big jim

Day one of the RHTT circuit, bescot to rugby, rugby to Macclesfield, Macclesfield to rugby then home starting in bescot, for the train watered up and ready to roll and away to rugby Into the back platform at Macclesfield for 45 mins and into rugby And away to london it went same again tomorrow

coming off the RTC is no assurance of it being right, I once left there with 37421 and forgot to put my lights on, drove past the place again, picked up a route conductor at Leicester and got all the way to Clapham town via the MML and the north london line before another driver reported it!

Not put any mini pics up for a while, done a few subtle changes on both of them swapped the scuttle grille/side indicator holder for chrome ‘unbranded’ type rather than the ‘cooper S’ type as the car is really a standard car also put some Union Jack stickers on the rear lights of both cars ive ended up buying another mini for £200 that I’ve got to collect the week after next, not decided what to do with it yet as it has lots of useful bits that will fit in the convertible as it’s the same colour and has an aero body kit, also has good tyres, full leather trim etc so I may strip it, if it’s not in too bad condition I may well see about getting it MOT’d and sell on after I’ve swapped the body kit over to the convertible

Futher to that post yesterday we had a right mare of a trip to Trafford park, had a good run nuneaton to crewe then as per usual sat waiting while the class 86 hailed freightliner set off 2 mins in front of us, it came to a stop at couple of loco lengths past the signal then after a minute or so continued on its way We got as far as the independent line only to be stopped at a red signal and the signaller tell us the freightliner had failed in front of us exiting the tunnels toward sandbach, it was eventually after an hour rescued by a light engine 66 that happened to be coming from Manchester direction, but bizarrely the rescue loco then passed us on the independent line outside sandbach, the 86s had been assisted to sandbach and had been declared fit to run, we passed them at longsight as I’d asked control to see if network rail would run us past them so we were not futher delayed getting into Trafford park while they shunted, we eventually arrived just over 50 mins late and only had one box to remove and one to put back on (problems in Southampton apparently) so come 02:40 it was almost time to leave but again the freightliner departs Trafford 5 mins in front of us, we got away and had a good run through Manchester and onto the styal line only to be confronted with a red at heald green, a call from the signaller then told us that the freightliner 86s had come to a stop ahead blocking one side of the junction to Manchester airport, the very same 2 locos that had failed earlier on! this time we sat there for 2 1/2 hours while it was recovered With the same class 66 from crewe, when we eventually got away We went via the station at crewe finally arriving into nuneaton about 140 mins late! quite why they Didn’t put the assisting 66 on at sandbach and leave it on into Manchester and back I don’t know as removing it caused huge problems and I should imagine hefty delay fines for freightliner, I ended up doing the best part of 14 hours by the time I got home but luckily im not in work the rest of the weekend so can relax for a couple of days

Not put any pics up this week as I’ve been in the same job all week to and fro from trafford Park grabbed a pic tonight as we had a loco swap last night and hopefully it will be my last trip here for a few weeks as the RHTT starts on Monday and yet again I’m the only driver with various parts of the route in date so it’s my job for the next few weeks while other drivers come with me to refresh it 66735 as I say RHTT coming up, bescot-rugby-Macclesfield-rugby, a nice daytime job for a change

Thanks to a 10% off voucher I’ve just got a 2 wagon weathered hattons RHTT set for £90 and a Bachmann collectors club west coast railways 37710 for £152. the 37 was £190 last week and was reduced to £170 today which was tempting then I was alerted to the 10% voucher in the bargain hunters thread which for another £17 off it, more than happy with that edit: yes I know the £37 was £129 when it came out but I wasn’t a collectors club member at the time so would have had to add the cost of that to the loco as well

Fantastic, thanks for the heads up Richard just did a bit of cyber squandering and bagged a Hattons RHTT set for £90 and Bachmann collectors club 37710 for £152

yes I noticed last night on google maps, they certainly didn’t waste any time ripping the tracks up beyond the gate either! the canteen in container base was a cracker, a real life Victoria woods ‘dinnerladies’

It’s the same in Hams Hall, there are countless notices still up regards the ‘channel tunnel security order’ as that was also planned to be the same set up regard the track its its a shame to see the old MSC line to Barton docks all gated over now, spent many a happy few months trundling up and down there on the ship canal hired 08s when I was with fastline back in 2010 when the train was dragged to and from the exchange sidings, the 2 old boys on it were a right run pair, health and safety....what’s that! They were both in their 60s and had worked the dock railway all their working life So must have seen some changes from it sprawling the length of the canal right down to it being just that final couple of mile stretch to Barton!

I must be somewhat younger than you to have not got the reference saying that a friend of mine back in the early 90s was on the side ‘the man from the pru’ Who still did exactly that, I wonder when doorstep premium collections officially ended for them?

Thats for the other hole!

The most significant thing is John smith has agreed to stay on for 5 years as MD. other than that I’d be surprised if the public see any difference

Just has to google that.... basically you mean a ‘flasher mac’

In other news..... https://www.railmagazine.com/news/network/new-owner-for-gb-railfreight

Some from today, worked a couple of trains off site in Greenbank Nice mural on the fence And back for the 2nd one

I ended up having it done under anaesthetic as it was far too much Pain without

Well I read that wrong as “removal of characters” and I thought, “that’s not how I remember playing with my Star Wars figures” When I had to have a camera up me pee hole to check for kidney stones sexy thoughts were the last thing on my mind!

To be honest my GP administered prostate exam was no different to trying to successfully wipe my arse with Lidl value toilet paper, that tends to put a finger where a finger shouldn’t be too

Just 3 from today, was supposed to be a simple hams hall to bescot job but got a call asking if I could go banbury and rescue a failed intermodal train, luckily the loco required was in crewe so got ready and had a blast down the wcml to nuneaton, over to Coventry then onward Leamington to banbury where we collected 66718 with 66727, a colourful combination! we then set off north while the driver who should have been on the intermodal at 11 o clock fuelled and prepped our bescot locos at hams hall and by pure chance he was ready around the same time we left banbury so we arranged a footplate swap outside coleshill, him continuing to Doncaster and us going to bescot and into bescot where we put the locos top and tail a rake of autoballasters before going home! possession tomorrow near Northwich then a week of the Trafford park intermodal

If anyone wants to buy a cabinet get in touch, I’ve got to decide which ones I’m going to keep for myself first but the rest are to sell on anyway, obviously not at £20 but i certainly won’t be asking much for them depending on size

she is the driver!

Ive got a clip of our murano clicking over to 200k miles, it’s now on about 215k, had a service yesterday, tracking today so should see another years service (not bad for a car I bought for £2k with 180k on the clock 5 years ago as a stopgap motor!)

Some from last night had to inspect a wagon at Basford hall so walked past these, 90050 and 86252 in a right mess waiting to set off from Basford hall, no freightliner in front for 2 nights and 2 nights early arrival for us And waiting in oxford rd same job tonight, then a night off tomorrow (to get a train into Manchester oxford road for the theatre!)

As Simon mentions above there are simulators, they are more about Doug unusual scenarios you would hope not to encounter in real life rather than road learning such as passing a signal at danger by accident, extreme low adhesion etc, as he says we have just opened ours, I believe one has (or will have) ERTMS fitted regard the cab ride video that is another way we can refresh a route, the company has up to date dvd’s And downloads of all the routes we work so if you need to see one but are struggling to get over it you can watch the film (I’ve never done that one personally as I prefer to try and get out and about instead) and yes, night is a lot different to day learning!

bound to break now!