Broithe

Be fair! You would need a big pipe to get a coach in and the fumes would not be ideal.

Where I worked, we would often get requests for spares from the past. As is common, some very early products will last a long time, before people get pressures from accountants to cut costs, once some experience has been got. I once got a letter from some obscure place in the ex-colonies, asking for a spare terminal bushing* for a thing that I'd never heard of. Some searching found the details of the component. It was clear that there would not be 'one lying about somewhere' and, it would be hugely expensive to attempt to make one, plus the design required materials that would have been illegal many years before, so it would require a completely new design. I informed the potential customer of the ridiculous price that we would require, should we agree to have a go at making something that might work. They got quite shirty about us not having one on the shelf, even after I pointed out that they had bought it before my father was born. * This sort of thing.

I hadn't noticed the white circle! I must find out if that is intentional. The school has a quiz running tonight, that I have been roped into - I'll see if I can find out who is responsible...

Do you have an obtrusive oil tank? And a bit of spare paint..? Street View caught it in process... https://www.google.com/maps/@52.8515444,-7.672642,3a,15y,274.61h,89.4t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s7cuZr9Zfj1o3Ft6FGlo4BA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192 I await complaints about the livery...

An article about hybrid trains. https://dublininquirer.com/2023/03/01/to-cut-fuel-use-and-pollution-irish-rail-adds-new-transmissions-and-batteries-to-its-trains

I remember the excitement when I saw the "overhead live wires" warning sign, between Ballybrophy and Lisduff - then realised that it was just a trespassing rural electrification cable taking a short cut.

I understand that, as the cost of LPG rises, people are looking for alternatives to the current automated bird-scarers.

We await the RAIU report...

I became aware of this today. It may be of interest to some. https://niallbrn.wordpress.com/2023/02/28/tallow-road-railway-station-staff/

They are watching us - all the time - I keep a piece of tape over the webcam lens...

10:30am tomorrow. Stand by your beds.

Somewhere, I have a biography of Anthony Fokker. The author spent some time interviewing Rheinhold Platz, his chief designer, in the early 1960s. To aid the discussion, the author brought a lot of Fokker's notes about tests and preliminary ideas. Platz said that he had never seen most of this before that visit, Fokker would tell him as little as possible and leave him to 'just guess' what he was supposed to be doing... Sometimes it worked, but they made a lot of weird stuff that never got very far and was just forgotten.

I only meant real trains.

Odd passengers shouldn't be allowed on trains anyway.

I'm reminded of the time we wanted a foot of 30mm brass bar, but a spare bit and some to be tested seemed a good idea, so a metre was decided to be the amount. Due to our bizarre computer system, we need to order 1,000mm, rather than 1m. This was no problem, until the typist missed the second m. The bemused look from the lorry driver when I responded to "Where do you want it?" with "Just leave it under my desk." "I've got two lorry loads outside..."

I didn't expect that...

Do you have any buses in the right scale? To provide a basic replacement service during the remedial work...

They wouldn't fit in the guillotine the first time...

The Stradbally item above says that there's one at the Brockham Museum in Surrey. I can find a picture of the loco they have, but nothing of the adaptor.

https://stradballyrailway.webs.com/locomotives.htm says No 15 is in Stradbally. "William Spence 0-4-0 1ft 10 gauge Tank engine No 15. The Irish Steam Preservation Societies original Steam Locomotive. It was one of 18 built to serve in the extensive 1ft 10 gauge railway in the Guinness Brewery at St James' Gate, Dublin. She was the last of the 3 strong batch to be delivered in 1895, built by William Spence of the Cork Street Foundry and Engineering Works in Dublin. She despite her size was a very powerful engine, having 2,900 lbs of Tractive effort, just under that of a Bord Na Mona Ruston and Hornsby Diesel. The Unusual Design came about because of the Failures with the previous designs of Conventional locomotives that were in Service, usually related to dirt getting into parts on the motion. The New design, the work of Dublin born Samuel Geoeghan who served in the great Doncaster Locomotive Works in England cured these faults by mounting the cylinders on top of the boiler and this eased maintenance in the small confines of the the line. These engines also worked 5ft 3in tracks with use of an adaptor wagon, called "Haulage Wagons", on a line was built between St James' Gate and Kingsbridge Station(now Heuston). They were well able for the work, being able to move 13 broad gauge wagons unassisted. They were finally displaced by Diesels in the 1950s and we received No 15 in 1966, which was steamed and mounted on blocks, acted as a Sentinel on the gate of the Rally that year. Over the next two years No 15 ran a public Service along a 50 yard stretch of track with several small trucks which also came from the Guinness Factory, one of which was preserved along with the engine in the Museum. She was replaced when No 2 became available for purchase and because she wasn't suitable for the line's tough gradients and the track played havoc with the tramway style wheels. She has remained in the Museum since, all that would be required to restore her to working order is a retube, oil to free up the cylinders and regulator gland and re-lathe the wheels. It would be possible for this locomotive being restored to a steamable condition but it would have to run on a separate line or to build a 3ft adaptor wagon, similar to what the locomotive was originaly built for but for the Narrower 3ft Stradbally gauge. There is some controversy about her true identity. Most railways identified Locomotives by their frames, where as Guinness went by the boilers. No 15 currently carries the Boiler of No 22, now preserved in the Cavan and Leitrim railway which is missing both a boiler and cylinders. Other survivers include her "Batch Sister" No 13, currently in the Tywyn Wharf Station Museum in Wales. No 17 preserved at St James' Gate along with one of the Planet diesel Replacments. And No 23, along with an Adaptor Wagon in the Brockham Museum in Surrey. No 20 currently resides in The Ulster Folk and Transport Museum in Cultra, Belfast. No.15 can be viewed at Stradbally Steam Museum a short distance from the Railway Station at Stradbally. "

Have a look at the little humped spring blades at the end of the moveable rails away from the hinge. If one, or both, of them is still touching the 'disconnected' rail, then it will supply power.