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Endeavour 18th Feb


Nobby (John)
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As far as I know, apart from Queen’s, it’s not been cleaned since I was a student from 1985-88. This century, I was also a Fellow of Hertford; the rear elevation of the College, and the New College cloister and barn wall are as black as ever. Certainly this morning, when I walked through!

 

It's a long while since I've been, so I bow to your more recent observation; perhaps I've not been watching Endeavour closely enough too and they've been choosing this location precisely because it's not been cleaned. I was a couple of years ahead of you and my first year room was in New College's New Buildings (always a source of amusement to outsiders, being over a hundred years old even then) which were black - I think cleaning of these happened while I was a graduate student. The New Buildings were among the last to be tackled - the front and garden quads had been cleaned before c. 1983. I'm not surprised that the New College Lane side was never tackled - it was a college tradition to be indifferent to anything going on outside the walls!

 

Here's a link to an academic paper on the stonework of Oxford. One point gleaned from speed-reading is that much of the exterior stonework we see is very much younger than the buildings as a whole purport to be - even before the great cleaning of the last half-century, stonework had to be replaced as it decayed. Much like railway engines - new boiler, new frames, new cylinders - still the same engine.

Edited by Compound2632
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It's a long while since I've been, so I bow to your more recent observation; perhaps I've not been watching Endeavour closely enough too and they've been choosing this location precisely because it's not been cleaned. I was a couple of years ahead of you and my first year room was in New College's New Buildings (always a source of amusement to outsiders, being over a hundred years old even then) which were black - I think cleaning of these happened while I was a graduate student. The New Buildings were among the last to be tackled - the front and garden quads had been cleaned before c. 1983. I'm not surprised that the New College Lane side was never tackled - it was a college tradition to be indifferent to anything going on outside the walls!

 

Here's a link to an academic paper on the stonework of Oxford. One point gleaned from speed-reading is that much of the exterior stonework we see is very much younger than the buildings as a whole purport to be - even before the great cleaning of the last half-century, stonework had to be replaced as it decayed. Much like railway engines - new boiler, new frames, new cylinders - still the same engine.

Indeed - most stone in Oxford comes from Stamford now. We had to do extensive masonry repairs at Hertford, replacing more local stuff. The worst of all is from Headington - that dissolves to nothing, giving Balliol an excuse to rebuild itself in the late nineteenth century, complete with raspberry ripple chapel...

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4 Pages in and the thin line between an eye for detail and probable Asperger's syndrome is apparent?

No offence intended...the blue TOPS Crompton is fairly obvious but the rest of it is way out of my league :scratchhead:

For those who spent much time around BR at the time the episode is supposedly set, most of the anachronisms and regional anomalies stick out like a sore thumb.

 

Anyone familiar only with Heritage railways probably won't bat an eyelid at any of it.

 

John

Edited by Dunsignalling
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Ok, so who's going to pull tonight's episode apart then ?

 

I just enjoy it for its entertainment value, that's each and every episode!

Edited by bgman
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Well this week they got it right! Brief view of railway on MoD land and it was the design of SR brake van as built for the military with vacuum cylinder mounted on the end platform. Mind, far tattier than the military usually kept their railway items. http://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/modbrake/e31471dbe

 

Paul

Edited by hmrspaul
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Missed tonight's episode: what railway stuff was featured?

Please no - I only got back from a holiday last night and it's sitting on my hard drive to be consumed with a nice glass of beer and the wood burner stoked up well with best hardwood.

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Please no - I only got back from a holiday last night and it's sitting on my hard drive to be consumed with a nice glass of beer and the wood burner stoked up well with best hardwood.

 

post-20303-0-81964700-1519635404.jpeg

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No spoilers is ok, I won't be watching until this evening either.

 

However, another railway observation from a previous series.  In the episode where Miss Thurdsay was doing the "She's Leaving Home" thing, Morse encountered her walking away with her suitcase and they talked by an old-style Beware of the Train roadsign.  In sound (though not in vision) there appeared to be a steam engine doing some enthusiastic shunting.

 

Would that have been possible in Oxford at the time?

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No spoilers is ok, I won't be watching until this evening either.

 

However, another railway observation from a previous series.  In the episode where Miss Thurdsay was doing the "She's Leaving Home" thing, Morse encountered her walking away with her suitcase and they talked by an old-style Beware of the Train roadsign.  In sound (though not in vision) there appeared to be a steam engine doing some enthusiastic shunting.

 

Would that have been possible in Oxford at the time?

Depends on the date that the episode was set. I believe that the last W.R. steam at Oxford was in December 1965, although there could have been some inter-regional stuff for a couple of years after that, certainly until the end of Southern steam in 1967?

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Depends on the date that the episode was set. I believe that the last W.R. steam at Oxford was in December 1965, although there could have been some inter-regional stuff for a couple of years after that, certainly until the end of Southern steam in 1967?

 

3rd January 1966 seems to be the key date. Although as you suggest the Railway Observer noted that York-Bournmouth service remained steam hauled, and a couple of steam headed freights were seen in January (1966, p85). But no more steam shunting.

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No railways in last night's episiode so I presume RMwebbers were busy enjoying the story for what it was and not getting apoplectic about all the errors. Let's start with the live minefield in the middle of a UK base.

 

Not beyond the bounds of credibility.  The whole of RMWeb is a live minefield.

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Nothing to do with the railways, but after the Crossroads lark in the previous episode I noticed in last night's that a small party of soldiers had been led by a Sergeant Windsor Davies.

 

And, not wishing to get political or fall foul of the pc brigade, with all the demos going on last night, didn't one of the guys involved have the surname Farage? (think UKIP!)

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