A Coarse Guide to the Steam Locomotive for ‘N’ Gauge Modellers

[cmason]

The video features Eddie, a native of these parts, pronouncing 'Gateshead':-

Fascinating stuff.

With all good wishes.

John

Well John - sitting here, far away, that video made just me feel a bit sad. Albeit meself was born on the other side of The River, me Dad was born in The Felling and brought up in Blaydon and branches of our family go back a long way round Felling and Gateshead....

Gateshead was a thriving town - had its department store ( Shephards of Gateshead, one to rival Fenwicks in its day ) - that land now occupied by, rant, Tesco. And don't get me onto to that, double rant, Metro Centre....

My paternal Grandma shopped there at Shephards as did many of her cohort. It all reminds me of of what "the planners" did to Blaydon - another victim of 60's concrete - they wrecked an architecturally fine town that I remember as a child. Yes a lot of the terraced housing had to go, it was unfit,  but not the town centre. For Blaydon they built a precinct - which they ended up knocking down and replacing with another which is still no replacement. And now - blink and you would miss the place as you drive by. I could really start to "super rant" if I am not careful...

Anyway - at least there is good news in that that Gateshead viaduct is coming down... what goes around comes around.

And at least Blaydon still has a library where Garibaldi's head is preserved ... look it up... and i am in a good Blaydon & Winlaton FB group full of history of the town that was once the terminus of 18th century Lead Road amongst its many other things of historical significance,

With all good wishes,

Colin.

BTW - and indeed "hud" - but there are those parts in the North East, or were because of the continuous levelling,  who would say "heed" ... an then there would be Pitmatic pronunciation or two as well...

[Bealman]

Ah, Shephards of Gateshead. Used to love going there, cos they had a sliding door which opened and closed by itself.

Also used often to make a trip to Felling baths as a teenager. That was brand new state of the art back then!

[Train Waiting]

An Old Boiler

Occasional Special No. 3. Part A


Hello Chums

When I wrote the postingtons about boilers for the remarkably brief mini-series, I was aware that I was describing parts of a boiler without being able to provide an accompanying picturingham. A recent visit to the Lakeside & Haverthwaite Railway provided an opportunity to take some coarse photographs of a boiler from, I understand, a Hunslet 'Austerity' 0-6-0ST, which might be of interest.

Before we continue, my greetings and thanks to the wonderful people at Haverthwaite who seem to be intensely relaxed at a coarse modeller peering at the innards of their precious locomotives.





The picturingham shows the outer firebox and the part of the boiler which protrudes into the cab. Called a backplate, faceplate or backhead, according to whom one is speaking.

The firehole is obvious. As are the mounting pads for various fittings such as the gauge glasses. The profusion of dome-shaped thingamajigs are the stay heads.

At the side of the outer firebox you can see one of the flanges which hold the rear of the boiler in place on the frames whilst allowing it to slide back and forward, due to expansion and contraction as it heats up and cools down.

The front of the boiler is fixed firmly to the frames, which permits the fitting of the steam pipes to the inside cylinders and their exhaust to the blastpipe without worrying about movement.

Finally, even through the mirk of my coarse photography, the welded insert repair to the outer firebox can be seen. A corroded or cracked piece has been cut out and a new steel section welded in. Careful work and diligent testing is required for boiler repairs as we are looking at a pressure vessel - in other words, a potential bomb.

To be continued...


'N' Gauge is Such Fun!

Many thanks for looking and all best wishes.

Cheerie-bye

John

[martyn]

Just thought of another Gresley update of Belpaire loco built new-the B12/2s.

Retained virtually the same GER design, complete with Belpaire boiler, but Gresley update was Lenz valve gear. Not built until well after Grouping, 1928.

Martyn