The Johnster

Coming back to the habit of leaving the cab to 'oil around', I would expect drivers to wait for an opportunity to present itself just after a train had passed on the opposite line before venturing out on to the rh side, as there would at least be a few minutes before another one passed. As this applies to the Ais Gill accident, I read it as the driver going out on to the rh side of the loco approaching Birkett Tunnel, as you wouldn't want to be on the lh side in a tunnel, just after traffic had passed on the adjoining running line, to make his way widdershins around the running plate. I once read the job of the engine driver described as 'stopping the train at the times and places specified in the working timetable', which is a somewhat different way of looking at it (can't remember where I read it, it sounds like Tuplin) . He has to start the train and make it move at a speed consistent with the timings in order to do this of course, and his responsibility is to obey the speed limits and the signals, as well as to manage the engine. It is not diffiuclt to imagine situations in which these responsibilities conflict with each other. The fireman's job, as I read at the same time, to ensure that there is a sufficient level of water in the boiler at all times, which is again a somewhat different perspective. He is also of course required to provide the driver with enough steam at enough pressure to perform his function of stopping the train at the times and locations specified in the working timetable, and to assist the driver in observing signals. But his first responsibility is to the fusible plug, and failure to discharge this particular responsibility will not only require the train to be stopped and the fire dropped as a matter of some urgency, but make him a marked man for comment and ridicule for the rest of his railway career. Drivers will be reluctant to work with him, and the stigma will never leave him; I worked with a Canton man who had dropped a plug on a Britannia at Llanharan in 1954 who was still hearing all about it a quarter of a century later... There are plenty of things that can happen in a steam loco cab that might be reasons for missing signals, and injectors were always dodgy things which sometimes required expert persuasion to work properly, which took time and sometimes the attention of both fireman and driver. Reasons for missing signals are not excuses for missing signals, however. One begins to see the value of the GW ATC system, when a crew might be distracted by injectors or other problems over several sections and at speed, but are re-assured by the bell that the distants are off, or alerted by the hooter to one being on, and a glance at the sunflower would confirm the situation. This was cutting edge stuff at the time of the Ais Gill accident, but this was not to be last occasion on which crews were distracted from signal observation by problems in the cab. There is a sense in which crews were being asked the impossible, to manage the loco and to observe the signals, and getting away with it most of the time, but to absolutely guarantee successful loco managment and 100% signal observation is a very big ask. I think most people would say that signal observation trumps loco management, but it is not such a clear-cut call aboard the loco! The blunt fact is that, at Ais Gill, Caudle missed the signals he was responsible for observing, but one has to have some sympathy with him; he was under pressure, doing his best, and got it wrong when on a thousand other occasions he'd have got it right. Apportioning blame in accidents was rarely as simplistic as either the BoT reports made it out to be, and never as simplistic as press reports; railway accidents seem to generate a plethora of instant experts!

Be careful of this exchange siding business, J; mine expanded into a colliery by order of The Squeeze... It happened like this, I had a colliery exchange loop where empties were left by BR locos, then collected and taken to the colliery fiddle yard (you'd call them staging roads) by a colliery loco. In town one day I saw a rather nice Hunslet 'Austerity' saddle tank in a 2h shop for a reasonable price, and it came home with me. No hiding railway purchases at my place, which is a small flat, The Squeeze is supportive, and I was about to find out just how supportive... The layout lives in the one bedroom, and perhaps germane to this is that The Squeeze is Polish and her father is a Silesian coal miner, both facts of which she is rightly proud. I explained the purpose of the new loco to her, and the response was 'but where is colliery?'. 'No room', quoth I. 'Build colliery', she says, 'I want photos for my father'. 'But it will have to go here, and the fiddle yard will go here, in your way to get to your dressing table and the wardrobe'. 'How big you think is my dupa (bum) (I know the answer to this, it is silence and keep your head down), build the kurwa (not translatable on a family forum) colliery!'. So I built the kurwa colliery; this one's a keeper!

I believe so, but the Class 28 Crossleys came out in one lift as a complete power plant, with generator, a feature inherited from the submarines. When the HSTs were introduced on the WR, we were told that a complete power plant exchange could be accomplished in about 20 minutes with an overhead gantry crane.

Quite. But at least some are honestly and obviously incorrect, like the minerals with stretched bodies on the wrong wheelbase (Hornby, Airfix, and Lima were guitly of this as well).

Well, bits of it are! Hopefully without the Mittelengelander marketing. Once you leave the village and walk down to the castle itself, it is a properly spectacular place, on it's headland above the Atlantic. It is almost a shame that it is conflated with all the Arthurian stuff, itself mangled beyond any hope of getting any solid facts out of it by various medieval writers of both psuedo-history and romances. My view is that there very probably was an Arthur, The Bear, who successfully resisted the Saxon overlordship of what is now England for a generation in the late 400s/early 500s. The battles of Badon Hill and Camlan probably really took place, Badon Hill being very probably at Solsbury Hill, Bath, a location that makes sense strategically, but the medievals have done us no favours. Tintagel is the sort of visually impressive location that is almost bound to become associated with legends, and there was an Iron Age structure there that preceded the current Norman ruins, which are of course far too recent to have had anything to do with Arthur. Iron Age fortifications on Cornish North Coast headlands are more or less obligatory, and appear at Port Isaac, Trevose, Bedruthan, Newquay, and other places as well, all of which could easily be associated with Arthur, but the ruins at Tintagel give it the edge in this regard... The clincher, IMHO, is the poem 'Y Gododdin', a bardic account of a very real historic 6th century battle in which a warband of elite warriors are feasted at Dunedin (Edinburgh, then part of the Brythonic kingdom of Strathclyde) for a year before unsuccessfully besieging a Saxon stronghold at 'Cathraeg', quite possibly Catterick. The Briton warband is wiped out. The bard, Aneurin, writing in old Welsh and transcribed into later copies, names the heroes individually but ends each description with 'but he was not Arthur, and he fed the ravens on the walls of Cathraeg'. This seems to relate to Arthur as a more accomplished warrior who had perhaps existed within the living memory of older people at time of the poems' writing. If this battle took place at Catterick, then the resounding victory for the Saxons should be celebrated to a much greater extent in English history; certainly to the extent that it is mourned in Welsh-speaking history (it is little known amongst Welsh monoglot English speakers like me). It would have broken the back of Brythonic domination of the island, clearing a path of Saxon-occupied territory to the Irish Sea in what is now Lancashire, dividing Brythonic territory into southern and northern parts. Not long after this, the Saxons had advanced to Gloucester, and within 50 years to Exeter, dividing the Britons into three areas; Strathclyde/Cumbria, Wales, and Cornwall. Only two of those remain as distinctly Brythonic in character, and their borders are in much the same locations as they were at the end of the 6th century.

Had one as a teenager, great little guy, natural comedian, highly affectionate. B*gger for pulling on the lead, though, never really got the hang of that.

The 'performs better under a steady load/throttle setting' syndrome also apparently affected the Crossley 2-stroke power plant in the Class 28 Co-Bos. The Vickers part of the Metropolitan-Vickers combine had apparently built a highly successful series of diesel- electric submarines for the Royal Navy, and considered that this power plant was ideal for the Modernisation Plan Type 2 diesel-electric, right power output and about the right physical size and weight so they put in a tender which was acceptted, but the generator was a bit of a lump hence the Co-Bo arrangement. A feature of these locos inherited from the submarines was that the engine bay roof doors were large enough for the entire power plant to be lifted out in one go, something not repeated until the HST power cars. Of course, on the railway, two things were radically different in service practice to the submarines; firstly, the locos needed constantly changing throttle settings in traffic which the engines didn't like, and secondly the locos did not have experienced and highly capable Naval Engine Room Artificers on hand in the engine room to mollycoddle them in service to keep them running, or clean up the oil leaks that caused the fires. The torpedo tubes and conning tower were apparently removed before the locos entered service...

It got fairly close to the sea at Swansea St Thomas…

As in, you’d be daft paying money for that…

Nah, the beef’ll be in the fridge or on the fresh meat counter…

Not backpack-boy's fault if the greed of the supermarket owner dictates that the aisles are too narrow. If you can't get a pack through, then passing trolleys are going to be a problem.

There are Thai ladies who could probably advise...

IIRC (and perhaps I don't R quite C) the aircraft and other RAF associated names were given to locos built during wartime, and Castle production continued until 1950, by which time the Castle naming sequence had been revived. Bit of a gap in Castle production during the Hawkworth County era, which may explain the hiatus; of course, RAF-connected names had by that time appeared on Southern light pacifics. Mustang, Liberator, Catalina, Lightning, all used successfully by the RAF, and all good names, especially Lightning, which appeared on a Brit eventually.

The train formations as requested by Traffic Dept specified only the accomodation, not the actual diagram of coaches used. The 'Red Dragon' for example ran for some time as a set of Choc/Cream liveried mk1s, but with a Hawksworth refurbished Collett restaurant car in matching livery, eventually replaced by a mk1 RMB, the opposite situation to the consist of the 'Torbay' referred to by Innerhome (The Squeeze says that's where I ought to be, in a home...) But named trains were usually given specific sets of whatever the latest stock at the time was, so the probability would be a chronological sequence of styles. If you start at the grouping, that would be Churchward toplights, Collett bowenders, Collett 'sunshines', Centenaries on the CRE, Hawksworths introduced between 1946 and 1954, and mk 1s. There were no Hawksworth catering vehicles, he refurbished Colletts, giving them a rather different appearance with sliding ventilator windows. Named trains on the Bristol and South Wales routes started getting mk2s in 1966, retaining refurbished 100mph RMB catering, progressing from 2b to 2e, with the airco mk2s running with mk1100mph BG brakes ; the West of England trains retained refurbished 100mph mk1s until replaced by HSTs. Outside the heady glamour of named trains, the rule seemed to be that no stock of a matching style should ever be coupled together unless there was absolutely no alternative, in which case it was essential that the liveries should be different. Ordinary GW and WR express trains were a wonderful mix of styles, liveries, and outlines until the late 50s when a lot of the earlier stock was culled. The Hawkworths were extinct by 1966, and some were scrapped with less than 10 years service. By '66, a program of refurbishment of mk1s was underway, with new seating, formica panelling, and flourescent lighting along with repaints into blue/grey livery and B4 or Commonwealth 100mph bogies, with some stock repainted into blue/grey but retaining the B1 bogies, original wood panelling, and seating; this was 'B' stock, speed limited to 75mph and used in excursion and charter traffic.

100% with you on this one, John. Before high-intensity lights on locos the lamps, if lit, could not be discerned in any but the very poorest daylight; the marker lights would illuminate perhaps a dozen sleeper in front of the loco, dimly, not much use at 90mph. The filament bulbs used to illuminate (probably not the right word, illumination was more of an intention than a fact) until the mid-60s refurbishments were 25 watters running off a 24v dc supply, and basically useless though you could find your way along the corridors with them. In normal layout ambient lighting they should not be visible, neither should building interior or semaphore signal lights. Sodium discharge street lamps, maybe. A passenger train at night, viewed from the side and some distance away from streetlit areas (which were far more extensive then), looked a bit like a glow worm. especiallly as many of the compartments would have the main lights dimmed and the reading lights off. Modern lights are much brighter, but even so are usually ridiculously overbright on layouts even before the usual exhibition trope of flashing roadworks, emergency services blues, and factory warning retina-burners are encounted. Look at my lights, aren't I clever, my layout's got lights, lots of lights, bright lights, flashing lights, red lights on the back of locos pulling trains, and the back of green-liveried dmus, look, look, look, LOOK AT MY LIGHTS!!! Actually, I think I'll go and look at another layout, thanks.

Or obtain colour film even if they could; it was the late 50s before 35mm colour slide film was easily available and a few years later before reliable colour negative film for printing from became common. My old man, The Captain was a bit of a colour enthusiast at the time, into Agfa slides. He was the sort of bloke who loved all the complexity faff of setting up a camera and the equal faff and ritual of slide shows (my job was 'lights off'). A family legend revolves around his attempt at a night shot of the floodlit Jet d'Eau (rememberThe Champions?) in Geneva in 1966; tripod, light meter readings, camera settings, about twenty minutes of faffing with The Captain in his element. The lights went off and the water was shut off on a timer at precisely 23.00 (this was Switzerland after all, they were pretty good at this stuff even before the Cern Collider clock*), and he released the shutter for the time exposure by cable at approximately 23.00.000001. His years learning how to curse in the Merchant Navy came in very handy; I was reminded of Yosemite Sam, the meanest, orneriest. rootin' tootin' shootinest hombre north, east, south and west of the Pecos as he jumped up an down in an apoplectic rage, steam coming out of his ears... Mum and me had to hold each other up laughing, and face away from him; mockery at this point would have not been diplomatic, and perhaps not survivable. It was perfectly timed comedy, and while Geneva is a lovely city and may be different nowadays, it wasn't in the mid 60s perhaps the most exciting for night-life, a bit Calvinistic to my mind, and the darkness and deafening silence that descended with the last drops of water into the lake was the comedy icing on this particular cake. One expected tumbleweed. It did not help in the long run that I'd managed a tolerably successful attempt 20 minutes earlier with my Instamatic 50... *we were staying with friends from an Italian holiday two years earlier in Meyrin, about 2 miles out of town and adjacent to the airport, and the Collider tunnel runs directly beneath the block of flats we were at...

I did not know that, and now I do, though in this case me and the van never really hit it off and the 'design clever' running means it is rarely used anyway, so no matter; I will be more than happy to give it an exciting opportunity of a new career in landfill and replace it with the new Rapido, despite preferring the plain side/end look of the Hornby model. There have been several such models over the years which I have given up on due to basic inaccuracies, which are particularly annoying. A poorly detailed model that is dimensionally correct can always be worked up but this sort of thing renders it effectively useless on my layout. The trouble is when a model is fairly near accurate but a bit off, so that the likes of me looks at it in the shop and comes over all 'me wantee', to find out later that the model is a bit of a dog; eventually I learned to do a bit of research first and keep my money in my pocket until I know what I'm buying. Dogs that have caught me out in the past include:- .Bachmann-chassis Hornby 2721, bunker too large. .Dapol Fruit D, ex-Wrenn/HD, too wide. .Dapol steel open with chain pocket, ditto provenance, sides too high, sold as mineral wagon. .Dapol cattle/ale van, again ditto provenance, incorrect wheelbase. I am not sure that there is any example of a correctly dimensioned RTR cattle van. .Neighbour's snappy yappy Jack Russell, all teeth and attitude. Doesn't like me coz I bark back at him...

That wire fencing is pretty convincing; great stuff!

Not sure how there came to be two topics for this. I'll continue with this one, when there are any further developments, which won't be until after next Wednesday now (pension day). All part of the fun and frustration of having a hobby I wouldn't have if I ever thought about whether I could afford it, but then, I wouldn't eat if I ever thought about whether I could afford it...

Capstans, or just bollards, would allow haulage by locos, with the cable attached to the loco and the direction of the wagon movement determined by the routing of the cable. Perhaps a winch as well. This would IMHO add considerably to the fun. Dock operation is a good excuse for more or less any sort of traffic, for import/export on ships, to service the various industries and workshops that one always find on docklands, and the odd coal wagon for the hydraulic system boiler houses that worked the lock gates. Hull of course suggests fish traffic as well, a major part of this ports' activities, but there was a hefty amount of general merchandise exported and imported there as well, and a lot of Scandinavian timber. I'm guessing we are looking south towards the actual wet dock with the Humber beyond. Interesting project, I look forward to seeing how it develops.

This is indeed basically Polly/Nellie/Connie, but with a LoTI dome and plated wheels, dating from the 70s I think. I believe this was the last of this model, before it was replaced with Smokey Joe and the others. IIRC it was a train set model sold through mail order catalogues, not available as a separate item. Polly et al had XO4 motors, and proper frames with spacers and brass/steel gears, a vastly better bit of engineering than Smokey Joe. I'm not an expert on this particular model, but I'm sure somebody who is will be along shortly...

If Trainman has definite information that it was made in the 40s or 50s, it can't be GEM, who I remember as TT and LNWR specialists. Not helping much, am I mummy?

Leaning and touching is one of the reasons I would find exhibiting prohibitively stressful, and don't do it. It's my railway, for me, so leave it alone and get your own... I am perhaps a little too sensitive, but notices on exhibition layouts requesting 'don't touch' or the rather precious 'these models take hours of work to build and are extremely delicate &c', inevitably on a layout featuring RTR and RTP out-of-the-box stuff, also ramp up the tension and the stress level. Exhibitions are by and large not Johnster-friendly, usually too crowded and pushy, so I go to the smaller ones and aim for Sunday lunch time when it's quiet and scarper over the pub at about half two when the post-lunch crowd starts rolling in for my own scran. Order of business; do the shopping, around the trade and 2h stands, request items to be put aside for pickup later, then the layouts, then a cup of tea, then a return to the best layouts, then pick up your purchases and hoof it over the pub. I find even this a bit stressful. There's no easy answer to the leaning/touching issue; as an exhibitor (and I did plenty back in the day) you want the punters to engage with the models but not interfere with them. Interference can come in different forms; I remember a Bridgend Model show, not just railways, back in the 80s when the layout was repeatedly hit in the legs, hard and at speed, by 1/24th and 1/16th radio (un)controlled cars, resulting in shockwaves derailing trains. One of the cars got 'accidentally' trodden on and totalled, which was what we should have done in the first place as it effectively prevented further incidents. They hit several of the punters as well, knocking a little girl over, which they seemed to find most amusing. Shoulda been outside, of course, where there was an R/C tank battle and construction site going on.

Ever played rugby at Penygraig?

Oh, yes, I'm sure that it was the Shakespearean connection that led to the loco namings. Gaunt's speech is rarely quoted in full, and is in fact a damning prophecy of the future of the country under Richard II:- '.. .This England, this nurse, this teeming womb of royal kings feared by their breed and famous for their birth, Renowned for their deeds as far from home for christian service and true chivalry as is the sepulchre in stubborn Jewry of the world's ransom, blessed Mary's son. This land of dear, dear, souls, this dear, dear land, dear for her reputation through the world is now leased out - I die pronouncing it - like to a tenement or pelting farm. England, bound in with the triumphant sea, whose rocky shore beats back the envious siege of watery Neptune, is now bound in with shame, with inky blots and rotten parchment bonds. That England that was wont to conquer others hath made a shameful conquest of itself'. Thus died time-honoured Gaunt, at least according to Stratford Bill; hardly the tone of most sceptered isle quotes! No good quoting half the speech, let's have the whole thing... Gaunt never forgives the king for ending his regency, and by this time, has lost his son Henry Bolingbroke to the king's banishment from the realm. Bolingbroke is no hero either, and has Richard II murdered, or at least taken into his custody at Wakefield Castle after which he was pronounced dead, having never been seen again amongst the living.