big jim

Some from yesterdays job pass to Leamington from crewe then taxi to banbury to fire up the locos and get a couple of trains ready had to cascade locos from one train to the next as they came in from the north and we’re leaving that way too The first of the trains start to move from the worksite Waiting to leave but stuck in a queue Eventually got away and into bescot nearly 2 hours late super shunter the next part of my job should have been an empty Stone train as far as crewe where I got off and finished, but as I was late in with the first train it made that one late too, but also due to crewing issues it was being diverted via derby and Chesterfield to tunstead and my relief only signed from Chesterfield which I only found out about after I booked on so as you can imagine I wasn’t impressed! and the loco wasn’t on the train as it had only just come in from banbury However despite leaving an hour late the timings were pretty slack and I got to Chesterfield 30 mins early From there I had a taxi ride home which the driver decided to go via the awful up and down twisty Buxton and cat and fiddle/wildboarclough route rather than via smoother and faster A38 A50 derby uttoxeter route, which despite it being 20 mile longer is actually quicker (and I’m able to have a sleep, no such luck on the Buxton route!) anyway a long day, lots more coming up this week, 4 nights of trafford park

The old crossing at birches head road in Stoke on Trent that carries the line to oakamoor, the tracks are still in place either side of the crossing here as the line is technically mothballed rather than abandoned, there has been talk of it reopening for a while now to run aggregate trains from a quarry on the branch and they began to clear it a few years back and were confident it would open not long afterwards but when you see things like this and the lack of fencing between the existing line and the cycle path next to it etc I really can’t see it happening any time soon or indeed if at all! Dropped pin https://goo.gl/maps/9uh9aHeXScGCWbxeA

Some from last night and today, job was cancelled but I was asked if I could help out in Bescot shunting, when I got there the rail miller was in the yard with no driver as it was diverted and the booked one didn’t sign where the train was to be stabled, I did so I took it to crewe to leave there until today I then came taxi back and prepped some trains in the yard including my own to a possession a bit later on in the night 66755 on the first train Then my train, 66722 appears to have had a disagreement with the loading hopper! 66766 at the other end Which I took to Banbury and into a possession, All shut down ready for the next driver to reman later in the day After that I went taxi back to bescot where I rode my bike to new st and got a train back to Stoke I then went for a ride along the Couldon canal toward biddulph Bridge carrying the line to oakamoor over the canal And a crossing complete with rails Just past this the line split and one way went to oakamoor (which is technically mothballed) and the other toward congleton via biddulph this is now the biddulph valley way It then reaches chatterley Whitfield colliery and slagheaps there is a heritage centre there i think I then carried in toward biddulph, an old station platform Hard to imagine this is an old railway line, from biddulph it drops toward congleton on a steady gradient but it’s a good continuous 3 or 4 mile worth, must have been a slog coming the other way with a steam loco! And under the Stoke to Manchester line just north of congleton station and viaduct I then went back from congleton to kidsgrove via mow cop and the ‘killer mile’ a 1:4 hill, I managed about 200 meters and gave up! Walked the bike up which near as damn killed me! Snaily bridge Highland coos having a swim And up to mow cop A bit sweaty Joderell bank in the distance Looking south over the Cheshire plain And back toward Staffordshire From there it was all downhill to kidsgrove where I got the train back to crewe and home, covered just over 30 mile on the bike today which was good, on top of the 10 last thing last night getting to work!

Some from last night, bescot to Stone rail drop then once done into Stafford and back to crewe bescot, my train ready for the off 66004 again rode to bescot from Wolverhampton and put my bike on the loco for the ride home from basford hall I did however forget that the low emission euro 66s have a narrower gangway than an original one and despite getting the bike on ok I managed to get it completely wedged while I was trying to get it off in crewe, at one point I genuinely thought I’d have to taxi home and come back later in with some tools to take the back wheel off, the pedal got stuck in the radiator grille then as I moved it back to try and free it the back wheel got stuck in the doorway, took me almost 20 minutes to finally free it, it was like something Bernard cribbins would have sung about! running round in Stafford, ran almost 2 hours early back to crewe which was a nice bonus small heath ballast tonight then a week of trafford park next week

Yeah the irony wasn’t lost in me either! I suppose it’s saving a few emissions by tornado being in light steam

The commute home this morning broke the 1000 mile mark on the bike! That distance has taken me 14 weeks to do, the longest continuous ride being 26 miles, the longest day of shorter rides combined being 40 miles when I went over cannock chase etc to bescot then bescot to new st etc, the most miles covered in a week was 126 in the summer when I rode to chester and did a few other tours closely followed last week by 107 commuting miles that’s far more miles that I would have imagined I’d cover in that time, I find I’m now planning my work week to fit a ride in, tonight for example is going to be another wolves to Bescot ride but it will be dark this time as I’m leaving an hour later, the bike will then go in the loco and come back to crewe with me and I’ll ride home from basford hall in the morning!

Some from last night and this morning, mod nuneaton to Carlisle stopped in crewe for pathing then when I got to Carlisle I rushed back to the station to see if I could jump in the sleeper train rather than waiting until 05:45 for the first train back then realised it didn’t stop in Carlisle, it was the one before that did! anyway as I got on the platform 66004 ‘I’m a climate hero’ rolled in hauling ‘Tornado’ and a charter en route empty coaching stock to Liverpool

I’ve yet to make it to a park run, the local one is in the park where I normally do my running but I seem to be busy every Saturday morning at the moment, I did however do a 5k yesterday back from dropping my bike off at the station so at least I’ve done something this week!

Weigh in day. Surprisingly a loss again, 2lb more so now 17.5 Stone, a total loss of 5.4 Stone so far since February I think the 22 mile I rode last night and this morning may have helped with shedding a bit of the weight just before weigh in

Just two from last night. Rail milling machine again, bescot to Stoke bescot before putting the locos on the train and Stoke after a change ends, the possession was taken around the train in the platform nuneaton to Carlisle tonight, should only be Warrington but the relief turn was uncovered so I’m doing the whole lot, keeps Carlisle up to date on my route card for a bit longer!

i genuinely thought Les Dennis had named the engine when I saw the pictures!

As the nights begin to close in I’ve got myself an extra headlight for the bike, an Amazon warehouse special this time for £8, 1000 lumen this time, mounted it below the Halfords light which has a remote so I can switch from constant brightness to various flashing modes so I can now have both modes at the same time or 2 headlights! and Car boot bargain of the week, a CycleOps turbo trainer, paid a whole £4 for it and it works perfectly, it’s missing its resistance adjuster but they can be bought for a few quid and it works well enough without it, these are now produced by a company called saris and are £250 new! weigh in day tomorrow but again not expecting any loss as I went to a food festival at the weekend and today is the first bit of exercise I’ve managed this week due to the shifts I’ve been on, got a home to station and wolves to bescot commute tonight and bescot to new st and station to home tomorrow morning so I may lose a bit but I’m not going to be disappointed if I don’t, as I mentioned before I think I’m at that plateau point at the moment

Every panel looked to be rusted through on it the brief glimpse I had of it

Yeah I’ve not seen an estate one for years, thought of you twice yesterday, saw a montego estate heading for the scrappy in sandbach on the back of a transit flatbed yesterday as well, it was absolutely rotten though didn’t look to be anything salvageable on it

Locos within classes are much of a muchness really, things like 47s with the ETH running so get the power zapped a little bit but I rarely get on them with the ETH running

Defiantly big differences between various classes, a 66 for example will pull a fair old weight with ease that if you tried to put a class 37 on wouldn’t even move! some from today, shrewsbury to Donnington and back shrewsbury Donnington I know what I’m going to turn my Bachmann underground Ernie maintenance vehicle into! 196 and 197 coupled together, note the difference in window configuration Ready to depart and back to shrewsbury rail Milling tomorrow

Another for @russ p seen in shrewsbury abbey Forgate car park this afternoon

Got a nice picture of Hank earlier, he never normally poses or sits still for a picture, he’s filling out nicely and will certainly be an alpha male when he finishes growing!

Yesterday’s job, first up I picked up a work colleague from basford hall who came in with 66731 I then got dropped off at the station where I saw a former colas work mate so got chatting to him by the old diesel depot i then went to Leamington spa and onward to site to collect the first train of the night and took it back to bescot, too and tail locos on 20 or so falcons and into bescot then it was taxi back to Leamington and work another one back to bescot, 66723 with 20 auto hoppers And that was that, change of job today, shrewsbury to Donnington RFT and back, a nice short job for a change!

Thanks, a good week again, smashed it on the bike with all the commutes to kings Norton, no running again but the bike makes up for that hopefully a couple of wolves to bescot and back to new st commutes to do this coming week to get a few miles up

Some from last night, carnforth to Tebay and Shap rail milling carnforth into the station and onto the goods to change ends as was north and job done at hardendale quarry north of Shap summit ready to head back in a taxi for my car! possession again this evening near Leamington then a week of MOD, rail milling and ballast jobs

Another comparison picture, week one of weight watchers at the end of feb 21 compared to yesterday after just over 6 months of it and regular exercise I certainly feel a lot better physically and mentally, not tired any more and keen to get out and about in my bike as often as I can

Yeah they are RA indicators Some from today, the unit developed a fault so we only got as far as soho jn and had to turn back incase it escalated into a bigger fault, it was nothing major but didn’t want to take the chance as it kept coming back every 30-60 seconds anyway that’s me all passed out on them, that’s me glued to the RHTT for the season now! On the way back to new st I had a slower than usual amble to get some pics as I’ve done the same trip 10 times this week and not had a chance for pics, I’ve been doing the trip from new st on the bike and going via the canal tow path from bath row to lifford it’s a nice run, lots of walkers, runners and other cyclists though, was sure I was going to end up in the canal at some point when passing other users but thankfully didnt! nice working barge, notice it says great western railway Tipton depot on it Cadbury Bournville The old railway bridge that carried the bournville works railway over the mainline and canal rail, road and water combined! a good week, enjoyable course, strange unit to drive compared to a proper loco, it’s almost like being back on a sprinter! plenty of bike mileage done too, 80+ miles, next week looks like the rail miller, Stone trains and possessions again

This little fella was sat outside kings Norton depot this morning, looks like hitler!

Yeah, will do when it starts in 3 weeks, see my work thread for pics