big jim

That’s where I meant!

Oooh, I’ve got to come in via new st tomorrow so may pop and get one of the 66s if there are any left

One of my fave mileage oddities is coming out of Marylebone towards Claydon jn where miles are ‘miles from baker st’ as far as the old junction for Verney jn just north of quaindon rd where it goes 38-39-40.....174-173-172 etc where it switches from miles from Manchester central then when you get north of the old Claydon station it goes back to 0 as you head off on the ‘new’ chord towards Claydon signal box!

That’s correct, I did know but didn’t know if it was ‘sensitive’ so didn’t put anything! Anyway, just 2 from today, a chilly iport And into coleshill Same job tomorrow

I think 56312 is off to peak forest to replace the Colas one

catch up time, some pics from the DSLR and todays job from the iphone end of last week was landor st to mountsorrel 3 hours in humberstone road same on friday whitacre Jn and back to landor st royal scotsman ECS crewe to leamington then got asked at the end of that short turn to work the avonmouth to clitheroe cement from birmingham to warrington today was a test run with 56312 and 47749 from leicester to barrow hill and back 56311 hasnt been out on the mainline for 3 years 47749 still in colas colours out onto the slows beside leicester station and into barrow hill ready to head back too dark for pics once it got back to leicester and that was that, nice to get back on a 56 and 47 today

It’s my biggest fear/worry while out driving, I always blow the horn at the rear of a train going the other way if there is a crossing in view I’m like nidge, hand over the horn when passing a stationary train in a platform, just in case

I’ve got 56312 on a test run tomorrow (Wednesday) Leicester to barrow hill and back with a 47 for insurance if anyone happens to be kicking about for piccies Times will be in RTT

Had I been quick enough I think I’d have ended up with one of the non sound ones! No use for it, no layout, no other o gauge but at that price an ideal starting point

Quick job today, ratcliffe power station to Doncaster New chimney mod on the class 66 After leaving ratcliffe I got a call from the signaller to say I was still occupying a track circuit outside ratcliffe and could I confirm I was complete, obviously I was still on the move with no brake application so ‘as far as I knew’ I was but the only way to be sure was to stop and check I had the whole train behind me which I did at Toton Luckily the train was a ‘weights and measures’ train that runs once a year to calibrate/check the scales at the power station are correct which required it run top and tail as each wagon is placed individually on the scale and the rear loco is needed to push wagons forward so all I needed to do was check there was still a loco on the rear, which there was (66722) Derelict class 60s and a 66 And that was that, straight back from Donny and home, royal Scotsman ECS tomorrow night

No matter how many times I see this clip I end up crying with laughter ‘I thought I told you to stay in the truck’

Spoke too soon about there not being anything in the news https://www.edp24.co.uk/news/sheringham-level-crossing-car-train-crash-1-5784057

Couple of days of the mountsorrel job, got some pics in the slr camera that I’ll add when I get home and on the computer 66770 this time Couple of interesting jobs next week, very nearly hired by Colas to drag a tamper to towyn due to my ertms training but couldn’t make it as ive got to move the royal Scotsman ECS instead Then Wednesday I’ve got a 56 and 47 move!

Look how uncluttered Doncaster looked back then! Eastwest: your link just sends me to a load of phone numbers in Mexborough Try this google one though Dropped pin near Swinton https://goo.gl/maps/vEJopfiuUym The line to the left looks to be the old link to the Mexborough to swinton line

im nicking that one for my next bunch of trainees!

That’s Sutton bridge jn

Just a few from earlier at Basford hall waiting for my train which was running 80 mins late due to a points failure near Wolverhampton Panorama shot Lots of freightliner locos! Nice sunset My train came in with 66711 up front and away I went to clitheroe, had a good run and got there 20 late but had to load it which wasn’t on my diagram!

the last pic of 6000, straight away i thought it looks like the drop down from leaton to shrewsbury as its a fairly straight out in the open run between gobowen and leaton (7 long straights and 7 curves) before it twists a bit and then goes back straight for the drop into salop also im seeing a square overbridge in the distance and off the top of my head the only one on the route is in that section have a look at google maps below and see what you think https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/52%C2%B044'37.1%22N+2%C2%B046'07.9%22W/@52.743638,-2.7707804,591m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x0:0x0!7e2!8m2!3d52.7436379!4d-2.7688712 the building in the background may be the farm that is 400m back from that point using google distance measurer, the buildings certainly look "similar" on street view

im going to now also suggest as swindon123 did that the first bridge is indeed actually the skew bridge (ruabon tunnel) as in this street view you can see the portal actually square on to the line (with room for the blue and red car to park on as per the picture) https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.0336194,-3.0154362,3a,75y,85.29h,72.02t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sIT7TyYlL8cSdFQx0MK0E8Q!2e0!7i16384!8i8192 going back to the street view of the electricity lines and their location on the original picture of where they cross the line compared to now and cross referencing it with the side by side map it would put the removed bridge approx 50m this side of the powerlines so it must have been removed before 1977 (the dropped pin below is where i have managed to pinpoint the bridge to have been) https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/53%C2%B001'53.2%22N+3%C2%B001'02.4%22W/@53.031444,-3.0181412,247m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m14!1m7!3m6!1s0x487ab5d05739375d:0xd575606934cc778c!2sWrexham!3b1!8m2!3d53.04304!4d-2.992494!3m5!1s0x0:0x0!7e2!8m2!3d53.0314445!4d-3.0173394 as for the shadows beyond the tunnel, there is a large clump of trees on the left hand side of the line, maybe its those, whatever it was it certainly got our brains working out id also suggest that you were slightly north of glanyrafon brook crossing sttod on the cutting embankment as, as can be seen in this streetview its actually level with the tracks on the down side (but it does drop down steep steps on the other side of the tracks to the brook) https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.0304966,-3.0222477,3a,17.7y,140.89h,88.23t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1ssSIyAA3L2BUB_FXYP0B5uQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

we may have a breakthrough! looking on railmap on line you can scroll back to a 1920 o/s map of the area and it shows a 2nd bridge just south of the B5152 "ruabon tunnel", choose a later map and its not there, indeed its not there on satellite view either (or indeed any trace of it) http://www.railmaponline.com/UKIEMap.php?lat=53.53296&lng=-1.31973 you will have to find wrexham from that link to somewhere near barnsley! EDIT: try this one, side by side map and satellite view pretty much confirms there used to be a bridge there, the large shadow behind i recon as though is the B5152 and the pic is as swindon says taken from the footpath at glanyrafon brook! https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by-side/#zoom=15&lat=53.0322&lon=-3.0164&layers=11&right=BingSat streetview of the electricity lines going over the tracks as per the pics https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.0325193,-3.0179533,3a,43.3y,155.7h,99.61t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s-x7zW0m97pVL-RQV_gQYbg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

I recon The white building was the brewery which stood just south of general station and was demolished in about 2003iirc as it was there when I used to drive for FNW on the wrexham-bidston line, it’s now a string of retail units and Pizza Hut if that helps pin point it on google going by the ariel pics in the link I provided it was standing in 1973 so timeframe wise it’s correct Trev, you have come to the same conclusion as me regards the bridges, the wrong amount and not ‘skew’ enough! The bridge that carries the B5152 is actually called ‘ruabon tunnel’ even though it’s not particularly near ruabon (it called that as it carries ruabon road over the line)

If the signal is on at Whalley I’ll stop at the distant and wait for that to clear and give it the gun up the bank if I’m on the loaded train

right picture 1 of the princess im going to say wrexham too now, still cant work out the vantage point but compare to this ariel shot of wrexham from 1973 http://www.wrexham.gov.uk/english/heritage/150_exhibition/aerial_images3.htm lets start with the spire, as pointed out possibly st marys cathedral, however look very very carefully in front of it on the 6201 picture and you can see what last night i thought to be a fire station training tower which very conveniently in the link above happens to be in pretty much the right place moving right on the 6201 pic, a long white fronted building maybe? in the linked picture the shopping centre and car park are light and again appear to be in the right place finally moving to the far right of the trees the final dark 'tree' to the right just before the smoke could actually be the other big church in wrexham (st giles) trying to figure out what the towers are too the left of the 6201 pics are though, i think one is the 'new' brewery some more ariel pics from 1973 here http://www.wrexham.gov.uk/english/heritage/150_exhibition/aerial_views.htm

And pics on flicker too https://flic.kr/p/8TmxMX https://flic.kr/p/jZnQTB https://flic.kr/p/jwLS5G https://flic.kr/p/jwKXEF

Some from yesterday, couldn’t be bothered today! Had to take my car for tracking and while I was waiting I went to Greggs for a coffee, next door to it, near crewe station, is the old Nantwich signal box, now part of a training school! And away to Birmingham to collect my train, first stop Leicester Then as a driver had gone sick I had to take it on to banbury instead of Landor st And off it went until I got back on it again this morning to take back to Leicester! Supposed to be on it tomorrow but doing the clitheroe cement instead