PenrithBeacon

Thanks to @Crimson Rambler for that. What follows might be teaching granny to suck eggs, my apologies. The concept of the double framed locomotive was invented by Robert Stephenson because of the danger of broken crank axles. The idea was to support the axle in the event of a failure by using multiple supports in the frame so if the axle broke at any point in its length the locomotive wouldn't derail. So far so good. However, this made the frames so rigid that they were breaking. After the GJR takeover of the LMR in 1845 Buddicom investigated and decided that the frames weren't being allowed to 'breath' and simplified the frames by removing many of the internal supports. This and improvements to crank axles resolved the issue or at least got it down to manageable proportions. A later improvement was to remove the rigid fixing of the frames to the boiler allowing for expansion of the boiler assembly against the frames which was causing boiler explosions. I came to the conclusion a number of years ago that Kirtley, and team of engineers he had, must have thoroughly revisited the d/f concept because it had all but died out being replaced by other framing concepts. When the MR placed contracts with industry for the d/f 0-6-0 the contractors very quickly started to offer locomotives of the type to other railways but with their own boilers. They must have been impressed. I believe a Beyer Peacock loco of that era is in the Cairo museum.

Yes, I have reservations too. The clue, which I missed, is in the subtitle. You simply cannot have a survey of 1854 to 1966 in one small volume. Having said that, and ignoring the errors of omission and commission, it does have some useful additional information of the S&DR before joint ownership which I didn't know still survived. Whether that is worth the sale price is another matter. A missed opportunity.

Thank you for that Steven. The devices at Broad Street were rendered redundant by the withdrawal of services followed by the demolition of the station.

Broad Street station on the NLR had them too

The Uckfield show is usually very good indeed but the numbers attending have, I think, become too great for the size of the venue. A pity because otherwise it's brilliant; it's close to the railway station, it has a large car park and the catering is excellent. It just needs to be larger.

OK, but was the new cylinder block designed with axle bearings included? I gather it was. The convention for d/f locomotives (or at least it was after Buddicom rebuilt the locomotives the Stephenson's designed for the L&MR) was that the inside frames only carried the driving axle bearings. The outside frame carried bearings for all axles, driving, coupled and carrying. SWJ seems to have changed this convention. With good reason I'm sure.

Does that imply that the rebuilds had new inside frames or new cylinder blocks? I'm a little confused!

I think they were also used in Manchester on the South District line.

Is this the kit which is now retailed by AGW?

I found the one I bought to be dead easy to take a part but was dreadful to put back together again! It's still in pieces in its box several years on. One day it'll be converted to P4, AGW do the chassis bits.

I've put in a search of 'hattons ici hopper wagons' and got precisely zilch

If WR had designed these things in the late forties then they might have had a purpose. Instead it chose to make over 1Ks worth of pannier tanks.

Steel wire is much less susceptible to work hardening than brass.

We should wish!

I thought the manufacture of plastics in the UK was due to stop in the next few years?

The OP could go (tongue in cheek) big and model Manchester London Road. The Midland used the station courtesy of the MS&L from 1867 to 1880, but it was a very different station to the present one! I believe there are plans in the Manchester Record Office. Not a post to be taken too seriously.

I am surprised that Planet Industrials haven't contributed to this thread

I think this is the area in question. The map is the 1912-13 revision

Is that left hand running? It seems to be.

And you could do the Stockport, Timperley and Altrincham Railway section of the CLC which had Northenden and Baguley stations. The GCR was a constituent also along with the MR & GNR. The LNWR had running rights over most of the ST&A.

The site was bought back by the government after its sale to AW post WW1

Are these from your stocks or a recent purchase? I ask because Colin has improved the wheels enormously since he bought the business.

Nothing seems to be available! I have put a query of Falcon Brass Kits on eBay and got nothing from a Samantha in return.

There is another issue, that of hardware reliability and cost. If the hardware is designed to be part of a tax payment system then it has to be very reliable indeed because of the legal implications of not paying a road tax if the equipment goes down. In addition to this the owner of the car will be paying for the hardware and it's maintenance for the benefit of HMRC. Don't see that as a goer!

The Moth Club held their annual rally last Saturday at Old Warden. https://www.flickr.com/photos/68685377@N04/albums/72157719819269073 G-AAZP by David Mylchreest, on Flickr G-ADIA by David Mylchreest, on Flickr G-AISA by David Mylchreest, on Flickr