big jim

Some from today, not many as busy driving! aston waiting for the Tesco train to pass new st Hatton rhe comment was made yesterday about coffe cups tipping over, discovered earlier that they fit nicely between some of the buttons on the dash! When I got back to crewe the 3 peaks by tail charter was in the platform loading up with people before heading off to Holyhead, the participants would be leaving at bangor then climb snowdon and rejoin the train tomorrow for the trip to cumbria and then Scotland 2 x 37s and 47 up front One more day of MPVs to go then I’ll be good to go

That’s the route I take…. It’s a nice ride along the canal, a nice passage but it gets a bit tight around bournville boulevard though! One more day of it to go then maybe a regular commute when the RHTT starts

Weigh in day today, lost 2lb so 17.7 now had a good week exercise so far all involving commuting to and from new st to kings Norton and crewe station to home which is 18 miles a day 5 days this week broke the 900 mile mark with the bike this morning too

Some from today, first day out handling with the MPV, a good round robin of the Birmingham area First up we went kings Norton - university - new st - Perry barr - soho - smethwick - Kidderminster- Worcester Then we went back the same way to soho - Perry Barr - new st Then New st - St. Andrews - small heath - Dorridge - Leamington spa Leamington spa - dorridge - new st - university - bromsgrove And bromsgrove to kings Norton! certainly a quirky unit to drive, not going to win any speed contests up the lickey that’s for sure! another day of it tomorrow and final pass out on Friday, looking forward to adding them to my traction card

The mesh was from an O gauge brass diesel detailing kit I had sat round

Here is a link to a conversation I did in on a Dapol 73, I never finished it and have sold it on now though its a standard GBRf 73/9 rather than the Caledonian sleeper one but you may get a few ideas from it, I used bits off a scrap Bachmann 66s such as the cut down exhaust

Not a happy bunny, my wife borrowed the mini today and it’s come back with a flat tyre which won’t Re-inflate so that’s a new tyre needed but to finish it off she’s also managed to scrape 2 alloys and bash the sump! as I type this I’m looking at her handywork on the white car too Any body know a good divorce lawyer?

Just a couple from today, a bit of an early finish so a ride back via bournville and the old Harbourne branch and back into new st out on the mainline with the MPV tomorrow morning, kings Norton, Worcester, Leamington and bromsgrove amongst other places

Yes I was surprised to see the cabs have air suspension, it’s in the manual that if you come to one that’s been sat for a while the cab may be tilted back until the airbags fill!

Purposely grounded as it’s in the local scrappy, been quite few there over the last year or so, an RES BG by the looks of it don’t know where it’s come from but looking at the paintwork on it and the container in front and airport truck is say they are from the same place I then also spotted this lurking in the corner, hopefully put to one side for salvage, a loco tender of some sort

One to upset @russ p a rover waiting to go into the crusher at the scrappy in crewe get on the phone quick russ see if you can get some bits off it! (It’s in Houston’s scrap yard next to the ETD)

Just one pic from today, first day of learning MPVs, seem simple enough but very temperamental, if you get something in the wrong order when setting up the cab etc it won’t play ball and take power etc so you have to start again! Hard to believe they are over 20 years old now!

End of week analysis, I’ve had a good week of exercising including the walk around Hampstead Heath and Highgate cemetery on Monday lots of cycling done to and from bescot and Wolverhampton and Birmingham new st, also did a 23 mile ride this afternoon as it was a lovely day just had a run last thing this evening as I’ve done none at all for about 10 days, I had to drop the car off at a local garage and ran home, glad I did as I broke my 5k PB with a time of 41.03 which I’m happy with Even saw a traction engine got a week of cycling coming up, home to the station and new st to kings Norton so hopefully a good 15-16 mile a day also may have have got myself a running partner too after I got talking to my wife’s friends husband who is into jogging and appears to have around the same pace as me, a bit quicker though so hopefully he may spur me on to speed up a bit

Went for a ride on the bike earlier to Halfords (3 mile away) but took a 20 mile diversion on the way home as it was such a nice afternoon, glad I did as I saw this traction engine in sandbach

Just two from last nights job, however after I had to cancel my plans Friday night due to work when I should have been going to a comedy show in Whitchurch i discovered saturday afternoon via Twitter that comedy festival promoter had a show on at 5pm in Stourbridge so I grabbed a ticket with a couple of hours to spare and headed over there to see Paul Sinha and a couple of other acts before heading to work at 8pm! if your in the Midlands/Shropshire area then check out funnybeesness for some quality acts, next week I’ve got rich hall and the week after Russell Kane in Whitchurch then later in the year and into next year Justin Moorhouse and Rosie Jones amongst others anyway enough promoting that, last nights job was bescot to wilnecote with a possession train, once I got on site it was taxi to coleshill to work the 3rd train to site, supposed to shut it down in position at 01:00 and finished but I didn’t get into position until 04:00 so was mega late finishing this morning! all 4 trains ready for the off in Bescot and coleshill back at my 2nd train of the night A week of learning MPVs coming up which I’m looking forward to

Cracking night in work last night, first up was working a Stone train from nuneaton to bescot, it was running an hour early so I could get there for the second part of the job, looks like the loco had an argument with the loader though! for the next bit I even put on my shirt and tie so I looked like someone owned me, I’m normally in full orange gear on worksites or terminals! After I worked the Stone train to bescot where I then jumped onto the GBRf “This time it’s personal’ charter to conduct it over cannock chase, as the timings were right between me getting to bescot and that passing through I asked the box to hold the train on the down goods, much to the delight of the track bashers on board, so the final couple of passenger trains could pass though, in the end I arrived 8 mins after it should have passed though so we didn’t lose much time but then there was a trespass incident so we lost a couple more minutes before we moved off the goods The driver on the 86 told me I could drive it as he’s an instructor on them so I got in the seat and worked it over to rugeley, quite a significant event as it’s the first 86 over the chase and indeed the first electric loco over there too! ready for the off from the goods obligatory hand on the controller picture I then rode on it to crewe in the 2nd mans seat where I managed a pic before the throng of people jumped off the train for pics this was only about 1/4 of those who piled to the end of the platform for pictures! The 86 was removed and a 92 put on for the run to Carlisle and mossend, everyone got back on board so again a chance for a picture with no one about walked back to the car in basford hall, passing the 86 which had been put back on the depot in all a great way to end my anniversary day, certainly not something I thought I’d be doing 20 years ago that’s for sure! back to normality tomorrow with a possession job again then a week learning MPVs

I do like 33s but I’ve never even been in one since I was a kid train spotting, DRS got theirs the same time I started there but I never got on one

I do like the Cambrian but don’t sign it any more (more to the point is need a fresh ertms course) I miss going down there, my fave current route I sign is the s+c I suppose but it does get a bit boring, other than that the marches are quite nice traction wise my fave has got to be a 47, least favourite a 66, no particular reason as they do the job that’s expected of them day in day out and they rarely go wrong but they are a bit soul less compared to say a 37 or 56

Just 3 from last night nuneaton, changing ends Atherstone, waiting to move further into the possession to start work and back in Bescot all shut down today is also the 20th anniversary of me starting on the railway as a conductor for First North Western in Chester, I did that for 6 months before going driving and have done that ever since, had some ups and downs in that time, ups being signing lots of routes and traction and becoming an instructor and assessor and some of the downs (not too many thankfully) include losing my job with one company only to have it happen again a few years later when Fastline went bust in the 20 years I’ve signed unit classes 101, 142, 150, 153, 156, 158, 165, 168, 170, 175, 196 loco wise it’s class 08, 20, 37, 47, 56, 60, 66, 67, 70, DVT, DBSO and HST, next week to that I can add MPVs to the list too ive signed (and still sign some of) north to Carlisle and south to london (Marylebone) and Aberystwyth in the west and Doncaster in the east ive worked Trains, being conducted, to the likes of fort William and oban, Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth, Brighton and eastbourne and Cardiff and Bristol and lots of places in between signalling I’ve worked under the usual stuff like colour light and semaphore but also sign token working on the heart of Wales and RETB and ERTMS on the Cambrian In all quite a varied bag of stuff over the 20 years oh and it’s also @Big jim s dad birthday today too!

Not as exciting at that I’m afraid, still looking forward to a challenge!

This is the swarf bin on the unit, that swings out on a platform and onto the truck for emptying the container behind the truck is some sort of messroom thing that they roll off in site then use the empty bed for the swarf bin and put it back on when it heads to the next site and one of the train in nuneaton same again tonight then a Stone train tomorrow and I’ve just been asked to conduct the ‘This time it’s personal’ charter between Bescot and Rugeley via Cannock, Class 86 up front, that should be a interesting end to the night learning some new traction next week too (no it’s not the 69)

An Amazon account! just look for reflective spokes

800 miles passed in the 12 weeks since I got the bike, not bad going that

I know you said you don’t want card kits but these look good https://www.scalemodelscenery.co.uk/ax145-oo-low-relief-stacked-40ft-shipping-containers-choice-of-designs---oo4mm176-10092-p.asp Or is what you describe just modelling the ends rather than sides? https://www.scalemodelscenery.co.uk/ax146-oo-low-relief-stacked-shipping-containers-end-view--oo4mm176-10100-p.asp

Weigh in day and despite the pig out in london I’ve actually lost 1/2lb, not much but at least not a gain! as for the bike, the seat seemed to be ok last night, got a couple of twinges in my bum cheeks riding home this morning but that probably just I’ve not ridden it for a few days and got straight on and rode 20 odd miles! I’m going to experiment with the mirror later, I couldn’t get the concave mirror to fit to replace the flat one but I’ve got a matching left handed mirror that I’ve put on the right side and spun the mirror round so the narrower teardrop edge of the lens is on the outside of the handlebar, last night all I could see in that part was my sleeve so I’m hoping it will show me a bit more of the road rather than my sleeve