Northroader

Was it, what, four weeks ago, you were going “I dunno about this soldering lark”? Now look at the pair of you, very well done! Good luck with the progress of this enterprise.

I’m back to running trains on the layout, having wired up the tracks, there’s just a sectioned feed to each of the tracks off the fiddle yard, plus an isolating switch for the centre road of the traverser. My one and only point has a separate slider switch tucked behind the front ‘fence’ which looks after the polarity of the crossing and links mechanically to throw the point. The old scenic backsupport from the small station has had one end cut and spliced into the support for the main station, so that it is carried round the end above the fiddle yard entry. There was a picture of a piece for doing this a few posts back, but I junked this as I’d managed to crack the sheet whilst bending it, and the piece I’ve got now is nice and smooth.

Cor, look at the wheels on that!

The big wagon is trying to climb on top of the little wagon. Mummy says I should watch Peppa Pig, not this.

Actually I was looking at the Swindon Didcot stretch today, and thought the wiring is coming along well. The catenary and contact are done on both lines as far as the old Highworth Junction site at Swindon, excepting a stretch on the down at Bourton, and two stretches on the up at Uffington and Shrivenham. The auto transformer cable is behind with progress, gaps here and there, and there are bits of blue rope visible in places. This excludes the Steventon gap, on this stretch the masts, crossbeams, brackets, and insulators are all positioned, and there is a bit of earth cable, but no overhead wires at whatever height. On the Oxford line nothing more has happened for ages.

Strange how this style was pushed hard by the leading modellers of the 1930s, but seems to have had no real impact, with very few known models made like this. As you say, the SR was the leading user for prototype buildings, followed by the underground. LMS, LNER, GWR, just a handful of places. Probably the best place for examples was Northern and Eastern France and Belgium, as there was wholesale destruction of railway buildings in WW1, and widespread adoption of this look for the rebuilding work.

Your second scene, my gaze travelled up to the BRM ad at the top of the page with a picture of “no place”?

Red SOO at night, Jordan’s delight?

Here’s a blast from the past, an Edward Beal design:

Your lines looking great, play trains, hinny.

The boiler on these had the fire hole door under the chimney, then a large flue with grate running back from this, then a combustion chamber the far end, then a set of fire tubes coming back to the front above and to each side of the large flue. These terminated in a smokebox, explaining why it is a saddle shape. The fireman worked at this end shovelling from the leading tender, which was just a large wooden playpen full of coal. The tender at the rear was just a rectangular water tank. Remember no injectors, boiler feed was by axledriven pump. Around 1960, we had this one and Locomotion sent over from Bank Top station where they’d been on plinths to be fettled up. Most of the woodwork was replaced, so Kevin’s halfway to winning his bet. Quite a few bolts needed replacing, the story goes that they needed to have a burnt and blackened look to suggest primitive workshops, and the smith shop foreman said they’d just give them to old so- and- so, and not tell him what they were wanted for, and he’d do his usual job.

Turntable feed, you’ve got a rail in the bottom of the pit, if you cut this across at right angles to the axis of your running lines, have a wiper underneath each end of the turntable, one end to the one side rail, tother end to the other, feed into the two segments of your turntable pit rail, and Robert should be your fathers brother? (Did we met him before in Oak Hill?)

Any fule kno BTP’s are 0-4-4T. Sined Frends of the G6.

Like a “black hole” on wheels, but very tasty, and with that train, Paltry Circus goes north. I’m afraid I’m a total philistine, what little bit of tinplate I have, gets a coat of Matt varnish over the shiny enamel for starters.

Aye, sitting here on a Saturday night, thinking about it, you can always pick up some interesting scars.

I varnished it a long time ago and that’s turned yellow, I’d say.

Next thing, her dad will be encouraging her to put all her pocket money into Shapeways!

Careful with micromodels, though, you could get 2mm folks coming up to you and saying “Yon wee engine, it isnae big enuff”

P.s. plug wheels: (I was in the pattern shop when a pattern was made for a similar type for a 9BR pony truck wheel, honest injun, but it was never made, wonder why?!?

Would this sort of thing be any use? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-Micromodels-Set-H1-Famous-Historic-Locos-British-Made-Kit-/263467420837

Six wheelers = b******s, glad to see you’re getting on top of them.

The B12 rebuild looks quite convincing, nice job.

The concerts I used to go to at the Birmingham Town Hall were in the ‘50s, George Lewis when he came over, Chris Barber, Kenny Ball and the like. To make up for being such a cultural Neanderthal, I felt impelled to do an enquiry on Thomas Trotter and the big organ, and, yes, it appears that there’s still the odd event involving him at the Town Hall.The last piece of culture I went to in Brum was well over three years ago, to the Art Gallery for the Rowland Emett exhibition, very worthwhile outing: https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=rowland+emett+exhibition+birmingham+art+gallery&client=safari&hl=en-gb&prmd=imnv&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwivocmR0M3ZAhVLAsAKHdkTDngQ_AUIESgB&biw=1024&bih=698

No, funnily enough, they’re totally quiet. I remember seeing them coming to roost on buildings in the middle of Birmingham, and they do screech and chatter a lot, but out in the country here, if you’re out doors and they pass over, you can just hear a faint rush of wings.