big jim

Some from this afternoon, bescot to tamworth bescot, 2 cranes in view Ews 66s and my train to tamworth back in it again in the morning back from Tamworth but with a different loco as it will have been cascaded off a different train

I had 2 classic minis, both in about 1993, one was a V reg (GED707V) 1000 in beige which ended up with a 1340 bored out MG Metro turbo engine in and painted BRG, the 2nd was a fully deseamed 1275GT clubman in a copper colour, I’ve got no pics of either cars but of the 2 I still wish I had the GT! of course I’m now on BMW mini No3

its like a handforth parish council meeting! Must admit i didnt know about the GT3 model but having seen the vid and andys pic i think i may put an expression of interest in for the 2nd run

Just 3 from today, Doncaster to crewe with 3 66s, I don’t know if spotters en route were expecting us to have the new 66s in the consist but there were people everywhere with cameras down the Erewash etc but nothing else of note was showing on RTT? doncaster and into basford hall, we asked en route if we could go via alrewas which NR agreed to which took over an hour and half off the journey which originally was via tamworth, Sutton park, Walsall and Stafford possession tomorrow and Sunday then a varied week coming up including working classes 47, 56 and 69 amongst others!

It looks like PIBS and mrs PIBS the looky likely lockdown kittens have both got homes, PIBS should be going to a work colleague and forum member this weekend if we can arrange our schedules mrs PIBS is going to a different home a bit closer to us

when the Bachmann one arrives I may well put the Hornby one up in the classifieds for what I paid for it, not 100% sure yet though

i am one of those people, I bought it to ‘do my bit’, the loco now sits in the display cabinet and will never see the layout. I did actually know about the Bachmann version way before it was announced but it didn’t stop me buying the Hornby one, I’ve since ordered the Bachmann set too and that loco will be used on the layout

Some from today, road learner bescot to bidston bescot a shot from my dad as we crept through Gobowen A soon to be replaced 150/2 unit replaced by 230 units, one of which passed while we were awaiting the signal waiting at shotwick into bidston Penyffordd on the way back Then into bescot where I was due to stable the loco then go home but it turned out it was the same loco I was booked to come to bescot to move to crewe tomorrow morning! a path was arranged and I ended up taking it to basford hall which will save me a job tomorrow, all I need to do now is move 3 locos from Doncaster to crewe later in the day

Bit more done moved the castle out of the way Measured a new piece of wood for around the castle folly Which gives me more room around the outside of the castle and a square tunnel mouth entrance Then took up the tracks in the station area The Baldwin this time trying the folly entrance for size The narrow gauge line dropping down between the castle grounds and higher town area Got some more castle walls to build to extend the castle grounds, these ones are the existing walls just placed elsewhere A few trains in the station, DRS push pull set and NR 950, the heritage line is to the left, passing loop at one end to allow 2 trains in the station at once, also the Baldwin climbing the narrow gauge line to the castle run out of insulating fishplates site can’t do much more until I get a couple of new packs, then I’ll wire up the various tracks and see if I’ve got the insulated fishplates in the right place!

66731 ‘Sir Tom Moore’ is on the Irvine tanks from dollands moor tomorrow as far as I know so it’s pretty much doing the length on the country tomorrow

demolition man?

And another rescue bought home this week, un-neutered, not vaccinated found wandering a main road with a couple of scratches on her body, she’s been vaccinated now and really affectionate already worryingly she was found in the same area as PIBS and she has pretty much the same markings apart from she’s about 6 months older than him, we’re wondering if she’s from the same mother but a previous litter

Saw plenty of seagulls today waiting for my train which was about 2 1/2 hours late because of a land slip near harbury! the question was asked of which line wa a which in saltley the other week, anyway here is a DB train being unloaded in the EMR siding Steel train passing by 70001 heading to landor st Long train of VGA wagons Eventually my train turned up And off at Leicester Rest of the week cancelled so a coleshill to derby tomorrow, bidston on Thursday and Iport on Friday now instead of the 196 course!

I do Carlisle to rugby on the wcml then into london via the chilterns, didcot is as far south as I go outside london, hereford via the marches is as far south that way then the likes of bidston, Chester, Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, derby, Nottingham, MML Leicester to Sheffield and Doncaster, clitheroe, hellifield, S+C then there’s other bits and bobs I need to refresh like holyhead, the Cambrian to Aberystwyth and Barmouth, heart of Wales etc but there is no requirement to go down there (at the moment)

66735 today a brand new uncomissioned 196 unit in store in Donnington, I had a look over the outside of it while there to refresh myself on them, I am supposed to be being passed out on the the end of the week (but it may not happen now!), my trainee for some reason was cleaning the windows on the loco! And into landor st Landor st to leicester tomorrow

Got home earlier to find the big fella asleep on the bed to get an idea of how big he is, this is my hand giving him a tickle!

Sent an email to my boss earlier asking where I could find a Covid test kit, my email server shows the first few lines of his reply........ The next word thankfully is drawer!

giving it some welly today, running on greens

Bit more done this evening, put a card track bed down on the polystyrene risers, filling the gaps over the track too Then loosely placed some DCC concepts powerbase magnets on the incline, need to get a couple more packs for the final bit of incline and a couple of other inclines and with the castle back in plate, still need to cut the edge of the wood off to get the gatehouse level Had a think about how it’s going to come back round, the two bits of card on top of the containers will be the height of the town scene, the track can run through a park/castle grounds it can then start to drop down in a cutting between the town scene board and park board (represented by the card pieces) it will then end up at mainline track level opposite the double slips the town scene will be the width of the 2 back lines as far as where the double slips are then curve back in (so I can reach the points) before it can come back out in the corner where the church can sit I’ve got a bit of motivation back to actually do something with the layout, once the track is layed on the spiral then I can fit the castle down and that corner is up and running, I might try and get the mainline station area laid and wired up in the coming few weeks, can’t decide whether to fit an overall roof to the station though

The back loco is running but isolated to be dragged in the rear of the train, you can do that with the likes of 66s as they have no fire system, if it’s say a 37 then it has to be mannned if it’s running incase it catches fire, the person in board can activate the fire system, Traditionally 37s have to be running on the rear otherwise it can’t keep main res pressure however some 37s now have an isolating cock to enable them to be shut down and maintain pressure (similarly 56s) if they are top and tail and the multi cable is in throughout the train (RHTT for example) you can have both running without anything isolated as a fire system activation is detected through the jumper cable the practice of dropping a loco off the back of one train into the top of another is called cascading, quite common where trains head back to site the same way they come from

One from This morning, ballast back from rugby to bescot, 66707 and 66742 too and tail bescot Donnington tomorrow

I do run DCC, I’ll see what happens if I straighten the pins if I can’t get it to work I’ll just hardwire a chip in to the pickups and motor

Got this for £20 buy it now posted, non running Bachmann Deltic with speaker it looks like the pins to the chip are bent so if I straighten them it may run with a chip or blanking plate, might try it at some point when I get a chance, if not strip the drive shafts out and haul it as a dummy loco!

One of my absolute fave films is currently on Comedy Central..... Kevin and Perry go large. never fails to make me smile, the soundtrack is absolutely brilliant, Kathy Burke as Perry is fantastic

Some from this morning oxford to derby, trouble with the DBSO so the 37 was leading to derby with the train in darkness as there was no power, unable to drive from the DBSO all well and good except for the reverse move to get into the RTC! a very wet oxford Derby We managed the reverse move by me changing a couple of switches on the generator and control unit which enabled me to get it to export power to just the DBSO enabling the cab to be energised and driven from, I bet the guys who’d sat in the train in the cold and dark since london had wished I’d tried it in oxford before we left so they could have had heat and light for the trip back! possession tonight in rugby then a varied week, Donnington, Leicester and Tyseley to finish off 196s, should have been on a nice little longport to SVR job Monday but that’s been postponed for a week