BACKGROUND AND FOREGROUND CHAPS

[Georgeconna]

A Gentleman sent me this link earlier today for a 10 mins docs on the 'core.

https://euscreen.eu/item.html?id=EUS_524B0F1DFF9D4311A5271797E7849D5E

The Hot box part certainly caught my attention....

Edited February 10, 2021 by Georgeconna

[murphaph]

Fantastic bit of film. Would love to see the rest!

[DJ Dangerous]

Fascinating, specially the bit about the snatcher.

They must have been made redundant a log time ago.

My 088 in as-delivered-wrong-orange has them, as does ST livery 126, and the black 141's, but nothing newer.

[Noel]

2 hours ago, Georgeconna said:

A Gentleman sent me this link earlier today for a 10 mins docs on the 'core.

https://euscreen.eu/item.html?id=EUS_524B0F1DFF9D4311A5271797E7849D5E

The Hot box part certainly caught my attention....

Yes, the hotbox was the thing that struck me when I got a tour back in 1984. The engineer told me they could almost identify the train and its speed from the read out. Fab bit of film footage. I was always thought at school that Ireland had no heavy industry nor industrial manufacturing capability, inchicore and before it broad stone says otherwise. Many a steam loco was built in Ireland with steel parts forged and fabricated right here (there), not to mention all the wagons and coaches built at inchicore. It was a little city in its own right.

[jhb171achill]

Fascinating documentary, though the plummy accent of the commentator is agony to listen to!

[DiveController]

On 10/2/2021 at 11:09 AM, DJ Dangerous said:

Fascinating, specially the bit about the snatcher.

They must have been made redundant a log time ago.

My 088 in as-delivered-wrong-orange has them, as does ST livery 126, and the black 141's, but nothing newer.

I think they were used until maybe the late 60s even though they could be seen on locos in super train livery until they were eventually removed at some point. Very few B Sulzers had them, I've only seen evidence of one on the site maybe B107 iirc.

It's important to remember that it was a staff EXCHANGE not just the pickup. If you look at the snatcher on the cab you'll see the token to be dropped from the last section hanging from the back of the snatcher. The jaws of the platform exchanger are set lower than the jaws on the locomotive and snatches the token from the cab side while the cab side jaws simultaneously pick up the staff for the section to be entered. You'd not want to be anywhere near the exchanger due to risk of dismemberment at best. The platform exchanger has two set of jaws one for each direction/wrong line running.

c 1988, snatchers present but long out of use

 

Edited October 23, 2021 by DiveController

[DiveController]

It just occurred to me that I really don't know when snatchers were first used in Ireland. The staff system existed since the late 1800s and was used during steam. Picture from the IRRS collection of GNRI SG3 97 (I think) snatcher on the cab side 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/50167505982/in/photolist-2jr8zHG-2bHZUEu-29zv1e4-2hHY4Z5-2kXstTH-27CUU4h-FfovJ6-2iFzjdW-2hHeuwt-2iNRtdp-2m81n3q-FYGZMR-2gyeqeA-2kKViwE-q7crmL-U7ti8Y-2i1kKS7-RZyHNK-217atAA-2cma6Fw-UsGC4U-xwkehk-y28NJM-SE9dpk-2j7423n-2iP8pzr-6Jbr5S-YhTqz-ccE8nN-rQKZ9-bVhSWg-2atSDwf-85Mt1b-6hzvef-5f99RX-7xdomG-9SoQPn-dgaJEh-9mw4Zm-NVCthi-aZmv52-zKzsn-gbGvBm-7psJj6-K8PxxS-awpnzG-cDxpVQ-a9vCDh-fUJrvW-7AUWKS

 

[Galteemore]

That’s an NCC Mogul. The NCC were the high priests of tablet exchange at speed, 60 mph was regular practice, as the main line north of Ballymena was single track. In mainland UK the practice began in the late 1880s I think  http://lmssociety.org.uk/topics/singleLineWorking2.php

Edited October 23, 2021 by Galteemore

[airfixfan]

Cannot see the photo. Does the link work?

[DiveController]

 

6 minutes ago, airfixfan said:

Cannot see the photo. Does the link work?

Its on the IRRS Flickr site (for members, so should work for members)

It looks very similar in design to the CIE version, maybe smaller jaws

1 hour ago, Galteemore said:

That’s an NCC Mogul. The NCC were the high priests of tablet exchange at speed, 60 mph was regular practice, as the main line north of Ballymena was single track. 

I guess that the NCC was part of MIdland/LMS so would have been early to adopt the practice, any idea when? Wonder if there are any photos of the NCC snatchers anywhere?

Edited October 23, 2021 by DiveController

[Wexford70]

4 minutes ago, airfixfan said:

Cannot see the photo. Does the link work?

works for me.

 

[DiveController]

Here Dunluce Castle from Jonathan Allen, link should work for everyone

https://www.flickr.com/photos/152343870@N07/50801169151/in/photolist-2k5zbz3-2kp8gGK-oWVYqA-2k5tcLp-2j1r8TD-2iHoRmx-2cfkBj5-2bMS4QA/

 

Edited October 24, 2021 by DiveController

[airfixfan]

Despite being an IRRS member cannot see that photo so must check my Flickr account

[Irishswissernie]

Jim , you need to send a flickr request quoting your membership number to the IRRS to become a follower and they will then add you to the members who can access their flickr site.

Edited October 24, 2021 by Irishswissernie