big jim

When In multi the ECTS sees the 2 locos as one ‘unit’, However as they are both running the rear loco will give out a position report to the signalling centre so when they are split it knows where both locos are location wise Top and tail is slightly more complicated, as there are no AFT cocks on a 97s the rear loco has to be running all the time to maintain its main res and manned by a fire warden with the DSD isolated and ERTMS switched off, the problem then is when you change ends and fire it up the system doesn’t know where you are as you haven’t passed over any ballieze so you are in SR (staff responsible) mode which is basically proceed at caution until you reach a block marker where you need to speak to the signaller to get authority to pass it with a written order (there is something called non leading mode which will give a position to the signalling centre but we’re not to usee that) Top and tail multi (RHTT for example) is the same as having 2 locos double headed Now you see why my head was battered the other week learning it all!

When I initially asked the planning department on the phone if the works I was planning were covered under building regs they said that as the garage will become a ‘habitable space’ it would be a ‘permitted development’ matter but as I was looking at replacing (even repairing the existing roof) that fell under building regs jurisdiction Your 2nd paragraph pretty much sums up where the confusion has arisen, i ‘enquired’ and got redirected to a form what I can assume was the ‘building notice’ which is what I assume I’ve been told I’ve got to pay for, and yes I’ve got no ‘plans’ submitted and am fully expecting the work to be inspected stage by stage so it must have been the form I filled out don’t get me wrong it did say there was a £440 fee and I’m under no illusion that was hidden from me, didn’t know about it, indeed if I’ve got to pay it to make sure I’m up toncode I’ve got no issue but I thought the fee was only payable once you decided to carry out the work and you wanted the inspector to make his first visit prior to work commencing

So I did the form on line above, turns out the ‘enquiry form’ is actually a legally binding document and once filled out you need to pay the £440 so earlier I got a phone call from the council demanding outstanding payment, so much for an ‘enquiry form’ I was fully expecting some sort of reply over the last few weeks saying either, no I don’t need building regs, crack on, or yes, you do please pay the £440 When I said I wasn’t sure on when I was planning on starting said conversion or even if it was going to fully go ahead to the extent I had originally planned I was told i had x number of days to pay the money or debt collectors would be called in As it happens I’ve got a favourable quote for the roof and the bi fold doors are arriving tomorrow so the job is going ahead but as I pointed out to them I’m not a builder and it’s not exactly clear on the on line form that once submitted your ‘enquiry’ you committed to paying the £440, I have been granted a weeks extension to pay up (I will be doing it tomorrow anyway) i pointed out that as my monitory plans have changed slightly I wouldn’t be doing all the work at once hence why I was waiting until I was defiantly sure if a timescale before having them do their initial visit “oh that’s ok, the building regs approval lasts for a year and if the work goes over you can pay just £130 for an extension on the time of another year upnto 2 more years! Regards the visit, I asked when the council guy comes I take it he will tell me what I need to be doing to keep within building regulations say adding steel lintel above the doors, the type of glass I’m to use etc, the answer “oh no he won’t tell you what you need, if you use a reputable builder he will know the regulations and will work to them” so what am I paying for? “He will check the work is right as it goes on” so i’ll Only know it’s wrong after it’s all completed and he then finds something To an outsider it’s all very confusing, obviously I wouldn’t do the work without the regs, as I said to them if I said I wasn’t carrying on then got someone in to repair the roof I could guarantee the first car behind the roofers van would be a council inspector! Even if I shelved the project and just wanted someone in to repair the existing roof then I would have to pay the £440 as that falls under building regulation jurisdiction too This better be the best garage conversion ever!

Some from last night, the Cambrian ballast got stuck at Machynlleth the night before so we had to go down and collect it to bring back to crewe A bit cold leaving crewe but positivity arctic in Machynlleth Got the train out of the tank sidings Bit of messing around saw the locos double headed and in multi And this morning back into a ‘fresh’ Basford hall Back on them tomorrow but only from shrewsbury (hopefully!)

Apollo beat me to it, I was also going to quote the sectional appendix As it happened I had to do a turn back at springs branch on Saturday night which involves going on the down slow from Golborne, over ince moss chord and onto the down goods to springs branch jn where I changed ends and crossing back over to the up goods and head back aouth to Golborne again but taking the line to lowton jn and onward to newton le willows The up goods from Wigan south jn is permissive freight so it is used to do loco swaps, removals, additions etc as trains can be signalled on to each other, have done it when we needed to put a 70 on the logs, it ran light to springs branch and sat at the signal while the log train ran in behind and coupled up Another ‘keep you out of the way’ move is down goods to platform 1 where you run through the underpass at bamfurlong on the down goods, cross to the up goods at Wigan south jn, which then becomes the up Passenger loop through platform 1 It’s a surprising complicated station and surrounding area when it comes to shunting around

My brother in law works for spaceX and has been involved in this project for a number of years, wonder how he’s feeling this evening?

Have we got a video? https://youtu.be/UucAljBkBYU

No probs, just didn’t want him buying them then discovering they were printed on (although once you see a pic it’s pretty obvious)

Contrary to what classy 52 says above have a look at the pics one page back, I’d say those plates are printed on (as well as the etched ones supplied)

so back to basford hall to pick up the 67s to take to derby into the bay at derby once on the RTC i picked up 37057 with a little friend watching my every move (until i fired it up!) which i took to barrow hill and swapped with 37607 and took that back to derby and home (via tipton to pick up my new car) 97s in the morning

Yeah it could give a helping shove if needed but as you say you would need an extra driver, radios etc

we weren't sure how a single 67 would handle the climb out of Lime St to edge hill, as it happened i recon it would have done it solo easily but we didnt want to find out the hard way had it not been able to do it, in multi they absolutely flew once i left the possession and began to climb past broad green to rainhill, very impressed by them

so here we go, aspecially for anyone who has ordered a Hornby colas 67 and is wondering what to run it on other than yellow network rail coaches! had the pair of them last night to lime st on a ballast, 7 falcon wagons (available from Dapol and Bachmann) basford hall, 67027 on the rear 67023 leading 97s off down the cambrian too i then ran to lime st via springs branch we then chopped off the lead loco and ran it back on to the other one to double head out of lime st stopped at earlestown waiting for a possession to be lifted and stopped again in warrington to let a pendolino pass and finally into basford hall moving them back to derby tomorrow before a move to barrow hill with some 37s

dunno what it did, once the train was brake tested i was in the train catching zzzz's as my next bit of the job was at 05:10!

here's a little teaser for later.....

Some from last night, started in Bristol to brake test a UTU Which I then stayed on and took over at Didcot for the run to derby Back in tonight with a ballast to Lime st

Superb show as usual, lots of modern image layouts to keep me happy, spoke to a few fellow rmwebbers throughout the morning too Picked up a Dapol 73 from modellers Mecca for £75 which is going to take a trip into the paint stripper tomorrow and become 73138 or if not too much work one of the yellow ultra 73s

Anyhoo I’ve spoken to the bloke who deals with things like this at work and it’s nothing sinister, just a change for a reason that doesnt need to be discussed deeply here, no conspiracy theories, no ‘special editions’ etc, just one of those commercial things that change from time to time

I would have thought ‘stella’ would have been the better one to produce as it has shorter nameplates so renumbering and renaming to charlotte simply meant sticking the longer plates over the top of the (I assume) printed ones? As a slight aside the real things are off together on a freight job Saturday night so the model isn’t just limited to pulling yellow coaches any more

A quick look in google maps pin pointing the station and show ground gives you various options of getting there, the service busses are showing as a good hour + journey, as opposed to 11 minutes by car, 3.something miles, so a taxi would be best if the free bus didn’t run for whatever reason, walking is showing as 45 mins but I certainly wouldn’t fancy doing that as it’s at the top of a big hill!

Last day of NMT this week, derby to stoke Ready to depart Changing ends And off in stoke https://youtu.be/QRntBaSmifc 153 under the overall roof In tomorrow night next, pass to Bristol to brake test a train then sit on it until I take it over at Didcot for the run back to derby Then Saturday night is an interesting job and is going to be a good one for anyone who has pre ordered the Hornby Colas 67 and wants to run it with certain Bachmann freight wagons (watch this space!)

Remember this from last year.... http://media.btp.police.uk/r/15109/man_sentenced_for_climbing_over_level_crossing_ba

Indirectly they are model railway related, they are bi-fold doors for the garage conversion that’s going to house a new layout!

I’ve just bought some doors off eBay that were listed at £1099 or best offer, I emailed the seller to ask a few questions about it such as postage cost and exact size and tentatively asked would he accept £1000 which he said he would, once I decided I would have them a couple of days later I put in an offer of £999.99 (as his postage was 1p on the listing) and it was instantly rejected, I then went in again at £1000 and it was accepted I’m happy the listing had the best offer option as I saved myself the £100, there’s just that worry as others have pointed out that the time it takes for the buyer to accept someone may come in and BIN or offer more

Yes that was me at the picnic table in carlisle and I did see you in preston too! Carlisle, there can’t be many Barbie 156s left now White pendolino leaving, much arier now the scaffolding is slowly being removed and the new roof is on Panorama view And in came my train, complete with snow Then it was a blast up to crewe, into Lnwr and back out to the station before it headed off to london On it again in the morning but in a short hop derby to stoke