The Night Mail

[J. S. Bach]

Night Owl from the Piedmont.

[polybear]

8 hours ago, Winslow Boy said:

Bear what you been saying about me on Wrights writes?

 

Huh?  Bear's last post was about a lump of coal....

Which post are you referring to?  I don't recall referring to the Great un-Shedded at all.....

 

7 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

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

 

Bear is more suspicious about the left front row....

[Hroth]

Just heard some disconcerting travel news on 't radio that "trains are not stopping at Didcot Parkway because of a signal failure....".

 

Is NightSleeper becoming a reality? 🤔

 

[iL Dottore]

32 minutes ago, polybear said:

Bear is more suspicious about the left front row....

Front row, left to right:

Caramel nut cake

Schwarzwalder Küche

Cheesecake

 

And this is what @jamie92208 had to eat, all by himself, poor b****r!

 

Edited Monday at 06:39 by iL Dottore
Spelling

[rockershovel]

7 hours ago, Chris Snowdon said:

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

 

The original Hornby Dublo one DOES NOT have doors on both sides. It's operated by a solenoid and trigger in the track. 

 

It also means t can be set up to operate within a baseboard, this being the era of the "6x4 trainset" and keeps all the small parts on the board 

 

The Tri-Ang version DOES have opposite doors. It works by spring-loaded ramps in the track

 

 

 

Edited Monday at 07:04 by rockershovel

[Happy Hippo]

9 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

Just corrected it for you.

 

Dave

At least you didn't replace bite with display cabinet

[Happy Hippo]

7 hours ago, Chris Snowdon said:

 

15 cars and 15 restless riders

Three conductors and 25 sacks of mail

 

The City of New Orleans....Great song:

 

 

 

[polybear]

19 minutes ago, rockershovel said:

The original Hornby Dublo one DOES NOT have doors on both sides. It's operated by a solenoid and trigger in the track. 

 

It also means t can be set up to operate within a baseboard, this being the era of the "6x4 trainset" and keeps all the small parts on the board 

 

The Tri-Ang version DOES have opposite doors. It works by spring-loaded ramps in the track

 

 

 

 

The W/H Boss's Dad (ex.-Footplate Crew, until he had a Heart Attack - and at a very young age too) worked in the TPO's as a sorter - apparently the money was good because not many wanted to do it as many suffered motion sickness.

[Winslow Boy]

1 hour ago, polybear said:

 

Huh?  Bear's last post was about a lump of coal....

Which post are you referring to?  I don't recall referring to the Great un-Shedded at all.....

 

 

Bear is more suspicious about the left front row....

You comparing me to a lump of coal now. I don't know you try and bring some enlightenment to the 'poor' and look what happens.

 

You have been 'cross posting' haven't yerr.

[DenysW]

8 hours ago, Chris Snowdon said:

15 cars and 15 restless riders

Three conductors and 25 sacks of mail

Many thanks for the Steve Goodman earworm.  From the same song (but the verse that's usually omitted) "This train's got Th' Vanishin' Railroad Blues".

[polybear]

1 hour ago, Winslow Boy said:

You comparing me to a lump of coal now. I don't know you try and bring some enlightenment to the 'poor' and look what happens.

 

You have been 'cross posting' haven't yerr.

 

Baffled, of Bear Towers.....

[TheQ]

The jacket flags seems to say,

P ( prepare to leave port, or start a race).

2 ,

7,

9, ( on the Norfolk Broads that's the Allcomers A fleet)..

 

I'm originally mswjr, / GWR. Cos I lived there,

Then I inherited a layout, HR, Cos I lived there,

Then I got a French loco, 009 so there's a layout for that. ?

Now I've got, a eastern region, 1950s layout.. B12 included. Cos I live there.

 

Confused of somewhere

 

 

 

[Dave Hunt]

1 hour ago, DenysW said:

Many thanks for the Steve Goodman earworm.  From the same song (but the verse that's usually omitted) "This train's got Th' Vanishin' Railroad Blues".

 I’ve also heard versions that omit the line, “Freightyards full of old black men…”

 

Dave

[BSW01]

16 hours ago, Canal Digger said:

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? 

That is a work in progress, I’ll report back when I’ve hopefully tested my latest idea. 

[zarniwhoop]

21 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

Baffled, of Bear Towers.....

You used a multi-select - there were two items quoted in your Wright Writes post, the first was a one-liner from WB commenting on Jamie and Cakes and obviously nothing to do with Wright Writes, the second  was the pic of the coal on the tender on which you commented.

 

Only saying this since you don't seem to understand why WB commented.

[PhilJ W]

10 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

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

I am a lover of marzipan but I'm also watching my calorie and sugar intake 🤥

[rockershovel]

Just gone from Last Night Of The Proms to reading about the latest nonsense at Harland and Wolff. What's WRONG with this country? 

 

Where's that Mr Voltaire when you need him? A strong dose of "pour encourager les autres" needed, I think. 

[iL Dottore]

3 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

The City of New Orleans....Great song:

 

 

 

The "Great American Song Book" (a collection of what are considered to be the best songs  written in America over the last century or so) is absolutely chockablock full of great songs about railroads (railways) prisons and life on the open road.

 

Try as I might, very little comes to mind in terms of great British songs about the railway, about prisons or about life on the open road. I am certain that our late great friend ChrisF would've been able to name  a number of obscure and semi obscure folk ditties that fit the bill, but apart from one or two songs from Jethro Tull I really can't think of any British tailway songs along those lines.

 

Over to you guys. Ideas?

[Oldddudders]

Deb, an arch-folkie, would have known of any. And perhaps all those classic American themes are the product of a young country. British folk music stretches far further back, has roots in much different times. 

[iL Dottore]

On the the subject above, one famous song from Dr. Feelgood: Get Your Kicks On Route 66, just works.

 

Get Your Kicks On The B34 Cirencester Bypass, just doesn't 

Edited Monday at 12:02 by iL Dottore

[Compound2632]

6 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

Try as I might, very little comes to mind in terms of great British songs about the railway,

 

This might be because the English folk song tradition was established before the railway age - or the prison age, for that matter.

[rockershovel]

14 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

The "Great American Song Book" (a collection of what are considered to be the best songs  written in America over the last century or so) is absolutely chockablock full of great songs about railroads (railways) prisons and life on the open road.

 

Try as I might, very little comes to mind in terms of great British songs about the railway, about prisons or about life on the open road. I am certain that our late great friend ChrisF would've been able to name  a number of obscure and semi obscure folk ditties that fit the bill, but apart from one or two songs from Jethro Tull I really can't think of any British tailway songs along those lines.

 

Over to you guys. Ideas?

A rather heartless little ditty No 1 Son was fond of as a child;

 

Piggy on the railway

Picking up stones

Along came a train

And broke Piggy's bones

 

Oh! Cried Piggy 

Thats not fair!

Ha! Replied the engine driver

I don't care!

 

 

Which might be regarded as a variation of G K Chestertons 

 

Tell  me mama, what is that

That looks like strawberry jam?

Hush, my dear - 'tis only Pa

Run over by a tram 

[rockershovel]

13 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

 

This might be because the English folk song tradition was established before the railway age - or the prison age, for that matter.

English folk songs are mostly about the harvest, the Army or the sea. 

 

 Black velvet band is a transportation song. So is Fields of Athenry, neither are English songs though. 

[Compound2632]

2 minutes ago, rockershovel said:

English folk songs are mostly about the harvest, the Army or the sea. 

 

Or the loss of youth and innocence:

 

"Oh, when I was one-and-twenty, I kissed the girls a-plenty,

  but now I'm twenty-two, I'm stuck with only you."

[polybear]

2 hours ago, zarniwhoop said:

You used a multi-select - there were two items quoted in your Wright Writes post, the first was a one-liner from WB commenting on Jamie and Cakes and obviously nothing to do with Wright Writes, the second  was the pic of the coal on the tender on which you commented.

 

Only saying this since you don't seem to understand why WB commented.

 

Thanks - so to Wubbleyoo Bee @Winslow Boy:  yep, it's that dastardly hippo's fault.  Again.  Bung 'im on the list, not Bear....😢