rodent279

Hopefully this will clear up any confusion. This is taken from the wiring schematic booklet for class AL6 locos. This is part of the auxilliary circuits schematic, diagram RWS 122S 016 sht 1. You can see the loco part is in it's own dashed box, and there is a coach part in another dashed box, connected to the loco by the jumpers. The heating supply is taken from an auxiliary transformer winding. It is unrectified, so in the case of an A.C electric, the heating supply is A.C. It goes, via several fuses & contactors, to the jumper, socket & dummy socket on each end. Each jumper and socket has two conductors in it. Because the conductors are cross-connected, when you present the other end of the coach to the loco, you don't change the polarity of the supply.

Following on from the fascinating thread about rough riding locos, what were the roughest riding freight vehicles? (Maybe no one will want to own up to ever riding in one! I haven't, for the record, but someone must have done on official business, even if only for testing).

I would have thought brakes come into it, too. Plus maybe there were special requirements for shunting conflats- not over a hump etc. You don't want a container moving on its wagon!

No, I think he means one cable, with two or more conductors in it, carrying positive & negative, plus the low voltage proving wire. Physically turning the coach does not change the polarity.

Not entirely sure that stacks up. The terminals in the jumpers will be polarised, and the jumper sockets keyed, so you can't get them the wrong way round. So if you present the other end of the the coach to the same loco, the polarity will be the same. That's if supply polarity is an issue, on stock where, as you say, the heating consisted of resistive heating elements. Where MA sets are concerned, then yes things are different, and supply polarity will be an issue. Didn't loco-hauled Mk3's have MA sets to convert 50Hz 1ph AC from AC locos to 3ph?

Back to ride quality, a class that hasn't been mentioned is the 58. What were they like for the traincrew, from a ride/noise perspective?

In most of Europe, particularly Germany, gradients are specified "xx pro mille", e.g. 25 pro mille, which means 25 per thousand, or 2.5 per 100, which is 2.5%, or 1 in 40 if you prefer. It just means instead of specifiying how far you travel to rise/fall through 1, for example 1 ft/yard/meter in 1000, you are saying how many ft/yds/m you rise/fall in 100, or 1000.

I would imagine 1000V wired stock could be heated at 750V D.C. on the SR, or by a class 47/50 at 800/850V D.C. without a problem, just slightly lower effectiveness. The issue would come when trying to use SR 750V D.C. wired stock in a train heated by a class 47/50/A.C. electric at 800-1000V D.C.

Following on from this, what were the noisiest locos, from the driver's perspective?

I guess the air brake would have been a leftover from these locos' days on the LBSC? The GWR was certainly a vac-only railway, and I assume the W, C & P was too - or was it? Maybe it used air brakes?

Don't all EWS drivers walk funny & moan a lot? ;-)

So.....moving on from DMU's.....were EMU's allowed to haul trailing loads, and if so, were any ever diagrammed to do so? cheers N

Position of the sun suggests the train is heading north, or at least towards London. Position of the camera suggests that the photo was not taken on a platform. That's about as far as I can go...... :-)

Would the GWR examples have retained their air brakes, the GWR & the W,C & P being vac only railways? cheers N

People have paid good money for nowhere near that variety on tours!

Was on a relief one Sunday in about 1985, think it was a South Coast-Manchester/Liverpool. We went New St (plat 8 or 9) -Wolves, via Five Ways, Lifford W Jc, Lifford E Jc, Bordesley Jc, St Andrews Jc, Proof Ho Jc, New St (plat 2 or 4), & on to Wolves via Dudley. Round in a big circle! Not that uncommon I think, but the only time I've done it, and it made a few normals panic a bit when they realised they were in New St again! cheers N

Interesting thread here. Have there ever been diagrammed passenger work for 08/09's? Apart from the well known shunts at Sheffield & other places, that is. cheers N

I don't think 44's were air-braked. They were much used on unfitted freights, which they were ideal for, because of the large locomotive weight.

Ah well, I believe that is a common misconception. I thought they should have been dark & light stone for years, because I read it in a book, but there is no sign of anything like dark or light stone in any of the layers that I can determine. I've since been told, and read on the internet too, that actually they were "factory brown" in GWR days, and looking at b&w photos, the benches very often do seem to be a darker colour than the station buildings. Google for photos of the interior of Paddington, for example-in some you can see benches, and they are definitely too dark to be either dark or light stone. I've not yet come across a good colour photo of a station in GWR days showing a bench. Factory brown is a similar shade to chocolate brown, but I think slightly lighter. I guess it could have been made form left overs of chocolate brown. cheers N

AKA $*** brown!

Not much use I know, but I remember seeing a class 44 at Crewe on my way up north, in early 1980. Haven't got my book to hand, so I can't remember which, and as for the date-one of several possibilities is Rocket 150, which would have been 26th May, or one of several trips to Lancashire to visit relatives. Not much help, I know, but they did get to Crewe. cheers N

Slightly OT, I have a GWR cast iron bench, an original not a replica, with scroll GWR lettering, not the monogram, that came from Kenny O, in the early '80's. Of course, it could have been used at any one of the GWR/WR's stations, but it ended up at Kenny O. When we got it, it was in BR blue with the GWR picked out in white. On stripping it back, we found coats of brown, GWR/BR green & maroon, in that order. After that it's a bit more difficult to identify what's what, but there's probably about 7 layers of paint on a bench that dates back to at least 1930-ish. Since the maroon was one of the older layers, this leads me to speculate that some benches may have got some spare left over crimson lake in the early '20's, when the GWR reverted to chocolate brown. Can anyone confirm? I was going to strip it completely, but have since been advised to keep the layers of paint, as they are proof of it's age, and that it's not a replica! cheers N

Grey primer is not a bad idea. I think I have some left over from spraying the car. I guess the actual shade varied anyway, from works to works, who knows, maybe coach grey found itself on some loco roofs in order to use up some stocks? Is it ok to mix acrylic & enamel paints? Not literally, I mean one over the other. cheers N

I remember Euston always used to be pretty weed free, so they must have had some means of keeping them at bay. I think I've seen a weed killer train in the station, but not positive. To be fair, though, the platform roads would have been so toxic I doubt if anything more than bacterial life survived down there! Cheers N

Afternoon. Been looking at some phots of GFYE diesels recently, and I'm now considering repainting one of my Hornby 25's as 25043, which was GFYE with TOPS no until 1976. What is the correct grey for the roof? Will coach grey do? (Not coach roof grey, I mean as in blue/grey!). https://flic.kr/p/bSP4ji Cheers N