Been having a bad day so to brighten things up...

[Rowan]

Sorry, but I don't get it.
Is that a cryptic joke?
 

[Emettman]

Ahhhhh, Trago Mills...where else can you go for a train ride, anti european union political propaganda and a bag of cement!!!!!!....dare I say it...beat that yanks!!!

Careful: there's a whole world of "Only in America..."

Bessie's almost small enough to be in the Gazellle class, but I only know of one picture of the latter in her early 2-2-2 days.
http://www.irsociety.co.uk/Archives/28/GAZELLE.jpg

On a page that leads on, and on...
http://www.irsociety.co.uk/Archives/28/Letters_28.htm


http://www.irsociety.co.uk/Archives/24/Star_Patent.htm
http://www.irsociety.co.uk/Archives/23/Picture_Parade_23.htm#RS%201959
See bottom, especially, on those two pages...

[G-man]

Rowan,

Sorry you didn't get the joke. Guess you had to be a Canuk to understand it. But in WWII, Canadians were considered boorish, uneducated, loutish, uncultured, ignorant,colonials by the British public at large. This attitude still exists today but not as prevalent as it used to be. The attitude was so bad that Canadian Naval officers would cultivate British accents and mannerisms to be more acceptable to their British counterparts in the British Navy, an attitude that still exists to this day amongst older officers. When something nasty was to be done (like Dieppe) they sent in the Canadians. By war's end, attitudes had changed but not that significantly. I belonged to the British Railway Modelers of North America for a time and the attitude that we were less than civilized still prevailed. I ignored and laughed at it. Despite that they were a great bunch. I deleted the joke as after some thought, I decided it wasn't appropriate for the site. Is that cryptic enough???

[Rowan]

Thanks G-Man,
Sounds a lot like the earlier attitude taken towards Aussies in those days.
Now that the post has been deleted I'm unable to go back to see if I can get it now it's been explained to me.......... but I think the moment has passed....

(I need to be careful what I say, as my wife and I are off to Canada next year, and we Aussies are not good at being politically correct.)

 

[Emettman]

Canadians were considered boorish, uneducated, loutish, uncultured, ignorant,colonials by the British public at large.

But a fair chunk of that can be put down to British priggishness and class-awareness.  The attitude to Australians was similar, at large.

When something nasty was to be done (like Dieppe) they sent in the Canadians.

I'm not quite sure that's fair*.  In WW1 and 2 Canadian fighting prowess was well-respected, by anyone in the know.
Vimy Ridge, Ypres, Somme...

"From little towns in a far land we came,
To save our honour and a world aflame.
By litttle towns in a far land we sleep
And trust that world we won for you to keep"     Kipling, A WW1 Canadian mememorial.


(*Though Dieppe was a bloody mess.   The operation had been agreed as feasible by the Canadian generals, on the one hand, and on the other only three men from the British tanks landed came home: all wounded and evacuated early on. )


I have an interest in history as well as odd trains, though naturally those overlap.

[Rowan]

Emettman,
Your comments are very much appreciated, and with the upmost respect, I think we should return to the 'odd trains' as you've mentioned in your last sentence.

 

[G-man]

Hi Rowan,

You and your wife will love Canada. Aussies and Canuks get along very well. Don't worry about being "politically correct" as most of us Canuks pay that no heed. We just like to try and be nice to everybody.

Where you headed for in the "cold north" as Canada is sometimes referred to? If I know where you are headed I can give you a heads up on interesting rail sites you could check out while you are in Canada.

[Rowan]

Hi  Canuk,

We arrive in Vancouver (after a few days in Japan), spend a few days, travel to Jasper, I think, and then after a day experiencing the delights thereof board a train that takes us across the country to a place called Toronto.... then onto Niagara (Canadian side) then a quick dash thru the US (NY, Baltimore, Washington DC, Chicago, Colorado Springs, San Fran, Santa Cruz, Tacoma {for the annual Garden Rwy Convention}, Seattle, Vancouver - again - then fly home via Japan.

Any tips on trains interests in Canada (and I know there are many, many, many) appreciated... the guys at the Toronto Roundhouse obviously love what they are doing... I can only hope they are conducting tours by the time we arrive.........

The problem is squeezing in all the things we think we might want to do ... have to rationalize..... reduce... re-arrange... re-schedule for another trip down the track etc.......

 

 

[crackingjob]

Gazelle...it had wooden wheels....quieter running and ended up with cab at the back for its owner to run up and down the line....anyone got wooden wheeled locos? come on Rowan don't let us down.

Crackingjob

[crackingjob]

i forgot to add this
http://www.bakfiets-en-meer.nl/tag/cargobike/

even cycling has its AWNUTS

Crackingjob

[Rowan]

Gazelle...it had wooden wheels....quieter running and ended up with cab at the back for its owner to run up and down the line....anyone got wooden wheeled locos? come on Rowan don't let us down.

Crackingjob

I wooden chance it, might leave splinters on the track....... 

[Emettman]

Yes, Crackingjob, Gazelle wasn't so pretty as an 0-4-2 and with the *two* added cabs.

One more Colonel Stevens curiosity.

Rowan, I assume you are *not* crossing Canada in midwinter, but Toronto has the biggest collection of Emett machines in the world.  The Ontario Science centre there gets them out every Christmas season.
I went for New Year nine years ago, enjoyed the second (proper) millennium festivities in Toronto at -10c and saw frozen Niagara as well.  Spectacular.

The Science Centre is good in its own right, but I believe the impressive model railway there when I visited has now been decommissioned, (unless anyone knows better?)

[dmaynard]

While wooden wheels didn't last too long in service, paper railroad wheels did.

Cast-iron railway wheels transmitted every imperfection on the track into the car above it. Early train rides were noisy adventures. Allen invented a quiet railway-car wheel. It had a steel rim and an iron hub. But its center was laminated paper.

People had made other kinds of composite wheels. They'd tried wood, but wood reacts to weather. Laminated paper was more stable. Wood can split along its grain. Paper doesn't.

Enter now George Pullman. Pullman's classy-luxury-railway-car business took off just after the Civil War. Allen's paper wheel was just the thing to bring quiet elegance to Pullman's dining and sleeping cars. Pullman became Allen's champion.

Paper railroad wheels lasted 25 years while railway cars grew larger and larger. Finally, wheels began breaking under the load. Not the paper ones, but other composite wheels. Heavy freight trains coming down out of the mountains put huge stress on their wheels when engineers applied the brakes.

Allen's wheels didn't fail. But after George Pullman died, the public's confidence in steel riding on paper did begin to fail. We went to steel wheels. We fitted them with fancier suspension systems and went on about our business.

from http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi758.htm







Paper railroad wheels just sounds a bit nutz to me  

[Rowan]

Yes, Crackingjob, Gazelle wasn't so pretty as an 0-4-2 and with the *two* added cabs.

One more Colonel Stevens curiosity.

Rowan, I assume you are *not* crossing Canada in midwinter, but Toronto has the biggest collection of Emett machines in the world.  The Ontario Science centre there gets them out every Christmas season.
I went for New Year nine years ago, enjoyed the second (proper) millennium festivities in Toronto at -10c and saw frozen Niagara as well.  Spectacular.

The Science Centre is good in its own right, but I believe the impressive model railway there when I visited has now been decommissioned, (unless anyone knows better?)

Thks Emmetman, We plan to be there in mid-June 2010 (one has to plan early) so no ice for us ........ Will certainly check out the Science Centre to see what they got on display closer to our arrival.
Cheers
 

[crackingjob]

PAPER WHEELS..you learn something new everyday

Gazelles first driving wheels were made of mahogony sections

Also early victorian coaches were made of papier neache composite layered sides, this was due to like my steam locos, early locos were weak and to keep the coaches on the tracks the chassis were iron, but paper bodies kept the weight down. Eventually safety over ruled and wood/steel became the norm.


Now paper and wood wheels there a challege for us all

Crackingjob