big jim

I’m just basing my assumption on what Bachmann have told kreighoff in post #260 “it’s the old tooling for the front of the 37 that has been modified to reposition the light” I’m reading it as we have used the new tooling for the body but the unique nose is a modified ‘old’ tooling, my reasoning being it will save them money on a new tool (and us money should they have passed the cost of a ‘new tool’ on to the consumer Blimey imagine the s### storm had Bachmann said “we aren’t putting a working head light on it as it’s too costly but it’s got sprung buffers” the headlight was fitted by Colas purely so Bachmann could model the loco as per prototype as it wasn’t possible to model the original ‘car spotlight’ headlight 099 had when Colas bought it, similarly the end number is 099 and not 37099 as the longer number was difficult to print on the model due to the curvature of where it was applied to the nose so it was modifed on the real thing to make it easier to print TBH if I still worked at Colas I’d be pouring superglue over the buffer shanks to make them non sprung to calm everyone down!

Yeah he said he you were asking about me! 3 days in and I’ve already ruined one shirt, 2 rips in it and covered in muck from going through the class 60 fan compartment, gonna have to get a ‘foremans smock’ or something

Some photographers on the bridge had the money shot earlier at pelaw as 60002 passed us on the oxwellmains just as we headed back to tyne!

LOOK.....a GBRf engine! Waiting for the single line at newsham on the way back from lynemouth

The nose on 37099 is unique to the loco so why not use an existing ‘out of date’ tooling and modify it for a fraction of the cost of a complete new tooling that can only be used in 099

..........just to see the protest in the car park

they were under utilising the extra 7 class 70 that we’re bought for work that never materialised so the people running the company (ie accountants) told em to get rid of 60s as they were an expensive asset, maintenance heavy etc, agreed though, makes no sense!

same turn again tomorrow

Same again! Alcanman: you may have noticed we had signalling problems at newsham! The driver said you can see why we call it the Blyth and Twine, it’s held together with string! The thing I’ve enjoyed most about this week so far has been the drivers reactions to the class 60, all have previous on them but not with as heavy trains as the biomass, every driver so far has said ‘can we just keep going from the docks once loaded and we won’t get a standing start on the bank’ every driver I’ve told to stop on the bank and trust me, we have had both dry and wet rail so far and the 60 has pulled away without so much as a squeak from the wheel and cruised to the top of the bank without breaking a sweat, by the time we have reached lynemouth they have all been very impressed by it and have said they are looking forward to using them full time

fell diesel

just do a model loosely based on aylesbury vale parkway all built on a small embankment, single 'freight line' to the rear, platform on a siding off the line, road bridge going over the track on the left hand behind some trees to disguise the fiddle yard and one going under the line at the other end (A41 in real life) then add your canal, road etc to suit, stick a signal at the platform end and one on the 'calvert' branch and you can have freight 'displayed' supposedly waiting for a train to come or go from the platform

anthony, tell your dad to get posting again! now im on the same roster as him i know when he's off on a rest day so hes got no excuse (unless he's RDW teaching me the 59!)

so whats the issue with them doing it again or am i missing the point? (i take it railcars were about in the vale in the 1930s)

my dad has a picture of me taken on gresford bank that day with my mum, he's always said that king george V was the first steam loco i saw, i would have been 2 months and 3 days old at the time!

if they snuck a diesel on pendon on a normal running day, say a great western railcar for example id probably not give it a 2nd thought as i dont know enough, ok anything, about the great western region in the 1930s to make me think "well thats wrong" and have me heading for the door in disgust TBH if they put a 1940s vintage or design GW steam loco on there id not know any different either

I wonder if the operators have ever, after the doors have been closed to the public of an evening just got a Hornby thomas, Annie and Clarabel out for a circuit of the vale for ****s and giggles coz they could!

It was a booked train, 66 dropped off it at tyne and we put the 60 on, loaded fine and I left before it began emptying so I assume it unloaded ok as the return is showing on RTT as en route to tyne as I type this

Was that you behind the houses before bebside? Only 2 pics from me, cropped down to just show the loco And one from a safe point It’s on an earleir train tomorrow, 09:15 off tyne iirc

sat in the hotel listening to class 66s yinging away over the road before i begin refreshing drivers on class 60s tomorrow morning, a whole week of it, static training first and then a trip to lynemouth in the afternoon for practical handling funny how id never worked this in area at all then other week then i did that raildrop on the blyth and tyne at bebside and this week ive got 5 trips over the same line again!

Yes a ‘blip’ in the horn is what I mean, I know the loco you used at shrewsbury can do it as it has a simple 2 way horn lever as opposed to a 4 way with ‘soft tone’ setting The radar hiss is pretty random really, agreed it comes in once you go into direction but personally I’d have it set on a random interval setting as every 25secs would get annoying in my opinion

he's my contact regards the training next week

That’s what I like to hear, another member tells me quite a few will have previous on 60s anyway which makes things a lot easier for me

66720 was on shed yesterday in its rainbow colours Typically the first loco I’ll be working on next week will be 60085 in Colas colours as I’m going to be instructing drivers on class 60s in the north east for a week

when i can get near a loco!

sorry for a lack of updates but not been anywhere near any trains for a few days, did do a conversion to 'euro' 66s yesterday but the loco was in the shed so no pics, they are certainly different from 66s i know but not too bad really i have been told i can continue with the thread 'as long as im sensible' so thta s a good thing, no commercial secrets revealed and not to put myself im danger etc which is pretty much how the last 200 pages have been anyway