big jim

no, just the trim

I’ll get a pic of the bottom of it later it’s got ‘bird$hit’ welding around a patch where they have obviously smashed the insides out, if you remember when I got the car it also had a straight through exhaust, it basically just had a centre resonator box! it’s now back to standard, the new DPF is fitted, I feared the worst when I first fired it back up as it gave out plumes of white smoke left if running while I did a few other bits and bobs the shut it down for a bit before running it again and it seems ok now, obviously the DPF had been sat in the shed since March so probably just needed warming up to clear it, you can see the soot and moisture that got ejected on the wall behind took it for a spin and no smoke at all so a happy bunny now, will see if it’s still ok in the morning once it’s properly cooled down again

Finally got the PDF off the mini, I think I can pretty much say it’s empty…. now to put it all back together and hope for the best!

Kings Norton car park yesterday morning

I wanted to do a bit in the layout earlier but John had other ideas!

And some from today, final RHTT of the year, bescot to kings norton for decommissioning rhen back to bescot ready to be tripped back to York bescot Kings Norton The end! change of jobs later in the week, another trip to ratcliffe and a peak forest to toton

Just a couple from this morning, possession train rugby to bescot Middle of nowhere at 7am and running round in rugby That was it for pics! tomorrow is a transit move from kings norton to bescot with the RHTT set now the season has ended, back into storage until next year

Big job broke out! decided to make a start on the DPF swap hopefully swap it out on Tuesday all being well

If your going to sell something for £20 at least take then original price label off! https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bachmann-38-100B-34-Ton-PNA-Ballast-spoil-Wagon-7-Rib-Railtrack-/185210800709?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m2548.l6249&mkrid=710-127635-2958-0

you must have been stood quite near me then as I saw that too, watched Simon recover it when it entered the fiddle yard too, I would have introduced myself to you Simon but you were busy! highlight of my drive home via woodhead was passing under broadbottom viaduct and the huge viaduct near dinting

Last night of it, met it in Doncaster again, a few things passed through while I was waiting and my train, 66788 again The end! Blast from the past Ready to roll And stabled in hexthorpe this morning New addition to the fleet 66799 possession train tomorrow rugby to bescot

Made it over today for an hour, very impressive the one thing that struck me stood about 1/2 way down the layout watching a train approach from the dive under end was looking along it the layout itself looked almost OO gauge in proportions until you realise it’s taking the train an age to get any closer as its so far away! nightmare trip home though, google said crash on the M62 with 1 1/2 hour delay so I went via the M1 and via penistone, glossop and broadbottom to avoid another tailback on the main woodhead route

All set for my trip tomorrow, got a train to work tonight Doncaster to ratcliffe and back to Doncaster, grab breakfast then hopefully get to Wakefield about 10:30, if your there I’ll be the (not so fat) guy wondering round in hi-viz gear!

Fixed down the castle board this evening as well as making up a few more bits of wall ready to carry on with it across the back wall The castle in place And the new arch wall and additional tower, the original gateway house has moved to the back, I’ve added the card ramp between the risers and top board so that’s ready to take some track soon Boxed in the tunnel mouth with some card, when I get round to it it will most likely have a retaining type wall above the tracks but the sides behind the platform will be a Rocky cliff face The extra 009 line will run along the front of the board, next to the heritage line, ‘Rood Ashton hall’ sits in the heritage station, northern belle and drs set on the mainline Double fairlie climbing up the spiral under the castle Into the tunnel below the archway

That’s part of the reason I’m doing these jobs this week, come 2025 coal power stations are supposed to be closing so it’s nice to get in there before they finally do the jobs are confined to history! Saying that last night I did something non coal, a nice little crewe to banbury job with the intermodal off Manchester, 2 locos up front, 2nd one being dead in train crewe banbury back on the coal tonight, Doncaster to ratcliffe and back then hopefully a drive home via Wakefield to have a look at Heaton lodge jn layout

not just me then!

Not off eBay but got a bargain this week, a 2nd hand sound fitted Bachmann 009 Baldwin in WHR maroon that the seller wanted £120 for, an absolute no brainer for me that, however putting it on the track we couldn’t get any sound out of it, stripped it down to check wires etc and noticed it had a speaker swap at some point, anyway no luck with the chip producing sound on the tester either but we had movement so the seller concluded the chip was blown so the seller reduced the price to £80 which was even more of a no brainer! took it to my local shop who inspected the copious amount of solder on the speaker and noted it was touching the metal housing, removed the chip and put it on his tester and ‘toot toot’ sound! replaced the speaker with an £8 yoo-Choos sugar cube and she runs like a dream with sound all for an £88 outlay!

I remember the smoking room in Chester booking in point back in 2001 when I started, a grim shade of magnolia, not through choice but nicotine staining, strangely it was an open room off a through corridor that you had to walk past to get to the main mess room so the smell made its way round the whole BOP anyway, it was also the TV room so if you wanted to watch it you had to sit in with the smokers!

Just a few from last night and this morning, had tk go and meet it in Doncaster as the other driver didn’t sign the route via Lincoln and Nottingham (neither do I) so it was diverted via the erewash Still got a marker light out, the loco has ran practically non stop on the circuit for the last week doing 2 trains a day between immingham and ratcliffe so hasn’t had a chance to get it repaired! Bit of a blast from the past in ratcliffe, the door key being branded fastline, amazingly it’s coming up to 12 years in March since they went Bust and I lost my job with them! A bit late discharging this morning so a daytime shot and back to down decoy where the next driver came in and run it round for another trip to immingham after fuelling it a short crewe to banbury job in the morning on the trafford park job

When i tried the peckett over the points the other day it kept stopping as there were dead sections across the frogs, normally I’d wire the frog to the polarity switch on the point motor to switch the polarity however on this layout I’m not going to be fitting motors so I needed a different solution to the problem I called in dagfields to trident trains this afternoon to pick up my double fairlie and while there picked up a 3 pack of gaugemaster DCC-80 polarity switches, I wired them above layout level just to see if they do the job which they do, basically you solder two of the tabs to the track bus and the third to the wire that comes from the point frog the result is the peckett and all other short wheel base locos such as my Ruston and terrier run beautifully over the points without stalling, you can hear the switch click as the loco passes over the frog However I’ve noticed after running through the points from the toe end then returning From the facing direction down a different route the loco does sometimes stop and you have to push it past the frog to make it click the polarity of that particular frog switch back the opposite (correct) way but once it’s done it once the loco runs perfectly through it, only really effects the short wheelbase locos as with a bogied loco the rear end is still on a live correct polarity bit of track as the front hits rhe switch, nothing I can really do about it and it’s not the end of the world

A distinct lack of exercise and night shifts has given me another weight gain so I’m now 16:13, still under 17 so happy(ish) but as I’ve put in the above posts I think I’ve hit that sweet spot at around this weight, I feel both happy and healthy but I recon I’ve levelled out for a while now and if I just fluctuate around this weight for a few months while days are short and exercise is less I’ll be happy found some more old pics of me from before I started to lose weight for some comparison shots, should stick them on the fridge!

I should imagine it does, it’s always been bogie hoppers all the time I’ve been going there (13 years), early on during my visits the daleks were still in place at the hopper for opening and closing the HAA doors, all been removed now just 2 from today, one in Nottingham and being as the doors don’t close automatically I have to go back and check all doors myself, only thing is the key is kept in the hopper house so I have to walk down the train, back along it checking the doors, then back again to drop off the key in the hopper house and back again to the loco, certainly gets the steps in, just over 1 1/4 mile back and forth! Made sure I kept warm though! same again tomorrow

You’ve spoiled the joke now by adding the link!

So thin we can’t see them!