5 C

Given it was in production between 1967 and 1971 which would have been the development period of the Mk 3 Cortina, one has to wonder whether certain design cues influenced the Ford team, albeit the Commodore was in the next segment. In side profile there are definite similarities.

I was struck by how the indicators are very Mark 3 Cortina.

Only as long as it took to lift the paint. In fact, probably not even the 8 hours used on the 37 body shell. Not only did the smell linger on the coach body, it also lingered on the "bath" - a Poundland food container made from polypropylene. I've just been upstairs to check and the smell is still there. It's powerful stuff. I used a weak solution to disinfect a brand new secondhand wheelie bin delivered by the council last week. The smell lingers on that too, although that's not necessarily a bad thing. In much the same way a manufacturer's paint composition might change over time, it's possible the plastic composition of the two bodies has changed. I have successfully stripped manufacturer paint (using just IPA) from one vehicle but an identical vehicle from a more recent date was barely touched. The moral of the story is patch test and don't expect a one size fits all solution (no pun intended).

Just a word of warning on Dettol. A couple of years ago I used (original brown) Dettol to strip the paint from one of the latest version Hornby Stanier coaches. While it stripped the paint, it also softened the plastic and created a sticky mess which made a thorough clean up impossible. The plastic eventually hardened again but I was left with deep scratches where I'd tried removing the mess with a toothbrush. Reading around, I'm not the only person to have experienced this effect. Two of the ingredients in Dettol (aka Chloroxylenol) are IPA and Caustic Soda Solution which clearly enabled the stripping process. What's not mentioned on the label is that the Pine Oil fragrance which gives that distinctive, lingering Dettol smell also contains d-limonene which most likely softened the plastic: https://www.medicines.org.uk/emc/product/5633/smpc#gref The damage (and the smell) still remain.

The original Flickr caption says Clay Cross and it's part of a set by the same photographer at the same location on the same date. I don't know the area itself, but it certainly looks more like Derbyshire.

Blue jobs and pink jobs get done by me regardless. I managed some today but not others, not that anyone else sees my efforts. Besides, the fine weather encouraged me to get outside and do some walking, even if that did include a supermarket trip. Aldi was surprisingly quiet though and not a dressing gown, fluffy mule wearing smoker in sight. Tomorrow begins a three day expedition northwards where I am staying perilously close to the Staffs/North Hipposhire border. Although this risks attack from marauding pachyderms, I think I'm reasonably safe. The only cake likely to be on offer will be the Staffordshire Oat variety. Merry Christmas to all TNM'ers.

HH in LDC mix up: https://www.trtworld.com/africa/hippo-spits-out-uganda-toddler-after-swallowing-him-partially-63641

I've just picked up this sad news from @Graham_Muz 's Twitter. Being reasonably local to me, Chris was a regular and familiar face at the numerous exhibitions both large and small we are blessed with in this part of the world. In fact, no exhibition seemed complete until I'd seen Chris and exchanged greetings. I also spoke to him a couple of times when I was volunteering at Pendon. A sad loss. I'll particularly miss the tales of his various battles with technology. RIP Chris.

A similar situation arose near me just a few days ago. The feeder road through my estate is a long, downhill, sweeping curve into a straight, the sort which would be the envy of many a Formula 1 circuit. Unfortunately, that's how many drivers treat it and despite its 30mph limit, was regularly described by colleagues in Traffic as the fastest road in Luton. It was also the scene of a fatality a couple of years ago. Various traffic calming measures have been tried over the years without success. The Council's latest wheeze has been to install a chicane about half way along, giving priority to traffic in one direction. After several weeks, the work was finally completed on Thursday. Imagine my concern when I saw this when out for a walk on Friday: Drivers in the opposite direction saw the same blue rectangular sign but with words saying they had priority. I spent a few scary minutes witnessing a number of near misses and blasts on the horn. I reported the issue to the council straight away online and in a tortuous 45 minute phone call. Nothing was done over the weekend and on Monday evening the offending sign was still in place. This evening I was pleased to see the offending sign has now been removed, replaced with a temporary A board with the correct symbol. Has the new chicane made a difference? Of course not. A few minutes at the roadside confirms it's merely added some extra excitement for the idiots looking to channel their inner Lewis Hamilton.

Given the weathering, you'd be forgiven for thinking it was actually chocolate and cream!

Steam sounds? I've yet to be convinced that DCC offerings are any better than this: Yes it is mine btw and no, I don't use it. As for diesel sounds, yes I'll concede they are rather more realistic - but only to a point. Many exhibitors seem to forget that less is more and think that a maximum volume cacophony of whistling, rattling and sundry other sounds is all that's required. For me, overdone sounds are up (down?) there with twinkling, floodlight strength ice white lighting where a subtle tungsten glow or maybe even less is more appropriate.

"Who you gonna call? Dronebusters!"

The current Google Streetview picture of my house (dating from August 2012), shows the borough council refuse wagon in the act of tearing a large branch from the tree in the middle of the cul de sac. The tree, a catalpa, belongs to all the homeowners not the council. Pretty irrefutable evidence when it came to asking them if and how they were going to make good the damage they caused.

Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm

Indeed. I think I have all the chassis block variants and with a few exceptions, most of the components can be used across all the variants. There seems to have been various changes to the current pickup arrangement down the years. It's a fundamentally sound design, let down by delicate valve gear which requires careful handling and frequent checking if you want to avoid bent rods and gear. A problem not unique to this model though. The current design owes much to its predecessor. The major difference is the casting of the lower firebox as part of the block, instead of being moulded as part of the body. Unfortunately, the spares or repairs examples I've recently acquired suggest delicate running gear is still a problem.

Helpful of Hornby to give the same number to service sheets for two different models. Ironic that a model shop has a more comprehensive set of sheets on its website than the original manufacturer. https://www.lendonsmodelshop.co.uk/pdf/Hornby Service Sheets/No.370C Duchess Class.pdf

This is a link for 336C https://www.lendonsmodelshop.co.uk/pdf/Hornby Service Sheets/No.336C Duchess Class DCC Ready.pdf 370 is for the Class 50.

In my files I have the following: HSS 223e - original version with moving trailing truck HSS 342b - Later version with fixed trailing truck (also sound) HSS 438b & d - current version 2017 onwards

Sad to hear there won't be a 2023 show. This year was my first ever visit to the show and I have to agree it was top notch in terms of the layouts on offer. At the time it was hard to gauge the number of visitors simply due to the size and layout of the venue. It was never crowded but there seemed to be a steady flow of people throughout the time I was there. Thanks to the team for your efforts this year. Glad I managed at least one visit, a shame there won't be more.

"No Mr. P Class, I expect you to die!"

Compare and contrast some of the earlier pictures with those from nearby Northants Police. The Chief Constable Nick Adderley is ex-Royal Navy (and wears the South Atlantic Medal). I assume the officers pictured in non-standard headgear are ex-military wearing the berets of their former units.

Only to a point. Most of the fittings (coupling rods, valve gear, cylinders etc.) are interchangeable along with components like the motor retainer and the fixed trailing truck. The current version includes a casting of the lower firebox which is part of the bodyshell moulding on the previous version. The previous version has two lugs at the front to locate the bodyshell which are absent on the current version. The previous version went through several incarnations - I seem to have several different versions. The main changes were to accommodate the fixed trailing truck but also various DCC installations.

Why is no one commenting on the condition of the box? Now if this was Hattons, or Rails, or...

My hat size is 7 7/8 (63cm). Mine had to specially ordered, although it took me a while to convince the uniform stores that I couldn't fit into one of the sizes they had in stock. Anyone "borrowing" mine would have been easy to spot. They would have been the one with their eyes and nose covered.