big jim

on top of this work the next phase of the east west link is kicking off again next week big time, 13 weeks of trains running to water eaton park and ride (banbury rd groundframe) with ballast ready for use between there and bicester town i did a ballast drop on the bicester branch last night from a rake of autoballasters in a newly laid siding, comes to something when you have to prepare your own track for the following weeks work!!

nice pics, must admit ive struggled to see quite how the track was going to diverge at the oxford end, the high up pics make it a bit clearer now im wondering if the existing 15mph 'goods' from oxford north jn will be upgraded to passenger standards and have the speed increased so that trains can leave the down platform and access the new line (that i believe is the new 'down slow'') without having to cross out onto the existing through road just north of the platform then back over again at aristotle lane, similarly will the existing goods have a direct lead to it to save having to cross out onto the main and then cross straight back?

eastwestdivide: not sure if saltcoats features in bad weather reports but i should imagine when its rough its rough, when the wind got up there, even on a nice day it was pretty exposed pete: 70803 is on hire to freightliner at the moment

i really like this picture if i say so my self!!

right here we go..... not many captions as you probably knwo what i've been upto but these are my pics from london bridge and saltcoats the shard at 3AM and a bit futher down the track at 5AM units 73212 and 73201 my 66 and the 73's, note 212 has ploughs at one end only wandsworth Rd 378 unit 66 heading in to run round in battersea and back at the worksite and up to scotland, saltcoats, on the west coast near glasgow, lots of coal trains passing by to hunterston first up though was a flask train a constant stream of 380 units too ews 66 freightliner 66 then we went into glasgow to the museum on the train and back at the beach, EWS 66 passing by again another 380 and thats your lot! off back out to work in a bit, working on the bicester branch tonight and kilburn viaduct tomorrow, hopefully be able to get some pics!

We stayed in crimdon dene last year and that was all gbrf 66s on biomass and grand central hst's and 180s, that van backed onto the line too! This one is just far enough away to see the trains briefly at the end of the row of vans, its not too far to walk to the bridge for decent pics though If i get a chance i'll upload them tomorrow when i get home, only thing is once i get home i've got to leave after a few hours to hinksey and i'm not back again til wednesday!!

It was a good day out, as i say trip advisor had mixed reviews but i really liked it, there is a tall ship outside that you can also go on, the kids really enjoyed that, exploring all the decks We caught the train from stevenston into glasgow and as it was off peak the kids travelled free, had we visited the science centre i stead they would have got free entry to there with the rail tickets too but we never made it there because of the time

Lovely, not my era at all but i think i might partake in one when they are released, lnwr lined black for me I remember back in 1987-88ish i went with my dad to chester to see 1054 on its final mainline run, in the days before RTT and instant 'gen' he had heard about of some sort of private charter being run for a famous railway photographers birthday, iirc it just had a single coach behind it,, we waited in chester on the old goods landing opposite the yard and sure enough it came into plat 7 where it was watered and my dad got lots of piccies there we then went off to mickle trafford (barrow) and my dad photographed it there too, when he got home he went to 'wind the film back' in his camera and the film snapped so he never got any pictures of the day at all and he was absolutly gutted

Went to the riverside museum in glasgow today, a good day out, lots for the kids to see and do, having read the reviews on trip advisor i didnt know what to expect really, some bits were a bit strange like the 'wall of cars' where tge cars are displayed on plinths on a huge wall so you cant get up close and all you can see of the higher cars are the undersides!! A few locos in there, quite enjoyed the 1930s subway car though, didnt realise the glasgow subway was worked by the trains 'grabbing' a continuously running 5 mile long cable to move and letting go of it to stop!!

Had a bit of a wander from the caravan earlier to the bridge spanning the railway line, quite a busy line, passenger train every 30 mins (class 380) to either ardrossan harbour or largs and a couple of coal trains an hour too Got there just i time to see a pair of 57s on a hunterston to sellafield flask train, got a few piccies but again they are on the proper camera so will have to wait til i get home to post them on here Going to have a trip on the train into Glasgow tomorrow i recon, to to the science centre

I was on a london bus this morning!! As the train was full and standing from euston the guard let those standing sit in 1st class which was a nice bonus Just discovered the holiday camp were in up here is next to a railway line, and looking at RTT there are lots of coal trains booked passed there, longthannett, kilwinning etc, wonder if the van has a view of the line?

The show was just amazing, so pleased to have got the front row seat for it What actually happened was my name never got called out but the girl who won the last single ticket needed two, i was stood waiting for the return ticket queue to open and i spotted her discussing with her boyfriend what to do and ended up buying the ticket off her, was a bit worried about getting in as it had her name on it but it was fine! Im just on my way upto scotland for what i would normally call a 'well deserved break' but to be honest i feel like ive just had one and would be happy to stay in work

1/2 time in the show, im slightly drunk as im not working tomorrow and thoroughly enjoying it, not many musicals can get the line "i have maggots in my $crotum" in a number but they have managed it somehow

Ha ha!! Front row centre

Tonights west end show is dirty rotten scoundrels, however book of mormon do a daily lottery to win one of 21 £150 front row seat for £20 so ive entered that, costs nowt to enter so worth a go Wish me luck, will know in 20 mins

Its surprising how well the iphone pictures came out in the theatre!! I couldnt help thinking that george harrison was looking a bit "frank gallagher" at this point though

Really enjoyed that! The guy playing george harrison can sure play the guitar, he did a solo of "as my guitar gently weeps" which just blew me away And of course an encore of "hey jude" Normal service will be resumed tomorrow.........

Ha ha, this show is brilliant, 1/2 time interval at the mo, we are upto the sgt peppers era so far They allow cameras while the show is on and you can tweet requests etc and everyone (ie those with replacement joints) are up dancing in the isles and clapping along Thoroughly recommended Sorry for the thread diversion but i dont get out much to things that arent child orientated!!

And tonights show is.....

just a couple from today, all the good pics are on the camera so i will have to wait til i get home to upload them... had to go to battersea to assist with a run round this morning, jumped on the train in wandsworth rd then it ran into a run round loop just beyond stewarts lane depot (next to the dogs home) before setting off to london bridge retracing its route to denmark hill then heading off through peckham etc, i can honestyl say i didnt have a clue where i was so just as well i wasn't driving!!

it ended in may! might have a look at "dirty rotten scoundrels", there is not much on on a sunday to be honest, there is always "war horse" on monday though

well that was brilliant!! what do i go and see tomorrow night?

Decided to get a bit of culture in between turns!! Poppd into the LTM shop while i was around covent garden, going to go back tomorrow and have a look at the museum itself, the shop has lots if the Bachmann ltd red class 20s and prairies in stock, i may well treat myself tomorrow

thanks jock most of the pics i put up here are unedited, they are as they come out of the camera, however i think i may have one leg shorter than the other as the angle of some of my pics are shocking before i straighten them up! admittedly i have played about with a couple of the derby pics though, for example the 2 of the meridians at st mary's have had some reflective glare taken off them as they were taken through the front window but i've only used the basic in house photobucket edit functions, i'm not confident or indeed interested in going down the photoshop route!!

it came past so quickly i didn't have a chance to get a picture!! i did spot an LM guard taking a piccie of us from the back cab though, but think that may have been on a rugeley bound 170