big jim

and i'm annual leave again!

i quite often think of this when i walk up to a class 70............

must be a freightliner guy moving it, cant see anyone on the daily sheet booked to do it (ie, me or the other driver who signs seaforth!)

3rd pic down of the batch above, in the background, the procor curtain sider wagon, thats the first ever picture i've seen of a real one, i always thought it was a Hornby "neverwazza" wagon (ive still got the one i bought in the 80s!)

there is some lovely ornate metalwork on the railings above the tunnel mouth you can get right close to the portal when walking to the car park via the footbridge on plat 12, next time i walk to the station i'll grab some pics

no, never blew that old girl up, i'm always gentle, that was actually the first 56 i drove! regards being derated, even amongst the current colas fleet there are marked differences between locos, i think some may have been derated, 56087 is certainly not as powerful as say 56302, its most noticable from a standing start, mid range they seem about similar

i think it was just a plain line relay on the reliefs, the train with 66850 on was being used as a barrier between the sleeper laying road-rail machines and the mainline, not sure of the reason as the worksite is separated from the mainline with barriers anyway

a few from today, crewe to newport with 70809 (its first working for colas) basford hall and onto newport, nothing else to do but take some pics from the cab window!

the first 2 locos in the above photos are now colas locos, both of which ive failed with!

Unfortunatly the problem is in a place not conjusive with sitting on a saddle.......

Ill be back in on sunday, couple of days off has made a difference, as have some antibiotics! Sundays job is not 'walking intensive' so i'm hoping i'll be alright

i've ordered 5 wagons worth of bits off andy7, looks like i'll have something to do during my hotel stays while on lodge turns!! just need to order the wagons now too, i think hattons do them as bulk packs

unfortunatly it was 1000m worth of train, walking on ballast too, to top it off the train was stabled 1/4 mile from the access gate too!! when we changed ends in the platform in banbury i was looking for a mobility wheelchair so my trainee could push me along the platform.......

better not!! they have my only door key too, our are different to theirs!!

claydon jn at dawn

a few pics from this week, nights again so very few pics been up claydon this week, 66s with autoballasters, 70/56 top and tail combo should have been on the coal tonight but i've had to go sick for a few days, last night i could barely walk due to an infection, got another doctors appointment next week and possibly hospital tests! anyway here are the pics 56302 waiting to leave hinksey and at the other end 70806 about to start dropping rail, its actually parked in the remains of bicester town station! and after dropping the rail at 05:30 in the morning, the line passing overhead is the chiltern mainline this bit of track is currently 5mph but soon it will be a 100mph double track mainline!! and back at claydon, an into the sun shot of 56302 on the rear of the rail delivery train, 66431/66304 are sat in the loop with a train of autoballasters i bought the 70/56 combo back off last night to hinksey before heading home for an unplanned few days off recovering

I dont even get to be the first to use 70809 on sunday, it was hired out to freightliner this morning and worked a crewe to washwood heath and bescot service!

Yay!

looks like its cancelled now!!

nice, are the lazer cut parts going to be available to buy?

the driver is on the docks as i type poised like a coiled spring ready to bring them off (14:00 departure at the earliest) one of them is being left in basford hall this afternoon for a ballast job on sunday evening to newport (gaer jn), i'm on that apparently, so it will be interesting to compare a 70 over the marches compared to the 66 i had on the same job last week

im sure that train was in hinksey last night, it certainly caught my eye

hopefully it wont be too long before it appears fully painted up and ready to get to grip with the logs over the s+c amongst other jobs

Someone on freightmaster has quoted thursday as the day, not heard anything official though (whatever happens it wont be me moving them!)

except we are not allowed to open the panels!!