luckymucklebackit

There has been a call in some quarters for cyclists to be licensed, have insurance etc, I agree to a certain extent that this is not practical for all cyclists, but I think that there should be some form of controls for cyclists that use racing bikes that are capable of speeds that can easily break the urban speed limit, I see them all the time, they are not simply going from A to B, they are treating every journey they make as a speed trial, and to hell with any other traffic, one ran a red light on me last week and I had to do an emergency stop to avoid him, he just sped on regardless, these Lycra clad clowns are the "boy racers" of the pedal cycle world and they need to be brought under control. Jim

The Allenshaw Inglenook I have always had the desire to build myself an Inglenook as part of Gateside and Northbridge, but the question was - where to put it. The conclusion that I have arrived at is to put it above the fiddle yard, but as the standard inglenook would cover the whole fiddle yard and I wanted an open area to lift off and replace stock and locomotives I needed to improvise. After some thought I came up with the idea of a bridge over the Northbridge Western throat and putting the headshunt on the bridge, this does have prototypical provenance - the ex LNER branch from Shettleston to Hamilton had been closed in 1955, but a section near Peacock Cross in Hamilton had been retained to provide a freight service into Allenshaw Foundry, and as you can see from the map the line had been truncated just beyond the bridge, the link line comes up from the Caledonian line which passes under the bridge. The track layout is almost a classic Inglenook There are a few photographs taken by the late George C. O'Hara showing the infrastructure in that area, to model the prototype girder bridge would mean a lot of scratchbulding as there is nothing like it in a ready to use formal. I therefore chose another long disappeared bridge from the Glasgow Area, that which carried the former Caledonian "Switchback" freight line in the East End of Glasgow over the Airdrie to Glasgow Line, this is a bowstring design and there are laser cut versions quite close to this design Here is how I envisage the yard will fit on the existing layout, So I have started on this little scheme by building the bridge, I used the laser cut bridge as a basis, but built up the base substantially to look more prototypical, I also added fences down each side and discarded the cross girders as supplied and replaced them with plastrut girders fabricated to suit. As this will form the headshunt of the Inglenook, I checked the length for the regulation loco and three wagon lengths, it fits just nicely! With that done I will set aside the structure and start to build the supports and think about the rest of the inglenook, I found a sheet of spare ply and started to mark out the plan, as usual I am getting ambitious and starting to think about an "inglenook plus" with an exit track at the back and possibly a loco depot or single platform station. Still flexible about how this will eventually develop : We shall see how this develops, I have an idea to build it on sub frames on the main layout, and build a plank onto which the sub frames could be transferred and used as a stand alone layout (exhibition possibly?) Cheers Jim

Shine On You Crazy Diamond - Pink Floyd

I was building a girder bridge while England were on last night, much more entertaining Jim

So make it a round trip, park your car at Haverthwaite, Steam to Lakeside, Sail to Windemere, Steam to Oxenholme, shuttle heritage bus back to Haverthwaite Jim

Dutch Double Decker - Amsterdam Central May 2015.... Keep them coming Jim

World cup special??? Most of the time I turn the volume down to avoid listening to the banal commentary

Please Sir Please Sir - Can I spot the odd one out??? (with the big clue "Hornby" Headbard)

Don't get me started on the quality of Bus services, trains get a bad press but buses are so much worse and seem to escape the level of critical analysis applied to the railways, it is a total lottery if our local bus turns up at all, never mind turning up on time.

Sorry but those units just don't look to be comfortable for a 1 hour trip from Llandudno Junction to Blaenau Ffestiniog

Cue a big increase in revenue as enthusiasts from all over the country flock for a bit of rateable haulage over a previously DMU only line

Here is your answer - Just posted on this forum - cycle storage in the DVT will get you to Edinburgh, only need to get across to Glasgow, the Forth and Clyde Canal towpath is a good route! http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/134204-ecml-franchise-to-be-broucht-back-under-public-ownership/?p=3203763

Posted this on WNXX and Scot-rail and it has raised a few comments - I am still a bit curious as to how this is going to be worked. The last diagrams I had access to dated from 2011 and unless they have been modified substantially there are nine diagrams covering the WHL 156s with workings to Anniesland and other destinations between WHL services in order to maximize utilisation. Does this mean that the Diagrams will be altered so that the 156s with the 153 inserted will be restricted to WHL services only? With only five class 153s being inserted it would appear that there will still be standard two car 156s working over the line, so they may need to create a sub class (say 156/9) to allow the controllers correctly assign units. And can a Hornby class 153 be inserted into a Realtrack 156:-) Jim

A few more from me, first off - Crewe Works Open Day 1981 and a power car in the fabrication stage UID rear power car at Sheildmuir passing a down class 90, we were waiting for a Duchess to appear on a southbound railtour, and some photographers were clearly prepared to risk life and limb to get the shot. Motherwell station, 43100 on a northbound cross country working in the days before the dreaded vomiters Another UID power car leaving platform 10 at Glasgow Central while a class 86 waits to leave on the West Coast Postal Jim

The Archers theme? (as suggested by Billy Connolly some time ago)

This has been discussed for a while on the WNXX forum, the idea is that they strip out half the seats and use them as a centre car (to avoid using the small additional cab) . I must admit that I found it surprising, as I was under the impression that the 156s were being retired from the West Highland in favour of "scenic trains" (widely thought to be 158s with modified seating, but clearly the plans have changed. Jim

On the bright side - they have bought a vistadome observation car so that you can have a break halfway there and take in the view

Think yourself lucky, in Scotland in order for the Old Firm to get maximum combat we have to play everyone four times, gets boring!

Love to see that one done as an unrefurbished set with the original wrap round windows!! Jim

21st Century Schizoid Man - King Crimson

Sounds like something Derek Meddings would be able to do, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2QFum90H9Q

Dave - Great photos of Scotland once again, If I can just correct you on the caption for J3972 "Davidsons Mains site of CR bridge over B9055 remains of Barnton branch Aug 74". This had me scratching my head trying to place the photo as there was no overbridge at this location, the bridge passes under the B9055 whihc is the road curving off to the left of the photograph. This can be seen on the annotated map below, I have marked where I believe the photo was taken. Hope this helps Jim

43122 at Glasgow Queen Street, the other power car was out in the tunnel! Grand Central 43467 at Doncaster 12/11/2014 The insipit East Coast Liver Doncaster, same as above GNER - 43107 "Tayside" Craigentinny, 23/04/2005 Ooops - what happens when the brakes are not applied to a class 37 (37113) and it rolls off and 43180 is the first thing it meets Jim

I remember attending Crewe Works Open Day in the early 1970s and the very first power car was on show, but it was not in blue and yellow, what later was the blue upper body and diagonal stripe over the grill was black on the first power car, I am not sure if this colour scheme made it out of the works or whether it was changed to blue before release, but the postage stamp released at that time showed this colour scheme. Anyone else remember this? EDIT - found a photo to confirm - https://www.flickr.com/photos/14581588@N05/7272237276 Jim

There was also the other android "Lore" who was really sinister