Philou

Hello chums and chumesses,

More progress today until rain stopped play late this afternoon. I have assembled the two long sides with their battens and glue-blocks. This means I now have two sides and two ends ready. Tomorrow will be fettling the cross-members and then fixing in place. The module should be done by the end of the afternoon - hoorah! Could be a few pictures too!

Cheers,

Philip

4 hours ago, kevinlms said:

in 1974, G.T. Gittins

@kevinlms Crikey - earlier than I remembered! It was when I was doing my City and Guilds Lab. Technician's Course in the Pontypridd Technical College then. (Spelt his name incorrectly, too :( )

I saw him building the turntable - it seemed to take forever. IIRC, he had to cut his own gears as none were commercially available - he did have the benefit of a full college metal workshop with all the latest kit, though ;).

Cheers,

Philip

My metalwork teacher, a Mr Gittings, did have an article in the RM spread of a few issues showing how to make a loco turntable in ..... er ..... metal. It definitely wasn't in the 'Show you how' leaflets. Unfortunately I don't recall the method used to make it rotate. It would have been around 1977-78.

Cheers,

Philip

Hello chaps and chapesses,

A bit of a thin update today. Nothing happened yesterday as we were out and today being Sunday, no noisy work permitted after midday and so once the dog had done her walkies, it left me with under an hour to 'get things done'. I got the mystery ply out and dusted down, cut into strips and marked out ready for profiling. The ply has taken on a bit of a curve due to being stocked on its side rather than flat, but will be sorted out using my battens and laying them such that the curves are opposite each other. The cross-members will pull them together (or push) resulting in two straight sides - says he, optimistically!

I couldn't do the profiling as it was way past midday by the time I'd done the marking - so a job tomorrow together with the stripping of a couple of planks for those pesky battens and glue-blocks. I should be ready for the 'right-away' on Tuesday.

Cheers,

Philip

25 minutes ago, Andy Hayter said:

you are next to the mairie

Indeed @Andy Hayter Andy, we are! There's only our barn wall between the two properties. Let me tell about a sneaky property deal that was done in the village and it concerns the mairie ..................

When the village had a school, it was in a big single room behind the mairie, twice the size of the current mairie. When they sold off the school years ago, as there weren't enough children to keep it open, they sold it all, except the room within which is the mairie, to the person who had the adjoining house (not us, but the house the other side). The sale included the attic above both rooms and naturally the roof. So now, who is responsible for repairs to the roof of the mairie? Well, not the mairie!

We're lucky that we still have our 'town hall' as over a number of years Grubbymint has encouraged rural villages to combine their services and become "Com Com"s (Communauté de Communes) therefore saving on mayors and all that follows. Very recently there's been a change of wind and a move to retaining local services on a local level - including schools, as I made mention earlier ^.

@lmsforever Well spotted! The footway is on the opposite side, but here in France you're allowed to park on the footway - hence the car in the photo (can't think whose car it might be!). The carriageway is rather narrow at about 4.5m in width which is barely wide enough for the combines to go through the village ( yes, I'm looking at you, Mr Claas). If I did park UK style on the carriageway then the agricultural vehicles wouldn't get past due to a rather large utility concrete pole plus luminaire on our side - I don't think the car would be in one piece for very long!

On our side the highway limit is at an angle to our frontage so where the workspace is set up is in highway but I stand on our frontage. It's the only bit of flat area around the house and the land falls from the highway to the brook that runs at the end of our garden - even the beaten earth floor of the barn is on a fall. The garden is on fall too, the only flat area is our decking and Mrs Philou wouldn't be best pleased if I moved all the garden furniture, chairs and flower pots to make way for my modules.

Insofar as footfall on our side is concerned, there isn't any. In a village of 31 inhabitants in the middle of nowhere, everyone goes by car! I'm safe at the moment and it won't be for very much longer as work on module 13 (Module L) started today. Another 4 plus a shorty to link my fiddle yard/sector plate* to the tunnel modules and that's it!

It was threatening rain this afternoon but it cleared after lunch so I was able to start after taking the dog for her mid-day walk. I have cut the ends out of some waste pieces and I hoisted out the two half-sheets of ply. These have been measured up and I have measured the area for Pontrilas station. I need a length of 1.8m max between the station building and the end of the platforms - this should not be an issue other than the two side pieces will be in two parts each. A bit of string and chewing gum will hold them together until I splice them with a piece of battening.

I don't think much will done tomorrow as it's forecast rain all day and we're off lunching (again!) so definitely no work in the afternoon. I can do some noisy work on Sunday morning IF it's dry. I shall probably cut out the side pieces then (less noise) and keep the ripping of my planks into battens for Monday.

We had M. le Menusier around today as we have had a problem with one of our barn doors - basically one of the wooden hinges has collapsed due to weathering and old age. He had a look and said it was quite repairable by cutting a new section of timber into the edge of the door and then driving the 'flêche' (arrow)** into the new wood. Downside is the door has to come down to allow him to access the bottom - it's oak and probably weighs a ton! He thinks that he and I can do it!

Mrs Philou also wants a pair of shutters to go on a window that has never had any and as it ought to have louvres to match the existing - I felt it was out of my skill-set to make them given my general woodworking! So he has another job in hand - but we await his estimate (over here it's a devis and is fixed price - no surprises afterwards).

*Whilst he was here, quite opportune really, I asked if he was interested in tackling my sector plate and surprisingly he was. He liked my general thoughts and added his own regarding the end where it all meets the modules. He has an idea for a ratchet type affair so alignment of the tracks can be very precise. He going to do me a drawing. If this can be done, I'll give him the job! He also told me of someone, a Swiss, in a nearby village who is also a railway modeller - I may 'reach out' to him (out of curiosity, you understand).

**The 'flêche' is an arrow-headed cast iron spike that is driven spike first into the timber jamb of the door and the arrowhead part rests on a cast iron plate within which is a slight depression so that the arrow can't drift. The weight of the door holds it all in place. I did think he was going say 'Nah mate, sorry. It's a whole new door.' I think he's come across this sort of set up before. We will see.

That's it for today, the weekend is here so have a good one wherever you are and whatever you're doing.

Cheers,

Philip

Thank you @JeffP and @37Oban. I do try to be positive, Mrs Philou thinks I'm over-positive!

More positiveness ....... joy! The Module Corner - 1 was completed this afternoon and is in the railway room next to the corner module. The fit is nice and square so all is good, though when everything is legged and bolted together gaps may begin to show - hence why I don't want to put the last pieces in on each side just yet.

We have some pictures today, too!

Our train journey this time is on approach from Newport (my Ledbury end). In this photo, trains have come down the bank from the corner module. The mainline track here is (on the left) in a 1 + 2 + 1 format with the Newport up and down lines being bounded by the up and down relief loops. The reliefs were created in the early 40s by extending the sidings/headshunts that already existed. I thought I had seen a secondary signal box around here on an OS plan, but it might have been a figment of my imagination. The loops start running out here with pointwork leading to/from the main. To the right is the branchline from Pontrilas leading into the Golden Valley. The cut is wide here as I intend to locate the tin engine shed that served the single loco on the branch - a 517 in the early days and then a 48XX and a 58XX. There were two other locos - a small 0-6-0T 'Owen Evans', that I quite like and I shall re-body an Electrotren faux TVR 0-6-0T for the job - the wheelbase looks 'about right'. The other, another 0-6-0T, was called 'Hilda'. I forget its provenance, a pre-grouping loco from the Swansea area IIRC - she does have a GWR number. This loco was used in the construction works of the Ordnance Depot that was off the Golden Valley branch. Now if someone will make a USTC S160 in OO, I'll have one as it visited the depot during the war.

The mainline is on a rising grade towards the camera, whereas the branch is on a down grade. In reality, the engine shed was quite some distance both from the station and the mainline - compression I'm afraid! - the branch having first crossed the Dore. In my world the Dore is 'elsewhere':

From the station end in this picture. To the left is the low lying ground between the rail lines and the river. Today the land has various metal clad factory units upon it - too late for my trackwork - but there was a Smithy around here that I shall recreate as there's not much else by way of buildings on the layout. Between the Smithy and the railway embankment was the A465, but there's a bypass now around part of Pontrilas. I shall show this as an important but minor road nonetheless. Above the road is the branchline climbing to meet the mainline on the next module. The mainline here is the full 1+2+1 formation.

On the extreme right is a siding serving the Pontrilas chemical works. I don't know WHAT products they made but they had a HUGE stock of trees. I reckon they may have made creosote and coal-tar type products. A cracking excuse to have some GWR square tankers and perhaps some gas wagons. Here, the products made, could go and serve my yet-undecided works back at Dymented. There is a picture of Pontrilas yard with some GWR bolsters with tree trunks in the raw (cut to length but not sawn to width for example). Perhaps they were intended to go to the chemical works. The siding was originally served off a headshunt and was probably gone when the headshunt became a loop (but I'm keeping it!):

This is a view from the operating well side. The land drops from left to right, both the main- and branch-lines go from cutting to embankment, with the A465 cutting across the lower right-hand corner - in reality the A465 follows the railway in parallel for some distance after first passing under the branchline. Width compression just didn't allow the overbridge to be done in a meaningful way:

This photo shows the wall side with the land falling from the low hills down towards the river. The fall is three-dimensional as there is a stream that passed under the chemical works (perhaps a water driven wheel?) which was then culverted under the railway - not far from the signal box, which will feature on the adjoining module:

This last shot shows the module in place against corner module No.3 (ignore the one to the left - just an intruder in the picture):

I'm reasonably pleased (OK, very pleased), with today's outcome as I did think that I would only get things assembled tomorrow. What saved an awful lot of time, was using up battens and glue-blocks that I found already in stock. Tomorrow I WILL need to cut some more and look to see if I can make the Pontrilas module out of the two half-sheets that I found yesterday. I have one end piece already shaped and some cross-members cut to size. I may not need an awful lot of ply as the landform around the station is pretty flat.

Cheers,

Philip

Oi! Have you been pinching my ideas?

I'm only kidding. I knew of Bucks Hill only recently and I tip my hat to you. If I can make my effort look half as good as yours, I shall be very pleased indeed. I'm working in 4mm and therefore do have a slight advantage of space.

Here's my proposal - it's all works in progress at the moment, but after 2 years of preparation of the room and starting to build the modules, I'm finally getting there. My model will be based on Pontrilas as it was in the early 1900s but with the track layout more akin to the 1940s where the two sidings were converting into loops on the Hereford side. Those who may want to just see my approach to module building will want to go to page 21 (or thereabouts). Dymented? It's a made-up name (What? Are you kidding?) of a supposed station on the Golden Valley Branch that also duplicates as a station on the Gloucester branch from Ledbury. I've noticed that there are photos missing from the thread since the great RAID mishap of last year. Feel free to ask for them to be replaced as I should still have copies:

Well done Mr Bambrick - a superb layout!

Kind regards,

Philip

Hello chums and chumesses,

Now I'm on a roll! Today was a far better day for working and ideas were flowing. I griddled my loins again (it's a French thing y'know), and set to. I had decided that I would do a module working back from corner 3 towards Pontrilas - Module Corner 3 minus 1. (To be frank, I've confused myself with the lettering system of my modules and I STILL haven't got my head around it!).

This module will be 1100mm long and will lead into the north-eastern throat of Pontrilas station. Once the module is assembled, I'll describe it more fully. This afternoon, I cut out the ends and the cross-members, plus extra ones, and marked out the two sides ready for cutting tomorrow. I will need some more ??????????????????????????????????

You've guessed it, glue-blocks and battens. All being well, I'll have a kit of parts ready for assembly by the evening.

The good news is that I found lurking in my pile of assorted odds and ends TWO large pieces of good quality 10mm ply. Once I've done Module Corner 3 minus 1, I shall measure these two nearly-half sized sheets to see if I can at least make a module for the whole of the Pontrilas station platforms. This will allow me to build the station without lots of joints - a similar approach to my construction of Ledbury, where there's only one joint across the platforms.

More tomorrow,

Cheers,

Philip

No update today unfortunately. I decided I'd be a good soldier and mow the lawn as wet weather is forecast for the next few days. It didn't really need a cut but if I hadn't done it, I'm sure it would have been too long afterwards! 25° and damp - grass loves that combination.

End result was that I felt really pooped and very sluggish this afternoon. I have looked at options for the module as I now know what useable lengths of ply remain. I have moved some stock around in the railway room so that I can measure up the spaces left.

One measurement that made me raise an eyebrow was comparing one space with the 3D drawing that it's showing there's only 3mm difference between theory and practice. I must be getting better at measuring once and cutting twice - err - I think.

Hopefully something meaningful tomorrow.

Cheers,

Philip

2 hours ago, Chimer said:

and then up on (how many?!!) legs

Hello @Chimer, I'm working on the basis of 4 per module, so that's ...... err ..... umm ...... aaah ..... 17 x 4 = 68, although about 60, as some of the short ones could share a pair or even bridge. One module will be bridging the stairwell so there won't be any needed on that one.

Admittedly the club modules are generally 1.2m x 600mm but they only use 4 legs on the very first module and once it's been set up, all the other modules only have 2 legs placed at the end furthest from module 1. Frankly, I don't much care for their method as the modules are supported by 25 x 25mm timber (1" x 1") that to my mind looks exceedingly spindly (and wobbly), but they've never yet had a problem. In the real world, columns are generally very slender affairs, so I suppose it should work. I shall probably go for 50 x 25mm (2" x 1") as a minimum. I have a stock of 40 x 40mm chevrons (rafters) in stock and will probably use those.

Time is coming when I shall have to start mass producing the legs - they won't be a problem - it'll be the supporting piece in the corner of each module that will need to designed and anchored correctly.

Cheers,

Philip

Hello chaps and chapesses,

Our train has arrived at Pontrilas station. I finished Module J this afternoon and it's upstairs adjoining the corner module of last week. The fit is reasonably good, but not as good as when everything was loose-fitted :(. The difference is marginal and it was a small matter of manoeuvring the corner module slightly and it all joined up. In doing the jiggling around, it meant that the horizontal difference between the corner module and the tunnel modules of a few weeks ago is 2mm between the two longitudinal sides - which given the accuracy of my cutting ...............

I have enough sheet left to do a small module with high sides or a longer module with low sides ...... what to do? It's a case of doing part of Pontrilas or in-filling a part of the Ledbury tunnel approach.

I'm going to have to have a fiddle around in the 3D programme to come up with the answer. In the meantime, here are some pictures:

This is the view of Pontrilas station south-west end. The River Dore has meandered from the corner piece (nearest the camera) and cuts across the left-hand corner of the module. To the right is the mainline that has curved over the Dore and the A465 and is just leaving the embankment and entering the cutting leading into Pontrilas tunnel and the station:

This a view from the operation well. Following our journey into the station area, the train has entered a cutting approaching the tunnel under what I know as the Orcop road (it has no name on the maps that I have). Longitudinal compression hasn't allowed me to do the bridge/tunnel under the B4347 tho' as mentioned above, my earlier iteration of the plan did have both with the cutting between the two. Despite having a little extra length with which to play, I can't fit it in. In any case I'm now committed to what I have cut and assembled. The pimple on the side piece is the Orcop road above the railway. I wouldn't be surprised if this tunnel was one of the shortest in the UK. I wanted to keep this tunnel as the station footbridge is over the tunnel mouth AND there's an off-side home starter against the tunnel stonework with a white painted 'target (?)' behind it. Alongside to the left is the yard/station access to Pontrilas and towards the end on the left is the goods yard sidings that are above the access and road running alongside:

Here we have arrived within the platforms of Pontrilas Station. I've also permitted myself to pre-cut the platform edges (but positions may change when the formation is laid out :( ). At the extreme left of the end piece you can see how the platform is tight against the cutting. On the next module (camera side) the cutting becomes an embankment (similar to Ledbury as it so happens). You can just make out that the Orcop road drops from left to right over the bridge/tunnel and is quite high up:

This is a view from the wall side piece. Due to the foreshortening effect of the camera angle the Orcop road looks quite steep. I recall estimating that in reality it's about 1:10:

Last photo. This just shows Module J against the corner one. After jiggling the corner one a tad, the fit is quite reasonable and more to the point, I'm very happy with it:

Cheers everyone,

Philip

No photos - sorry. It was just too darned hot today to do anything meaningful - 32° in the shade but cooler tomorrow. I did a little bit of glueing and screwing towards 5 pm, nothing that needed power tools (Sunday again!).

I suspect I shall be helping M. le Maire cut a HUUUUUUUUUGE branch from his willow tree that fell off yesterday just as Mrs Philou and I were passing by on our way to feed his chickens as he was away. The branch limb, more like, is still attached to the top of the tree while the other end has fallen into the stream that flows at the bottom of our gardens. The stream is pretty empty but it has steep sides and cannot be easily accessed so it's going to be a tractor and chain job to get it landed and in a position to cut up.

With the parts that I did work upon today, I dry-fitted them all together in-situ in the railway room and it all seemed to fit. If I can cut the last end in the afternoon, it should be all complete - then photos!

Cheers,

Philip

@Andy Hayter Aww, poor thing. I understand fully it wanting to be in contact. Just mind where you put that fork!

Hello chums and chumesses,

No update yesterday as I ran out of time as we had been invited out to an evening birthday party. The sun was out quite late with a brilliant sunset - the downside was I couldn't help thinking that the days are now getting shorter again and we're rushing headlong into winter and Christmas!

On a positive note, Module J is well under way. Two sides and one end have been cut out and I found I had enough battens and glue-blocks in stock to get this module done, so I started glueing and screwing this afternoon. I would have had the other end cut (plus its copy for Module K) except the bl**dy cat wouldn't let me complete the marking out. I dunno what's the matter with him - he has days when he will not leave me alone - I don't mind too much, but not when I have electric tools in my hands!

If I can get the two ends cut tomorrow, I should have the module done by the evening. The only thing that I must get spot-on is that any angled ends match the corner module of a couple of days ago. I will probably dry-fit everything outside and then take the parts upstairs and glue and screw it in place so that it can dry in-situ (well, that's the plan!).

Pictures tomorrow,

Cheers,

Philip

1 hour ago, The Johnster said:

I doubt very much if any of us would have put their hands in their pockets to buy any of this glossy softporn!

Ooh, I don't know ....... I wouldn't be so sure about that. I used to have a nice collection of soft-porn Playboy and Men Only, the one with Fiona Richmond in it (bought the first issue and the whole series after that), and I'd take them home too. They were pristine, not dog-eared nor with any stuck pages neither! And I suspect my brother AND my sisters would have a sly look too. I could tell if anything had been disturbed! Some of the non-porn topics were well worth the read. You didn't really think that ALL my well-earnt money from working in Bud's on a Saturday went into buying modelling things? Did you? Did you? ;)

Cheers,

Philip

You wouldn't want a map of that, would you!

..................... aaaaaaaaaaaaaand here is the update. The module is finished and already dry fitted in its place in the railway room. I am really chuffed (sorry!) to say that the fit seems even better than the last corner one that I made a week or so ago. Thunderbirds are go!!

I still have one complete sheet of ply plus a largish length. I'm not sure which units to do next. I may tackle the Pontrilas station area as the modules will be rather odd-shaped - rhomboid rather than rectangular. The plus side is that there is not much landscaping to take into consideration so fairly uniform in height. Tomorrow, I shall be alone for the best part of the day so I can get down to doing sketches for the parts I need this evening and marking out tomorrow - not sure if there'll be much cutting out as I also need more battens and some glue blocks (yes - again!) and the weather is set for possibly damp in the morning.

More tomorrow,

Cheers,

Philip

Hello chaps and chapesses,

No update yet - that's for this evening. I'm just going to tell you a tale of my experience on the SNCF and the Regiolis train yesterday.

I got up at 4:30 and tried to kid my body into thinking it was a normal day - breakfast as usual, the three "sh"s (I'll let you work out the details ;) ) got dressed and left three minutes later than anticipated (not that it mattered as I allowed extra car-travel time anyway. Got to the station just before 7:00 and found that there were very few spaces left - that I found surprising for that time of day - especially as there were only 5 of us on the platform. Bad news - the display was showing the train was delayed by 40 minutes! I had allowed plenty of time as my meeting wasn't until 12:00 and the journey was to be just over 2h 45min. The train was delayed to people on the line - makes a change from leaves I suppose. The train arrived at about 7:35 having made up 5mins of lost time.

Let me tell you about the Regiolis. It's a fairly new train, introduced at about the same time as the Class 800s in the UK and is bi-mode. It's an articulated unit made up as a 2 x 3 unit. That is to say, Driving Unit plus panto, with a standard bogie plus an articulated bogie to the next coach, a nine-windowed coach with shared bogies then a shorty coach (8 windows) with the shared bogie plus a standard bogie all attached back-to-back to a mirror image other half train. What I did find bizarre is that the diesel engines were on the roof and not under-slung. Presumably this is to allow at-level handicapped access at the low level French platforms - more on this later. I didn't think to take pictures sorry.

The train wasn't full by any means though it had started its journey at Mulhouse. I went to the rear driving end based on the assumption that most people prefer to be the town end when getting off at Paris. I found a paired seat rather than a tabled four again thinking that I would soon have company at table and have no room for my legs! The downside was the seat was with its back to the direction of travel - but at that time of day I wasn't going to search for my 'ideal' seat. The train was clean but the seats were 'ard but not uncomfortably so.

As the OLE hasn't reached our part of the world yet we were diesel powered and that was quiet - in fact very quiet - more so than my experience of early Class 116s and HSTs! But we're talking of diesels generations apart. About an hour or so into the journey and the train had stopped three or four times and I had company. We didn't say anything other than a polite 'Bonjour' (nice youngish lady). The French tend to be rather reserved and won't speak first.

Anyway, the silence had to be broken as I'm of an age where when you've gotta go, you've gotta go! So a polite ''scuse me' and off I went to the toilet nearby. Bad news - locked OOU. Back towards the front end of the train - OOU too! Hmm, carry on right through, past 1st class where someone was already complaining to the guard about the loo and into the last but one coach that had a disabled WC - phew in operation and free. It has a touch button to open, I would have said identical to the door buttons on UK units, and the door slid open and another push button to close - but it doesn't lock it! There is a separate slide lock for that, which is not immediately obvious that you should use it too - though it's big enough!

The toilet is at right angles to the direction of travel and has its back to the corridor partition - this little factoid plays its part later. As a gentleman (huh) I stand which is a problem when you're at right angles to the direction of travel - you can't maintain balance with your feet spread! Any slight sway and you're off balance straight away and if you want to avoid sprinkling when you're tinkling, as others had found out before me (let's say the floor was - um - damp) you have you find a way of wedging yourself - easier said than done when there's only one wall within easy elbow reach and a huge open space for wheel-users the other! Anyway all done without mishap but crikey! the flush was surprising. I thought the loo was blocked as it was filling up when suddenly *slurp and whoosh* it all disappeared! The wash hand basin delivered the goods and all was well.

On my return trip I was stopped by an Asian lady in the opposite direction asking if there was a loo from whence I came and I was able to reassure her that there was. Got back to my own seat with another 'scuse me' when someone went past also heading to the OOU loo so I was able to advise that there was a long walk to the other end, but it was working, and off she went. My fellow traveller decided that she ought to go seeing as we were now in the Greater Paris area and that she had a journey ahead on public transport.

She came back a while later looking a bit flushed (sorry). Her experience of the loo wasn't as pleasant as mine. She got there, operated the button, the door slid open and there was a 'gentleman' with his meat and two veg hanging out taking his pee. She beat a hasty retreat and waited 'til it was finished. Now, this is where, IMHO, design and function failed the acid test: 1) Two separate buttons for door AND lock where one would have done the job, 2) The toilet bowl wrongly placed; a) If the door is opened, you're in full view of any other persons waiting AND to any other passers-by in the corridor, and; b) wrongly placed for men standing regarding the direction of travel. It's not as if there wasn't room to turn the bowl around and still have room alongside!

On the approach to Paris I was pleasantly surprised to see that the OLE has been extended on our classic Line 4 by 50km from Verneuil l'Etang to Nogent-sur-Seine. This extension now includes the spur from Longueville to Provins. Originally there were no direct trains to Provins (bit like Kidderminster) and you had to take a shuttle at Longueville. Trains just reverse direction here on entering a bay from Paris. Presumably it is now more economic to so do with electric traction. I wonder if the OLE will be extended now to Romilly-sur-Seine, 30km down, where there is a huge railway workshop undertaking repairs to diesel and electric locos plus assorted other rolling stock. Another 150km and they will arrive at the next electric node at Culmont-Chalindrey where the Dijon-Metz electrified line intersects and duplexes with our non-electified Line 4 over a short distance. On the way 'up' I did begin to think that the OLE wasn't yet energised as we took forever to do the changeover.

After that, everything went fine, the metro was working very efficiently.

Top tip: If you do ever travel to Paris, the card tickets are no longer available. You have to buy a plastic 'carnet' (10 single trips) that is 'bonk'n'go'.

I don't know what happened on the return trip. It wasn't the same unit as it was in multiple with another one that was detached at Troyes - presumably due to passenger levels as a lot commute from there - and it was to do a separate return trip. As it was electric out of Paris, it was very smooth and quiet - except on the straight, the unit would pick up a swaying motion 'whish-whosh' went the wheels in time to a sway-left, sway-right movement, on curves, the movements stopped, due to the flanges being hard up against one or the other of the rails. I felt very uncomfortable and definitely queasy! I know that the wheels are conical but nonetheless, the movement was excessive. Has this to do with the unit being top-heavy due to the diesel motors being on top?

Back to the low level platforms - I said there was more: As the motors are on top, we can now benefit from a step-free access at all rural stations with continental low-level platforms. BUT ..... but ...... Line 4 is shared between the Regiolis units and the TER/Francilien units which are definitely not the same, as some are double-deckers. These too are step-free, but the platforms have recently been rebuilt to a more UK standard, higher, to accommodate these urban units. It means that if we HAVE to get out of our long distance train (accident, leaves on line, whatever), we cannot easily so do as we now have an enormous step-UP! Mr Left-hand meet Mr Right-hand!

As luck would have it, I got back to Gare de l'Est quite early after a very profitable meeting (nah - no money involved - just an expression) to find that there was a train an hour earlier than I had foreseen - so home by 7.15 and a nice a pair of teef, and a very happy Mrs Philou to see me back before I was due.

Cheers everyone, more update later,

Philip

Hello chaps and chapesses,

It was awful working outside today - I shouldn't complain as it was fine and dry, but there was a hot wind blowing from the south and it was making things very uncomfortable. Sun disappeared to be replaced by grey clouds and wind gusts. I would have said a thunderstorm was on its way - but nothing on the horizon at the mo'.

This last corner module is more or less complete. I have the inside corner piece to fettle, two very small in-fills and two strengtheners to cut and glue. These last items I thought I'd already done - oh well - it shan't take long, just the time to cut two short pieces of battening, 10 screws and a dab of glue and that should be that.

I do have some pictures to show (yay! I knew you'd be excited!):

This was early this afternoon after having loosely fitted the sectors:

Even though the module was designed in 3D, when it came to putting all the items in place, the cross-members were too short (they weren't, the curve wasn't true). No problem, I just loosened the screws holding the sectors in place and using our old friend gravity to assist in pulling the parts together, the space was reduced and the cross-members fitted perfectly (the cat cared very little about gravity or my woodwork for that matter):

For flimsy plywood, it's quite sturdy when put together. This is the module all glued and screwed with the exception of the end pieces to which I will add the strengtheners. I may have over designed the thing as it all went away without any odd creaks and groans. Nevertheless, the strengtheners and cross-members will be used later to support the landform.

This view shows the Pontrilas end where the curved mainline will have crossed the River Dore and A465. The trackbed is on the left and the River Dore is in the lower cut-out on the right. The river passes under the mainline and exits stage left on the curved side wall (the cut-out can just be seen). The landform rises as we approach Pontrilas from the river bed to give a two tunnelled approach into the station. My plan at the moment only has one due to foreshortening distances, but the original plan I drew in 3D (lost in a computer crash) did have the two - I shall see if it can be reinstated now that I have gained a bit of extra room. I shall lay a curved section of plywood onto the cross-members so that I can spring some supports from them to the formation:

This is the Ledbury end. The mainline has passed over the Dore and the A465 and is already in the cutting approaching the Ledbury Tunnel east signal box controlling the double track into the single track tunnel bore. The 1:1 cutting is quite long and deep:

Here's an overview of the module as seen from the operating well. The small piece is the one waiting to be fettled - chamfering the edges so it makes a snug fit with the two end sections. This section will see the start/end of the A465 that runs more or less directly across the curved module and exits opposite on a line with the centre cross-member:

I was quite pleased with the result.

Tomorrow, there won't be any update as I've a train to catch to gay (am I allowed to say that now?) Paree. 07:01 out and return by 19:32 all for an hour's on-site visit :( . Bit of a long day as I'll be up at 4.30 as it's nearly an hour's drive to the station, but I'll be back with my feet under the table just before 8.30.

Cheers everyone,

Philip

............ and no sooner said than done. I do have a box of parts ready for the off tomorrow, though there is a very short angled side piece to do first. The most awkward part tomorrow will be the chamfering of the 'spokes' so they fit tidily at the hub end - but it's all there ready to go.

Hopefully, I shall have some pictures to post for you too.

Cheers,

Philip

'Twas but a short working afternoon today. It was very hot with thickening clouds and rain had been forecast. Notwithstanding that it was Sunday, I got the glue-blocks fixed onto the wibbly-wobbly part and I was about to screw the two sectors into place when the rain started - not enough to get ME wet but enough to dampen the plywood. As the quality is not that good I decided to stop - half an hour later, so did the spots of rain and the sun is back out now! Too late to take all the kit out again.

With a fresh start tomorrow, I shall cut and prepare the 'spokes' for the curved section. I should be ready for some assembling on Tuesday.

More tomorrow,

TTFN,

Philip

Oh! I forgot to say that this morning I shifted some of my stock around to make space to get the third corner module in place and despite my concerns regarding the tightness of the curve, the fit is not too bad - so all is well for the time being.

Philip

Just a short update today - the weather was against me - too sunny and too warm, so I didn't get started 'til later in the afternoon once I had a shady area within to work. I did manage though to get the ends cut for the module plus duplicates for the module ends adjoining. I didn't get around to checking the amount of glue blocks I have in stock, but I shall probably need more. Tomorrow, I'll start glueing the strengtheners in place as I shan't be able to do any noisy work as we're back to Sunday! Doesn't time fly!?

Toodle pip and enjoy the rest of the weekend,

Philip

A downdate today - though brownie points were being earned. It was a "Oi, get yer 'air cu' " day this morning, followed by a dash into Big Town to get some new mattresses and soft furnishings to give the bedroom a final make-over. Mrs Philou was pleased as it looks rather good - complete change of colour - was red, but is now green. It's now all in place and we shall be in there tonight. It's been since the beginning of March that we haven't been in there.

Module-wise, the only thing I was able to do was to sketch out the end pieces for it. However, as there's no more decorating to be done, I shall be able to start rather earlier in the day (hooray).

Yesterday, I was on council business representing M. le Maire at a business 'fayre' where various companies tout their services to the mayors (insurance companies, help the aged, help the handicapped, rural assistance for those in need etc.). Then there were various talks mainly on educational-related matters. Then there were speeches by various chairpersons, and the local député and senator (MP and Upper House MP if you will) plus the Préfet (Lord Lieutenant). I was there from 4.00pm 'til 10.00pm - I don't think I want to be maire after all!

One thing I did take away from it, is that there are 1700 daily school bus routes département-wise and it costs €134M yearly to run! In fairness, the rural maires are trying to do their best to keep kids in their catchment areas to stop them leaving the départment later. Our départment has a falling population AND it's becoming disproportionately older - and I'm one of them!

Hopefully, tomorrow I'll have a proper update for you all.

Cheers,

Philip

19 hours ago, MyRule1 said:

trolley buses had all the disadvantages of trams and non of the advantages of diesel enginedbuses

@MyRule1 As I had understood it (and of course as time moves on, stories change etc.), it was quite the reverse. Whilst trolleybuses were tied to the overhead for power, they did nevertheless have a certain manoeuvrability off-line. In Cardiff, if there was a problem on the highway (accident, utility works), they could down poles (or booms) and travel a short distance on battery power, admittedly at low speed. Because they were NOT tied to rails they were extremely agile, excellent acceleration and good hill climbing due to rubber on road rather than steel wheels on steel rail.

In the early 1950s, Routemaster were desperate to sell their buses and needed to sell 1500 of them to be viable. Coincidentally, London had a huge number of trolleybuses (and still some trams) and London Transport were persuaded that the new shiney, shiney, diesel buses were the way to go.... and what London did, so did all the other trolleybus undertakings. Given the first petrol shock oil crisis of 1976, that went really well, didn't it, whereas, at the time electrickery was produced from home produced coal and not oil (or gas). It was after that that the North Sea oilfields were developed.

So, if I have it right, a diesel bus reliant on imported oil, emitting very dirty fumes (at the time), having poor fuel economy, poor acceleration and noisy to boot (and due to poor acceleration bus stops on former trolleybus routes were reduced by 50% to allow the poor bus to keep to a decent timetable), was going to be better than a silent, clean, and fast vehicle running on home produced electricity? I think someone was having a larf.

Unfortunately, the UK seems very much wedded to the omnibus and is only now and very reluctantly taking trams on board. Trolleybuses per mile of infrastructure is still much cheaper as there is no need to divert utilities nor have segregated routes for them to run upon. Even the Chinese have introduced trolleybus routes - so they can't be all that bad!

Cardiff had recently been trialling a rechargeable bus (made by Volvo, I think) where it would power up from a overhead charging unit at its terminus via a pantograph, but I don't know how that went - or even if is still running.

Cheers,

Philip