The Night Mail

[AndyID]

15 minutes ago, pH said:

PARDON???!!! Gourock and Wemyss Bay line trains ran to Central!

 

Trains to St Enoch from Gilmour Street left from the platform just visible on the left.

 

(AFAIK, there was only one exception per day to those rules at the time of that photo.)

 

Nice picture, though. 

I'll take your word for it  I don't think I ever really knew

[pH]

6 minutes ago, AndyID said:

I'll take your word for it  I don't think I ever really knew

Gourock and Wemyss Bay lines, and Glasgow Central station were all ex-Caledonian.

 

Ayr, Largs and Kilmarnock lines from Gilmour Street, and Glasgow St Enoch station were all ex-G&SWR.

 

Services stayed quite distinct till the rundown of St Enoch started, with everything eventually running to and from Central.

[polybear]

8 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

I've been meaning to ask, have you deposited your annotated catalogue with an appropriate archive, where it can actually be accessed and of use to bona-fide amateur researchers? Maybe digitised and turned into a web-based resource?

 

I imagine that's exactly what Messrs. Hunt, Essery & James thought they were doing at the time.  I wonder if those hand-written notes are still residing in some dusty archive somewhere?

 

8 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

You just need to ask them one question:"and what have YOU published on the topic?" chances are absolutely nothing.

 

 

"Noddy and Big Ears go to the Toy Shop"

 

4 hours ago, AndyID said:

Arriving at  Paisley Gilmour street on the line from Greenock probably terminating Glasgow Saint Enoch.

 

 

Wasn't the world a better place before colour was invented?

 

[iL Dottore]

6 hours ago, J. S. Bach said:

I would hand them the pistol and the bullet separately; just in case. And, to give you time to depart the room!

No need for concern, JS. Given what they have done to (too) many museums, you might have to help them point the pistol in the right direction….

[iL Dottore]

On the subject of trains too rarely modelled (sort of), I wonder why there is little, if anything, available for those LNER/BR ER services out of Liverpool St Station or Fenchurch St Station.

 

OK you can get models of some of the DfT approved modern railway stock that can be refinished as TOC trains serving Essex and East Anglia, but if you want to model some of what I would arguably claim are some of the best looking EMUs ever - the Class 302s, 304, 305s, 306s and 309s - you’re stuffed.

 

There used to be a small manufacturer that made kits of these (and others), but they seem to have dropped off the radar horizon. So scratch-building seems the only way ☹️ 

 

One also wonders why there aren’t any models of Class 378 (London Overground) or more models of the various London Underground units. Presumably “lack of interest” (which is - sometimes - bizness speak for “can’t be bothered about those customers”). The Japanese manage to produce models of the myriad and almost countless different types of rolling stock used on the Tokyo Metro without much problem. But there again, in matters railway, the student (Japan) has long surpassed the master (the UK)..

Edited July 10 by iL Dottore

[Winslow Boy]

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

No need for concern, JS. Given what they have done to (too) many museums, you might have to help them point the pistol in the right direction….

And probably collect them from home as they'll most likely be working from it.

[Happy Hippo]

10 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

 

Perhaps you should have said to them "I've been trained on, and flown and operated aircraft with sophisticated multi million pound weapon systems so I think I can manage to master the &£#% dewey decimal system"

 

 

 

 

 

'

 

Are you sure about that?

 

This was Dave shortly after he qualified at the CFS as an instructor

[jjb1970]

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

On the subject of trains too rarely modelled (sort of), I wonder why there is little, if anything, available for those LNER/BR ER services out of Liverpool St Station or Fenchurch St Station.

 

OK you can get models of some of the DfT approved modern railway stock that can be refinished as TOC trains serving Essex and East Anglia, but if you want to model some of what I would arguably claim are some of the best looking EMUs ever - the Class 302s, 304, 305s, 306s and 309s - you’re stuffed.

 

There used to be a small manufacturer that made kits of these (and others), but they seem to have dropped off the radar horizon. So scratch-building seems the only way ☹️ 

 

One also wonders why there aren’t any models of Class 378 (London Overground) or more models of the various London Underground units. Presumably “lack of interest” (which is - sometimes - bizness speak for “can’t be bothered about those customers”). The Japanese manage to produce models of the myriad and almost countless different types of rolling stock used on the Tokyo Metro without much problem. But there again, in matters railway, the student (Japan) has long surpassed the master (the UK)..

 

I'll make a note in my security files - displaying LNER-ist sympathies.

 

I think one of the problems in Britain is there are still many enthusiasts who don't consider multiple units ('buggies') to be real trains. In Japan not only are MUs very much real trains, so much so some have cult status like our famous loco classes.

 

There's a famous animal/comic series called 'The laughing salesman' which is kind of bonkers in that Japanese way. The original comic was really rather dark and macabre whereas the TV adaptations were rather sanitised. However one episode is about a washed up salesman with an obsession over the Series 583 sleeper EMU. The episode shows an attention to detail with the Series 583 and train enthusiast hobby which is impressive and which I very rarely see in the British media.

[Tony_S]

7 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

imagine farm labourers migrated to cities for the same reason they do in China, India, Indonesia, Vietnam and countless other countries - however bad things are in industrialised cities they see a better future than toiling in fields.

Plus also in England all the people thrown off the land when land was enclosed, moved to cities too.

[Dave Hunt]

53 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

'

 

Are you sure about that?

 

This was Dave shortly after he qualified at the CFS as an instructor

Monoplanes? That was much later in my career HH. Remember that I started not that long after you were being issued with the first rifles.

 

Dave

[iL Dottore]

24 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

Monoplanes? That was much later in my career HH. Remember that I started not that long after you were being issued with the first rifles.

 

Dave

I alway wondered why HH is the world's pre-eminent flintlock weapon expert...

[PhilJ W]

51 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

Plus also in England all the people thrown off the land when land was enclosed, moved to cities too.

Such as New York, San Francisco, Toronto and Vancouver.

[monkeysarefun]

1 hour ago, jjb1970 said:

There's a famous animal/comic series called 'The laughing salesman' which is kind of bonkers in that Japanese way.

 

For bonkers Japanese anime with commendable attention to detail, Girls Und Panzer takes a lot of beating.

[Dave Hunt]

Just been making a choccy cake for a friend’s birthday party later today. Currently in an area undisclosed location behind extensive bear and hippo traps.

 

Dave

 

For some reason the auto correct wanted to change choccy to chicly ….??

 

[Canal Digger]

21 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.

As someone said I like visiting London, I like leaving it even better!

 

Gulp, I'm 5 pages behind! What was HH saying about returning to threads?

[iL Dottore]

Y'know all this petty squabbling MR vs LNER vs GER vs SR vs LT etc. is a bit annoying, after all they're all BRITISH railway companies.

 

Thank God, someone managed to bang heads together in 1939, otherwise this morning you'd have taken the 08:12 Deutsche Reichsbahn (GB) Schnellzug to Bahnhof Waterloo (or similar).

 

No, you need to band together to fight the common enemy: the SNCF (aka THE FRENCH)

[jjb1970]

5 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

For bonkers Japanese anime with commendable attention to detail, Girls Und Panzer takes a lot of beating.

 

Model shops here sell imported Japanese kits which have both a scale model of a WW2 tank (Pz.III, Pz.IV, Tiger etc) along with figure of sexualised young ladies for that series. Bonkers indeed.

[polybear]

2 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

No, you need to band together to fight the common enemy: the SNCF (aka THE FRENCH)

 

Who?  Oh yes, that lot that are no longer in the kickball.....🤣

[Canal Digger]

18 hours ago, PupCam said:

19 hours 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 .....

You will need more than a tin hat, try body armour, a tank to travel in and a regiment of well trained (see what I did there)  protection agents 

[Compound2632]

6 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

No, you need to band together to fight the common enemy: the SNCF (aka THE FRENCH)

 

There was a good deal of British involvement in the French railways, especially, naturally enough, those serving the channel ports. Sir Edward Watkin, chairman of the Manchester Sheffield & Lincolnshire and South Eastern railways, was a Director of the Northern Railway (CF du Nord); I think the Brighton and the Western Railway (CF de l'Ouest) also had directors in common - and of course the Rouen main line was the work of Locke and Brassey.

 

As for the designer of those most characteristically Gallic of locomotives, the Nord Atlantics, Alfred de Glehn: he was born and grew up in Sydenham and had a sister who married an Anglican bishop and became a promoter of women's university education and women's suffrage - you can't get much more English than that.

[jamie92208]

1 hour ago, jjb1970 said:

 

I'll make a note in my security files - displaying LNER-ist sympathies.

 

I think one of the problems in Britain is there are still many enthusiasts who don't consider multiple units ('buggies') to be real trains. In Japan not only are MUs very much real trains, so much so some have cult status like our famous loco classes.

 

There's a famous animal/comic series called 'The laughing salesman' which is kind of bonkers in that Japanese way. The original comic was really rather dark and macabre whereas the TV adaptations were rather sanitised. However one episode is about a washed up salesman with an obsession over the Series 583 sleeper EMU. The episode shows an attention to detail with the Series 583 and train enthusiast hobby which is impressive and which I very rarely see in the British media.

As for cult status Emu's the only one that I can think of are the 4 COR's on the Southern, fantastic things.  Sadly the same attitude is shown in the preservation movement with many failed proje t's. 

 

Jamie

[Happy Hippo]

42 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

I alway wondered why HH is the world's pre-eminent flintlock weapon expert...

I wish:  That accolade ought to go to my brother in law!

[Hroth]

14 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

As for cult status Emu's the only one that I can think of are the 4 COR's on the Southern, fantastic things.  Sadly the same attitude is shown in the preservation movement with many failed proje t's. 

 

Jamie

 

The large object store (1:1 collection) behind Hornbys offices in Margate contains a Merseyrail 503 EMU that was originally "preserved" as a working unit and painted in its original LMS livery.  After a while, it was "stored" in the open air and rotted through a lack of attention.

 

At least it is currently in the dry, though I don't know if anything will be done to restore it.  As of early 2024, two carriages are to be scrapped, the remaining one is to be kept for a "future project".

 

Another example of criminal curatorial ineptitude?

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_503

 

 

 

[Compound2632]

3 minutes ago, Hroth said:

Another example of criminal curatorial ineptitude?

 

Lack of resources, I should think.

[rockershovel]

55 minutes ago, jjb1970 said:

 

Model shops here sell imported Japanese kits which have both a scale model of a WW2 tank (Pz.III, Pz.IV, Tiger etc) along with figure of sexualised young ladies for that series. Bonkers indeed.

I saw that programme when I was working in Sakhalin. Most Japanese TV seems pretty loopy but that certainly stood out.