big jim

Nice dry morning in carlisle today, good run up with the empty logs, daylight was beginning to break as i came up the lune gorge which made it look very nice! Heading back to the station to get my train back south and back to bed!

Off to work again, crewe to carlisle and pass back for 08:00 in the morning, day 3 of 5 this week then ive got it every day next week too

just a brief hour in the shed earlier finished the coping stones on the rear yard wall as well as doing another 3 panels worth on the inner wall, which i need to make some columns for, then i began to put down some brick card on the wall in front of the rear mainline im doing this slightly different to the other wall, its not having a retaining wall and copings as such, ive made the stone 'course' 2 blocks higher than the 'ground' due to the overhang of the coaches/wagons etc however, again using bits from my old layout, im going to add a fence to the top of the wall, (basically the old platform fence), it slots over the brick card nicely with no adaption and as it is mounted on the outer side of the wall it protrudes out meaning passing vehicles do not touch it i didnt manage a pic as i'd not run the electricity cable out and the light was poor by the time i finished to get a decent picture but i'll try and get one tomorrow

Vid from preston this morning

Groundhog day! Crewe Preston, stopped to let a class 4 go past Kingmoor Carlisle, sleeper again The GBRf also went through with the same loco again Knackered this morning, fell asleep on yhe pendolino leaving carlisle, vaguely remember waking up at various stations en route but crucially remembered to wake up proper just before warrington or id be off to euston!!

Raining in carlisle this morning, in fact it rained pretty much from low gill all the way through to carlisle on the run up last night, hoping its raining in crewe too as i have had a new lawn laid that needs a water and as i'll be asleep all day i'm not bothered if it buckets down!

Here we go again, just starting work, 6C37 crewe to carlisle and pass back for 08:00 in the morning, not a bad little job really, 60087 as usual

one from hinksey last week

im pretty sure i didnt have to do that to get the body off mine to detail inside, if i get a chance i'll have a look later

Cheers dave, the 66 sits in kingmoor goods loop for ages, it was there when i passed at 03:30 going into kingmoor Vid of the 2 trains....

Some from this morning, logs last night, crewe to carlisle, just iphone pics this time, not in the mood for proper pics this week! 60019 and 60087 kingmoor at 03:45 All stabled and ready to work south later Newly named freightliner 66 And back to the station for the train home, where a slightly late running caledonian sleeper made its set down stop Then a gbrf 66 passed through with a coal train Same job again tonight

Currently sat on a pendolino heading down the lune gorge, a bit foggy on the cumbrian hills this morning, had a touch of rain on the way up last night around lancaster but dry when i got into kingmoor Doing a mix on the DJ app to keep me awake then home for 8:15 and a sleep

another good vid here, me at the start and 15 mins in too

a few hours in the shed earlier first up i renumbered the colas 47 into "robin of templecombe" then began detailing it up a bit, cut back the bufferbeams, changed the buffers to oval ones to start, still got to add a coupling hook and a couple of other bits and bobs as well as painting the axleboxes yellow the nameplate is slightly too far towards the middle of the loco but i put it where it is to cover the printed "rebecca" nameplate then renumbered and named my 2nd colas 66 as 66850 "david maidment" then i added west coast decals to the hachette "charter rake" then i had a look at my observation saloon buffers which i recon are too small so i razor sawed them off drilled out the holes and added some A1 models turned metal ones instead still got to take a bit more plastic off the chassis to allow them to sit back a touch should look good painted up then the final bit for the evening, i tidied up the corner of the layout that is going to be a lifted line, got a laser cut bridge from the DEMU show the other week that i was hoping to use elsewhere but i cant get it to fit, basically im going to place it on the wall as the pic and 'corrugate' up the opening

Certainly shifted, i was looped at acton bridge and once i got a green to go i opened it up and hit 60 at the platform end shutting off power, similarly as ive put before i had to shut off going UP shap! Departing acton bridge Passing through lancaster at 60mph

a few from my epic sinfin/logs trip! started off in crewe with 2 x 56 on the tanks, both running and in multi 86610 passing through the loop line 56 arriving into the station 37606 and 68004 arriving in from the north then i set off, first stop barton and broughton loop, north of preston a few things passing by, pics are a bit wonky as i was sat on the loco step! and off again to carnforth where a DRS flask train crossed my path from the cumbrian coast line and then to oxenholme where i was looped due to a fatality futher up the line and there being congestion eventually got a run at it between a pendolino and a desiro, 2 56s up shap with only 300 tons meant i had to shut off power, 60 at the bottom of the hill and 60 at the top with the power handle cracked open! in at penrith to let the desiro pass then a pendolino and away to carlisle then over the bridge to wait for my passenger train back south, DRS liner passing through obviously the next bit was in darkness, crewe to carlisle with the logs but by the time i got there it was getting light running round at 04:00 and onto the train ready to be backed into the sidings and that was the end of the night, a nice rest before heading back home later in the afternoon

i'll thank him for you when i see him next week and thank you for keeping him going!

regards the coping stones for the wall, while i was looking for something in the garage i came across this plasticard that i had used on my old layout ideal for breaking down into single strips as coping stones started making some thin columns for the big wall too and adding the coping stones to it but the little un nicked my phone and flattened the battery so i'll have to wait til tomorrow for pics the other thing i did was see how my Dapol MRAs ran with the new couplings i added, 4 are fine but im having trouble with one derailing (which is far better than all 5 as was happening out of the box) so i'll look at that when i can this coming week also need to resolder a couple of rails on the edge of the removable section as they are ever so slightly out of alignment for some reason

Off to bed now, worked 6s96 crewe to carlisle last night then pass back to crewe to work 6c37 back to carlisle!

I can however confirm that the flashing speed warning sign next to the sutton park line at 'shooters hill' near sutton coalfield picks up passing trains Its quite amusing to sneak up on a car thats doing 30 while the sign flashes 45 at them!!

I have been in the loop northbound but only once, the problem is its 5mph so its time consuming Plans are afoot to relay it, basically the old slow lines which are still in situ towards lapworth will be reinstated as loop lines with 40mph lead ins for both the platform and goods loop, moving them back will also extrnd the good loop by a fair bit and allow liners to use it Similar plans are on the table for hatton, the down goods to become a passenger loop to speed things along towards stratford

yeah that was monday, nice not to go in at dorridge though, a glance at RTT showed the passenger trains that were normally looped for were running between 25 and 45 mins late, fair dos to the signaller on the north warwick line he rang us on the gsm-r to say we would be getting a green at bentley heath (instead of into the loop) as they had a margin to keep us running! walsall

no, pass back after a sleep!

and to fill in the gaps proper camera pics day 2 and that was that big job tomorrow, sinfins crewe to carlisle then due to staff shortage its pass back to crewe to work the logs back to carlisle and into lodge!

some from today, same job, again sony pics, other will be uploaded tomorrow outside nuneaton, waiting for a car train to cross our path water orton bescot, royal locos all bulled up