MartinRS

Wow thanks for posting that! It reminds me of the time I spent at Wombwell Main Junction and Dovecliffe signal cabins. I did a stint working at Wombwell Main Junction with the S&T electrical installation team. The painters were busy repainting the bracketed post for no 56 and 60 levers (I think). I returned with the mechanical gang a few weeks later to change the freshly painted signal post! The painters had moved-on to a nearby footbridge on the truncated Blackburn Valley line. That was removed within weeks! Then I worked at Dovecliffe with different teams within the S&T, providing electrical interlocking for the ground frame at Barrow Colliery. From the ground frame you could see (and hear) the MGR's hoppers being loaded at the other end of their cycle. I'm fairly sure the motive power was the recently introduced, Romanian built, Class 56 locos working out of Tinsley. Why did I never think to take a camera to work!?

Here are another couple from the 1915 Bradshaw's railway manual, shareholders' guide and official directory. I've reduced the images' dimensions by 50% from the original scan having realised how large the files were.

Here's one for Gould Coupler from a 1928 edition of Railway Age. The GE ad is from the 1928 Electric Railway Journal.

Have you ever wondered where Railtec got their idea for transfers from? This might be the place!

Here's an old one for Norris Locomotive Works from the American Railroad Journal 1846-05-16: Vol 19 Iss 516 and a modern one (by comparison) from 1918 for Standard Steel Works from Railway Age. I wonder what the date of the first advertisement is specifically for a locomotive? The Norris ad must be one of the earliest. How about a competition to find the first locomotive advertisement with a special prize; a free 'round of applause'? That should be within the budget of RmWeb.

Here's another two from the 1915 Bradshaw's railway manual, shareholders' guide and official directory. The publication has a directory of railway manufactures in the appendix. I seem to remember the Chatsworth Wagon Works getting a mention recently in another thread?

Here's another Westinghouse signal gantry, this one from the 1915 Bradshaw's railway manual, shareholders' guide and official directory.

I know it was a Scottish service but did they have to apply a tartan livery on the front of the loco?

With DC you can create a simple automatic (uni-direction) control system. All you have to do is detect a train after it has just passed a signal. (It doesn't matter how this is done so long as the detector doesn't latch, although there are circumstances which exclude using loco-based magnets and reeds such as when you want to identify trains which are going to take alternate routes at junctions). The detector is used to operate a couple of relays, the occupancy relay and the release relay. The key feature of the occupancy relay is it latches using one of its own contacts. The occupancy relay can itself power slave relays, depending on how many change over contacts are required. The occupancy relay can be used to change the aspect of the signal. It can be used to isolate a section of track at the approach to the signal. Now imagine a further series of track sections just in advance of the isolated section with their power switched from the normal feed (determined by the controller setting) to a feed via a series of resistors, increasing in value the closer they are to the isolated section. It's been a long time since I built an automatic system though a value of 47 ohms was a typical value of resistance to slow the train IIRC. Values of resistors have to be chosen to reflect circumstances, with lower values used on rising gradients, least the loco stalls. Any following train would first encounter a section fed via a 10 ohm (say) resistor, then a section fed by a 27 ohm resistor and finally a 47 ohm resistor, slowing as the resistance increased, before it stopped at the isolated section of track at the signal. (The isolated section must be long enough to accommodate the largest loco on the layout or two locos if you are double heading, or even two carriages in length if you are running two car DMUs with a powered car at one (indeterminate) end. The slave relays can lock (disconnect the power to) points in the now occupied section. If there is a junction in the occupied section then slave relays can seize (activate) occupancy relays for the section of track at the approaching junctions to prevent conflicting movements. The other switched relay, the release relay, activated as the train passes a signal, is used to momentarily break the the latch circuit for the occupancy relay of the section behind the now free section, clearing the signal etc. Another feature could be a station stop controlled by a monostable. If certain trains can identify themselves as being a shuttle service (such as a DMU running from a bay platform to another station's bay platform) it is easy to create such a system. Shuttle services have a magnet which activates a reed in the track, operating a relay which switches the (interlocked) point for the bay platform. Other traffic which takes a different route at a junction can be identified by using two magnets operating two reeds simultaneously (spaced apart the same distance as the magnets beneath the loco, acting as an AND gate), activating a relay which 'knows' to set the points at a junction. If you want to manually run a pick-up goods (or similar service) you just override the automatic system by throwing a switch which holds any occupancy relays at the approach to the section you are shunting and switches power to another controller. Its cab control with two operators; one human, the other a box of relays. Ok it involves lots of additional wiring but to me it is quite straightforward. I'm not sure if I could achieve the degree of control and flexibility (especially the 'operator or relay system' cab control) using DCC without a PC or getting to grips with micro-controllers. That's why I'm reluctant to adopt DCC. I do like some of its feature though, so who knows, I might be tempted to give it a try?

If you want to waste spend some time identifying unknown locations you could visit these wikimedia pages: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Unidentified_railway_stations_in_the_United_Kingdom https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Unidentified_locations_on_the_London_Underground https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Unidentified_steam_locomotives_of_the_United_Kingdom

The best controller I've ever had was one I built in the 1970s based on a diagram published in Electronic Circuits for Model Railways from Bernards & Babani Press. It used a Darlington pair emitter follower (I had to find a substitute for one of the transistors) with a rheostat with two switches in the off (zero ohms) position for the power. (I could only buy a rheostat with one switch which I used to activate a relay). It had both a throttle controller and a brake. I can't remember how the brake was wired into the system. You could simulate inertia by switching a capacitor into the circuit which discharged when you braked and charged when you accelerated giving much more realistic performance. The great feature of the controller was that one of the rheostat switches momentarily discharged full power into the base of the Darlington pair via another capacitor wired via a guard diode. The momentary spike of full power meant even the stickiest loco motor would overcome its initial starting torque. That feature made it a good controller from my point of view. I'm going back to the time when resistance mat controllers were the norm although commercial electronic controllers were available. I dug the book out sometime in the 1990s only to find the pages had turned dark brown, making it unreadable. I'm not sure about the level of electronics in modern (non-DCC) locos and how they would cope with an initial starting spike. I was once asked by my boss (when I worked for a large telecoms company) to solve a problem caused when a local hospital simulated a power cut to test their emergency generator. It killed the telephone system, blowing the PSU module. Mains filters didn't work, both the plug-in type and a more reliable (and costly) type which was the size, shape and weight of a house-brick. I put a pen-recorder on the output of the generator and found it was kicking out a 600v spike when it started. (That was very unusual: many transients and spikes could only be detected by another electronic box of tricks we used. The pen-recorder was much to slow to detect fast transients). I ordered a mains powered variable timer (monostable) from RS and wired it in series with the mains supply to the telephone system which cured the problem. The lesson was modern electronic systems don't like spikes so I'm reluctant to build another such controller. I found another copy of the same book on the inter-web but it too has brown pages. I think I'll pass on buying it! I might try and get a copy of the more up-to-date book, Practical Electronic Model Railway Projects, from the same publisher which gets mentioned earlier in this thread. In the meantime I'm tempted to buy a Morley Controller. DCC does look tempting though. The downside of DCC from my standpoint is the complexity (and kit) required to create an automatic system, coping with multiple trains on the same track.

Like these? An even higher resolution version can be found at https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Road_To_War_Q81792.jpg

Yes but can it order a pitza? On a more serious note thanks for sharing your experience of using that controller. I'm at the rolling stock accumulation stage and won't consider building a layout until I have tested loco hauling ability, and the different manufacturers track. (In TT:120 that means waiting for products to be developed). I have only ever used DC in the past and was thinking about buying a couple of Morley Controllers, based on positive comments about it here on RmWeb. The old H&M Duette will be put into storage now given the problems I have read about using it with some modern motor types. I find I am becoming drawn to DCC, especially now I have seen your controller with a nice physical speed control. What's it like at shunting speeds? I ensvision a tail chaser (with pointless passenger trains running round in circles, just to provide constant movement) but I want line-side industries (and coal mines) with lots of shunting movements.

Have you considered a career in the Royal Navy?

Thanks for the link. I always forget about the National Library of Scotland maps having become so used to the OS Old Maps site. I have just noticed what appear to be wagon turntables in the MR station train-shed. If the map was surveyed 1851 this would have been in use as a passenger station. (It became a goods station in 1870). I wonder what roll the wagon turntables played in stock movements? Perhaps short-wheelbase coaches used them?

A taxi driver walks into a pub after last orders and shouts, 'Taxi for Spartacus!' Well you did ask for a Spartacus joke.

Wow! That is so different as to how the S&T mechanical gang working on Sheffield no. 2 division (ex GCR) did things in the mid 1970s. They've got a crane! What luxury! On the two occasions I was involved in replacing a semaphore signal the first job was to dig a hole with a ramp. Then the post was slid into the ramp and two ropes would be attatched to the top of the post. The post would be raised and held roughly in position as the hole was quickly filled in. Then minor adjustments would be made to the posts orientation by winding a rope around the base of the signal, at chest height, multiple times which was lashed to a crow-bar, forming a cross. The crow bar was used to rotate the signal a few degrees to ensure the face of the square signal post was facing the direction of traffic. After this the ground would be tammped using a hand tamping tool, a circular mass on the end of a stout wood handle. Once the post was in position the fittings such as the ladder, the signal arm, counter balance and spectacle plate etc. would be fitted to the bare signal post. A sack was used to cover the signal arm prior to commisioning and change-over.

Thanks for the correction. It was very late when I posted that!

I feel so reassured now our Defence Secretary has made that statement.

From what I have read no one was hurt and the incident was due to poor wiring after a refit. Someone is going to get a 'Please explain' letter. Perhaps they was more used to DC but was asked to wire it for DCC?

It's about to be eaten by a giant Spoonbill.

Ramming was a tactic sometimes used in ancient naval warfare. It was abandoned when ships became so large that it was impossible to get enough trained oarsmen. https://archive.org/details/thosfirthsonslim00firtrich/page/76/mode/2up

I can remember working in the battery room, next to the switchboard at what was then Firth Brown Steel. An old framed map of the huge Tho. Firth (partly dual gauge) railway system had been abandoned there. It was to disappear only to turn-up on the wall of a manager's office at Gripple. Both Gripple and Firth Brown backed out onto this railway system which ran parallel to the route of the Sheffield and Rotherham Railway. The S&RR had a south-bound connection north to the North Midland Railway in Rotherham. Both were taken over by the Midland, which might explain the presence of a Midland wagon. Sheffield Wicker station was to become a goods only station when the Bradway tunnel and the 'new road' opened in 1870. When I worked on BR in the 1970s the Sheffield-to-Rotherham route to London, used if the 'new road' was ever closed for engineering works was still called the 'old road' by railwaymen. (An alternate route in times of closure of the 'new road' is via the curve at Nunnery Junction, picking-up the old GCR main line).

The wagons are also different though I would say one is a copy of the other? Or it could be the same wagon with one made by Peco, the other by Hornby!!!

My mistake. Looking again they are different!