Sunday Variety

 Race For The Smallest

Now fbb in his elderly naivety, always thought that a "shunting tractor" was a tractor used for shunting, as above or in model form below.

It is true that such vehicles were often used at industrial premises where the occasional movement of wagons did not justify a "proper" rail mounted locomotive.

But in full sized railway parlance, a "shunting tractor" can be a small rail mounted diesel,  performing the same function as the road-wheeled item already illustrated.

But, until recently, fbb had never come across one like this.

It is, fbb assures his readers, a powered locomotive and, on some Eurpoean railway systems in this case Germany, it was used to shunt single wagons. Or perhaps a few empty wagons.

And the equally weirdo enthusiast news is that it is available from Italian firm Rivarossi (a Hornby company) as a working HO model. 

As you would expect, it is very small.

fbb really means VERY small indeed.

It is ludicrously small ...

... and it comes with directional headlights - which are also small.

Were fbb thinking of buying one to lose in the piles of junk under his layout or perhaps to be crushed under foot ...

... Frome Model Centre has on in stock. How much?

How much?

It wuld take a finiancial Miracle for fbb to have enough dosh to justify even thinking about buying one!

And, Talking Of Miracles

The fbbs'monthly fellowship meetings come round again, surely moreoften than once a month - it does seem like itat times.

In Setember we are looking at the Miracles in Mark's Gospel chapters 4 and 5.

A lot of rubbish is talked about the Miracles as recorded in the Bible. IF there is a God, an entity outside of human space and time and not restricted by human science and technology (that's what it says on the God-tin) then of course Miracles are both possible and real.

Trying to explain them is a pointless, almost a fatuous task!

The first part of the fbbs' leaflet is far less contentious; a series of examples (?) of what would have been "Miracles" only a few decades ago.

Livery Delivery Prizes

Route One magazine has just completed its annual (?) awards for best liverry.

The big bus winner is Brighton and Hove ...

... for its Coaster livery applied to buses running etween Brighton and Eastbourne.

Edwards Coaches gets a prize for its terrifying Welsh Dragon.

You had better cover the eyes of young children, capable of tears of fear in response to this monster.

Best small bus is this ...

... from Star coaches.

Livery is such a personal matter with a whole range of opinions. fbb. for example, is not in love with any of these winners.

Any blog readers want to offer fbb their "best livery"? Email pictures to

fbb@xephos.com

All pictures will be acknowledged.

Fancy A Rolls Royce

Oxford Diecast (based in Swansea) offers a wide range of 1:43 models suitable for the growing range of "O" gauge model railways. A Recent offer is for six of their rollers.

And the price? Less than £10 a car. That might seem a lot in the mind of an old codger like fbb, but it is really good value.

The models are simpy superb!

And The Ice Cream?

What started as a mini information blog has grown somewhat and will be published in full omorrow. In the meantime a bit of fbb nostalgia. In his youth, a teenage fbb would wait excitedly for the tinkling loudspeaker sound from Gallone's weekly visit to the vilage of \little Billing.

The ice cream was very different from Walls or Lyons as it tasted fresh and wholesome, not sweet and plastic. A "99" (cone with flake) was a real treat.

But families like Gallone, Colpi, Nardini, Jaconelli, Capaldi (etc.) have their heriage locations throughout the Uk but especially in Scotland.

Tomorrow the name is ...

... Rossi!

P..S. Inferior Interior?

Not only has fbb unglued his misplaced sliding doors and repainted the light oak panelling, but he has bought some packs of very thin plastic strip. Expect further enhancements to the new corridor "wall"!

A more "normal" bus blog will follow tomorrow; with an ice cream topping??

 Next Ice Cream Bus blog : Monday 19th Aug. 

Sunday Variety

A Selection Of Snippets

Pier Road P. S.

A view showing how close the Royal Pier Hotel was to Ryde's promenade pier entrance. And the same view today,

You can just spot the fuzzy half-timbered King Lud centre right.

Cartographic Skills - NOT

This collection of tangled knitting is on a  London Overground train. The idea of a route diagram is to make a network easy to understand. 

Definitely a failure here.

Long-gone Logos Languishing ...

At Leatherhead.

The Bearded Bus Beautifier from the Bush opines thus.

That’s just “can’t be arsed to take it off,” I strongly suspect, or maybe, “no-one told me to take it off,” or perhaps “there’s no-one to tell me to take it off.” Any other explanations?

Not sure that the vulgarity adds anything to the situation, Ray.

At Watford Junction

In this case "London Midland" has been replaced by a bit of high viz sticky tape, sign top right.

No doubt it would cost millions, involve huge amounts of negotiation and take a couple of years to put London North Western up there.

Now, if it were all called, say, British Railways, you wouldn't get these problems.

 

Arriva North East

This spotted VERY recently by Roger French whilst on a visit to the far north.

Or maybe Arriva is getting ready for Christmas 2023.

Is It A Bear - Or An Alien?

It is the mascot of East Midland Railway -hence the purple He/she/it appears on the web site ...

... and of you look carefully, the "creature" ...

... pops up in front of the EMR logo.

Is it "just a bit of fun" or does it denigrate the professionalism ot the company and its services.

It does pottery as well!

Depending on how big it is, fbb would not like to meet the purple "thing" up a dark alley!"

Hornby TT120 Review

The March edition of Railway Modeller has a review of one of the first train sets to be released by Hornby for this new scale. Watchers of the model railway trade are divided about this new range using the same metrics as continental and American TT.

Those uneasy with Hornby's announcement of a complete range of models wonder if the company has taken too big a commercial risk. 

In addition there are those who also wonder about the wisdom of only selling on-line. The idea that you would be willing to shell out several hundred pounds without actually seeing a sample is, indeed, a worry.

Others applaud Hornby for taking the risk and see a great future for this true "table top" model railway.

The set reviewed is for an A3 loco ...

... which look superb and comes with three Pullman coaches. These have exquisite detail.

The review includes a size comparison with OO.

This head on shot shows how much better a loco looks with the correct gauge of track. OO scale uses 16.5 mm gauge which is approximately 2mm too narrow for a scale of 4mm to the foot. The new TT120 is nearly spot on.

When will the first TT120 layout appear in "Modeller" as "Railway of the Month"?

For comparison here is a Triang TT Britannia ...

...and a Triang TT Pullman coach.

Production ceased on the late 1960s. Things have now improved somewhat - and increased in price relative to inflation.

And THAT Point

You can see why the electric solenoid didn't work properly. fbb's track lies on sheets of patio grass which is squidgy. It was bought for the outside layout because it is waterproof. But try to pin track through it into the plywood baseboard and you get problems.

The only possible solution was to glue the point and its motor onto a solid slice of plastic. The motor does not clip to the point (why not?) so it needed fixing down in some way.

Under the tins of fruit is the point and motor being stuck to a sheet of plastic with two part epoxy glue.

Did it work?

Ah, well; it is not quite as simple as that.

More in due course.

Gorgeous

First Bus Exmoor Coaster in full flight.

Let Us Now Praise Famous Men

On he right, an elderly and frail Rev Wilbert Awdry, creator of Thomas the Tank Engine. The Rev died in 1997. On the table are some of the models used in the first of several TV series of the Thomas stories. With the Rev is a little known drummer from Liverpool who narrated the early programmes.

About Time, Too

Real passengers?

No, of course not!

 Next IoW Bus Station blog : Monday 6th February 

The Road To The Piers, Well, Disappears!

A Familiar View

One of the more memorable views in Ryde is down the steep Union Street with a view of the sea straight ahead. At the bottom you can turn left into St Thomas' Street ...

... with the western Gardens (The Western Trees (?) on the right. Or you could go round the non-roundabout ...

... past a few more bits of garden, another tree, the toilets and cafe block that completes Western Gardens. Then comes the entrance to Ryde Pier for cars and (for the time being) pedestrians.

Then comes the now excised bus station, its successor to be featured in a forthcoming blog.

Opposite the pier/bus station you will find a selection of caffs ...

... including the (fake!) half-timbered King Lud, then a closed caff blotted out by Google (why?) and, far right, the bottom of Union Street. Swinging a little left come more eateries, the famous Arcadia ...

... and (far left) he bottom of George Street. Here is the same area on Google Earth.

For the record, Union Street is one way own (aerial view left) and George Street is one way up (lower tight opposite the bus station).

And here it is on a map.

George \street is the unnamed pink road running parallel to Union Street.

Peering For Pier Street

So all we have to do is to find Pier Street!

There are pictures of Pier Street, Ryde on-line, this one not too helpful.

It is decorated for Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee in 1887. 

Here is a more helpful view.

Alert readers will immediately spot the (fake!) half-timbered King Lud Hotel, and, yes it is the same one! But there are no Western "Gardens", a k a grass and trees, on the left.  In fact Western Gardens was behind those buildings, between them and the sea ...

... complete with a splendid bandstand.

And the disappearance of Pier Street was directly caused by a Public Transport Issue;

Of which more tomorrow.

Two Coronations In 2023

We look forward to King Charles III big "do" in May, but the Hornby Models programme on Yesterday on Monday last also revealed the other Coronation due this year.

One coach ...

... will set you back £67 and is thus unlikely to appear on fbb's layout! Two "beaver-tail" coaches were built to add to the prestigious "Coronation" train introduced by the L N E R (the original one) running between Kings Cross and Edinburgh.

The observation coaches were added to the train for the summer season and offered the last word in luxury seating ...

... but, perhaps, not the best view out if the beaver's rear end!

The two-blues livery adorned; with chromium plated lettering ...

... was spectacular. The blue was repeated internally.

The beaver tail had rotted away by the time preservation began ...

... and getting the curvature right was a real challenge.

It was the same challenge on the model but samples shown on the programme looked great. Much of the Yesterday item was about the technology of making the articulated coaches "ackle" through reverse curves of OO gauge pointwork.

It worked! So you will be able to buy a complete train; possibly with more applications for a second mortgage!

Perhaps the coach could pay a visit to Peterville "for a special open day"? Maybe not, as the expense of moving the layout from outside to inside is "significant".

 Next Pier Street blog : Friday 3rd February