robmcg

Bill the small moving diagram of the steam locomotive which you show with your signature is the best way to describe or more accurately illustrate a typical modern? steam engine I have seen.. May I ask where I might obtain such a (moving) picture. It certainly beats explaning things like valve timing, overlap, lead, and valve gear! Have you ever tried explaining why three-cylinder engines can sometimes have to reverse before going forward? To a female? In any event, here is a three-cylinder rebuilt Patriot doing just that.... (in forward gear, I hasten to add)... If you read this Jeff, could you have explained it to physics classes without moving diagrams like Bill's? Kind regards, Rob edit; this is the (jpg image from the moving avatar. I apologise I am not very literate with all these emoticon and avatar things..

or this, as ever, variations on a theme... and whilst clearly not spamcans I do hope mod4 will be lenient. Rob

For those who prefer the look of the rebuilt engines... and I can never decide which I prefer as they both have great beauty, here is Hornby factory weathered 34003... I think the factory weathering very good considering the limits of volume-production. I image this scene as being a 73B turn somewhere in Kent, with a few stray red and cream carriages as well as a Mk1 and a Maunsell behind a well-fettled but grimy 'Plymouth'.

Never one to leave a picture unchanged, I thought a trip to the Kent coast might offer new opportunities... The descriptions of firing an original Bulleid light Pacific in the Haynes book 'The Original Bulleid Pacifics' by John Scott-Morgan leaves me in no doubt that they often looked spectacular when getting to grips with a heavy express. I heartily recommend Chapter 6 written by James Solly who was a fireman in the 1950s at 73B Bricklayers Arms, a vivid description of a run from Charing Cross to Ramsgate via Sevenoaks, Tonbridge, Ashford, Folkestone and Dover, with 11 on for 345 tons. Reaching mid-high 80s in places. Locos that day for out and back were 34002 out and 34078, the latter back via a more convoluted route due to points failure at Paddock Wood. ...so I have re-named and re-numbered Hornby's 34061 to 34078 '222 Squadron'... with cylinder drains slightly blowing, sanders on, steam pressure at around 250lb and injectors on, for a fast trip from Ramsgate up to London Bridge and Charing Cross. I have chosen what I hope is the right headcode for the route from Ashford back into London via Maidstone East, Swanley Junction and Chislehurst Junction, the change of the headcode having been mentioned in the story. Also mentioned was the fine condition of the engines that day, where he observed three rings in the exhaust smoke signature, and later, 'tubing out' with sand thrown forwards into the fire over the arch when accelerating towards Sandling Tunnel. He kept a good fire and pressure throughout the day. A great tribute to these locomotives. A surprise to me was the high speeds reached on the outward journey, as mentioned, in the mid-to-high 80s., approaching both Tonbridge and Paddock Wood respectively, which gained only a couple of minutes on schedule, and this gave a little time for pulling coal forward at Ashford, as well as the usual watering. Lovely what you can do with modeller's licence... the actual location is not exactly anywhere, based on a pastiche of digital images. Rob

Superb! Art deco lives.

Thankyou, I shall have to look at the several books I have purchased recently for more inspiration. George Heiron's 'Waterloo to Ilfracombe' and Richard Parkinson's 'Exeter Memories' Exmouth Junction Fireman, also Michael Welch's 'Southern Counties Main Line Steam' and John Scott Morgan's 'Altantic Coast Express'... not to mention all the Irwell Press, Richard Derry 's 'The Book of ...' pairing for MNs and BoB/WCs., the Haynes' John Scott-Morgan 'The Original Bulleid Pacifics', whew, David Shepherd's 'An Artist Among The Ashes', and C T Gifford's 'Each a Glimpse'... Rob edit; actually, looking at my picture a couple of posts back, it could well be west of Exeter, since by 1957 I think that flat-bottom rail was becoming common on the ex-LSWR lines and I need as many choices as possible!

Thankyou. While my model of 34061 was out, I took another photo, and it being an Exeter engine, mostly, (although I notice it had a 71G Bath shedplate... I have changed it to 72A Exeter) , I took this photo of perhaps the same train between Exeter and Salisbury. Or perhaps even further east. Did Exeter, engines normally work all the way to Waterloo and back, I wonder? Or were they more often used west of Exeter?

Mod 4 shifted my pic from Hornby to here, except it didn't appear here, nor could I edit my locked post, so here goes again; Always a soft spot for unrebuilt Bulleids, especially starting 14-total in summer 1957 , an express from the West Country, not sure when BR SR green Mk1s appeared. Hornby 34061 '73 Squadron in c1957 for, with PSP6 editing. ..coal trimmed, full head of steam, sanders on, Salisbury, Basingstoke, Waterloo here we come. Rob

and just for good measure, a frosty departure from a different angle.... Rob edit; 12/3/2012 added access hole in frame forward of cylinders

and just to show that not everything is a train speeding through the countryside... I really like this model. Rob

as referred to above... weathered 46244 'King George VI' with 1959 'Royal Scot'... no warning stripes, but AWS fitted, BR maroon under the work-stains... Cheers, Rob

I feel like sitting back in pub and saying, 'arrr'... I have a red 'Duchess of Devonshire' with 'streamlining', and a newly-arrived weathered maroon late crest 46244 so I think I'll be busy with one of those shortly. Never a dull moment! Not short of A3 and A4s either... when I was between 7 and 15 years old I would have been a keen spotter I think, had I been living in the UK. As it was I loved and travelled regulary behind, or rarely, actually on, the 4-8-4 'Ka' class engines of N Z Railways, which really demonstrated how to get power in a restricted loading-gauge, as well as a fair turn of speed. Nothing like the best UK locos though for graceful power and speed. Rob

Well, these engines were after all masterpieces. In reading about them I am amazed by the skills of the design team which created them in the late 1930s. The streamlining adds a certain atmosphere of the age. The proportions of all the parts of these engines really is and was something to behold, with or without the streamlining. Not saying that other engines didn't approach the standard. The team of designers under Stanier really did hit the mark in so many ways. Bulleid might eventually equalled the Duchesses with somewhat more modern equivalents but history and other technology overtook that enterprise? Hope your wife is feeling better. Rob

So, sloping smokebox 46228 with a 1955-56 'Royal Scot'... at a time when Staniers I think were added to Mk1 carriages in some photos. I like the headboard so artistic license prevails... Rob

Thankyou. I presume the alternative line southwards from Buxton sometimes carried express trains, but if not, I shall claim artistic license. It's a great pleasure to use the lovely current RTR 00 models to re-create something of the atmsphere of the railways of 1950s and 60s, and as I slowly get better at the illustrations I will take more care about authenticity of location, signal box architecture and so on. So far I have mostly just used generic Hornby signals other ephemera. Mind you, I just bought C T Giffford's 'Each a Glimpse' book of photos, so I might stray into shadow and light a little more... can use that to hide a lot of errors! Thanks again. Rob typo edit

Alternative image to that on msg.86... with acknowledgements for both to E R Morten who took a b+w photo of a 'Crab' at Buxton No.2 Box and from which some of this picture is based. This would I think be a Jubilee heading for St Pancras into the Peak District c1956, but I have taken considerable liberties with colours, background, items removed and so on. Can someone say if 45611 was ever likely to have worked expresses from Manchester to St Pancras? Rob

Well, here is my rather nice unmodified 'Hong Kong', and it ticks all the boxes for me... I should say, the model is unmodified, not the picture! Hornby Staniers. Cheers, Rob edit to repair minor details

Thankyou Iain, I much prefer this version of history to the Irwell book! This 19-20 month period will allow a lovely portrait of 46228 with blood-and- custard Staniers at speed. Rob

Thanks for that reply Ian, it's a great pleasure to me that you and others like the illustrations I make. I too have many old photos with negatives missing, or sometime in boxes or old envelopes which would take a long time to identify. Most of mine were not taken with an Ilford Sportsman, but an 'Agfa Clack'... which took 120-size film, 8 pictures at 2 3/4" x 3 x 3/4". A very few were actually quite passable, for the day. Oh, to have had the skills of W J V Anderson! Rob

Moving quickly along, I too have a question. My Irwell 'Book of the Coronations Pacifics Mk2' says that 46228 'Duchess of Rutland' had its smokebox 'restored' in 12/53 (p59), but as far as I can tell it was in BR blue then and didn't receive BR green until 6/55 (p64). Can Hornby possibly be wrong with sloping smokebox on BR green early crest 46228? Rob

Towards Euston, from Bletchley through Leighton Buzzard at 40 1/4 miles from Euston the line climbs (ed) generally at 1:660/1:1685 for 6 1/4 miles, then it drops lightly at 1:1330 for a little over a mile (milepost 39), rises at 1:540 for a mile (milepost 38), the climbs towards Tring summit for 6 miles at 1:333 (summit near milepost 32). Level through Tring for about 3/4 mile then downhill for 14 miles to Watford, the first 7 miles at 1:335. Source; 'Mile by Mile on Britain's Railways' by S N Pike

Moving on from such troublesome concepts as truth in digital photography, this thread has reminded me of the pleasures of late '50s and early '60s enthusiasm for the Duchess class, with or as later without sloping smokebox. I was given an Ian Allan Book of Railways for Christmas 1962 and it has miraculously survived all these years. It contains a chapter on the Stanier Pacifics, and concludes with reference to a remarkable run by the loco in my picture, on Sept 5 1957 with the southbound 'Caledonian'. No.46244 'King Geoge VI' "took to its heels" and reached Euston 35 minutes early, having covered the 401 miles from Glasgow in 6 hours and 3 minutes. The real sprinting was done from Stafford to Watford, 116.3 miles reeled off at an average of 83 m.p.h.; and remarkably surmounting Tring Summit at no less than 96 m.p.h. My picture shows 46244 in earlier BR green and my purchase of her in slightly grubby maroon in late crest BR form is probably one of the few times weathering is not entirely appropriate! But I think the general feeling is there, for me at least. One of these locomotives with a train 'in hand' on the WCML grades would have been a superb sight to behold, even if the seven (or was that nine?) carriage 'Caledonian' was easy work... I'm intrigued that some consider the Duke of Gloucester the equal of these locomotives now. Rob typo edit

Yes, the three-rail Montrose was the star of our house front room floor layouts in the 50s... until Bristol Castle came along.... those West Coast Main Line expresses certainly had something. Who ever would have thought in 1960 they would all be gone so quickly?

Yes I bought a sloping smokebox from Peter's Spares just a few weeks ago for about £9 with smokebox darts and other little bits. Actually this thread got me interested and I tracked down a couple of nice buys on Ebay, early crest green 'Duchess of Rutland', and a weathered maroon late crest re-named 'King Geoge VI' under £100 for each as new but each had one front step missing. My impression is that fair prices can still be had. Hard to find a factory-weathered Montrose though. Here is one I owned until last year... and here below is the maroon late BR 'King George VI'... I think the weathering is pretty good, the pristine maroon engines haven't got the finest of lining I've seen, and the weathering, after-market in this case, improves things. and, below, the elusive Rutland with sloping smokebox... might not be to the very latest standards of RTR 00 but they look very nice. Rob

R2311 City of Glasgow in LMS lined black produced c2002-2004 R2553 City of Bristol in BR blue 2006-7 also in set R1094 with red nameplates 2007 R2303M Pricess Alexandra BR blue 2002 Royal Scot set R2231 Duchess of Rutland BR green 2002-2004 R3111 City of Edinburgh BR blue 2010? All the above had the de-streamlined sloping smokebox. Good luck! Source; Ramsay's Guide 7th edition except the last entry which is from a version I bought last year, then sold again.. Cheers, Rob