big jim

Without going back through 18 pages I spotted some tracks, an old crossing complete with signs and lights in the trees at Workington docks a few weeks back, next time I’m there I’ll get some pics however here’s something a bit different! abandoned 7” 1/4’ tracks, anyone care to guess where

One of our old cats ‘benson’ used to play fight but as soon as you went ‘ah ah ah’ he would stop fighting and start licking you better instead

Never thought I’d that about the hand, she does have toys in the playpen and plays with them a lot which is fantastic considering last week she was so scared and weak

I’ve been trying my best to keep my chest out and shoulders back when running as When I run ‘upright’ I can feel my lungs getting filled with more air as it were and my spine feels fine but after a short while I start to unconsciously begin to slouch forward again which is what I was thinking about the posture improver

Here are a few more pics and video of Nicola

Some from last night, first bit was supposed to be Crewe to Leamington spa but it was not required so I only had to take to loco to bescot basford hall tail lights of 6G88, we’ll see more of that later! bescot then it was over to small Heath to relieve 6G88, the same train I followed all the way from crewe, 66731 up front abandoned vehicle carrying wagons in the bushes in Caledonian yard Run round at Tyseley And into crewe Intercity 86 on basford hall shed 196s again tomorrow

Thought I’d change things up tonight, rather than doing 5k I set the timer for a 30 min run to see how far I could get in that time, also went round Queen’s Park instead taking in various paths around the place the pace has slightly improved from just short of 15 min a mile to just over 14 min One for the runners out there inc@David Bigcheeseplant I’ve noticed I slouch forward when running and it’s giving me middle back pain about 5-10 mins into running, when I stretch after the run my back is a bit clicky but the stretching makes it better, can I get or should I wear some sort of posture improver for when I’m working out, you can see in the comparison a few pages back that I have stopped slouching as much now I’ve not got as much weight up front and I’m wondering if that is related

I think I’ll try and avoid that method thank you! anyway it’s weigh in day, was going to do a 5k run before I weighed myself but ended up doing it before I go and I’ve lost 2lb this week so down to 19.5 Stone now (3.3 Stone loss) still going for a run after though

Made the mistake of having a Sainsburys bakery granola bar yesterday then checking the weight watchers points afterwards only to discover it was 20 of my daily 40 point allowance for 100g, had a look at the nutritional value and it was 29g of sugar in 100g of bar! still managed to keep within my points though by eating lots of zero point foods like egg and beetroot etc later in the day this morning I had to drop a car at basford hall so rode home but took the long way back via Nantwich then once round the park to get over 10 miles no running today though, rest day from it but going out for one tomorrow i recon, also got to ride my bike to basford hall at 01:00 in the morning and back at dinner time so plenty of movement before weigh in time!

it has a pass/goods changeover switch normally accessed via the EM2000 computer but you can do it manually too with a toggle switch in the clean air end, not sure what it’s attached to electrically though

the other reason they are not suitable for passenger workings (on their own) as mick has eluded to is they don’t have an electric train supply however they regularly pilot the Caledonian sleeper north of Edinburgh when a pair of 73s aren’t available, it runs as a 66/73 combo with the 73 marshelled next to the coaches so it can provide the train heat and electrics etc

Some from today, started with a Warrington to Leicester turn with 56081 leicester then it was over to Leamington spa to work an MOD north to crewe via Stoke on Trent back on it again southbound early hours of Wednesday morning and a small Heath ballast job north

Sorry if it’s been mentioned before but when it comes to railway modelling the phrase “a certain Merseyside box shifter” when discussing Hattons really annoys me, like uttering it’s name will summon the apocalypse!

after the Ufton nervet crash one of the parents of someone sadly killed there after being thrown from the train was campaigning to get seat belts fitted to passenger trains, obviously the plan never gained any ground http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4542952.stm

Had a run tonight, was going to do a couple of miles but pressed on and did a little bit more distance, 3.25 miles this time

Just a couple from last night, possession at wigston, raining early on when I got there I then had a loco failure, a complete puzzle as to what happened but I lost all the functionally in the cab, the computer went off, brake went, AWS inoperable, absolutely nothing working, even the engine stop buttons didn’t work including the ones in the engine room so I ended up switching it off with the battery switch! I then restarted it there was a strong smell of electrical burning so I quickly turned it back off and declared it a failure, luckily there was a loco on another train nearby that I ‘borrowed’ and used it to drag mine out of the worksite so they could continue working before taking it to toton double headed, another driver then took the loco back to the possession and reattached it to the train we nicked the loco off

nah ‘plain white bread’ is the fertis livery

The weight watchers app is good as it doesn’t particularly count the calories in numbers but gives you smart points based on the nutritional values so as long as I stay within my points limit it works, some items can seem to vary in points depending if the person inputting them has put the correct info in such as portion size etc but they are generally normally pretty close or can be adjusted anyway i understand I won’t run myself thin but I’m doing that side of it to improve my general well-being more than anything, so I’m not puffed out climbing up stairs, I certainly feel a lot better physically already, I couldn’t have imagined running 3 miles even a month ago yet alone covering over 160 miles on a bike

its nice to have something other than a 66 once in a while! ive got that 56 on monday and potentially a 37 friday from bristol temple meads to derby via the lickey

Nothing for me in the initial batch but if 56081 as currently running gets announced at some point then I’ll be up for that ive got it again this Monday crewe to leicester

Got myself a ‘new’ Apple Watch earlier which will run the Strava app so I used that tonight to record a 5k run, when I got back had recorded 3 miles on the nail despite me taking the exact same route as the 5k (3.1 mile) run I did earlier in the week, it also showed me running for 44:41 seconds on the screen but adjusted it to 41:46 ‘moving time’ when I came to download it, it’s a bit strange as I defiantly didn’t stop moving for more than 30 seconds waiting to cross the main road Even with the adjustment my pace had improved slightly by 5m a mile! Just gutted it didn’t record the last 250m to make it a round 5k

yes I’m being careful not to over do it, I did feel a bit tired earlier in the week but I think the combo of heat, exercise and working nights caught up with me the previous nights work was cancelled at the start of the shift so I was home by midnight and in bed asleep whereas I should have been in work, that then threw me for the daytime as I should have been sleeping but was awake, however the next nights shift ran as normal so it was a good rest day from exercise with a good days sleep which gave me a chance to recover a bit (despite then doing 13 miles on the bike commuting!) Today is a difficult one as I’m now not in work until midnight Saturday so I really don’t want to be in bed all day then up all night! this is one of the hardest parts of the weight loss, trying to eat and drink at the right time when on shifts, last night for example I had food before I left home at 18:00ish then just had a cereal bar and a litre of water overnight, I’ve just had a greggs egg roll for breakfast in new st then that should be it until dinner or teatime, I’m on the same job next week so will have to work out my meals accordingly so I’m not hungry in the middle of the night

Why pay £149.50 from gosrude when you can buy direct from Silver Fox for 50p more and be sure of getting a new one! http://silverfoxmodels.co.uk/class-74-bo-bo-british-rail-crewe-new-2/ it also says in that link that the model uses a Hornby class 90 chassis so that’s what the Hornby DCC ready option is in my opinion, despite never owning or building one of the kits from what I’ve seen at various shows where silver Fox have been present (pretty sure they do warley) they are pretty good models ‘for the time’, that time being a decade or two ago, they however still stand up to scrutiny today but they do appear to have been surpassed by the latest generation of 3D print models available from home manufacturers on eBay or shapeways some of their more unusual prototypes that 10 years ago were only available from silver Fox have since been picked up by the mainstream manufacturers such as the (proposed) class 89, 74 (Hornby class 71) and Heljan 05, 07 lion etc with a lot crisper detail out of the box for similar sorts of prices, but I suppose there are still plenty of people happy to buy them

Broke the 150 mile mark earlier, thats 54 miles since last Friday (6 days ago) when I passed 100 miles, pretty pleased with myself for that, still got another 4 to do tonight from New St to Tyseley then another 7 to do in the morning to get home, amazing how quick it all starts to rack up not in work tomorrow so no return evening commute but I will go out for a run at some point in the evening, possibly do the 5k again

The kitten is now called Nicola! ahes a little fighter, loves climbing up the side of her canvas playpen and ends up looking like a Garfield window stick on Let her out for a fuss and play earlier