Artless Bodger

Yes, I'm sure these are the ones I had in mind - thanks for the correction.

WRT leaning out of windows - I think there have been two at least fatalities in the UK recently from just that. Lady fatally injured leaning out of an HST droplight between Bath and Bristol, and a man (regarded as a railway enthusiast and therefore probably more knowledgable of the risks) leaning out of a 5WES droplight. I travelled a lot on Mk1s, often on my way to / from work. Not something I get misty eyed about enough to want to reprise.

Progress with the narrow gauge side of things. My first attempts at scratch building for a long while. The loco is intended to represent a battery electric loco, inspired by various standard and narrow gauge examples, notably the 3rd rail electric locos used at Highstead chalk pits as photographed by Gordon Edgar ( https://www.flickr.com/photos/12a_kingmoor_klickr/5752243793 ). It sits on a Kato pocket line N gauge chassis (which also fits under a Dapol N gauge Fruit D body to power a demotored GF pannier). I've learned a few things in its construction, as usually I put a model together then wonder how I can paint or glaze it. In this case the body is 20 thou (60 thou bonnet tops), 2 sheets glued at the edge, marked out, window corners drilled then cut and filed to shape before cutting the body side out. It has a false floor above the motor to hold the body square. The driver is a cut off Dapol workman on a drop in base. By luck I had left over N gauge factory kit glazing - thick crystal PS rectangles, which with a bit of sanding was just about the right size for side and end glazing. It makes a box which pushes down into the painted body. The roof just sort of plugs in. So, I've learned to make things in modules so they can be painted separately before final assembly. One lesson to carry forward is to drill holes for handrails while the sides are in the flat state - I decided not to try drilling the completed body and use wire, so it has glued on plastic rod handrails - sufficient considering some of my RTR locos are no better, and I'm not dissatisfied with them. I want to buy some of the PECO V skip wagons, but until the budget is up to that I've made the first attempt at scratchbuilding on a spare N gauge wagon chassis. Based loosely on the side tip wagons used at Scaldwell ironstone quarries, I used the drawings on the IRS website as a base.

Oil Keep? vs grease?

The apparent movement of the other loco could be done by masking most of the photo in the printing frame and racking the enlarger up or down while exposing the loco. That might also effectively double expose part of the track it is on making the blur around the chairs.

A quick search, if you blow up the photo linked here on Boxley's Flickr site, you can see the white painted buffer beam and buffers at Maidstone West. https://www.flickr.com/photos/boxley/219288118

Interesting also how the bullhead track on which the buffer stops are mounted has been retained and is connected to what looks like newer flat bottom rail in the bay. There was something similar in platforms 1 and 2 at Reading (don't know if it is still like that). Using buffers mounted on the beams, the bay road at Maidstone West, originally used for the Paddock Wood trains, had a pair of chunky bodied, self contained buffers mounted on a wooden beam, one buffer had a cracked casing - maybe due to a bump? I never thought to photograph it.

J657, a really nice photo with the incidental details - the car, open boot and bonnet, garage door windows etc. And the dog on the lawn.

Dawlish Warren? Looking across / up the Exe estuary?

This photo from wikipedia illustrates the sort of arm I think is used, the lower one with the lamp and spectacle to the left of the post. It's all I can find at the moment.

They look as though the spectacle plate and lamp is located to the left of the post, to reduce the spacing between adjacent dolls. The spectacle plate is inverted. I've seen pictures of vaguely similar GWR signals, centre pivoted to save space of for restricted clearances, e.g. gallows signals under platform awnings. These Saxby signals appear to have repeater arms visible under the bridge arch too. The drawback I can see with placing the spectacle plate to the left of the pivot is that it no longer provides a counterbalance weight tending to return the arm to danger in the case of a linkage failure.

My train set locos were in order: Triang clockwork saddletank loco in black and green Triang Transcontinental diesel shunter (the most my parents could afford that Christmas) Triang 3MT tank loco in lined green, I remember this was 63/-, the big Christmas present was limited to £3, but it was bought because my birthday was in January so it was a sort of joint present. All long gone.... I've looked at the GF N gauge green 3MT tank several times but never bought one when it was available and I was doing N. Now I'm back in OO in a small way and have recently seen a Bachmann OO one available, but should I spend my limited funds on it? I'm very tempted but it would be purely for nostalgic reasons, and would probably only grace my display case. The one toy I still have is a Dinky Toys Coles crane, much played with, restrung and paint chipped (cranes were always my first love as a child). I'd pointed it out every day as we passed a shop on our way to the beach on a holiday in Broadstairs. M & D said 'Yes, you can have it at the end of the week.' thinking I was wanting a smaller, cheaper crane next to it. When the day came they were in an awkward position, but did buy the Dinky for me. I didn't know it at the time but money was tight and they must have made sacrifices to afford it, it makes me sad to think of it now, I cherish it even more. Nothing since or in future will have the same meaning for me.

Thanks for the nice Swiss photos. Have just watched a cab ride video of the St Gallen to Arth Goldau route - phenominal gradients after Pfaeffikon, 1 in 20 I think, the unit just romps up them. C8097 - Kilchurn Castle in the background? Years ago Head Gardener and I visited the Cruachan pumped storage power station on Loch Awe. We had a while to wait before the next tour, so wandered off up a footpath opposite the site, climbing a little way up the mountain side we crossed the railway line close by a short platform, saw the rock fall protection wires and double armed signals, then continued uphill until our way was blocked by a very large and very dead sheep.

I'm surprised that Mk1 carriages are allowed on the mainline at all, given all the slam door / body on chassis emus were condemned years ago etc. Do the Mk1s in railtour service have any over-riding protection? (Have not noticed any of the interlocking plates or extra vertical bracing on those I used to see at BTM). Mk1s at premium prices on railtours? - no thanks. An employee where I worked (not known to me personally) was fatally injured by being thrown from an emu, the reason was apparently he unlatched the door which was only on the first catch, in order to close it fully, with the train in motion, slipstream opened the door with fatal results. One evening travelling to London on a VEP as we stood at West Malling station the down train (another VEP) entering the other platform had an open door banging along the side of our train. After some discussion between the crews and presumably control, we set off at walking pace, expecting to find a body on the track. Thankfully we did not, but it was a sobering experience. Have also seen a down train leave Guildford with the inward opening vestibule door behind the driver's cab in the middle of 2 units open - so anyone walking through the gangways would be at risk.

I've recently bought the late SR brown one, trying some shunting I found it derailed over my set-track points on the curved route. I thought it was the track at first, then the b2bs. I couldn't work out how to get the wheels out, but thanks to comments on this thread, with a lump in my throat, managed to get the rigging removed and the wheels out. I found I needed considerable pressure to close them up to the axle shoulders, but the van now runs and does not derail - at the expense of a bit of the rigging! Better a usable van minus a little bit of hidden detail than a perfectly detailed hangar queen in the display case. Thanks to all the useful commenters above. 👍

Going round in circles - a severe case of coupling incompatability amongst my stock led to many derailments. Somehwat disheartened I sorted stock into two groups. 1. Stock with more modern narrow couplings or ones I could easily swap. 2. Old Triang type long hook / old Dapol and Lima. Group 1 now converted or still on short hook Bachmann seem to work togethe rok and I've released some locos from the display case, cleaned the sticky grease (12+ years old and little used sonce I went over to N) and reoiled. Group 2 kept as an alternative stud, old Hornby / Dapol / Mainline and Lima from the nephews. Then, not happy with the short platform which though uncompleted had developed an anticline, I decided to make a new one. Started to cut the foamboard, then opted to extend and remake the exisiting one - it has sandpaper glued to the top, when painted grey two things happened, the anticline became a severe syncline and the sand paper bubbled. To cap it all the extra length caused some stock to foul the ramps when entering the loop - BAH! Back to rethinking the new platform - this time a 1mm card top and front wall with a 3x5mm foam board support. Coming on ok at present but still risks going banana shaped when painted. As a stop gap I've cut out part of the extension to the old platform and have to accept the lumpy surface for the time being. As an aside, everything I paint ends up worse than before I start - the loco shed is going that way unfortunately. Loco shed made from bits-box items some OO some N. At least it is partly modular to allow me to paint it without too much contortion. I had made a scenic end piece to represent the approach slope to the bridge, supposedly passing behind the warehouse. Cobbled from bits including some N gauge bridge arches it made the end look too enclosed so it has gone for the time being and I prefer the idea of a closed level crossing, hinting at an original continuation of the branch, now disused - will need a 'gap in the buildings' type backscene. Had some issues with my Rapido 6w SECR brake van derailing but luckily the appropriate thread on here provided the answer, now it runs ok, if at the expense of some of the delicate hidden brake rigging detailing. Lastly the NG battery loco body for the Kato N chassis is under construction - going as well as I could expect at present, but the opportunity to mess it up looms - need to work out sequence of construction and modules so I can paint the inside and glase and detail it.

Basingstoke, junction and 2 diverging roads - squalid, pigeon poo ridden last time I walked under there.

Something speed related? The black cab taxis round here seem to have a passenger door lock initiated once the cab starts to move, it routinely unlocks anytime the cab stops, at traffic lights for example.

Wasn't there an issue with commutator glazing (or something) when unpowered power car motors were run for long distances at high speed too, better to power the motors to prevent this?

Running in without a rolling road?

Dft answer to WCML freight path congestion?

The overbridge looks as though it was made from whatever was in the bits box. Was the stone section original for a narrow station site and the station widened later, requiring the metal extension?

Interesting trap point within the essentially scissors crossover.

OT, the first reasonably complete iguanadon skeleton was found in Benstead's quarry in Maidstone. Consequently, Maidstone is unique in having a dinosaur in its coat of arms. https://museum.maidstone.gov.uk/explore/collections/geology/maidstone-and-the-iguanodon/ From this website I find that there is now a sculpture of an iguanadon outside the refurbished Maidstone East station (I haven't been back to Maidstone for a few years now, but we used to walk past the quarry some Sunday afternoons in my childhood).

Did the higher speed of the engines enable a direct coupling to the generator? I think the Sulzer and EE engines had step up gears between crankshaft and generator. Another benefit of the smaller engines was supposed to be that all parts could be handled within the loco, smaller pistons, cylinder heads etc, so you did not need to have an overhead crane and take the roof off for most maintenance. If you did take the roof off, you could swap lightweight engines out as a single unit quickly as in aeroplanes (power eggs), not surprisingly considering the Germans' aeronautical background, e.g. Maybach engines in airships etc. Iirc Deltics and Westerns were known for quick engine swaps, repair by replacement, Laira was good at this, less time out of traffic. EMD E series diesels used double engines and generators, they were pretty succesful for their time.