In the quest for an LNWR goods train am building a horsebox from a 51L brass kit. Wow the number of bits involved with the underframe. Theres a line drawing of Brake gear layout thats really frightening. Bits are a bit fragile (although many major ones end up double thickness). Now I appreciate finescale and have a lot of respect for those that practice it well, but have called a halt at those areas that can only be seen close up, slightly below but at a particular angle with the sun setting on the longest day of the year :-)
"simon" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@bt.com:
You forgot the very necessary initial sacrifice of a virgin, thankfully there's plenty to be found in the model railway, still living at home with thier mums types. ;-)
I've always thought invisible underframe detail is a waste of effort. It's also easy to damage by clumsey people. The most ham-fisted visitor always picks up the finest detailed model!
Tis a problem that as add more bits theres a tendency to wobble existing ones - esp brakes which do need to be correctly sited. Yep, but dont need a visitor, am already here :-)
If it's visible at normal viewing distances then stick it on - if it's not leave it off.
I collect a bit of the old Tri-ang OO stuff, die-cast chassis and plastic bodies. When I find examples the couplers are always bent and the corners are knocked off the plastic roofs - sometimes the wheel flanges are chipped - The detail is always there though. If you're not too fussy I could find you some ;-)
Thanks, its ok as bought one for 50p at show a few weeks back. Will replace couplings and wheels then paint at the same time as this one. At 80mph who can tell :-)
Looking at photos of lnwr goods trains in '20s its suprising how many foriegn vehicles present. Plenty of Midland as might expect but also lots of GWR. Was going to repaint Mainline cattle wagon as MR but they chose the diagram that was first built in 1923 - thank you Coalville.
The "common user" arrangement started around the time of WW1 when each company allocated a portion of its wagon stock to a pool.
This meant that there were less empty movements to return the vehicles to the home company so it was a money saver. It probably started with wartime needs meaning that any available vehicle was used.
These were initially marked with an X at the ends of each side.
Later all wagons were common user unless explicitly marked that they weren't.
So the more expensive wagons weren't common user, eg the GWR added rails for tarpaulins on open wagons which other lines didn't, so these were restricted to the GWR and marked for return to the GWR if they went off-system.
Not so sure about that, as the LNWR was a trunk route so anything from deep south going to frozen wastes of the North could pass through. Presume they wouldnt always be complete trains. Remember some photos were early 20's but will check a few more.
You need to consider _why_ cattle would be transported from one end of the country to the other. Given the relative costs of cattle and transport, such a long move would cost a fair proportion of the value of the cattle. They normally only get transported to/from the nearest sales yard or to the nearest abbitoir.
Sorry, I know I'm making model railways a tiring hobby ;-)
There were farm moves occasionally where a tenant farmer might up sticks and move,often to a different part of the country. ISTR that most of the Railway Companys had special rates for it. They would handle the job from start to finish in the same way as a removal company handles a domestic move now.Turn up ,help load and pack ,shift and reverse procedure at other end. Hence cattle wagons from Cornwall could end up with their cargo in Scotland.
Not ture. Cattle were moved considerable distances, losing a good proportion of their body weight (and thus value) in the process. Moving by rail cut the journey times drastically and meant the cattle could command a much higher price at their destination.
Not at all, the reasons are most important and a source of pleasure to do the background reading. However, in this case am starting from photos so know that this is how it was at that time. At the speed I build models there is plenty of time to consider the why. When started looking had forgotten what locos were frequently present for these goods, let alone what wagons usually present !
I have the same sort of situation on my between the wars German layout. Manufacturers produce millions of beer wagons. I of course have bought lots of them. In all my books (I have more relevant books than beer wagons) I've found just one photograph showing a beer wagon in a train. I have several more photos of breweries with varying numbers of beerwagons in the brewery sidings (all the same markings) There are of course manufacturer's photos of every beer wagon they ever built. Obviously, what with the flanged wheels etc said beer vans ran in Germany. I did ask a German immigrant who seemed to have some knowledge - he said the beer wagons spent most of their time as warehouse space and most trips were very short (to the nearest city and back)
My point: photos often show exceptions, the latest express loco, the named train, exceptional loads, a scene to illustrate a news story ... I'm currently working up to building a model of a (german) loco type in service
1867-1923. (mixed traffic decending to branch line) For much of that time it was the most common type but to date I've located only 2 photos, while the latest express and heavy goods locos built in small nmbers can have dozens of photos.
But thats ok if you decide on a theme, do the research then buy/build required stock. Now the research and building goes hand in hand, cos this is a hobby and its in spare time for pleasure. So find a photo thats not labelled as exceptional and we have the possible. Get some background information and/or lots of suitably captioned photos so call it probable. Finally get records of actual train formations and we can have the typical.
In the meantime am reasonably safe starting with loco, brake van and horsebox :-)
Greg Procter wrote in news:4D48B9D1.ABFA51B4 @ihug.co.nz:
There's that it's a good point well made but there was (and still is to a certain degree especially with sheep) the seasonal moves from lowland grazing to upland summer grazing. These moves could be quite long distance.
Also (say) a batch of Scotish cattle could be purchased for consumption in London but on the first leg only be brought (say) as far south as Herts whilst they were given a little last minute fattening up. Alternatively a major food producer may well have paid for a block train to travel from one side of the country to the other.
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