2750Papyrus

I have just read "Henry Charles Webster - Man of Steam" by Dorienne Roughley.  Webster was Assistant District Locomotive Superintendent at King's Cross in the 1930s.  After retirement he wrote "2750 Legend of a Locomotive", which was a major influence in forming a nine year old's future interests and passion! 

Of relevance to our topic heading is an anecdote regarding an A3 which had arrived from Peterborough on two cylinders.  The middle big end strap and brasses were missing and the piston head was resting on the bogie stretcher.  The driver claimed not to have heard it go and that there was nothing wrong with the exhaust beat after he had pulled her up, whilst he ascribed what must have been a very bad steam blow to a gland gone.

Is anyone able to comment on this reported incident?

Completely spot on Jamie. However, I guess no-one has declared we are in an arms race, quite yet? I would guess that such a climate would speed things up, as it did then. I seem to recall that rather less was built for the RN between the end of the Napoleonic Wars and 1895? (apart from a brief arms race with those damned Russkies in the 1850's.)

 

The issue is, could we ramp up anymore, if needed? Given the complications of modern naval systems, how much notice would we need, against how much would we have, and what would we need, for what situation?

 

A good start would be to give the ships we have got, or are about to get, the necessary defensive firepower needed. With all my naval warfare qualifications, bought from Trump University (I am engaged in seeking a refund - fret not), I simply do not understand why we are not building more of those thingies that go under the water, instead of on top of it? We seem to be able to knock those off PDQ. if asked.

It's not just about hardware, there is also a major problem with regard to crewing the limited number of ships that do exist.  Ten years ago a former CPO told me that ships sailed with up to 30% less complement than they were designed for, and a number of ships have been taken out of service because they cannot be crewed. 

25 years ago, following the break-up of the Warsaw Pact, there was a demand for a "peace dividend" because of the perceived reduced threat.  Maybe we now need a "Peace Investment" due to the apparent increased threat?  Increasing recruitment and retention programmes would, in the short term, enable existing ships to be retained and fully crewed. Similarly, I would have thought F35 procurement could be accelerated fairly easily so that the carriers could operate the air groups they were designed for.  Increasing the ship build programme is probably more difficult politically/financially

Steam locomotives, especially their boilers, are very strongly constructed and it is rare for one to be completely destroyed in even a very serious accident.  Princess Anne and Windward Islands were both destroyed in the Harrow disaster; this is AFAIK unique.  But one can see the point of avoiding modelling prototypes with unfortunate associations.

 

As for manufacturers' identity choice, they move like god, in mysterious ways their wonders to perform, but the ultimate choice will be driven by marketing.  43775 may well have been the prototype Triang worked from, and there is no more to it than that.  I am a little surprised with the B17 Footballers; an obvious opportunity for collaboration with the clubs to sell display cased models to sell to fans; these idiots will pay anything for them!

 

A run of locos will often be replaced by an identical model with a different identity for the next run in order to entice modellers who want more than one of a class to stump up again, but of course it is easy enough to renumber/rename a loco yourself.  Liveries are a little more complex, and beyond the capability of some RTR modellers (though you might surprise yourselves if you had a go, guys), but fresh liveries also stimulate sales in the same way.

 

I have often wondered why the obvious attraction of providing alternative names and numbers, etched where necessary, in the box with a new locomotive or even with other rolling stock has not ever appealed to manufacturers.  It would make them a lot of friends, perhaps more than gimmicks like sprung buffers.

The original Hornby B17 was named and numbered for U but contained transfers for three alternatives.  I think these included Liverpool an Arsenal but can't remember the third - maybe one of the Sheffield clubs?

I used to really enjoy visiting the NRM every couple of years, often at Easter in conjunction with the York show. However, my recent visit may well be my last visit ever. The gloomy atmosphere (even on a bright day), the scruffy, almost dirty feel about the place and the somewhat haphazard displays and lack of coherence really spoilt it for me. The bullying attitude of the staff at the entrance trying to force you to make a donation really annoyed me.

 

Shildon, in my view is much better, has a real railway atmosphere and feels alive whereas the NRM now has a dead feel about it. The staff at Shildon also have a much more pleasant and helpful attitude than those at the NRM, making me feel willing to make a donation which I did.

 

Shildon is most definitely worth a visit in my view.

 

John

Whilst I agree with most of the comments regarding York, Shildon is just too remote for many people and does not appear to offer much In terms of local attractions for family members who do not want to spend all day looking at dead trains.

I wanted a model of 'Shannon' (Wantage Tramway No 5) when I was 10 years old, it's taken 46 years and I designed and built it myself in the end.  . I think I might have a bit more patience. 

46 years and you still don't know what colour you want it in!

Locomotion advise that emails have been sent out to everyone who has reserved a Stirling single so it may be worth checking Spam folders. The Single is still going through production and assembly and they are anticipated to arrive around June.

 

With respect to Evening Star keep your ear to the ground as there may be something special happening if you've ordered a boxed set.

 

They are there and working hard as usual.

Are the referenced emails those updating progress on the model or do they request payment?  If the latter, I at least have not received it.

Thanks for all your hard work, Tom,

 

I'm glad we ran the trains slower than our perception might tell us. I don't know if it's a phenomenon of videoing stuff, but trains usually appear to be travelling far too fast. 

 

What it also shows is the 'dynamics' of running trains on a model railway, even one with well-built and well-laid track. I think the odd lurch is inevitable, and (perhaps?) the odd 'nodding' vehicle. Generally, I think the dynamics worked fine. What's most important was that every loco was in command of its job (no RTR on view as far as I could see), there was no stuttering, no jerking, no trains dividing and no derailments.

 

Thanks once again,

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

A great video of an inspirational layout.  I'm supposed to be gardening but couldn't resist "just watching the trains go by".

Very interesting IMechE meeting in MK yesterday evening, where the engineering director of the new EW rail company talked about the entire project, including the more ‘pipe-dreamy’ parts beyond Bedford.

 

I suspect that our roving photographer was present.

Damn!  Knew I should have joined 50 years ago - but couldn't afford it.....

I don't recall any effort by the engineering professional bodies to prevent technicians being described as engineers. It is probably illegal to call yourself a medical doctor if you are not qualified. Why haven't the engineering bodies lobbied for an equivalent legal status for "engineer" ?came into common parlance before

 

...R

In the first week of my Mech Eng degree course in 1965 we all had to complete a questionnaire relating to the status of engineers compared with other professions - the problem of professional recognition has been around for a long time. 

Part of the problem is probably historical - to a large extent we were pioneers and as scope of engineering grew the word "engineer" came to be applied to many different disciplines and skills  whereas those who followed were able to generate individual terms.  The mass media don't help - compare "Scientists are celebrating the successful launch of the mission" with "Engineers are investigating the failure".

There was a three pack of Bachmann East Anglian coal traders wagons years ago, probably in their very early days on the market. That included a Mellonie & Goulder, Ipswich, and Fulcher, Norwich, wagons. I can't remember the third one.

 

MOY were by far the biggest coal merchant in East Anglia and had an extensive private owner fleet serving yards all over the region, not just Essex. The Great Eastern Society Journal had an article recently looking at all the different private owners visible in the background of some of the best pre-grouping photos of the region.

 

In 4mm you've got the POWsides transfers, which I think include some relevant options. If there's an ideal project for a first step in stripping and re painting a model, it's got to be a private owner wagon!

I think the third wagon in the Bachmann set (at least it's coupled to the other two on my layout!) was Wrights of Colchester.  Not strictly a wagon but Mainline produced a very colourful container for Frasers' of Ipswich, whose EBay appearances are occasional and expensive!

I visited on the Saturday, arriving before opening so parking was easy.  Enjoyed the show greatly, one of the better local shows, used to be at Huntingdon race course.

I enjoyed The Summit.  Watching the trains go by did remind me of Stoke but I did the think the mix of stock was a bit eclectic.  Presumably the cost of O gauge stock limits what is affordable to club members.  Does kit build time increase with the scale or does  "less fiddly" compensate for increased size? 

The second layout I particularly enjoyed was Sidmouth.   Interestingly, it wasn't till I moved to the end of the layout and looked back along the track that I remembered it was P4.  Viewed from the front, the height of the rail and sleeper spacing of the chaired track struck me but not the gauge! 

Poor running on other layouts - yes, quite a lot.  Being so soon after show opening, I was not surprised but it should have improved by Sunday lunchtime. The choice of trade stands was about right for me and I spent more that I had budgeted on electrical and scenic bits. 

I'm a bit surprised the arena is being closed and redeveloped and wonder how much the charity will lose in donations and general interest from visitors to non-animal events.

Taking the "P" out of Thompson (would we?) gives us Thomson, after whom a gazelle common to East Africa was named,   This would suggest that the collective noun should be a herd, eg "a herd of Tommies".

Model Rail's March issue has an article on Bachmann 2018 releases with a list of "highlights" including 31-998, LMS 10001 in BR black/silver.

It may have increased by a multiple of 1.08 or 2.08, but you still cannot have more than 100% of anything.

Just because lazy, sloppy journalists, economists, advertising whizz kids etc etc use the term, it doesn't make it correct.

 

Mike

In my student apprenticeship days in the 60s, I spent some time in Work Study, where regular tasks were timed with a stop watch.  To these measured times were added various allowances (eg time to go to the  toilet was known as "relaxation time" -2.5% for males, 4% for females) to establish a Standard Time.  Subsequent elapsed times were then compared with this Standard and a performance percentage calculated.  So if a worker didn't consume the allowances - or just worked faster - he/she could well exceed 100% performance. 

Incidentally, I was once told of a work study engineer who married a prostitute. In three months he'd dragged her down to his level........... 

Still one of my favourite exhibition layouts - just watching the (convincing) trains go by.

I had a chap who'd been off sick for a day or two. When he returned he filled in the reason for absence something like this:

 

direar

dyereer

flu

Isn't it spelt "dire rear"?

I have the same when trying to change my World of Railways password.

Under pressure from Mrs 2750, I am starting to declutter.  First to go will be British Railway Modelling and Model Rail, from start of publication to date.  If anyone is interested, plse PM otherwise they go for recycling.

Personally, I would prefer BRM to concentrate on the printed magazine as I feel it has rather lost its way and is no longer any different from its competitors.  What happened to the "If it's a kit we build it, if its not we take it apart" philosophy?

I have taken both BRM and Model Rail from their first issues but am now considering dropping one of them.

I'm sure many of us use feedback controllers and they are still actively marketed by Gaugemaster.   I personally find it a little odd that manufacturers use motors which are apparently incompatible.

It would therefore be a great help if magazines identified any issues such as the supposed vulnerability of coreless motors when reviewing models - and possibly to test them on a variety of different controllers.

I am looking for a small quantity of H & M passing contact switches to match my existing. 

I'm afraid I must be classified as a 'dinosaur', - as I still use windows 7 on a 2012 HP  'easynote'  LM laptop.

I have carefully removed/uninstalled all the unnecessary ( to me ) rubbish that was installed originally on the machine, this has drastically increased its storage capacity and useful life, and improved its speed. I now still have a basic machine that is fine for what I require -  with very few updates, that usually only take 10-20 minutes, and I do not suffer from my computer being "taken over" and being continuously 'given' new gizmos or programs from Microsoft that I neither want nor need. Everything works just fine and I would like this to remain the case....!!

 

Regards.

(SIGTECH)

Steve.

Replaced our old laptop running Vista in June with a Lenovo running Windows 10.  Bought from John Lewis and used their set up and file copy service, which was excellent. 

For the first few months the performance was good but more recently we have found MS takes the machine over for hours at a time with no warning and no appreciable benefit.  I  believe there is a "metered" facility in settings which inhibits most upgrades but haven't tried it yet.  Plse have others done so and with what effect?

Just received a quantity of the new points and track for a rebuild.  They certainly look good and testing with a 4W wagon there is much less of a tendency for a wheel to drop into the gap prior to the crossing/frog.

I got mine from Derails, whom I found to be the cheapest supplier on the web.  Speaking to Danny today, they have sold well and he has only a few left.

Plse could someone provide details of prototype(s)?

Thank you once again Tony for test building this kit and your kind comments on it, it is most appreciated. 

 

The production version will have a chimney included as a 3D print but the downspouts will have to be made by the modeller out of fusewire, as you've used, or similar - I use guitar wire for most things like this.

 

At present I am not considering other scales (sticking with what I know for the time being) but it is not something I wouldn't rule it out for any item in the future if the interest is there.

 

Once again thank you and I will be taking up your most kind offer to use the photographs (appropriately credited of course).

I would echo Tony's suggestion for a 4mm version and would certainly be interested should you produce it.