eastglosmog

On 15/05/2023 at 17:37, melmerby said:

Is it normal to remove the green spectacle, when a distant is converted to fixed as this one obviously is ?(no pull off wire)

If you look at the Worcester Shrub Hill north end signals  I showed a photograph of on p1 of this thread, you will see that the entire spectacle plate has been removed from both fixed distants and there is just a lamp.

7 hours ago, BR60103 said:

Lab report on Marco was a staph infection, He has had an injection.

The vet made a number of comments about our litter. We keep it too deep. She doesn't like clumping. We will have to keep it very clean and disinfected  for the next two weeks (she's coming back then.) We've bought a few more litter boxes so that we can wash them and have one in use.

Marco shows absolutely no awareness of having a problem or creating a fuss.

 

Tilly insists on a deep layer of litter and prefers the clumping type.  If any Vet had the temerity to disapprove, Tilly would tell them where to go!  (She does have two litter boxes, though.)

Photos of a two aspect colour light signal on the Midland main line, in the cutting south of Wilnecote, taken during a joint inspection with Network Rail of the cutting slopes in April 2018.

Front view.

Side and rear.  Note steel plate on ladder to deter local yobs interfering with the signal.

Apologies for the quality of this one - it was taken with a box brownie back in 1967. The signals at the end of Marchwood loop on the Fawley Branch, they date from 1960 when the loop was lengthened:

This was taken from the southeastern end of the loop, at the Pumpfield Farm footpath crossing.  As far as I know, there have been no changes to the signals since I photographed them.

Showing the other side of the signals at Moreton in Marsh shown by Pacific231G.  Taken at Moreton in Marsh in October 2022.

Short post signal for the crossover from down to up line at the southern end of the station.

Up line signal.

Both southern end signals, showing the crossover.  Crossover is used for the Didcot to Moreton service.

Northern end of station.

Seen at Shildon in October 2018:

More modern multi aspect  junction signal with feather, Didcot middle junction December 2014:

7 hours ago, melmerby said:

Brand new West Midlands class 196 trying to get into the picture

Contrasting new & old.

See p32 of the DMU thread for a better view!

A great idea.  Here are a few from around Worcester Shrub Hill Station, taken on 26th April:

On the goods loop round the rear of the station.

Short arm at end of Platform 2 and a few others.

At end of bay platform 3.

Signals for the junction for the Hereford line, just at the north end of Shrub Hill station, with fixed distants and another signal in front with a route indicator.

5 hours ago, Ben B said:

Unusual, it's usually the rails that dissapear, not the sleepers :)

Yes, it is a bit odd.  That longitudinal baulk seems to have completely disappeared, whilst others, whilst badly rotted, are still there. 

Track in the air on Llanthony Bridge over the East Channel of the River Severn at Gloucester.  GWR Docks branch has been defunct for nearly 40 years.

22 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

 

if posters would only read the report:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1152121/R042023_230424_Farnborough_North.pdf

It's really not that hard-going.

 

Para. 21 includes the statement:

 

 

Technically and legally it is still a bridleway (as shown on the Hampshire CC website), just one over which horses have been banned by a Traffic Regulation Order (which could always be revoke by another order).  Hence why bicycles are still entitled to use the crossing.

On 24/04/2023 at 23:13, RJS1977 said:

Also, although the lane crossing the line is technically a footpath, it appears from Street View that it may get occasional vehicle use - there are KEEP CLEAR markings adjacent to the gate at the Farnborough end of the lane, and at the other end of the lane, the gate is signed "No Parking. Keep Clear for Emergency Access."

Actually, from the OS map, it appears to be a bridleway.  No idea how many horses go that way, though!

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, coal breakage was a serious issue.  The Tyneside staithes usually had elaborate mechanisms to lower the coal wagons into ship holds to minimise breakage when the bottom doors were opened.  Coal would not normally fall onto unyielding ground, but onto the existing pile of coal that would tend to be a bit more absorbent and also form a slope down which the impacting coal would slide.  Coal hitting coal on the rest of the pile is unavoidable.  Coal hitting a steel bar would be avoidable.

Fine coal dust is difficult to burn in normal grates - the fine coal does not allow air into the fire.  This was the basic cause of the Aisgill disaster in 1913 when the Midland Railway firebox could not cope with small coal and slack.  Until the advent of fluidised bed combustion in power stations, slack coal was of little value and usually ended up on the spoil heap (in the late 20th century, quite a few companies made a decent profit washing this coal out of the spoil and selling it to the CEGB) - the miners usually did not get paid for slack coal.

9 hours ago, jim.snowdon said:

Interestingly, I went and looked at the 1907 series RCH drawings, and they too provide for the use of the Morton brake (albeit titled as 'Alternative hand brake' - no mention of Morton), and as with the 1923 drawings, no suggestion that it should not be used with bottom doors. You would think that if there was a real issue with damage to the brake gear they would have put a note on the drawings. It was not in their professional interests to advocate a brake that could easily sustain damage.

Don't forget that it would also damage the coal!  Breaking down lumps and giving more dust, which the customer would not like.

A West Midlands Class 196 crosses the River Severn at Worcester today, coming from Hereford and bound for Birmingham:

Two West Midlands Class 196's (196105 to left and 196003 to right) in the sidings behind Worcester Shrub Hill:

On 22/04/2023 at 16:50, The Johnster said:

There's a pot of gold at the end of every rainbow.  But it's always the other end...

As full rainbows (when you can see them) are circular, they don't have an end!

On 21/04/2023 at 11:20, The Stationmaster said:

An awful lot of it has gone as the Western started renewing fencing with concrete posts a long time back and bridge rail  straining posts weren't always reused/. lots of boundary markers have also vanisg hed due to land sales and reducing teh width of the t railway's land take.

 

Undoubtedly stillsome around - there might be a straining post locally but it's under about 6 feet of brambles so I'm not going looking for it!.  I suspect that old boiler tubes reused as fencing have probably disappeared by now - which might encourage someone to come out with an example with a bit of luck.

There are quite a few bridge rail straining posts round here, combined with the concrete fence posts on minor overbridges along the OWW.  The bridge rail posts are usually in much better condition than the newer concrete posts!.  As they are still doing their job, not really appropriate to  put a picture of them on this thread, so here is one from the Bourton-on-the-Water railway (later part of the Banbury and Cheltenham) which has strictly been redundant since 1964:

11 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

GWR broad gauge bridge rail? In fact surprisingly common having been re-purposed into things such as fence posts.

I wonder how many miles of bridge rail remain as fence posts?

Another one from Evesham.  I believe this is the base of a boundary marker between the GWR property and the MR property, where the MR line went over the OWW on a bridge.

Nuneham bridge is rather famous at the moment.  It is a bowstring bridge and has ballast in a trough. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuneham_Railway_Bridge

A ghost in the railway track at Evesham.  Must have been out of use since 2018, when the platform was extended.

Saw this lass out hunting just by the old Midland Railway bridge over the OWW at Evesham today.  Unfortunately, wouldn't come close enough for a decent photo:

On 14/04/2023 at 15:35, The Johnster said:

How is he holding the drum in position?

 

On second thoughts, don’t answer that!

It held in place by the Power of Art, as is the Nutrimatic cup in the statue of Arthur Dent https://hitchhikers.fandom.com/wiki/Arthur_Dent_Throwing_the_Nutrimatic_Cup

23 hours ago, johnofwessex said:

 

My dads was half way through it.................

 

Due to a family history of late parenthood my two youngest are probably the only children at School who had a Grandfather who was part of D Day and Great Grandfathers who served in WW1

Owing to my brother having a son late in life, my nephew has a grandmother (my mother) who served as a nurse in the Blitz and a great grandfather who served in WW1.  Gave his teacher a bit of a shock when Nephew was given a Christmas holiday task of finding out from Grandma(*) what her life had been like and he came back with a first hand account of nursing in 1940 in Charing Cross hospital!

* A brilliant idea, by the way, got him talking to Grandma for hours, which cheered Grandma up no end.

The book Nick recommends is "Bridges for Modellers" by L. V. Wood OPC 1985, ISBN 0-86093-226-5.  I also recommend it, contains lots of useful detail and dimensions.  Should be available at your local library by inter-library loan.  As Nick says, there are an awful lot of variations out there, and different companies often had their own styles.  Sizes varied greatly according to how wide the span was and how heavy the locomotives were that were using the bridge.  Many bridges were extensively rebuilt to take heavier locomotives.  Best thing to do is to go out and look at as many plate girder bridges as you can.  Example below is over the River Avon on the OWW at Evesham, and has been extensively rebuilt by the GWR and BR from the original.  It has at least 3 generations of brick in it, plus the original stonework (only visible in the wing walls).  You can work out how deep the girders are, how high the Pilaster is and how deep the bearing pad step is by counting the bricks.  A oddity of this bridge is that the abutment level for the bearing pads steps down across the width of the bridge and is lower for the up line than the down line.

The abutment face towards the River Avon is vertical, but the sides are at varying batters, that are steeper in the upper level.

PS I agree with Nick regarding the plan of the terraced houses - the buildings will be square to the road, even if the end wall is not at a right angle.

PPS Also agree with The Johnster regarding the standard of your modelling!