Let's Make A Train (1)

Oh? Output Of Oodles Of Owners!

Litchurch Lane is an unassuming turn off Osmaston Road, not too far from the centre of Derby.

It used to be a convenient "rat run" to get you across to London Road; the Lane is seen on the map below as the yellow wiggly bit!

Sadly for the rats, they can no longer run, as the London Road end has been blocked off and this bit of the Lane is now a footpath only.

The building of the new London Road bridge ...

... was the excuse to deprive knowledgeble commuters of this vital short cut.

But Litchurch Lane has a metaphorical bogie brake van packed full of history.

When, in 1840, the North Midland Railway, the Midland Counties Railway and the Birmingham and Derby Railway merged to form the Midland Railway, it was natural that Derby would become the company's headquarters. Not only that, it would be the site for its locomotive works and, later, for its carriage and wagon works.

This fbb edited map pulls it all together.

The Midland's two main lines (RED) split at Derby with one going to Birmingham and Bristol and the other to Leicester and London. To the north of the London tracks was developed the Loco works. It was huge.

It made loadsa locos.

Between London Road and Osmaston Road, the Wagon and Carriage Works was developed. It was equally huge.

There is very little left of the loco works today, being handed over to light industry and housing. But the carriage works remains and is still producing carriages!

Passenger coaches are no longer built on a massive steel underframe ...

... with a wooden frame for the body ...

... and wood for the cladding.

Later, the cladding and then the frame became steel; and the railway carriage that many of us know and loved evolved.

Progress To Privatisation?

The carriage works became part of The London Midland and Scottish Railway in 1923 when the national railways were grouped into five giant companies. The Midland had merged with the London and North Western company, but the Derby operation remained firmly in place. The business transferred to British Railways on nationalisation from 1st January 1948.

In 1970 an independent company as created to run the former BR engineering works. British Rail Engineering Limited had a variety of logos ...

... the latter name was used for the privatised version which was bought by Asea Brown Boveri in 1992.

In 1996 the works became part of Adtranz.

In 2001 Adtranz was taken over by Bombardier ...

... pronounced Bombard - ee - eh and not Bombard - eer as we might say in English military terminology. 

The game of musical carriage works was completed (for the time being??) when Bombardier was taken over by Alstom in 2021.

A reminder, for those who may have forgotten, that the "TOM" of Alstom derives from British Thomson-Houston, a large former UK electrical engineering company.

So a toddle down Litchurch Lane would bring you to a simple sign ...

... and the main entrance to Alstom Derby.

A wander further along the lane reveals another barriered entrance ...

... and, in the far distance, a couple of rail vehicles that the works has just completed.

And here is a video of the Aventra Class 720.

And it is to these trains that we shall turn in tomorrow's possibly abbreviated blog.

Yesterdays Fellowship meeting went well and the coconut and raspberry tarts were wolfed down with gusto.

But not that sort of "Gusto". It's a brand of "organic" cola!

Same again at 1500 today!

Pre Christmas Bargain From Aldi

Who could refuse such a generous offer?

 Next Train Making blog : Tuesday 3rd Sept 

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