big jim

im in ASLEF but colas only recognise the RMT during pay deals etc, as royaloak says its an expensive diary but should you need help after an incident or whatever they are worth their weight in gold some colas drivers are members of TSSA being able to use thompsons solicitors is also useful, we used them after a non fault car crash when the other driver tried to sue me for a sore neck and they took him to the cleaners all paid for through my subs i finally got my overdue 15 year badge last month

I was gonna say the same thing mick! I knew about this last year to be honest, more than happy with the 2 mick sprayed up for me though

He’s been fine, steel lined stomach it would seem The chef said that they get stag parties in and most can’t manage more than 2 or 3, even he was watching from the kitchen with amazement!

Went to a restaurant in Blackpool yesterday that does a ‘chicken wing challenge’ where you have to eat 8 mega hot wings in 8 minutes and have no drink for 10 mins afterwards, all to win a hat!! anyway I didn’t do it but my eldest had a go having already decided last time we were there to give it a go, he had to sign a disclaimer before starting too!! I wouldn’t say it was hot but some of the sauce splashed on my hand which i licked off and just that burned my mouth but fair do’s to him he started eating them and despite running eyes and a lot of runny snot he managed to eat the lot and win his hat!! After the 10 mins no drink rule he then downed 2 pints of milk!! Apparently no one has ever finished the challenge before today, so he’s now the first picture on the wall of fame!

Well I think the only thing for me there is the quarry Hunslet ‘alice’ For those who don’t know my dad owned and restored it, the restoration beginning back in 1987, part of the restoration taking place in our garage next to the house in llandderfel near Bala Ownership passed briefly to me in the early 2000’s before she was sold on to Julian Birley who is the current owner

I’ve ordered 5 of them so will give them a go, I’ve got to change the pick ups on mine as there is too much friction across the 5 coaches (12 wheel back rubbing type in total) and it’s struggling up the inclines now, I’ve got a set of DCC concepts wheels with sprung pick ups to try instead which are virtually frictionless, 2 of those per coach should suffice i recon I’ve not done any modelling in over a month, not been in the mood for it but hopefully I’ll get back to it next week

anyhoo, just 3 from last night crewe-manchester-crewe-lichfield-derby, had to turn the train so it was loco leading onto the RTC so went over to drakelow on the moira branch (which is as far as i sign down there for turning moves) only to find the points had no power so had to sit and wait for an hour while someone came out to manually pump them over and clip and scotch them then when i got derby (an hour late) the station was in darkness having just suffered a huge powercut! crewe, ready to head north and a couple from manchester

What’s the anti flicker/dimmer unit like on the move? As you know I’ve illuminated my NMT coaches using similar led strips but have cross wired the coaches to pick up from each other as the ‘stay alive’ I added to my accessory decoders (one powers 3 coaches, the other powers 2) still left the lights flickering and cutting out a bit on dirty track hence why I cross wired them but I have the same concern as you that the thin wires won’t really be up for the job in the long term May order one anyway and give it a try, plenty of other coaches to use it in anyway

I did wonder what had happened listening to the radio 2 this morning as Sally traffic mentioned an ‘operational incident’ had halted trains in that area, I believe it’s been moved now though

Managed to get photobucket support to sort out my subscription earlier so hopefully it’s business as usual photowise (at least until the end of 2018 as I’m a valued customer), best if all the guy in the IT department was called Moss So to today, Hereford to doncaster via Washwood Heath and derby Hereford Leg stretch at Wolverhampton Waiting to get the signal into Washwood Heath Where I collected 2 more 56s and took them towards derby and onto etches park via the temporary track set up Then took 56105 onto the park for wheel turning Then headed off to doncaster with the other 2 And into the carriage sidings where 2 more 56s were also stabled And homeward bound from there

Hereford model centre has a Geoffrey Allison ltd ed Bachmann 37425 in large logo livery in the 2nd hand cabinet, £90 which I consider a bargain, was tempted myself but got a lovely resprayed 40145 in BR blue instead and couldn’t justify both

some from today, NMT derby to carlisle, full formation this time so no speed restrictions derby and away to carlisle via alrewas, lichfield and the WCML, absolutely flew with it most of the way, had to wait in a few places for other trains but got a good run on the whole, shap was hit at 105mph at the bottom and it stayed there until i had to brake for the 80 just after the shap wells hotel bridge you really have to think about driving this train along there compared to the logs as that is pretty much open up and pootle along at 60mph where it will do it whereas the NMT is of course 125 max so you need to know where the top end speed changes are and into carlisle and away it went to glasgow then edinburgh and that was that, homeward bound from there

ref electric vehicles, i was watching the episode of the grand tour where hammond crashed the electric sportscar and the comment was made afterwards that the remains kept bursting into flames for 5 days after the crash as the next cell in the daisy chain of batteries caught alight

As a slight aside to the above you wouldn’t believe how many TSRs are now in place due to lack of sighting time for pedestrians on foot crossings, mainly since they have erected palisade fencing at various crossing locations

There is a thread running called something like “rail shots at night” with lots of similar shots to the above Edit: found it http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/65093-night-time-rail-shots/page-5?hl=+rail%20+shots%20+at%20+night

You could always just add the bits yourself, a few bars of plastistrip would do the job for the led light strips

To futher complicate things the single line section between Aylesbury and Claydon actually starts after Aylesbury vale parkway station which isn’t in the token section but the token machine and loop is about a mile back from it Passenger Trains going to the parkway are signalled normally out of Aylesbury into the bay platform at the parkway but trains going into the single line stop and pick the token up first either on the mainline or in the loop however it’s also possible to be signalled all the way to the parkway protecting signal without collecting a token, it’s not an issue if you did that but it’s a long walk back to the machine to collect your token It’s also quite an unusual situation coming back as you are actually leaving a token section still in possession of the token

I strangest ‘single line’ I work along is the line from Aylesbury to Claydon, you pick up an annetts key token from the machine in Aylesbury loop and head on your way however when you get to Calvert it’s not unusual to see 2 more trains/locos sat in the sidings there! They have of course been ‘locked in’ electrically within the relevant sidings with the token but it sure feels strange to be in a token section with other trains! On RETB lines you arrive at the siding using a normal token, hand that back and get a shunt token, the ground frame can only be physically opened by removing a key from the in cab token machine and inserting it into the frame, once parked up and locked in the shunt token can only be given back to the signaller with the key in the machine again (and supposedly the frame back in the normal position, but mistakes have been made!) ERTMS is a whole different beast!

Chiltern 168 passing Hatton goods loop a few years back

Got this for my wife for Christmas, was so sick of heading off somewhere in the car for us to have to turn around at the first roundabout to check she’d unplugged her straightners!

I had a lucky escape as I should have been 5 mins in front of the train that hit the trees, it could have been me!

I really should have a look at the roofs on my NMT and add proper vents and ariels etc To be honest I need to go and revisit it and change the wheels for the DCC concepts spring pick up set up that I got at the beginning of the month

Some from yesterday/this morning Supposed to do a one way bescot to Hinksey turn which then turned into a 3 way trip which then turned into a 2 way trip! Basically got to Hinksey with 4 70s, shunted about and headed north with a 70/60 combo only to be greeted by a red signal at harbury as the train in front had hit a tree, and there I stood for 2 1/2 hours! Eventually headed north but got stopped before and then at Hatton due to more fallen trees Then a chiltern train dropped in and deposited all its passengers there before heading abcknsouth, they were stood on the platform for a good 30 mins before a LM service arrived to take them forward Then eventually I got to bescot where the 70 went into its train and the 60 was moved across to go into its light engine move to Barnetby There was also an EWS trip working to Toton about to depart which also had a pair of Colas 60s in the consist

I should be so lucky! Sat at that signal for 3 hours coz of the snow! Well technically I sat there coz the train in front hit a fallen tree bought down by snow, still not made it back to bescot yet, left Hinksey nearly 5 hours ago and only got as far as Hatton so far, more fallen trees!