Mol_PMB

Do mariners the world over leave a memento of their visits on the quayside? It's not something you often get to see as a normal punter. This is a berth at Eastham on the Manchester Ship Canal - I think the former de-masting berth but I may be wrong. I particularly like the message from Tequila!

See-board at the start and Tea-board at the end perhaps? (commencement and termination of a TSR)

Classic Mersey tugs in Canning Dock: 1960s diesel tug 'Brocklebank' and 1903 steam tug/tender 'Daniel Adamson' (originally named 'Ralph Brocklebank'): Modern Mersey tugs at work in the channel, with tanker 'Nordic Breeze' inbound for Tranmere. 'Svitzer Trident' at the bow, 'Svitzer Amazonas' by the bridge, and the newest tug on the Mersey 'Svitzer Elizabeth' out of sight as stern tug. 'Svitzer Trident's regular master was moonlighting as captain of the veteran steam tug 'Daniel Adamson' from which this photo was taken. He took us for a quick detour en route to Manchester to have a nose at what his other tug was up to!

It's the future: net zero railtours. A load of colourful diesels on the front doing nothing more than provide highly-amplified DCC sound effects, and an electric loco subtly pushing from the back.

I would have thought that the Institution of Mechanical Engineers could have done better than this, which is surely AI-generated. https://events.imeche.org/ViewEvent?e=7674 Let's not forget that the IMechE was founded in 1847 with George Stephenson as its first president, and incorporated the Institution of Locomotive Engineers in 1969.

Hank Marvin = Starving ? Marvin the Paranoid Android?

Good question, so I’ve just weighed it. 2.3kg at present. It will increase when more details, track etc are added.

Only one engineer was daft enough to build a swing aqueduct! In the background here: The nearer swingbridge carries several bus routes, should you prefer a bus on a bridge. CEG Orbit distinguished itself soon afterwards by trying to sail to Belfast through the Isle of Man. Fortunately it ended up beached rather than wrecked on rocks. Here’s the might of the Royal Navy at the same location at Barton Swing Aqueduct:

Everything costs more these days. I don't think it's a bad price for a full day out - cheaper than a main line steam railtour. The MSC is particularly expensive for them to sail on because they have to pay the pilot fees and for the locks and swingbridges to be worked. That's one of the main reasons the Danny normally operates on the Weaver - they can offer a more attractive fare and still cover costs. But the hard-core MSC nerds like me will pay the extra for it!

Thanks Steve! After agonising for years about how to make the bridge, it turned out to be quite easy in the end. A bit of design and CAD work with advice from friends about tolerances, upload the drawings and within 5 days the parts were delivered. The cost was about £250 including delivery and VAT, so not cheap but not nearly as bad as it might have been. To that I'll need to add the cost of bribing a friend with TIG welding skills to stick it together. The viaduct is a key part of the layout: by far the biggest structure on the Broc branch, it's the first thing you see as you walk through the door, and it's at eye level, so it needs to be good for that 'wow' moment. The real thing has 3 spans and I only have room for one, but even so it's 3'6" long and quite dominant. Cheers, Mol

I am continuing to cut up logs, but something more exciting happened this afternoon. My laser-cutting order arrived, 18 parts cut from 1.5mm 316 stainless steel. 17 of the pieces fit together to make the big viaduct span. I could have done with the assistance of a pet octopus but I got all the bits interlocked together eventually! This is a dry assembly upside-down: I wrapped some parcel tape around it to hold it together and then took a few photos of it in situ: The next stage is for it to go to Boston Lodge for welding - there are 52 TIG welds needed on the top and bottom faces only. There will be a lot more detail added eventually, but for now I'm very pleased that the parts fitted together well and the span captures the appearance of the prototype whilst being quite strong. I had one more part laser-cut at the same time, a tracklaying template to set an accurate 1 metre radius. This will help me lay the curves accurately and avoid tight spots:

I'm pretty sure they're smaller than 870mm. Turbostars etc are 840mm new, and I think these are smaller than that. Let me ask Northern maintenance control and see if he knows.

Talking of 'Old Skool', on Sunday I'll be taking a trip from Liverpool to Manchester on the Daniel Adamson, 121 years old. I think there are still a few places available: https://thedanny.digitickets.co.uk/event/19521565 Here's a photo of the Danny's trip to Manchester last year: And in more regular territory on the River Weaver:

This link for the very similar 195s may be useful. It contains some outline drawings and gives bogie wheelbase as 2.25m https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwj4m6relPGFAxXcZkEAHcKQCKwQFnoECEcQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.prgloo.com%2Fmedia%2Fdownload%2F10c154dc2f474e71b25d0844cc7b56c5&usg=AOvVaw0bsXkgDa2eFlrkZsC9g0be&opi=89978449 Despite having done a lot of work on the yaw damper bracket issues on these in a previous job, I'm afraid I no longer have access to the technical data and I can't remember the wheel diameter range.

I was very pleased to see this prickly character snuffling around my garden this morning, gathering nesting material:

The MSC had three classes of small 0-6-0 side tank. 13 to 22 were built by Hunslet; represented by 16 and 22 in the photos in my previous post. 23 to 51 (excluding 25, 26, 34i, 36) were built by Hudswell Clarke to a very similar specification to the Hunslets, but with a rather cleaner appearance (e.g. no raised rivets); represented by 35 in the photos in my previous post. 52 to 71, 76 and 79 were more Hudswell Clarkes, almost identical mechanically but with longer tanks; represented by 68 in the photos in my previous post. Very similar locos were also built for other industrial users, although the MSC had the majority. One Hunslet and four Hudswell Clarkes (two of each type) survive in preservation. The gaps in the number sequence were other loco types including various saddle tanks, and the much larger Kitson side tanks. Rapido Andy has a soft spot for the Hudswell Clarkes. But don't go twisting his arm just yet - he's on holiday! Mol

A few 1960s MSC photos I've recently acquired as original negatives on ebay: I'd still love to build a model of that Dock Labour Coach but it's difficult in every way! Mol

As a postscript to my previous post, here's another old postcard of Broc-Fabrique that I've recently acquired. The card was posted in 1927 so the image probably dates from the 1920s. There are many large logs visible in the foreground, waiting to be loaded onto wagons. Some of the older photos of GFM trains show large logs like these carried longitudinally on the bogie flat wagons - they would certainly be a lot easier to model but in my early 1980s period the log traffic all seems to have been in 1m lengths! Here's another view of the log wagon I photosgraphed in 2012, ready to be transferred from metre gauge to standard gauge at Bulle. The other wagons behind have come from the chocolate factory, including a sugar hopper:

Having done some pruning and tidying in the garden, I'm on a slight diversion to make some log loads for wagons. The GFM carried a significant local traffic in logs for firewood, including on the Broc Branch, where logs were loaded at Les Marches, Broc-Village and Broc-Fabrique. This 1943 Swisstopo aerial view shows logs being loaded at Broc-Village, with bogie flat wagons and high-sided 4-wheel opens in use: The logs were cut into 1 metre lengths and stacked transversely in two rows, with a small gap in between, as can be seen on the left-hand bogie wagon (the other one is still empty). This image from polier.ch shows the loading method more clearly, albeit on an MOB flat wagon: Here's a GFM example in colour from the 1970s, but not quite so clear: What this means is that I need a LOT of 22.2mm lengths of wood in a fairly random selection of diameters. I've found whilst cutting back some tree heathers in my garden that they provide a very good raw material for these logs, and just need cutting to length, which I do by hand with a piercing saw. It's one of those jobs you have to be in the right mood for! Anyway, here's the result of about an hour's work and I can see it's going to take a few more hours to load my bogie flat! Why is that standard gauge open lurking the background of the photo? Well, they were used to carry logs too. Here's a 1981 Swisstopo aerial view again showing logs being loaded at Broc-Village, but this time the wagon is a standard-gauge 4-wheel open on one of the longer transporter wagons. The logs are being stacked in the same way, two rows with a gap in the middle, and they've filled one end but not completed the other end yet: Although the standard gauge wagon is about the same volume as the narrow-gauge one, I can probably get away with just a couple of layers of logs on top of a plain wood former, so it may be slightly quicker to make a load for it. Timber traffic on the GFM survived into the TPF era, in the form of larger logs from Montbovon to Bulle. Here are a couple of photos I took in 2012 when I was lucky enough to catch what was by then a very rare move: Typing this has given my fingers a break from sawing, so I'd better get back to it!

A very quick google found this, which indicates that a 28xx had a major overhaul roughly every 3 years: https://www.2874trust.org/boiler-history.html Agreed, a 517 would probably have done lower mileage than a 28xx and the overhaul interval could have been a bit longer. Considering also wartime shortages of labour and materials, the interval could have been extended further, maybe 5 years. Assuming that the paintwork on a small tank engine might not have been entirely renewed at every overhaul, then a paint job might have lasted 10 years but probably not longer than that. Modern paints are probably superior to what was used back then. Earlier this week I saw 66003 which was one of the first 66s delivered in 1998 (26 years ago) and still looks fairly smart in its original paint job. The FR's 1992 new-build 'David Lloyd George' has been in traffic fairly continuously for 32 years, during which it has had 3 major overhauls but only one repaint.

Perhaps playing Devil's advocate, there is also the question as to whether the GW contined to repaint 517s AT ALL at major overhauls during the Great War. Depending on the scope of work needed, it is perfectly possible to carry out a major overhaul and keep the paintwork in a satisfactory condition such that a few touch-ups and a revarnish is all that is needed. Especially in times of shortage of staff and materials, this may well have occurred in some cases. This could be a reason for the survival of older liveries into the post-war period.

Don't worry, I enjoy your regular coverage of "my" eponymous fleet. Living in Manchester I rarely get the chance to see a MOL vessel although one of the tankers 'Mayaro' came to Eastham QE2 last year (Eastham QE2 is theoretically in the Port of Manchester despite being 36 miles away!) Even MOL containers are getting very scarce these days. I wish ONE would bring back the Alligator, even if it had to be pink! Cheers, Mol

The clue is in the signals. There's no down direction starter on the up line, so all through down trains would go on the down line.

I don't think the loco exchange trials would meet your requirements. In 1925 there were A1s (pre-rebuild to A3s) tested on GWR routes. In 1948 (closer to your timeline) there were A4s tested on the GWR (and some other LNER classes, but not A3s) Some info here: https://www.nrmfriends.org.uk/post/locomotive-exchanges-through-the-steam-years-swapping-and-learning-the-lessons https://www.facebook.com/DidcotRailwayCentre/posts/95-years-ago-today-2-may-1925-was-the-last-day-of-the-1925-locomotive-exchanges-/3570758922950970/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1948_Locomotive_Exchange_Trials Were there ever through trains to the GWR with LNER pacific motive power? Possibly. In the opposite direction Halls, Granges and Castles made it into LNER territory occasionally, usually leaving a trail of dislodged platform coping stones owing to the width over their cylinders. https://m.facebook.com/DidcotRailwayCentre/photos/a.210517012308528/942553452438210/?type=3 Of course in later years 4472 was widely travelled in preservation.

B2YP seems to have been the more common blue variant but there were some BFYE, such as this example: Or the second one here, from Murray Lewis: This from Nick Perring archives is perhaps the clearest I found: from Andy Kirkham, another SR electric brake tender which may have no yellow panels at all, though it’s hard to be sure. See also the class 73 photo in my first post.