avonside1563

Coo, so much progress whilst I was off doing some 12" to 1 foot modelling. Bellerophon's front buffer beam being refitted by Dubs Crane Tank on Sunday afternoon. We should have been fitting new piston valve rings to Bellerophon too but the manufacturers cocked up and made them wrong so the buffer beam went on anyway as she's due at the Middleton Railway in Leeds in 2 weeks time - Valve rings allowing! Photo: Matt Healey

Good job you weren't at the modelling session last night then, pork pies, samosas, bahjis, pakoras, sausage rolls and little individual chocolate chip muffins! How many photo's would have been posted?

There isn't really enough room to put a ladder in the yard in place of the single slip without losing so much space in those two road that they then become impractical to use.

For those amongst us who are not sure what a chain is.. here is a photo of one taken in the Waterway Museum at Gloucester over the weekend. (I was probably the only one of the team not out with DITD!). Anyway it shows a chain as used for civil engineering. The caption reads: "In the 1620s Edmund Gunter developed a method of surveying land accurately using a chain like this one; it became known as Gunter's chain. The chain has 100 links and is exactly 66 feet long" (courtesy British Waterways Museum, Gloucester)

It's unlikely to drag on seeing as we only have 7 months to construct ready for first exhibition Mike. Also there's a few thoughts on new ways to present articles and what constitutes a good article. The guys at Warners seem keen for some fresh ideas so hopefully everyone will enjoy the journey as much as us (make of that statement what you will). In the meantime, the trackplan is decided and board construction begins next week. This week's efforts have been printing out full size trackplans for each board and Old Gringo is busy marking up heights when not writing on here!

Much of the team were down at Aylesbury over the weekend with DITD, hence not much in the way of posting on here. Plenty of stuff to be posted soon... hopefully Old Gringo will be letting you all in on the thinking behind the project and how we ended up in the Back Country.

Here's a couple of shots we've collected for atmosphere but taken roughly 20 years apart... look at the difference such a short space of time takes. The Stour valley line is clearly visible in the first one but you wouldn't even know a railway was there in the second one taken last year!

That's an over bridge, the main line will drop away at 1 in 180 and the industrial branch climbs at 1 in 50 to cross over the main line.

Yes Neil, there will be plenty appearing soon. The SFG had another meeting last night to tighten down on various features and finalise the basic plan (in amongst eating pies!). Watch this space (or at least a space in the BCB area) for info and details

As to be had at the Pie Factory in Tipton

We may have a big discussion on the correct way to construct a proper Black Country Pie looming...

Morning all, major thinking time is nearly over, serious work begins soon! Indomitable026 is champing at the bit to start building baseboards and will no doubt fill people in with his ideas and thoughts... and not all about pies and ale!

Here's a photo of the Sentinel at Foxfield taken Saturday 5th May

A quick update on the Foxfield Sentinel, it has had a cosmetic overhaul since the photo was taken and is now the subject of interest regarding a return to steam. I will try and post a photo of the Sentinel shortly if I get chance from driving Florence on Saturday at Foxfield.

Robert, did you get my pm with the injector photos? (Oh, and apologies for calling you Richard, must have been having a brain faze!)

Although built for the War Department, 'Sapper' worked many years for the NCB, first as 'Alison' at various pits around the NW and then better known as 'Joseph' at Bold Colliery at the time of the Rainhill 150 celebrations. Certainly the current livery is better suited to the appearance of the loco although I'm intrigued to know when the underfeed stoker chimney and smokebox door were added as, when running at Bold it had a conventional chimney and smokebox door. http://www.rcts.org.uk/features/archive/search.htm?location=Bold&srch=&page=0

The LNER made detail modifications to the basic design over the years, some of the LNER locos featured extended bunkers and most had extra steps fitted both to the running boards and the tanks. As an aside, the last commercially built standard gauge steam locomotive for use in the UK was an Austerity tank in 1964. And another aside, they are the most numerous class preserved.

Now that's nice to see, particularly as when we first got the LMS 20T brake 732444 at Foxfield it had a quick repaint into a psuedo NCB livery very similar to that but without the yellow ends. http://homepage.ntlworld.com/foxfield/lms_brake_732444.htm It's now kept in a more standard bauxite livery by its current owner but still at Foxfield.

It has the vague look of a Hawthorn Leslie going there with the wide smokebox wingplates

Foxfield has the other ex-Littleton Colliery SR van, http://homepage.ntlworld.com/foxfield/sr4wbrake.htm Note that the ducket on this one is at the opposite end to normal.

More likely Bertie is thinking "what's he doing with all my grit?"

Just thought a brief note of explanation might be helpful to this caption for those who don't know that smaller Ruston diesels use air for starting, whereby compressed air at around 300psi is introduced from the starting air reservoir into the cylinders to turn the engine over (instead of an electric starter motor). The engine usually required barring round to a starting position using a large bar inserted into holes in the flywheel on the end of the crankshaft. The problem with this was that you had to get everything primed nicely and then quickly wind the starting air valve open to swing the engine over nice and quickly then snap the air valve shut to let the diesel fuel do its job. If you didn't get it right in the first couple of goes you ran out of high pressure air and would then have to start a small petrol donkey engine and compressor to recharge the starting reservoir, which could take ages when the pump got worn. A old 88DS I have had dealings with could take half an hour or more to recharge the starting reservoir if it didn't start first or second time.

There are sections of bus lane in Chester using streets that are only accessible by buses, being controlled by bollards that lower for the approaching bus. The rest of the time the bus uses dedicated bus lanes or normal roads. When I visit Chester I use the park and ride scheme which takes these routes and it's much faster than trying to drive in. And not a guided busway in sight!

Is it a 10T or an 8T? We have a similar body at Foxfield of an 8T Midland van http://homepage.ntlw...d/mr8tonvan.htm A few other grounded bodies at Foxfield also, if anyone fancies some 12" : 1ft modelling we are always looking for people willing to take on a good project!

The real Wimblebury, the firebox of which I was inside only 2 weeks ago, features blue valances and running boards (see photo), as the NCB weren't going to pay for a tin of black when the blue would do for everything! Foxfield should be able to turn out two Austerities again this year with the return of Whiston due in the very near future! Personally I would take an austerity over most mainline stuff anyday purely for the ease of operation and simplicity of maintenance. Having said that, at Foxfield I will happily have one of the even smaller 4 wheelers where you are working them close to their maximum, rather than an austerity that rarely gets out of first valve on the regulator! On the mainline/industrial debate, I love to see all types of steam locos working, but the industrial scene is so varied compared to mainline stuff that I find it endlessly fascinating.