Gibbo675

WHAT REALLY ANNOYS ME IS WHEN PEOPLE SHOUT ON THE INTERNET.

DON'T THEY KNOW HOW TO SWITCH OFF THE CAPS LOCK?

Dear Peter,

I am very sorry to tell you not only am I hard of hearing but also hard of thinking, perhaps if you were to use RED I might actually pay attention.

Do I earn myself a "P" or a "U" for that ?

Perhaps "G" for goon !

Gibbo.

Morning

 

This may sound a tad pathetic but I was wondering about how to best respond to anyone who adds comments or likes topics you create. Apart from the Long winded tested reply, is there a thank you icon or emoji you can use? Similarly if some gives you a "like" or "clever" Tec is there a life way of acknowledging that.

 

 

Apologies if this naive or sounds a bit limp!

Hi There,

We need a button with a great big "P" on it for pedant and a great big "U" for uncharitable.

That said I shall be careful of what I wish for, I might get some "P's" for some of my comments !!!

Gibbo.

I don't think there are any, as none of the available container models match the Manchester Liner types.

I have built one using photo paper printed panels.

Hi Mark,

Good idea I hadn't thought of doing that.

I have an old Triang Manchester Liners 30' container which I have cheered up with some light grey paint which although not correct is passable by my standards. I might put it onto the scanner and see how it turns out, a couple more would be nice.

Gibbo.

I have always regarded your photography as a very fine example of the 'craft' ..... and craftsmanship is much to be desired in this day and age. You also have and 'eye' for a composition which is where the debate gets more complex and craft and art could be said to collide (you can be possessed of all the craft in the world and still produce mediocrity).

 

However, if we think of photographers such as Man Ray, or Henri Cartier Bresson (to take 2 disparate historic examples at random) I think the term 'artist' is hard to dispute, whatever your own personal tastes?

I have seen some VERY artistic photos in my time.

Oo-err missus, Arf-Arf !

Cloak and dagger or prudence given in due course there may be commercial compensation negotiations, or worse, litigation?

Hi John,

Silence is indeed golden is such circumstances.

Admitting to poor engineering, even should that be the case, would cause absolute chaos for all steam operations period.

Gibbo

H Folks,

A lot of LMS and BR Std locos had a small hook underneath the back of the buffer plank to which the loose end of the shackle was to be stowed. LMS shackles had a fixed tommy bar and could be slid through the shackle loop keeping it up and out of the way.

AWS protection plates were fitted to protect the receivers mounted on the fronts of leading trucks and bogies and not to protect the track mounted ramps, the shackle should not hang so low as to strike the rails, if it does then the springs and axle boxes need more attention than the shackle does.

Hanging the shackle from its own hook is vary bad practice for should it not be lifted down and another shackle placed over it it causes a point loading on the tip of the hook stretching it open and giving rise to possible failure, also should the train be jolted then the top shackle may be thrown off allow the train to divide. Part of the draw gear maintenance procedures includes a check upon the throat gap of the hook and also wear to the root of the hook and loops, pins and trunnions of the shackles for this sort of reason.

Brake and team heat pipes must be stowed upon their brackets or chains as the can foul track work and be ripped off or their fitting damaged.

Gibbo.

Normally, no. I would only do that if I thought the operating company was withholding information for no apparent reason. The A1 Trust is reporting that repairs are almost complete and I think that's great. My only concern is if they don't know what caused to problem in the first place, how do they know it won't happen again?

 

Why do we need all the "cloak and dagger" stuff? I hope there's a simple explanation for the failure. If there isn't, I wouldn't blame NR for banning Tornado, and I think that would be a great shame.

 

If you haven't already guessed, I'm all in favour of running live steam on NR. What I'm not in favour of is withholding information for no good reason. The A1 trust either knows damn-well what caused the failure, or it doesn't. If it doesn't it has no business reporting that it has it fixed. It's one of those "cake and have it too" situations.

 

Improved Venn Diagram incoming.

 

Cheers

Andy

Hi Andy,

The locomotive was fresh off the works after a V&P overhaul and it is my guess that unfortunately the root cause is likely that the measuring sticks used were either incorrectly read, not properly calibrated against test bars, someone got their sums wrong or the ring gaps were incorrectly set.

In a locomotive with three sets of valves there are six heads with either four or six rings on each head, this makes either twenty four or thirty six ring grooves to machine into the heads and the same number of rings to fit to those heads. The clearances and tolerances involved with the fitting and setting up of valve rings are quite fine and required precise work. The diameters of the the front and back heads are usually a nominal 1/8" different to enable the valve to be more easily fitted, depending upon liner wear that figure may be reduced. Should the difference be around 1/16" or less then it would be possible to swap a front head for a back head and the assembly would allow fitting within the liner, although unlikely, possible

If you want my take upon the situation then look up my post a page or two back in which  give the probable reasons for that class of failure.

I look for ward to your improved Venn diagram, mine was pulled from the net some years ago.

Gibbo.

Arran some suggestions for future liveries, CTI, Sea Containers, SSI, Interpool, CATU, XTRA and the early NYK orange.

There are some good photos that show the markings here: http://www.robx1.net/index/t_ctrosc.htm

Hi Mark,

Would you know if anyone does transfers for Manchester Liners ?

Gibbo.

On the subject of German looking stuff have a look at this,

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RARE-BRASS-TRIX-22718-FINE-ART-DIGITAL-LOK-SOUND-DRG-MAFFIE-T18-TURBO-LOCO-/401582120082?hash=item5d8028dc92

It has that word RARE in the header and at that price I'll take a dozen.

Gibbo.

Being instantly recognisable is not of itself a virtue. After all the swastika is instantly recognisable and for a while was applied to trains as part of a countrywide "corporate" image. Thankfully it never went global like the McDonald's logo.

Hi Colin,

The Swastika,or to give it its correct English name the Gammadion is actually a representation of the constellation of the plough in relation to the pole star at the time of the equinox and solstace's, that is when the sun enters the cusp the four cardinal points of the zodiac, Aries, Libra, Cancer and Capricorn.

Hitler and those at the Thule Society nabbed it and it has been dismissed as a sign of evil ever since.

Note for the PC brigade;  None of the above makes me a NAZI.

Gibbo.

Hi Folks,

I very much like the Airfix / Dapol kits and have just ordered another ten Presflo wagons to go with the six I have just built, I think twenty two of them will be a good number to finish on. All will be finished in BR bauxite and will have minor livery details altered such as white or bauxite ladders, black or bauxite buffer beams etc., with transfers from Railtec.

They run just fine with the wheels they come with although fitting metal wheels and bearings can be done it doesn't seem worth the trouble and expense.

My latest project is to motorise a Rocket kit which is looking tricky but possible. No doubt it won't pull the skin off a rice pudding when it's finished !

I still look out on eBay for the old Kitmaster stuff as there are few kits that I haven't yet built but there is no rush having built all of the Airfix /Dapol range still available.

The best bit is the satisfaction that when built it is another train of stuff that I have made and not just from an opened box.

Gibbo.

My other hobby, 9 Star Wars costumes so far. It makes model railways look cheap as a hobby

Apologies to Mr TurboSnail for going off topic here.

Hi Gareth,

I'm happy with just the Storm Trooper, saw the silly film in 1977 and thought they were the business then, I have also made myself a set of 180 AD Roman Armour.

Gibbo.

Blimey, that's a lot of support. It doesn't look too hard to remove in OO but could be an issue down in N. Perhaps Shapeways is an option after all. Be interested to see how it comes out in N support wise.

Never mind trains!

Is that really you in your avatar ?

This is really me !

Maddest ever plastic kit I've ever built.

Gibbo.

Ambitious programme there - many thanks for sharing!

 

What adhesive did you use - and did you reinforce the shuts with plasticard?

 

Cheers

 

Phil

Hi Phil,

It certainly is ambitious, I've 39 Mk1's to get through and that's before I start on a similar number of Mk2's.

As for the cut and shuts they are glued together with Revel Contacta Proffesional (except that I'm an amateur) making sure that the pieces fit up as well as I can get them to by filling to fit and arranging them along a steel straight edge.

When I glue them I rub the joint, that is I press the pieces together and then move them up and down before aligning the top edge of the sections with the steel straight edge on a flat surface. One thing to look out for is that the sections are sometimes slightly different in depth and so I shim them up using bits of paper so that they present a flat surface on the coach side without any steps.

I don't use any reinforcing however I do glue the sides to the ends and the under frame with the rebate in the roof section taking care of the top edge.

Gibbo.

Hi all

 

We need a MK1 BFK in 4mm - bashing other Bachmann coaches to get the right configuration looks the best bet. An FK and a BSK look suitable donors but is going to need at least 4 cuts and 3 shuts - that BFK Brake area is a pain....

 

Would those who have already gone down this road have words of wisdom to share please? 

 

Many thanks

 

Phil

Hi Phil,

Here are my various Mk1 cut and shuts which I did last year and yet need painting, I got bored and started on some DMU's, Freightliners and Presflos instead.

I'm not sure how useful these photos will because the coaches have been sanded down and the joints are quite difficult to see but they are there. The BFK was made form the non corridor side of Hornby composites and the Hornby BSO which was shunted along. The other cut and shuts are an FO, FK, SO/SK and BG. The RMB and SLEP are standard but the unusual is the Leyland coach made from Hornby 142 bodies which I have attached for interest.

Gibbo.

Hi Phil,

 

We get a lot of the old "trust us, we know what we're doing" argument around here too, but it usually turns out to be complete CENSORED.

 

The A1 Trust has been drip-feeding lots of cheery "we got it fixed" messages, but I don't think any of them talk to the root-cause of the failure. Forgive me, but that sounds like a load of marketing to me.

 

Can't have it both ways. Colour me cynical.

 

Andy

This is a very colourful cynicism Venn diagram, hope you like it.

Gibbo.

Jon

 

Fascinating project and I wish you well with it, I used to love travelling on the old rattlers!

 

Maybe it's something you don't wish to pursue but just an idea here. Maybe it would be worth your while to set the layout up for post-BR operations as well as your original design, this would mean having some form of portable OLE of course but apart from that I don't think the Interchange has altered too much since BR days.

 

As you probably know, diesel locos (and maybe even steam, a J94 or similar rings a bell) from the ELR have sometimes assisted with PW works on the Metrolink, thinking 37s and 03s here and indeed I saw a BR Blue 03 at Man Vic when I was based there in the late 1990s, think it had a couple of Seacows in tow. It was stabled just before the tight curves leading out of the station, obviously there is no way anything 'main line' would be able to traverse that formation!

Hi There,

Manchester Ship Canal 0-6-0 No. 32 in the livery of Thomas the Tank Engine was used on ballast trains in about 1994 or there about. It was used because of its diminutive loading gauge, its ability to traverse tightly curved track with its radial knuckled coupling rods and that a steam engine on Metrolink was a jolly out.

The ballast was loaded at the ELR's Buckley Wells site and then worked by No. 32 to the work site and then to Manchester Victoria to allow the locomotive to run around its train for its return to Bury.

One evening Trevor Jones who was then the ELR's Board Chairman was challenged by some Rozzers as to why he was parked up at the Bury Old Road ESSO station near the bridge over the M62 in the early hours of the morning, he told them he was waiting for Thomas the Tank Engine. They were most unimpressed and said if he didn't move on he would be in bother, Trevor refused because he was waiting for Thomas, and was then told he would be done for wasting police time. Thomas duly arrived, chuffed over the bridge and with the Rozzers not knowing what to say were bid farewell by Trevor.

Gibbo.

Having not, as far as I recall, seen a container with the blue, rather than red stripe, I got in touch with a former colleague who in times past, worked for Freightliner in Ireland and BR at Southampton, he responded as follows:-

 

"The blue striped ISO containers were prevalent on the Lo/Lo (lift on/lift off) service between Albert Johnson Quay, Portsmouth and the Channel Islands.  The service was operated by BR's Shipping & International Services Division, it commenced in 1972 when BR's conventional cargo service from Southampton Docks and Weymouth ceased to operate.  I believe the containers had full S&ISD lettering and BR symbol in white on the blue stripe, but cannot be 100% certain.  The containers were used on a Marine Service Circuit and probably did not see much use on the Freightliner rail network although they were fitted with ISO fastenings.  The Lo/Lo service was very much a roadbourne related activity and was short lived with the containers being stored out of use by 1977 prior to the creation of Sealink as a BR susiduary in 1979.  I do not know how the containers were disposed of post 1977.

 

With regard to the Irish Container Service, this was a Freightliner operation as most of the traffic used the Freightliner rail network at some stage of its journey, as far as I am aware the containers used all bore the red stripe livery.  Note that Freightliner was part of the National Freight Corporation from 1968 to August 1978 when it returned to BR control, whereas the S&ISD remained part of BR throughout."

 

I'm not sure how much this information helps to answer the original query, but it appears that, at least until 1977/8, containers with the blue stripe livery belonged to BR, whilst the far more numerous red striped versions belonged to the National Freight Corporation (Freightliner).  Is it possible that the BR containers were used on services other than to the Channel Islands, could they have been used for road/sea deliveries to the Scottish Isles for eaxmple ?

Hi There,

Some excellent information from you there, your livery details described are as the container pictured above as posted by Arran. The channel islands workings are a new piece of the puzzle and would fit well with the way Irish traffic might have been worked, most of the photos I have seen have either been in the yards in Manchester on Irish / Holyhead bound trains as my own posting shews above or actually somewhere along the north Wales coast route.

The containers seem quite elusive on trains and your information points toward the reasons for this so I may have gone a bit mad painting four in this livery when one might have been plenty!

The other good thing to note is the dates of operation as my railway is intended to be Lancashire WCML in 1974.

Thanks again,

Gibbo.

What is the problem if it is not you they are after, why act on behalf of someone who may not exist?

Let the named person worry about it.

 

Here are over 100 letters addressed to T.H.E. Occupier from TVLA, most of them unopened and as many have been thrown away. According to them I have been under investigation for about 10 years. Some are threatening me with court action. I am waiting to give them back to THE MAN they keep threatening me with if he ever turns up.

I'll just keep on ignoring them. I wonder how much all this costs the licence payers.

TVLA 2.jpg

It costs them nothing at all for all the so called money is "magiked" out of thin air. Do try explaining that to most folk though although I guess you have already tried that trick and mostly failed.

The BBC is an off shoot of the Tavistock Institute and has strong connections to the Fabian Society both excellent reasons not to pay for such apaling filth.

Beware the illusion created by the idiot lantern !

A pale sky blue with daylight spectrum lamps, this way the light upon your layout will not be yellowed from either the direct lamps or any reflected light, this will allow detail to shew up better. White paint will reflect a too great section of the red and yellow light causing a false dullness to appear, a bit like turning the light on in the evening and it seeming to get darker.

Nearhomer's shade shewn above is what you need.

Edit; I have remembered the paint shade I used, it was Farrow and Ball's Borrowed Light although being a cheapskate I had it mixed using the paint code at a Johnstone's outlet.

Hi Jon,

I spotted a post by a chap called cheesysmith on Siganaller69's project page which he seems to think that DC kits have re-released the 504 body kit. Below is a link to page 19, it is the first post on the page.

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/112980-signaller69s-projects-class-303-build/page-19

I hope this is of use to you.

Gibbo.

But why put it in a comparatively vulnerable place, at the other end of the loco and below the tank level? Surely a filler on the bunker top would be easier, more secure and less prone to potential leakage.

Interestingly the photos I've seen suggest the tube is only on the front end of the 040t, not on the rear and not on the six coupled locos.

It does look like there's something between the frames it connects to, but that's where the cylinders are, so whatever it is can't be that big.

 

Is there a possibility that the pipe is an outlet of water/steam for some reason?

Hi Folks,

I wondered if the pipe was there to be used as some sort of mobile steam supply also. There could be a connection to the steam chest and the supply could be operated from the cab using the regulator so long as the locomotive is in mid gear, brakes on with the drain cocks shut.

An oil tank filler is also quite plausible but it would have a shut off or non return cock just behind the connections or the head of oil within the pipe would drain out upon disconnection and such valves are not evident.

Gibbo.

That seems a bit overkill - what exactly are Metrolink supposed to do? Send out one letter and forget about it!

 

I’m afraid your attitude is symptomatic of the legalistic mindset that only thinks of themselves / exposure to litigation above all else.

 

If a mistake has been made the courteous response by any right thinking person should be to inform the relevant organisation / person of that mistake first and give them a chance to remedy the situation.

 

Letters to MPs and the press should only be employed if this inital request is not acted on or if there is an overriding public safety / data protection type issue - and a fare doger giving out a false address is certainly not one of those.

 

Until anyone tells them otherwise Metrolink have every right to assume that the address given to the ticket inspector by the guilty party is legitimate and as such are perfectly entitled to keep sending letters to the address that has been given threatening further action.

 

Thus it makes no difference whether the W124bob has recieved 1, 6, or 60 letters from Metrolink - the question simply is have they informed Metrolink of the true situation? If they have done so, but still recieve letters then obviously further measures may be needed but if they have simply done nothing then Metrolink have every right to continue to assume that the address they have for the fare doger is correct.

 

I would therefore advise the W124bob to write to / e-mail Metrolink (thus having proof that this has been done) stating that the person the letter is meant for does not reside at the address the letter has been sent and request all relevant references to W124bob’s address are removed from Metrolink file on the fare dodger.

Hi Phil,

I was only giving possible ideas should a sensible letter not work and I was not clear in this, however;

My charming local council once sent me a letter demanding to know why I had parked a car outside my house.

1. The car was not my car to start with.
2. If you read their so called evidence, which was a copy of the notice left upon the car in question the council would have seen that the traffic warden had written no.4 crossed it out and then written no.2 which was confused with my house no.42.
3. I sent my polite letter of explanation citing the above and would they please correct their records which may be checked through the DVLA.
4. I I telephoned the council after they resent the letter to further explain their mistake and to make more thorough enquiries to establish the actual problem.
5. I ended up with a court summons for not only having a car that was not mine parked outside someone else's house but for ignoring their correspondance.
6. I took the both the council letters and summons to the court in an attempt to explain what had been sent and what I had done about it, only to be told that I should have spoken to the council about the matter and that should I have done so the summons would not have been issued.
7. A letter to my MP finally sorted it out, not that his response gave me any confidence, I feel more that the agencies involved didn't want any paperwork coming their way.

Bitter experience tells me why I wrote the above for when such corporate entities decide not to listen they just don't listen. I was shocked at the appalling attitude of the above mentioned agencies that are hell bent on riving money from you despite it being their mistake. I dread to think how much defending myself in court would have cost me because of their mistake no doubt I would have been quite out of pocket for their clerical error.

Regards,

Gibbo.

A couple of letters have been delivered to my adddress with a name which is not mine or belonging to anyone nearby, someone caught fare dodging on consecutive days on Metrolink. Should I just ignore them?

Any fare dodger would have been on video should they haven been on the tram at the time, request the video of the fare dodger which ought to prove that it was not you. It is for Metrolink to prove it actually was you and not the other way around, whatever you do, do NOT sign any of their paperwork as this may enliven any adhesion contract they push your way.

Another good trick is to write to your MP about the harassment from Metrolink because there is no way you would do that if you were guilty.

Best of luck,

Gibbo.

Hi Mr TA,

I had a thought today that might be of interest, would a wall papering table be a good space saving base to build a small layout in. It would fold quite flat and be stowed under a bed or down the side of a wardrobe and open out into a fairly good size while being a bit more rigid that a shoe box. You might have to invent pop up buildings though !

Good luck wit the shoe box scheme all the same.

Gibbo.