Malcolm 0-6-0

Well in Australia every separate colony demonstrated that it was its inalienable right to have a separate gauge to every other colony. In Victoria, for what reason God alone only knows, we have the 5'3" Irish gauge, while our fellow colonists in NSW colony wisely went for standard. That meant that everyone who travelled to Sydney for the next century on the overnight train had to wake up at the Victorian/NSW border and change trains. It was only in the 1960s nearly 60 years after Federation) that this idiotic anomaly was overcome by standardising the main rail link. By which time air travel and buses had cut the number of people using rail so it became uneconomical. As you sow, so shall you reap. In our smallest state Tasmania, the gauge is 3' something probably because it's the smallest state and the locals aspire to be cute and cuddly, if their fatuous local Green politicians are anything to go by. Nostalgia is a wonderful thing but believe me getting woken up at 1 in the morning just after you've finally nodded off to sleep to change trains because of ancient colonial rivalries is a pain in the posterior.

Call that a war - just wait'll the BBC does The War of the Gauges. See the horrifying depiction of Isambard Kingdom Brunel transformed into a death ray dealing monster with three, yes count them, three legs as he smites the proponents of standard gauge with jets of super heated steam and cigar smoke. See England's green and pleasant land terrorised by giant clones of the Lord of the Isles as it's great wheels crush helpless women and children and hapless British Tommys. And coming next year from the BBC an even more epic drama Nationalisation and the ruthless rise to power of British Rail. And wait to you see their reality TV show Which is better OO or O? ..... I could go on but I won't.

That's interesting - how do you proposed to do the fluted dome and valve housing?

Propeller driven locomotives are excellent for reducing the problem of overcrowded platforms

That's was after he told her that lavender didn't suit her and she threw him under the train.

Him "Look Beatrice, it's a GWR broad gauge wonder!! Oh gosh I wish I was an engine driver!!!" Her "Yes dear, very nice I'm sure. Now about my new outfit. You haven't told me that lavender suits me"

Which of course puts one in mind of Nth Korea where a claimed people's socialist democratic republic is actually ruled by a family that is hereditary monarchy in all but name, maintained in power by an alliance between that family and the armed forces.

And this Mick then, and where would yez loik me to be taking him to? Paddy

Now there was a man ahead of his times.

Well looking at it I see an overly short boilered engine with no firebox, which is pretty much a non starter (pardon the joke). What you have is a small shunting engine body on top of a large engine type chassis, which means one or the other is out scale. If you are going for a 4-4-2T, that means extending the boiler rearwards and then adding a firebox. Then that would mean reducing the length of the cab which seems out of scale for the basic concept, which then would allow you to give it a bigger coal bunker to suit the needs of a 4-4-2T. Just a suggestion.

What has been seen cannot be unseen

All this talk of adhesion and the use of magnets when combined with electronic pulses leads inexorably to the creation of a railgun, which would then lead equally inexorably to the dubious and perhaps unique honour of being the first model train builder to be shut down by the anti-terrorism authorities. "But your honour I was only recreating an Edwardian era shunting yard in OO scale" may go down as one of the weaker defence pleas in living memory

That's a complicated accident - looks like there were three trains involved, or was the one at the left just an innocent bystander.

We're too laconic for that.

It was wonderful wasn't it - I heard the recording of it on the radio. To me Mahler does as you say "distil the whole vast scope of the human condition".

I don't know about the haube but he was certainly pickled most of the time.

I rate Mahler up there with Beethoven in terms of his imagination and breadth of his symphonies.

Aaaargh!! Henry that's the last time I'm letting you cook supper!

More to the point how do they manage to keep it dusted - my layout is a dust magnet.

How appropriate, I note that famine is wearing blue. Perhaps that is an allegory for the loss of livelihood for the firemen.

My wallet just ran screaming into hiding.

It is an exposed and dangerous place that footplate - imagine driving through rain or a snow storm in that environment. However watching the two videos it is still amazing how there is that discernible leap in the technology between Rocket and Planet and their successors in such a short time.

Yes it is one of those things that seem to be going full circle. Things like the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turbosail ot the other alternative the Rotor Ship https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotor_ship . Interesting ideas and quite efficient in some circumstances. Although the emission reduction aspect is somewhat nullified by the need for some form of conventional motor to drive them. Presumably solar cells and batteries for work at night but I suspect a bit of an engineering nightmare to find room for all that and cargo. Nearly 50 years ago when I was in my middle twenties I worked for a period in a shipping agency where I had to, amongst other things, turn out at all hours to meet incoming ships. I remember one arrival where the ship was guided into the dock by tugs then swung to line it up with the wharf, but done with a little more gusto than was necessary. The ship moved sideways rather rapidly straight at the wharf and smacked into it with considerable force and everything on the wharf including us and cars all got lifted into the air. Fortunately the wharf's pilings were springy but the effect was something to behold. So I hope these remote control crew less ships have better means of control.

They may have been, but well into the 20th century sailing ships carrying cargo were still plying the world's oceans using manpower to do the hard work. While in the 19th century until steam power and coaling facilities both improved, sail was still used as a reserve source of propulsion. However this was really after steam power was first applied to propulsion of ships. So the use of a steam engine to power a ship was quite early and if memory serves was about coincidental with the first applications of steam power to create the proto-locomotives. It was really just like the early days of the automobile when their use had to be carefully planned to consider the availability of petrol stations, although I don't believe that anyone seriously considered extending the chassis to carry a horse in reserve. * *They might have but I suspect that having a horse breathing down your neck while you're driving would have deterred even the most eccentric inventor.

I noticed that occurring and wondered if it would have happened with the full scale machine. In theory it's a design better suited for a tricycle design with the front single wheel running in an inverted channel girder. In fact, dare I suggest, ideally suited for the Hornby Dublo three rail centre pickup system, which would thus make modelling this device a little simpler by powering the wheels and allowing the legs to be animated but not prone to slippage or lifting the wagon and emptying it like a wheel barrow. However I feel that might be taking what is essentially a steam punk concept a little too far