Large Scale Central

Keeping busy

Other Hobbies
#1

I have nevver posted in this forum before but have always read it with interest so I thought it about time I joined in.

Over the past six months work has dried up so plenty of time on my hands. A good family friend passed and I have repaired his Stelling banjo ready for his widow to sell, it’s a real stunner and one of the first made.

Currently though the same old friend’s BMW has arrived in my garage for me to rebuild again getting it ready to sell. This one is a R100s motorcycle which he owned from new, made in 1977 with only 17k miles on the clock, 90% original and in almost new condition. It has been off the road for the past six years and today I fired it up for the first time and it started on the second press of the starter. Trouble is that I will have to road test it and after that it will be a wrench to see it go.

Apart from the above train stuff is becoming more interesting with the better weather and I have a few guitars to keep me busy and my fingers nimble.

Regards

David

#2

Thanks for jumping in David. Motorcycles and string instruments are interesting and fun, but tells us about your trains. Do you have a layout? Dreaming about a layout? Or somewhere in between?

I just notice you have a post count of 79. Not exactly never posted before. Do you mean you have never started a thread? If so, congratulations!!!

#3

David, I like the locomotive in your photo. What is it, a European streamline steamer? And where is it located?

Cliff

#4

Cliff Jennings said:

David, I like the locomotive in your photo. What is it, a European streamline steamer? And where is it located?

Cliff

If I am not mistaken that is a Mallard

Deep in my bucket is 2-6-0 narrow gauge rendition that I will call the “merganser”. The first narrow gauge bullet train.

#5

Oh, it’s not merely a Mallard, it is The Mallard!

https://www.lner.info/locos/A/a4.php

Holder of the officially recognized world speed record for steam railway traction.

(I think PRR could have beat it with an E6 Atlantic if they’d had a mind to)

#6

Cliffy…where in hell’s name have you been in your few years of happy existence…?..!!!(https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif)

THE Mallard is rather well known, all over the civilized world. There are two of the same class locomotives preserved here in North America.

One in Canada, and one in Trumpistan. Both were lent, and shipped over the pond several years ago, for a great celebration of their history. The one in Trumpistan is known, and named “Dwight D. Eisenhower” (SP ?), and the one in Montreal, is “The Dominion of Canada”. I’m not in any way an expert on the subject, but besides Mallard, there is the “Sir Winston Churchill” and some other one(S), over in England. I think they are also known as the A 4 class, Pacifics. I also seem to recall that Mallard holds a speed record…

Fred Mills

#7

Right on Fred. Wikipedia has a register under A4 Pacifics. Interesting…a few on there I never heard of myself!

#8

there is the “Sir Winston Churchill”

Er, not quite. “Sir Nigel Gresley” is currently undergoing full restoration (again) in the workshop at the National Railway Museum (NRM), where you can watch from the public viewing gallery. Yes, they are all A4 Pacifics.

“Number 9” as Sir Nigel Gresley is known, is accompanied by “Bittern”, “Mallard” and “Union of South Africa”. “Dominion of Canada” and “Dwight D. Eisenhower” were borrowed for the Mallard 75 celebration. The NRM undertook a refurb of those 2 as part of the deal.

https://www.railwaymuseum.org.uk/what-was-on/mallard-75

My understanding is that they were shipped by Roll-on/Roll-off (RoRo) ships on trailers.

Finally, I heard that someone in the UK offered £1,000,000.00 to the Green Bay RR Museum for “Dwight D. Eisenhower”, which was refused.

#9

See I learned something here also I thought Mallard was a class or a manufacturer not the name of a specific locomotive. They are very recognizable

#10

A correction to Pete Thornton’s post. No,9 is in fact the Union of South Africa, (60009) Sir Nigel Gresley is 60007. I went to the UK’s National Railway Museum to see the six locos that were at The Great Gathering in 2013 with particular desire to see the two from North America, which I did.

https://www.lner.info/locos/A/a4.php

#11

Thanks for the article link, Alan. Love the poster of 6 different O-scale models of them, under the heading “Liveries”. Saw this:

Accucraft UK, Ltd have announced an A4 for Gauge 1.

I didn’t see corroboration of that from the cited link, but it would be a beautiful model to behold. [edit: found one!]

David B., sorry for hi-jacking your thread, but it’s sure a cool loco you’ve chosen for your signature pic… So please feel free to re-rail all this, and tell us more about your model railroad activities and aspirations!

#12

Thanks for the interest guys, I took the pic of Mallard a few years ago in York a superb piece of engineering by Sir Nigel. When I was a lad, sounds like the start of a joke, I used to watch these wonderful locos at full speed on the east coast mainline. A few years later when my Dad had a pub in Oxfordshire one of his regulars was Julian Riddick who was instrumental in preserving Sir Nigel Gresley and he hosted Dad and myself on a run with the loco on the Settle and Carlisle route but sadly I had to stay in the coaches while Dad was taken through the corridor tender for a footplate ride, what an experience.

Jon, yes I have posted before but not in this section. Layout is in garden some on rockery and a bit on raised track bed. All is now battery radio controlled and live steam in 1.20.3 with a good deal of scratch built stock and switches.

Regards

David

#13

Great story, David. Whereabouts (I assume in the UK) do you live now?

(I was going to ask how Julian went about preserving Sir Nigel, and then I realized you were referring to the loco, (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif))

#14

Accucraft UK, Ltd have announced an A4 for Gauge 1.

I didn’t see corroboration of that from the cited link, but it would be a beautiful model to behold.

There’s also a WuHu/Bowande A4 model, with the proper 3-cylinder conjugated valve gear.

#15

Currently in Suffolk Cliff.

More on A4s. I was pleased to read that 60009 Union of South Africa has had it’s boiler certificate extended to 2020 which must be good news for all fans of these iconic engines.

Regards

David.

#16

Cliff Jennings said:

Great story, David. Whereabouts (I assume in the UK) do you live now?

(I was going to ask how Julian went about preserved Sir Nigel, and then I realized you were referring to the loco, (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif))

Cliff,

you are just off your game. Mummification man. Its all the rage.

#17

Devon Sinsley said:

Cliff Jennings said:

Great story, David. Whereabouts (I assume in the UK) do you live now?

(I was going to ask how Julian went about preserved Sir Nigel, and then I realized you were referring to the loco, (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif))

Cliff,

you are just off your game. Mummification man. Its all the rage.

HAHAaaaa!

But… maybe that’s why my kids are giving me weird looks these days? Hmmm…

#18

ha ha

#19

Devon, may I remind you that one of the first steps of mummification is the removing of the subject’s brain through his/her nose. In your case, it would be simple matter of letting the pressure build up, and then blowing your pop valve and…(https://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-surprised.gif)

So you may want to be careful about suggesting mummification.(https://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)

#20

there was a tv show about moving one of those locomotives from the US ( Wisconsin I think) back to the UK to be united with its mates. Very interesting on how they moved it sideways out of its spot in the museum loaded it on a railcarto a ship and moved to restoration place and views of finished and very sharp looking blue Locomotive ( for a thing that chuffs and goes whoo whoo!