h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hi Bluebottle

I'm your Sub-editor for the Evolution of the Railway Carriage. The new version is here A87823371 - please subscribe!

I'm just going through and tweaking minor things, but one thing that is confusing me a bit is the relationship to stagecoaches.

As I read it, in the Wagon Trains and the Coming of the Coaches section, the earliest carriages were 'designed to look like stagecoaches', and they had standard gauge width.

As I read it, in the External Wheel Carriages section, *broad* gauge width was developed to make carriages the same as stagecoaches.

I think there are two different types of horse drawn carriage being considered here, is that right?

I also tweaked the ending, to try to get it to finish on a better note than tobacco, but I'm still not 100% happy with it... I might try the sentence about First and Standard class at the end, but if you have any other thoughts, that would be good.

Otherwise, this Entry is as enjoyable as it was in Peer Review - good stuff!

Hello – glad you still like this entry even when it's been given to you to sub – one day I'll write shorter entries, but as I enjoy researching them and writing them, I often allow myself to get carried away!

So, first off I'll try to answer your question about the 'look like stagecoaches' – well 'Looking like' often creates widely different things. If you ask 100 artists to each create a work of art that looks like a human body, chances are you'll get 100 different works of art that don't look anything like each other.

Both Standard and Broad Gauge carriages were initially designed to resemble stagecoaches, even though the results ended up different. Standard gauge took the width, doors, windows etc from stagecoaches, and modified the design to place the wheels underneath. Broad gauge initially had similarly stagecoach-inspired carriages, only they made their carriages wider but, like a stagecoach, placed the wheels on the outside of the carriage. So though the end results were quite different, their starting point was the same. I hope that this makes sense?

(This wouldn't be the last time that railway carriages would be designed to look like something else. Southern Railway later decided to introduce restaurant carriages that looked like Tudor pubs!)

As for the ending, to be honest I was expecting everyone to say that the whole 'Symbolism' section was too silly and should be deleted (but to my surprise no-one did). I still can't think of something for the plastic overhead shelves that rung along the edge of the carriages to symbolise, and what changed since they had netting over the individual seats instead.

<BB<

Hi BB

I like the length of this Entry - it is comprehensive, and the reader is richly rewarded, too

I've tweaked the ending, so it looks better to me. I also added in a few links - I hope that's OK, but do say if there is anything you would like me to remove. I think the Symbolism section is brilliant - a really good way of summarising the Entry and putting everything in context with a goodly dose of humour

With regards to the stagecoach thing, I think I have a wrong picture in my head - the tumblehomes description gave me the impression that the horse drawn carriage body was on top of the wheels, rather than between them as in a stagecoach...

A Tudor pub restaurant car sounds fascinating

The tumblehomes did make even Stagecoaches look shaped a little like this:

Side:
_/=\_
\___/ <-Tumblehome
OO

Front:
_/=\_
\___/
||||

Only more realistic. The point being that by the time they got to railway carriages, they weren't actually needed, but because that is how carriages were built, they were included. You're right that they weren't used on all stagecoaches or carriages, but generally were part of the design.

<BB<

What genius pictures - love it!

Ah, I see how the curvature goes now

I've tweaked the external wheel section. How wide were carriages with standard wheels?

I'm surprised that, after all those model railway entries, you're not well and truly fed up of anything train related.

Carriages were normally around the 8-9 feet wide range, depending on railway.

<BB<

I like the way you do themed Entries, so we had a cyclefest last year, and now we're on the train I'm enjoying your Disneyfest too

Cycling is a vicarious activity for me, but I do travel by train quite a lot, so the history is interesting to me I've been on a variety of types, too, including a corridor carriage and a compartment carriage, although mostly my trips are in open carriages and I enjoy the greatly improved wheelchair access. The steam train in Exbury was fun, too, although it was very cold when my girlfriend and I visited the gardens, so huddling up in a blanket was the order of the day

Just the sound of the airbrakes squealing reminds me of fascinating journeys

I'm impressed by your ASCII art, as well
_____
/\
\_____/=======

I'm having pancakes tonight - I shall have a savoury one... or two (baked beans and/or cheese) followed by a lemon and sugar sweet one... or two

When I write an article about one topic, while I have got all the books out of the library etc on that subject, it generally seems to make sense to me to see if there are any related topics I'm interested in there and then. Doesn't always happen quite like that, as I get easily distracted.

I might do another cycling one this year - I'm hoping to do the London to Brighton bike ride - but somehow I get the feeling that if I did write about cycling, any article on the subject might hang around in Peer Review for a little while...

Did you see I'd written a little about Exbury here: A87773890 ?

My old PC was DOS-based, so I spent lots of time creating ASCII-art. Well, doodles rather than art. If you're ever in Durham, I've been to a good pancake house there that does both dinners and deserts for pancakes.

<BB<

My ideas for Entries flit around quite a bit, although I did have a plantfest a while ago Biographies are something I'm interested in at the moment, but of very different people

Shame about the Cycling Entries - there are quite a few cyclists around, but not amongst the Scouts, it seems... I won't let the Solent Coasts get forgotten, though

I've never been to Durham, but there was a Pancake Kitchen near me that did an amazing variety of pancake dishes Sadly it closed a few years ago

I hadn't seen your Exbury write up before - very good We didn't get offered a trip on the monorail when we went to Beaulieu, probably because of the steps to get up to it, but luckily it was a busy enough day without it, exploring the James Bond exhibition and Top Gear, etc

That reminds me - I'm probably more of a car fan than a train fan, much as I like trains, so I'll see how your Thrust2 Entry is getting on

So did you have your one or two pancakes yesterday? I had three in the end.

I find biographies to be very difficult to write, as if they're famous chances are they'll have a million and one rumours about them. Do you ignore them? Mention them? I don't want to portray someone as a flawless saint, but I don't want to be gossip mongering, so finding a balance is a challenge. I also find them the most difficult articles by other people to comment about, especially if I don't know much about the person concerned. I don't think I'd want to write an article about anyone I didn't have some sympathy for. But I'll look forward to reading your Alan Hollinghurst article when its finished.

Thanks for your continued valiant effort in keeping the Solent Coasts entry at the top of the entry list, it's much appreciated.

I've always preferred trains and bikes to cars, but I do enjoy looking around Beaulieu as it has such a variety of exhibits, although the Bond exhibition has now moved on to London. I've not been to the Coventry exhibition where Thrust2 is, though. As I don't drive, I'd have to persuade my wife to take me there and it isn't something she'd be interested in. If it was nearby I might have been able to get away with it, but alas not.

<BB<

I had three pancakes too! Two savoury and one lemon and sugar

Yes, my John Deacon Entry was quite challenging, as I'm a big fan of his, but I did feel I had to mention the Daily Mail expose as well... Not that it showed him in a terribly bad light, but it was a bit of scandal... The Alan Hollinghurst bio promises to be a bit challenging, too, as I'm not sure I'll be able to write it without using certain words but I think it will make a good addition to the Guide

Yes, a bit tricky getting to exhibitions around the country - my gf went to the Top Gear bit under sufferance, although she did enjoy Beaulieu as a whole, but the Model Railway exhibition was definitely not her scene... There is a Model Railway exhibition near me next month, though

You mean that the Alan Hollingurst bio will have words other than 'x'? It currently makes him seem very mysterious.

I'm planning on going to a Model Railway Exhibition nowhere near me next month too - up in Yorkshire, where I'll be over Easter as my brother-in-law and his fiancee are expecting a baby there (well, in Leeds, not in the model railway exhibition). I plan to look around the exhibition, and see if there's time to visit the National Railway Exhibition.

<BB<

Yes, he is a bit mysterious at the moment, as I haven't done much research yet I'm trying to build up to typing the three letter word ending in x, I think

I didn't read your Linda McCartney bio yet - I shall have to have a look I'm not very familiar with her myself, though, so that's probably why I didn't look straight away, as you say... I will learn something new, though

I've finished reading through your Carriages Entry A87823371 - if you're happy with it too, I'll send it on its way to the Front Page

It's good! I've got 2 suggestions of changes I've just thought of:

Can we change 'Victoria was not fond of railways' to 'not amused by railways'

And can we change the sentence

' After the experimental narrow-gauge Volk's Electric Railway had opened in 1883, standard-gauge electric trains had their origins in the London Underground.'


To

After the experimental narrow-gauge Volk's Electric Railway had opened in 1883 and Ryde Tramway Pier had electrified in 1885, standard-gauge electric trains had their origins in the London Underground.'

Let me know what you think!


There's lots of rumours about Linda McCartney that crop up now and then in the tabloids, many of them say that she must have had x with everyone she photographed before meeting Paul – especially with people who are dead and can't say one way or another, such as Jimi Hendrix. Did she, didn't she – I don't really care and it's none of my business, but I thought I'd summarise all those rumours with the words, 'She even dated a few musicians' and leave the reader to make their own conclusions, based on the fact it was the swinging sixties at the time.

Mind you, after going through a Disney overdose, I could do with writing something full of gratuitous X and violence

<BB<

Great changes - I added those in.



Yeah - good point about rumours surfacing so many years later, out of the context of the time as well... The summary about musicians is a good way of indicating the rumours indeed, without judging one way or another

Disney is rather the opposite extreme to x and drugs and rock and roll but I like both (watching) Disney films and (reading) books not for children I am rather a master of the euphemism, though so some Disney films can be quite racy in places... (Monsters Inc included a particularly good example of an innuendo that I found quite shocking to see in a children's film, but none of my friends even noticed it Suffice to say, the yeti was definitely gay!)

I'm frequently told off by my wife for finding innuendoes in Disney films, especially song lyrics in films like 'Toy Story' and 'The Little Mermaid'...

I've not seen 'Monsters Inc' for a while, though, and must admit I didn't spot anything there first time round...

<BB<

It's a while since I saw Little Mermaid, so I wasn't interested in "such things" then but by the time of Monsters Inc in 2001 my "gaydar" was definitely tuned in...

If my Disney articles start getting a bit naughty you'll only have yourself to blame...

<BB<

I blame 2legs I'm innocent, me...