The Night Mail

[polybear]

2 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

The Co commissioner of the layout is my daughter in law a certain Mrs Laura Lancaster who complains bitterly that she never had a train set in childhood.  She is quite talented with a paint brush so may well be making a road across the level crossing.  I hope that you appreciate the Nez Cassé being used as a test vehicle.  In my opinion the best livery that they have carried. 

 

Jamie

 

Bear has one of these in the display cabinet - is it the same choo choo?  This cost me six quid s/h back in the late 70's (IIRC) from Hobbyhorse Model Railway Shop in Worthing:

 

 

2 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Whilst commercially produced RTR S4 or P4 is not commercially viable (according to some conversations I’ve had with Simon Kohler), I think that perhaps Hornby, Bachmann, Heljan etc. have missed a trick in not making EM a RTR scale - with OO versions of the models available as well.

 

Dapol produced a loco with alternative EM wheelsets (IIRC they were provided but not fitted) many moons ago; Accurascale now sell alternative "drop-in" wheelsets (EM & P4) for (some of?) their locos.

 

1 hour ago, AndyID said:

 

Yes the flangeways are one of the least appealing things. The silly thing is that effect can be improved considerably in 00 by reducing the gauge to 16.2 mm. Modern 00 equipment runs fine and actually slightly better through the frog. Of course there is no commercial track available.

 

I've printed track and turnouts at 16.2 but I don't just change the gauge. I adjust the scale to something like 1:82. IMHO it looks great but it seems to drive some people slightly bonkers : )

 

Rumour has it that A Certain Bear used to commission and sell track gauges to 00-sf; when it was first resurrected the "gauge wars" were, now how shall I put it....."intense".  I recall one character swearing blind that he could spot the track being 0.3mm narrower with the naked eye at normal viewing distances....🤣

[DenysW]

8 hours ago, Northmoor said:

It was reported some years ago that about a tenth of PM10 particulate pollution in London was attributable to wood-burning stoves.

On a BBC Radio programme some years back it was about 8% - but half of these originated outside the UK. This was in response to a much-quoted Government-funded appraisal that found, if you make only the most savage assumptions about wood-burning stoves, 38% of the PM10 particulates come from them.

 

I'd prefer the government focus on the lower-hanging fruit first.

[pH]

4 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

… layout with purple long boiler 0-4-0s pulling wagons full of zoo animals …

Pictures, please!

[jamie92208]

1 hour ago, polybear said:

 

Bear has one of these in the display cabinet - is it the same choo choo?  This cost me six quid s/h back in the late 70's (IIRC) from Hobbyhorse Model Railway Shop in Worthing:

 

 

 

🤣

If it's a Joueff it is though I think that mine is a 15000 though I need to check.  That's the livery though. Here's a 22200 in Infra.

Though these are the BB ones rather than the magnificent CC ones.  Mine cost me 25 Euros at a car boot sale (Broccante)

 

Jamie

Edited July 21 by jamie92208

[J. S. Bach]

3 hours ago, Oldddudders said:

LIMA used to offer that (or something very close) in O but all that I was ever able to get was an Italian B-B electric (class E444) with a running turtle logo on the side. I ended up with two and moved the power truck from one to the other to make it dual powered. It worked fine but had to have the trucks wired in series as I was not modeling the Tokkaido line. They pulled my ten+ car European passenger train.

 

EDIT: One of the cars that I had:

Edited July 21 by J. S. Bach

[Winslow Boy]

5 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

Just to wrap up the saga about layouts taking so long to build.

 

I think it only fair to point out that Jamie started building the 7 mm version of LGA well before the Midland Railway built the prototype.

 

I have it on good authority that he was approached by the MR Board of Directors to see if they could copy his track and signalling plan.

 

Although he was amenable to such, he demanded payment, and this was to be paid in a lifelong supply of Eccles Cakes and Black Pudding.

 

Sadly the lifelong supply was the life of the Midland Railway.

 

Should have modelled the Great Western🤣

I did here a scullerous rumour that it was the cost of supplying the required numbers demanded- sorry that should be requested,  Eccles cakes and black pudding that caused the MR to have to curtail several capital projects. But of course I find such a remarks difficult as not even Jamie would be that avaricious in his demands. But then again.......

[J. S. Bach]

Night Owl from the Piedmont.

[Dave Hunt]

1 hour ago, J. S. Bach said:

EDIT: One of the cars that I had:

Is that a bust of Napoleon with his collar pulled up facing away from the camera?

 

Dave

[AndyID]

2 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

If it's a Joueff it is though I think that mine is a 15000 though I need to check.  That's the livery though. Here's a 22200 in Infra.

Though these are the BB ones rather than the magnificent CC ones.  Mine cost me 25 Euros at a car boot sale (Broccante)

 

Jamie

 

Always remind me of the rear of a Citroen Ami.

 

I had the station wagon version. Interesting vehicle. I thought the big ends were on the way out so I popped into the dealer to get a new set of bearing shells. The parts guy said sorry, but no can do.

 

The big ends did not split. The con rods were assembled on the crank when the crank shaft was put together at cryogenic temperatures.

[AndyID]

Slightly toasty here. 105F

[polybear]

6 hours ago, AndyID said:

 

Always remind me of the rear of a Citroen Ami.

 

I had the station wagon version. Interesting vehicle. I thought the big ends were on the way out so I popped into the dealer to get a new set of bearing shells. The parts guy said sorry, but no can do.

 

The big ends did not split. The con rods were assembled on the crank when the crank shaft was put together at cryogenic temperatures.

 

Did it keep going, or die?

 

[SM42]

I must admit to having a soft spot for Citroens. 

 

Always a little bit quirky. 

 

I've only ever owned one though. 

 

Andy

[jjb1970]

Citroën ahead of the rest again, anticipating that engines were disposable repair by replacement items decades before others😲🤣

[SM42]

Only had three problens with my liitle ZX.

 

A lovely car to drive and I could fit my bike in the back. 

 

One collapsed battery. Could happen to anyone. 

 

A leaking radiator. Repaired and refitted 

 

And a rather strange issue with the radio. 

It would switch itself off, but turn the wipers on, it would cone back on. 

 

Cured under warranty. Never found out the reason the two were related.

 

Made the service manager scratch his head though. 

 

Was a bit sad to get rid of it, but it was time to move on. 

 

I did see another ZX with the next consecutive reg number up ( J516, I was J515)  for sale at a local garage.

 

I thought about buying it. 

 

Then I could say I had a fleet. 

 

Andt

[Dave Hunt]

We’ve just had a strange event with Jill’s VW Golf; when she unlocked the car and the wing mirrors opened out the glass fell out of the one on the driver’s side. I’ll shortly be taking it to the local garage but what’s the betting that it means a whole new mirror assembly at £££s ?

 

Dave

[Winslow Boy]

19 minutes ago, SM42 said:

Only had three problens with my liitle ZX.

 

A lovely car to drive and I could fit my bike in the back. 

 

One collapsed battery. Could happen to anyone. 

 

A leaking radiator. Repaired and refitted 

 

And a rather strange issue with the radio. 

It would switch itself off, but turn the wipers on, it would cone back on. 

 

Cured under warranty. Never found out the reason the two were related.

 

Made the service manager scratch his head though. 

 

Was a bit sad to get rid of it, but it was time to move on. 

 

I did see another ZX with the next consecutive reg number up ( J516, I was J515)  for sale at a local garage.

 

I thought about buying it. 

 

Then I could say I had a fleet. 

 

Andt

Doesn't really have the right ring to it - a fleet of Citroen's. How about a flotilla or possibly an armada?

[Happy Hippo]

2 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

Doesn't really have the right ring to it - a fleet of Citroen's. How about a flotilla or possibly an armada?

A wobble, or perhaps even a slither.

[Dave Hunt]

A lemon squash of Citro(e)ns?

 

Dave

 

 

Edited July 22 by Dave Hunt

[Hroth]

36 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

A lemon squash of Citro(e)ns?

 

Dave

 

 

Citro(e)n Presse.....

(and if I can find the cartoon.....  Got it!)

Edited July 22 by Hroth
Had to go on a proper PC....

[New Haven Neil]

Ooaah, I had a ZX Estate diesel, bought as a cheapie due to Astra cambelt failure (tensioner pulley fell off....) and disliked it intensely initially - then I got to really like it over time, and ran it for several years but rusting front suspension towers killed it - wasn't worth the cost of all the welding.  It was a very comfortable car, but I was always hitting my right shin on the dashboard (why I hated it initially).  Its Flawed Focus replacement was never as loved.

[AndyID]

2 hours ago, polybear said:

 

Did it keep going, or die?

 

Iirc the cost of the new crank shaft was more than the Ami was worth so I just kept running it. Later I got a company Capri 2.0 (woo-hoo!) and the Ami just faded away, accelerated by the sea-air in Prestwick

[Dave Hunt]

One of the best fun cars I had was a Capri 2.8i; great to drive but you had to watch how much power you used when drifting on tight bends.

 

Dave

[Oldddudders]

We had a ZX late in the model's life. 1.9 TurboDiesel, the same engine as its predecessor Pug 306 DTurbo, yet the engine management system was set completely differently. In the Peugeot, the turbo came in with a bang at a certain engine rev, while the Citroen was a smooth transition. Kept it a couple of years before trading in for our third Citroen - Saxo VTS, which had 120 bhp and went like a rocket, to 125 mph according to the tests, but rather like the original Golf GTi, lacked braking to match.  

[AndyID]

MrsID had a Fiat 132. We were sad to give it up when we moved to Arizona. That little dual-cam was great engine.

 

[polybear]

1 hour ago, Dave Hunt said:

We’ve just had a strange event with Jill’s VW Golf; when she unlocked the car and the wing mirrors opened out the glass fell out of the one on the driver’s side. I’ll shortly be taking it to the local garage but what’s the betting that it means a whole new mirror assembly at £££s ?

 

Dave

 

Try ebay - lots of replacement stick-on mirror glass; I got one once when some silly b1tch smashed Ricky the Rover's door mirror glass cos' she was on the wrong side of the f.road on a country lane 🤬