big jim

Couple of shots from Sunday, went to Chasewater for the Santa special train Then in the evening worked a Doncaster up decoy to Toton service a few days off then a couple of nights of Trafford park then a class 47 move on Friday night

I’ve ended up taking the cooper s to a mechanic on one of the mini forums I frequent who is going to put a recon box and new clutch in rather than mess about repairing the existing one As he does them all the time he’s not messing about and is going to do it by taking the engine out at the same time and give it a look over and degrease etc, fit new engine mount bushes and replace the split CV boot, oh and he’s also going to put me a fast road cam in it too! all the above for less than the cost I was quoted to repair my existing box and replace the clutch

and as for Jim’ll fix it....... wonder whatever happened to that?

Spot the difference! buffers, side step and a red pipe? above the fuel tank Are all I can see

It’s a place in Cannock called A1 clutches (yes I know it’s sometimes not the best thing to choose A1 or Aaron Aardvark) Had a look at the on line reviews and they seem favourable they are going to take the old box out and renew the bearings etc rather than fit a recon box (unless it’s completely knackered of course) and renew the clutch while it’s out, I know of a couple of extra bits need doing, CV boot and lower engine mount so I’ll see if they pick up on those while it’s there they said it will take a couple of days to do as I’ve got to use the convertible I finally got round to changing the wheels over (again!) 2 of the white wheels had very slow punctures as the edge of the rims were so scabby so I’ve put a set of cooper wheels in it (which I think look better!)

I’ve just been playing spot the difference with the images, all I can see is different colour buffers and a something red above the fuel tank

there seems to be a never ending cycle of "hand in pocket" with my mini's! the red convertible had its MOT last month which cost me £250 to get through, new handbrake cable, brake wear sensors and trackrod end, so that is running lovely then this morning driving back from toton the gearbox went on the cooper, i suspect its been hooky for a while as the clutch has always been heavy on it compared to the convertible but last nigth after i gave it the beans away from a roundabout it started to whine and i struggled to get it to go into 4th and 2nd gear while decellerating took it to my chosen garage this morning who tell me the selector may have worked loose (or something) you can hear it whine and rattle when stationary but when you put the clutch down it stops, it still has a good bite on the clutch but i noticed last night that at the top end of the rev range it was also slipping slightly, ive had a couple of quotes for reconditioning the existing box, bearings etc and new clutch at £700ish with 2 year unlimited mileage warantee from a place in cannock who can do tomorrow and have it back wednesday or i can get my garage to do it with an unrefurbished box off ebay which is £200 with a 3 month warantee and about £350 labour plus a £60ish clutch kit with him doing it as and when they can, i really cant decide which to go for, save money and take the chance on buying an untested box which or spend a bit more but reuse the existing box and have a warantee? (my heart is telling me to go for the more expensive option) time to dust off the convertible!

It’s not as hi-tech as that Dave, The spray is controlled by a bloke sat in the cab who flicks a switch to turn the machine on and off where required on the tick sheet it doesn’t spray over pointwork, in tunnels (which is a new one on me), when stationary so the operator needs to know where they are and remember to switch it off when we have stopped or the jet will cut through the rail (3000 bar pressure!)

He was gutted enough it went for what it did!

Rails of Sheffield (of Sheffield) advent calendar too... B2 Peckett’s https://railsofsheffield.com/groups/2888/advent-calendar-day-1?utm_source=Mailing+List&utm_campaign=6bd9d7564e-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_12_01_10_59&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_74d01bc2ed-6bd9d7564e-5503093

Picked up Kernow’s ltd Ed 66709 in sorrento ‘ship’ livery last night for £127 bought through TopCashback back site which gave me 3.5% back (£4.45) and 6 x nectar points (£3.30 worth) takes it down to just below £120 ive arranged to collect it from Nantwich which also saved me the postage, when I paid it bought up the sellers name who I recognised as a fellow GBRF driver!

Don’t know about other TOCs but the wagon maintainers have a obligation to keep numbers, yellow ends, ohle flashes etc clean(ish) so they are jet washed a couple of times a week some from last night, started in crewe as per the picture above and visited the northern part of the Mersey rail network TFW MK4 DVT on crewe LNWR Then it was away via Warrington and Earlestown to the Mersey rail system where we joined it at bootle jn, reversed at oriel rd, again at Sandhills and onward to the end of the system at ormskirk, the other side of the blocks is the national rail line to Preston We then set off for Walton jn where we turned back and did the Kirkby branch end of the line! Again the other side of the blocks you have the National rail line to wigan From there it was back to Sandhills, bootle jn, Earlestown, Newton le willows and all the way to Stafford via stoke in Trent and stone just to record 4 miles I’d track between stone and Stafford! stafford Changing ends in stoke to return to derby via uttoxeter Change ends again in derby and into the RTC then home!

I’m 09:30ish back into derby, got 37099 tonight

Not sure about the time period your modelling but nowadays I do a few propel moves on the main line staying in the lead cab but controlled by radio with ground staff clitheroe cement for example you have to propel in from the helifield direction or coming from Blackburn you propel over the pointwork, enter the branch then run round and propel into the cement plant, all done from the rear most cab ivw mentioned it a few times in other thread but one authorised Signalled propel move you can do solo is across Trent jn from the slows coming from ratcliffe, you cross to the down fast Nottingham, get behind the ground signal, make sure it’s off and propel back across the whole junction into the down fast (including propelling into a tunnel!) where you drop behind the main aspect and he can have you away to derby/sheet stores jn ive done it twice when Toton is full but a lot of signallers are reluctant to do it, it’s quite something to set back 1200ft of train blind!

And some from last night, Trafford park this time nuneaton running round in the headshunt on the old line to the docks and the other end with old Trafford lit up for maintenance and that was that, away to crewe where I got off and went home IM tonight from crewe to Liverpool, onto the Mersey and back to derby

im nicking that bit of knowledge and passing it off as my own to my trainee drivers!

Regards the Lidl £129 Xbox one s, a lot of shops today have the same deal so it’s worth a look round depending on your brand loyalties and store cards i have bought one from Argos on eBay via the TopCashback website, by combining offers I’ve managed to get 6 x nectar points via eBay so 780 points (£3.90 worth) and TopCashback is offering 4.5 cash back which nets me £5.85 so it near as dammit takes £9.75 off the total price, it all adds up! ill put the new one in the man cave and migrate the 2tb one to the living room to use with the 4K TV I bought a few months back (that’s still in its box until we decorate!!

Allow me to help.... the signal is still standing, complete with the head bagged up!

As stationmaster says there is probably a need to get a standard definition in place now signalling has evolved, as a driver I know R on a signal is a distant (or one that can’t display a stop aspect) but its my job to know!

Some from this evening, Leicester to Mountsorrel and back to Saltley leicester Loco for the night 66747 Mountsorrell And back in Landor st trafford park tomorrow night

bangor was the first place that came to mind when I read the Original question, I’m glad someone else picked up on it too! Couple of things, there is no repeater on the entrance to Bangor tunnel, just a distant signal, the signal on the exit and is mounted on a cantilever gantry is an ‘approach Release’ type IF you are routed to the platform so you will get a yellow ‘caution’ aspect at the distant as you need to be bought down to 15mph, if your going along the down through you can get a green aspect as you can whistle through at 50mph, that very rarely happens though, only ECS, freight etc do it, the last time I did it was on the NMT the repeaters in Belmont tunnel are off indicators so you can propel (with a guard in communication with you by radio, cab to cab or bell buzzer) out of the tunnel With coaching stock as it’s not advisable to try and change ends in the tunnel, it can be done but you have to get a block on the up line as there is no room on the wall side, I’ve done it a couple of times with IM trains and even knowing nothing is coming it’s bloody scary in there, add to that a 37 belching out fumes and it’s not pleasant!

this is the email I just got...... As one journey comes to an end, a new one begins. You might have heard that Virgin Trains will stop running their services across the UK soon. We’ll be sad to wave them farewell on 7 December. But until then you’ll still be getting 2 points for every £1 you spend. And from 8 December, you’ll be getting the same number of points on your journeys with our new partner Avanti West Coast, who take over from Virgin Trains. For more information check the Avanti website. In the meantime, if you notice any Nectar points or miles missing, get in touch with Virgin Trains West Coast by 7 March 2020.

Some from today, had a medical near Wokingham! went down via london and back via oxford crewe euston Over to paddington And caught a 802 unit to reading that was it for pics for the day but went to blackwater and back on a 165, voyager to Birmingham and a 350 to crewe!

I’m glad the hopper was there as the lads let me have a sit down with them when I got fed up of walking round! it ended up as a GBRF staff meeting as I ended up meeting fellow driver and Rmweb member Erixtar1992 at the wagon, one of the wagon group guys was one of my trainee drivers last year, another is a shunter and the 3rd guy is starting with GBRF as a trainee driver in January and is likely to be my next trainee, then as we were chatting our boss walked up and joined in the chat too!

Must admit I did chuckle at the guy who must have thought he was a drill instructor ushering people to the pay desks before the doors opened, personally I thought they did a good job when you consider the footfall that’s was coming into the lobby at 09:15 for both warley and the bike show anyone else notice when the blinds went up on the pay booths they couldn’t get them to stay open, that made me laugh too, I’m easily pleased!