Chen Melling

Without being too political, the problem (!) is that my country, Israel, has been attacked by more than 300 missiles and drones launched last night by and from another sovereign nation. I implore you to imagine what the UK government, for example, would do in such a situation* * - of course you do not really have to imagine, because we all know what happened the last time the UK was attacked by hundreds of missiles and drones from another sovereign nation.

Trains Magazine have recently published an article about Irish Rail's 201 Class (JT42HCW). I think this is one of the best and most comprehensive published descriptions I've seen dealing with the development of an EMD export type: How to fly a locomotive Note that some of the facts given contradict the relevant Wikipedia article, specifically the reason for transporting the first locomotive by air. I wonder why did EMD bother to develop an apparently new design for these locomotives, instead of modifying the then-recent and very successful Class 59 (JT26CW-SS). After all, the 59 was still in production at the time, and was soon to be developed into the even more successful Class 66 (JT42CWR).

"British Rail Fleet Survey 7: Diesel Shunters" by Brian Harensnape, has turned out to be very much worth the many mentions I gave it on these pages lately, opening my eyes to a plethora of British locomotive types I've never heard of before, and giving several pointer to exported ones. The last of which are probably the most obscure, being two of the 5 diesel-electric demonstrators built in 1958 by Brush and Beyer Peacock. After failing to find a buyer on the British Isles, the couple were refurbished and sold for use in the Skopje Steel Works in what was then Jugoslavia. Alas, I could not find an on-line photo of either.

Besides Liberia, original BR Class 08s also went Guinea (Boke Railway - https://www.railway-centre.com/uploads/7/2/2/3/7223531/class_08-13_fleet_list.pdf) and France (I couldn'e find a photo of either abroad)

The next pointer in "British Rail Fleet Survey 7: Diesel Shunters" by Brian Harensnape led me to former BR Class 06 no. D2432, which found a third (!) life in Italy, along with fellows from Classes 03, 04 and 07: https://features.rcts.org.uk/diesel-dilemmas/ex-br-diesel-shunting-locomotives-exported-italy/ex-br-03s-06-07-exported-trieste-italy/

The EMD Model G "family" of types was designed to be usable almost on all main-line railways in terms of loading-gauge and axle loads. I wrote "almost" as the original cab was still a little too big for New Zealand, hence the rounded type. Also, the axle-loads were still too high for some lines, hence the curiously configured but still rather popular GA8 model https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EMD_GA8 as well as the more mundane A1A-bogied versions of some of the types. Nevertheless, the UK standard-gauge network never saw an EMD export type until the Class 59 (EMD Model JT26CW-SS) of 1985. This is in spite of very good experience from using EMDs of various export models in Ireland since 1960.

Well, the G16 is certainly NOT a scaled-down SD24, not aesthetically nor technically. Practically every aspect of the two is different, from the engine (roots-blown 16-567C vs. turbo-charged 16-567D3) to the size, weight, bogies, cab-profile (angular vs. round) etc. Having said that, Rule No. 1 applies!

The JŽ /ZFBH 661 class is the EMD model G16. Below is the diagram from this model's original specification brochure (from the collection of the Israel Railway Museum). Note that the diagram has the mid-1950s cab design, as used on the single G16 demonstrator, whereas all other G16 locomotives had the angular cab roof, as on the 661. Also note that the diagram includes only a partial (head-on) representation of the dynamic brake grids and fan, as used on the 661. If planning to model this type of locomotive, note that this has been done before: https://jnsforum.com/community/topic/14721-yugoslavian-class-661-emd-g16-diesel-in-ho/ http://www.asalat.50megs.com/661.html https://raymondwclam.blogspot.com/2008/06/kitbashing-emd-g16-model-in-ho-scale.html The easiest source for the bogies in H0 is the Roco model of the Renfe 319, e.g. https://www.roco.cc/ren/73692-diesel-locomotive-class-319-renfe.html

Here is a comprehensive list of ex BR Class 03s and Classs 04s in Italy: https://features.rcts.org.uk/diesel-dilemmas/ex-br-diesel-shunting-locomotives-exported-italy/ex-br-03s-04s-exported-1972-italy/

Reading on in "British Rail Fleet Survey 7: Diesel Shunters" by Brian Harensnape, I learned that a couple of what became British Rail Class D3/7 still survive in Italy, as Class Ne. 700: https://scalaenne.wordpress.com/2012/01/21/unaltra-locomotiva-di-guerra-la-ne-700/

While I can't comment on the existence or otherwise of such an arrangement on the British Isles, it certainly did exist in one station in Palestine / Israel, namely Tel Aviv, as is evidenced by the attached 1944 layout plan (from the archives of the Israel Railway Museum) and excerpt from an aerial photo (by Zoltan Kluger, from the collection of the National Library of Israel).

It seems this fascinating thread has yet to mention one of the most historically significant British-outline locomotive to have worked overseas, one that is actually now being restored back in the UK - LMS 7069, one of the forefathers of the numerous Class 08. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:LMS_shunter_No_7069.jpg https://www.pressreader.com/uk/rail-uk/20190911/282900912277171 I actually never heard of it until recently reading "British Rail Fleet Survey 7: Diesel Shunters" by Brian Harensnape, whence I duly googled this adorable photo of the loco when used in France: (source: https://www.cheminots.net/topic/40418-transvap-beillé-72/)

The first railway lines in then-Palestine - the French-owned Jaffa & Jerusalem and the Ottoman Government's Hijaz Railway - seem not to have had any fixed signalling. They seem to have relied instead on telegraphs. This allowed the incoming British forces to set their own standards on both new and existing lines. Later the Palestine Railways adapted the rule books of the Sudan Government Railway and the Egyptian State Railways to create their own. The drivers seem to have generally changed at the border stations until WW2, when military drivers had to be acquainted with several different rulebooks.

You are correct, in principal, and this was also how the Palestine Railways regulations describe the situation, though The Stationmaster's comments below also apply in our case, and we have life-size examples of both types in our museum's collection. Nevertheless, I intend to amend the final graphic to show a bracket signal, and thus hopefully make it clearer and more intuitive to the general public.

So now I have a correctly functioning version which is reasonably easy to understand and implement as well as being interesting and economical in space. I want to thank all those who responded and helped me achieve this, and I will let you know when we actually create the display.

Not contempt with an implementation where a double lock "floats" over a bar, I changed the chart thus, and am hopeful it still works correctly (I checked and double-checked, but would still appreciate another opinion):

Indeed I did not correctly understand or implement your initial notes. I hope this is better (though probably less explicit to the layman than my original, redundant version):

Below is my attempt at improving the dog chart (partially) following Grovenor's advice. It is much smaller, but I feel like I've missed something. Any thoughts?

Palestine Railways and Israel Railways never had distant signals in their mechanical installations, only inner and outer homes. The German-inspired and supplied electric system does have distants, but these will be covered in the appropriate part of the new exhibition.

The exhibition and the displays in it are aimed at the very general public, which is usually ignorant to most railway and technical matters and appears to have a very short span of attention. It must also be tri-lingual and accessible for the disabled. Therefore the messages must be short and concise. I don't believe I will try to explain the intricacies of interlocking design, I am just aiming at getting the word "Interlocking" and its general meaning across. Of course I also hope to arouse interest in those would-be enthusiasts who might want to learn more at our archives.

As I wrote earlier, I omitted an FPL for simplicity. This would definitely be included in a real Palestine Railways / Israel Railways design, but I feel it would be too complicated for our average visitor, who has not heard of a track turnout before. Many don't even know that trains don't have steering wheels!

You are of course correct. I attach my first locking chart ever, having already tried to integrate Grovenor's advice. Please don't hesitate to point out my mistakes:

Hello to all, At the Israel Railway Museum we are planning a new exhibition dedicated to the basics and history of railway signalling. We have a good collection of artefacts to display, ranging from ground frames and block instruments to a complete set of miniature train staff apparatus and various semaphore posts (though most of the latter are much too tall to be included in the space available). Below is a photo of the space, or rather wall, to be used for the new exhibition. You can also spot many of the relevant items, though we plan to redesign the entire space. There are many challenges facing this project, besides the obvious limited funding. At the moment I am trying to design a demonstration of the principles of interlocking in general and mechanical interlocking in particular. The main exhibit in this part will be the 2-lever ground frame in the photo below, which is interlocked such that the two levers can be together in either position, but you cannot reverse the red one until you reverse the blue one, and conversely, you cannot return the blue one to normal before returning the red one. As I can't think of anything meaningful to connect it to inside the exhibition space, I plan on adding a simplified demonstration for the visitors to peruse, similar in nature the one presented in this FNRM video: https://www.s-r-s.org.uk/videoPages/Tappet.php but with the "tappet-lever"s connected to graphical representations of what they control. With the help of our archive manager I came up with the following simple layout of a junction/half a crossing station, and the corresponding dog chart (assuming no facing-point-locks, for simplicity): I would be very thankful if the esteemed audience here could check whether the chart is correct, assuming one signal, at most, can be OFF at any one time, and the points position must correspond to that signal's aspect. Chen

Thank you very much for this great photo, Kev. I is quite rare not only for the bent ROD but also (mostly?) for the clear view of the locally concocted 6-wheel brake van. There were, apparently, 70 of the type converted from flats, but I've never seen a good photo of one until now. I attach below the official Egyptian State Railway Diagram for the type (updated to the mid-1940s) from the collection of The Israel Railway Museum. And here is another shot of an ROD with this type of van, in a more ordinary consist, on a freight at Geneifa (Suez Canal Zone), 05.1947 (photo by Jeff Horsman, courtesy of my friend, the late Ray Ellis of Australia):

I've never seen this superb photo before, nor anything else like it from Lebanon before.