The Night Mail

[Dave Hunt]

That’s not a true red, it’s more of a purply hue with yellow bits. 
 

Dave

[Winslow Boy]

3 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

Oh, haven’t you got a shed WB? I had no idea.

 

Dave

I might have a shed, there again I might not.

 

If I did have a shed could I get it a postal vote. Asking for a friend.

[Willie Whizz]

As diseasels go, that does have a certain air of distinction, granted. Just don’t let it become a habit please …

[bbishop]

7 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

 

There we go, especially for you, courtesy of Ellis Clark.

I'm playing with one of those at the end of the month.

[bbishop]

1 hour ago, jjb1970 said:

I think the problem is less discussion of politics than the way it just drags attention to the sorry state of things. I find political discussion interesting and enjoyable, but I despise party politics and the gleeful miserabilism of the media.

And here I totally agree with you.

[Winslow Boy]

2 hours ago, PupCam said:

Morning

 

 

Ah that confirms it then.  @polybear is definitely a gardener.

 

That statement is something I've known for some quite considerable time my dear Bear.

[Oldddudders]

33 minutes ago, jjb1970 said:

 scantily clad pannier tanks

Surely pannier tanks are, by their design, overclad? All that sheet-metal hides the boiler!

[Tony_S]

52 minutes ago, jjb1970 said:

images of naked Bulleid Pacific

My recently posted photo of the front end of a BoB Pacific was of course artistic in nature. 

[Tony_S]

54 minutes ago, PupCam said:

The thing I don't understand is why the councils still persist with the blxxdy silly idea of having to book slots at the tips to dispose of rubbish.

I can understand it for some of the small recycling centres in places likeRayleigh but not the big one we go to. There is an even bigger one not far away that takes even more kinds of rubbish. During the week there never seem ps to be a queue. You do have to state that you live in Essex, not Thurrock or Southend though. They have their own tips we can’t use (not that I would want to).

The check in procedure is very straightforward, and the reception chaps are really helpful as are all the staff if you need advice. 

 

[jjb1970]

1 hour ago, jamie92208 said:

I hope that this nirvana has a place for O gauge in both fine scale and S7 as long as engines is red. 

 

Jamie

 

No problem for me, but alas there are extremists and nutters out there. For a small contribution to defray my expenses and overheads I may be able to persuade my army of barking mad P4 extremists to turn a blind eye......no promises, it depends on the weight of the brown envelope, used S$100 notes only.

[jjb1970]

31 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

My recently posted photo of the front end of a BoB Pacific was of course artistic in nature. 

 

Please, there may be minors reading!

[KeithMacdonald]

2 hours ago, rockershovel said:

I visited NRM earlier this year and thought the catering was poor, to be charitable 

 

Oh dear, sorry to read that. FWIW (probably nothing) the catering at the Great Western Steam Museum is usually quite good. Maybe because they know they have competition within 100 yards at the Retail Outlet.

[iL Dottore]

15 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

Surely pannier tanks are, by their design, overclad? All that sheet-metal hides the boiler!

But that's the point: a provocatively clad female (or locomotive) is much more mysterious and enticing than one who is - to use the Americanism - "Butt Nekkid"

 

What stirs the blood more? An austerity Q1 class or a fully streamlined A4?

[Dave Hunt]

35 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

What stirs the blood more? An austerity Q1 class or a fully streamlined A4?

 

I don't think that a Q1 would stir my porridge. As a nipper, though, I coveted a streamlined A4 but when I grew older and more discerning I got over it. Mind you, I did see one last week and since it was in steam it got my attention for a while. It was the Duck's designer.

 

Dave

[Dave Hunt]

Speaking of the NRM's catering, it's probably designed for those under five years of age like the rest of the place. I think that there is a move afoot to rename it Noddy Goes to Trainland.

 

Dave

[DaveF]

For the first time in ages (actually some years) I decided to get on with some scenery on my n gauge Swiss layout today.  It has hardly been touched since I altered the track plan just before Covid - first caring for Mum until she died 2 years ago and then other things like relatively minor health issues got in the way.

 

The first job was to find and then charge up the little vaccuum cleaner to remove the dust.  Next I decided what most needed doing was to finish some ballasting betwen two sidings in the goods yard and outside the loco shed.  I managed to find the ballast, some card of the right thickness to infill from the baseboard to the height of the ballast top to save using too much ballast, the small spray for water, the PVA and so on.  Then the job took hardly any time at all.

 

Perhaps now I'll get the rest of the scenery done on both this layout and the 0 gauge.

 

It did occur to me while doing this, tongue in cheek, that there are a lot of books which be useful which no one has written/ published including:

 

The Bumper Book of photos of details of working goods yards.

 

The Big Book of Bridge Photos showing every railway bridge in the UK.

 

The Book of British Station Buildings showing all 4 sides of every building with detailed plans.

 

The Book of Things to add Realism to your Model.  This would include good photos of buffer stops, yard cranes, platform and yard lamps etc etc. with no trains in the way.

 

I'm sure there are many more titles which could be written.

 

Plus a similar series for European Railways.

 

David

[iL Dottore]

16 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

Speaking of the NRM's catering, it's probably designed for those under five years of age like the rest of the place. I think that there is a move afoot to rename it Noddy Goes to Trainland.

 

Dave

As humorous as your quip is, it sadly sums up the NRM in a nutshell (not to mention many other fine museums that have also been "modernised", "de-colonised", "made relevant" etc., etc., ad bloody nauseam)

[iL Dottore]

43 minutes ago, DaveF said:

For the first time in ages (actually some years) I decided to get on with some scenery on my n gauge Swiss layout today.  It has hardly been touched since I altered the track plan just before Covid - first caring for Mum until she died 2 years ago and then other things like relatively minor health issues got in the way.

 

The first job was to find and then charge up the little vaccuum cleaner to remove the dust.  Next I decided what most needed doing was to finish some ballasting betwen two sidings in the goods yard and outside the loco shed.  I managed to find the ballast, some card of the right thickness to infill from the baseboard to the height of the ballast top to save using too much ballast, the small spray for water, the PVA and so on.  Then the job took hardly any time at all.

 

Perhaps now I'll get the rest of the scenery done on both this layout and the 0 gauge.

 

It did occur to me while doing this, tongue in cheek, that there are a lot of books which be useful which no one has written/ published including:

 

The Bumper Book of photos of details of working goods yards.

 

The Big Book of Bridge Photos showing every railway bridge in the UK.

 

The Book of British Station Buildings showing all 4 sides of every building with detailed plans.

 

The Book of Things to add Realism to your Model.  This would include good photos of buffer stops, yard cranes, platform and yard lamps etc etc. with no trains in the way.

 

I'm sure there are many more titles which could be written.

 

Plus a similar series for European Railways.

 

David

You forget a critical omission, especially given it's a frequent topic on TNM:

 

The Bumper Book of British Railway Catering

 

The section on British Railway sandwiches would contain 3 or 4 chapters at least....

 

Edited July 9 by iL Dottore
Typo

[PupCam]

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

But that's the point: a provocatively clad female (or locomotive) is much more mysterious and enticing than one who is - to use the Americanism - "Butt Nekkid"

 

What stirs the blood more? An austerity Q1 class or a fully streamlined A4?

 

Good point, well made and of course, the A4 is a product of THE railway.   

 

Where did I put my tin hat .....

[Happy Hippo]

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

But that's the point: a provocatively clad female (or locomotive) is much more mysterious and enticing than one who is - to use the Americanism - "Butt Nekkid"

 

What stirs the blood more? An austerity Q1 class or a fully streamlined A4?

A Q1!  Slogging along at about 25 mph with a string of various vans and wagons behind it.  Lots of noise, steam and smoke.  You might get a cheery wave from the crew, or even a toot on the whistle.

 

Look! An A..... 

 

 

Gone!

Edited July 9 by Happy Hippo

[iL Dottore]

Just out of curiosity, I looked at the TripAdvisor reviews of the NRM. There were a number of 1 and 2 star reviews and a lot of 4 star reviews - including such gems as "A wide choice of hot and cold food, in the Station Hall cafe, Plenty of comfortable seating between the trains on display" and "We arrived for a days visit to the museum, which we decided would start with sausage baps and coffee. Wow, both were fantastic! The presentation and attention to detail of all their food was first class. Although we didn’t eat at lunchtime we went back to have a look and were only more impressed! All the staff we spoke to were really friendly and helpful, can’t praise them and there offering enough" [sic]. I haven't actually done any stats on the reviews, but certainly a disproportionate number fixated on the food, and many of these reviews had titles like "Best Scones in York!" and "Brilliant food" Hardly a ringing endorsement of a Railway Museum.

 

I tried to find a menu online for either of the restaurants   sorry eating places at the NRM but to no avail.  Which doesn't bode well...

 

Anyway back to the reviews and the 1-star and 2-star reviews - which seemed a lot more focussed on the limitations on the NRM as a Railway Museum with comments like "The exhibits look ill-cared for and there is too much emphasis on extracting money from visitors", "The new building is basically a large soulless warehouse with a handful of trains making it half the attraction it used to be. Sadly it’s lost its way. If you’ve been to the original don’t spoil your memories by visiting the new place", or "Absolutely horrendous. Not fit to be called a National museum. The huge importance the railways have played in this country are just being disregarded in favour of terrible ideas that don’t represent what the place should be about".  One review from a <mike d> (August 2023) was incredibly scathing. And well worth reading.

 

And to conclude this sorry and sad peek at the NRM. here is a quote from the NRM Director "We can all get dewy-eyed over Mallard, but that’s not helping us into the future".

 

Words fail me....

[Rugd1022]

3 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

 

It's also been said that he is tired of London is tired of life. Which demonstrates that such statements are bunkum. I for one have wearied of London rather quickly whenever I've been there but am by no means weary of life generally.

 

I visit London sometimes three or four times a week through work, not the posh or vaguely nice bits but the rather less glamourous environs of Wembley, Willesden or Acton. My mum's side of the family all came from there and I lived there from '83 to '85 and have a real connection to it, but there are parts of it that are still quite grim. I do still love visiting family in Hammersmith and Barnes though.

 

If my numbers ever come up I've promised myself a nice mews house with an integral garage for a Mini Cooper to nip about town in...!

[Rugd1022]

2 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

 

There we go, especially for you, courtesy of Ellis Clark.

 

Rather spiffing that, especially in maroon but it appears to have struck a bit of debris which has knocked the front valance adrift somewhat...! Off to Swindon Works for repairs next...?

 

😉

 

 

[polybear]

8 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

"A wide choice of hot and cold food, in the Station Hall cafe, Plenty of comfortable seating between the trains on display" and "We arrived for a days visit to the museum, which we decided would start with sausage baps and coffee. Wow, both were fantastic! The presentation and attention to detail of all their food was first class. Although we didn’t eat at lunchtime we went back to have a look and were only more impressed! All the staff we spoke to were really friendly and helpful, can’t praise them and there offering enough" 

 

 

I wonder which member of staff submitted that one?

[jjb1970]

Are British museums still trying to guilt trip people into making donations?

 

That really made me cross. If the museums are advertised as free entry then they're free to enter and people should feel no guilt about visiting for free. Now personally when I visit national/free entry museums I generally make a donation as I think it fair to contribute and it's still a cheap and enjoyable day out. However if I  have to walk through picket lines of wannabe chiggers I refuse as it annoys me. If they want money then pressure the government to introduce entry fees but don't try and make people feel guilty for expecting a free entry museum to be free to enter.

 

A gold star to the RAF museums as I have never experienced it there (which is not to say it doesn't happen there).