{"id":2944,"date":"2023-07-08T01:29:37","date_gmt":"2023-07-08T01:29:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/redesign\/saturday-variety-5\/"},"modified":"2023-07-08T01:29:37","modified_gmt":"2023-07-08T01:29:37","slug":"saturday-variety-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/redesign\/saturday-variety-5\/","title":{"rendered":"Saturday Variety"},"content":{"rendered":"

Can You Pick ‘Em : Vehicles From Wickham<\/span><\/p>\n

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From 1922, Wickham has produced a range of bespoke “utility” vehicles for railway use. Inspection trolleys …\n
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… and general engineering “staff transport”.<\/p>\n

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Passenger vehicles were also commissioned, largely for “third world” operators.<\/p>\n

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But, generally, if it ran on rails …<\/p>\n

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… it could issue forth from the Ware factory.<\/p>\n

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For most of us “of a certain age” the name Wickham will be for ever associated with British Railways’ abortive “railbus” experiment. The “Wickhams” ended up in Scotland\u00a0 …<\/p>\n

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… where hey were almost as popular as Pacers! In the end, they did not save branch lines and soon the railbus (and the branch lines!) passed into history.<\/p><\/div>\n

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I guess Wickham’s would never have brushed lips with modern railway modellers until Bachmann introduced an OO model of a Wickham “trolley” in 2019.\n
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There is no room in the model trolley for a motor so it is hidden in the heap of gravel in the truck that the trolley tows. They are inseparable!<\/p><\/div>\n

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But Ellis Clark Trains has introduced one in “O”\u00a0 scale. Because it is bigger, the motor is in the tolley and the trailer can be detached.\n
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Now for a modest (?) \u00a345, you can buy a garage for your trolley.<\/p>\n

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In the real 12 inches to the foot world, hulking great railway workers would manhandle trolley and trainer into their respective hutches.<\/p><\/div>\n

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But for another \u00a345 you can buy people to drive and ride.\n
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One oir two heritage railways have Wickham trolleys and give rides in them …<\/p>\n

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… as above at the Somerset and Dorset Railway.<\/div>\n
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At least one railway appears to have used a trolley to pull a coach – presumably very very slowly!<\/p>\n

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fbb would quite fancy a trundle in the inspection saloon labelled EFG and illustrated earlier. Perhaps Notwork Rail would arrange a path on the line from Axminster to Waterloo and back?<\/p><\/div>\n

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Perhaps not!<\/div>\n
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An fbb Bludner!<\/span><\/div>\n
Having mentioned R A T P “sector” maps in yesterday’s blog, fbb forgot to include a screenshot thereof. So here is La Croix de Berny but without Tram T10.\n
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Although these maps are superb examples of the cartographer’s art, fbb does sometimes wonder whether they can be too complicated.\u00a0<\/p><\/div>\n

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Here is the Antony area …\n
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… which seems OK. But then look at the greater Velizy industrial development.<\/p>\n

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Add the above collection of tangled knitting to the fact that there are no meaningful timetables and bus and tram travel in Paris is a bit of a gamble.<\/div>\n
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And service 5, sometime branded Paladin …\n
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… also no longer exists. The Paladin network is no more and is replaced by a new network called Bus de la Bievre with routes numbered in the 400s.<\/p><\/div>\n

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So yet more of the wonderful R A T P maps that are not quite so wonderful.<\/div>\n
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If fbb is brave he may well investigate the two netwoks for a future blog!<\/div>\n
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Confused.com?<\/div>\n
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Tram T6 Puzzle Picture<\/span><\/div>\n
There are several things that are odd about the T6 tram picture.\n
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It is in a tunnel, but with posh platforms, stairs and escalators.<\/p><\/div>\n

It looks more like a bit of the Metro …<\/div>\n
… But …\n
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It would appear to run on only one rail.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Tram T6 (and T5) have a unique single wheel drive system. Essentially the tram is guided by the centre wheels, but the power is provided by conventional electrically driven road wheels.<\/div>\n
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Maybe?<\/div>\n
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Puzzle Picture<\/span>\n
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What will this become when ot is assembled?<\/p><\/div>\n

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This man designed it!\n
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Windows 2023<\/span><\/div>\n
You are safe! It is not yet another upgrade for your laptop.\u00a0<\/div>\n
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But like fbb, many modellers have trouble with their windows. Readers who have not yet fallen asleep with boredom, will remember that fbb has modified a bought in model of a thatched cottage.<\/div>\n
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Part of the modification is an extension build out of bits of kits. But look at the kit windows …\n
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They are far too thick.\u00a0 When first introduced, Airfix kits’ windows were far too thick (above on the left) so modellers inserted them backwards (above right and they looked better.<\/p>\n

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But they are still too thick to in comparison with those already installed in the Poachers cottage. Fortunately, fbb had some bits from a pack of “mixed” windows sold by Ratio (a Peco company) and several fitted reasonably well. Two needed bodging from a twelve pane window to a six pane and a four pane ditto.<\/p>\n

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And, lo and behold, clear as crystal, we have thin windows!<\/p>\n

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And here is the finished product on its base and in place on the layout. More work to be done, of course, but it looks good.<\/p>\n

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The Poachers cottage project has been a great therapy in a busy and elderly life!!<\/p><\/div>\n

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Praise God<\/span> that such things are still within fbb’s ability.<\/div>\n
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Open Top Closed<\/span>\n
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The local press has reported the non-operation of this tour branded City Sightseeing.<\/p>\n

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Not much more is said …\n
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… and the operating company is less than informative.\n
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Local company in trouble?<\/p><\/div>\n

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\u00a0Next Variety blog : Sunday 9th July\u00a0<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Can You Pick ‘Em : Vehicles From Wickham From 1922, Wickham has produced a range of bespoke “utility” vehicles for railway use. Inspection trolleys … … and general engineering “staff transport”. Passenger vehicles were also commissioned, largely for “third world” operators. But, generally, if it ran on rails … … it could issue forth from the Ware factory. For most…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":2563,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2944","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-camcab"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/redesign\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2944","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/redesign\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/redesign\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/redesign\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2944"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/redesign\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2944\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/redesign\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/redesign\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/redesign\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/redesign\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}