16Brunel

12 hours ago, TT-Pete said:

@James Harrison There is also always the audiobook version...

 

 

It gets a mention in one of the Science of Discworld books

On 28/06/2022 at 21:36, St Enodoc said:

...and one that needs no introduction.

Back around 1988/89 I was 16, and accompanying my parents to a dog show in Echuca - we live(d) in Melbourne.  As we were driving up (northbound) the Hume Freeway we noticed a plume of smoke ahead.  As we got closer we realised it was a steam engine on the standard gauge track parallel to the freeway.  Cresting a hill, we were finally close enough to see the source of said plume - 4472 herself, charging along northwards with her train, having a ball :)

On 19/06/2022 at 17:49, St Enodoc said:

The numbers are fine. I just put the tray in place back-to-front!

To prevent repetition, perhaps write/label "THIS SIDE TO WALL" on the wall side of the tray?  Do it ugly enough and you'll never want to see that side again!

18 hours ago, Martin S-C said:

Just wondering if the end-loading road is quite long enough to ensure any longer wagons are square to the platform?

On 23/04/2022 at 08:39, monkeysarefun said:

 

 

That nearest car is a Holden HQ (probably a Kingswood). Ford and General Motors Holden were/are mortal enemies down here.  See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holden_HQ

22 hours ago, Annie said:

What an absolutely lovely station building.  Could this be the beginning of a cottage industry?

Looks a bit big to be a cottage...

Actor Robert Carlyle was in a TV series in 1998 (just after Hamish Macbeth and The Full Monty) called Looking After Jo Jo, in which he played a drug dealer from Edinburgh's North Sighthill estate.  The show had very necessary subtitles; however, they did not show the translation into Standard English, but were a simple transliteration of what was being said into written form, much like writing Mandarin Chinese in Pinyin Roman alphabet rather than characters.  As such, I still have no idea what they were talking about!

On 23/02/2022 at 21:14, Neal Ball said:

Typical that the Americans can’t even get that right, I’ve never understood why they have it arse about face 

Throughout the centuries the British used to swing between dd/mm/yyyy and mm/dd/yyyy - fortunately they finally settled on the more logical dd/mm/yyyy, while the Americans kept the mm/dd/yyyy in use at the time they split away.  If you really want a logical format, use the Asian yyyy/mm/dd (hh:mm:ss etc) - it will always sort correctly in numerical order (ie in computer filenames - oh how I've had to argue that point over the years).

10 hours ago, MrWolf said:

It contains Tetrachloroethylene.

That's what used to be used to thin correction fluid (eg Liquid Paper).  I used to work in a photo lab supply store, and we sold it for use as a negatives cleaner.  After it was banned for being carcinogenic, we changed to ye olde isopropyl alcohol.  The TCE should be fine, except, as above, if left soaking in it for a long time, and don't inhale it.

- Scott

Martin, all I've really come up with so far is a schemetic and some ideas...

No prizes for guessing the source of the names!  Mainline = black, branches = grey, both single track.  Set in the mid-1920s, ie the hedonistic times before the Great Depression.  Maximum train length = 4 4-6 wheel coaches + tank engine (see coaches from the Etched Pixels/Ultima catalogue below - very likely mainline candidates, and definitely not my work!).  Only tank engines need apply - island distances won't need tenders, and it saves on turntables.  Most likely to be in N-scale, both to fit more in and to allow room to breathe (ie bigger gaps between stations, wider scenery).  Any fiddle/storage yards will be inserted between stations - again to give the impression of longer distances.  I imagine the island to be in the English Channel, a few miles off the Cornwall/Devon coast, granite-based, and with a pitchblende mine amongst the WMC's assets (I fancy having a GWR Bullion Van as the only bogie vehicle on the line, for this expensive and dangerous commodity.  St Cecily's can be a world-leading centre for atomic research!).

Bunbury will basically be like Bembridge IoWR, but with a fourth point in lieu of the sector table.  Gwendolen will be like your main station, but on a much smaller scale (ie terminus with a through platform for the St Cecily's branch).  Port Augusta may be served by a small train ferry - yet to be decided.  Merriman's and WMC will be in there somewhere, just not sure where yet.  St Cecily's University will be an old monastry that converted itself into a university to avoid King Henry VIII's wrath, and will be overseen by Chancellor Chasuble.

Once I've got something up and running, with at least some scenery, then I might bring others into my world (ie join a club), but I'd like to go solo to start with.

- Scott (in Melbourne, Australia)

That's OK, you've reset and are now heading in a more manageable and practical direction.  You're ahead of me - thanks, lack of budget - and have inspired me to reconsider my own plans.  Like you, I want a system railway manageable by one person, and your experiences have shown me that less is better than more.  Let's hope 2022 can allow us all some real progress!

- Scott

Congrats on the 100 pages!

The WELR brake van's finish looks fine to me - just call it serendipity

Hullo James - just checking that you're still with us!

Some incentive to hang around:

I first read these as 'turducken" (ie an American roast consisting of a duck inside a chicken inside a turkey), and wondered if you'd taken (further?) leave of your senses!

Regarding the passing station, is there any particular reason the fascia has to be straight along that section?  Bulging it out by just an inch or two might provide the open space required, especially with the fascia curved (which also means no corners to walk into).  Is the human clearance to the terminus that critically tight?

- Scott

1 hour ago, monkeysarefun said:

Hey here's a question from an ignorant Aussie. How come many uk railway companies had 'Great' at the start of their names Great Western, Great Northern etc. (Ok maybe just a couple of them)  The only Great thing we have is the barrier Reef. Does great refer to them thinking themselves pretty splendid and so named themselves accordingly or does great mean in the sense of a large area like "greater Sydney" is used to denote Sydney and surrounds. 

As an Aussie, I'll point out that we also have the Great Dividing Range, the Great Australian Bight, the Great Sandy Desert and the Great White Shark (amongst others).  What we seem to lack is a great imagination when it comes to naming things (perhaps we're a bit da Quirmian...).

- Scott

On 02/05/2021 at 19:38, Edwardian said:

I think I'll stick with the lesser mammals for now.

Ummm... James, as you're referring to your black Labradors, you might want to rethink this description - I'm pretty sure they can bend you to their will as they see fit!

Howdy Martin,

having read through this thread, I can certainly understand your ambition vs reality issue (ie multi-user system layout vs one or two operators) - am currently trying to find that balance myself.  May I make a suggestion towards your latest version?  Moving the northern turnout for the return loop to the right of the fiddle yard ladder would enable any train to be reversed, in either direction (clockwise or widdershins through the fiddle yard).  As it is, the reverse loop can only be used in one direction - once the first train uses that fiddle yard track, all others are forced to follow in that direction until the fiddle yard track is cleared.  Moving it allows full out-and-back operation, meaning only through trains need cross the doorway.

Cheers - Scott.