big jim

Just won a ‘rainbow railways’ Bachmann class 66 respray of 66587 in its pink “ONE” livery for £136, buying it via TopCashback takes another £1.50 or so off it too the rainbow railways website has it for sale at about £230, I suspect hattons recent announcement of the same loco in their range may have influenced the final selling price non railway related I win a K*N Apollo induction kit for the mini for £99 last week, brand new it cost £420! Gave it a good clean earlier with some k&n filter cleaner, the muck coming out of it was unreal but it’s now like new and oiled up ready to fit ,going to give the pipes a good metal polish too before they go on

I don’t sign anywhere down there, I’m just traction conducting the class 37 and DBSO with a driver who signs the routes tonight were off to Watford on the D.C. lines

And last night... ferme park Changing ends at hornsey Leigh on sea Fenchurch st Shoeburyness From there it was back to Ferme park and stabled, I have had to rush back home for an emergency MRI so caught a train from Euston back to crewe where one of our 92s was sat on the blocks off the sleeper train

Regards traction for routes, yes you can only use say the western on the west Somerset pack, I for example have the trans Pennine heavy freight pack and I can only use the 40 and 08 on that route I bought my copy in a Microsoft sale as the premium package download witch included Lots of ‘route pack’ DLC but I still have to buy extra ‘scenario packs’ for those routes such as the heavy freight pack i think looking back now it would have been good to have had the basic game as a free download on ‘game pass’ with DLC purchase-able at a later date, it may sound like a loser for the publishers but I’ve been “hooked in” with the forza series on game pass, the week it was released you could get the game for free on game pass and within a day bought all the extra DLC in the ‘ultimate bundle’ for 50 odd quid, similarly forza motorsport 7, not a particularly new game, but free and all DLC avavilable from Microsoft shop for £8, lots of people spending the same as me will soon add up for the publishers then of course when forza eventually drops off game pass I will then have to go out and buy a physical copy to still enable me to play if I were to lose the digital copy for some reason!

Of course, I forgot about the Heljan 47 announcement, the way the post was worded made it look like hattons had announced one!

have I missed something here?

Some from last nights job, didn’t bother with pics at Cambridge just a few from Ferme park and back in this morning all being well were off to shoeburyness and fenchurch st tonight

you missed the letters ‘un’ off the start of the last word!

I totally get where you are coming from, how do you know which loco has which particular set of sound, that’s something that us who work on them can probably over time furnish biff/Hattons with the info about as we get on particular locos, that way they could maybe produce a database of prototypical set ups for each individual loco in the range i suppose if your not completely bothered about authenticity and intend on buying a number of sound fitted Locos you could mix and match the sounds to get a nice variety running at the same time

Shame the offer isn’t on in the Microsoft store, wouldn’t mind some more DLC for trainsim on the Xbox but it’s not been reduced for a while

I’m sure I’ve had a couple of DB 66s with TPWS4 fitted, that then of course needs a clunky key sound with TPWS4 Sounds also had a few with the auto start stop function enabled, Shuts down after a short while to reduce emissions then restarts when you put it in direction

Going back to the video, I wasn’t expecting to see Mick Newbryford at the start, thought I’d clicked on an episode of last of the summer wine Fully expected to see him hurtling past in a runaway bathtub by the end!

Just watched the video and am very impressed, I wasn’t going to order a sound fitted one but I’m going to definitely get one now, probably go for 66789 biff: regard the battery switch and key in function, euro spec 66s don’t have a removable key, just a flick switch in each cab so you don’t get the clunk as a key goes in, you flick the switch, acknowledge the AWS (which is also a completely different tone to normal) then the TPWS 4 Voice activates, if you want me to grab a recording on my phone to show you I will at the weekend The switches are the 2 above the engine start/stop buttons

id be inclined to agree regards the radar hiss only coming on while moving but I have an old howes 66 that I asked Bryan to put the hiss on a Random function as it’s something that is characteristic on a 66 and sounds good going off quietly in the background now and again

Looks like he’s hepped up on goofballs! complete with bottle in a brown bag by the looks of it

some from last night, derby to ferme park via marylebone derby marylebone west ruislip where we changed ends and ran to greenford, over to acton and onto the north london line to ferme park ferme park off to cambridge tonight

Cold this morning in north london, just had my premier in breakfast and now off to bed for the day!

the guard in the picture, Gary, built like a brick toilet, was having a laugh/taking the mick out of one of Chester depots old boy drivers back in the early 2000s and they started play fighting, the driver, Alan, who was more slight than Gary but taller, I.e. more meat on a chip, picked him up off the ground in one scoop and deposited him upside down in the nearest bin what Gary wasn’t banking on was Alan used to be a fireman on the western out of Stafford road and used to fire gwr ‘kings’ on the Paddington to Birkenhead between london and wolves day in day out so despite his size he was still incredibly strong and agile even almost 50 years later! some of the stories he had would make a superb book, being so drunk he couldn’t fire the loco so the driver dumped him in the tender and drove and fired himself to london! he was a proper rum when I had him as an instructor, we stopped at shotton one morning and a college student spat on the drivers side window as we pulled in, quick as a flash he got up and went to the door and confronted the lad who said “what are you going to do about it old man?” To which he picked the lad up by his jacket lapel and waist band, lifting him a good couple of feet off the ground and proceeded to clean the spit off the window with the back of his jacket (while the lad was still wearing it of course!) ah happy days!

I was in the shed the other week, the first batch of class 56s that will become 69s are sat inside in primer, nothing changed externally at this early stage, I was hoping to see one with the new cab interior in place but again nothing to see yet

my lad wanted me to put it on the outside but I refused! its coming off anyway when I put the K&N on next week

And the euro spec 66s have even softer horns!

thing is if i guess it right then do i know it from the railway or am i going to look like a dogger! is it basford hall looking up from gresty lane or crewe ETD

passing your favorite dogging spot by the look of it!

got a new bigger intercooler on the cooper, this one has an air diverter plate fitted which sits snug under the bonnet to channel the air direct to the intercooler also fitted a bigger scoop, need to wrap or paint it black but it will do in white for now! next up a k+n apollo cold air induction kit to replace the one i made up using ebay bits and a universal ramair filter, they cost £450 new but i picked one up off ebay last night for £99, ive got some nice metal polish and k+n filter cleaner so ill get it looking and performing like new before i put it on Took it to the car wash too!

Yes, Sir Walter scott, it was actually £89 but still a bargain, there were a few things I was tempted to get off that stand, Anoraks anonymous I think it was called