The Night Mail

[polybear]

12 hours ago, SM42 said:

One of the advantages of an invasion of Polish wimmen is the presents they bring. 

 

Chocolate, yum!

 

A T shirt with a stylised picture of Katowice Station on the front and a book I'm looking forward to perusing 

 

 

Andy

 

A Certain Bear was "somewhat disappointed" with Krakow Glowny Station - a modern concrete jobbie.....

 

3 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

I am pondering whether or not to buy an LNER locomotive......shudder. 

 

Do it.  You know it makes sense....

 

3 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

Decision, decision, should I succumb or do the sensible thing and get another Merchant Navy

instead.

 

😱 NOOOOO......

 

3 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

I am thinking B12 or W1, with L1 a good possibility.

 

Hush-Hush in Battleship Grey...no-brainer.  All I've say is it's a Choo Choo as fine as a Deltic....

An L1 chaser is a fine choice as well - but not in HH league.

[Dave Hunt]

30 minutes ago, GMKAT7 said:

Good afternoon Sqdn Ldr,

 

There's their ruse of Derby sending it oop North as a trial/test for an unspecified location and it needing some attention on shed.

 

And then the shed keep it for shunting/pilot (😂) duties?

 

Cheers, Nigel.

The inventiveness of TNMers never ceases to amaze . Maybe the government should employ some to sort out the NHS.

 

Dave

[Hroth]

44 minutes ago, jjb1970 said:

 

The streamlined B17 was superbly done by Hornby, although it's not my thing I think those who want one will be delighted. 

 

I like the older B12, I don't know why but I have always had a soft spot for them. I find them an elegant looking machine, the inside cylinders are a big part of it I think.

 

Hornby have another release of the W1 coming soon, and that's a type that's always interested me. As a marine engineer and one who spent a few years in electricity generation water tube boilers are all I know so I find a watertube boilered locomotive very interesting.  And it was a very imposing machine.

 

The streamlined B17 is a jewel, and I'm very pleased with my LNER liveried "East Anglian".  However I've an affection for the Triang B12 line, with an early black one, a green late Margate one, and several Chinese made ones with finer wheels and coupling rods.  I've also the new tooling one in LNER green which makes the others hide when it comes out to play! Then there's the B17s, a Footballer in "Everton" guise, and a more recent "Gilwell Park". 

 

However, it looks like the purchasing department is due to have its budget squeezed so "East Anglian" may be the last acquisition for at least the mid-term.

 

[Oldddudders]

3 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

I am pondering whether or not to buy an LNER locomotive......shudder. 

 

I don't have anything LNER, but it has been put to me that I should break my solemn vow of LNER avoiding and at least have a token example, even if just so I can use it to remind myself why I like the GWR and Southern when it comes to kettles (they also remind me of Carlisle).

 

You haven't mentioned V2. I'm not an LNER chappie, either, but with an unusual - for UK - wheel arrangement, and a very fine record, this is handsome is and handsome does in one. 

[PhilJ W]

5 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

I am pondering whether or not to buy an LNER locomotive......shudder. 

 

I don't have anything LNER, but it has been put to me that I should break my solemn vow of LNER avoiding and at least have a token example, even if just so I can use it to remind myself why I like the GWR and Southern when it comes to kettles (they also remind me of Carlisle).

 

The one LNER locomotive I properly like (though it pains me to admit it) is the B12, possibly because it pre-dated the LNER. I have always found the B12 a most elegant looking design.

 

Looking beyond the B12, I find the W1 hush hush an interesting and imposing type, as least as built with a water tube boiler. But not in rebuilt form as a stretched cab duck with an extra pair of wheels. I also find the P2 rather interesting. I like the Thompson pacifics if for no other reason than they annoy so many and I quite like the L1.

 

Decision, decision, should I succumb or do the sensible thing and get another Merchant Navy instead. I am thinking B12 or W1, with L1 a good possibility.

You can't beat the ex-GER engines. Even Gresley built more N7's instead of his own N2 design. Now we just need an E6 and an F7 to complete the set.

[PhilJ W]

My locomotive likes is early traction (pre-1950). It's pretty well catered for with regards to electrics but diesels are few and far between.

[Happy Hippo]

2 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

The inventiveness of TNMers never ceases to amaze . Maybe the government should employ some to sort out the NHS.

 

Dave

Nigel's suggestion somewhat mirrors the fate of the B4 tank previously owned by that south Walian scruffian NHY 581.

 

Bought to support the the loco fleet servicing Pantmawr Colliery, it went through Caerphilly Works to get spruced up and then was sent up to the shed at Gwaelod Uchaf.

 

The Shedmaster found it a pretty little thing, and it promptly became the shed's pet loco.

 

Send it up to the colliery?

 

Never, it is lovingly cleaned and polished; masquerading as the shed pilot, but only pokes her smokebox out of the shed when it is not raining! 

Edited Sunday at 15:02 by Happy Hippo

[iL Dottore]

Currently chaperoning @jamie92208 and his chum around Nord West Schweiz as they trainspot (I enjoy watching trains go by, but not enough to jot the numbers down).

 

@jamie92208 is doing his very best to single-handedly strip the shelves bare of patisserie at the various artisanal bakers.   

[SM42]

And then there was one.

 

Andy

[Canal Digger]

19 hours ago, BSW01 said:

Good evening everyone 

 

Today, I made a new jig for folding the sides of the corridors, using several pieces of plasticard. This new version lets me place the paper at 90 degrees to the bend, which is crucial if I want straight sides. It also ensures that each and every bend that follows is parallel to the previous one. Below is a couple of photos of the new jig, one on its own, the other with a piece of paper that’s had its first bend added. The side strip on the left is exactly 90 degrees to the folding edge, so when the paper is placed against it, the first bend is perpendicular to the side strip. I’m very pleased with how it’s turned out AND it works like a dream too, it’s no quicker than the original jig, but it’s far more accurate. 
 

The new jig. 

I see how the sides of concertina corridors work but not the top. How do you join the sides to top in such a way that the folds all work together? As with Accordion Bellows, the 12inch/ ft one are carefully stitched, have you a very fine needle and good eyesight? 

[Winslow Boy]

2 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Currently chaperoning @jamie92208 and his chum around Nord West Schweiz as they trainspot (I enjoy watching trains go by, but not enough to jot the numbers down).

 

@jamie92208 is doing his very best to single-handedly strip the shelves bare of patisserie at the various artisanal bakers.   

Presumably Jamie is saying I'll have that tray plus the two either side of it.

[Happy Hippo]

2 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Currently chaperoning @jamie92208 and his chum around Nord West Schweiz as they trainspot (I enjoy watching trains go by, but not enough to jot the numbers down).

 

@jamie92208 is doing his very best to single-handedly strip the shelves bare of patisserie at the various artisanal bakers.   

The caption should read:

 

'I know a hippo who swallowed a whole one of those is a single gulp!'

[Dave Hunt]

Over  on ERs there is a photograph of Jamie on the same outing scoffing large amounts of apple tart, which is possibly why he's wearing an inflatable lifejacket so that if he falls in the river on the way home he won't sink like a stone.

 

Dave

 

[Tony_S]

5 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

which is possibly why he's wearing an inflatable lifejacket so that if he falls in the river on the way home

I noticed the flag signal on his jacket but the letter and numbers didn’t seem to mean  anything. 

[figworthy]

6 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

The inventiveness of TNMers never ceases to amaze . Maybe the government should employ some to sort out the NHS.

 

Dave

 

Whilst I do occasionally ponder the sanity of some TNMers, I doubt any of them are mad enough to take that one on.

 

Adrian

[Hroth]

3 hours ago, Winslow Boy said:

Presumably Jamie is saying I'll have that tray plus the two either side of it.

 

More likely "I'll have one of each, please!".

 

[polybear]

What's the going rate for a slice of Pie in Switzerland?

[AndyID]

13 minutes ago, polybear said:

What's the going rate for a slice of Pie in Switzerland?

 

If you have to ask you can't afford it 😂

[Dave Hunt]

3 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

The caption should read:

 

'I know a hippo who swallowed a whole one tray of those is a single gulp!'

 

Just corrected it for you.

 

Dave

[Dave Hunt]

2 hours ago, Tony_S said:

I noticed the flag signal on his jacket but the letter and numbers didn’t seem to mean  anything. 

 

It's a code only understandable by members of EPC*.

 

*Expat Patisserie Chompers

 

Dave 

[Winslow Boy]

Bear what you been saying about me on Wrights writes?

[PhilJ W]

6 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Currently chaperoning @jamie92208 and his chum around Nord West Schweiz as they trainspot (I enjoy watching trains go by, but not enough to jot the numbers down).

 

@jamie92208 is doing his very best to single-handedly strip the shelves bare of patisserie at the various artisanal bakers.   

The cakes on the left back row look interesting, what are they please?

[Chris Snowdon]

Hi All - Sorry to drift off-topic (my thoughts on overnight postal stuff will follow IDC) but I have just read Happy Hippo's pastiche which opens this, so many years ago in such different times.  I love Auden's poem and have a BFI DVD of the original film and soundtrack - and I am very impressed!  Go back to Page 1 to read something good and note the date of posting.

regards

cs

[Chris Snowdon]

Hi all, some thoughts and questions which might already be covered in this thread of almost 2200 pages, but here goes:

 

I vaguely recall seeing a BR TPO at Newcastle Central one winter's evening in the early '80s, and thought that it looked like the one in my Hornby Catalogue.  Don't recall seeing any traductor gear (I know now that it was obsolete) nor any other vehicles, I only recally being amazed that it had a bright red post-box on the side.

 

Since then, I've scored one of those Hornby ex-LMS vehicles in B&G, a Hornby (China) LMS one, a Lima GWR "Parcels" railcar, an Isinglass kit for a Gresley TPO (big shouts to Andy E for supplying good materials and customer service, and to Tony W for his RM article on how to build it (usual disclaimer; I am only a satisfied customer and reader of them, respectively)), and some other newspaper/parcels bits and bobs...  Overnight milk traffic is fun as well.

 

However, I've seen a little online, but not much, of the earlier generation of these:  The Hornby-Dublo one appears to rely upon an electro-mechanical mechanism with solenoids and a trackside plunger-button, whereas the Tri-ang one uses purely mechanical means, but that also has openings on both sides, restricting the operation of both of these to single-track systems.  Is this correct?

 

I know these are toys, but so is my signalling until I get it right (I am not a member of IRSE).

 

Edit to below:

 

regards

cs

15 cars and 15 restless riders

Three conductors and 25 sacks of mail

 

Edited Sunday at 23:32 by Chris Snowdon

[iL Dottore]

1 hour ago, PhilJ W said:

The cakes on the left back row look interesting, what are they please?

From left to right

Schwedentorte ("Swedish" cake: cream and [green] marzipan)

Strawberry cake

Carrot Cake

 

A "Schwedentorte" is the Swiss interpretation of the Swedish "Prinsesstårta" - apparently much loved by the Swedish Royal family; it's definitely something that's both delicious and about a zillion calories a bite!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_cake