big jim

My bad, its 805 by the motorway side, 809 is over the back

there were actually 4 there, 70806 as well but i took that away yesterday with 70807 on 6V46 70810 and 70806 were on the old hump, 70805 was in the through sidings behind the hump, so the last one (70809) was on the up side storage (nearest the motorway) then to top it off there were 2 more on hinksey (and 66850) so in one trip i saw 70% of the 70 fleet and 50% of the 66 fleet as 66849 went through bescot too!

back to it again today, hinksey-bescot-hinksey used the sony lens camera on a selfie stick for a change as well as the proper camera, these pics are the sony lot, i'll upload the rest when i get home on wednesday fenny compton this one was the camera on an spt while i was stood the other side of the 70! water orton and into bescot 66007 complete with moustache and backed onto the return train with a pair of 70s up front, 5 auto hoppers and 32 coalfish! the proper camrea has a few pics of class 68s on the chiltern mainline sets and 20s on the S-stock move

So are you getting some s stock then?

still from a vid i took the other day on the cumbrian coast shame i forgot my proper camera!

Thats a real shame, went in there a few times back in my fastline days and chatted with him a fair bit, its a real treasure trove of a shop too I made a point if trying to get there when i started with colas but when i did finally tie in a job finishing in toton with their opening times i got there to find they were on annual leave and i never have managed to get back there since Thoughts go out to the family

Went out for a drive earlier, after doing a few tourist things the kids wanted to go to a park so i found them one in harrington But whats this....... Wasn't expecting that (honest!)

The MK1 is quite nice, make an interesting steam support vehicle if you havent got the rest of the available rake of coaches http://Bachmann-collectorsclub.co.uk/products/00-scale-products/oo-scale-br-mk1-bck-sloa-pullman-coach-car-no-355.html

Ah yes ive seen the line go underneath the mainline just past west ruislip but i wasnt sure if there was a link into the depot itself, of course the class 20s, sarah siddons, 4tc are usually stabled at ruislip so i would assume they travel there via that line so it must be in gauge

Just had an email back from the museum after i asked them a question regards an unmotorised set......... "I am afraid at this current time there is nothing on the table to suggest that we will run an unmotorised set, but that would be a nice idea!" .........Time to get lobbying!!

You definatly dont have to be stationary when you pass the s-stock move, many times ive passed it at 100mph driving a chiltern unit! Regards ruislip: can the LUL line handle s-stock between the depot and neasden? I dont know anything about that line at all, ive certainly never seen s-stock on ruislip when ive passed? As for the speed restriction on the delivery train its 45mph as the underground stock is unbraked, thats also the reason there are 3 vehicles each end, so there is sufficiant brake force/braked vehicles at each end of the train Where is marcus 37 when you need him, he drives it all the time so knows the crack with it better than anyone

Ive been at my caravan all week less than 10 miles from the cumbrian coast line and forgot these were running! Maybe i can convince the family that we should catch the train into carlisle on saturday instead of driving in

Nope, i was a bit futher north at banbury, although i was in the travel inn in bicester at that time!!

went to put some stuff in the shed earlier and had a sneaky 10 mins! looked at the tunnel end and came up with a better idea, this is how it looks now so im going to move the girder the other way and fill in the void with some ply or the likes that will leave me a bit more room to make a station entrance/frontage maybe i then remembered i had a couple of Hornby bridge parapets that i bought for a job and couldnt use them and one at the top a piece of ply between them and i'll have a road entrance, i think it will look great once sceniced up with an extra pillar in the middle

no but some drivers do, or leave them at locations and take the keys which causes problems for the rest of us who turn up to find a locked up van and have to book a taxi, its actually a big issue at the moment

just one pic from yesterday, track renewals at banbury 70s top and tail got finished at 03:30 after dealing with a problem at my destination todays job, pass to carlisle to collect my van where i left it on friday then off til sunday

The bloke on the badhmann stand at the weekend said there is provision to fit interior lighting from after market suppiers, i should imagine the likes of train tech will do/already do something suitable

You could also just put a pair of 20s with a barrier one end and 3 barriers the other, the only reason they have locos at bothe ends is due to the number of change ends en route between derby and amersham, you could just run a 'what if' train that has no change ends! Im surprised 'marcus 37' hasnt been in and commented about them yet, unless hes still passed out on the floor with excitment of being able to model 'his train'

ive emailed the museum to ask if there may be possibility of an unpowered set in the future?

a few from last night.... bescot to banbury, which actually turned out to be fenny compton! what can we see through the rectangular window 2 of us had to shunt 50% of the colas class 70 fleet last night, 3 trains to depart, 2 top and tail and one solo (70801,802,804,807 and 808) 70801 ready to depart signaller dropped a ball last night, it was important we left before 6P06 as he was going into a possession that was being set up once we passed through leamington spa, so we left before it only for new st box to put me in at birmingham international and send it past me there, apparently trust was showing him going first, contradicting the ballast notices! i then ended up following him all the way to kenilworth where they put him in for me to pass him again, got through leamington 30 late in the end, over to fenny and shut down the train, then the mile walk from the loco to the access gate in the rain! back in this afternoon to work it back to bescot, then a week off, yay!

thats the old 'peak rail' platform from the 80s, they had a plan to open from the buxton end through towards matlock but it got abandoned for some reason, probably because the track was still in use by BR (and still is!)

you could always use a GBRf 66 instead, they have moved the s-stock in the past, in fact i think there's special dispensation that allows them to run with just one loco and barrier at each end (im sure marcus37 can confirm or deny that)

Will i buy one? Probably, it certainly looked the part in the display tube at DEMU earlier typically i 'moved' my layout from being chiltern based to somewhere in the middle of the country, may have to move it back again!! I think it will be a cracking seller for the museum, having seen the rich american and asian tourists in there while i was buying their ltd 20 pick up anything 'london' and whack it on the credit card its certainly going to shift off the shelves as its no doubt something they will have experienced while in london so will make a great momento I also think an unmotorised set would be a good seller too, especially for us who want to run it between some class 20s and barrier wagons

i think it needs more lights!

Some from today Assessing a couple of drivers on the logs, 66849 up front on its own today Arriving into carlisle And into chirk Where the WAG came through (still from a vid i took) From there i headed home for a good night sleep, bescot to banbury tomorrow!!