Compound2632

Which, in railway publishing, can induce paralysis. There are potential authors who are holding out for that bit of information they know is missing and as a consequence can't bring themselves to put what they already know into print - in the worst case the knowledge goes with them to the grave. Publish and be damned - or at least, be corrected. There's nothing like publishing an incorrect statement to tease out the truth!

I've submitted an enquiry to the National Brewery Centre.

Not squat enough for Burton casks, which seem to be about 1:1.2 bilge diameter:height. Also, I think one could do better on the cooperage: those hoops are altogether too chunky. To scale, they hardly stand out from the staves - 1/8" thick? Incidentally, I've learned that the hoops are called the head hoop, quarter hoop, and bilge hoop, working from the end (head) towards the bilge (middle).

What it demonstrates is sharp observation combined with a profound knowledge of the subject. I'm reminded of the story of the man who wanted to learn about jade. He was put in touch with an elderly Chinese expert who agreed to weekly one-hour sessions at £50/hour, payment in advance for the term. At the first session, the expert took him into a room furnished with a single table and chair, handed him a piece of jade, then left the room, returning at the end of the hour. This was repeated week after week - since he'd paid, the man was reluctant to give up, though his frustration was mounting. Eventually at the last session he could stand it no longer. He flipped, started shouting at the elderly Chinese: "I've paid you £650 to teach me about jade and what have you taught me - nothing! A complete rip-off! A waste of time! And what's more, this piece is fake!"

The fourth E&WJ / SA&MJR No. 1 had outside bearings to the leading axle, as seen here. Nos. 5 and 6 were similar. The similarity to IoWCR No. 8 is superficial - the model is clearly of a rather bigger engine. There's something about the model that looks very Irish to me.

But when the Midland came to build new sets of coaches for the Tilbury section, they were turned out in the standard Midland livery. That might simply reflect lack of experience with teak at the Derby C&W works; the ex-LTSR stock continued to be maintained at Plaistow.

Quite possibly not by rail, if there was a local demand for it. Coal ash was toxic, certainly compared to wood ash, so another use was for surfacing yards and line-side paths, as an effective weedkiller. Many brownfield sites are now paying the price.

@Nile, beautiful. Do you have a spare ordinary-buffered brake or third brake for off-peak services when the full double set isn't needed? One little suggestion if I may - remove the end steps &c from the close-coupled ends - the lamp-man wouldn't be able to get up the gap anyway. Then that's an unsatisfactory detail of the Hornby model that doesn't have to be improved on on every carriage, only the brake ends, which you say you're planning to repaint anyway.

I was hoping to distinguish between 'experts' in the sense you mean and people with genuine expertise. Unfortunately the best word I have to hand for such people is 'experts'. If you're going to use 'expert' as a term of abuse then we're well and truly sunk.

It is sadly true that all to often the experts have contributed to the public decline in confidence in expertise through abuse of their position. I'm sure that's not something Tony Wright could be found guilty of.

As a nation, we've built up over the last 40 years a mistrust of experts and expertise, preferring the less-well informed opinions of people who are "just like us". Unfortunately, the chickens have now come home to roost.

Logic has everything to do with it. They are very proud of that aspect of their culture. As in donnez moi vos coordonnées. So douzaine undoubtedly smacks of Bourbon sympathies. A proper Republican will use the thoroughly metricated dizaine.

Oh, I don't know. Surely such a person is someone who has Seen The Error Of Their Ways?

Since the Hattons carriages do not represent a specific prototype, Rule 1 applies. But I dare say those with knowledge of such things can report on the latest date for 4- or 6-wheel carriages in NCB use. On the Cannock Chase lines, they were certainly in use into the late 1950s.

I don't think it's any sort of third brake. I think it's the same type of composite brake as seen in @John_Miles' Glasbury photo: ... very like E9 but with the luggage and guard's compartments reversed. Either the diagram is wrong or this was a variant that didn't survive long enough to make it into the diagram book.

@WillCav, when and where is your shed?

At STP. But were at somewhere around 10 bar.

The value I've looked up just now for the latent heat of vaporisation of water at STP is 2,260 kJ/kg so I think you are right, I've bludered somewhere. It's also possible I've misinterpreted the graph I was looking at for its dependence on pressure.

I rather like the theory that the colour of the paint never changed, just the number of coats of varnish...

Interesting. As I said, back-of-the-envelope. Which numbers would you question?

That's not bauxite, which is a brown colour. It's red lead. But anyway for 1923 you want grey as the Hippo says. I think the lettering style is G W on the top two planks (so not the full 25") with on the bottom plank number on the left and "To Carry ? Tons" on the right. They still had the number on the end too. Photo by gmail.

Is that all? Typical of our cheapskate usurping Hanoverians. Now, when William Cavendish, 7th Duke of Devonshire, relocated from Chatsworth to Holker Hall for Christmas 1883, the following was dispatched from Rowsley to Cark: four carriages (conveyed in covered, not open, carriage trucks), nineteen horses (that's at least seven horseboxes), and three dogs (who presumably went in the horsebox dogboxes) [G. Waite and L. Knighton, Rowsley, a Rural Railway Centre (Midland Railway Society, 2003) p. 65].

If it was rebuilt in 1901, it might be the full 3 ft. The original platform might only be anything between 2 ft 6 in and 1 ft 6 in depending on when it was built. But if low, it would probably have been sloping towards the rails and perhaps 6 in higher at the station building. This has consequences for the relationship between platform height and building threshold height. A platform raised to 3 ft might well slope down away from the rails towards the building.

If one is indecisive for long enough one can avoid taking responsibility for the consequences of a decision - it's much more difficult to be held to account for the consequences of indecision.

That length is good enough, I think. Platforms at wayside stations on double-track lines were typically 300 ft. As to carriages getting longer, remember that trains got shorter! A two-coach B-set might be taking the place of a four or five coach train of 4- or 6-wheelers but the seating capacity could be unchanged.