rogerzilla

What are the latest chances of the freshly overhauled 28xx running this weekend? It was a "hope" in the railway press.

If it's any consolation, the prototype had a reputation for spreading the track, broken axles, and other issues arising from the long coupled wheelbase. Some say this was a rumour started by the Thompson camp to justify the rebuild. The 9F, of course, has flangeless middle wheels so it's more of a 2-4-2-4 in terms of taking curves.

From a purely selfish modeller's point of view, the loss of the Nova 3 is sad because they were among the most interesting modern trains. Obviously you can still model them, but only for a short defined period of history. It also means Accurascale can't re-use the tooling for different liveries over the coming years.

It's also a cheap ticket from Oxford Parkway, which makes it worth a 40 minute drive for me rather than paying the laughable GWR fare from Swindon. Does seem to attract late night drunks, though.

Went for a quick one-dayer today. Very busy and they'd put an extra relief train on at 0940 from Kidders. Only gripe is that the volunteer catering arrangements aren't all there - no buffet on the train, as the caterer hadn't made it in, and Bewdley tea shop was closed too.

Reverse curves are prone to cause derailments or sticking unless the vehicles can straighten out before taking the opposing curve. I don't know the physics behind it. (Edit: on the 1:1 railway, buffer locking is an issue with close reverse curves and although that is rarely going to happen with tension-lock OO couplers, there are limits with the smaller types now used). Crossovers are "accidental" reverse curves which is why some vehicles derail easily over them, unless you use express points to give a gentle transition.

Does anyone know what radius he's using for that reverse curve where everything prone to sticking gets stuck? Not sure it has the requisite coach length of straight between the curves, either.

That's a reasonable way to do it as long as the plungers don't stick, which they often do.

It looks good but, based on the S*m's Tr**ns review, the motor isn't quite up to the job of hauling such a heavy loco, even before you add a train.

The 6/7 Jan 2024 winter steam gala looks really interesting - the SVR does turn on carriage heating (unlike some) and the steam will be spectacular in the cold. I suppose the biggest risk is of snow keeping visitors away. We'll be going, anyway.

I'm surprised they haven't done a rebuilt WC in Southern sunshine black to annoy the purists and delight the collectors and SVR fans. It's better than purple!

Was at the autumn steam gala on Saturday. Was easier to get a seat than it was at the spring gala. Hagley Hall sounds great. I'm not a big S160 fan but it was something different. Mayflower seemed to have a slipping issue - it barely made it into Arley. There are points just before the bridge, so I suppose sanders were out of the question.

A mere two - the high-gloss Osprey and the high spec NRM-condition Mallard (which is far too matt).

Why was the LN 135 degree valve arrangement not repeated? In theory it was a sound idea but it never seems to have given any advantage. Was it actually flawed (apart from the obvious issue that you can't use only two sets of valve gear), or was any advantage just masked by the other deficiencies of the design, mainly that it was hard to fire*? *which is ironic given that two very successful locos use at least some of the LN firebox design!

3 gives smoother power delivery. Its main problem is that you need an extra set of valve gear or a Gresley derived arrangement. 4 cylinder locos normally use 2 sets of valve gear with rocking levers, since the inside cylinders have the opposite valve events to the outside ones. 4 doesn't give smoother power delivery (in virtually all cases) because it gives the same power pulses as a 2-cylinder loco, although it reduces surging and hammer blow because the reciprocating masses mostly cancel out. 4 is better for large, fast and heavy locos because you can fit more cylinder volume in the loading gauge and it's easier on the track. The BR Standards eschewed 4 cylinders because they used a high running plate to fit 2 large ones, and E S Cox reckoned the reciprocating mass issue was overstated, preferring not to balance half of it with wheel weights - as was normal practice but causes hammer blow - and instead tweaking the drawbar springing to reduce the surging effect.

In Zell am See last week - here's the loco of one of the push-pull trains, and it was also Dampfzug Donnerstag! Sorry the steam photo isn't from a better angle - we were waiting for a full-size train to Salzburg that was due to arrive at any moment.

Resale value, or just whatever thrill people get from exclusivity.

So it's exactly like the purple WC - makes more money for Hornby, but shafts the buyers of the first batch, who presumably looked at the high price and decided its limited run would make it worthwhile in terms of future value.

I remember when something similar (HS1, I think) was being built, there was an opportunity for the public to attend an open day. The tagline was, predictably, "Come and see our giant boring machine". Careful how you stress that "o".

The problem with that approach is that the original design or manufacture was flawed, hence the number of V2s with outside steam pipes after the monobloc had to be replaced. Iron alloys might be better these days but there's not much residual experience of making large steam loco castings.

It still amazes me that Mallard was steamed up and run in the 1980s.

Is there any plan to add a second platform at Highley? It always strikes me as a bit of a bottleneck, as trains can't pass without one of them unloading passengers and shunting onto the middle road.

I don't think the signal lights are even paraffin these says (the loco headlamps are, unless it's Taw Valley). It's just that not much light from a yellowish source gets through a blue spectacle. The red ones are a lot brighter.

Night running is back for the autumn gala. Be amazed at how invisible oncoming trains are, and how weak the green semaphore lights. Bridgnorth is well worth a visit after dark just to see them all simmering away. No idea on guest locos yet.

SOP if your car's engine conked out on a level crossing was to put it into 1st gear and crank it clear using the starter motor. You can't do that any more, as the clutch or brake pedal has to be depressed on most cars before you operate the starter. Of course, you should never drive onto a level crossing unless the exit is clear, so you should never.need to stop on one. People don't even understand box junctions or KEEP CLEAR zones, though.