The price of our pleasures!

Sailor · 2009-12-14T18:34:04+00:00

Having made the long trek to Dijon (65 klics) to seek out some 2mmbrass tube and wire for point ( turnout / switch ) ** control I justhappened to glance at the various offerings of old and more modernSNCF locos.The prices caused physical pain in my eyes! A simple Co -Co shuntercame in at =80169 as did several other types. The nicely detailed 5 carTGV with working pantograph strolled in at =80269.I found myself thinking "Thank goodness that I am too poor for allthis!"** please choose the expression most suited to you!

Dec 14, 2009 190 Replies

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simon 16 years ago

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

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Greg.Procter 16 years ago

OK, so PO corridor connections predate passenger corridor connections!

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simon 16 years ago

Plus there is no justification for thinking PO offset corridors for security reasons :-)

Cheers, Simon

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Just zis Guy, you know? 16 years ago

Congratulations on a very decent piece of research. Guy

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Greg.Procter 16 years ago

Very true in 1848-1900. However, there were over 120 years of PO vehicles, a period during which someone, somewhere in the PO might have had a rethink.

Regards, Greg.P.

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MartinS 16 years ago

Hornby's R4155 LMS TPO (model of a prototype dating from 1931) has central corridor connections. Is this correct?

Were TPOs (with centre connections) used with LNER corridor tenders? If so, were loco crews allowed to pass through?

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simon 16 years ago

Thanks, the book was a lucky find at a very good price GBP6 and filled a hole in my modest library, am looking for an equivalent on ordinary coaches next.

Cheers, Simon

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simon 16 years ago

Would that be on the lines of :- Manager - Why dont we offset gangways on TPO carraiges to make them more secure from passengers ? Worker - We do offset gangways on TPO's. Manager - Why ? Worker - Dunno (and not bothered), praps cos we've done it that way for the last 100 years. Manager - Right then will write article for internal magazine stating security to be the reason.

:-)

Cheers, Simon

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simon 16 years ago

No I'm sorry, all LMS TPO's were offset corridor connections.

Sorry, dont have much info on LNER practices. There are several photos of LNER TPO's built around 1930 that lasted well into 1960's in a Backtrack article by Phillip Mallard (Nov 1994). All have offset connections. You might start by checking if there were any TPO's on the LNER service with corridor tenders ?

Cheers, Simon

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Greg.Procter 16 years ago

LOL!

Regards, Greg.P.

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Sailor 16 years ago

I believe that TPOs did actually stop enroute to Scotland from London so the need would not arise. The corridor tenders were built with non stop runs in mind and the need to change crews on the run.

Peter A

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