Sarurday Variety On Monday!

Mini Museum

The Conway Valley Railway Museum occupies the former goods yard at Betws-y-Coed Station. There is not a lot of it, but if offers many delights. The main building contains a whole heap of railway stuff ...

... i.e. various bits of railwayana.

There is a working model railway ...

... and a diorama of a typical slate mine.

There is a caff in a carriage ...

... and a few other railway vehicles to see. The best bit is the miniature railway (video below) and occasionally the tiny electric  tram is on offer for a ride.

It draws power from a miniature overhead wire and tolley pole using its own little bit of track.

When fbb was watching from the national rail station platform, the little train was hauled by its diesel. 

But at busier times the steam loco appears.

Well worth popping in!

Colne Valley Construction

One of the most spectacular bits of the now fairly useless HS2 remnant, after Rachel and Keir have refused to reverse Rishi's violent destruction by the great political chopper, is the 3.4 kilometre viaduct over the Colne Valley a tad north of Denham.

Here is the route (DARK BLUE) of HS2 in the area ...

... here is he viaduct in RED ...

... and here in reality and partially complete c/o Google Earth.

The section across the southernmost lakes is the really spectacular bit ...

... as seen above in artist's impression. It is supposed to look like a snake writhing across the water. And so it doesn't!

First you build a road across the lake and use that to build the viaduct's piers ...

... seen here from a lower level.

Then, having built the piers ...

... you use a gurt big sliding metal bridge ...

... to assemble the gurt big blocks of the decking.

Apparently there are exactly 1000 decking blocks to stick together with a huge tube of UHU glue - or something similar.

These units are cast on site. 

Now that the viaduct is constructionally complete, the access roadway on (or in) the lakes will be removed.

Spectacular, Eh?

Not Spectacular But Splendid

Remember the Bond Bug? It was a two-slim-person orange plastic car with a putt putt engine. It probably wouldn't stand a chance in an altercations with a bicycle!

A huge chunk of the body lifts up to gain access to the cramped driving position.

It is now available as am OO model from Oxford Diecast.

As usual with Oxford's models, it is exquisite. But an eagle eyed fbb spots a disappointment. The non-working headlights are moulded in clear plastic, whilst the real things ...

... are set in an orange "container".

Disappointing.

Following the purchase of Bond Cars Ltd. in 1969, Reliant commissioned Tom Karen of Ogle Design to alter the Reliant Rogue design; the car would now become a Bond vehicle. The Bond Bug was based on chief engineer John Crosthwaite's newly designed chassis, and used a mixture of Reliant Regal parts, and running gear which had been designed for the Reliant Robin 750, which was due to be launched in 1974. The original concept was explored by chopping down a production Regal vehicle, the car's rear being shortened to end over the rear axle.

You wouldn't get four inside though!

Livery Delivery Quiz Question

Every so often a disease breaks out amongst bus company management which results in buses appearing in heritage liveries to confuse the passenger and delight the enthusiast.

This one has just appeared.

So the question is, "Who operates it and which company is it retrospectively celebrating".

And a clue? It may well go close to the pier!

Ecclesiastical Note

There were about 50 attendees at the new 0915 service at fbb's church, slightly less than half the average congregation. Statistics are unfairly compared because the Sunday School Classes only operate at the 1100 edition, so families would perforce attend then.

Another Identity Parade

Four characters appear in the above picture - please identify all four.

There is a fifth character likely to be present as the locomotive prepares to depart, but that character would perforce be hidden from view. ("perforce" seems to be fbb's  word of the month, which, perforce, sounds a bit "intellectual".)

So, identify the FIFTH character. And for a clue to this one, enjoy a glass of ginger beer.

Shouldn't it be Old Welsh ginger beer?

Answers tomorrow if fbb remembers or later in the week if he doesn't!

 10 Days to Go 

 Next Variety blog : Tuesday 24th September 

Satirday Variety

Diesel Electric? Gas Turbine Electric!

Above is a turbine.

A turbine  (from the Greek τύρβη, tyrbē, or Latin turbo, meaning vortex) is a rotary mechanical device that extracts energy from a fluid flow and converts it into useful work. The work produced can be used for generating electrical power when combined with a generator. A turbine is a turbo machine with at least one moving part called a rotor, which is a shaft or drum with blades attached. Moving fluid acts on the blades so that they move and impart rotational energy to the rotor. Technically windmills and water wheels are "turbines".

In the above example the turbine is extracting energy from a gas produced by burning a fuel. The energy created is then used to generate electricity ...

... which drives the wheels of a railway locomotive.

Although this video is longer than fbb would normally quote, it does a far better job than fbb could do and is well worth watching.

Rails have recently been discounting their stock of 18100 models; but the offer is now over|!

The saving was £25 on locos priced at £225 so a tad over 5%. BIG DEAL!

Squashed A Bit?

The iconic loco of the L N E R was the A4 "pacific" designed by Sir Nigel Gresley.

Known by trainspotters as "Streaks" these thrashed up and down the East Coast main line hauling the top expresses to Newcastle and Glasgow. The biggie of the bunch was, of course Mallard which, to this day, holds the world speed record for a steam locomotive.

The valances over the the upper quadrant of the driving wheels were subsequently removed as they made maintenance slow and difficult. But two of the six remaining A4s had their extra tin bit replaced in preservation.

The historic Concours d'Elegance is seem above at the York Railway Museum and is probably a gathering that will never be repeated -  ever!

So when the L N R R decided to upgrade its service from Liverpool Street to Norwich with a "crack express" each way, they looked for a PR winner.

Although the "streamlining" on a Streak makes no difference to speed or coal consumption, it did look spectacular.

The L N E R even pinched the "brand" from the L M S - or was it the other way round?

The L M S removed its useless casing but the L N E R kept the shape to the very end.

But back to Norwich. The bosses opined that these fast trains needed the same look as on the Scotland run, so they took a couple of very ordinary 4-6-0 B17s ...

... and gave them an A4 makeover designating them B17/5.

Just shortening Nigel's design did not really work, visually.

It wss all a bit half hearted as parts of the Norwich line are commuter territory and high speeds are simply not possible between stopping trains.

Later B1s took on some of the work ...

... with a barely noticeable headboard. That for the short lived post WW2 revival of the train was better|!

But, continuing the tend of producing expensive models of rare (almost forgotten) traction to be bought by elderly and dotty collectors, Hornby have just released full details of their B17/5 "streamlined" models.

Only £225 each!

But, if you fancy a squashed streak for the sidings sheltering your steam selection, you have a choice of two liveries.

The Robert Stephenson locomotive company sold a clutch of "streamlined" 4-6-0 locos to Iraq.

Readers may wonder where they got their ideas from. Yet again the "streamlining" made no difference to the performance of Robert's exports.

Interior Irritation - Idiot!

Readers may remember that the old man was faced with finding an easy solution to adding bodged corridor doors to the bodged interior for his ancient Triang coach.

Whist perusing his junk, carefully filed in multiple boxes under the baseboard of the layout, he spotted these.

They are (they were) two sides from a greenhouse model that fbb had never made up. Surely, with a bit of a snip here and there, some doors could be created?

Amazingly, painted dark oak (!) they would look like sliding doors - bearing in mind that the interiors cannot be clearly seen as the trains trundle along! You just get a passing impression.

And here they are posed against the new-build compartments now with rather garish moquette on the bodged seats. And, guess what?

The old man has glued the doors on upside down! So Peterville's perturbed passengers will perforce have to leap with agility to get into their seats from the corridor side.

A touch of senior insanity strikes!

And before you ask ...

... the door frames will ping off leaving just a bit of touching up of the light oak. fbb was prudent enough to attach lightly, just in case.

We've Got The Key(s)

Well only one key ...

... and it is a very special key. Almost as special as those obtained by Siddy Holloway for her investigations as part of "Secrets of the London Underground". But not quite as special as hers, surely.

The key-on-a-spike is the ceremonial key handed over by the Mayor upon formally opening the Queens Road tram depot in Manchester. 

The building has passed through many phases and is currently in the care of GoAhead as a bus depot.

The key was presumed lost until it turned up at an auction where the anonymous owner accepted a bid (sum not disclosed) by GoAhead.

A key from history is now reunited with its non-existent lock!

They key is real gold ...

.. and probably worth more than GoAhead's current Manchester fleet\!

Another Farewell

Guess the County where the company operates! Trading since the 1970s this is another small local operator that has closed.

Well respected and recognised by their smart livery in traditional style with no swirly bits ... 

.

.. the numbers  did not add up.

Adieu good friend!

Tomorrow we have a tasty creamy summer blog as part of our charivari.

 Next Sunday Variety blog : 18th August