The price of our pleasures!

I see no reason to believe TPO carraiges would contain post but no persons. I therefore assume any robber would have planned the caper. I also assume any robber would stop the train. But you assume offset of connections where a robber would have to reach an extra 2 feet to the side would make a difference in the opening of a door. By the way, do you know if the TPO end door had a lock access from the outside.

Cheers, Simon

But as the TPO's were designed and built by the railway company a few years before passenger coaches with coach connections then TPO's would have to have been modified to make them compatible.

Would you like to try suggesting the coach connections on passenger coaches were made with central connections so that they were not compatible with TPO's.

Some people think that which came first the chicken or the egg doesnt have an obvious answer.

Cheers, Simon

The position I think we have reached:

- PO sorting vehicles were initially designed with off-set connections because: a. that suited the internal layout of sorting coaches. b. because access to other PO vehicles was desirable.

- Passenger coaches were designed with centralized corridor connections because that position makes them all compatible without turning individual coaches.

- PO vehicles were not redesigned to match because: a. no through connection was required or desirable. b. because relocating would mess up the sorting carriage internal design. c. ?

My original point was a. immediately above, stated in different words. Others here have said b. immediately above was the main purpose.

IMHO other questions such as whether normal locks were adequate or if passenger vehicle connections were centralized to make them incompatible are like asking "what if cats were dogs and dogs were cats?" ;-)

Regards, Greg.P.

Obviously the chicken got laid first!

Greg.P.

Ah, but thats where you are wrong - it was the 'almost a chicken' :-)

Cheers, Simon

Perhaps but it was in a different context - specifically you were not aware of the time difference of the passenger vs TPO coach build nor which came first.

Well, almost but .... PO sorting vehicles were designed with connections because: b. because access to other PO vehicles was desirable.

The connections were offset because :- a. that suited the internal layout of sorting coaches.

However cant accept following for LNWR as

The position of the internal corridor on one side of the coach meant that these coaches were handed. For the first few years the LNWR always marshalled these coaches with the internal corridor on the same side. Consequently they would have been compatible anyway. Also if I remember correctly another poster pointed out that GWR passenger coaches started with offset connections that were later changed to central ones.

Sorry :-)

Cheers, Simon

I definitely had assumed that Passenger corridor connections came first. In that situation, the author who wrote the bit about PO corridor connections being made different to disallow through connections made complete sense. Sufficient for me not to reconsider the situation for 50 years.

I'm an L&YR fan - didn't even know about the LNWR coaches. (What's GWR???) ;-)

Greg.P. NZ

L&YR - ok youre getting there, just little jump to Premier Line :-)

GWR - training ground for finest British CME, but he had to move to realise his potential.

Have learned more about coaches, TPO's, coach operating procedures in last couple of weeks than in preceding 8 years - bonus.

Cheers, Simon

Nothing to do with my Great something Grandfather by any chance? (bloke named G.Stephenson) My lot came from Bradford and surrounds and my Grandmother worked on the L&Y ambulance trains in WWI, so I won't be switching until I finish building that train at least. I do have a Fleischmann HO Warship, Bullied coaches and several rebuilt Lima BR 33s. My Dad went to the same school as Bullied, but a few years later. (Roseneath Wellington, NZ)

Still doesn't ring a bell - the place somebody left isn't that exciting.

Yes, in a way Jerry did us a favour!

Don't encourage him!!

"Greg.Procter" wrote

LOL - only the chavs in Hull, but they'd only think that a train was something to try & derail.

John.

"Chavs" is a word that hasn't (yet) made it to NZ - although I rhink I can guess.

(probably no model railway fans?)

Greg.P.

The Australian equivalent is "bogans".

There's various definitions of the meaning, but Council Housed And Violent is a popular one.

There's also PoshChav coming along - over-paid young "professionals" that don't know how to behave in public.

Cheers Richard

The V is for Vermin in another version.

MBQ

=A0

'Ta.

wolf k.

Or "lumpenproletariat", coined by Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels in 1845.

Struck gold at GCR today - Register of West Coast Joint Stock by Casserley and Millard (HMRS). First mail train on West Coast (LNWR) in 1859 but their TPO's only ran to Carlisle. In 1879 LNWR and Calidonian agreed to provide sufficient vehicles for through running. Oldest vehicle included built 1860. Although in 1885 the post office complained about coaches on other services being a bit old - one of which had been built in 1848.In 1864 George Landsdowne patented his improved gangway (PO type side one) and PO had to pay 14 shillings per gangway till patent expired in 1878. So now we move the offset gangway back to before 1864.

Few lines later they mention that the first LNWR gangway connections for pairs of vehicles (dining cars, saloons etc) were offset initially but they were found to be inconvenient and soon after central connections were built instead.

So Greg, will that do ?

Cheers, Simon