The Night Mail

[BR60103]

We had an interesting day. Our internet provider (one of the largest in the province) went off early in the morning. I noticed when my wi-fi clock radio wouldn't come on. Then the computer wouldn't connect. But the cell phone and iPad would -- different provider. First provider's cable TV still worked mostly.
Bank services in shops were mostly down. It eventually came back after supper.

 

[jamie92208]

Good moaning.  We survived a day at the beach and then had a good fish and chip meal.  Today is theclast daybof the visit and littlecEmily has not yet played with thecbig train set.  I actually got some testing and fettling donevlast night.  996 decided to break a crank pin.  It took me a while to find a spare crank pin, the allen key and the small screwdriver but eventually the repair was done.  A play morni g has been declared and then after lunch off to the airport.

 

Jamie

[Happy Hippo]

7 hours ago, SM42 said:

 

Really the last thing we need now.

 

Still 12 hours in the day after work

 

Sleep is over rated 

 

The in laws are expecting a building site. Maybe not the smell of dust and wet plaster. 

 

All guest rooms are full of stuff moved out of harms way. 

 

Exciting isn't it?

 

Andy

Would you like to borrow my shooting marquee?

 

That is to store stuff rather than put the in laws/builder in and shoot them.

[SM42]

8 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

Would you like to borrow my shooting marquee?

 

That is to store stuff rather than put the in laws/builder in and shoot them.

 

Intriguing.

 

A shooting marquee indicates that some shooting may be involved rather than storing. 

 

I haven't had chance to break some clays since October so it would be nice to get out and have a go.  I fear my mediocre performance may have dropped off in the mean time.

 

A marquee for shooting would indeed be wasted if no shooting was involved and of course there is nowhere  to put it. 

 

A second round of culling of stuff will take place as items are moved around. 

The biggest problem I have is Mrs SM42  keeps buying stuff to fill up the new space, creating old stuff for disposal.

 

A tip run is a distinct possibility today. 

 

Now where did I "store" my painting gear?

 

Andy

[Happy Hippo]

Yesterday I was able to crack on with various projects that have been sidelined on Pantmawr North.

 

I've now got the wiring run back so it just needs connecting to the switch panel, and the point motors all work.  The crossover pair, as you will appreciate, operate off a single toggle switch, and the main to main/main to loop was set correctly first time.

 

I couldn't understand why I was not getting any conductivity through the rails, until I realised that I'd not connected the track power busbar up.

 

There's two electrical circuits, the first is the DCC busbar which supplies power to the track, and a regulated 12V supply for the signals, pointwork and uncoupler magnets.

 

One of the stall motors has been connected to it's respective tie bar via the wire in tube method as it's quite along run, and to ensure a bit of buffering, a Z has been bent into the wire. (Using a Z in a wire gives a better through force on the wire than putting in an Omega loop.).  The tube part of the system is brass tube which allows it to be soldered to retaining plates, can be buried in the ballast and run under the rail,  and close to the up bend in the operating wire which is done to mitigate the possibility of the operating rod getting glued into the ballast.

 

I've also now filled up all the open sores on the bridge buttress joints with DAS clay, so a quick brush up will allow me to get them primed and the base level paint applied.  I'll then have to add the various lintels and then apply the top layer of  walling and the capping stones.

 

The second girder and railing for the North end bridge has now been installed to check clearances, once the bridge deck has been cut, I can start on this set of lintels and top walling as well.

 

However, someone else in the Hippodrome was muttering about cleaning and gardening......

 

Does track cleaning, tidying away tools and applying horticultural elements of scenery count?

 

 

Edited July 9, 2022 by Happy Hippo

[Winslow Boy]

23 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

Yesterday I was able to crack on with various projects that have been sidelined on Pantmawr North.

 

I've now got the wiring run back so it just needs connecting to the switch panel, and the point motors all work.  The crossover pair, as you will appreciate, operate off a single toggle switch, and the main to main/main to loop was set correctly first time.

 

I couldn't understand why I was not getting any conductivity through the rails, until I realised that I'd not connected the track power busbar up.

 

There's two electrical circuits, the first is the DCC busbar which supplies power to the track, and a regulated 12V supply for the signals, pointwork and uncoupler magnets.

 

One of the stall motors has been connected to it's respective tie bar via the wire in tube method as it's quite along run, and to ensure a bit of buffering, a Z has been bent into the wire. (Using a Z in a wire gives a better through force on the wire than putting in an Omega loop.).  The tube part of the system is brass tube which allows it to be soldered to retaining plates, can be buried in the ballast and run under the rail,  and close to the up bend in the operating wire which is done to mitigate the possibility of the operating rod getting glued into the ballast.

 

I've also now filled up all the open sores on the bridge buttress joints with DAS clay, so a quick brush up will allow me to get them primed and the base level paint applied.  I'll then have to add the various lintels and then apply the top layer of  walling and the capping stones.

 

The second girder and railing for the North end bridge has now been installed to check clearances, once the bridge deck has been cut, I can start on this set of lintels and top walling as well.

 

However, someone else in the Hippodrome was muttering about cleaning and gardening......

 

Does track cleaning, tidying away tools and applying horticultural elements of scenery count?

 

 

 

Not unless there 1 : 1.

[Happy Hippo]

37 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

 

Not unless there 1 : 1.

Garage is 1:1, as are the sheds (For those that don't have any sheds, they can become a a haven for spiders and other creepy crawlies unless regularly and rigorously checked.)

[Winslow Boy]

28 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

Garage is 1:1, as are the sheds (For those that don't have any sheds, they can become a a haven for spiders and other creepy crawlies unless regularly and rigorously checked.)

 

As I don't have any sheds that would be me then would it.

[Happy Hippo]

9 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

 

As I don't have any sheds that would be me then would it.

Gosh, it completely slipped my mind.

 

[Tony_S]

From our visit to Woody Bay Station on Thursday. 

Tony

[Happy Hippo]

9 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

From our visit to Woody Bay Station on Thursday. 

Tony

That's a lovely photo.

 

The train in the distance almost looks as if it's standing in front of a model backscene:  Obviously a prototype for everything!🤣

 

[SM42]

Painting supplies have been puchased.

 

Let 1:1 painting commence.

 

A whole room by 1pm is the expectation from a certain lifeform that inhabitats SM42 Towers. 

 

Someone else is less convinced, but I'll give it a go. Awful lot of prep work to do before paint.

 

First job. Get kettle on.

 

Andy

[Tony_S]

40 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

That's a lovely photo.

 

The train in the distance almost looks as if it's standing in front of a model backscene:  Obviously a prototype for everything!🤣

 

The way the line drops away and curves behind the siding did look very useful as inspiration for a model. The loco disappearing into a shed where the line terminates (at present) also could have been used for a layout. It was a lovely day out. There was a cow on the line incident too, but I don’t think I will recreate that on my layout. 

[SM42]

Oh dear

 

Andy 

[iL Dottore]

5 hours ago, SM42 said:

…A shooting marquee indicates that some shooting may be involved rather than storing….

So what do you make of a “shooting brake” -  which I understand was a type of motorcar produced in the 30s, 40s and 50s.

A clarification of the above mentioned term would not be unwelcome

1 hour ago, SM42 said:

….A whole room by 1pm is the expectation from a certain lifeform that inhabitats SM42 Towers. 

 

Someone else is less convinced, but I'll give it a go. Awful lot of prep work to do before paint.

Another useful universal law to bring to the attention of the domestic authorities in such situations is the “two out of three law“

 

Which is: “fast, cheap, high quality – you can only have two out of three” 

 

Another consideration is that there are some tasks which you cannot speed up by increasing headcount/people on the job. The classic example is having a baby; you can’t have a baby in one month even if you do put nine women on the job!

 

One approach that mostly works for me, is to tell Mrs ID that I will take a Zen approach to the task in hand. Inasmuch the job will be done when the job is ready and wants to be done.

[Tony_S]

11 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

shooting brake”

Carried the picnic for those out shooting perhaps. . Brake, I suppose as everything stops for lunch?

I only ever heard it used by people describing what I would call an estate car. 

Edited July 9, 2022 by Tony_S

[PhilJ W]

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

So what do you make of a “shooting brake” -  which I understand was a type of motorcar produced in the 30s, 40s and 50s.

A clarification of the above mentioned term would not be unwelcome

 

 

A brake used to be a horse drawn open coach (later ones were enclosed) with longitudinal seats either side. They eventually became principally used for transporting shooting parties and were fitted with provision for carrying guns and other shooting equipment, hence they became shooting brakes. With the coming of the motor car the body style was adopted to fit on a large car or small lorry such as here.

 1904 Commer shooting brake.

In the 1920's and 30's the 'woody' style evolved and as they proved very useful around the country estates for things other than shooting the term estate car became more commonly used to describe them. The term station wagon comes from the USA where at the same period very similar vehicles were used for collecting people from railroad stations with their baggage.

Edited July 9, 2022 by PhilJ W

[Happy Hippo]

This is my idea of a shooting brake:

 

 

An M16 Motor multiple gun carriage: 4 x 0.5" M2 Brownings.

 

Originally developed for AAA, it was to prove exceptionally good in a direct fire support role. 

[simontaylor484]

Now that's a shooting brake 

 

I think Mercedes still market estate cars as shooting brakes.

 

@iL Dottore I believe the economic term for the maximum number of people working for most productivity is the marginal number.

 

[Winslow Boy]

I'm back. Having been advised by HH to go count my spiders in my non existing outdoor timber structure I was soon finished so rather than find something productive to do I decided to go and walk DD.

 

Very pleasant it was by the side of the mighty River that flows threw the great conurbation that we reside in. 

 

Having given some thought to SM42 conundrum I think the only solution for him is declare that they will be having a street party to which all of his fellow Night Mail contributors are invited. This will resolve his dilemma of not having a garden.

 

So any more problems that you wish sorting. Please write to; Uncle Ian No Sheds, C/o TNM, RMW.

[SM42]

Dear Uncle Ian no sheds

 

A fine idea for a TNM shindig.

 

However with a garden of current capacity of around 6  I am unable to provide a suitable venue. 

 

The two sheds are au naturell, I.e rammed, so no room there. 

 

I therefore must decline your suggestion  on this occasion.

 

Yours

 

SM42 

[Dave Hunt]

I've just fallen for it again ; 'it' being the female invitation into the web with the phrase, "Before you do that, can we just....." In this case the 'before you do that' referred to me going down to the workshop whilst the 'can we just' was the precursor to, "........nip over to your Dad's to get that parasol base from his garage?" Now, Dad's house is only a couple of minutes away and stupid boy that I am, I fell for it (as previously stated) so here we are now two and a half hours later having shifted home four garden chairs, a parasol, parasol base and other sundry items, most of which required major excavation work to get at them, as well as removing the grab rails at the front and back doors ("While we're here you might as well...."), watering plants etc. etc. And, of course, once we got back home the parasol needed putting together,  the chairs had to be cleaned etc. Since we are going out at 5.30 that's all hope of workshop time down the Swanee. As Baz would say, "Pah!"

 

One of these days I'll learn............surely?

 

Dave

[Happy Hippo]

Since Nyda is out at an afternoon tea party (Girlguiding Shropshire training team), I decided to have a tidy up in the garage so as to be able to do some work tomorrow afternoon when Nyda is at a Guiding (District level) afternoon tea.

 

Foolishly I have just thrown a lot of small offcuts into the various recycling bins.  No doubt I will need them tomorrow, but since I have copious amounts of materiel, I can afford to be decadent. (I used to save the brass pins from 13 amp Plugs as I hate waste, but at least they now go into recycling and not general waste.

 

I had planned to cut out the lintels and coping stones for the bridge at the South end of Pantmawr North, but it's rapidly approaching cider o'clock.  They can be done tomorrow, but I think I'll leave the brick pilasters and walls until next week.

 

The other task for tomorrow will be dedicated to finishing off the wiring and getting the remaining point actuating rods made and fitted.

[simontaylor484]

I too only have a small postage stamp of a garden also with the Double Dachshund Security Force I can't guarantee the safety of visitors ankles/feet/shoes

[Florence Locomotive Works]

5 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

Originally developed for AAA

I wonder why my insurance provider needed that….