britishcolumbian

2 hours ago, Wickham Green too said:

... presumably in Pennsylvania they pronounce it as in reading a book ! ...................... I'd always assumed that place was Redding too !

I said it as the verb once when I was a kid, visiting the States and playing Monopoly, and was very emphatically corrected that it's pronounced "Redding"... and since getting into railways in general, that's the only way I've ever heard it pronounced...

24 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

 

Well, yes, he was used to hearing the pronunciation used in one context and unfamiliar with the pronunciation used in a different context. We had an American visitor who, for the first five minutes, pronounced 'Reading' as if it was Reading, PA, but, being a skilled linguist, very quickly changed to pronouncing it appropriately for the Berkshire context. 

Now I'm confused: is Reading, England not pronounced "Redding"?

6 hours ago, osbornsmodels said:

Do you think  so when virtually all the available drawings are in feet and inches!! I don't find it easy when I then have to convert to mm. Not that difficult but certainly not 'easy'

Well 1:120 is your friend then! 1 inch = 10 feet! :)

28 minutes ago, Porfuera said:

And surely there is nothing intrinsically special about architect's scale being 1:100 - it is simply easier to divide a measurement by 100 if you're making a model, which is nice for TT100 but it isn't an insurmountable problem in other scales.

Quite, and 1:120 is just as convenient - 1 inch to 10 feet.

9 minutes ago, 009 micro modeller said:

I know, I just wonder what the point is of increasing the scale (to 1:150, compared to 1:160 for standard gauge Shinkansen in the case of Japanese N) if it’s still not increased enough to actually scale correctly to the gauge. Otherwise it would seem sensible to just make everything the same scale.

 

I think the main factor behind Japan going with 1:150 on 9 mm is size. Japanese dwellings tend to be much smaller than even British and European ones (nevermind North America!), and in that context, 1:120 is a *lot* bigger than 1:150. The arrival of 9 mm gauge opened the possibility for railway modelling to become a mass hobby in Japan, but Kato decided that using the international standard of 1:160 would look too wrong, so opted for 1:150, which looks a good bit less wrong, as you still have the impression of narrow gauge.

32 minutes ago, 009 micro modeller said:

Although still not enough, to be accurate for Cape gauge it ideally needs to be 1:120. T gauge (and the slightly obscure ZZ) has a similar issue despite being originally developed in Japan.

Yes, and TTj does exist, but it is very niche and eye-wateringly expensive. I saw a Tenshodo D51 in 1:120 advertised some time in the 90s, for the then-equivalent of $3000 - could get a very good used car for that price back then.

Edit to add: NZ120 is fairly common and uses the same setup, 1:120 on 9 mm track, and I know of a few people who've done some South African and Rhodesian outline models like that, too, and one person has done Canadian National's Newfoundland operations in 1:120/9mm as well. I've long been mildly tempted to dabble in a bit of Rhodesian modelling, but... I'm tempted by a lot.

3 hours ago, Railpassion said:

After being enthusiastic about TT120 as a concept, and having had a TT continental layout for a time, yesterday I finally saw the Hornby range at Monk Bar Models in York. 

 

My first impression was that it's too small. It was quite a shock to see the scale close up, Flying Scotsman, the 08, and HST.  I was strangely disconcerted and underwhelmed, it simply did not work artistically. I never expected to say it, but I think that 3mm 100 is a much more satisfying size and scale. 

I saw the 3mm 100 diesels at the York Show and felt the were immediately attractive in shape and size. 

 

There is something psychological about scale, and it's no coincidence that 1:100 is architect's scale. 

 

 

 

 

 

But that's the thing... British equipment really is just that small.

I've wanted to get into British modelling for years, and I was really eyeing the 3mm scale stuff to at least keep the common track gauge with my other models, but in the end I just really couldn't get over the discrepancy, how oversized it looked. TT:120 came, and now I'm here too.

Japan doing N at 1:150 scale/9 mm gauge makes some sense, because the narrow-gauge appearance is a good thing, since Japan runs on Cape gauge. But a 1:101 Class 22 on 12 mm gauge being bigger than a Hungarian M41 in 1:120 on the same gauge is just... wrong. Though that might be because, being used to Continental and North American equipment, the smallness of British equipment has always been apparent to me.

6 hours ago, The Johnster said:

Well, bits of it are!  Hopefully without the Mittelengelander marketing

No, nothing like that, just the cairn in the pics in the link. Actually, I didn't even know about the cairn until I did a google search for Tintagel, BC, looking to reply to your post here. There's a lot in northern BC to see, but I haven't yet been north of 100 Mile House in the west and Tete Jaune Cache near the border with Alberta. Maybe one day soon.

Thanks for that lengthy reply, though, that was fascinating reading. The entire thing of myths and mysteries is something I can relate to with Hungarian history, there's precious little from before the 12th century that we can know for sure, and virtually nothing from "our own" sources, rather having to rely on Byzantine, Persian, Arabic, and other writers, especially for the period before the Magyars crossed the Carpathians, when they were allied with the Khazar Khaganate... but that's waaaay off topic now.

On 19/04/2024 at 17:28, The Johnster said:

Depends which side you're on, but I tend in general not to be on that of the Normans.  Owain Glyndwr; national hero and the inspiration for modern Welsh institutions, and resistor of a murderous usurper, or a treacherous and treasonous rebel leader who destroyed more than half of his own country for no gain (both are valid viewpoints).  I was a little unprepared for the sudden release of my inner Welsh nationalist a few years ago prompted by the English flags on display all around the village of Tintagel.  Tintagel has an anglicised name in the Cornish language, Kernoweck, and Arthur, if he existed, was a saxon's worst possible nightmare, a Romano-British chieftain capable of effectively uniting opposition to them.  Welsh legends do not have him as a king, never mind the 'true king of all Britain', though there was a High King of the Isles at one time; he is described as Dux Bellorum, war leader.  Tintagel is a travesty.

Tintagel is in British Columbia!

https://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMHQCR_Tintagel_Castle_Stone_Tintagel_British_Columbia_Canada

On 19/04/2024 at 05:47, 97406 said:

 

Not all do. Edward Colston for instance.  https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-67370120

Would never have thought that when I took a photo of it in September 2019 that it would soon be gone...

That said, I suspect it'll be 3 mm Society to turn to for British steam locomotive drivers...

North West Short Line also has suitable wheels, and Modmüller in Germany (https://www.muellerradsatz.de/c/tt-radsaetze) have TT wheelsets for NEM, BTTB, and NMRA RP-25 standards.

7 hours ago, Morello Cherry said:

I'd like to nominate pretty much every single station on the Cambrian coast and Conway valley lines in the 1980s/90s. No stations were absolutely terrible but the journey was just grim and depressing because they all seemed so bleak. Tywyn by that point I think had all the windows bricked up. My guess is probably just Machynlleth, Aberystwyth and Llandudno Junction were staffed.

 

Searching flickr unsurprisingly does not bring up many photos of the station but these ones of Llanrwst North captures the vibe nicely. Maybe my memory is playing tricks on me but pretty much this was the look for every single station on the line (which had a building still standing and not a bus shelter).

 

It's not even like BR had the excuse that they were running the lines down for closure either.

 

 

 

Shame, too, as that's a very pretty building.

17 hours ago, pH said:

- in the inset, BNSF appear to have taken over the Skytrain system and, presumably, would now be running trains on it.

Now THAT would be entertaining to see...

On 06/04/2024 at 22:54, TheSignalEngineer said:

Early in the thread someone mentioned Spring Road in Birmingham. This picture of the Up platform building shows when it was approaching its worst. 

(Picture from https://www.warwickshirerailways.com/gwr/springroad.htm)

 

I started commuting from there two years later when the original building had been rep[laced by an Abacus shelter. The gas lights had gone but I remember that before the new electric lighting was commissioned the platforms were lit by temporary electric lighting which consisted of bulbs hanging from a festoon cable supported on wooden posts planted in cable drums full of ballast.

I notice the adverts seem to be in good condition, though.

Yes, I'd heard about this when they first announced, thought, cool, more TT, but promptly forgot about it as being far out of my areas of interest. Maybe eventually they'll make something Portuguese outline? Either way... it is definitely a good development as it grows the scale.

28 minutes ago, Gordonwis said:

 

Yes, I mentioned the bi-foudres because that is exactly what you already have behind the loco in your lead-off post - twin barrel wine wagons. No wine in Brittany so if they were used they would almost certainly not have Etat railway markings. Most Bi-foudres had private owner markings plus railway allocation PLM or PO-Midi for wine wholesalers in the south of France or the Paris region. I recommend you letter them up as the latter. Here is an example:  

 

http://www.maquetland.com/article-phototheque/10558-wagon-bi-foudre-1910-sete-2016

Thanks for that link, the photos are great. I was just scanning through another article on them, at https://trainconsultant.com/2020/09/21/le-wagon-foudre-sa-vie-son-oeuvre-discutable/ , but I'll have to give it a better read when I'm less tired. But it's more of a history of barrel wagons in general.

49 minutes ago, TT100 Diesels said:

PS - That man Chris Nevard, he is a bit handy with a camera

Quite. He, along with Lezlinilzen terepasztala (his Hungarian equivalent) are just about the only things I bother to look at on FB...

8 minutes ago, Andy Hayter said:

Plus the typical translation of foudre is lightning

I first learned it in a very different context...

43 minutes ago, Andy Hayter said:

Bi-foudres are the wagons you have with 2 (bi-) barrels (foudres) used for moving wine in bulk from principally the South of France towards the agglomerations to the North.

 

 

Thanks for the translation... my French (Québecois) is enough to get by on a day-to-day basis, but there's a great deal of more specialised terminology that I don't know. Like barrels.

Even better then - I won't have to try to build or CAD-draw the bilevels! Just get some more bi-foudres, maybe a few vans, and I'm set... (well, and find references for making État-era appropriate lettering for the bi-foudres, as they are they're SNCF)

11 hours ago, Gordonwis said:

The most plausible vignette I can come up with is a small layout serving a warehouse (perhaps  bottling plant?), where the bi-foudres arrive from either Paris or further afield (usually south) 

According to the fr.wikipedia article on the class,

Quote

Après remise en état pour certaines, elles furent affectées au dépôt de Rennes où elles effectuèrent un service d'omnibus et de marchandises. Par la suite elles furent ventilées vers les dépôts de Caen, Dieppe, Dol-de-Bretagne, Argentan, Laval, Paris-Vaugirard et Saintes.

So I'd guess your idea would be fitting. I like your bottling plant idea, it'd give a reason for my wine barrel cars to be present, too...

By "bi-foudres" do you mean these https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiture_à_étage_État ?

6 hours ago, Gordonwis said:

 

Another source suggests they only ran regularly for about 16 years and in a limited area, which is quite limited usage IMHO.

 

Well, either way, the locomotive existed and was used in France, the model exists, I have the model, and I might want to do something with it/centred on it, so it's the information about its service that I'm after. The TGV may be iconic, but it's incredibly tangential to steam operations in Brittany...

57 minutes ago, Gordonwis said:

This model comes into the category of 'very tangentially French' railway models in various scales produced by German manufacturers - who in order to say they had produced something French issued repaints of German prototypes - such models are generally referred to as 'Francisé /  'Frenchified'.

I think Beckmann's reasons for producing this had little to do with wanting to be able to say they made something French, and more for the sake of having something to sell to the Sammler who buy one of everything... :P

59 minutes ago, Gordonwis said:

My personal categorisation for these is as follows:  

1) very / incredibly tangential 🤣 (ie spent little of very little time in France or were early withdrawals)

2) 'worth the effort'  - ie prototypes that spent an extended period running in France and /or survived into 'modern SNCF era

 

Personally I have never invested in a model in category 1 (I work in N scale) but I have a collection of stuff in category 2

 

Category 1 includes the type under discussion here, plus things like 

Hm, does 25 units running for 20+ years on French rails count as "incredibly tangential"? Okay, perhaps unknown on most of the network, but from what I'm gathering seems they were regulars in pre-war Brittany. And, if only 15 were taken back to Germany during the war, that should mean ten continued on with SNCF after the war, too?

I didn't pay for it, though - I've never invested in a French model other than two coaches to build a mid-90s Orient Express consist; I got this as part of an "inheritance" - a member of our local TT club passed away, and we got to have his trains. This was one of the pieces I chose, because it's pretty and it's unique.

1 hour ago, Gordonwis said:

Category 2 includes much better known SNCF classes including 150X (DRG 44), 150Y (DRG 52),  040D (DRG 55), 1-230F (ie Est region 230F - Prussian P8, DRG 38).

Off the top of my head, I know the 150Y has been done in TT, 90% sure the 1-230F has been done, and I *think* the 150X has been done by a small producer ("Kleinserienhersteller").

2 hours ago, natterjack said:

When we can print at 0.1mm thickness with 0.05mm surface detail and fully developed curvature I'll concede brass has lost much of its role. Meanwhile, Worsley Works provide aids rather than kits with much to be sourced or made by the modeller, a situation not helped by the recent closure of N Brass Locos.

Well, that situation (re Worsley Works) obtains elsewhere in the TT world, even in Germany; full, complete kits are a rarity, most do require some effort and modelling skill.

30 minutes ago, natterjack said:

While I appreciate and encourage developments in 3D printing, I don't see much mention of etched brass, and weren't some of the Finney and Edge O and O kits reduced for 3mm scale? To my mind mixed media of brass and 3D print would offer the required fidelity to those prepared to build their own, and yes gears etc are available and I have made my own bespoke wheels with 3D centres and N Gauge tyres.

Worsley Works offer a few British outline etches in 1:120 (Classes 58 and 66), and have said they're completely open to producing their etches in 1:120, the one caveat being that if what you're ordering doesn't fill in a sheet, you'll have to wait a bit until the sheet is filled. As things are looking, eventually I'll be availing myself of their services for a Class 101 and perhaps more. But other etchers would of course also be very welcome.

As for 3D printing - if you last looked at it 4, 5 years ago, you must look again - it's advanced light-years over the last little while, and getting to where the results are actually good, with a bit of care and effort.