big jim

An early weigh in this week as I’m off to work tonight and not back until the early hours of Thursday morning, down to 17.1 stone now, I’m struggling to get below that magic 17 stone mark at the moment, not helped by the trick or treat sweets we have left over as we only had one kid visit us! exercise wise the bike is back to its former self, new motor, ecu and wiring so working like new, already got 31 miles in for the week since yesterday, been going with Dominic to and from Nantwich in the evenings riding with him to his new job in dominos pizza, managed to resist the staff discount he can get too im confident I can get really back into the swing of things to shed that last lb and get below 17 stone despite the earlier, colder nights and lots of work meaning I’m not getting any significant walking exercise in (but I’m doing plenty of walking in work) and the running has come to a stop, I really need to try and get back into the 5k a week frame of mind but it’s a bit lacking at the moment

Yet another change of job tonight so a bit more time spent in the garage on a T3 possession Back to the corner of the layout to lay the first 2 bits of track across the ironbridge I’ve laid them on some tillig canted foam bases which as the name suggests puts a slight cant to the tracks, you can see how it’s wedge shaped And in place And the 2nd track fixed down too Over the bridge, I’m going to secure the track with pva to the cork as I can’t use pins the rear bridge tracks need fixing down around the curve and over the bridge and that bit is done too So then all that stands between the whole circuit running round now is to secure and split the tracks across the outer edge of the lifting section i also fitted the diverging track point to the lifting section ready for the narrow gauge line to head up the spiral below the castle Away with work for a few days now but hopefully I may get a bit more done later in the week in the evenings as I’ve got a couple of short jobs (so far unless they get changed as usual!)

No apologies for this picture, just want to show how beautiful Jamie is! hes 14 weeks old and almost as big as Hank who’s now 18 months, rhey are enjoying each other company too, I think he’s going to be a big cat, look at the size of his paws already!! meanwhile Faye has decided the best place to be is in the garage with me

Very sad news, known Les since I moved to crewe 15 years ago, a lovely man and a sad loss iirc regarding his railway career he also arranged the north Wales railfreight day back in the early 90s

My trip to the Severn valley today has been cancelled so I got asked to conduct a Stone train from stockport to Stafford via Macclesfield last night instead had about an hour to wait at stockport so grabbed a few pics of the various trains that stopped there then in came my train, 66766 and into Stafford Back in this evening, covering a Mountsorrel to Doncaster job

MOT in the diesel mini today, as suspected it failed on the wheel bearing and DPF but I’d had it in early to see what else would need doing to get it through or if it was too much work just scrap it! all it needs other than those bits above is 2 rear suspension strut mounts, passed on the emissions and an advisory on a rear tyre so happy with that, I can get a bearing/hub for about £30, rear mounts are £50 a pair and I’ve got the DPF in stock in my shed so I’m going to get the work done and keep it for another year I recon as it happens someone on the MiniTorque forum has a set of standard Mini Cooper S suspension for sale, springs and shocks, 38k miles covered for £100 so I may take the opportunity while the car is being done to refresh the suspension all round, mine isn’t an S, they are slightly stiffer and lower springs

A new addition to the family today, this is Jamie, possibly to become John! a mainecoon cross, totally relaxed already, then other cars have been introduced to him and they just had a sniff and licked each other, Lola wasn’t impressed though and went off and took a swipe at Hank on the way out of the room juts to let him know who’s boss 14 weeks old and already massive!

Some from last night, only MPV pics I’m afraid! With the weather issues last night it took me almost 4 hours to get from crewe to kings norton so I go there a bit late and jumped straight on the unit, left 20 late but was on time by the time I got to coventry the Sunday job is different to the weekday one and carries on from cov to Leamington spa from there it was back toward Coventry then over to rugeley via bescot, you can see the driving rain in this pic From there it was back toward walsall and then over to Stafford Then Stafford to Redditch and back to the shed planned to get the 05:30 off new st but that was cancelled as was the 06:00 so I had a sleep in the MPV for an hour before setting off on the bike back to new street something different tomorrow, light loco Bescot to Derby RTC then over to the SVR with the weed spraying train and back to bescot light loco

Just 10 minutes in the garage before work, cleared the corner of junk ready to lay the tracks across the bridges, the black bride is pretty much in place and I’ll have to build the scenics up from below it when the time comes, similarly the lines across the laser cut bridges I’ll lay them ‘in the sky’ and put the bridges in from below properly when the time comes The track across the bridges will be wooden sleepers and either side concrete the inner mainline curve is a 3rd radius so not too tight once those bits are in place and joined to the parts already laid at the back of the layout it’s a case of securing the tracks on one edge of the lifting door section and that will be the whole loop laid, then it’s the wiring and hoping I’ve got the insulated fishplates in the right places!

Tonight’s RHTT job ended op being changed again due to an issue with another train got on it at rugby, 66795 and 66704 now the locos after a swap waiting time in Birmingham International we then set off for kings norton but got stopped en route and asked to go and conduct an intermodal round to bescot as it couldn’t get into the booked terminal, that meant we had to leave the RHTT somewhere as there was a possession due to be taken and the intermodal needed to be moved quickly! Saltley depot road was suggested but the intermodal was blocking the route so we had to take it to tyseley! the local MOM drove me back round to washwood Heath where I got on the intermodal and took it round to bescot, I was hoping to get it run round but they took the line block as soon as I got into the yard so I had to leave it where it was, annoyingly I walked back to the cabin then couldn’t remember if I’d turned the battery switch off on the loco so had to walk back and check it, as it happened I had, if nothing else I got a 1.25 mile walk in which counts toward my steps for the day! Supposedly MPV Sunday evening but after that lot today I’m half expecting a change of job

Being as my job was cut short yesterday I had an evening to do a bit on the layout, finally got round to fixing down the track in the station area. I’m going to concentrate on getting the track on the lower part of the layout done next including getting the bridges and lifting section track secured and wired up before moving on to the branch line and narrow gauge bit, the plain line parts of the layout are live from the lifting section to the top of the incline but it’s a case of piggy backing the wiring beyond the various points to get the rest up and running (I hope) I’m also not going to bother with powered points on this layout, had a think about it and have loads of point motors and accessory decoders in stock to do them from previous layouts but all points are easily accessible and for the hassle of having to drill holes and secure them, wire them up etc i don’t think it’s worth it as it’s taken me a few years to get to this point and I’ve still not got the circuit complete so adding that to to the list will make having a working layout take even longer! Cleared everything out of the way and lined up the tracks And secured down, from left to right, heritage line platform with a loop to allow a short train to be sat in the station and have another one pass to enter the curved platform behind it (a bit like dovey junction) the line will then continue round to the left, once trains are up and running I’ll also put a small ‘guard wall’ along the edge of the board as the loop tracks are very close to it! mainline platforms, crossover the end to allow trains to come to and from the heritage line via the link at 3 way point connection at the bottom, also a short unit could be sat in the platform and have a train pass it through the opposite platform via the crossovers The tracks to the right are the ones heading along the incline, the white foam riser is where the narrow gauge line will run from the high level part to the castle the other job I’m going to do is extend the board along the rear wall, only by about 6-8 inches but it will give me just that little bit of extra room along the back for scenics and a small shed area for the heritage and narrow gauge lines while still being able to lean over and reach the back of the layout and display cabinets using a scrap piece of wood I can see roughly how much more room I will get In the above picture I’ve also got to trim back the wooden block at the end of the platform piece to allow me to fit one more curved platform section in and with some trains placed on the tracks DRS push pull set and 66720 with points carrier and lobster wagons USA tank waiting for the 33 to enter the loop with a demonstration freight on the heritage line 66720 and Dutch 33 Hopefully now the nights are about to draw in I should be able to crack on with it a bit as being out on my bike instead of playing trains will no doubt happen a bit less!

Some from today, never got to Iport in the end! drove to coleshill and just as I arrived got asked if I could go to East Midlands gateway and work a train from there back to crewe, finishing at 15:30 2 miles from home as opposed to coleshill at 22:30 and 60 miles from home, who was I to refuse! arty backlit shot at gateway 66735 was the loco stopped at Burton for a bit and had a chat with another driver on the spool train, DB service passing by and into crewe trafford park service heading south as I walked back to the taxi RHTT tomorrow and retrieving my car from coleshill

The in cab video of the beilhack ploughs in action, that’s me driving it! got to say that job was one of the top highlights of my driving career so far as for the RHTT I’ve got it tomorrow with the 66s and Sunday with the MPV

I’m pretty sure it’s normally 6K05 that runs via the s+c and clitheroe the Z may be because it run by the WCML instead (I’ve not looked at the route on RTT for that day) it normally runs in front of the chirk logs out of kingmoor over the s+c

That’s some trip, I was saying to my dad earlier that you had planned to get to wick but having not heard anything and given the weather I thought you’d given up and turned back but we’ll done for getting there! hopefully the sleeper will go ok for you, I think it’s had trouble the last couple of nights what with the weather and other issues

Just 4 from today, a wet trip home from the caravan, was hoping to get a train from wigton but they were cancelled due to the weather so got a lift into Carlisle instead, the roads in were terrible too nothing was running north of Carlisle and there was a 50mph restriction between Shap and carnforth with Avanti trains running to an emergency timetable shuttling between Carlisle and Preston on a 2 hourly frequency tornado managed to make it to Carlisle though and was waiting to take a charter southbound which arrived in just before I got there TPE had their units stabled in the centre roads ready to shunt into the platform head south to manchester airport I then caught the shuttle train to Preston where I had to wait for the train to crewe unusual sight of a pair of class 90s pulling some NR falcon wagons and that was that, into crewe and home, Iport job tomorrow

A day late for weigh in as I was away at the caravan but back down to 17.2 again from 17.4 which is pretty good as I’ve snacked a fair bit this week and had a few beers too! the windy bike ride and a couple of swims (1000+ meters covered between them) must have helped with burning a few calories off, not going to get much more riding done this week as it’s a car in job tomorrow and Saturday unfortunately

Some people are just plain evil, one of our last fosters, Nicola, was found in a box under a car in a Nantwich car park, luckily the driver spotted it and checked the box before getting in the car she was touch and go but is now thriving in nicer news we should be getting ‘Jamie’ at the end of the week, the mainecoon cross I put a photo up a couple of weeks ago

They’re no better a bit further up the road either!

Felt sad yesterday in Warrington bank quay, there was a dead cat in the 4ft on the rear platform, obviously hit by a train wheel as he was in a bad way, I’m pretty sure it was the station cat, I’ve seen one similar there a few times in the past jumping up onto the platform and there aren’t exactly many houses near there for it to come from Unfortunately I only spotted it just before my train pulled in or I’d have rung the box and got a line block to get down and retrieve him to at least see if he was chipped so the owner could be contacted, I’m hoping avanti sorted something as as well as anything else it wasn’t a pleasant sight for the public to see from the platform

I think GB took on a few trains when colas were struggling for drivers and trains were getting cancelled and we have kept hold of the circuit, we only do the UTU train though I work it as Im one of the few that sign sign the traction and routes (from colas), I couldn’t see us getting anywhere near the 153s, I never signed the 950 while I was at colas either but I did sign 153s with FNW and Arriva

I’d love to have a drive of one for some bizarre reason!

the 153s had cameras in the similar style to the 950 unit on the ploughs, also looks to have RILA type cameras on them too one of the side windows has been blanked off and replaced with a grille as well

How strange is that I’d just been watching that same clip on YouTube about an hour ago! “disguise it? it’s a 20ft cock and balls man, tell yer what we’ll stick a bobble hat on it and tell everyone it’s you” “we can’t have kids playing on a……..love length” brilliant scene and I suspect the cast laughing at Brian potter is genuine in places