big jim

pencils are sharp so im only allowed crayons and then its chunky ones so i dont get them stuck up my nose

If its not a colouring book i'm not interested!!

I dont get it?

There is no denying its a spoof article as soon as you read the last paragraph but it really made me laugh when i saw it on twitter

And they use the bay platform, gone are the days of 10 coach trains!

School nativity this morning, little un is a shepherd this year Off into town later to get a frozen turkey, first time not had fresh in years but off to london for a family break on sunday for 3 days so it would be a bit of a rush when we get back to get a fresh one, also going to do our big christmas food shop tomorrow so we dont have to worry about that when we get home either

Its been out of use since freightliner split the points at the north end a while back, but for some reason they havent put that panel back in after they refurbed the bridge, it would be quite handy if they could re-open it though, not for my train as we're too long anyway

you wait for one link then 3 come along at once!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3354023/How-did-survive-Cyclist-ignores-barriers-level-crossing-Poland-hit-90mph-train-left-just-bruises.html link via the daily mail, not read the story underneath but no doubt it mentions somewhere he was cycling to the uk to give princess diana's pension fund cancer

im not an AOL member but can see it fine, ill try and find another link

http://www.aol.co.uk/video/bicyclist-hit-by-highspeed-train-survives-519335599/?ncid=webmail2 holy crap!

work starts the first week in january for 10 weekends apparently

mirror image 2 x 158s in Dovey jn by jim scott, on Flickr

some from the last couple of days from the proper camera, basically filling in the gaps from yesterdays pics first up, crewe shrewsbury my train coming from birmingham and over to macc, no signal box and "block markers" 158 heading off to aber waiting room 158 arriving in from aber caught that train to newtown where i waited for the train back to macc, here it is departing for welshpool then back to macc, stayed on the train to Barmouth where i got a train back to llwyngwril and this morning in Llwyngwril, they have done village wide "yarn bombing" of trees, lamposts etc looking towards Towyn, you can see the old platform and former passing loop alignment, when i lived here in the early 80s the waiting room was still up on that platform and my elder brothers made it into a makeshift skateboard "bowl", i remember going down there with them once (i'd have only been 5 years old) and whenever a train passed we had to duck down behind the wall so the driver didnt spot us! looking towards fairbourne my train arriving at Dovey Jn we had a few minutes while the train from macc made its way along the single line, they have reinstated the loop on the aber side of the station so aber bound trains can arrive into dovey jn while macc bound trains sit in the platforms, the train on the loop then runs into the aber end of the platform and picks up its passengers who have arrived in from the coast rush hour! and that was it 'til shrewsbury and home til after christmas

seems like ages since an update as i've not driven a train in weeks, today i had a trip to machynlleth to do a bit of road refreshing in case i manage to do an ertms course at some point got some pics on my proper camera but these are from the phone, did salop to machynlleth first after arrival into macc where i noticd there is a new bridge and lifts going in, as well as that the box has obviously gone now the line is ERTMS signalled and looking the other way from there i planned to go back to salop but when i heard of signalling problems at wolverhampton i thought it best i stay on the cambrian line and head back to macc from there so i got off at newtown as the connection at welshpool was too tight, however when i got off the PIS changed from on time to 28 late so i could have gone to welshpool and had plenty of time to change newtown, looking towards caersws and the other way, note the old cattle dock? and my train back to maccy at macc the train split and one portion went to aber and the other to pwllhelli, i stayed on the coast portion to ride out to llwyngwril where i am staying at my mums house for the night, i did however decided to stay on board to barmouth and have a ride over the bridge and back, nice to see it from the front of a train, it was just getting dark by the time i got to barmouth, managed a few pics on the proper camera which i'll upload when i get home tomorrow seeing the ertms in action is a strange thing, the drivers i was with were all brilliant in showing me how it worked as they happend to all be instructors, its very odd to have temp speed restrictions with no physical boards out on the trackside, they are programmed into the computer by the signaller and appear on the screen, as it happened there was an ESR near pont dolgoch that the first train had to slow for however by the time i returned on the salop bound train it had been lifted electronically so the train passed at linespeed, the principle is a lot simpler than i thought it would be but it did seem that you spend more time looking at the screen than out of the window to keep within braking and accelleration tolerences, whether i learn the system is another question though regards the route, a few changes, forden level crossing is closed, wigg lane is no longer an open crossing, lots of closed occupational crossings, hydraulic points at crossing loops replaced by electric ones, but the biggest change (apart from the signalling) is the line from welshpool to kilcewydd is now a 4km (2.5 mile approx) dynamic passing loop, so coast bound trains dont have to wait in welshpool station for trains heading the opposite way should it be running late tomorrow is a return trip or two to shrewsbury before heading home and enjoying annual leave until the 27th december

I was thinking the same thing last night but i'll be lazy and encase the steps in a tower to save me actually building any

cheers marcus, im happy with the station building, it certainly looks the part now, i kept looking at the wall on the low level thinking it needed 'something', im now going to make that the main entrance to the station, the modern entrance in the town can now become a tesco/costa/waterstones, whatever i decide in the future.

i vaguely remember going down there with my dad back in the early 80s with my dad as there was a rumour that the bridge was going to be opened on a particular day but it never happened, that would have been sometime between 1980 and 1982 when my dad was the village bobby in llwyngwril (and i was only about 6 years old) a pic for you from back in 1987? when the bridge reopened to loco hauled trains

Having a massive lie in today, was asleep at 23:30 last night and woke up at 10:00, must have needed it, a week of 'control orders' ie sitting at home with my phone on has worn me out, i actually phoned in a couple of days to see if there was anything for me to do as i was bored, unfortunatly the only job iasked to do was yesterday and i had plans, shame as it was moving a 37 derby to barrow hill and bring another one back In tomorrow refreshing the cambrian shrewsbury to machynlleth as 'back up' for a job thats coming up, worked out quite nice as i can tie it in with a trip to drop cristmas pressies off with my mum, going to get 2 trips in salop to macc tomorrow and then stay on the 2nd train to llwyngwril, stay with her for the night then get the train back on tuesday morning

I was asking my dad about my relative who opened the bridge and couldnt close it, it was back in GWR days, sometime in the 1920s-1930s, he started as a wheeltapper in barmouth and progressed to the p way side of things also the boat yard accessed below the bridge used to belong to my great great uncle apparently I may try and have a ride over the bridge on monday while im in the area

Yes it was the one after the horsebox

Had a good day today, first up i called into the sue ryder charity shop in sandbach to collect a telly i saw earlier in the week, it had just been donated and was awaiting the manager to PAT test it before going on sale, anyway i rang them yesterday and it was all tested and up for sale at £48, which is very good indeed for a 32" samsung full HD flatscreen with freeview! While i was carrying it out i spotted a yamaha keyboard that was yet to go out on sale, my eldest has just started having keyboard lessons in school and we have been on the lookout for a cheap keyboard for him, we actually bought him one to put away for christmas from B+M bargains last sunday, very basic but would do the job, anyway asked how much for the yamaha and the manager said "not thought about it yet, probably a tenner", told her i'd give her £20 for it as its a cracking piece of kit which she was more than happy with, also bought an extra mini keyboard for the youngest to save him fighting with dominic on christmas morning, £25 for the 2, more than happy, when i got it home, plugged it in and its brilliant, midi inputs, usb output to a computer, full percussion options, loads of instruments, its from 2006 and the current 2015 model is £600 After that i went to find S+J models in northwich, had a good dig round there and came out with a BR green split headcode class 37 that will become 37057 with small yellow panels, modern ohle flashes, cantrail stripes etc, basically as it is now with colas Then it was home for a bit and off to the santa special at alton towers, absolutley lashing it down and limited rides open but almost like being a VIP, no queues for rides and even parking right next to the entrance, the wait for santa was a bit of a farce, pretty much ended up queuing twice past our allotted time, dont think they have quite honed it as its the first day but the kids got in to see him and had pressies and pics so they were happy, i was going to complain but didnt see the point once i saw how happy they were And now im home and sat in the warm

Back to the canopy, first up bonded a couple of loose joints with mek, a nice string structure now Next up i made a girder 'rig' joined together with some left over pieces of wills flexi girder Which will sit back from the canopy centre And in place, the girder is loosly fitted with glue dots as i'll need to paint it before glueing it to the canopy And from underneath And with added circular columns Picked up a roll of magnetic tape from poundland earlier for guess what, a pound!! Added it to the rear of the wall below the town And to the base of the town So now when i get a derailment below the town i can just pull the wall away, it works surprising well, very solid Laid a new pavement under the station building and cut the existing one back to suit Then had a change of rolling stock, ive put the wsmr stock away and replaced it with my new Hornby 'black friday deal' arriva rake with 67018 up front And that was it for the night

I seem to remember the cuts outs were to do with 3rd rail You used to be able to raise and lower the plough but its been locked out of use now, our 60s still have the crank handle to do it