peach james

I'm not 100% sure about how Dave and Andy have their list- but, what I would suggest is that they Email everyone who they have on their list now that the loco's are here, and then announce that they have emailed everyone. Rapido do this with pre-orders, they email ~6 weeks prior to dispatch (when the models are on the way, I'd guess), to confirm the orders. I think I ordered one of these, but can't remember ! (although I have no real use for one, and no extra $ to pay for one, but said I would and will...). Death Steam, here I come... James

You'd think that retirement would mean all sorts of time on Long Marton- ha !. I haven't yet gotten all the trains moved back from the 6000 km trip !. Lots of time with the two lads though, and lots of lego sorting, tidying, made a set of bookshelves, and generally relaxed. (& mowing grass... I have ~.5 acre to mow or so, since the wife's horse died last summer). I'm still checking to see what all Jeff has or has not done though James

With a little math, I am kind of doubtful about the numbers involved here- in order to move 4000 tons (40x100=4000 tons) * .25 (weight of waggons)= 5000 tons * 4 (lb/ton, average force to <10 mph)= 20 000 lb TE required to keep the train moving at 10 MPH or less on level ground. If the grades are less than 1%, then that lb-f is still moderately valid, but that would still imply a minimum starting TE of >40 000 lb, which implies a minimum weight of 160 000 lb on the drivers (/5 = 32 000 lb/axle, or 16 tons/axle). So, while it _might_ be possible with a x-10-x engine to move those kinds of #'s in 1914, it would have been near the limits of practical. The whole plan seems to be right on the limits of what could be done. Now, there were some very interesting things done around that time- the electrification of Shildon-Middlesbrough is one example. The technical limits of the UK loading gauge were being approached or exceeded in the immediate pre ww1 period. From many prospectives (like, oh, say, 19240 or so...and that was just one day...) WW 1 was an entirely tragic event. International trade only exceeded 1913 volumes recently- the changes wrought by WW1 were enormous. James

It would depend- the cylinder castings for such a beast are going to be fairly complex, and running the steam down that way MAY have made sense, depending on the superheat and throttle arrangements that they thought would be needed. It's a strange beast, that's for sure- I'd have gone for an articulated 2-4-4-2 or 2-6-6-2 like the Unitah engines, I think, in order to get enough cylinders. (it's also ~20 years later though...). But again, I have the advantage of hind sight, which is always 20/20 James

It comes from Rails in the Fells. So, it came from something and not just your own head . I got burned by it too- and I KNEW better, as I had photos to work from... James

Don't believe everything you read- Long Marton station building is brick too ! James

There's Dad, riding with a pair of the cheapie (Pascal's) versions, making up the diff. IIRC, they were 59 teeth on the crown. Yes, a prime number. Suffice to say, we broke the occasional tooth off. Good thing the replacement drills were $1/each when bought on special... Dad's workshop is fully equipped. I came back out here after going to Great British Train Show, and then spending 2 weeks helping move him. That included the fun task of moving the the "medium" mill. The base was ~250 lb or so...and I got the Colchester Bantam and brought it out here. I still have to connect it to hydro, that will be a tomorrow thing, because I have to turn 1/2 of the house off to do it- including the internet & TV connection. It's much easier to do that when only my wife and I are home, rather than when the lads are home. It didn't help that the young boy brought home a tummy bug, and then shared it with the rest of us. So as far as tooling went, dad's place was fairly fantastic. By the time I was 12, I was operating a turret lathe for spending money on the weekends- even "only" getting 1/2 of the partwork price for the air valves was serious coin (about $15/hr if you applied yourself to the job(1988)), so it was well worth doing. I bought a fair amount of my modeling stuff with money earned that way. There are more photos of what the basement looked like up on Flickr- https://flic.kr/s/aHsjKr5nE4 The only 4mm modeling I did in that shop, I think, was making a set of frames for a Sentinel which is still sitting downstairs (for the Nu-Cast body, with NWSL mechanical components). It doesn't have wheels, because I couldn't decide which gauge to make it for- either 18.83 or OO. I've used my watchmakers lathe to turn a few other oddments for models, but not a huge amount. I made a fair wack of bits for various larger models though, I think dad is up to about 35 engines that he has finished (not started- I don't think there have yet been any that he started & finished...). Mind, when I say that, the little wagon downstairs is 99% his work- he didn't build the boiler as it was gifted to him after someone else bent it, and it wasn't any use for the traction engine it had been intended for. (the barrel wasn't straight, so they stuck it into a pipe, and hit it, giving it a dent right where the cylinder should have sat). https://flic.kr/p/tXNmp3 I made the original pump for it, and plumbed it all up the first time, then it got redone because driving the pump off the crank didn't work, the crank spins way too fast in bottom gear to allow for the pump to work right. I think there might have been some drawings for the valve gear, but that's about it for what drawings were done for making this little wagon. It's very much a hybred, as it is not a model of any one wagon type. A lot of the design ideas were tried on different companies wagons, but never combined like this one has- so it is a small steam wagon and not a model at all...) Anyway, as far as skills go, I think they still exist, but are being slowly eroded. In some ways, they have changed, because it is far easier to have the computer make some of the parts for the models now than either one of us could (at least, if we had CNC machines, which have dropped in price a LOT over the last 25 years), but it changes the skillset, not that skills are required to make things. James (no longer "the young whippersnapper" in the club...)

I've some experience with this, and my viewpoint is that lightweight barriers are probably best. We've used string (it's 3/16" sash cord, for lack of a better description) with the lego, usually put at ~2' out from the layout. The bases to hold the posts are substantial (about 60 lb concrete each), but the string its-self is very lightweight. Commercially over here, the answer is usually aluminum extendable rods, with similar weighted bases. I don't think they do much better of a job keeping the punters off the layout. (& we deal with mostly children). Signage is important- please do not touch (that means YOU!), and please do not touch (Parents Included) is what we use for our signs. Generally, it is not children who are the worst danger, but the "I know better, because I am an Adult" crowd who are the worst. (well, other than that one child who got rather sternly told...but that was a parenting issue, I am sure the child had never quite had an adult address him that way before- _DO NOT TOUCH_ coming from me can be...um, robust...but when you are on you're 3rd warning to the same child, you get a bit more serious). James

That looks like a nice little rally, I like the 6" Sentinel as well . James

There have to be some younger modelers out there- I seem to think Tony had a 13 or 14 year old posted up thread...(and that's not me...even if I am solidly under his demographic) Someone asked about the Model Engineering side- I've a bit more experience there, and you are right in a lot of ways...the skillsets are likely going to go down substantially. Mind, we keep on saying that about the jobs, and they seem to be doing OK at finding individuals to fill them. James

& that is fine, because it _is_ a hobby, and you are doing this for your own fun, not for us punters on the internet ! If your only hobby was astrophotograpy, you'd be into taking photos of something crummy instead of letting it lie for now, while there is nothing worthy of your effort. So it's good to have more than one interest... (I think the next thing hobby related for me is unloading the van of the new to me Colchester Bantam lathe that traveled ~4500 km with me...almost like weightlifting, that thing !) James

Stone boilers arn't too bad. The Vapor Clarksons on the tanker as aux boilers only blew up occasionally. Quindao was rather spectacular, but not where I pulled the fire extinguisher off the rack- that was at home in Esquimalt, when one fired rather unexpectedly, before completing a purge. (BANG !). Cleaned the soot off everything in the boiler room, and I only needed a new set of underwear...but either they worked, or we had no hot water for showers. Ergo, we made them work. (Quindao had the fireball go up the funnel instead...apparently to a bit of alarm from the Peoples Liberation Army Navy, PLAN) James

Oh, for petes sake... DSC_0076 by Peach James, on Flickr My horrid work as a 17 year old (and 20 year old for the Sentinel). I have the other DJH starter kit (the 02), but didn't drag it out for photos. The 02 is glued together, the Baclay is soldered with a 25w iron & 273 solder. If I could manage them then, then anyone can manage. It will take ruining a kit or two to get decent, but hey, that's the price you pay. All 3 were workable (the Sentinel needs me to finish the replacement power unit, which is made using NWSL parts and a HUGE mill for the job), but all 3 of them have been used on layouts. I'm not going to stand up and say that better isn't now available RTR, but it wasn't 20 years ago, and there is definitely a "I made it" factor with them. They are not just engines which I fitted with DCC, but kits which I put together.

I've been very busy- first with the club layout at GBTS, and since then here at my dad's house. I've been working like there is no tomorrow- doing some model engineering related stuff, and we went and played trains at Richmond Hill Live Steamers with my 3 1/2" gauge engine. The current big projects are a Colchester Bantam that needs to come up from the basement, and the remaining bits of a fair sized mill (base & stand) that are also in the basement and need to come up. ~2 weeks until I head home, and I feel _so far behind_ what needs to get done here ! James

The one I have used, seen used, is to raid the wife's nail polish supply for some clear nail polish to paint over the offending short area. I suspect it would be about the same thickness as a very thin coat of Araldite or similar. James

Small update: Now retired. (me, not the railway...) We leave here on Tuesday to go to GBTS- so I should see some RMweb people there.

My view of it is that it would be far better to just have a new engine built- there is no special historical importance to her, and the sectioning probably provides far better education (even if she returned to the UK) than trying to make her whole again. I didn't take any of the sectioned side, as I have some idea what the inside of a steam engine looks like...with cad projects like this one : having taken a little time of mine . At any rate, moving a large built in layout around in a museum should not be insurmountable, but I would fear that the hats of rectums who are in charge will "forget" to allow for funds for professionals to do so. One of the offers from OSC to Toronto Society of Model Engineers in the early 1980's was to have our track built in the ravine (which is an amazing space), at their cost- with TSME then running x days/year. Unfortunately, x days would have been from one or two individuals...as very few of the rest of the club are active enough to take up the slack. Out here on this coast, BC Society of Model Engineers has managed to do so, using engines built/bought for the job, and hiring in the operating staff (university kids) for the summer time. They sort of loose money on the operation (basically, it breaks even on staffing, but looses on wear and tear). James

John, for even a couple of million quid, I would expect that one could hire some of the finest professional model builders for several years to "remake" the model. But, knowing how this sort of job goes, instead, the money will be spent on "consultants", and "experts", who will not do a good job of much of anything. A 16 million quid (~30 million Canadian) museum should be very nice. Unfortunately, just like at Ontario Science Centre, or other museums like it that i have been to, it seems like there is less interest in technologically obsolete items. (I can imagine the next round of "refurbishment" at OSC will involve Gertrude (the sectioned Hunslet Quarry loco) getting the boot into the non display items, similar to the Otto engine (which was sold !), foundry, big stationary engine, ships propellor, models in glass cases did at some point over the last 20 years). While some change is always good, change for no good reason is not good... James

Well, for 9.3 million, I think it should be possible to move it. Unfortunately, the architects probably have spent 9.2 million quid on other tat, instead....leaving it to the "volunteers" to fix the damage afterwards... James

Ben, could you paint some of the ceiling of the room sky blue? I'm not going to suggest that you paint it Rhonda gray or suchlike The drivers eye view of the road bridge is cracking !

I guess, my view of it is that Long Marton is mostly the work of Peco, Hornby, Bachmann, Dow Corning, Digitrax & Winsor Plywood, but that assembling all the bits into what I have done is my work. While I would love to have kit built coaches, the 4 or 5 sleepers I have part built and haven't found time for are kind of a poor excuse, (even worse, I have 2 rakes of wagons to build in my copious spare time (!) that I should have (ha !) since I am retiring in 3 weeks) . That being said, I have a layout, that works, and does most of what I want it to. I built the layout, and would claim it as my work- unlike my traction engine, or the little steam wagon. The little wagon is an interesting question- at what point would I claim it as being my work? I built the original pump and mounted it, and fiddled around with a bunch more of it (I plumbed it, making up a bunch of the fittings to do so)- but it is my dad's work, really. The trailer is mine- even though I didn't weld the frame together, I subbed that job out. To me, the issue is one of credit where it is due, and as I have posted before Tony W., you do an outstanding job of giving credit where it is due. I know of other people who would claim credit for having "made it themselves", when you ask them how, then the pravda (truth) starts coming out- and they were the general contractor, but actually didn't make very much of it at all... James

We require a licence to drive a car, but not to have a kid...and quite often, the problems seem to stem from parenting skills. Up here we have 3P, which my wife has attended, but I haven't, and that's about it. (Positive Parenting Program). That's voluntary, and suggested for the more at risk parents (younger, single, ect). I think it comes down to a lack of community at times. We find ourselves quite isolated, for quite a while there was us and that was it with kids out where we live (~15 km from the next "community", and 18.3 km from the school). The situation has changed a bit, and the lads have more peers to go see, play with, p!$$ off, and do the things that kids need to to develop normal social relationships. There's also a lot of helocopter parenting- "oh, my child couldn't have..", when yes they could, did, and you probably knew about it. The boys hate me at times, because I will ask how their day was, and don't stop until I have some sort of answer from them. Again, diet probably does make a difference- blood sugar levels will make a kid unpredictable if they are variable. It's not that never is a good solution either- the best is all things in moderation. (except tea, which should be had in copious quantities, with milk) It also helps a lot for the kids to have time to grow up on their own, as well as some structured activities. I'm not in favor of scheduling my kids lives to excess, as it is now at times the schedule because of bus:school:afterschool program(s)(*):supper :reasonable bedtimes mean that they don't get a lot of free time during the week. (0700 allowed out of rooms, 0745 at the bus stop, 1500 bus or afterschool program, 1600 home if bussing, 1700 if at program (thurs), 1730 supper, 1930 bedtime (Allen) 2000 bedtime (Daniel) )- (*) in terms of afterschool programs, both go to a social group on Tues/Thurs after school, working with their autism. Tuesday then is followed by dinner in town and Beavers/Cubs, and home to bed after. Weekends tend to be one with me, one with my wife, but which one depends. Daniel gets to go off and do his own thing with his friends most days during the weekend. Allen is still a bit on the small side- not because of the other children, but because of the big kitty cats around (remember, don't have to run fast, just have to run faster than YOU...)

I try to avoid sugaring up my two- but the older one will go off like a rocket sometimes with nothing at all in him, and be calm as a mill pond with 3 glazed doughnuts in him...mind, he definitely is a mirror of me. The younger one is much more easy going than his brother, that is for sure, and that is possibly a good thing. To give an idea, I have sent the older lad (Daniel) to run around the house, up to 64 laps (which should equate to 3.2 km or so...) as the result of his behaviour going in a spiral out of control. We don't live sugar free, but there are some reasonable limits on how much they end up getting. I see a large amount of just poor parenting- where the parent doesn't take control of the children when they should. Worst recent example was in the local A&W (burger chain), where their were 2 kids a bit older than mine, who were climbing on the furniture and the dad was doing nothing. My two commented on it- and not in a positive light, as to the fact that these children were misbehaving. It is part conditioning- they know that they can do something like that, and that there is going to be a signifigant reaction from us for doing so. James

Jeff, there are some more recent photos of the Iron bridge at Long Marton on my flickr account, I can't link to them from here but will when I get home. They may be helpful, and I possibly have more if you need them. James

The tunnel- can you get in from behind and put a bit more card/plastic/wood so that when you look into it, as per the straight on photo from on the viaduct, it appears as though the tunnel is straight? I know the track won't be, but if it darkens off in the tunnel, then it might appear more realistic. Since it is off in a corner, what you would create is an area on the plywood on the other side to store extra engines...not like I would ever know about having more engines than track...19 tracks, 21 trains... I am presuming here based on what was posted a LONG time ago, that the other side of the fell is accessable for the fiddle yard part ? James