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Pandora

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Posts posted by Pandora

  1. 3 hours ago, Kallaroonian said:

    I have to admit I only skip-read this thread.

     

    Much of what leapt off the pages I can relate to, possibly all of it. Let me first of all congratulate The Johnster for the use of the word cromulent which I have never heard of but will certainly be using in the future.

     

    See my old threads about Hatfield - I forget the exact title of the first one but the current is Hatfield : Part the Second.

     

    This things is ridiculously huge.  It was all designed with Xtrkcad ages ago and is intended to be a scale size slightly romanticised model of Hatfield Herts. One photo shows the whole thing including under board storage yards, the other just the top sections.

     

    I started the idea of this when my son was probably say 4 or 6 or something like that. He is now virtually 17. Finding the time and the money - what with various periods of unemployment - and doing all the work myself means it has just taken ages. And its in a loft space, access won't get easier as I get older, there is much much much left to do and I have currently unresolved problems with keeping the track clean (but there will be a solution.....)

     

    Plus of course while it is theoretically removable - there are separate boards either supporting themselves or laid across huge spars - the practical reality of points on joints, wiring, size etc etc all means that if we move it would possibly be finis. Aside from anything else any move would be a downsize so that would really be a problem.

     

    Why did I embark on this? I wanted to get back into model railways. I had the space. I wanted to run full size trains and build essentially a real model (its the extra engine shed that is a romanticism).

     

    So would I do it again. For sure. I've enjoyed building it, and that's really the point I think

     

    And where I'm at right now I'm fairly optimistic that all the wiring will be done before too long. With that and the clean track solution I can run some trains and get into some scenery. Whether the viaduct ever gets a scale brick coating or stays as extruded polystyrene blue is a question though.............. 

     

     

     

    ScreenShot673.jpg

    ScreenShot672.jpg

    To operate this layout I think you would need 6+ people,  3 controllers, 2 drivers and a gofer to deal with derailments / sticky locomotives / put the kettle on.

  2. The Lima diesel motor bogie wheelsets,  how are they constructed?

    For the wheelside  with the cog, how do you separate the wheelrim from the cog?

    As you can guess, I wish to replace the Lima wheel with something closer to scale, while retaining the Lima drivetrain, the locomotive is a Class 73, I wish to replace the undersized wheels with wheels of the correct diameter

  3. The 1980s, the period you are researching,  saw the development  of BR Speedlink freight working,   Sectorisation of the locomotive fleet, the many liveries and logos of locomotives were allocated   to specific purposes, Chemical, Construction, Parcels etc.

    Here is a link:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speedlink.

    Will Speedlink working be ported into your layout scenario?

  4. I'm going to convert some of my Lima diesels, rather than salvage motors from CD/DVD drives I want to buy new 9V-12V motors from Ebay £2-50 each, ,  can you post the critical dimensions of the motor,  diameter and depth?  For a Class 26 or 33 conversion BoBo wheel arrangement, what is the depth of the "fat motor",  is there plenty of leeway in motor depth as no call  to grind  for a clearance  of a  middle axle.

    For the Class 47, any further hints as to the depth of a motor to avoid the grinding operation?

  5. Read some of the USA railway modelling magazines, they have more coverage of "Grand Layouts"

    You can divide your layout into sections, "off-stage" sections and "on-stage" the off-stage being non-scenic holding loops and plain line using Setrack  the on-stage can be smaller scenic areas where you concentrate your finescale efforts, i wish I had your area, I would run scale length freight and passenger on a continuous loop passing through an urban trench style of suburban 2-platform station.

     

    • Agree 1
  6. Hornby have shown their skills in producing exquisite small shunting locomotives,  the Peckett, Ruston and Sentinel models,  there is a significant pool of 0-4-0 and 0-6-0 diesel shunters to tackle,  shunters dating back to WW2 by the Big Four and lasted until about 1970,  Hornby manage to sell such  masterpieces  for around £100 each,  a lot easier to part with than £200 for a W1 (for me).

    Hornby please tackle  an LMS Jackshaft shunter or me!

    • Agree 1
  7. 8 hours ago, Titan said:

    Whilst it would have been far better for more trains to have ETH from the beginning, the limitation was the inability to convert coaching stock to dual heat fast enough. The sensible  decision had been made that the WCML  electrics would be ETH only from the start, and BR were struggling to convert enough stock to dual heat for that let alone anything else, even resulting in a few old coaches converted with a steam heating boiler to run with them until the ETH conversions caught up.  On the Southern, 33s would often be paired with a type 2 for the sole purpose of providing steam heat, and the class 47 "generators" hardly ever used their ETH on the ECML either until the Mk2ds came along.

     

    Using class 33s on the Glasgow-Edinburgh push pulls might seem a sensible idea for ETH provision, but 90mph capable locomotives were required, hence the conversion of the 27s.

    The steam heating boilers in the diesel-electrics  were oil-fired, some electric locos had electric steam raising boilers, the boiler contained electric heating elements,  if the diesel-electric had to provide electricity for both  traction and heating of the carriages, some of the diesels such as class 40 would struggle to outrun a decent steam loco, CME Ernest Cox wrote of this ,  "pity the poor steam loco boiler" 

  8. On 27/01/2022 at 15:41, Johann Marsbar said:

    The Science Museum Group must now be in the process of informing the successful bidders for the items on that list as we have apparently received an e-mail this afternoon stating that we have got the Ransomes single decker trolleybus!  (after about 30 years of trying....)

    Is the Trolleybus complete and restorable to working order?  Will the Trolleybus visit Sandtoft or any another venue with overhead power?

  9. On 06/04/2019 at 21:35, Davexoc said:

    The thing is, currently diesel emissions are seen as the bad boys, and this has come about because we were incentivised to switch to diesel by HMRC many years ago, because petrol emissions created too much CO2. The extra CO2 came about because we converted CO to CO2 in catalytic converters. So now with people switching back to petrol, CO2 is on the increase again.

     

    Choice then, a few with lives lost to diesel emissions, or runaway CO2 levels possibly wiping out the human race. 

     

    The emissions from a handful of 69s pales into insignificance against the private motor vehicle.

    You are correct about CO2 and the petrol vs diesel debate,  the diesel may win win the  CO2 emissions but loses over Nox emissions,  the scientists are stating that Nox has 250 times the potency of CO2,  a gram of Nox does the environmental damage of , acid rain, ground level ozone, human cardiovascular  damage, and others,  of 250 mg of CO2. Neither can claim to be "safe and green".

    The emissions debate around the IC engine continues to baffle! 

  10. 8 hours ago, rodent279 said:

    I wonder how difficult it would have been to put an 8LDA28 engine into a class 26/7, plus suitable generator & traction motors, and create a class 33 clone on the cheap?

    The scale of the surplus of the SR Class 33 at their mid-life point was high ,  95 locos on the books,  with a case for 80,  a pity the surplus  did not go to Scotland to enhance  the hard working fleet of 20+  Class 27 Glasgow push-pull locomotives. I'm thinking of a 33 + 27 push-pull pairing.  But then the ScR  adopted  to Class 47 push-pull.   As to your question, one for the experts!

    • Interesting/Thought-provoking 1
  11. On 20/02/2018 at 01:23, cheesysmith said:

    The answer, 47901. When fitted with the V12 class 58 engine it was running at full power rating of 3500BHP, but kept quiet in case anybody complained. As to deltic running more HP than normal, i have heard stories of such usually along with some very impressive top speeds, with a theoretical drawbar HP way above what they should be doing. IIRC the original E&G push pull was to be done using class 47s, but no other region could spare any so the ScR had to use locos it had available, so we had top and tailed 27s.

    I recall reading a book covering the Southern Region  Class 33's, the book stated the Southern had ordered too many of the Class ,  a pity the Region denied ScR  the 33 with the  more powerful Sulzer engine and standard electric train heating.

    • Like 2
  12. 9 hours ago, Mark Saunders said:


    Orgreave to Scunthorpe was a normal working for these. This was a British Steel coke works as it had previously been part of the United Steel Company and as such became part of BSC. Pre nationalisation they had fleet of private owner hoppers as in the Hornby model.

    Thank you,  Orgreave to Scunthorpe workings would probably use the Doncaster avoiding line, as a young spotter we knew this as the "1800 line", from  the  boilerless D18XX Brush 4's of Immingham   and Frodingham  sheds which worked the line. I have been offered a rake of the Hornby  hoppers at a fair price, now  to make a decision!

     

    https://wikimili.com/en/Doncaster_Avoiding_Line

  13. 18 hours ago, turbos said:

    In 1907 the Caledonian and the North British made an agreement for pooling of all competitive goods and passenger traffic within Scotland and the rationalisation of competitive services. A 50 page document that went in to a lot of detail on splitting revenues and fixed annual charges for sections of line with running powers. Traders season and return tickets would be valid on both systems. Both companies pledged not to acquire, lease or work the GSWR, HR and GNSR. Although suspended during the war it remained in place until 1931.

     

     

     

    Brian.

    Is it correct that the NBR was later found to have a worrying level of  corruption a within the Boardroom?

  14. 2 hours ago, 65179 said:

    Not colliery use, but the use of chaldron wagons like this (TrainsandTravel Flickr image):

     

    Seaham Harbour 4T chaldron wagon

    at Seaham Harbour is discussed here:

     

    http://beamishtransportonline.co.uk/2020/04/a-selection-of-new-seaham-harbour-images/

     

    Simon

    The wagon I refer to in the 1970s Doncaster image was a modern  version of the Beamish wagon,  the modern wagon had the same style, inside axles boxes and the distinctive shape and the body in metal. The wagon was in fresh black paint,  no owners marking,  so possibly owners are Steel Works or the  NCB. I wish I could find and post the image for everyone to see.

  15. The use of Chaldon Wagons was later than the 1950s.  probably until the 1970s or beyond.

    I had an image from the web of a 47 working an up-direction freight train  through Doncaster Station , the  image lost by a hard drive crash,and cannot relocate , ( does anyone have a copy)?

    The image would be from around 1970 and In the formation is an  ex-works metal-bodied Chaldron wagon with the typical inside axleboxes, the wheels in full view, the nearest wagon works to Domncaster would be Charles Roberts of Wakefield and it is an assumption it is a  the repaired or overhauled wagon  in transit back to the owner. Did Roberts make such wagons for UK or export in the modern era?

  16. On 12/02/2018 at 22:45, The Stationmaster said:

     

    The rapid multiplication of the Brush Type 4 (later Class 47) design into mass construction failed to address numerous problems on the locos resulting in a long period of experiments, modifications and of course de-rating of the licence built Sulzer design engine.  In effect the choice of the Brush design from a suite of Type 4 higher horsepower prototypes was almost a repeat of the error in going for large numbers of one Pilot Scheme design (the Derby/Sulzer Type 2, later Class 24/25) which was definitely not the best of the Pilot Scheme Type 2s.  Oddly in both cases it was a BRC&W design which was dropped, I wonder why?

    In the early 1960s BR&CW moved away from locomotive construction to  property and finance , had BR&CW remained as a constructor, perhaps Br would have ordered more Class 26 and 27 locomotives and fewer Class 24 and 25 locomotives.  BR&CW Lion,  was Lion a serious competitor to  the Class 47 for the Type 4 fleet?

  17. 19 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

     The compensation paid to the owners of PO wagons was also a very considerable sum especially as many of the older ones were probably good for nothing but firewood although the figure paid depended on the age of the vehicle.

     

    But in total it was no doubt cheaper than the amount the railways were owned for unpaid/underpaid wartime bills.

    I think it was Bonavia who described the post 1948 BR wagon fleet situation,  BR had no choice other than to pay owners in full for a wagon fleet in poor condition and of the wrong mix of open wagons and vans for the traffic needs. BR was buying many wagons which were not required. The PO wagon companies then had the pleasure of repairing the fleet at BR expense, or breaking up wagons for salvage of materials for recycling needs in the rebuilding of  the country

  18. Initial proposal of five companies, later changed to four.

    Govt owed the  Railways a major sum of money post-WW1, the Grouping was a mechanism for cutting down  money to be paid by the Exchequer.

    The LMSR was the problem, the L&Y/LNWR/Midland were the cats and dogs in one kennel, (I'm aware the L&Y and LNWR merged in advance of the Grouping). Many heads rolled, George Hughes CME L&Y, Henry O'Brien.    Sir Guy Granet, a Barrister, Chairman of the Midland,  who distrusted Engineers, held all the cards,  under his tenure the Midland Railway  policies   prevailed lleading to the the difficulties which led to the LMSR calling upon Stanier to modernise the LMSR. At the time of his retirement CME Hughes of the L&Y Horwich was working upon an Electrification  Scheme for the LNWR Crewe to Carlisle route,  how different the railway could have been if the Midland had not ruled the roost.

  19. 7 minutes ago, woodenhead said:

     

    By the way, I am a customer, but I want authentic liveries and models not collector models.

    I am steered towards authentic liveries, the pre-order book closes on May 1st, I think i read Rapido will only go forward with the RTC livery if sufficient numbers are pre-ordered

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