Compound2632

Why am I now seeing ads for hose-drawn carriages? 

39 minutes ago, Mikkel said:

shows a 'chain horse' in use.

Ah, a pilot engine!

There were, I believe, plenty of uses for dead horse.

Never model a prototype for which a good photograph exists - it's asking for trouble.

Fascinating to see this developing into a discussion about horse working and resting, though I must say that number of 12% sick at Paddington is shocking - was there something going round?

30 minutes ago, Regularity said:

For all that we know, that toilet had an opening with access to the ground below, and no plumbing.

There's an article somewhere in Midland Record about the facilities provided in that corrugated iron hut. If I kept my pile of Midland Record in the loo, I would have a moment or two to go through and find it.

Indeed, as the oppressed labourers of Farthing observe, en suite luxury. Midland signalboxes had no such conveniences but by the 20th century they'd generally acquired a little corrugated hut round the back - not to be confused with the rather similar "lamp hut" - unless that's a euphemism. Don't use the locking room either, however tempting it may be with the door left open...

Crop of an enlargement of a Derby official photograph, probably DY 9132 of 11 July 1910, on Mike Musson's Warwickshire Railways website.

I trust that's a legitimate combination of levers that's been pulled? Trouble is, you're stuck with that route now...

The first and third photos are astounding. In the middle photo, the foreshortening destroys the illusion of reality for me - but is that just a consequence of the high viewpoint?

28 minutes ago, Regularity said:

Distinctly Beyer, Peacock, other than the chimney...

Beyer, Peacock did build a number of 0-6-0s for the Egyptian Government in the 1860s - generally in pairs. An example is illustrated here (third photo) but does not have the raised firebox.

No through working of Midland engines onto the M&SWJR, though I suppose a Midland engine could have been hired in a time of locomotive shortage. Of course there could be a through coach from Birmingham - a 48 ft clerestory composite to D508, I'd say. Perhaps there was originally some Midland money behind the North & South?

5 minutes ago, Mikkel said:

 

Source: http://www.douglas-self.com/MUSEUM/LOCOLOCO/chimney/chimney.htm

 

There are some very disturbing images on that site... I'm particularly perturbed by the Prussian solution to crew complaints about smoke obscuring vision, which seems to be to pipe smoke directly to the cab.

It's untrue that square chimneys were a purely Belgian thing - they're apparently absolutely standard on Danish engines:

6 minutes ago, Mikkel said:

But maybe some coaches to go with the 1P? It's something I've been wondering about myself, as a change from all the green stuff.

Ah, well now. If the Midland-liveried version is in the condition of the 1532 Class engine in the publicity photo Bachmann have been using, i.e. c. 1908/9, it's spot on for the rake of Ratio Bain arc-roof suburban carriages I've had for many years. The snag is that rake has one of each carriage but research shows that the four-coach rakes used in the Birmingham area had either a full first and two of the 6-compartment brake thirds, or a composite and two of the 4-compartment brake thirds. On the other hand, if I want to backdate to c. 1902, my Birmingham area local should be formed of 6-wheelers - two each of third and brake third, sandwiching a 30 ft 4-compartment first. I'm still puzzling out how best to cobble one of those together from my stock of Slaters parts...

But if it's red carriages you hanker for, the Great Western did do the right thing during the last decade before Grouping.

"I was at stage 3 (detachment) and about to reach for a wagon kit" - I've reached that point with too many wagons, resulting in being locked in a vicious circle from which there can seem to be no escape.

If a project is dragging or hanging over you, there's nothing like building another wagon. 

I fear that's how I come to have so many...

I do like this mixed-media approach. I've felt all along with 3D printing that there's been too much trying to treat it as the answer to everything. But that is quite an arsenal of high-tech weaponry you're building up...

On 16/08/2019 at 08:17, Mikkel said:

PPS: I think @Compound2632 (Stephen) also modified the floor of his GWR 4-planker, but despite a search I can't find the exact post in his pregrouping wagons thread just now. Google isn't much help anymore as it doesn't find the exact page, after the software update.

 

I'm fairly sure I didn't; I may have speculated on how one might but rejected doing it myself on the grounds that my wagons would be loaded and/or sheeted (not that that's yet happened). Mine are all done as pre-O5 wagons (very numerous) with conventional brakes. I do have a few Coopercraft wagons with notionally DC1 brakes but as has been pointed out, with the big curved link etc. absent, so I am taking note.

Any chance of those G.W.R plates at 4 mm/ft?

Mikkelised - another one for the RMWeb dictionary!

Congratulations on being "picked" by Andy Y.

22 minutes ago, Dave John said:

Well, its getting better each time I try it Compound. I estimated a spacing of about 18" for eyelets based on the one period photo of a CR sheet I have, so that would agree with the 16 eyelets per side. . 

Caledonian sheets must have been different - Midland, etc., 16 round the sides altogether, plus 3 on triangular flaps on the seams on each side, giving 22 eyelets altogether. 

Just now, Mikkel said:

the way the sheet sits is so difficult to get quite right, 

... hampered by the lack of good period photos, quite apart from any technical issues.

PS I like the prototypical arrangement of the buffer springs! A bit dicey to set up with a plastic wagon kit, though.

Hurrah for someone paying proper attention to the widely-neglected question of wagon sheets. I admire your dedication in adding the solebar cleats - I've got by with just fixing tie-ropes in roughly the right place with a dab of glue applied on the point of a pin. I hope you will excuse some comments based on my own reading and staring at photos.

The position of the eyelets was I'm fairly sure the same for all companies' sheets, 16 along the edges: one at each corner and three along each side. My personal preference has been to glue the tie rope to the outside of the sheet; this helps pull the edge of the sheet in tight to the side of the wagon - we don't want a draught of wind getting in an lifting the sheet once the train is in motion:

This sheet, a Roger Smith one I think, comes with dots for the eyelet positions and also a representation of the seams joining the five strips of material. There was a further set of three eyelets on each side along the first seam, in triangular flaps of material sewn into the seam. Here I haven't attempted to represent the flaps but have glued the tie ropes in the appropriate positions, with a view to using it on a low-sided wagon. I haven't yet used it, since I realised it was unsuitable for my preferred c. 1902 modelling date - this sheet was last overhauled in May 1920 and was due for inspection in February 1921. There's also now considerable doubt as to the diagonal red cross, as discussed by Penlan here; a square-on red cross like the Caledonian blue one is more usual. Could the brass eyelets be represented by a dot from a gold ink pen?

My information on sheets comes from three main sources:

1. R. Essery, Sheets, Ropes & Sacks, in Midland Record No.3.

2. http://www.igg.org.uk/rail/9-loads/9-tarps.htm

3. BR Document 20424, Sept. 1965, from the Barrowmore Model Railway Group's website. Although this document dates from towards the very end of the wagon-load era of freight on the "traditional" railway, it clearly represents the accumulation of over a century of wisdom and experience - some of the sections on loading are well-nigh identical to instructions reproduced in the appendices to LNWR Wagons. 

I agree with the above post...

A classic RM spread - but when will they learn not to print the best photo over the spine? I hope you've been given some large-sized prints to frame.

And good to see Great Western wagon red in the mainstream press!

It is entirely consistent with the historic sense of a forum to wish to be able to give assent to points made by non-verbal means, without the obligation to make a further point in the debate oneself.

I'l be looking forward to a round of postings saying simply "hear, hear" in response!

45 minutes ago, Ruston said:

My experience is that my threads never get a great deal of conversation. I don't know if that's because the subject matter isn't mainstream, or because my posting style is boring.

It's most likely the latter because I can look around various layout or workbench threads here on rmweb and find some that have dozens of replies each week but contain very little actual modelling by their originators.

 

 

It's because your work is of such a uniformly high standard that we are rendered speechless - or wordless, if you prefer.