rowanj Posted November 17, 2022 Share Posted November 17, 2022 (edited) 7 hours ago, great northern said: More shots from a part of Spital Bridge we have not previously been able to access. Curlew is on the 1040 KX-Newcastle, and although these two are similar, the angle and crop is a bit different. I'll be interested to hear which you prefer. Now to prepare myself for the arrival of the gang. They may be a bit bedraggled, I fear. We would have been well chuffed to see Curlew at Newcastle, certainly before it went to Doncaster in 1959, Can I use this photo in my ABC? Edited November 17, 2022 by rowanj 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium great northern Posted November 17, 2022 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted November 17, 2022 44 minutes ago, rowanj said: We would have been well chuffed to see Curlew at Newcastle, certainly before it went to Doncaster in 1959, Can I use this photo in my ABC? I suppose you could get a new ABC, and rule it down in that. Bear in mind though that you would then have huge gaps when it came to Tyneside and Scottish locos. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rowanj Posted November 17, 2022 Share Posted November 17, 2022 1 hour ago, great northern said: I suppose you could get a new ABC, and rule it down in that. Bear in mind though that you would then have huge gaps when it came to Tyneside and Scottish locos. True, Gilbert, but just as, back in the day, I took real trips to the likes of York, Carlisle and Edinburgh, and spotted from trains to London and Manchester, I could now take virtual ones to the likes of P North, Little Bytham, and Longdrem, plus my own stuff at Little Benton. Just like the real thing.... 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium great northern Posted November 17, 2022 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted November 17, 2022 From far flung corners of the land they came... Oh all right then, York, Retford and deepest darkest Lincolnshire. All were a bit soggy on arrival, as it really has been a horrible day of cold and rain. Morning spent nattering, exchanging various things, and admiring Clive's latest patchworks, cut and shuts, I mean. After lunch we ascended to the layout, so that the mighty combined intellect of the three could try to solve the riddle of the falling off Gresleys. I ran them, and fall off they did not. Ran them again and again, but they behaved perfectly. Just wait till tomorrow. Anyway, it was the first time all four of us had been together for over eighteeen months, and we had a lovely day. 7 1 1 8 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Popular Post great northern Posted November 17, 2022 Author RMweb Premium Popular Post Share Posted November 17, 2022 Curlew has finished work for the time being, and will be replaced by the filthy A2/1 in the bay. While that is going on, Grantham's Victor Wild runs through with the Saltburn-KX. 30 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Popular Post great northern Posted November 18, 2022 Author RMweb Premium Popular Post Share Posted November 18, 2022 Victor Wild again, with Curlew moving away to New England in the background. A few minutes later, 60508 is on its way too. 31 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Popular Post great northern Posted November 18, 2022 Author RMweb Premium Popular Post Share Posted November 18, 2022 Pullman time. Normally I wouldn't need to tell you which one, as the headboard would make it clear. However, the Queen of Scots board has gone walkabout, and is nowhere to be seen. First I tried to disguise that inconvenient fact. but of course this gives the game away. I shall look on the bright side. If there isn't one, it can't be lopsided. 29 1 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Mallard60022 Posted November 18, 2022 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 18, 2022 1 minute ago, great northern said: Pullman time. Normally I wouldn't need to tell you which one, as the headboard would make it clear. However, the Queen of Scots board has gone walkabout, and is nowhere to be seen. First I tried to disguise that inconvenient fact. but of course this gives the game away. I shall look on the bright side. If there isn't one, it can't be lopsided. Fell off, (after Pigeon Strike and becoming dislodged), due to insecure fitting at the X. Probably around Hadley Wood area, when passing another fast Up in one of the Tunnels; vacuum phenomena caused by air pressure. That's why you can't find it G. P 3 1 1 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium great northern Posted November 18, 2022 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted November 18, 2022 (edited) 3 minutes ago, Mallard60022 said: Fell off, (after Pigeon Strike and becoming dislodged), due to insecure fitting at the X. Probably around Hadley Wood area, when passing another fast Up in one of the Tunnels; vacuum phenomena caused by air pressure. That's why you can't find it G. P Well, I'm not going all that way to look for it. Hope the pigeon is OK. Edited November 18, 2022 by great northern addition 1 1 3 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Popular Post great northern Posted November 19, 2022 Author RMweb Premium Popular Post Share Posted November 19, 2022 Another of the many Up Leeds and Bradford expresses brings KX top performer Tracery. I really like this view, but tend to ignore it because of the signal that won't seat properly. The good news though is that I'm told that will change in the early spring of next year. 29 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Clive Mortimore Posted November 19, 2022 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 19, 2022 13 hours ago, great northern said: Pullman time. Normally I wouldn't need to tell you which one, as the headboard would make it clear. However, the Queen of Scots board has gone walkabout, and is nowhere to be seen. First I tried to disguise that inconvenient fact. I got on my hands and knees looking under the baseboards at the end where Gilbert has his box of headboards ......no sign of it. Spotted lots of other stuff Gilbert might have forgotten he had. 1 2 1 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium great northern Posted November 19, 2022 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted November 19, 2022 5 minutes ago, Clive Mortimore said: I got on my hands and knees looking under the baseboards at the end where Gilbert has his box of headboards ......no sign of it. Spotted lots of other stuff Gilbert might have forgotten he had. Didn't tell me though, did you? Any Pacifics? 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mullie Posted November 19, 2022 Share Posted November 19, 2022 Another Claud? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium great northern Posted November 19, 2022 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted November 19, 2022 31 minutes ago, mullie said: Another Claud? I wish, but I don't have that kind of good fortune. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Clive Mortimore Posted November 19, 2022 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 19, 2022 1 hour ago, great northern said: Didn't tell me though, did you? Any Pacifics? Spotted some Gresley coach bogies to the left of the cabinet. Anyhow you were too busy with Steve trying to derail your Hornby coaches that he has put new sides on. 🥴 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzer Posted November 19, 2022 Share Posted November 19, 2022 On 11/11/2022 at 11:23, great northern said: I think it is probably best not to over generalise. The perception now is that they weren't cleaned, and personal recollection plus photographs tend to back that up. It may be that, like New England, local industry paid better, and they couldn't get the staff, or that those in charge took the view that mechanical efficiency should be prioritised over external looks. A combination of the two seems likely. I have read that when 52A got more through workings to London in the late 50s, cleaning standards improved. Top Shed showed what could be done, of course, but that may have been because London got the first influx of foreign workers. Did the cleanliness of the KX engines engender more of a general spirit of pride among the workforce in general? It may have done. My experience is that when our golf course was in really good nick, the greens staff seemed happier too. It’s always puzzled me that KX generally kept there locos in reasonable condition but Stratford 5 miles away they were usually in poor outside condition, although to be fair some the Britannias were working pretty intensive diagrams with 2. Round trips to Norwich per day and not much time for the cleaners to get to work in daylight. There might be something in your point about pride in the job. It’s quite well known that the Enfield Town crews would frequently come in unpaid on Sunday mornings to clean their engines but their N7’s were double manned so they were effectively “personal “ engines. On the other hand the Wood Street N7’s on virtually identical work Liv. St - Chingford rather than Liv.St- Enfield) were far less familiar with the cleaners rag. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Mallard60022 Posted November 19, 2022 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 19, 2022 46 minutes ago, jazzer said: It’s always puzzled me that KX generally kept there locos in reasonable condition but Stratford 5 miles away they were usually in poor outside condition, although to be fair some the Britannias were working pretty intensive diagrams with 2. Round trips to Norwich per day and not much time for the cleaners to get to work in daylight. There might be something in your point about pride in the job. It’s quite well known that the Enfield Town crews would frequently come in unpaid on Sunday mornings to clean their engines but their N7’s were double manned so they were effectively “personal “ engines. On the other hand the Wood Street N7’s on virtually identical work Liv. St - Chingford rather than Liv.St- Enfield) were far less familiar with the cleaners rag. IIRC Top Shed had a 'specialist' team of Polish Cleaners especially employed by the Shed Foreman in the late 50s and early 60s. They are the unsung heroes. In mid 1960, although it was just one visit, I did not see a dirty Brit at Liverpool Street. Probably cleaned at their Shed at Norwich? 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium great northern Posted November 19, 2022 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted November 19, 2022 9 hours ago, Clive Mortimore said: Spotted some Gresley coach bogies to the left of the cabinet. Anyhow you were too busy with Steve trying to derail your Hornby coaches that he has put new sides on. 🥴 Yes, we raided them on Tuesday, but I need more, and there are none to be had. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Popular Post great northern Posted November 19, 2022 Author RMweb Premium Popular Post Share Posted November 19, 2022 A3s again. A near side on view of Tracery. and a head on view of Pretty Polly, coming into the excursion platform with the 1045 KX-Grantham stopper. 29 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidw Posted November 19, 2022 Share Posted November 19, 2022 8 minutes ago, great northern said: A3s again. A near side on view of Tracery. and a head on view of Pretty Polly, coming into the excursion platform with the 1045 KX-Grantham stopper. No wing deflectors. Was 58 too early? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium great northern Posted November 19, 2022 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted November 19, 2022 6 minutes ago, davidw said: No wing deflectors. Was 58 too early? It was. 61 got a double chimney a while after, and some time after that they decided, for some strange reason, to fit those deflectors, which had been proven not to work before the war. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium great northern Posted November 19, 2022 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted November 19, 2022 2 hours ago, Mallard60022 said: IIRC Top Shed had a 'specialist' team of Polish Cleaners especially employed by the Shed Foreman in the late 50s and early 60s. They are the unsung heroes. In mid 1960, although it was just one visit, I did not see a dirty Brit at Liverpool Street. Probably cleaned at their Shed at Norwich? I haven't looked it up, but from memory Stratford had a lot more engines to look after than Top Shed. Just too many to deal with perhaps? I have read that the appearance of the Stratford Brits improved very rapidly after Bill Harvey got his hands on them at Norwich, and photos confirm that. Perhaps it really did depend on the attitude of the man in charge. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidw Posted November 19, 2022 Share Posted November 19, 2022 (edited) 23 minutes ago, great northern said: It was. 61 got a double chimney a while after, and some time after that they decided, for some strange reason, to fit those deflectors, which had been proven not to work before the war. As late as 61 for a double chimney? I thought the last two so fitted were Fairway and Sandwich.I can't find info on the small A2/2 style deflectors.... I'm confused. Edited November 19, 2022 by davidw Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Popular Post Clive Mortimore Posted November 19, 2022 RMweb Premium Popular Post Share Posted November 19, 2022 Some snaps from the visit to Peterborough North the other day. "Oh no its the Doncaster woman again" thinks our porter. "I say young man, despite telling me the train that had Doncaster on it was really going to Derby, I found you were the only helpful person on this station. While I have been waiting I have seen a train called mallard, one called sea gull and another called curlew. Well I am reporting this to the RSPB, you cannot have trains running around with trophies of what they have killed. Do you think the RSPB would be interested in the train that killed the flying scotsman, I don't think he is a bird". Phil telling me I need to take two photos of this corner of the fiddle yard. I think this is a strike day as not much is going on. Steve and Gilbert working out how to derail the train but it defied them. 14 5 8 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Popular Post Clive Mortimore Posted November 19, 2022 RMweb Premium Popular Post Share Posted November 19, 2022 Gilbert has stated that he is changing from 4 ft cassettes to smaller 2 ft ones. Before and after. 23 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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