the Germans were completely stumped by the perforated steam collector feature and had to design it from scratch, with full FEA etc. The drawings thus carried the legend 'Banjodom for UK'.

Another oddity was that 18201 at some point in time aquired a dial in the cab that was of English origin. I cannot remember the name of the company, but I have a video by Bob Symes where the name is clealy visible.

Bernard

1 hour ago, Steamport Southport said:

 

Not necessarily true. Plenty of places can build boilers.

 

The Unknown Warrior has a UK built boiler, built in all places Huyton in Liverpool!

 

 

https://heritageboilersteamservices.co.uk/projects

 

 

 

Jason

I did put a smiley face.

Of course I know that you can get UK built boilers.

However the people behind the locomotives in question chose not to.

Why would you, when all the design and testing work has been done in producing this?

For many years the fastest stem locomotive in the world.😀

Bernard

26 minutes ago, Arun Sharma said:

I heard it today on BBC Sounds and agree that it went down well. The following speaker [68 year old lady from Warwick] appeared to believe that no further infrastructure projects of any kind should take place in this, our green and pleasant land....... Didn't we know that there was a climate emergency?.....  Well, it takes all sorts!

 

Rather interestingly, the point was made that Euston to Crewe was agreed by Parliament and presumably only Parliament can repeal the Act which authorises it - and certainly not merely by a whimsical diktat from the PM.

Quite so.

Primary legislation will be required.

That point seems to have been picked up on Wednesday.

Bernard

42 minutes ago, Pebbles said:

Many thanks for that, I was aware that the boiler/firebox  was the same as Tornado's. I just find it somewhat ironic that what is essentially a Thompson combination of firebox and boiler, should find itself in a replica Gresley engine.

I just find it somewhat ironic, that without the skills, knowledge and experience of the East Germans, there would not be boilers in either of them. 😃

Bernard

Time for a progress report, or more like lack of.

Having far more locomotives than I need to operate the branch, I have been thinking about building a depot. To be used as a display location and to allow them to be run. I have started to collect material, a Peco turntable, a Faller loco shed and various Auhagen kits. I have plenty of track knocking about and I will try to use that. I have made a very rough sketch of the wiring for the turntable, to be non motorized at present, and where to divide each road into isolated sections to hold as many locos as possible. It will be fun over the winter wiring it all up.

To get the maximum run along one wall of the garage I have space for a 1200mm module. This will have another small station with a siding. I have found a very old station building and have started to refurbish it and also started on the scenery.

I could not resist the temptation to add a curved windscreen Ferkeltaxi to the stock.

Bernard

3 minutes ago, Tony Wright said:

Good afternoon Mark,

 

I had no idea that Trix were making another FLYING SCOTSMAN. What scale is it, please? The bogie wheels look like N Gauge. 

 

Though the dome looks to be right, the chimney seems to have come off a battleship! 

 

Looking further at the image, the cabside numbers are too small and too squeezed together, and the tender's BR device is too big. 

 

The eccentric crank is leaning the wrong way - backwards. 

 

How much is it, please?

 

My 40+ year old FLYING SCOTSMAN is still going strong.....

 

 

 

Seen in Bytham's early days. I made it from an old Wills kit, with a K's P2 tender and scratch-built frames/Jamieson valve gear. The painting is all mine.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

Good afternoon Tony.

It is H0.

There is a thread on it somewhere.

I have made rather unkind comments about it, but some people seem to like it,

Price wise it is somewhere about twicw the price of a typical Hornby model.

That chimney makes we want to hide under the bed clothes every time I see a photo of it.

Sad to see the pages of WW being subjected to such a horror.

Bernard