big jim

There is some really nice looking kit built steam era locos, coaches and wagons on the site at the moment https://clarkrailworks.com/collections/all-stock/?sort_by=created-descending

They are a smart looking unit but the livery is a bit too fussy in my opinion, they look much better in the plain TFW white and red, still need yellow ends though!

Yeah that was me, they go well with 4 engines! Some from yesterday couple of cats in crewe and on the 196 in new st Stafford Down to nuneaton and back to crewe, unusually platform 6 rhen as there was a possession south of Stafford we did a run stafford to crewe and back then sat there for 3 1/2 hours back into Tyseley RHTT later but may also have to go and conduct an intermodal too

A rare occurance in our kitchen earlier, all 3 cats eating together, just far enough apart not to start fighting! hank and Faye and normally Ok with each other but Lola hates the pair of them, she had a go at Faye the other day but she must have had enough and battered her back, first time she’s really stood up for herself!

Had to have a weigh in one day early as I’m lodging away the rest of the week so won’t be near the scales tomorrow! lost 1lb so down to 17.2 Stone now, 5.7 Stone lost in total so far Going to be a difficult end of the week as I’m living out of a hotel until Saturday so I’ve got to be careful not to over eat however the hotel is 10 mile from the end of tonight’s job and then 3.5 mile to and from kings Norton the rest of the week, also planning on visiting my sister on Thursday, she’s in studley which is about 13 mile away so I should get a few miles in to and from there too

All roads were full in Chad!

i was wondering what the ride would be like too, compared to the 60s id like to think that the technology available today would result in a smooth ride be it some sort of shock absorbing floor or decent seating etc

The module I moved today must sit in the middle normally and the brackets look to have room between the ends and the tanks on the adjacent wagon, I think once it’s formed properly it’s pretty much a permanent fixed formation going by all the pipes and gubbins that are between the wagons, certainly splitting it would involve a lot more than disconnecting the brake pipe and coupling to get them apart! effectively the outer wagons today were acting as barriers/runners (certainly at one end anyway)

Mickleover is one of my ‘must go’ small shows I try to make an effort to get to but I’ll be honest I didn’t see it advertised anywhere this year and must have totally missed this thread too, gutted oh well always next year

Interesting, I went for that one as it seemed to have decent reviews and a good security rating, let’s hope I never have to find out if it’s any good! Broke the 1200 mile mark today too just booked it in for a service and a bit of work, the rear brakes are contaminated with oil so I’ve had to order new rear disc and pads, while they are doing that I’m going to have a new back tyre as that is getting quite worn now and also have the gear cassette swapped over for one I have with a bigger hill climbing cog just to see how it goes, that will require a new chain as well, I’m going from a 38 to a 41 cog for those who understand these things!

Cracking pics jack, how long does my arm look in the waving pic though! the wagons are 95378, 79 and 80 This morning it was originally marshalled with the module wagon to the rear but it had a couple of overhanging pipe brackets that looking at your previous pictures of the train were to do with the extra tanks on the other wagon, they looked like they may have fouled the loco end once we ran round so we reformed it with the loaded wagon in the middle before we left the rtc just to be sure

it’s a weed killer train, looking at the labels that module this end contains the chemicals, the centre is the operating area and the end is an office/messroom I don’t know if there is more of it looking at the extra brackets over the buffers, will have to wait and see

Some from today, a wagon move from derby to bescot, should have been toton but the only spare loco was a class 60 in Bescot, shame! 60002 was my loco Into derby to change ends and head to the rtc Bet it’s been a while since a 60 was on the RTC? And coupled to the wagons, the new weed killer module train I then took it down to chaddesden to churn round where 66794 was sat, first time I’ve seen it painted Into the station to change ends and head back to the train And away to bescot Certainly an interesting unit! And the loco stabled up interesting to note that on the trip back from Derby I saw a DB livery 60 in chaddesden, DCR in summerhill loop, Drax livery at Burton, and a Puma livery and DB in Kingsbury! 196 testing tomorrow night then RHTT the rest of the week

says the man who lives on one!

Staying right next to junction 10, thankfully I’m on the bike so don’t have to fight the traffic to get here from bescot! it’s a nice hotel to be fair, the gym is a proper one, not just a treadmill in a store room, 25m pool too

edit: duplicate post

Change of job today. Unfortunately had to ride to kings Norton to collect my lodge bag as is left it there the other day ready for today’s job, after that I rode to bescot from there on the bike! First up in crewe, D213 on a rail tour bound for the Wirral, rather nice! got a video of it, so I thought, forgot to press record, managed a picture though! Ended up taking a train off site in Stone back to bescot And into bescot And the loco off And away to the hotel for the night, back in tomorrow morning for a light engine to derby to bring some wagons back to bescot from the RTC, got a class 60 for a change

I was having a moan yesterday that I hadn’t got the mileage in on the bike but today with job changes I managed to get another 25 miles in, home to the station, new st to kings Norton, kings Norton to bescot and bescot to the hotel in walsall! also managed a fair bit of exercise in the gym at the hotel, running, elliptical and swimming burned a fair few calories that’s for sure

You never know with some of the network rail planning notices! I had one last week, job in atherstone, assess point stafford station, that’s a long walk down the cess

Terrible week for exercise this week, only managed 25 mile so far on the bike but I have done 2.5 mile walking miles. No running again though, it’s all down to the shifts I’m on, quite simply can’t get any decent exercise in as I’m just doing home and sleeping before going back out again in the evenings, I have been getting the bike mileage in to and from the station but that’s it, no leisure rides compared to last weeks trips to the leek and manifold railway and rudyard tomorrow should bump the miles up a bit as I’ve got a 2.5 mile home to the station and a 7 mile new st to kings Norton ride to do as well as a 3.5 mile long Eaton to attleborough ride to the hotel to do in the evening, much rather take my bike than use hire cars and taxis! I’m also in a hotel with a good gym and swimming pool so Monday evening and Tuesday morning I’m going to make use of those facilities between turns saying that, this weeks weigh in i lost 2lb so I’m down to 17.3 Stone now, so I’ve now lost 1/4 of my body weight since Feb, here’s the latest comparison picture

The nights are drawing in now so there will be less photos in the thread I should imagine as I’m going to be working mainly nights on the RHTT but I’ll get what I can when I can, I’m waiting on a new phone with a better camera, going from an iPhone 8 to a 12 which is loads better apparently in the meantime a couple from last night RHTT in Lichfield trent valley high level After that it was off to crewe to work a train to east mids gateway, just a pic of rhe adjacent DB train while the other driver was running round the train Then light loco back to bescot, couple of class 60s in the yard Daytime RHTT tomorrow then into lodge near Nottingham for a job out of toton on Monday to the RTC and bescot

Only a couple from last night, bit of road learning at the start of the job, signed up so I can now work trains to peak forest, before I had to be conducted from chinley! It was so dark there were no pics there but we worked a train through to bescot via the hope valley and derby after that it was over to hams hall to work a train from there back to crewe in tonight signing off kings Norton to reddich and route conducting marcus37 over to Lichfield city then back to crewe to work a train to East Midlands gateway! next week is rhe class 66 RHTT on Sunday then a wagon move off the RTC in derby and a week of the MPV on the RHTT out of kings Norton, going to be a busy one

That signal at craven arms is so much better with those LED lamps fitted, you can actually see it from a decent distance now!

Well if nothing else Hattons are honest in their 2nd hand listings!