rodent279

Got an email update from South Glos Council, with this included at the bottom:- "Preparations for the bridge move at Gipsy Patch Lane, Stoke Gifford, are going well. Overhead power equipment has been moved out of the way, track has been cut out and we’re digging out around the bridge. For the latest updates see our Facebook page." Photo below shamelessly lifted from the email, credit South Glos Council.

Going back to the stretched GWR railcar idea, the twin car units each had 2 105hp engines in. Assuming 2 engines in each car, that gives 1680hp for an 8 car rake, with an all up weight, assuming 36 tons per car, of 288 tons. Sounds like a recipe for adequate performance, but probably not enough installed power to better King or Castle timings on the same load. However, higher availability and shorter turnround times might have been an attraction for an intensive London-Bristol service, if the demand was there in those days.

I thought the AC electrics, like diesels, had straight air loco brakes, and vacuum train brakes?

I think I've got that book somewhere in a box in the loft, I'll have a dig next time I'm up there. Thanks.

Personally, I think 4-6-0's just look too chunky when streamlined. The extra couple of metres of a Pacific helps to balance the somewhat slab sided nature of an A4 or Coronation. As for Bulleid Pacifics-as a Pacific they can pull it off, but without the trailing axle, I think they'd look too short & stocky.

Nice, I missed that. Now if the NER electrification of York-Newcastle had gone ahead, they could have been built as bi-mode sets, though whether it would be worth it for 80 miles is debatable. Extend it to London and it would be I guess.

How about a plausible version of a 1930's DEMU? I guess in a similar manner, a rake of say 6 or 8 GWR two car railcars, with the outer cars streamlined, and an engine in every car, would be a plausible early HST.

Have any plans or outline drawings for the compound Castle ever emerged? Would be interesting to see if it was like the de Glehn layout, with HP cyls on the outside, and LP cyls on the inside. Would a weights diagram show that sort of detail?

I guess it could have been given to a trainee/apprentice, as an exercise.

Weren't the "Austin 7" 7F's more or less the opposite-a 4F with an extra pair of driving wheels, and a bigger boiler?

This bridge, a couple of miles south of J20, is still standing, having not seen a train in nearly 50 years. The bridge must have carried traffic for 10 years or so, but I've never seen a photo of a train on it. Does anyone know of any that exist?

Long time since I was in there, probably March 1990 at a guess, but I don't remember it being particularly exciting. Run of the mill town pub, average pub grub, nondescript but harmless.

Not even remotely pedantic, I did wonder whether it was the exhaust ejector, but for some reason decided it was the injector. The clue of course is that if it was the injector, it would have a connection to the top feed.

Does anyone know what the diameter of the large black pipe (exhaust injector?) in the photo is, please? https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-XYsKXYhXM-bkIzc29sODZtZ1U/view?usp=drivesdk I need to make a new one for an Airfix Castle. Also-are the combined pipe supports and handrails produced in 4mm scale? I have plenty of turned brass handrail knobs, but none for the combined handrail/injector pipe. Cheers N

Think I may have asked this question before, but I can't find the thread now. What are the dimensions of the slow speed control axle sensors on class 26, also class 33, as I assume they are the same? I'd like to add some to my Lima class 26, as I want to model 26003 in 1984. Pic below of 33201 shows said box on the inner axle of the leading bogie. Cheers N

I missed this when you first posted it. What a good way to re-use something. And people criticised BR for being wasteful!

In that case, it's definitely Hornby, as the tender is tinplate, with spoked wheels.

We have actually got 2, the other one bought by my father in the last 15 years or so. I've never had them side by side to compare, as the original has been kept in a box upstairs. It'll be interesting to do a comparison.

Fairly sure, it looks like Hornby. Can't do any photos for a couple of weeks at least.

Thanks all, some good advice there. I need to assess it properly, but, unless it's one of the rare ones, it sounds like a repaint isn't going to drastically devalue it, as long as it's done reasonably well. I may just reassemble as is and stick it on display, I'm not sure. It may not live up to modern standards, but it's still a nice model.

I have a cast metal Duchess of Atholl, which is in bits, having got part way through conversion to 2 rail. I assume it dates back to the 1950's. the conversion job was started way back, probably in the 60's or early 70's, and seems to have got as far as fitting insulated wheels that look like Triang/Hornby "Hall" wheels, but was never completed. I have most of the bits, the ones missing should be sourceable. It's not in any way immaculate, nowhere near mint, and we haven't got the box. Most of the paint is still present, but there are scratches and bits that have flaked off. The tender is dented, but that should be possible to fix. The numbers and nameplates are still intact. Trawling through ebay, it seems that if I repaired it back to working order as a 3 rail loco, it would get maybe £50-£70. MIB (Mint In Box) examples can go for silly money, hundreds of £. As it's tatty and even when repaired would not be "original", I am considering fitting Romford or Gibson wheels & giving it a full repaint (in LMS maroon). Am I turning a potentially valuable relic into an undesirable bodge? What does the hive mind think? (sorry, no photos, it's in a box 100 miles away). cheers N

So, if I understand correctly, by putting the loco just into reverse, but keeping the regulator shut, the braking effort is being done by the pistons compressing air in the cylinders?

Aye, I know the the word "miniature" was used in a relative sense! I have seen the real thing a couple of times. To me, miniature is anything under a cm or so! I guess they are built for reliability, robustness and longevity in service, rather than space saving.

Hi all, I have 2 questions:- Is there a French equivalent of Real Time Trains? And what sort of motive power could I expect on the line along the Loire, through Saumur? Reason being a family holiday near Saumur next year (Covid permitting). cheersN

Ah I see. So a geographical interlocking is a series of functional modules that can be connected together as required, rather like plugging ic's into a circuit board, whereas in a freewired interlocking every connection is made individually?