TheSignalEngineer

Some of it used to be?

Boy do I feel stiff this morning. Looked after the grandsons yesterday afternoon. Daughter informed us that the boys had use of a net booked at the cricket club at 1.45, so off we went with all the gear. I didn't know that today's youngsters could pick up such huge bags. We were the only people around so we ended up doing about 90 minutes before the rain set in. I don't think I have done any proper bowling for about 20 years so I have rediscovered muscles I had forgatten about. Line and length was a bit wayward to start with but when I reverted to my old round the wicket spinners it finally settled down. Both have been on ECB sponsored schemes recently and are showing some good touches, not nice when you get smashed through the covers by an 8 year-old.

And always remember that growing up as you grow old is not compulsory. (Just going back to playing with my trains before bedtime.)

Back in 1976 my assistant in the Drawing Office took off his tie on one particularly hot day. He was given a lecture by the boss on wearing a tie as part of the office code. When the boss returned from lunch he was greeted by the sight of said young lad wearing a tie but no shirt.

Slightly different from what the staff on our line called it, but this is a family show.

The drawing in the BR diagram book from way back when shows the position of the bracing in the case of the Dogfish but not the Catfish. At least that confirms my guess of the dimension of the angle iron. This evening a bit of searching and a free trial on a magazine reading site has thrown up an article in the May 2020 issue of Rail Express on building the Cambrian Catfish. It shows a nice interior picture of a hopper from the vacuum cylinder end rather than the handwheel platform. Hopefully from this I will be able to work out the details required as it shows better how the bracing is fitted to the middle of the side sheets. At least it confirms that the part privided in the kit is too short and located too low down.

The only bit of a Catfish and Dogfish which appears to be identical is the underframe, saying that a Catfish is a smaller version of a Dogfish is akin to saying that all Great Western Pannier Tanks are the same.

Hi Steve, Thanks for the picture from Dave. It shows the interior of the Dogfish from the platform end better than most I have seen. Only the principle of the bracing is the same. The shape of the hopper is considerably different, the only common dimensions being the length and width of the top opening.

When I worked around Curzon St in the late 1960s 12T vans were used on the Christmas specials.

That's the one I was thinking of.

Midland Tar Distillers had some wagons like these. They were in use at least until the early 1960s, some lasting long enough to get the same type of lettering as on the Hornby one. Their wagons did get around quite a lot, being photographed not only by the main works at Oldbury, but at Watford and Hull. The Oxford type of tank was recorded at Leighton Buzzard along with similar one on wooden underframe c1962. One with the 1950s style lettering would save me a job. (Exit wishlisting mode).

36' 7" over buffers according to the drawing on Paul Bartlett's site. 11m 150 in the BR book

Shold've gone to Barnard Castle Specsavers. Found one in the prototype photos on the Cambrian site. Any additional info would still be appreciated.

I'm currently building three Cambrian Catfish kits for my ballast train. I'm struggling to get a picture of the inside of the hopper showing the bracing above the ballast door. Does anyone have a picture of the inside of the hopper, or a drawing of the arrangement? Thanks for reading. Eric

I'm not sure whether a Vanfit (12T 10' WB I assume) would be seen in parcels use by the BR Blue era due to the limited speed these were supposed to travel at. The smallest vehicle in the LMR 1969 marshalling book is the SPV.

GWR/BR Fruit D https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/fruitd/e1af423b2

BR CCT. https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/brcct/e31a4d9cc

The man in the picture is Ted Keatley who was one of the Signalling Works supervisors. At that time we seemed to be guinea pigs for all sorts of H&S kit and trials for different site work methods as one end of our patch was a few minutes walk from BRB HQ. My bag for site inspections, audits, etc included hard hat, visor, goggles, disposable face masks, orange boiler suit, disposable oversuits for 'dirty' work, orange waterproof coat and overtrousers, disposable gloves, leather gauntlets and safety boots. Also available at the office I had amongst other things flame retardant boiler suit, rubber gauntlets, waders and confined spaces equipment.

Although not mandatory at the time full orange was available in 1989. My picture taken on the Widened Lines during material delivery.

My Beattie Well Tank runs very nicely until you give it something to pull. One coach or three wagons and it just sits there in a permanent wheelslip.

We couldn't even get my mother to go on a trip around the bay on most holidays. In 1961 we managed to get her onto an excursion train which dropped us at Windermere then picked us up from Lakeside, the intermediate leg being a cruise Bowness - Ambleside - Lakeside. The final nail came in 1964 when Dad, Sister and I decided we were going on a no-passport trip to France when staying in Folkestone. On the chosen morning the sea was a flat calm so we persuaded her to come along. The ship was a bit old and weighed about 3000 tons. By the evening the French coast was covered in a thick fog and when we got half way across we ran into a full gale and it took half an hour of shuffling around to get into the harbour. She refused to come even as far as the beach with us the next day and to my knowledge the only vessel she ever went on after that was the King Harry Ferry.

My first train chasing trip for nearly six months was scuppered by the weather today. I was going to visit two photo locations I want to try for the Crewe - York excursion but I didn't even bother going. The planned location for the morning run was looking into the wind with heavy showers and by the time the evening location would have been reached it was almost dark. Think I must be getting soft, I would have stood for hours in all weathers to try for a shot at one time. It did however let me get finished on the jobs needed before the workmen come to do the kitchen floor on Monday and I still may have time for an hour of muddling instead of editing photos.

The tanks at KX would be mainly for topping up locos on a lay-over between trains. They would have been filled at te main depots overnight. By 1966 there were at least four large vertical tanks at the trackside. The old 14T tanks could fill a Deltic's tanks three or four times over.

I don't know how much it cost when introduced but the RPI multiplier for the last 17 years is approximately 1.6 so if it was more than £100 at that time it is relatively cheaper now.

Watering at Hams Hall https://warwickshirerailways.com/misc/misc_indust371.htm