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Railway General Knowledge.

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Calthrop

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Gracias, hombre.

Semi-affectionate wartime nostalgia (from decidedly way back) department: what was the standard, standard-ly and widely indicated, equivalent to "forty men"; and in what context?
 
DerekC

DerekC

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I haven't a clue of the railway significance, but I do recall Terry Pratchett's line that "it takes forty men with their feet on the ground to keep one man with his head in the air".
 
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Calthrop

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I'm a non-fan of Pratchett, I'm afraid; but the thing I'm thinking of here is not at all philosophical -- in fact, practical in the extreme.
 
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Calthrop

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Hint -- likely, I fear, to be none too helpful; but who knows? Subject of the question, essentially involves "the written word" (very brief and punchy). The genuine original, was a feature of World War I; very much later, the Ffestiniog Railway (preservation regime) "parodied" it for a while, on one of their vehicles. In both situations, "that which was written", was in a language other than English.
 
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Calthrop

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Seems that we're not going anywhere with this question (thank you, @DerekC, for your -- can I say, "forlorn hope") -- one reckons, a thing which is unlikely to be on anyone's radar nowadays, unless they're something of a First World War buff. (In my youth some fifty years ago -- fifty years closer to that conflict -- such stuff was reckonably a good deal more in the public consciousness.) Anyway -- "forty men" etc. -- at the time of World War I, the French railways' standard vehicle for transporting military forces toward / away from the battlefront: was an essentially "cattle-truck" unit, bearing the prominently-stencilled legend "Hommes 40 / Chevaux 8": indicating, to carry forty men or eight horses -- not both at the same time ! -- though there were occasions when things became frantic, and anyone-and-anything got crammed in.

This was more primitive travel accommodation, than the British Tommies had been used to back home -- but as with many things on that scene: they chose to laugh about it, in preference to being driven insane. The "Hommes 40 / Chevaux 8" "meme" was a byword in Britain for many years after the war, among those who had been "over there".

Let's put this one to bed, and say "open floor" ...
 
DerekC

DerekC

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Gloster said:
North British Railway locos, Scott class?
Click to expand...
Well, that didn't last long! LNER Class D30/2 4-4-0s in my book. Along with their mates Cuddie Headrigg, Dumbledykes, Black Duncan and (of course) Wandering Willie. I guess Quentin Durward was the giveaway as it's actually the title of one of the novels.

Never saw any of them as I didn't get north of the border in my spotting days. They often double headed the "Jellicoe Specials" from Carlisle to Perth according to the LNER website. Presumably in WWI and presumably via the Waverley Route, which was news to me. I always assumed these trains went via the West Coast all the way.

Anyhow, your clear road ahead.
 
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