Ian Smeeton

Nice to see a box with a full complement of levers in use. So many are just a shadow of their former selves with acres of white levers where things have been 'rationalised' almost out of existence. Best regards & keep up the good work, Ian

There is also Largs on the Clyde Coast. Station only 50 or so yards from the beach, and a rather lovely looking station throat. No Minories here, Guv. See : http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LARGS-STATION-Ayrshire-May-1954-/190819596100 Hopefully the link will work now Regards Ian

Thank you for the info, I shall follow up ASAP Regards Ian

This looks interesting, But I now have a severe crick in my neck. Regards Ian

Resist the temptation and continue with this one. Having just caught up on this thread, I shall be watching with interest. Keep up the good work! Regards Ian

Re: the diagonal stripes. Would they have gone into the top corner if there was a full end door rather than a partial one? Just wondering if they had an actual significance rather than just a painters foible? Regards Ian

Thanks Andy, Link amended. Regards Ian

This photo http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/sites/default/files/imagecache/download/sites/all/lib/aerofilms-images/public/scotland/SAW032168.jpg shows the Ayrshire lines from Gilmour st, with just a little of the Underwood coal depot in the background. Of interest is the makeup of the train, with a 5 plk wagon immediately behind the loco, followed by a (Syphon?), two passenger coaches, a (Southern PMV?), three more passenger coaches, a couple of standard box vans then a real mix of general merchandise, coal & tank wagons. I certainly wasn't aware of mixed trains working this neck of the woods, so, the games afoot. Any explanations Best Regards Ian Edited to remove typos Edited again to repair link

Many thanks for the info on the loces. Interesting to see that one has BRITISH RAILWAYS on the tender, the other still with LMS. Also, I can see one wagon lettered GW in the nearest siding to the Main Line. I wonder how many others were similarly lettered. Unfortunately the angle of the sun in the aerial photos means that the sides of the wagons are mainly in shadow. The other thing that struck me was the single clerestory coach with access steps in the second siding. Any ideas to its origin/diagram no etc. Was this used as the goods depot office? I cannot see it being a camping coach in such a less than salubrious location. The photos deserve close study. The sheer No of wagons in the yard is one thing, but noticeable is the quite large number of 16t minerals. This early, I suppose that they are mostly Ministry of Supply designs rather than BR16t Minerals proper, but it would be useful to work out the proportions overall (work in hand) Best Regards, & thanks for the help so far. Best Regards Ian

Thanks for that, I'll have a hunt through the bookshelves. Regards Ian

I have already started a topic in "modelling musings and miscellany" in the hope of flushing out extra info and photos, however, as I have been dormant for far too long at the modelling workbench, I thought that I had better extract the digit and get on with it. Inspiration came from a couple of aerial photos from Britain from Above http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/sites/default/files/imagecache/download/sites/all/lib/aerofilms-images/public/scotland/SAW017828.jpg and http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/image/saw017831 which show several views in the series taken of Arbuckle Smith & co, but which also include St James Goods Yard, a little of the Underwood Mineral depot and of course the station. There are a few more modern images of St James Station, however, I have only come across one other online, which shows the station in its pre-electrification guise at: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/sealed/paisley/stjames2.jpg I have made a start on the goods shed, guessing its length at about 100' There don't appear to be any photos anywhere of the road vehicle loading side, and the aerial photos only show the opposite wall in the shade, so I have assumed that there are four loading docks for road vehicles. Should hey have opening, or sliding doors, though? Good question, I'll leave that for now. The station buildings are reminiscent of the West Highland Line station at Arrochar & Tarbert, so I might do an adaptation of the plans in the Modeller of a few years ago. Other points of interest are the sheer number of wagons in the yard. Two locos appear to be present in the photos, one shunting the Goods Yard itself, and one involved in some loose shunting in the neck of the Underwood Mineral/coal depot. So far, I have put together a few lengths of Easitrac, however, I have not yet tried my hand at turnouts. Methinks that it is time that I extracted another digit. As an aside, if anyone can identify the two locos in the second photolink, I would be very grateful. Long post, waffling as usual, time to get on with it. Best Regards Ian Edited to change title

Good to see this iconic layout appearing here. Regards Ian

ScR Drivers knew where they were going and what they were pulling, and in most cases the signalmen & station staff knew what to expect and when, so full train reporting Numbers were only for foreigners and (g)numpties. If the driver didn't know, then he probably hadn't signed the route, so it was down to the Second Man. Hat, coat, galoshes & any other outdoor apparel that you can think of has now been donned and can just be discerned through the rolling Scotch mist as I retreat. Regards Ian

Nice to meet you and chat at Peterborough today. I was the awkward one trying to pay for my memebership by credit card. Littlemore looks a nice manageable size, and the pointwork is something else. I found it quite amusing listening to someone with the experiance and the knowledge to produce SR Utility vans in 3D CAD to +/- 125 micron talking about crossing angles being 7 and a bit. Best regards Ian Keep giving the inspiration out!

As the recently retired chairman of our pubs stocks and shares club over the last eight years, we had a lot of fun buying and selling shares, sometimes on a whim, and sometimes with good reason. We managed to buy a few turkeys and lost our entire investment on them, and also a few whose share price was like a roller coaster ride at times. We seemed to be very good at calling the bottom of a particular shares market, and selling our investment then, and yet over the eight years that I invested, from start until demise, my total loss was about £150 over £4800 invested at £50.00 per month. Ir was an easy and interesting way to learn more about the stock market and its ways and methods, while saving a bit for a rainy day. For the bonhomie and banter as well as the information and advice from others more knowledgable than me, I would recommend it as a "way in" to the stock market. As a way to make your fortune, almost certainly not, however as a way of putting a little by each month, it as certainly a good way to save. The returns are not as good as the best ISAs or savings accounts, unless you are better than we were at picking investments, but the educational and informative side of the process is well worth a little risk. I would reiterate that shar prices can go up as well as down, and as with any gamble, this has to be with money that you can afford to lose, or at least keep tied up for a number of years. Regards Ian Chairman (Retd ) PANIC ( the Pough AfterNoon Investmet Club) PS Very glad not to have been Chairman of the Plough EveNing Investment Society.

As a recently lapsed 2fs member, with loads of intentions, but no get up & go, for those who are just starting out in 2fs trackbuilding, would it be an idea to have a "starter pack" or starter list, of what is needed to get somone like me started on the right track? Pun Intended, Jacket on, exiting stage left. Regards Ian

this looks interesting and, may I say, ambitious. I wish you well in your endevours. I have been taken by the appearance of 2FS for some time, and , having produced nothing forover 20 years, wish to go down the 2FS route. This, I will follow as they say, with interest. Regards Ian

I had a trip down to Stewartby, (Hanson Brick) about 10 years ago. The reason for the visit was to pick up abou half a cubic yard of Oxford Blue clay for a project which was stillborn* On arrival, I was obvously seen as a pain in the behind, and cooled my heels for a while, but after that, was taken in hand by someone who obviously thought the same. After following him through the brickyards(?) alongside the kilns, me in my Ford Escort, him in a landrover with Bl**dy Great Chunky Tyres and bouncing over discarded/droppped bricks with an emergency stop in the interim we arived at the destination. This was a point where two conveyors overlapped, end of one dropping onto the next, taking clay from the pits to the moulding/wire cutting shop for cutting int standard bricks for firing. My guide collected the clay from the drop from one conveyor to the other, and we loaded it into the back of my car, which never really recovered. Myself, being of curious but unknowledged bent, looked at the surroundings, noting the fact that we were obviously on the track of a concreted over siding complex commented: "This looks lije the cutting edge of Victorian thechnology, only updated by the modern materiels handling" At that, my guide softened a bit, and showed some obvious pride in the work that they did there. Apparently, there used to be 240 Brick Kiln blocks and their associated chimneys in the Bedford area and Stewartby was the last working one. The kilns had been converted to gas fired many years earlier, and because of this each bank of 14 individual kilns could work on a 7 day cycle. The Kilns were filled by large forklifts (4 Tine instead of 2) loading stacks of unfired bricks very precisely and quickly into the kiln. The Kiln entrance was bricked up and wet clay used to form a seal The kiln was fired by gas and took one -two days to reach the point when the (4%) oil content of the Oxford Blue clay combusted in the carefully controlled atmosphere burning out all the residual moisture of all kinds, leaving the fired caly, or ash in brick form. 2-3 Days combustinng follopwed by severla days of cooling, then at something over 100 degrees C the seal would be broken and the stack of fired but hot bricks were remeved by the same sort of Forklift. What really impressed me was at the emergency stop mentioned earlier, actually caused by one of these forklifts racing across in front of our little convoy was the blast of heat from one of the adjacent kilns, even though it was the next to be emptied through my open window at thirty yards distance. From memory, I beleive that the heat generated is something aroubd 1400 deg C, and once temperature is reached the oil content in a rarefied atmosphere is the fuel used. Absolutely stunning and totally rivetting to me as an outsider looking at the business end for the first time. If Stewartby is now gone, I am a sad man. Regards for the off topic digression. i am sure that there are some brickmen on here who will set the records fully straight, but I did learn a lot, and this was the catalyst which started GREASE, The GReetham Engineering Appreciation SociEty which runs from my pub, going out to look at Big Boys Toys in the real world.. Join Us! Ian

My memories are nearly 30 years old, so probably not too clear, But from about 1980, I think, 1co-co1's were banned from Glasgow Central, as the Thames Clyde, often hauled by 40/45 had come to grief (at low speed) on the very worn double diamond crossings at the southern end of the main Central approaches. Certainly, on one occasion in 81/82, we had a loco change at Eaglesham ( I think) 40 for a 37 on a Northbound final leg from Carlisle. The 1650 ex Central, until about 1980 was always from plat 11, the longest platfor at Central, a Nottingham train I thimk, and until certoainly 1980 or thereabouts was often Peak hauled. it was aleays good to see a steam heat train there, although, judging by the amount of steam escaping, possibly not quite so comfortable if you were more than about 4 from the loco. Regards & steamy memories Ian

Even in 25 Kv depots e.g Sheilds Rd Glasgow, the wires were raised quite substantially to allow work safely above platform/solebar levels. Can't remember how high the wires were, but check out photos on line and you will see what I mean. Regards Ian