big jim

Couple from early this morning in toton

Yeah, got through in the end but had to pass 2 signals at danger just outside chester In tonight with a short trip from landor st to Toton with a Stone train, should have been from shrewsbury but the marches line is closed so it’s going via the lickey just one pic from Earlier tonight, got a new(er) iPhone yesterday which supposedly has a better camera, we’ll see when I use it properly at night!

i take it the line is shut at calverley? yes i can go via middlewich if needs be

Just one pic from 7am this morning, possession between wrexham and Chester 66753 on the rear at balderton level crossing back in tomorrow to take it back to Basford hall

First time I’ve seen deadmans lane today, absolutely brilliant, especially like the 3D mini me in one of jack’s class 20s!

That makes sense, got it moved quickly to get it back in service quickly

Regards The class 37 pics Dave, was one of the trains a failure or was that a planned move? only asking as I thought you couldn’t Marshall locos in the middle of a train, only front or rear (rushes off to check rule book/white pages)

Out of interest how much is 97201? quite fancy getting one if I can afford it but don’t want to waste SLWs time if it’s beyond my budget

did it last night, one number! turns out the heater matrix is blocked, another £60 plus 2 hours labour to shell out! they can’t do it until next Wednesday now so I’ve left it there and am currently enjoying a bus ride to Stafford to get the train back to crewe, just hope the Murano is done today or I’m knackered for a car for the rest of the week! Thank god I had a huge tax rebate this month

Well the one day job doing the supercharger has now stretched out to four due to other issues! nothing TOO major but bumped the price up for the job, first up the radiator had a hole in it and the slam panel surround was damaged beyond repair so much so all that was holding the radiator in place was the pipes, was quoted £450 by the garage who use OEM parts, I got a rad from a motor factors and slam panel from a scrappy for £90 the lot! The Belt tensioner was seized so doing very little that’s had a new piece fitted 2 studs snapped when removing a pulley so had to be drilled out and tapped A Vacuum pipe was missing on supercharger so was venting to atmosphere A loose pipe on intercooler but to top it off I’d asked the garage to investigate the poor cabin heating, they have obviously drained it to fit a new radiator and refilled etc, checked for air locks and now there is no cabin heat and the car is overheating so that’s going to have to be looked at today before I can get it back, unfortunatly they also need the courtesy car back at 08:00 so I’ll have to sit and wait while they diagnose and possibly repair it, personally I think someone in the past has run some radiator seal through the system and it’s gunked up the heater matrix or heat exchange then to top it off my wife’s Nissan Murano has had to go in for a grinding noise to be investigated and the front wheel bearing and abs sensor have gone on it so that’s also up on the ramp waiting for parts at a local garage, I should get that back later today though and as a final kick in the balls the courtesy car I got from the mini specialist has had one of the chrome headlight rings go missing overnight while parked up near the station and yesterday I hit a pothole in it while driving down to them with some parts and burst the tyre so I’ve got to pay for that too! this car better last me a few more years after this weeks shenanigans (oh and the handbrake cable snapped on the convertible mini too!)

noticed while out in the car today the leaves have started to come down in earnest around crewe, hopefully a couple of weeks of wind and rain will get them down quickly thankfully im not RHTT'ing this week

ive just bought one of the HO ltd ed wagons off ebay (as seen on the last page), having a look at the pics if i modify the covers to lose the vented top they wont look far off the older UK spec wagons, that and a bit of fine detailing such as white handrails, yellow lifting lugs and new OHLE flashes etc and i recon i can pass it off for a UK wagon, rule 1 applies of course

Only took one pic last night, first bit of the job was cancelled, 2nd bit was the RHTT from rugby to bescot then I did a possession from bescot to adderley Park, pathed through new st but unfortunately I didn’t stop to grab a pic! couple of days off then 4 days of the Trafford park job next week

all the hinged ones have gone at £40, just listed the Picture Pride ones

i believe the brake rig needs a fair bit of work doing as well as electrics

some from today, thought the job was just moving 66736 from Toton to longport but it was actually moving GBRf’s latest addition to the fleet to EMD to be converted for use in the UK as it was late I went to mexborough to meet it 144 pacer stopping in the station then my train rolled in run round in alsager The run round involves a move into alsager station and back past the loop And into longport then waiting for the train home a 153/156 combo in the now defunct east mids trains livery all sorts of jobs on the card tomorrow!

reinsured the cars with adrian flux this afternoon and got a pleasant surprise to be honest! originally called them to just insure the cooper s from this monday with all the mods declared, was going to take it off my multi car policy and do a stand alone one for it as i know aviva wouldn’t insure it with the mods, anyway what i didnt realise was the multicar policy was due to run out next month anyway so they gave me a quote for all 3 cars which came back at £70 less than i’m paying now with less excess and protected no claims bonus on all 3 cars and thats with all the new (as yet to be fitted until monday) mods declared as its just over 5 weeks until the aviva policy runs out they have set it so the cooper will start on monday and the other 2 cars will start mid november but all will have the same mid november renewal next year, and fair do’s to aviva when i explained that the cooper would need to be taken off as of monday and the policy will need to finish a week earlier than expected they said they would waive the ‘admin fee’ for cancelling each of the policies and i’d only have to pay one £38 fee for the 3 which i think is reasonable as it should be £60+ and as i did it through topcashback i will get £40 cashback too which covers the admin fee nicely roll on monday

just one pic from today, shrewsbury to Washwood heath, had to run round in coton hill where I got the pic before sunrise got to cemex only for the plant to be declared a failure so I’ve had to leave the train there for someone else to discharge nice little loco move tomorrow, Toton to longport with a 66, conducting an intermodal and working the RHTT on Saturday before a few forced days off to recharge my batteries

I quite like that!

Thoughts are with sandy and John, reading the last blog entry has really hit a nerve with me as it exactly describes the week with my mum, went to see her on the Sunday, she came outside and waved me off and beforehand we were laughing and joking in the living room, she was up and down making cups of tea etc (no stopping her) by the middle of the next week she was bed ridden and only managed to open one eye when I spoke to her before slipping away a few hours later, seemed to happen so quickly but so glad I managed to see her on the Sunday as for myself on an early one today, shrewsbury to Washwood heath stone train, currently heading to shrewsbury on the train to relive it had a mixed old week in work, thanks to someone reporting me for having a snooze in the cab I’ve had to have sleep apnea testing and a medical, not got sleep apnea but have 3 months to lose a fair bit of weight, ok I’m not happy about how it’s come about but I think it’s the kick up the ass I was needing to do something about it, I’m also not allowed to work my rest days as the reason I’ve been snoozing is quite simply over work!

Simple request from me, how about a model this loco https://www.railbusinessdaily.com/gb-railfreight-celebrates-locomotions-15th-anniversary-with-class-66-naming/

I’m pretty sure the discussion was about the warning end yellow too?

i would say more ‘papa lazarou’ than darth Vader

yeah, cleaned a filthy Colas loco at chirk, as you say only managed one side though!

Some from today, RHTT again early morning start in bescot I actually washed the loco this morning before we set off 350 desiro in the new london north western livery with a class 37 lurking which was dragging an anglia unit somewhere or other Day off tomorrow then back to the RHTT on Wednesday