Bill Matters

Possibly the BBC reversed it as on Keith’s Facebook page it runs normally, i.e. forwards. I would have liked to see an overall view as well as it seemed more concerned with the buildings.

The only reference I could find from Simon Martin to ET and genius was

 

‘The conversion to a Pacific wheelbase was remarkably straightforward and the more I look at it, the more I realise just what a stroke of genius it was on Thompson's or Robert Thom's part to go for the simplicity of the equal length connecting rods and cylinder setup. Half the reason it came together so quickly was because they reduced overall design time on the new front end I feel. Either way the Doncaster Drawing office should be praised highly for the turnaround, and the works too.‘

 

Someone else on the thread quoted

’I'll leave the thread for this evening with the words of R.H.N. Hardy, who was more than familiar with the full experience of operating the original Pacifics at Stewarts Lane:  "I think that, without a shadow of doubt, Bulleid was a genius."

 

I am waiting for S.A.C. Martin’s book on Thompson, which looks to have been extensively researched (including analysis of loco usage/repair history from the NRM) and may give a more even-handed appraisal of ET than hitherto experienced. 

 

https://www.national-preservation.com/threads/edward-thompson-wartime-c-m-e-discussion-2012-2021.35938/page-206

 

has 206 pages of sometimes heated discussion as you might expect.

21 hours ago, Pete the Elaner said:

The intention is to make it an east-west route for freight as well as passengers.

1 example is providing an alternative for container traffic from East Anglia to Daventry, which currently had to use the Anglia main line, NLL & WCML which are all congested, but it will also provide access to further west too.

In this blog https://bedfordrail.wordpress.com/2021/03/01/the-case-against-east-west-rail-route-e-is-there-anything-in-it/

the author quotes :

 

-East West Rail will be used for regular diesel freight trains, which wasn’t made clear before the consultation

This is perhaps the most widely-circulated argument on social media and elsewhere. It is almost entirely untrue – the only correct element is that East West Rail will be, at first, a diesel railway. The rest of the argument has no basis in fact.

and

An East West Rail spokesperson confirmed to the Cambridge Independent on February 1st that any freight on the line is only ‘potential’: “We are aware that freight is a topic of great interest to the local communities we will serve, and we are currently undertaking a study to understand potential freight use.”

Maggie Simpson of the Rail Freight Group gave similar confirmation in this recent Q+A with Tangent Rail: “It’s an open question at the moment. We don’t have a definitive position on whether or not the East West Rail Company is building freight capacity in the central section. Rob Brighouse [Chairman at East West Rail Company] was vocally clear that this line was not for freight.”-

 

So there may eventually be freight, but this would probably involve more spend than currently planned.

21 hours ago, cypherman said:

Hi all,

Well all my H/D engines are of the 2 rail variety. Including 3 that were once 3 rail. I now after an extensive buying spree. Just do not tell my wife.....lol. have at least 2 of every H/D locomotive made.(IE This means I have 2 A4's and not 2 of every version of A4 H/D have made etc). Except the EMU and I do not have any of them..... . I have been buying mainly the diesels recently and  have picked up 1 Deltic(Crepello), 2 Co-Co's and 2 Co-Bo's. Something I once said I would never buy as I am not into diesels. I am looking for the Deltic St Paddy for 2 rail. So I will probably have to buy a 2 rail chassis and get a spare body because as far as I know they never made a 2 rail version of St Paddy.

Similarly I have recently purchased a Bo-Bo (actually a birthday present), a Co-Bo, Co-Co and 08 (both converted to 3 rail). My brother, who started the layout in the 1950s is not impressed as he is a died-in-the wool steam man. 

 

On 16/12/2020 at 19:19, Tony Teague said:

If I may add something more modest in terms of 2020 achievements; as Tony knows, loco building is not my forte or comfort area, but during the year my layout has made progress and I have built at least 16 wagon kits, painted and weathered these & more:

 

 

I have also scratch built a new parish church:

 

 

and finished my Control Panel which has been in building for at least 4 years!

 

 

Happy Christmas to all Wright's Write readers!

 

Tony

 

 

 

 

Could you say where you sourced the coloured tips for the toggle switches. My usual source has stopped selling them and I cannot see anyone selling them in packs of one colour. Thanks

Mary Berry seemed to like the first photo.

Is Burgh-le-marsh applicable where most of the station buildings are still extant?

Regarding your new signal, on the real thing did someone have to climb it every day to change the lamps? If so, wow!

If it is 2-rail then the Duchess should be in a red box.

Did you mean 0.3 Amps?

Good luck anyone trying to uncouple with it.

 

As Wolseley said in the original thread it is a roadway for the level crossing.

I am making up a Breakdown Crane train (consist) and need a mess coach and tool van. I read somewhere that obsolete dining cars were used as mess vans as they had the kitchen already fitted.

 

The red version of the Stanier dining car is more of a match to the pinkish red of the crane than the maroon of the normal Stanier brake coach or suburban coach. All I need is the nerve to convert the dining car, which has been kept in very good condition for the last 60 years.

58 minutes ago, Clive Mortimore said:

Having been brought up in Bedford, and I still have family there,  I can say I never heard any one refer to Biggleswade as Biggy. I have heard it being called lots of other things and I am sure over cooked Dave will have even more names for it but never Biggy. Even when my brother worked there he always called it Biggleswade. 

Maybe it is a texting/internet thing for abbreviations sake as it is called Biggy on Facebook. 

 

I was brought up in Potters Bar and some members of the local Facebook group call it Potty. I never heard this when I lived there for 25+ years. Mind you the station staff used to call out 'Pott Bar' when a train arrived.

Excellent. Are there any plastic 00 cattle wagon kits that have poseable doors you can have open, rather than having to carve-up the moulding into two doors and a ramp?

For those of you who still have snow.

 

 

Have you changed your name by deed poll to Mr. Pike Stu. 

 

Dear Mr. Phillius said Bachmann little people have been purchased at the Wycrail show today SWMBO is most impressed with them she didn't notice the LMS full brake 

in the same bag, they might give me some (wait for it ) impetus to get the ###k on with the creamery once the weather improves in the spring.

milk on?

Very disappointed now. I've been looking forward to seeing the Little Bytham session on DVD since it was announced on this thread BUT the WH Smith copy doesn't come with the DVD this month - only subscribers have the priviledge of seeing the footage.

I too was disappointed there was no DVD. I went through the link on Page 80 suggested in the mag and had to enter a 'competition' so they can send me the DVD (could have asked for a link as an alternative). This meant registering an account and did not cost me anything.

 

I think the DVD is on the way as there were no questions for the 'competition' Very convoluted, and not impressed.

 

Edited to remove actual link.

Better than a half-relief bus.

But this would be two for the price of one with the other half somewhere else.

Hi,

 

Love this topic and your layout.

 

One query on how you take photographs of non-stop trains (with apologies if it has been covered before).

 

Do you have the train static or is it moving, and if moving at what scale speed is it running at? I had a thought that at certain angles if you could follow a moving train it would give a different effect to a static shot.

 

Regards

 

Bill aka Barry

Nice pic Gilbert - good to see 'ordinary' locos at work

 

In the meantime I'm getting ver more frustrated with wiring up points and double slips 

 

I HATE WIRING!!!!!

 

I was so frustrated with it yesterday, despite SWMBO being off shed for the day, I jumped on the bike and headed off to the local biker caff, where I met up with some of the IAM lads and we had a good trip around Sussex.

IAM = Institute of Advanced Modellers?

Graham, you are bound to have seen these published photos in the Middleton Press "Peterborough to Newark" but I will just mention in case they evaded you.

Photos 72 to 93 are of Grantham. 73 has good views of both canopies at the north end for instance.  If you don't happen to have the book, let me know and I will tell you what is in the other pictures in case helpful.  There are also 2 full pages of 20 inch to the mile plans, labelled 1929.

Regards, Tom

This book is getting more publicity than the new James Bond film. It's on my Christmas list now.

Ah Mick, now if Apple were to make Model Trains we'd all be RTR

 

Ah, but if they did you would not be able to open up a loco to maintain or adapt it. They would probably need special oil at 100GBP for one cc.

 

Bill

 

(written on my iPad)

Only seen pigs by rail once about 1960 and they were being unloaded from standard cattle trucks.  If I remeber, cattle were limited to 10 per truck and pigs would have been around 15 to 20.

There are some photos on this link of different livestock movements.

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/66421-livestock-photos-from-the-nrm/

Mick, thanks very much for the info and very useful link.

 

Bill

Looking at the track plan of Bitton it seems a bit limited on the amount of yard operations.  It has got the usual goods shed and I hear that fruit traffic was quite prolific and I suppose there was the usual coal deliveries.  I cannot see any cattle pens, which if there were would give extra movements.  Perhaps Andy could incorporate some of these or perhaps he could have pig pens to deal with those Gloucester Old Spots that frequent those parts, they make lovely sausages by the way.  Andy could even go one step further and have a sausage factory next to the yard where pigs could be incoming and sausage vans outgoing.  Seems feasible to me. :jester: :jester:

Were pigs conveyed differently to cattle, or were they loaded via a normal dock into a cattle wagon? I ask as I have been given some pigs (00 scale) as a present.

 

Thanks