big jim

i must admit, i always thought that lincoln was somewhere near east anglia or the fens (until not that long ago either!!), it wasnt until i started working on the railway in the east midlands that i found out it was a lot closer and futher north than i thought, however to me its not what i would call the east midlands, but i dont know where i'd class it either! similarly doncaster, when i was little and used to go on spotting trips with my dad it always seemed futher north than it is!

its supposedly thursday afternoon, i'm not on it from liverpool but i MAY be getting on at crewe to take them forward to bescot as im down to travel there for my booked job so it will kill 2 birds with one stone, (they may well be going DIT on my working)

another 'test train' this time model rail limited edition 37409 pulling a nice rake of hachette MK1s (and Bachmann brake end with missing/loose windows) this ran surprisingly well, in fact the coach that fell off most before i fine tuned bits of track was the bachy one, the 37 is sound chipped with a V4 howes 37/4 chip which stopped working towards the end of the session, i think it may have overheated as i never turned the volume down after doing a reset on it the only item of rolling stock that i have tried which really doesnt want to play ball is a kit built brass RHTT train, there is not enough free movement in the bogies on the curves, i'm sure i can cure it but there is no rush as there is plenty more i need to do before i bring more stock into the shed!!

Done a bit more earlier, basically got the final bit of track in on one of the lines so i now have a full circuit The first thing was to fill the gap on the aproach to the points I then fitted the track on the inner line which joined to the existing track in the station to complete the full loop Going back to the other line im only this much short to getting that complete, i have a piece of track that will fit in there but have ran out of fishplates and there are no local model shops open til wednesday I also need a couple more lengths of track to complete the rear loop and thats the mainline done, after that its a bit of fine fettling and i can then get on with fitting up the shed area woodwork and i can begin track laying in there too I also spent a bit if time this afternoon doing a bit of house keeping, threw loads of stuff away from both on top of and below the layout, tidied up my tools, sorted the wood stack out etc so i could go in the shed without standing on stuff or knocking it off the top! Much better looking.... A nice shot of the 70 testing the track, crossing the removable section in the sunlight And while i was about it i gave the 33 a run on the incomplete 'down' line hauling my rake of detailed hachette mk1s, it quite surprisingly pulled them up the inclines with ease, it does however need its wheels cleaning as it was a bit tempramental in places, the hachettes ran well too with the replacement Hornby wheels fitted, didnt derail at all! And a video of the class 70 having a run round the layout with a short rake of ballast wagons So once trident trains opens again on wednesday i'll pop up for the last few bits of track and fishplates and get the 2nd circuit finished, really pleased to have finally got trains running

You know what i havent got a clue how many drivers there are, its certainly 50+ freight drivers, however a lot of them are yet to be passed out as they are new, thats me busy doing that for the next 12 months!! Swifty is right the locos on the left are stabled on gresty bridge Catkins: its middle management from other companies im on about, they will do all sorts to make things difficult, i dont have any dealings with our lot other than my immediate manager

the little white arrows are on the "american style" switches that EWS decided to fit to many yards, it basically tells you which way the points are set, there is a left hand facing arrow on a plate 90 degrees to that one and as the point is switched it twists on a cog to face the driver those points can be run through (orange handles) but there were some in bescot with white handles that you cannot run through in the trailing direction as they have locks on them and you will damage them or even derail if you did so! a few from this morning, was hoping to get a few pics last night but we didnt stop anywhere with decent lighting, did a train from bescot to crewe via wolverhampton, shrewsbury, whitchurch etc, entered a possession at crewe jn and then dropped ballast in various spots over the next 25 odd miles between shrewsbury and nantwich from autoballasters, something i've never done before and quite interesting to see done, basically there are a couple of operators who ride on the wagons and on command of the guy in my cab drop the ballast, i have to do 5mph while they do so just a few pics while i was waiting to go over to basford hall to stable the train and a 37 on gresty bridge i tried to get a pic of my 70 alongside a freightliner one when i got into basford hall but where i stabled it wasn't possible, got to take the loco to bescot tomorrow afternoon and put it in the consist of 6V46 before working it to hinksey

the ground staff, drivers, shunters etc at the various yards are all spot on, mostly helpful, middle management however are a different story.............. EDIT: other companies middle management!!

spotted this outside the job centre yesterday

i did notice it was white so assumed it was a 'foreign' one, how much functionality do you lose with it other than loconet (which i wouldn't use anyway) edit: its ok ive found some info on the roco site.... The Z21 version for experts (black box) makes the switch to Z21 simple: It is completely compatible to previous systems with all multiMAUS models and to the Lokmaus 2 and features three standard multiMAUS ports. This way the whole family can play. Your locomotives are automatically recognized and report their status over RailCom© to the Z21. That way you can take care of large vehicle fleets with a minimum of effort - and use current status reports in the operation apps. Software and sound of the ZIMO sound decoders can be comfortably updated with the Z21 with your smartphone. This way your digital locomotives are always at the latest top level at all times. The Z21 supports a multitude of standard interfaces and connection options - ideal if you want to continually enlarge your layout or want to add new functions to it. The shipment contains: WLAN(WIFI) router, efficient power supply. The z21 version for beginners (white box, little z at z21) has the same features as the Z21 for experts with only a few smaller connection and configuration limitations. Left out are LocoNet, CAN-Bus, the X-Bus port, the Sniffer-Bus, the programming end level and the programmable track port as well as the track current regulator. Simply set up and get going with your smartphone or tablet PC - with a fascinating hobby and a truly unique new driving experience with z21. The z21 starter sets are available at the e-shops of Fleischmann and Roco as well at the specialized dealers.

i just happended to click on the webcam as that came past too!

typically, the same week i decide to get the next bit of my driveway blockpaved and have spent my money buying the supplies, getting a skip in sorting out the builder etc a shop on ebay has just listed 4 brand new Z21s for £169 each 'buy it now', gutted as i cant afford both!!

Yeah, seen reports on the net that the steel has derailed, various scenarios from just a bogie to both locos and 4 wagons!!

and here they are... the dead end road on the left is long enough for 2 full 21 wagon rakes complete with locos, you can see how far it curves round by the wagons in the distance its a really tight curve into the yard from the mainline, even before you get to the actual yard you can only do 5mph round it i find it hard to believe that all of chad would go under development plans for pride park, it became a pretty major place again just recently for network rail during the redevelopment of nottingham etc and is a handy 'extra' stabling area for verious bits and bobs, certainly when ive asked to run round in there with a train due to problems/congestion i've not been allowed to due to traffic levels in there

I have wired the positive sides of the led strips to the outer rail of the points, the red strip to the diverging side and the green to the mainline side, i then joined the negatives on the 2 strips together and then wired the single feed from them to the inner heel part of the point which changes polarity when the blade is thrown. that way only one strip lights up at a time as it is dependant on the polarity of the frog, or doesnt light at all if there is no electrical feed. if you go back a couple of pages you can see some pics of the big panel i made with a few pics of the strips loosley wired to the track which explain it better

The shed is 12ft x 6ft externally

i think your right, i used to be based in chaddesden sidings with fastline freight and there still looked to be room to reinstate a line if they wanted to alongside wyvern way, there is even a bridge on derwent way that could get a line under it

it amazes me that the chaddesden line wasn't left in, or even reinstated to avoid trains having to change ends/run round in derby station

well i'll be honest and say despite signing trent for a few years now i didn't know there used to be a station there!!

a quick hour or so in the shed earlier, got the points indicator done and fitted up the top board wired it up to the points.... and fitted the panel to the layout side this time rather than above the layout as with the bigger panel. they light up red for the diverging route into the yard and green for the mainline i then fitted up the top board.... so near to getting the top bit of track finished maybe tomorrow!!

not much photographically to update, after sorting the decoder i test fitted the top piece of board the rear point is going to need one of my led points indicators fitting as it is going to be hidden so i wont be able to see the position of the points i prewired and fixed the point to the top board last year, again wrongly, so i rewired it earlier ready to be fited once ive done the point indicator for the lower point and in loosely place you can see how close it is to getting the full circuit round may well try and get some more done tomorrow as i've actually got a day off!!

Got to the bottom of the problem with the accessory decoder, some silly article who shall remain nameless while batch soldering a load of points motors wired the negative wire to the wrong tab, took me doing a lot of fault finding and swapping wires between the working decoders to find out, anyway rewired them and now i have working points! Finally i can get on with getting the last bit of track down

I think its sometime late next week, its not my turn to move them this time though, so unless the other driver is otherwise engaged i'll be elsewhere unfortunatly

there is a record shop downstairs in the oasis on corporation st, he did the vinyl week records the other year back on topic a few old model shops that spring to mind for me are.... "lightfoot models" in rhyl, not too much in the way of railways but i remember back in the early 90s saving up my "chore money", i was too old for pocket money so earned it cutting the grass etc and catching a train from holyhead to rhyl especially to get a 2nd hand MTK class 59 i'd spotted there a few weeks previous, i was well chuffed with it, looking back now it was bloody awful, Hornby class 58 mechanism, no glazing and no power!! "the island giftshop" in prestatyn, on the corner next to the station by the park, used to have a fair bit of railway stuff, i remember the day after boxing day 1987 banging on his door to get his attention so i could buy the, then brand new to the shops, Hornby 142 he had in the window with my christmas money, he wasn't due to reopen til the new year but he came down and sold it to us, the owner was a right misirable sod though! used to also visit the liliput factory in bala after school some weeks, whatever became of that place?

the more i drive them the more i like them but the ride isn't as good as i thought it would be to be honest, very hard at times over rough track they have a fair bit of power, as an example last weekend i worked a 56 from acton to llanwern with 650 tons and it felt very slow on the uptake, i think it may have been derated a bit to be honest, at one point we were doing 40mph through a certain place, then 3 hours later i had a 70 with 750 tons and at the same point, under the same conditions the 70 was doing 50-55 mph in notch 6 (out of 8) now they are getting a bit mucky on the outside they are looking better too!

Just the one! Hope the other hasn't gone overboard