The Night Mail

[Happy Hippo]

18 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

 

Many year ago we were thinking about a holiday in the Balearics - we never did go in the end. But I recall the Rough Guide's comment on the islands' Catalan-language signage: the locals don't need the signs, the tourists follow the pictograms, so who is the Catalan for? The mainland Spanish-speakers, of course.

 

Araf! The first word of Welsh I learnt when driving in Wales.

The Araf is an a endangered mammal that tends to live in hedges, especially where the hedge borders sharp bends of the road.

 

They are very small and timid, so seeing one is a rare treat.

 

The sign SLOW Araf is for their own protection, as well as that of the driver of a vehicle, as killing an Araf is a capital offence in Wales.

 

[petethemole]

I thought the Slow Araf was a sub-species, like the Slow Loris, particularly vulnerable due to its inability to move quickly when in danger,  so the road signs are placed near known habitats.

[polybear]

3 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

As from today, the Brecon Beacons national park will officially change it's name to Bannau Breicheiniog National Park.

 

Apparently this change is to distance the word Beacons, with the connotation of  signal fires and therefore wood burning, and smoke and pollution to being a more green and conservation minded area.

 

The area will be known in future as the shortened,  Bannau.

 

Brian and others from Wales will raise their eyebrows skyward and see this explanation as another Taffia led piece of moronity.  Let's give it a Welsh name and claim green credentials in doing so.

 

The big flaw in the change is the fact that when Bannau is translated from Welsh to English it means.... 

 

Beacons!

 

And I wonder just how much that bluddy stupid idea is going to cost - all the signs etc. will be "wrong" for a start.

[Compound2632]

40 minutes ago, polybear said:

that bluddy stupid idea

 

Of course from a Welsh point of view that's just typical English colonial arrogance.

[jamie92208]

2 hours ago, BoD said:

… and then extending it up to the Dee and down to the Severn.  

Would it be to keep the English out of Wales or ice versa,  just asking, 

 

Jamir

[iL Dottore]

Moving on from the "contentious" steam era (GWR vs LMS, LMS vs LNER... well you get the drift). One particular region/era that I think gets very short shrift are the EMU workings out of Liverpool Street and Fenchurch St in the early to mid 60s.

 

I find both the class 305

and the class 308

most appealing (and I also have a soft spot for the Class 302 and the Class 306)

All of which are definitely appealing and - as far as public transport goes - a much better passenger experience than these:

 

And, of course, the best liveries would be either plain BR green or plain BR blue...

 

So why are they being neglected by the likes of Hornby, Bachmann and Heljan? They seem to manage to produce Southern Region DMUs and EMUs, so why no ER EMUs?  Could it be the whole pantograph business? Or it a socio-economic thing (lots of posh places served by SR and BR's Southern Region)?

 

I do believe that there are a few small companies that produce kits of some of the ER EMUs, but they seem to be both hard to get hold of and costly (e.g. Britannia Models does a 4 car 308 for a mere £895). I wish Hornby et al. would look into making models of these prototypes - I for one would love to have an opportunity to recreate Gidea Park Station as it was when I was a grubbee skoolboy in the early to mid-sixties...

Edited April 17, 2023 by iL Dottore

[jamie92208]

I also liked them despite the cast offs arriving in West Yorkshire where at least two of the started to explode. 302's and 306's IIRC. 

 

Jamie

[Tony_S]

47 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

of which are definitely appealing and - as far as public transport goes - a much better passenger experience than these:

I live here. The old slam door trains were awful. The Class 357 are much nicer to travel up to London on even in rush hour conditions. 

[Happy Hippo]

I managed to get both mitre and table saws out this morning and give then a run.

 

When I have a few spare moments, I do like to get prepared for some upcoming jobs, so  there is now a pile of freshly cut  '2 x 1' in the ready use box.

 

I also managed to do some test patches with some acrylic paint prior to the next wagon weathering session.

 

Gary the king of the patio construction came and went.  I'm not sure where his priorities lie, as he leapt out of the van and immediately produced a very nice 4 mm station building he had made, and a platform template for me.  This will be used to make sure the track will go down in the right places for the station and low relief buildings will all fit onto the boards I am making him.

 

He then proceeded to look at Nyda's plan, compared it with the marking out we did yesterday, and went to work with his tape measure and calculator.

 

We now have a start date of early to mid June.

 

Thank goodness!  At Last!  Finally!

 

After so many let downs by various contractors (not Gary), which has been going on for nearly three years, it looks like we will be much happier by the end of the summer.

 

 

[PMP]

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

 

So why are they being neglected by the likes of Hornby, Bachmann and Heljan? They seem to manage to produce Southern Region DMUs and EMUs, so why no ER EMUs?  Could it be the whole pantograph business? Or it a socio-economic thing (lots of posh places served by SR and BR's Southern Region)?

 

The Uk ‘modeller’ doesn’t want to pay what it costs to make them. The southern EMU’s you mention were tooled in the days of much much cheaper Chinese production. If you look at prices for new DMU’s the OO Bachmann 117 and the Heljan 104, you can see the prices the new items are coming in at, 300-450 beer tokens. N gauge 3 car units around the £300 mark.

 

Mondeo man still thinks he’s entitled to cheap toy trains. Unsurprisingly manufacturers are increasingly reticent to put large sums of money into them particularly if they are era and region limited if mondeo man isn’t going to buy them in sufficient numbers. Much easier, and better business to release a newer better A3, 37, in many colours etc etc.

I know of an unannounced product that is underway, much froth and foam will be generated, probably about the price rather than is it any good …

Edited April 17, 2023 by PMP
Addition

[PMP]

4 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

 

Araf! The first word of Welsh I learnt when driving in Wales.

They probably teach you that on porpoise.

[J. S. Bach]

16 hours ago, rockershovel said:

 ...snip... As for the inside framed front bogie..... ...snip...

A good majority of US steam had inside-frame pilot trucks (a few even had inside-frame trailing trucks). An example of the former is this Pennsylvania RR class H-10 Consolidation:

 

They are both made by MTH ; the unpainted one is an engineering production sample. And this Southern Pacific class GS-4 (painted in a private road name):

 

EDIT: FYI: models are O (¼") scale.

 

Edited April 17, 2023 by J. S. Bach

[Northmoor]

6 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

As from today, the Brecon Beacons national park will officially change it's name to Bannau Breicheiniog National Park.

 

Apparently this change is to distance the word Beacons, with the connotation of  signal fires and therefore wood burning, and smoke and pollution to being a more green and conservation minded area.

 

The area will be known in future as the shortened,  Bannau.

 

Brian and others from Wales will raise their eyebrows skyward and see this explanation as another Taffia led piece of moronity.  Let's give it a Welsh name and claim green credentials in doing so.

 

The big flaw in the change is the fact that when Bannau is translated from Welsh to English it means.... 

 

Beacons!

 

 

 

 

I've got no real problem with normally referring to Snowdon or the Brecon Beacons in Welsh - by the way one of the Snowdon Mountain Railway's locomotives is called Eryri, as well - but I'm assuming the Pembrokeshire Coast national Park is next in line, to become Sir Benfro something...

 

I speak as one of those English-born Little Englanders from that far Western county, whose old school lost it's name when recently amalgamated.  The fact that it was named after a prominent and known to be particularly brutal Colonial slave owner, may have been a contributory factor.

[Winslow Boy]

5 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

I expect big arguments over the speed limit in Llanynynech:  The border runs down the centreline of the A483 so Shropshire wish to retain a 30 mph restriction on the southbound side whereas the idiotic Welsh Assembly want a new lower 20 mph restriction going north.

 

I don't believe it is legal to have  different speed restrictions in opposite directions on the same stretch of a single carriageway road.

 

Oh I don't know the way things are going drivers might want to slow down when entering Wales as they will be going back in time and speed up when leaving in order to get up to speed in England.

[Winslow Boy]

5 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

 

Easily solved by installing a barrier down the centre of the road, surely?

 

Excellent suggestion that'll keep all the telfs from coming over the border.

[iL Dottore]

1 hour ago, Tony_S said:

I live here. The old slam door trains were awful. The Class 357 are much nicer to travel up to London on even in rush hour conditions. 

The “slam-door” stock were a bit like Marmite: loved or hated. I loved them.

However, most of my Gidea Park-London jaunts started off by taking a Class 306 to Stratford where I changed to the Centra Line. Funding for my Bus & Underground day ticket (Twin Rover? Double-Rover? I forget) came from doing errands for my Great Aunt.

 

Y’know, when I started these London jaunts it was about 1966/67 - so I was 10/11 years old. My parents were totally OK with this! You can bet your bottom dollar no-one nowadays would allow a 10 years old to explore London by himself….
 

[Hroth]

5 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

I expect big arguments over the speed limit in Llanynynech:  The border runs down the centreline of the A483 so Shropshire wish to retain a 30 mph restriction on the southbound side whereas the idiotic Welsh Assembly want a new lower 20 mph restriction going north.

 

I don't believe it is legal to have  different speed restrictions in opposite directions on the same stretch of a single carriageway road.

 

5 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

 

Easily solved by installing a barrier down the centre of the road, surely?

 

Wasn't that the place where at the end of covid lockdown the pub on the Welsh side was kept closed and the one on the English side was open?  Or was it the place where the border passed through the pub?

 

 

[skipepsi]

17 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

 

 

Y’know, when I started these London jaunts it was about 1966/67 - so I was 10/11 years old. My parents were totally OK with this! You can bet your bottom dollar no-one nowadays would allow a 10 years old to explore London by himself….
 

In 1969 I 12 and my sister 15 walked from Malton via various youth hostels all the way to Whitby... IIRC we saw the moon landing on TV at Helmsley youth hostel which we wouldn't have done at home as we didn't have a TV at that time.

[jamie92208]

27 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

The “slam-door” stock were a bit like Marmite: loved or hated. I loved them.

However, most of my Gidea Park-London jaunts started off by taking a Class 306 to Stratford where I changed to the Centra Line. Funding for my Bus & Underground day ticket (Twin Rover? Double-Rover? I forget) came from doing errands for my Great Aunt.

 

Y’know, when I started these London jaunts it was about 1966/67 - so I was 10/11 years old. My parents were totally OK with this! You can bet your bottom dollar no-one nowadays would allow a 10 years old to explore London by himself….
 

Just to get you all nostalgic Flavio here are a few views of the exiles up n the broad acres. First of all we got some 307's to work the Leeds to Doncaster locals from 1991. No 1 son is partly in frame below.

Then when the Aire Valley lines were electrified, looming privatisation meant that the finance couldn''t be agreed for the already ordered now class 323's assembled in Leeds.  (Government bungling) so in order to avoid the embarrassment of having an electrified network with diesel trains some 308's were drafted in. 

They just about lasted until the new CAF  class 333's arrived.  Here they are going round the curve towards the Aire Valley on Millennium Eve.  

And another

I was photographing them from a temporary platform called Leeds Whitehall that was used at various times during the reconstruction of Leeds station.   You could catch trains to Sheffield in either direction from the platform.

 

However the 308's had problems. The HV lead from the pantograph to the transformer came down a pillar inside the coach and two of those exploded.  The 333's are very nice though.

 

Jamie

 

PS I was also allowed to roam the rails alone from about the age of 9.   I had a whole week on a railrover aged 13.  The price, £1 2s 6d  for the week and the freedom of north West England.

Edited April 17, 2023 by jamie92208

[DenysW]

5 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

Araf! The first word of Welsh I learnt when driving in Wales.

Agreed. Sadly I have only since progressed as for as Arafwch, and Gwasanaethau. The latter are also offered by churches, of course.

[Happy Hippo]

44 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

The “slam-door” stock were a bit like Marmite: loved or hated. I loved them.

 

 I liked then as well, but as it was part and parcel of the old railways, slam doors had to go.

 

As a young teen, I witnessed a total brain donor opening the slam door of a Class 116 DMU to make a very quick exit, whilst the train was still running into Platform Six at Cardiff General (now Central).  He managed to lose control of the door and let it go, so it swung open smashing into a poor lady who was standing there waiting to get on.

 

Lots of first aid from platform staff whilst awaiting the ambulance.  The TBD disappeared between two burly members of the Transport  police. 

[Oldddudders]

5 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

 I liked then as well, but as it was part and parcel of the old railways, slam doors had to go.

 

As a young teen, I witnessed a total brain donor opening the slam door of a Class 116 DMU to make a very quick exit, whilst the train was still running into Platform Six at Cardiff General (now Central).  He managed to lose control of the door and let it go, so it swung open smashing into a poor lady who was standing there waiting to get on.

 

Lots of first aid from platform staff whilst awaiting the ambulance.  The TBD disappeared between two burly members of the Transport  police. 

"A moment's impatience - a lifetime of regret" was the message by a pic depicting exactly that horrid scenario, on SR EMU compartment ad cards in my yoof. The relative stiffness of the sliding door lock when opening from inside encouraged early operation, but then holding the door almost closed until stationary, avoiding any risk to those on the platform.

[The Johnster]

1 hour ago, DenysW said:

Agreed. Sadly I have only since progressed as for as Arafwch, and Gwasanaethau. The latter are also offered by churches, of course.

 

I was in my youth once at a party in Surrey which I'd travelled up to on a 'priv' ticket as I was working on the railway at the time, and getting on rather well with a local girl who was fascinated my Welshness (or at least used that as her excuse).  'Say something sexy to me in in Welsh', she said, so I reponded, in my best low and seductive voice, 'Cwhyddyfws, mae cerbyd yn wedi 'nol' (left out the 'beep, beep, beep).  This had exactly the intended effect, and a 'happy ending' resulted a while afterwards when we found a room.  I though 'Dim y Smygu' might be a bit too obvious.  Cymru am Byth!

[polybear]

7 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

Araf! The first word of Welsh I learnt when driving in Wales.

 

Bear's was Gwasanaethau.

For several years I did think there seemed to be rather a lot of towns in Wales with that name.

 

[Northmoor]

19 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

Bear's was Gwasanaethau.

For several years I did think there seemed to be rather a lot of towns in Wales with that name.

 

My first year Geography teacher had have it pointed out that not all rivers were called the Afon.....  Well, all of them were, if you see what I mean, but not in the way she'd believed.