Jim’s “out and about with GBRf” thread

[big jim]

2 hours ago, SM42 said:

There's probably a train or two about so they are keeping you out of the way in that special way that only planners can  

the train leaves bescot at 17:30ish and takes 8 hours to get to site, it’s a slow route and as you say it’s to get me out of the way while other stuff passes, the change ends at Neasden is on the mainline so that’s going to be in the way of the line to Marylebone and the met to start with then it’s a sit in West Ruislip to let stuff pass again before heading to site, I would have thought it easier to run later, normally chiltern possessions follow the last southbound passenger and wait at Bicester south for the ECS to go from Oxford to Aylesbury before pretty much having the line to itself apart from a couple of moor st services

 

I even asked about it running onto the greenford single line and waiting there but there is a tunnel segment train due through around that time, even asked about running toward Park Royal on the truncated bit of line and waiting there but I do t know if that is possible any more 

[balders]

On 15/07/2024 at 10:55, big jim said:

the train leaves bescot at 17:30ish and takes 8 hours to get to site, it’s a slow route and as you say it’s to get me out of the way while other stuff passes, the change ends at Neasden is on the mainline so that’s going to be in the way of the line to Marylebone and the met to start with then it’s a sit in West Ruislip to let stuff pass again before heading to site, I would have thought it easier to run later, normally chiltern possessions follow the last southbound passenger and wait at Bicester south for the ECS to go from Oxford to Aylesbury before pretty much having the line to itself apart from a couple of moor st services

 

I even asked about it running onto the greenford single line and waiting there but there is a tunnel segment train due through around that time, even asked about running toward Park Royal on the truncated bit of line and waiting there but I do t know if that is possible any more 

Still traffic to Park Royal Marcon @big jim 6V51 and 6M51 in and  out today. That's as far as it goes AFAIK the line towards OC was chained with a sleeper and severed after it passed under the Victoria Road bridge (and at OOC of course)

 

Cheers

 

Guy

[big jim]

11 hours ago, balders said:

Still traffic to Park Royal Marcon @big jim 6V51 and 6M51 in and  out today. That's as far as it goes AFAIK the line towards OC was chained with a sleeper and severed after it passed under the Victoria Road bridge (and at OOC of course)

 

Cheers

 

Guy

in knew it was still open to the stone place but I’m not sure how it’s worked now whether is just a glorified siding now or still signalled conventionally into the loop and terminal, as it happened the job wasn’t actually down there in the end anyway! 
 

caught the train from crewe to Stafford to start with, had a bit of time there between trains 

 

805

 

Car train 

 

XC voyager

 

Class 70

 

Another 805

 

And away to banbury

class 70

 

Light loco to hinksey

 

And in rolled my train, top and tail 66s with 5 auto hoppers 

 

Off I went to Bicester where I stood for 30 mins 

 

And West Ruislip for another 30 mins 

 

from here there was a schedule clash, I was booked to sit at Neasden south jn for an hour (as mentioned in the post above) but doing so would have meant we would have blocked the mainline and passenger trains were still running, the signaller suggested putting me up toward Acton canal wharf but I don’t sign that so I suggested running into Marylebone and sitting in the wall siding which they were happy with, so off I went!

 

 

Wasn’t expecting to be here last night that’s for sure!

 

 

Adrien shooter bust 

 

 

 

followed the last Aylesbury train out and picked up my booked path at Neasden, when I checked the timings on the  ballast notice it appeared that despite it leaving bescot at 17:30 (as it did) it was originally booked to sit in fenny Compton for 3 hours then do as I mentioned in the above post, follow the last Oxford south from Bicester arriving into South Ruislip direct without any change ends, the only reason I could see for it being amended is the up loop at fenny is oou and a lot of trains use the bi-di down loop so it couldn’t have sat there for so long so it ran as it did to not get in the way, tbh as it wasn’t important which way it faced it probably would have been as easy to run to hinksey and sat there for a few hours before heading to site via Bicester town, especially as the light loco that went in front of my train at banbury wa a bescot to hinksey move! 
 

Change ends at West Ruislip on the main line next to the lul exchange sidings as there was a tunnel segment train in the platform 

 

And waiting for the possession to be granted at South Ruislip 

 

We then dropped ballast between there and Wembley stadium at a stead my 2mph! 
 

Back at Neasden jn to change ends. The dudding hill branch goes overhead here, I managed to capture a freightliner cement train passing overhead in this pic 

 

and up to the other end where I got relief 

 

Because of a diagramming issue ive not been able to get home so am in a hotel in Acton for the day to get my rest before I head to Manchester from Euston later this evening for my booked job, intermodal to Nuneaton! 
 

never a dull moment 

 

 

[45156]

Because of a diagramming issue ive not been able to get home so am in a hotel in Acton for the day to get my rest before I head to Manchester from Euston later this evening for my booked job, intermodal to Nuneaton! 
 

never a dull moment 

 

Do you ever get home to see your family, Jim - you seem to spend your life in hotels - either expected or unexpected.

 

[big jim]

2 hours ago, 45156 said:

 

Do you ever get home to see your family, Jim - you seem to spend your life in hotels - either expected or unexpected.

I’m home more than ever now I’ve moved depot to be fair and a lot of the hotel jobs are at my suggestion when things change at the last minute, as last night was

 

i also use it to my advantage at times as I’ve had a few jobs where I’ve been asked to stay away, if they can book me a family room where there are local attractions etc my wife and lad come with me, I go to work and they go off and do something for the day until I get back 

[big jim]

Nice little job last night, starting in Acton! 
 

the crane in the background is in a HS2 compound 

 

Looking toward Old Oak Common, the truncated line from greenford to the left of the picture slowly being lost under in the vegetation 

 

tube to euston via Oxford Circus 

 

Pendolino to Manchester 

 

This made me laugh getting off the train, the woman was carrying the Henry hoover but then when I think she realised it had wheels so put it down and walked it angling the platform like a dog on a lead!

 

over Trafford park

 

Onto the train

 

Got dropped out to the old Manchester United platform to wait the path onto the mainline 

 

old turnstiles into the ground, you can see what it was closed over capacity concerns!

 

And into Nuneaton 

 

same tonight without the acton bit

[Iron Horse]

Thanks for sharing Jim, I love that livery on 709......probably because I like boats and trains but it is probably my favourite 😎

[hammy]

Glad to see your thread is still going strong mate not dipped in for a couple of years some cracking shots as ever

[big jim]

8 hours ago, Iron Horse said:

Thanks for sharing Jim, I love that livery on 709......probably because I like boats and trains but it is probably my favourite 😎

it’s looking a bit weather worn now though

 

7 hours ago, hammy said:

Glad to see your thread is still going strong mate not dipped in for a couple of years some cracking shots as ever

still plotting on!

 

couldnt be bothered with pics tonight so just one from each end of the trip 

 

 

small heath to crewe later this evening 

[big jim]

Nice little bonus today, found out on my way to small heath that the stone train wasn’t departing back to crewe as per my diagram so I only needed to discharge it and job done 

 

I message the other driver to say I was on my way and he rang me back saying his diagram said to take to small heath and discharge so I wasn’t needed, never turned around so quick in my life, also the first time ever I’ve got off at Sandwell and Dudley!

 

voyager 

 

350 back to wolves and onward to creee from there 

 

possession tomorrow night near Coventry then off for 2 weeks but I’ve swapped Mondays leave for a day in September that I couldn’t get off for my god daughters wedding, next week we’re off to Gt Yarmouth (hemsby) for the week, looking forward to it as other than driving a train to Lowestoft a few times  never been there for pleasure, the roller coaster in the pleasure beach looks interesting, will have to see if I can fit on it! 
 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roller_Coaster_(Great_Yarmouth_Pleasure_Beach)

[norfolkchinaclay]

2 hours ago, big jim said:

next week we’re off to Gt Yarmouth (hemsby) for the week, looking forward to it as other than driving a train to Lowestoft a few times  never been there for pleasure, the roller coaster in the pleasure beach looks interesting, will have to see if I can fit on it! 

The Hippodrome Theatre in GY was on telly a week or so back (think it was either Flog It or Bargain Hunt) looked quite interesting and worth a visit. Apparently the water system still works.

 

And you could visit the 100th Bomb Group museum at Thorpe Abbotts (the actual wartime airfield where Masters of the Air is set). Its near Diss.

 

Langham Dome further west along the coast is also very unusual and a very good museum.

 

Just doing my bit for local tourism! Hope you have a lovely time whatever you decide to do Jim!

 

Edited July 19 by norfolkchinaclay
Typo

[Chris116]

If you are looking for something else to do on Thursday 25th July then Caistor Road Stadium has Bangers, Junior Micra Stock Cars and National Saloon Stock Cars racing  starting at 7.30pm.

[big jim]

Just a few from tonight, possession train from bescot to Bermuda park 

 

66s in Bescot including the newly named ‘Ratcliffe power station’ 

 

My train, ex schenker 66 

 

Running round in Fenny Compton 

 

and on site just outside Bermuda park station between Bedworth and Nuneaton 

 

back in tonight with a short small heath to crewe empty stone job then off for 2 weeks 

[big jim]

Short job this morning, small Heath to crewe one way 

 

small heath with a freshly named and clean 66309 

 

and into crewe 

 

and off it went to hindlow 

 

that’s me for 2 weeks now, going away, phone is off, work iPad is at home, uniform in the washing basket and going to have a couple of weeks of doing nothing work related! 

[iands]

11 minutes ago, big jim said:

that’s me for 2 weeks now, going away, phone is off, work iPad is at home, uniform in the washing basket and going to have a couple of weeks of doing nothing work related! 

Good for you Jim. Enjoy your holiday with the family. Though I will admit (like a lot of others on RMweb I suspect), I'll start to suffer 'withdrawal symptoms' soon from not reading your 'daily log' of life on today's railway.

[Matt37268]

On 19/07/2024 at 18:47, big jim said:

Nice little bonus today, found out on my way to small heath that the stone train wasn’t departing back to crewe as per my diagram so I only needed to discharge it and job done 

 

I message the other driver to say I was on my way and he rang me back saying his diagram said to take to small heath and discharge so I wasn’t needed, never turned around so quick in my life, also the first time ever I’ve got off at Sandwell and Dudley!

 

voyager 

 

350 back to wolves and onward to creee from there 

 

possession tomorrow night near Coventry then off for 2 weeks but I’ve swapped Mondays leave for a day in September that I couldn’t get off for my god daughters wedding, next week we’re off to Gt Yarmouth (hemsby) for the week, looking forward to it as other than driving a train to Lowestoft a few times  never been there for pleasure, the roller coaster in the pleasure beach looks interesting, will have to see if I can fit on it! 
 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roller_Coaster_(Great_Yarmouth_Pleasure_Beach)

Sandwell and Dudley… The beginning and start of so many adventures to various parts of the compass 😀(including a very nice illicit day to Derby and several holsterys when technically I should have been at Dudley tech😀) 

 

I’ve also had some interesting traction to and from there,  my Dad has bit of a collectors item as he’s had a 33 there on his evening commute from that well know Southern Region spot known as Wolverhampton. 😜

[big jim]

7 hours ago, iands said:

Though I will admit (like a lot of others on RMweb I suspect), I'll start to suffer 'withdrawal symptoms' soon from not reading your 'daily log' of life on today's railway.

Don’t worry I’ll get some railway related pics on holiday no doubt! 
 

funny enough there was a job at north walshingham on the vacancy list this week, had it been a night time sit on possession I’d have offered to do it so I could have had a car with air con and a fuel card to get to and from the holiday, walshingham is only about 20 miles away from where we will be staying 

[big jim]

Went to Great Yarmouth pleasure beach this evening and had a couple of goes on the roller coaster which is actually a wooden ‘scenic railway’ dating from 1932, absolutely brilliant fun!

 

Just one train running, not sure how many can run at once as there are a few other trains parked up in sidings and there are ‘signals’ at intervals around the track

 

the train arriving into the station the safety guard raises on the move and you can get off at the train is still moving! 

view from the monorail 

 

 

The trains are braked manually by the attendant sat in the braking seat 

 

 

They are pushed manually from the station and drop to the only mechanical lift then gravity takes over, the track is 2/3 mile long 

 

Interesting diamond crossing to the sidings

 

 

 

 

Edited July 24 by big jim

[45156]

That's a proper classic woodie - not all that fast by today's standards, but I do prefer wooden roller coasters to the steel ones.  Not many left with manual braking now.

Edited July 28 by 45156

[big jim]

I’ve put these first few pics in the ‘Ghosts in the machine’ thread too

 

an old railway boundary post in the middle of Hemsby on the line from Yarmouth to North Walsham 

 

the line ran along what is now a by pass road (Kings way)

 

turning 90 degrees it went though where the shops are and parallel to the road on the left 

village map

 

on the map near the top you can see ‘blue riband holiday park’ which houses this hidden gem, only found it by chance whilst looking on railmaponline at the route of the old line

 

the Parklands Miniature Railway a 7 1/4 inch gauge railway 

 

you can only ride it if you are staying at the site or with permission from one of the owning family members, luckily there were a couple there today so we had a few goes round, putting a few quid in the donation tin

 

Viaducts and bridges 

 

tunnel 

 

Live steam 

 

08

 

class 86

 

It’s a big balloon loop, fully signalled and track circuited so more than one train can go out at once, there were 4 running at one point! 

 

there is a single line bit departing the station and the driver pushes a train ready to start button to get the road and signal on to it but if there is another train approaching down the bank that gets priority and is signalled onto the section to run round the loop behind the station area, the signal cabin was a wonder of relays and wiring that the Big railway would be proud of, the points in the station and yard area are all pneumatic and work in conjunction with the relays to set routes automatically, absolutely amazing bit of miniature engineering 

 

unfortunately looking at the website and speaking to the people there this year will be its last as the site has been sold following the death of the previous owner, the whole lot is going to be lifted and all the stock, equipment, track etc will be being sold on at auction which is a huge shame as it’s absolutely brilliant, only let down by its lack of presence, A whole week here and less than 1/4 mile from my accommodation and only found by accident, I’d say if your in the area and you can get an invite (ask while your there) try and have a ride before it goes for good at the end of the year! 
 

 

Edited July 28 by big jim

[Mol_PMB]

Pleased to see you're on a 'Busman's Holiday' and finding lots of trains!
Have you explored Yarmouth docks for any surviving remnants of the railways or a hidden tram-engine survivor?

 

 

[big jim]

47 minutes ago, Mol_PMB said:

Pleased to see you're on a 'Busman's Holiday' and finding lots of trains!
Have you explored Yarmouth docks for any surviving remnants of the railways or a hidden tram-engine survivor?

 

 

only went to the tourist side of GY really, we did get the open top bus from hemsby to there one day too and that crossed the old GY to Walsham line on overbridges a few times at the north end of Yarmouth and again at a flat crossing near California, the line from what I’ve seen has very little remaining viewable infrastructure, there is one embankment just south of hembsy that you can only really notice from a minor road parallel with the main road, even on google maps the trackbed disappears into fields without trace, it wasn’t until I looked at railmaponline that I realised the road we used north of hemsby toward wroxham (A149) was the old trackbed for a considerable distance between a place called Bastwick and Stalham 

 

this morning we did pop to a car boot in Yarmouth and grabbed a maccy d breakfast which was right next to the station and I could see the bow bridge that took the line toward the quay tramway but I didn’t bother with pics 

[KeithHC]

Have a look at Ashville on YouTube. They are reinstating a set of sidings on the Colnbrook branch. Apparently in a couple of weeks time GBRF are meant to test the siding's. Pity it could not be you doing the tests then we could have you on YT as well.

 

Keith

[5BarVT]

3 hours ago, big jim said:

It’s a big balloon loop, fully signalled and track circuited so more than one train can go out at once, there were 4 running at one point! 

 

3 hours ago, big jim said:

the signal cabin was a wonder of relays and wiring that the Big railway would be proud of

Unless there’s another miniature railway in Hemsby, i know the guy who did the signalling for that, probably about 40 to 45 years ago.  He was a BR signalling trainee a few years behind me and now retired.  Knowing him, it would have been done properly, so the Big Railway could have been proud of it.

Paul.

[big jim]

Popped down to Llwyngwril today and stopped off at Llanywchllyn en route 

crosville bus on a tour to the railway

 

Signal box 

 

Chilmark

 

Triassic

 

George B

 

Holy war

 

lady madcap

 

I assume Alice was out on the line but I didnt wait to see as I wanted to get to the coast, ended up stopping in Fairbourne, didn’t see @wombatofludham though but I did bump into my brother who I’ve not seen for 6 years which was nice! 
 

as we were chatting the train came in to the station 

 

I then decided to have a ride on it, the last train of the day, Russell was the loco 

 

Coach to myself although it was a fairly busy train in the fully open coaches 

 

Gwril, Hunslet shunter 

 

 

over the crossing 

 

When I was little there was a line of colourful beach huts along the front, now there is just the one 

 

Looking out toward Barmouth bridge and cadair idris 

 

Passing Yeo heading in the loop 

 

 

Penrhyn point 

 

Looking out to Barmouth with the Loco running round, the beach looked really busy from here! 

view up the estuary 

 

And back on the other end of the train

 

 

Setting off back to fairbourne 

 

 

Barmouth ferry 

 

Over the crossing again 

 

 

Gwril again 

 

They have laid a length of 15 inch track from the station to the first crossing so they can run some of the old wider gauge stock from before the line was regauged to 12.5 inch, this is how I remember it from the early 80s with the likes of Sian and Katie being the resident locos 

 

In the entrance building to the railway there are a few items of 15 inch rolling stock

 

Wippit Quick 

 

 

The ‘proper’ Gwril that I remember, a lister auto truck 

 

There is also a lovely O gauge model of Barmouth bridge that has a train shuttling up and down if you put 20p in the slot

 

 

There are a series of pictures on the wall showing the history of the line and this one caught my eye as I’m 99% sure I was there on that day too

 

the car in the pic is Babs, why it was at fairbourne I don’t know but I distinctly remember going with my dad to see it and if I remember right it was started up and it sounded, to a 6(ish) year old at the time, LOUD! It had a 27L V12 aero engine in it! When I get home I’ll have a look through my photos as I’m sure I’ve got one my dad took that day (unless it visited more than once)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babs_(land_speed_record_car)

 

here’s a vid of it being exhumed after its burial at Pendine 

https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-babs-recovery-1927-1969-1969-online

 

158 passing by on the Cambrian over an unusual crossing as it’s officially an open crossing with barriers, seem to remember it was the first one but there are a few more in the country now 

 

Later in the evening I went to visit @Quarryscapes to collect an exhaust for my FTO and I stopped back in fairbourne to see my brother for a bit, not much of a sunset due to the cloud but nice all the same, panorama shot this one, Llwyngwril to the left, Barmouth to the right 

 

Going to start my 100 mile cycling challenge tomorrow with a ride on the mawddach trail, will have to see if I can manage the full 18 mile round trip as it’s been a while since I’ve done that sort of distance on my bike but as long as I get started that’s the main thing, hoping to make an early start and I may go an visit the talyllyn if I have time afterwards 

 

Only £15 off the £500 target now and I’ve not even started!

 

https://cyclethemonth.prostatecanceruk.org/fundraising/jims-got-fat-again-but-still-wants-to-raise-s

 

 

 

Edited July 31 by big jim