Izzy, Nick, Tom and Gus (2)

Fools Rush In ....

The fool in this case is fbb and not Gustave Eiffel, seen above in a studio portrait with his granddaughters. Trying to cover the worldwide work of the celebrated Engineer, Architect and Meteorologist (who died in 1923 aged 91) in a short blog is just plain daft!

 ... Where Angels Fear To Tread.

Gus was no angel; he spent a couple of years in prison for fraudulent deals during his work on the locks for the Panama Canal! 

But the breadth of his work is simply staggering. This blog will offer a taste, as they say, "in no particular order", of the scope of his work.

The quote, by the way, is from Alexander Pope's Essay on Criticism and, to his deep chagrin, fbb had to look it up. He "did" Pope as part of his A Level English course and had failed to remember the source of those well worn words!

Bad house point!

We begin in 1860 when Gus was nobbut a lad of 26. He was consulting engineer, supervising engineer, designer (sources vary) for what became known as the "Passerelle Eiffel". Passerelle means footbridge or gangway, so the Passrrelle Eiffel was a railway bridge!

It crossed the river Garonne at Bordeaux, effectively linking two chunks of the rail network together. And it did include a footbridge.

It was a long trek!

Until 2008, Eiffel's bridge carried a double track main line electrified and used by TGV trains!

When the new bridge opened the aim was to demolish Eiffel's 1860 crossing but, thankfully, protests were huge and the structure remains, but now inaccessible.

One of the key campaigners was one of Gus's great ((?) granddaughters.

There are proposals to re-open the bridge for pedestrians and cyclists.

And A Double Decker

You can immediately spot the Eiffel style of giant Meccano here in Portugal. The top deck is roadway ...

... and below is railway. Hopefully Portugal has not copyrighted it when pictured at night.

From The Sublime ...

Eiffel designed and built a simple suspension bridge for a park in Paris ...

... but spectacular and delightful.

Gus's biggie in France is the Viaduc de Gabarit ...

... taking an extant railway over a deep gorge.

Bearing in mind it was bult using human power and simple tools, the construction is mind-blowing.

The Viaduc de Garabit is a railway arch bridge spanning the Truyère, near Ruynes-en-Margeride, Cantal, France, in the mountainous Massif Central region.

The bridge was constructed between 1882 and 1884 by Gustave Eiffel, with structural engineering by Maurice Koechlin, and was opened in 1885. It is 1,854 ft in length and has a principal arch of 541 ft span.

Back to girders on piers for this one.

Here fbb has forgotten to note where it was, but he has recorded what it has become. The girders have gone but one pier is equipped with a launch pad for bungee jumping.

Would Gus, as a lover of the spectacular, be impressed with its recycled purpose or disappointed to lose his Meccano?

Not Just Bridges

Here is what looks quite innocently like a waterside warehouse in Izmir, Turkey. 

It looks a bit like a shopping centre now (which it is!) but here is a shot of the renewal and rebuild.

But once inside, we can, once again, see Gus's Meccano in the roof.

Then the bus station in La Paz, Bolivia ...

... still very much in use today!

And still beautiful ...

... maybe the most beautiful bus station in the world!

General Post Office Ho Chi Min City, Vietnam.

Also very much the place to purchase philately and post your post.

Nyugati Station in Hungary ...

... also very much in use but due for a massive extension "round the back".

Nice Observatory ...

... iron framed, of course!

Dijon Fruit and Veg Market ...

... cuts the mustard!

And beautifully formed in Angola!

Palácio de Ferro is a historical building in the Angolan capital Luanda, believed to have been designed and built by – or by someone associated with – Gustave Eiffel.

Maybe, or matbe not?

The Legacy Lives On ...

The Millau Viaduct is so big you simply cannot comprehend it.

From base to tip of the main piers it is taller than the Eiffel Tower!

The bridge deck (but not the towers) was built by the Eiffel Company!

Gus would be oh so proud of that!

Is Gus a greater engineer than Izzy, Nick or Tom? His work was certainly flung wider over the globe than Izzy or Tom. Nick's AC electricity is a special case because there is an awful lot of it about!

 Next Variety blog : Saturday 10th August 

Wolf Cub Mystery

Wolf Cub Weird Connections?

fbb used to be a Wolf Cub, carefully adjusting his woggle and chanting "dib dib dib" with enthusiasm and vitality! He even managed to win a few badges but cannot remember what they were.

The UK version of the wolf ...

... and her cubs caused a bit of worry at Brighton Station recently as she had set up shop under a shed quite close to the side rail electrified lines.

Where is this supposedly public transport blog going? 

Well, what seems like a decade ago, fbb ordered a tank wagon for his collection.

The manufacturer was Dapol and the wagon was an "Air Ministry" 14 ton tank used for various petroleum products including aviation fuel. The name may tell you that the full sized wagons were a wartime construct, the first arriving in 1939,

The majority of these tank wagons were built by the Air Ministry between 1939 and 1944 as Class A wagons for aviation fuel, being 17ft-6inch long on a 10ft wheelbase fitted with RCH either side braking and split oil axle boxes. The tank was 7ft-2inch diameter containing 4275 gallons saddle mounted with two small platforms on the top of the tank. 

In a move to confuse old people (like fbb) TEN different model versions were offered ...

... and when fbb checked his pre-order list on-line he found he had ordered THREE at different times.

Confused.com!

Thankfully Rails of Sheffield accepted fbb's plea of insanity and reduced the order to one, this one!

fbb was intrigued with the name and liked the livery. The "stone" base colour with the red line was an early attempt to allay the railway companies' health and safety concerns. Tanks painted thus would contain highly inflammable products and could be highly explosive. So the red line was a warning.

The model is due in "May or June" but fbb was already VERY intrigued.

Lobito is Spanish for "small wolf" or maybe "wolf cub" being a derivative of "lobo". So how come a UK fuel company is named after a little wolf?

The Cheshire address was authentic but a search on-line found scant evidence of this company.  But there is some!

Not fat from the refinery address is a filling station and tyre fitting garage at Holywell ...

... but nowhere else was there a UK version of the name - and anyway the video shows the establishment selling Esso fuel.

And so to a wider search!

Lobito is a town in Angola ...

... which looks quite pleasant.

Lobitos is also a small community in California ..

... which warrants very little information c/o Google.

But a district in Peru looks a little more hopeful.

Slowly the truth is unravelled,

Peru's importance in the early 20th century oil industry is clear from this picture of a Lobitos oilfield from back then.

So, probably, Lobitos succumbed to the global aspirations of Esso and ceased to exist, almost certainty pre WW2 or immediately post WW2. But the brand had a dynamic logo (?) ...

... petrol pumps ...

... and oil cans!

There is even a picture of a lorry for road deliveries.

Sadly we can no longer buy "wolf cub" petrol anywhere in the world ...

... pause for plaintive howling from petrol heads! 

But fbb (and others like him) can have a tank wagon to remind them of Peruvian lupine fuel!

Of course, fbb will report (excitedly?) on his new tank wagon when it arrives; but he can be certain it will have far better detail than his 1939 Hornby Dublo 3 rail model.

Dapol definitely offers intricacy and quality in response to more pennies from the fbb piggy bank. (Approx 3,780 pennies RRP!!) ...

... but fbb is paying nearly £6 less. (He hopes!)

Air Ministry 14 ton tank wagon

Specification

Extremely detailed and accurate 

     body shell and chassis 

Many separately added  fine details,

       including separate platforms 

       and ladders

NEM coupling 

Finely profiled wheels (front and back) 

Full sprung chassis

      a first for OO Gauge RTR models 

Superbly applied livery 

Three link chains supplied in accessory bag   

Incidentally, "Power" tank wagons were never green in reality. They would have been in the red stripe standard livery until that scheme was abandoned, colours as illustrated on this Bachmann model of a different prototype.

P.S. The Wolf Cub picture at the head of this blog is NOT a sweet 10 year old fbb! It was sourced from an internet postcard. fbb always wore specs!

 Next Variety blog : Saturday 27 April