jazzer

I found that angle quite captivating. Before I read the post the loco really caught my eye, and instantly reminded me of the view of a steam locomotive when one stands on a foot bridge. If I put my hand over the loco, it’s not quite so good but I still think it’s a pretty good picture. Definitely an angle worth working on , I think.

Quite good ? I think it looks really good. Your paint job that is. Love to see the finished article in due course. It’s inspired me to get on with my Lima DMU’s that have been waiting for years for some experimental colours. As for the BR scheme of white with a blue stripe, let’s face it, they couldn’t have done much worse, although some of the Regional Railways and Network South East seem to have managed it ( just my biased opinion of course )

When I first left school I worked for the Eastern Electricity Board for a few boring years before moving on to better things. One of the jobs had had authority to do was to correct names and addresses or change them when people moved. I can’t tell you the fun I had with that on the day before I left ! One of my colleagues was particularly tight fisted so I changed his house name to “The Wallet “ and subsequently heard it remained like that for several years. It just strike me that if there was a similarly mischievous 20year old at the Inland Revenue , about to leave the next day you might find your letters addressed the Mr D. C. C. Mortimore

I did much better than that some years ago Mr Taxman sent me a £1500 tax rebate. I was sure it was because they hadn’t taken my company car into account, so I sent them a polite letter asking them to check their records and their figures to make sure there was no mistake . Instead of the expected polite reply saying thanks for pointing out our mistake can you send the money back all I got was a form with a load of figures on it that said I had paid all my tax and nothing was owed, so I banked the money, and was never asked for it. So the good old taxman funded a couple of Clive Groomes Footplate Days and Ways courses for me

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder ! Actually, my oldest hobby , apart from railways , has been modern-ish social and industrial history from Trafalgar to about the end of the sixties, of which the railways are, as you say , very much an integral part.

The Down end of Platform 4 of Salisbury station on a week day just after 12.20 on a weekday as the ACE rolls in, behind a Rebuilt Merchant Navy bathed in oily perspiration as it has just covered the last 33 miles from Worting at an average of 68 mph with 440 tons behind the tender. Within four minutes all four platforms will be occupied. As the MN stops a shed cleaner jumps up to start shovelling coal forward, and fireman swings up on the tender to grab the pipe of the Water column as the relief driver from Exmouth Junction who worked up earlier turns the water on, then has a word with the Salisbury driver who brought the train from Waterloo before climbing up to the cab. While all this going on the station pilot, an M7 , removes the last carriage which will be attached to 12.36 all stations to Exeter. The tender has been filling with water at the rate of almost 1000 gallons a minute. The Salisbury driver turns the Water off and his days work is done . The wheel tapper who has been between the trains finishes his checks and the train is ready to go. Everything is done professionally in a matter of minutes as smooth as clockwork. The safety valves start to lift and the train is ready for the 87 mile non stop run to Exeter. That was the drama and romance of steam that can never be matched by the soul-less electrics.

I bet she’s thinking “ I wonder what happened to that slim, fit looking soldier I met on the train. I bet he went on to become a senior officer and married some debutant, then went on to have a success full career in the City as a stockbroker or something. Probably retired by now to a big posh house in Surrey and I bet he has some interesting hobbies, like ancient history and archaeology.”

It looks great to me. I love the effect of oil on the sleepers . Something often seen but rarely captured in model form . How did you achieve that ?

It was indeed Silver Fox in the film , one time holder of the British, if not world speed record for steam. By the date of your picture , Summer 1958 it would still have probably been the the second or third fastest . Round about that time I Bill. Hoole had taken Silver Link I think it was, down Stoke Bank at 117mph, properly timed by one of the regular recorders but not published to keep him out of trouble. Anyway your lovely picture sets us wondering what speed Silver Fox had just reached as it descended Stoke Bank just a few minutes before slowing down for its Peterborough stop.

The opening scene is Victoria not Kings cross. I wonder if one or two of the footplate scenes are filmed with the engine stationary in the shed or something and the scenery add later. In particular when they get signal checked Mungo crosses over to the drivers side, stands in the gap between engine and tender and looks ahead. What would he be looking for ?The driver had already seen the signal. How come the fireman wasn’t quieting the first down once steam was shut of instead of looking ahead. More importantly at maybe 50-60 mph why didn’t his cap blow off with his head right out like that, and no sign of wind rushing past ? Still it is an absolutely super film I never tire of watching.

I thought you wanted Hadrian to build his wall at Royal Oak

To continue with the last post before the technical hitch I meant any 2-8-0 as long as it had an O in its class.

The Retford Crossing before they made it a flyover/under/sideways/down , with a long freight headed by any sort of 2-8-0 with an

Have we sorted out whether the A3 is basically a GNR A1 with a higher boiler pressure ? Seems like it to me so :- 1. A4 2. B1. Cheaply built but fastest up Hemerdon Bank in the 1948 Locomotive Exchanges albeit with a lighter load than the Pacific’s but a remarkable performance. 3. V2

Just winding you up . I think it was basically a tender version of a Fowler 2-6-4 tank although how Stewart managed to turn such a beautiful tank engine into such an ugly tender engine I have no idea.

Interesting choice but H P Stewart is not one of the qualifying designers designated by the Rules Committee ( Gilbert )

Ivatt class 2 tanks. Modern engines far superior to anything previously designed for the work they were employed on , economical to run easy to service and maintain , comfortable and ergonomic for the crews ( whose opinions were sought at design stage) very wide route availability, 70-75 mph on test with no vibration , and could work for 15 hours without servicing. A Cinderella loco perhaps but a very successful design . Gets my vote.

I’d like to say the Q but it was a bit of an old fashioned design by the time it came out and was soon eclipsed in service by more modern and more powerful and more modern Q1, which ugly as it was, did everything it said on the tin, and continued to do so until the end Of Steam. So on the basis of success although not looks the Q1gets My vote

My vote as well

Yes , I was veering towards the H1/H 2 Atlantic’s and in terms of best they cut it for me but I kind of feel they are not really true LBSC locos. Marsh apparently even borrowed Doncaster’s drawings of the GNR Atlantic and just tweaked it a bit , so I marked them down a bit on that and give my vote to the E4 tanks, not least because the Bluebells one looks great in the flesh.

A5

Hi Gilbert, I know I rave about Tims weathering from time to time but that effect on the tender of coal dust having been washed down in streaks by rain is superb. So typical of the era.

Very close thing for me between the Jinty and the 3835 class better known as the 4f 0-6-0 . The 4f gets the vote by reason of one remaining childhood memory of one summers evening with a 4F sweeping down the bank into Market Rasen in the twilight with a return Bank Holiday excursion from Cleethorpes back to the MIdlands the whole wonderful scene lit up by the glare from the firebox. Very soon afterwards , they were all gone.

Now there’s a funny thing. I’ve always thought that the Enfield/ Chingford EMU’s would look better in traditional maroon , instead of dirty green as if they were escapees from the Southern Region. You’ve just proved me right ! Would it be too much to ask I’d you have one in lovely Crimson and Cream ?

Ah you beat me to it by one minute . Great minds think alike