great pics cofty , but where did all the water go.?
Flying Scotsman Visits My Town
by cofty 30 Replies latest social current
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stan livedeath
I like Scotsman with the German style "blinkers" -
Anders Andersen
@Stan,
Thanks a lot for mentioning that.
Now I felt compelled to look up what "blinkers" are on steam engine, and what the difference is between German style and others, and invenstigated the biography of Richard Paul Wagner who designed the blinkers you like.
What a waste of time, I could have researched other useless factoids instead!
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punkofnice
Brilliant! It's been many years, but I've seen this iconic train a couple of times. -
cofty
where did all the water go - smiddy
The Royal Border bridge has 28 arches, the first 14 are over the land on the south bank. Also the river Tweed is tidal at this point and it was low tide.
My wife and I had our wedding pics taken with the Tweed in the background. Nobody noticed it was low tide and there was a shopping trolley sticking out the mud. No photoshop back then!
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Diogenesister
Beautiful...I also saw it once though I don't remember, just a wee baby . I have a minuture version though! Its the Hornby version. -
GrreatTeacher
My son, who is 15 and has an encyclopedic knowledge of railroading, made an interesting observation about the old black and white photo.
He was able to tighten up the date a little bit. He noticed there are 2 tenders. The second is a water tender. This was added after Alan Pegler purchased it in 1963, the reason being that when steam service was discontinued, all the water columns were taken out and the Flying Scotsman needed to provide her own water.
So, he disputes the claim that this photo is of regular service. It would have been post private purchase by Alan Pegler which occurred in 1963, but before the voyage to the States in 1969.
This kid had a 4 hour, multi-disc documentary on the Flying Scotsman that he used to watch obsessively when he was about 11 years old. We've given him his own room in the house just for setting up a giant model railroad and he stores his massive collection of model trains and railroad memorabilia in there. He has an equally massive collection of railroad knowledge in his head. He truly is a railfan-atic.
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Simon
They used to have a club for rail enthusiasts called "the Rail Riders" - he sounds like a prime candidate if he isn't already a member!
Steam trains do have a definite allure - nostalgia for a simpler time maybe when travel was more of an adventure?
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cofty
Hi GT please tell your son thank you for that information. -
GrreatTeacher
Couldn't find any info online about the Railriders, other than a minor league baseball team in Pennsylvania of the same name.
We take this kid anywhere within a 5 hour drive that has an old steam railroad running. He even volunteers at a (somewhat) local scenic railroad that runs steam. He even gets to ride in the engine sometimes. He usually shadows the brakeman and fireman and sometimes helps with maintenance of way issues. He's passed the adult test of Federal Railroad Administration regulations and the other volunteers (it's all volunteer) are mentoring him. The are telling him that with 5 or 6 years of railroad experience with them and going to Community college, he might be able to get a real job with a real railroad like CSX when he turns 21.
It's truly awesome that my kid with ADHD is able to focus and thrive in this arena. We do what we can to give him these experiences and nurture his passion. It helps that he's an only child so all our spare money and energy can go entirely to him. :)