big jim

My wife went into Workington to have her hair done today so I hung around for a bit and got some pics of the old trackbed through town, this line went through the middle of the town rather than at the bottom of the hill nearer the coast as the current one does the road next to the car park is the trackbed turning 90 degrees it went under the road and further down under another before heading out of town over the river noticed the bollards in town next to the old station have a bit of local heritage attached, Workington being a former producer of rail I then went to the docks and noticed the tank train moving forward to exit so had a drive to the terminal just as it was preparing to leave 70801 up front, the shunter who I worked with for 5 years at kingmoor didn’t recognise me stood on the bridge at first as I’ve lost so much weight!

Couple from Workington docks

Not felt exhausted at all this week, enjoyed the exercise I’ve done too, not done any running for 10 days though, I really need to get back into it Ive have however covered 33 miles walking since 1st august for a challenge on Strava, done 33 miles on the bike this week too went for a ride to get my moving goal in for the day, went to the old airfield and did a bit of airsoft shooting with Dom and had a look at the old airbase buildings Still lots of hangers standing and in use too, I’ll get pics of them if anyone is interested https://www.abct.org.uk/airfields/airfield-finder/silloth/

Weigh in day, did better than I thought, was expecting a weight gain but in fact had a 2lb loss so now 17.11, 3 more lb loss and that will be 5 Stone lost in total

Some from earlier, carnforth bottom end sidings to Wigan, should have been crewe but my relief lives in Wigan so he got on there and for once I got an early finish! carlisle, the staycation express HST shunting into the wapping sidings to stable not sure how unusual this is but I wasn’t expecting to see a transpennine 802 in Carlisle, an ECS to craigentinny 37610 on an IM train 37219 at the other end DRS 66 in the middle road My train arriving to take me to Lancaster, the bloke stepped into the picture just as I took it! taxi back to carnforth where my train was waiting to be prepped and brake tested And away to Wigan where I got off and headed back to the caravan in a car that’s me until Friday now and onto the clitheroe tanks which I’m really looking forward to, never get bored of the S+C

I can thoroughly recommend it, I’ve not played about with the damping adjustment yet as it seems ok, that one was about £60 from Amazon warehouse but they are normally around the £65-£70 range (if you want quick delivery) I’m sure Halfords do them too the concrete hardstanding in the prom in silloth normally jars your teeth and rattles your eyes but the post seems to adsorb the ripples and joins in the concrete pretty well, it is a totally different ride, I’ve had to put it a bit higher than the standard post as the clamp for the pannier rack needs to fit below the mechanism and once i sit on the saddle it drops slightly under my weight as I say I think I need to move it back a touch as I’ve noticed a twinge in my, for want if a better word, ‘Butt cheeks’ that I’ve not felt before but if I shuffle forward on the saddle a touch it goes so I think my ‘rump’ is sitting further onto the wider part of the saddle than it was but not in a comfortable way, I’ll have a play about with the position tomorrow as I forgot to take the Allen key out with me to do it today on my tour

I’d have loved to have seen it, I’ve also found a picture on line of the final day with a class 26 on a long rake of coaches heading for silloth through drumburgh if you look in the foreground of your picture the ‘piece of railway infrastructure’ I took a picture of is next tot the end of the tender apparently the local MP has been trying to rally support for the line from Carlisle to Silloth reopen, if it did happen (which let’s face it, it wont) it certainly wouldn’t be in my lifetime and I personally can’t see any real benefit of it reopening, it’s not like silloth is gridlocked with traffic like Keswick anyway I’m working tonight with that delayed rail Miller so expect some open railway line piccies later!

We went through port Carlisle last night but it was starting to get dark and we still had 6 mile to go so we didn’t stop some more from earlier today, fitted a new sprung seat post on the bike and went for a ride to test it out, absolutely brilliant, really takes the bumps away from your bum! a few more pics of the old line and the branch to the convalescent home rode out to blackdyke which is where the line crossed one of the roads to aspatria, the crossing house is behind the trees and turning the other way it ran alongside the road, handily telegraph poles follow the old line so you can see clearly where it was, you can also see the church spire in silloth in the distance It then crossed another lane, this is looking back toward the last picture And back toward silloth again Over another lane at causewayhead, this is looking back towards blackdyke and the first two crossings and the crossing house looking toward silloth I then rode into the town and took a pic looking back toward the previous batch of photos, the line curves round to the right, again the poles showing the alignment nicely The smaller white building gable end to the right of the picture is the last crossing house in above pictures And looking back the other way, the station masters house is above the rugby club building and the station itself was where the houses behind the floodlights are The front garden wall is pretty much the old platform edge going back to the bridge, this is looking into silloth And the other way toward causewayhead and crossings, the line curving to the right Looks like some sort of railway infrastructure? possibly a raised ground frame lever platform? From there I rode out to what was the old convalescent home which is out past the docks, this was also rail served with its own platform! The trackbed is now a road for a majority of the way before it slightly curves to the right back toward silloth, this picture is taken pretty much where the platform used to be Looking back toward the home the gap in the gorse is the old trackbed Which rejoined what is now the current road to the home before diverging back off and pretty much through the car park toward where the camper is parked and back toward the over bridge in the other photos As well as that line there was further line that diverged off the convalescent home branch which went to silloth battery, this picture is looking back towards silloth, beyond the home (as can be seen on the left), the cutting was the trackbed and siding, I’m actually stood in the 4ft in this pic turning 90 degrees looking south toward maryport the line continued for about another 1/2 mile to an army range hope those are of interest, check out this site for some pics of the convalescent home railway http://www.cumbria-railways.co.uk/silloth_convalescent_home.html Silloth station http://www.cumbria-railways.co.uk/silloth_railway_station.html hope they are of some interest while I’m away from normal work duties!

Got myself a sprung seat post, paid a few quid more than an Amazon one for a brand I’d heard of, went for an SA Suntour which is the same make as the bike forks and brakes I wish I knew about this 650 mile ago, it’s made the ride so much smoother, got it set fairly stiff but still with plenty of movement over bumps, very impressed with it so far but I may have to move the saddle back a touch on the rails also covered a spooky 666.6 miles with the bike earlier! weigh in day tomorow but I’m on my hols so I’m fully expecting to gain a few lb as I’ve been a bit lax with my point counting and have been eating 3 decent meals a day (but still small portions), I do feel a bit bloated for some reason hence why I feel a gain is on the books!

For completeness here are a couple of pics from silloth the old station masters house, this was for sale a couple of years back and the rugby pitch with the railway bridge carrying the road over the station throat, the station building is behind me to the left, the line split just under the bridge with a short branch to the convalescent hospital on the headland which also had its own platform, there was also sidings toward the docks

Maryport will be my limit! a better battery may get me to ravenglass though

Couple of pics from earlier, there are more in my weight loss thread in wheeltappers went for a bike ride to have a look at the old solway viaduct site, you can see the old pier to the right of the picture and a ride along the bike trackbed to see the alignment and remaining pier the other side of the viaduct near Annan rhen riding back we crossed the old line to port Carlisle at Glasson and in kirkbride we crossed the old line from drumburgh to silloth

Went for a ride out earlier along the solway coast, started at Kirkbride and went round the coast through Bowness on solway and back in a loop to kirkbride after leaving kirkbride the old railway line form aspatria to Annan cross the marsh and road heading toward the solway viaduct looking back toward the Cumbrian mountains we then went round the coast toward anthorn where there is a radio mast structure on the old airfield then round the top of the coast we got to the old solway viaduct pier which we road down it started getting thinner and thinner and the brambles got thicker! but it was worth the pain for the view at the end and the other side near Annan we then came back through bowness on solway, the Hadrian wall path back through port Carlisle where there was really nothing left of the railway to photograph, but when we came back through Glasson we rode over the line to port Carlisle via this bridge, a bit further back toward Carlisle was the junction to silloth And back to kirkbride where we went alongside the bridge at track level we originally went over at the start of the ride, this part was the old line from drumburgh to silloth I think we were stood next to the old station but it was down a private road so I couldn’t get any photos

I was supposed to work last night on a last minute job but it was cancelled, carnforth sidings to rugby with the rail milling machine, it’s on tomororw night though, only as far as crewe for me so a quick pop home to check everything is ok then back north to the caravan again (off to Beatrix potters gallery and house on Wednesday for the day!)

I’m happy with the saddle itself, ot doesn’t feel l like memory foam, it is hard and you don’t sink into it as it were, it is a bit hard at times but only really noticeable when the tyres are at 50psi ive also not had a play about with is the rebound on the front forks, they are set about 1/3 stiffness at the moment and they feel fine too so don’t want to start playing about with them really

That’s very interesting, thanks, I think a bigger battery may be the best option at some point im generally on eco most of the time, same as you though, turbo to pull away quickly from the lights and traffic, I can generally do my house to the station quicker on the bike than in the car now (obeying all traffic lights too!) Someone recommended a sprung/suspension seat post earlier too, might look at one of those to smooth things out a bit?

hence why Gethin now has a metal rod in his arm, it was a kid one of those that knocked him off his bike the other week

@TheSignalEngineer Dominic’s bike has a thumb throttle that my mum had fitted when she bought it, I think it cuts out at the speed you quoted above but I know she needed it to get away easily from a stand before she became too ill to ride it and it was parked up my battery is a 317wh but I don’t think they do a bigger plug and play option unfortunately but I notice there is a new E-bike in carerra range that is a ‘hybrid’ that offers a 60 mile range, I’m wondering if that has regenerative charging of some sort, not properly looked at it but I may upgrade if they are doing the cycle to work scheme again when this bike is paid for in 9 months time! I certainly didn’t think when I bought this bike that I’d be going anywhere near the 40 mile range it supposedly has on leisure runs for fun, i thought I’d only really use it for commuting to and from the station a couple of miles a day but now I’m looking for 30-40 mile trips to do with somewhere I can charge up while having a break, I’m so glad I didn’t go for the cheaper 20 mile range bike Halfords had! regarding the tyre pressure I have found 50 psi is certainly the best for having to use the least effort but the ride is eye rattling once you get off any smooth tarmac surfaces, that’s why I gave up on the tow path when riding to chester and took the roads instead, I may try dropping them to 40 and see if that’s a happy compromise of ease and comfort the tyres I have on the Halfords spec page say puncture proof, I assume however they still have an inner tube like a normal bike, what are the tubeless tyres like for mixed surface riding?

mill ask my stepdad (mr crump) what the wagon was all about next time I speak to him!

I noticed ealier the motor seemed to be pulsing a bit coming in and off load around 10mph then I realised that rear tyre seemed a little flat, I normally run at about 45-50psi, it was down to about 28 which appears to put extra load on the motor, also regards range I think another factor on the Keswick ride was I was carrying the pannier bag with 2 chargers, bottles of water and various other cycling essentials when both put extra weight over the rear wheel and motor no doubt causing extra load

Spoke to the maintenance man earlier and apparently the miniature railway at the camp is originally from lowther wildlife park, there is plans to do a bit of work on it as it was condemned a few years back due to the track condition, he did have the loco running last week to keep it freed up ive said I’ll help out if I can, might even ask if GBRf would sponsor it!

3 weeks in a caravan with 2 kids and 3 cats, a few hours away from that is heaven

The joys of trying to get an avanti train on a Saturday morning with a bike, no bike spaces available so ended up going via Manchester airport and Bolton northern 323 crewe to the airport and a TPE from there to Carlisle got a job tomorrow night now too, carnforth to rugby with the rail miller on a transit move

Or broken! dead in train on my Mountsorrel to Doncaster job the other week, a proper pain as I couldn’t drive it so had to run round it at Leicester to get into Mountsorrel!

I was thinking of using a quick release plug like I’ve got on my car amp wiring (10 gauge) so there will be just the wires from the battery going into the plug and I will plug the inverter in while I’m driving and the car is running, I could probably get away with less than a meter of cable if I terminated the lead in the cabin below the glovebox as the battery is below the wiper scuttle vent https://www.halfords.com/technology/car-audio/car-amps-and-subs/vibe-fastplug-quick-release-amplifier-and-sub-box-connector-318774.html