big jim

photobucket is down at the mo so i cant upload my every day pics from yesterday, however to whet your appetite heres one ive just put on Flickr 47739 Boston sidings by jim scott, on Flickr

Yeah, they have it for 3 months

it was actually 66725 in gbrf livery, pre colas days for me! i knew i would be in trouble as the class 60 in front also slipped to a stand

movements within the yard are controlled by the person in charge, he authorises movements towards the exit signals at various points aorund the different areas of the yard, he controls stop boards on certain roads too too, you have to get his permission to move past them towards the exit signals on those roads, lots of possibilities of conflicting moves to be had!

you really need to get out more!

i got stuck with a 66 between the docks and bootle jn, ended up filling my hard hat with sand and pouring it onto the rail for a few hundred yards, got it moving again, took 45 mins to do 100m though

ironically the crossing you can see in the background of your pic is the one i had a lorry ignore the lights and cross in front of me when i was collecting a couple of 70s from seaforth, i got down and "had a word" as he'd stopped at the weighbridge alongside the tracks, the whole thing was witnessed by the head of safety for peel ports too! im sure mike delamar can answer this, does the 66 bank the train up to walton as it were or the 59 do all the work

funny how that crossing is now closed but you still have to check the line isn't occupied on the block instument in a cabinet and hit the plunger for the lights before setting off over it i've still not seen 59003, ever in fact, the only one that evaded me in the 80s as a kid

and today.... over to bescot to collect a 66 which we took to shrewsbury coton hill yard to pick up a 97 and autohoppers that had been left there and back to bescot then parked up finally get a trip to boston tomorrow!

some from yesterday, back to doncaster to collect the 66s i took up there the day before, job cancelled so required back at bescot for the weekend! started in crewe, pass to donny via stockport up to doncaster marshgate, the whole point of the exercise was to get some handling in on a 47 for my trainee but we also got roped into moving the 66s too 47739 leading 66848 and 849 few things passing by, pics a bit wonky as they were out of the cab door while we waited to depart freightliner 66 on the avoiding line derby, waiting time that was it til bescot where we dropped off the 66s and headed to washwood heath with the 47 supposed to be going to boston today with the 47 to get some practical handling in on the 47 but instead ive got to go to bescot then over to shrewsbury to rescue a train from coton hill yard

trying my best to get to sleep, been to doncaster yesterday then back to bescot to drop 2 locos off then onward to washwood heath, today (wed) should have been a trip to boston with a driver to pass him out on 47s but now its going to be moving a 66 from bescot to retrieve a train from shrewsbury coton hill yard in the afternoon boston will have to wait til thursday now night night (i hope)

slight aside, did you not get a picture of me on 47739 with 66848/849 dit?

hmm, better log in tomorrow and have a look at my account too, im missing the unimog but have the 66 which very few seem to have recieved

Noticed one of the caledonian 67s on crewe etd this morning, not seen one before Then as it happened i saw one of the caledonian livery 73s being hauled by a 47 through doncaster this afternoon too

Nope, last one was sammy the shammy in november and 2 invoices for the previous months item, still waiting on the unimog

and some from today, the day started in rugeley power station picking up a 66 then down to bescot where it joined a class mate for a trip up to tyne yard via doncaster bescot, 66849 and 66848 treeton jn rotherham masborough doncaster the train was then cancelled as the job they were booked for was cancelled too so we left them in doncaster marshgate got the train home, i normally have a bit of time to get some pics at donny but there was a train home in the platform so i got that changed trains at stockport, a few things to see 175 175 and pendolino pendolino GBRf 66 on a biomass train very impressive looking train, the one thing that struck me was how quiet the wagons are when on the move, barely any track noise at all then low and behold as that one left another arrived hauled by one of the LUL liveried 66s, 66718 and that was that, job cancelled tomorrow so am now going to doncaster again to bring the 66s back to bescot as they are no longer required in the north east, the good thing is im using 47739 to drag them, then off to washwood heath with the 47!

I dont think you'll be alone in doing that!

Just stood on stockport station and 2 rakes of these went through, one train was hauled by one of the LT livery 66s too By my reconing thats about £4300+ worth of models if you wanted to replicate it!!

Up early as i need to go to rugeley power station to pick up a 66 for a 05:15 departure to bescot, taxi booked for 04:00 but just had a call from cabfind, nearest taxi is coming from warrington (40 mins away) so there goes a right time departure! Once i get the loco its off to bescot, fuel and over to doncaster with it at 10:30, not a happy bunny having to stand round crewe station for an hour waiting for the taxi though knowing i wont be home til gone 16:00 now

thats the ones, first year i signed the cambrian we used 20301 and 305 on the RHTT more than anything else, the year after it was 37s

without wishlisting, i hope they do the chiltern electric plug door variety, would be quite a change in the tooling though

tidied it up earlier, resprayed it with acrylic paint this time which went on much better, dry brushed a few areas that needed touching up once i inspected it once dry patch painted the roof and added the cantrail stripe and on its chassis, plough painted, handrails painted too still got to add handrails and glazing to the new cab end of the coach, i'll use the template to cut some clear thin plastic to size for the windows, then make an infrared light rig, may even send it off to jason for lights

and a couple of WCR 37s too now, anything over RA can work down there but they have a few extra bridges to slow down over, when i used to go down there with DRS on the water cannon if we had "barclay" 20s on it we would have to slow down in certain locations as they were a higher RA than brush ones due to the extra fuel tank in the nose end (im sure ive got that the right way round re brush/barclay)

some from last night, bescot to sutton bridge then onto the Cambrian as far as Carno level crossing, 66850 and 66849 top and tail 10 auto hoppers bescot then over to sutton bridge to wait for the possession to be granted once granted, over to newtown at a reduced speed and into the worksite, a chance for a couple of pics with the ES put the marker boards back then onward to Carno where we had to wait for the track laying guys to finish before dropping ballast, i had got relief by then so headed home in a van and that was that, nice to go down the cambrian again, luckily i had spent a few days down there back in december refreshing it so was more than happy with it, the only thing i i dont yet do ERTMS but as the line was under complete possession that wasnt an issue, however there are no "signals" or speed boards as such but being as i was in a complete T3 possession i was travelling at a reduced speed anyway and i know where certain bridges are that i need to travel at futher reduced speeds over are, similarly i had to check that all crossings were operating normally before crossing them (apart from the ones in the worksite which were under local control), an interesting and enjoyable night

Thats me done for the night, off to bed now for a well deserved sleep Did bescot to carno on the cambrian last night with a pair of 66s and auto hoppers, first colas locos on the cambrian ever, got a few pics which i'll put in my thread when i get up later