unclebobkt

  ... , it's like saying Goering had some good points. 

       In fact didn't the Herr Reichmarshal own a model railway?

  If so I  suspect that he would attract Mr. Wright's ire by being more of a cheque-book modeler.

         Another Norman Lockhart image at Sheep Lane. 20th May 1960. 47496 one of Radstock' s Bagnalls.

        ' Look, Daddy,  there's even the hole for the wind-up key!'.

         The use of the Surrey Iron Railway wagons on the road was indeed envisioned but it proved impractical not only for the reasons stated but the wheels which in most or all cases would have been one piece cast or wrought iron would have been too fragile. They would also require some sort of surfaced roads which in the period concerned would have most likely been stone setts or cobbles, the noise created by the wheels on such a surface would be horrendous.

       I well-remember talking with an elderly & female relative who had been 'In service.' at the start of and into C20. about the noise of metal rimmed cart & coach wheels on London's cobbled setts.

 It was quite common, in the more exclusive of London's squares,  that when a Lady was confined in expectation of either birth or death for the square to be covered in straw to muffle the vehicles' wheels' noise and thus not disturb Madam during what could be a critical and/or life-giving/threatening time of her life.

       . 

       There's an arkyalogical dig and survey taking place at Ventiford basin. The basin is/was the interchange between the Stover Canal and the Haytor Granite Tramway. Looks to me like they've unearthed Barney Rubble's original stone double slip. Gauge about 4' 3". flangeway gaps as you find them. Some members of the Stover Canal restoration group have realigned a couple of the stone rail setts where they had become out of gauge and like to claim that this work is probably the first bit of original stone trackwork to have refettled in 200 years. Great fun. Brian

        Only in England would this happen!  

      ... .

  In a way, such a loco presents a dilemma to the 'resurrectionist' (is there such a word?).

  ... .

       Indeed there is such a word as 'Resurrectionist,'. .  

  Inhabitants of N. Britain's capital city -  aka. the self-styled  'Athens of the North.' - may care to remember Messers Burke & Hare, inter alii!  

  Quite by chance, as one writes, I was looking at >> RMWeb - UK. prototype questions. <<  and came across a thread entitled: 'Talking manure' ; which I resolved to read further   >>  www.rmweb.co.uk/community.index.php?/.topic/110328 -talking manure <<  posting #5. of 16 April 2016. - 23:19.hrs.  by Peter 220950. in which he quotes: 'You will, moreover, be pleased not to regard this resurrectionist warning as a low and a greasy attempt ... .'.  Chapter IX. - The Bones of old London;  Victorian London - Pubs - Social Investigation/Journalism - Unsentimental Journeys; or byways of the modern Babylon.  James Greenwood - 1867..

  That quote is from the more recent book entitled: 'Dirty old London - the Victorian fight against filth.';

Author:   Lee Jackson;

Pub'r.:    Yale University Press;

ISBN.:    9 780300 19205 6.;

Price:     $12.50. to 15.95..

      .... .

  In addition, one comment notes that the use of loctite on the threads of the bolts should be used sparingly.  I have yet to even try this, but I have one wheel which is now permanently attached to its axle.

        In fact are there not two grades of 'Loctite.'?

  One grade is what one might call 'Semi-permanent.' - strong enough for general day-to-day use, but with care the parts can be separated/unbonded;

  The other grade is 'Fully permanent.' and once made the parts are bonded together permanently and cannot be separated..

Well you can ask the Victorian state government as their thinking still has not moved from that period!.....

        As some of you may know on crossing South Australia's boundary from the east one sets one's watch back 30 minutes for the new time-zone. 

  Back in the 1960's - when SA. had a Methodist Premier; there was  6 pm. closing of pubs on week-days and no alcohol on Sundays apart from that allowed to bona fide & out of state arrivals - one pilot on an internal flight made a PA. announcement to the PAX.: 'We are now entering South Australia, all passengers should set their watches back thirty years.'.   Reports suggest that that pilot was dismissed by his airline.

  ... .

I always say its better to be lucky than good, maybe that's true of pilots!?  ... . 

         Was it not gnl.. N. Buonaparte who said: 'I do not ask if a general is good but how lucky he is.' - and he should know! 

...not to mention some of the early Comets falling out of the sky (due to fatigue failure emanating from a sharp point)

        I fear lest the above observation might not be 100%. correct.

  II was att'd. to RAE. F'boro. during some of the times that the two DH. 'Comets.' were being tank-tested there; being on the staff of DH. I had a proprietary interest in what was happening.

 The culprit was metal-fatigue - a subject u'stood. even less then than it is today -  firstly the corners of the windows, although radiused  did not have large enough radii to distribute the stresses involved to larger areas of the aeroplanes' skins, IE. the stresses were concentrated in too small areas around the windows' corners;   secondly many holes for rivets etc. were punched, not drilled, and they were found to be other point of weakness.

  To obtain Certs. of Airworthiness from the American auth'ys., commercially a necessity for future sales world-wide,  all of the British test-results had to be handed to the American aircraft industry, (on silver platters - as it were.),  for their verification.  At least the Boeing Engrs. had the grace to allow that those results saved them making several and possibly costly errors.

       ... .

  The wartime problem with all welded liberty ships cracking in half because of rapid crack propagation was also a big spur to understanding these things better.

         I remember Papa telling me about the time he crossed the Atlantic Ocean eastwards on an American 'Liberty.' ship and how it flexed it any sort of a sea, (quite frightening.);  quite different from the more rigid & riveted British ships.

  Still - let's remember that in one of Mr. Kaiser's west coast ship-yards the American workers were producing one 'Liberty.' ship every 24 hrs.;  and write what one may they became WW2's. main carriers of freight, troops etc. etc. and their prod'n. rate did much to negate the losses caused by the Kriegmarine's U-boats - that's 100%. for sure.

       As a matter of interest what would have happened had a class 'P2.', steaming along at let's write 40MPH. and on a straight length of track,  broken its Crank-axle?

 Also - what warning that something was amiss would the driver have had?

        Oh dear I have been seen standing there, with no cars and waiting for the green man. I normally have four customer dogs with me and they sit until they hear the bleep bleep. Looks very impressive, and it appears I am in full control. Bleep bleep .......then all five of us are across the road in an instant without me having to say anything. I need to be consistent with the dogs when crossing roads.

 

  It is still a bit risky as I have seen two cars in the past year just sail through the red light at one crossing we use, thankfully we were approaching the crossing. It was a close thing the other day when the bleeps were going, screech went this car that was overtaking the lorry that had stopped at the red light. I did exchange a couple of words to the car driver in his big German car, backed up by the lorry driver shouting to him that he could have killed the dogs. Thanks Mr Lorry Driver.

         How typically British that the lorry-driver was more concerned with the lives of the dogs than that of their handler.  

  One feels that possibly that 'his big German car.' was designed by Herr Ferdinand Porsch - designed of the 'Tiger.' & similar tanks!

      ... , but none were around yesterday.  ... .

      Pray pardon the pedantics, but shouldn't the above really read: ' ... , but none was around yesterday.  ... .  ?

  'None.' being a reduction of 'Not one.'.

       ... , although some variance between Loo-uth and Lau-uth. Lincolnshire is a big county, and there is no more reason to suppose pronunciation to be the same across Kesteven, Holland, and the other one whose name escapes me, ... .

      Now - would you be thinking of Lindsey?

  Interesting that only Lincs. & Yorks. had 'Ridings.', ( a corruption of 'Thirdings.'), - possibly the olde & Danish influences?

I could never understand why no one invented the Fell-tic. A 4-8-4 napier powered beast ... .

       Napier engines were sleeve-valved, were they not?

Maybe a bit more Brightonish?

     Possibly, sir,  you're thinking of Mr. Stroudley's 'Improved Locomotive Green.'?

 Y'day., and quite coincidentally,  my errant mind was running along a similar track - thus I availed of search engine Google! for something more definitive.

 Reportedly Stroudley used a similar shade of green also known as 'Scotch green.' in his previous employment in N. Britain afore coming south to Brighton.  It has been suggested that possibly Stroudley suffered from some form of colour-blindness? 

        ... .

  But this thought is compounded by reading "jrg1"'s post above.  When I talked about the idea of using a jeweller's leather apron to catch small items that suddenly spring off the workbench, then having to spend precious minutes on my knees searching for them, one of them said, oh yes, we call that the "Jeweller's Position".

      The 'Jeweler's Position.' - clearly not related to the possibly better known 'Missionary position.'!  

 

      ... .

   Does that mean that BRM is the equivalent of Vogue magazine?

       But don't both of them feature models?

         ... .

  DCC?  Let's not go there again. 

       Instead of DC. or DCC. why not investigate the properties of Radio-control?

  The American periodical 'Model Railroads.' for 2016. - ISBN 09281 01275 7.- has an enlightening article on Radio control and Battery packs, using components available in GB.., too!

The name off the supplier is: 

DEL TANG Receivers & Throttles.  - >> www.deltang.co.uk <<

  Use Del Tang Tx22 controller which has 'Selecta.' loco. selector switch; use Rx6x Receivers.  

  No worries about wiring up tracks, polarities, micro-switches etc. etc.;  the only wiring being to energise turn-outs' motors, signals and suchlike.

  Each loco. carries its own Battery Pack, from which some three hours' running should be obtainable before needing to be recharged, and Receiver.

  The article was for On3o., aka. On2 1/2.,. (1:48 scale running on 30". gauge tracks.),.

  So possibly with a scale On3o. loco. there's more space for the Receiver & Bty. pack than there might be in scale OO.?  But 'Where there's a will there's a way.'.

        Usual disclaimer;  E&OE..       

      My sister-in-law lives in Sydenham.  Her nearest station is Penge East.  She habitually refers to it, whimsically, as "Ponge Est" (with a hint of a French accent).

  This was all well and good until, a few years back on a visit to That London, my other half actually walked up to a ticket office window at Victoria and demanded two singles to "Ponge Est", causing much puzzlement for the booking clerk.  Fortunately I overheard her request and was able to jump in with a swift correction before the ever-growing queue behind us became too irate...

        Did not Terry Wogan, as he then was, in his daily & morning programme refer to that part of London as 'Penge, les deux eglises.'? 

       

Here in Australia the singular is used when referring to a team, a company or a group, as in "India was beaten by 5 wickets in last night's ODI", whereas in the UK this would be "India were beaten..."]

 

  Obviously they were taught by my Primary School Teacher .. He said a " team" is a single entity made up of one or more individuals"      Baz

 

 

  'Team.' surely is a Collective Noun, and, as written, is construed as being singular in formation, even if comprising one or more objects,  and thus takes a verb in its singular form.

 

        

 

 

 

It's up to the viewer to judge whether this looks authentic. What I can tell you, is that it is full of compromises. I think that they are the right kind of compromises, if you can spot them dose it devalue the modelling?

 

Photo courtesy of Derek Shore.

      Sigh.      

Once more we agree..............

 

With regard to the make-up of trains on my railway, I've consulted BR's own documents and looked at pictures in books showing scenes from 50-60 years ago. I then 'copy' those trains. What could be simpler? 

      Possibly easier to write than to do - especially if one is living at home. where the correct info. should be more easily obtainable.

  Sure - photos. are all very well,  but even coloured photos. do not render colours accurately all of the time - to take but one example.

  I know that one can quote "Rule One.",   and that "There's a prototype for everything.",  but  with the desire for authenticity the eagle-eyed will soon see errors:  for example  incorrect number of spokes in the coupled wheels; such a type of buffer is incorrect for the period being modeled;  milk-tankers  were never marshaled as you have done, your prototype railway never used that type of chair for that time-period - and so the list continues.

  I suppose that the answer is to become a member of one of the many Societies that have sprung-up to assist neophyte modelers and those wishing to make a representation of some desired area of Britain's green and pleasant land. 

  I do realize that I read like Mr. Faintheart to many of you, but it is a great commitment in both time and money to make what might pass for even a fair representation of a chosen location;  and finally on one's departure from this World    what might happen to one's efforts?  Into the skip for many of us,  I fear.

      When I consider all that has to be known/understood before modelling even a small scene I shudder mentally:  Geology, Geography, History and time-period just for starters so as to set the scene.  Then there is the railway with all that are associated with it - correct classes of locos. and their numbers;  correct type of carriages and how they would be arranged;  then freight and how such trains are marshaled.  Then - and I haven't exhausted the list - there are the mysteries, (to me, at least.), of signalling and of movement-control;  and not forgetting DC. -v-. DCC., (or even Radio-control.),!

  I'm not writing that the list is endless - but it can and does become rather daunting, especially as real & helpful hands-on knowledge become scarcer by  the day - thanks to Olde Father Time.

  Does it become a matter of balance between research and just plunging in, having a go and d*mning the consequences?

        ... .

  Judging by recent exhibition layouts I have enjoyed, the population of figures can be as atmospheric as the trains themselves. The recent comment that tyres should be compressed and turned outward on vehicles is another example.   .... .

  In general aren't road vehicles' front wheels toed IN?