big jim

A few from yesterday.... Handling/passing out turn on the 60 Started at kingmoor, got the train ready with 66849 The instructor bought the 60 in DB 60 shunting the yard Ready for the off Quick pic while i jumped down to change some points And off we went over the S+C, first stop hellifeld The assembled masses all waiting for us to take the 60 off, but not today, it was staying on til warrington! And onward to warrington, as the instructor was happy with me and the paperwork was done he got off once i got to a point i signed the route and i took it solo to warrington At warrington i took the 60 off and shunted it out of the way so the logs could continue to chirk, no pics as it was a quick move From there i took the 60 back north to carlisle! First stop wigan to let a northern 156 go ahead of me Next stop grayrigg Then penrith And into carlisle, shunted it into the wall sidings, 56087 sat on the through loop with the sinfin tanks And that was that, not sure what to make of class 60s to be honest, seemed no quicker than a 66 at points but the main thing is it was a damn sight quieter, smoother etc They have some funny little quirks that will take a bit of getting used to, if you go from off to notch 1 above 8mph you wont get power so you have to go just beyond it to power up, if you drive them light engine you have to isolate the auto sanders as the computer will throw a wobbler if you dont! power up is gradual on them, they dont seem to do anything when you open them up, no screaming etc but it just site there and does its thing electronically! I must admit i was a bit nervous driving back light engine as it was very low on fuel as i i've yet to learn the classes little traits such as sounds, power lurches etc everytime it made a funny noise i thought it was going to shut down but i made it, thankfully its getting fuelled over the weekend Today is just the 66 on the logs, should be its final run before the 60 takes over solo on monday

Thats a heck of a drive warrington to hellifield just to see the 60, especially as you could have stayed put and seen it at warrington!! You should have introduced yourself at hellified btw

woah, i dont remember you scanning me (3rd one in!!)

some more from today, had another trip to worcester caught a LM service to smethwick galton bridge up to the high level for the train to worcester and on to worcester where i had a look round for a while before heading off to oxford to pick my van back up! HST heading towards hereford banjo signal 1/2 way down the platform 170/153 heading towards dorridge, note the route indicator below the signal my train then dropped in, a lovely 166 unit across the cotswolds to oxford, didnt bother with any pics though

see my PM its coming off at hellifield today and tomorrow!

It was advertising something to do with somerset children centres

s+c southbound, wcml northbound

a few from yesterday, down to canton to do my class 60 static training, an early start from crewe, 05:55 from there to cardiff 57304 175101 to cardiff in canton we had a chat about the loco in the office, faults and failures etc, this was the view from it! we then went out to have a look at the 60 56105, 70808 (with 810 and 801 out of view) strange livery 158! and our 'weapon of choice' 60076 we had a look round and started it up etc, ran through fauults etc, we actually (accidently) put a fault on it which prevented it firing, thankfully we rectified it (with help from the fitter on site) and fired it up, a couple of lads had a go at moving it up and down the track to play with the slow speed as they have never used it (on a conventional loco) other than that just a couple of pics of a passing HST before we headed back to the classroom and then headed for the train home and a bit of light reading for the journey home! off to worcester later and back via oxford to pick my van up, than a drive upto carlisle ready for my class 60 handling turn on the logs tomorrow

21 again marcus? (looking at the birthday cards in the background)

i couldnt get the couplings to attach to the wagons as they need to be a fair way back so would have been between the outer set of wheels which would prevent the bogies turning and distance so to keep it simple i have had a go at fitting the coupling holder to a piece of plasticard on the bogie, i attached it using plastic weld, seems strong enough, ive not run the rake yet as i wanted to be sure the bond had set the view from above comparing the original couplings with my modified one, i've reduced the gap slightly since the pic so it matches the original as i say i'll see how it runs tomorrow

had an afternoon in the shed today, after a trip to the model shop for supplies i cracked on with the retaining wall first up i cut the hole for the yard entrance i then made a girder with wills vari-girder clad the sides added the girder then continued futher round the pillars go thinner towards the end due to space, the girder above the tunnel mouth is just stuck temporary until i decide how im going to do that area, the brick paper under the tunnel is just loose so i can reach the point motor thats hidden behind it next up i worked my way back the other way at this end i've dropped the wall down to track level, i'll add troughing cables near the edge, also as i get futher into detailing i'll add handrails to the edge for added interest i've added some steps up to the high level, (ive actually swapped the steps since this picture) after that lot i decided to start on the other side of the yard, at the moment the wall is flush but im going to add small pillars at the joins between the card looking from the high level track side and looking from the yard and continuing down the incline looking the other way view from the track looking towards the exit and the other way just need to work out how to make some coping stones for that lot now!!

Going back to this pic, is that park royal, the old guiness siding entrance?

Im wondering whether to weather it one side clean(ish) and the other filthy! I'll be passing your house on it on friday btw!!

A new addition to the fleet, couldnt resist!! Slight problem, ive already got rebecca! So this one is going to be renumbered, im going to change it to 47739 'robin of templecombe', i ordered the new numbers from railtec and nameplates from fox on thursday night via the web both of which arrived today I know the bodyshell isnt correct for 47739, (this shell has a flush headcode box at one end) but i'll detail the 'correct end' to be the outer end i'll have to change the bufferbeams to 'cut away' type as well as changing the round buffers for oval ones etc I'll give it a light underframe weather as 'robin' is normally kept quite clean The other thing i did this evening was 'name' my renumbered 66849, done without fanfare and celebration, thought about putting a set of tiny curtains up and opening them but didnt have the time! Also made a start on looking how to go about changing the couplings on my Dapol MRA wagons so i can actually use them, the original idea i had wouldnt work so i've gone with another idea if it works i'll post an update, if not its plan C

The loop is currently OOU but there are talks of putting back into use according to a driver i was with the other week Im hoping to get back down there this week, got class 60 training in cardiff on tuesday and im hoping to go and recover my van from oxford after that, if not i'll do worcester on wednesday then get an FGW over to oxford for it!!

well ive had a s**t end to the week, passed the course but the last 10 mins of the course left me deflated and what should have been a positive end to the week was tarred by one comment so much i now feel i've just wasted a week of my life for flip all! then to top it off i was verbally and very nearly physically abused by a right on the train home, he tried to push on the train as people were getting off, pushing a young couple with a pram out of the way in doing so, i asked him to wait for other people to get off before he had a go at me then squaring up to me for a fight, at this point i just decided to turn away but he decided to carry on claiming "i wasnt the king of the f-ing train" at that point i just walked away and went to see the guard to request the police attend unfortunatly the guy got off at coventry so simply got away with it had he been met by the police as planned then he would have discovered that although i am as he pointed out "not the king of the train" abusing a member of staff on duty is a very serious offence and btp come down hard on those who do it! i really seriously hope that the next person he pushes past and has a go at is somewhat more 'fisty' than myself! glad to be home now

im not saying i'm asking! im like, you know, actually, not, like all, how easy is that (as a statement), omg! i would really like to know how easy it is to fit, i've been considering getting the express kit rather than adapting the existing lighting unit if you fancy a bodyshell swap with a central trains 170 let me know as i would like a LM 170 to go with my (still on going 172 project)

london midland 170? thought the layout was based in derby? how easy is it to wire in the express models lighting kit up to a lok-sound 3.5, ive got the same project on the go in a central trains 170, does it require 2 chips, one for each carriage, i have a Hornby chip lined up for the trailer car

i knew i'd spelt it wrong as soon as i wrote it but couldn't for the life of me get it to look right when i changed the spelling!!

my 10 year old has just told me over the phone that he was asked to 'compare' the school talent contest this evening, he couldnt stop laughing while telling me what he did.... while one of the acts was setting up he had to 'fill' and had to decided to tell a few jokes, thought them up off the top of his head as he didn't have a script, apparently the joke that got the biggest laugh from the parents 'why do squirrels swim on their backs?' 'to keep their nuts dry' he then proceeded to tell me he was about to tell the '2 nuns in a bath' joke but couldnt remember it, thank god!! thats my boy!!

This is what ive got planned for the wagons Parkside NEM pocket holders Once removed from the moulding frame you can see how you can secure them to the underside of the wagon, i may well, depending on how low the coupling sits cut away the raised ridges on either side so the holder is completly flush on the wagon I picked up a pack of Bachmann shanked DMU couplings so if i do cut the ridges off the actual coupling will not be foul of the wagon body Lets see what happens when i get to actually try them on the wagons!!

as an update to the above question i've been looking for a solution to replacing the couplings between the wagons and have bougth some bits today to see if i can do anything basically i called into alton model centre earlier who have some parkside dundas kits and bits on the shelf, and i noticed they do a coupling plate for use with Bachmann cranked NEM coupling unit, the type with an nem pocket with a fantail end, they didnt have any of the Bachmann cranked couplings in stock however they did have the equivlant 'dmu' couplings, which look like what i'd call 'continental loop couplings' my plan is to simply glue the parkside unit to the wagon below solbar level, set back to keep the gap as close as i can but still allowing me the 'play' i need to allow the wagons to negociate the curves, i cant see a problem as the nem pockets move left and right in the holder watch this space (when i finally get home)

5 times, still not bored of it, seen it with various actors in the lead roles so its different everytime as each actor/actress puts their own spin on the characters (Tonight was the 2nd best performance i've seen, the best being the previous cast's final night a frw months back which will take some beating!)

What he said ^ Im a bit out if touch this week, out of the loop while on a course down south On the plus side im here again.......

Whoops!!