rodent279

I've thought about it, but never done it, mainly because I'm lazy. The filthy nature of the work doesn't scare me, but that said, I'm not sure I'd want to do it day in, day out, to keep a roof over my head. I've done shift work of sorts, and unsocial hours, but never on the scale of railway work, but a few family members have. My dad started in the workshops in Horwich, during the war, stripping steam engines, then building tanks and turning shells. He then spent some time on the footplate, firing from Nottingham to Doncaster, Carlisle, St Pancras & Bristol. Later he was shift foreman at Plodder Lane, which meant he had to cycle something like 8 miles each way to book on and off for each shift, then something similar at Holbeck. During the 60's he worked on the electrification into Euston. I wasn't born then, but from all accounts, he would work at least one day most weekends, and sometimes at night as well. In the seventies & eighties, as an AM & EE, he used quite often to get called out at some ungodly hour to attend some mishap, the most "memorable" (for all the wrong reasons) being when 81016 hauling the Euston Glasgow sleeper, derailed on a piece of rail inside Linslade Tunnel, and attempted to demolish Soulbury Rd bridge, in Dec 1982. Dad got the call at 0230, went out, was first on site, found the driver dead under the drivers seat, and the secondman wandering around in a field, not sure where he was. Dad didn't put in an appearance at home again until the following evening, apart from a brief spell for lunch (we lived 2 miles away). On another occasion, he got called away from a family holiday to attend a derailment, not sure where, but it was in about May 1980. So, though I've not directly experienced it, I've a fair idea of how disrupting the demands of the railway are on family life. I can quite understand a 20yr old not wanting to put up with it for long in the valleys, or for that matter, to spend hours shovelling hot coal and ash in a depot!

I'll confess I never have.

Volunteers, though. They're letting themselves in for it. Most are not doing it because they have to, in order to provide a roof over their heads.

Consider my parade totally washed out! I'm sure even 50's Britain could have come up with some better ways of removing ash from a smokebox than a bloke with a shovel. Even if you didn't use conveyor systems for hot ash/coals/clinker, you could use a container, rail mounted, which could be rolled or lifted out of an ash pit to be tipped into a wagon. Point is, little real effort was made to make these things easier, when, with a little thought, it could have been. In the end though, electric traction has always been the way forward. The logic of importing, refining, and then burning oil, in order to move coal from mine to power station, to generate electricity, has been referred to above.

I said it in my first reply to this thread, and I'll say it again.....and still we don't learn.

Can't help but think that with a little imagination & investment, it would surely have been possible to remove most, if not all, of the drudgery out of disposal. Surely some sort of large vacuum hose could have been used to suck up dust and ash out of smokeboxes and fireboxes before it started flying around? Surely it would have been possible to have some sort of conveyor system in ash pits to carry hot coals and ash away? Maybe with a water spray to help keep ash down, and extinguish any remaining combustion? Come on, shoot me down in flames. Even in the 1950's we had rockets and jet aircraft!

Going a bit OT now, but it shows how much of Britain's leading role, both industrially, technologically and commercially, was built on Empire, and that without it, Britain really did struggle. So complacent was Britain in it's own superiority, that, despite the writing being on the wall for decades, little was done until it was too late. Suddenly, guaranteed markets were gone, competition appeared where there previously was none, and Britain woke up far too late to do much about it.

Slightly OT, if 44's got down the bank to STJ, did they ever reach Bristol? I've seen photos of 45's running through Mangotsfield- did 44's ever work this route? Cheers Neil

UID 31 at Swindon, June 1981, with footsteps but doors plated over. https://flic.kr/p/xxjmWJ 31135, Nuneaton, 28/07/1984. Doors plated, retains footsteps. https://flic.kr/p/xxjmBW From memory, it was about 1986 that they started to lose the buffer beam fairings. Edit:-and here's another, taken late May 1988, that shows that some lost the buffer beam fairing, but retained footsteps in the front, including in the platted over doors. https://flic.kr/p/xxsBK4 Cheers N

I agree with the above, but it begs two questions, though: 1 we had proven diesel prime movers around in the 40's and 50's in the form of the EE engines- why was this not built on like the Germans did? 2 if the argument is that the Germans already had a proven line of diesels, and we didn't, then why did we not? We were after all, at the time, one of the world's leading industrial, technical and scientific nations?

To be fair though, the diesel locomotive was a known quantity by the late 1940's. There were plenty of examples in the US and in Europe of successful diesel locos, and not just shunters. The LMS twins were an early example that were successful designs. The mistake was made in throwing the doors open to competetive tendering to a range of manufacturers, some with little or no railway experience. Look at the success of the V200's and the Vt08/Vt11.5 family of locos & DMU's in Germany. Both early 50's designs that gave good service for over 30 yrs. Really what BR needed was a fleet of 20's, 37's 40's and something more powerful like the 50's. Those 4 classes would have handled all but the lightest branchline trains, the heaviest freights and the fastest expresses more than adequately. The Modernisation Plan was well thought out, but the politicians got wind of it, and for them, the process was taking too long. They wanted results quicker, which is why it was torn up in favour of a headlong rush. Really, the BR Standards were out of date before they were built. Vacuum brakes, no oil firing, no electric lighting, plain bearings on the drivers, plain bearings on the big ends. The German Neubauloks were streets ahead of them. Yes, electrification was and always has been the real way forward. As usual, Britain was late to the game, preferring to put off the problem by pretending it doesn't exist, then suddenly waking up, panicking, and indulging in a mad rush to dieselise. And still we don't learn from our mistakes.

Short, thick leaf springs will deflect less for a given load than longer ones with fewer leaves. The ride therefore will be harsher over a given stretch of track, because there is less movement in the suspension. As an aside, my Morris Minor Traveller (estate with a wooden framed rear) has 7 leaf springs, whereas saloon Minors have 5 leaf springs. This is to account for the fact that estates tend to get loaded up more than saloons. A common mod is to fit 5 leaf springs to improve the ride. Minor vans and pick-up's all had 8 leaf springs, again reflecting greater load carrying capacity. Cheers N

There are still several mileposts in situ around Bitton, on the Avon Valley Railway, inc MP 128.

Actually, maybe not. Looking on NLS maps, the A40 at Monmouth does not follow the old railway, so it must be in a new tunnel. Can't find a road tunnel in Chepstow though.

Approaching Chepstow? Monmouth, surely?

Do these help? Both are Conflats, but most vans & 4-wheel stock was very similar. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-XYsKXYhXM-MFZOeWd5Y3dVNlU/view?usp=drivesdk https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-XYsKXYhXM-eEs3WkxCenN3M3c/view?usp=drivesdk

Let's face it, even my Morris Minor is F1 compared to a 31......

40's never worked to Moorgate did they? No way!

Try telling people that you can legitimately operate a Deltic, 40, 47, LT battery loco & 1938 stock on the same layout, vitually sharing the same tracks, and see what response you get!

Would this be what you describe? :-) https://flic.kr/p/9Vo1aA https://flic.kr/p/aQPozn https://flic.kr/p/akybjo https://flic.kr/p/aQPp52 https://flic.kr/p/9USi8o

Fascinating, I never knew there was a connection between the Met/Circle & Liv St mainline station. Is it shown here on this map, branching off the Met/Circle just before the box? I presume it would have come out into platform 1/2 of Liv St. If only they'd had the foresight & joined up thinking to maintain the connection, and extend the Widened Lines west to Baker St and/or Bishops Rd. That would have been a Victorian/Edwardian Crossrail! http://maps.nls.uk/view/101201565#zoom=2&lat=3718&lon=9987&layers=BT Cheers N

Afternoon. Has anyone tried modelling mobile phone installations on their layouts? If so, were they scratchbuilt, or are kits available? Cheers N

Slightly OT, and I suspect I know the answer to this, but were any steam locos ever fitted with eth? I'm pretty sure the answer is no for the UK, but what about Europe and the wider world?

Electrically, a vehicle can't be the "wrong way round". That's why the conductors are cross - connected inside the vehicle.

Seconded. Pretty please.