big jim

If you notice the van coming down the dirt track alongside the 70, thats the driver for it and it moved its train about 20 mins after i departed with the centre one, similarly the left hand one moved sometime the next morning, its really down to the shunter where things are left but those locos are on dead end roads and sat on their trains, the norm would be put it somewhere in clear, there are normally yellow marks on the sleeper ends to help

a few from last week on the chiltern job.... hinksey yard, ready for the off running round in banbury and on to west ruislip and away it goes towards southall

dunno about that, winging it maybe! anyway im off to work in a min, first 66 in a few weeks on the coal, never mind with any luck it will be a 60 one day

yeah, as i say i've said my bit by pm and thats that, just found out he's registered on rmweb too!

here is the whole pm i got...... ------------------ Hi, I am writing to you about the post you made earlier involving me. Firstly I would like to say that their is no need to verbally abuse someone over a forum. There is no need to speak to me like that at all. I bet I can say that you wouldn`t like to be spoken to like that. I am sure you would have something to say and so have I. I wrote a post trying to help an individual and I don`t care if you and Bucket are Colas employees you have no right in speaking to people like me who young and trying to get into the hobby like that. People like you should be ashamed of yourself you should be encouraging the very few younger members like me who are on the forum and who are interested in the freight trains not verbally abusing them to try and get your point across. Surely you were young once and you had an interest in freight trains. I`m sure you didn`t know everything and you still don`t because no one ever will. We all have to start off and learn somewhere, knowledge doesn`t just fall into your brain. We all have to learn and I`m just starting off in the hobby. We aren`t all Colas Rail employees. I`m not sure who you think you are just because your a Colas Rail employee doesn`t give you an automatic right to bully younger enthusiasts over the internet. Their was also no need for the sarcasm in your comment. Your just trying to emphasise that I`m not a Colas employee and you are and you know better. Well let me just say something to you not even you will ever know everything. As for first hand knowledge if your so clever you wouldn`t have wrote a nasty message to me and instead you would send me a private message on the forum trying to educate me about what happens at Colas Rail. How am I supposed to get first hand knowledge if people like you write nasty comments to people like me. Instead you want to keep all of your knowledge to yourself to make you feel fantastic. If your so sick about my posts why not provide some support for me to give me some knowledge? This would help me to try and understand things better. This would be a lot better then shooting me down in flames. I never insisted in saying Bucket was incorrect. I was stating that Freightlocate says its cancelled. I am going by what I am reading on screen. Unfortunately I`m not a Colas employee and therefore I don`t have inside information. Besides I wouldn`t say to anyone they were incorrect and I definitely wouldn`t write nasty messages like what you seem to enjoy doing to me. Another interesting topic to bring to light is if you and Bucket are Colas Rail employees then why do you share information on the WNXX Forum? Very detailed information as well like who is driving the locos, what locos are on the train and referring to other train depots. Surely this is breeching your contract on confidentiality. I know in my line of work that this is taken very seriously and I`m pretty sure that the FOC would like to know what there employees discuss on online forums which can be viewed by hundreds. Looks like a call to the head office is necessary to see what they have to say on the subject. I hope your fantastic knowledge of Colas Rail gets you far in life. Kind Regards, Danny. ------------------ and my reply was this....... ----------------- hi, i think your problem is you are trying to make out you are "one of the big boys", i do understand you are young and just getting into the hobby but even when people tell you fact you insist on doubting them, its not just in the colas thread but others too, it can be seen by some other replies to your posts you get other peoples backs up, your guessing seems to wind people up and yes, as i put my rant has been a long time coming, and admittedly when i do go off on one it takes a lot for me to decide to put 'finger to keys' as i dont like upsetting people! if you cant take a bit of sarcasm on the net/forums then i suggest that either you grow a thick skin or stay off there, admittedly there are a few on here who will disagree with posts just for the sake of an argument but wind your neck in a bit the difference when i was young was there was not information overload regards trains, you just stood on the end of a platform and waited to see what came along, no RTT, WNXX or even mobiles or internet (and im not THAT old!) now your next point, you ask why the likes of me dont give support to spotters etc, well i do, if i didnt then i wouldnt be on here or another forum i use, and before you threaten me with "phoning my company" they already know i (and others) post on here and what i post, in fact my manager is a member on here so dont even go there! quite frankly when i get threatening messages from the likes of you (your the first) i do wonder why i bother giving out what limited information i do that may be helpful to spotters, there are a lot of things i know about that i dont put on here as its sensitive info and its not my business to anyway, lets leave it at that, im not out to try and make enemies at the end of a keyboard and no doubt if i met you on a platform then i'd probably get on with you and happily have a chat about my work all the best jim ---------------- anyone who knows me will know i'm quite aproachable, happy to chat etc, if someone crosses the line, and with me its got to be a pretty long line as im quite laid back, then i'll say something but thats the end of it, swifty11 will tell you i can be a misirable begger at times as i've pulled him up on his use of 'thrash', 'tonezzzz' etc on his youtube videos as it can inadvertantly paint someone in a bad light, ie showing off, playing to the crowd etc but i say my bit and thats that.

i forgot to say i even tried it with a new decoder straight out of the box to eliminate an output problem but still nothing, it got the 12V pulse when i pushed the button so im wondering if its a motor issue, i wired a load up in a batch but if i wired the first up wrong then the rest may be the same, they look like they are right though marcus, its a bit rough and ready as it was done before the real thing was unveiled but here is the 70, needs the black changing below the windows and the fan boxes that mick newbryford did for me adding to the sides

finally got back in the shed today to see what i could do, i know i needed to get an accessory decoder working so i concentrated on that but its just wound me up as i couldn't get it running! the layout hasn't been run for 6 months and there has been no heating in there so you can imagine the track was a bit dirty/greasy/whatever and it needs a good clean, got a loco to run round it but there are still a few spots that need cleaning in the hidden section back to the accessory decoder, i cant work it out, the decoders are all Bachmann/esu the first two i installed last year both still work ok after i gave the motors a manual tweak, they are address' 1 through 8 so the next decoder needs to be 9 through 12, i can get it to program mode, ie flashing led, i then use the lenz handset to select "switch 9" which gives slot 1 on the decoder address 9, solt 2 is 10 and so on however the seep points motors just dont work in any way shape or form if i put a multimeter across the output terminals of the decoder and "operate the points" as it were it jumps up to approx 12v in a pulse as you would expect but once the motor is wired back in it does nothing, i'm 99% sure i've wired the motor correctly, one thing i have removed that i have done previously is a feed to the track via the centre polarity switches of the seep as i understand they are not needed, trying it with or without still gives the same result, ie nothing! the working point motors also dont seem to have much of a kick when they operate, i am using a dedicated 13v DC 7A regulated supply running through 'mains' flex cable,currently the furthest away decoder is about 30ft away from the supply, however even if i attach the supply right next to the decoder its still not giving the kick i would expect, eventually i will be making the decoder power supply a complete loop anyway i've got to a point where i'm feeling like i want to just use tube and rod for the hidden points and my fingers for the others as this one problem is stopping me getting the last 3 ft of track in place!!

Just had this sent to me, todays 6M50

ive made the owner aware of his pm! fat controller, yes there were cargowaggons in the consist

over on another forum i have told a forum member to wind his neck in after 2 colas drivers gave him some facts and still insisted in telling us we were wrong, anyway he PM'd me and his message ended with this little gem.... Another interesting topic to bring to light is if you and Bucket are Colas Rail employees then why do you share information on the WNXX Forum? Very detailed information as well like who is driving the locos, what locos are on the train and referring to other train depots. Surely this is breeching your contract on confidentiality. I know in my line of work that this is taken very seriously and I`m pretty sure that the FOC would like to know what there employees discuss on online forums which can be viewed by hundreds. Looks like a call to the head office is necessary to see what they have to say on the matter i wonder sometimes why i bother posting stuff, as it happens my boss is a member on the other forum so knows whats posted on there anyway!

Nice! i had a 56 to repaint myself but once Hornby announced one i decided to leave it, will be interesting to see a real tug in colas colours, not long now hopefully

I cant wait to see your mates video, bet it looked and sounded good screaming rounnd the curve through the station! Anyway a couple from today, what started as a simple on site job then trundle back to hinksey with the train via the chilterns turned into a trip to llanwern THEN a trip back to hinksey, due to driver shortage i ended up working the tilbury to llanwern steel train from acton with a Route conductor (the same one i had booked for conducting me to greenford) as i dont sign any of it apart from didcot station limits Had a good tun over there via the GW mainline, chippenham, bath, Dr days, severn tunnel and into llanwern, i can honestly say ive never been over 90% of it and found it a fascinating route with the likes of box tunnel and the bridges and tunnels of bath etc, saw a lot of locations that i'd seen in photos but never known where they were, in particular in some of ewsjo's pics in the chippenham area Waiting to leave acton And in to llanwern Then It was back in to a van to head back to london to work back over the chilterns to hinksey, anyway one thing and another and we ended up going via reading (again) and didcot which saved me a run round at banbury, had 70801 and 70804 top and tail which i run round in hinksey ready to be moved away whenever, which may be me later to take them for fuel In all an interesting day, something different again and seen things like the severn tunnel from the front of a train etc which was interesting

hardly home bob, and when i am im not in the mood to do any model work, still waiting on electricity in the shed too, once thats in an warm summer evenings i'll get back into it

im sure geoff wont mind me linking to his superb pic of me heading through haddenham yesterday http://plumbloco.smugmug.com/Trains/April-2014/i-n4GVVT5/A (i was actually happy, despite the look on my face!!)

Ah yes i did see you, the bridge just past the bus depot, quite a lot of photographers about today with it being sunny, saw geoff plumb (dampflok) in hadenham and thame too Been a long day with one thing and another, could have got away from southall at 17:00 but ended up leaving at 23:30ish! Back there again tomorrow but i may have to fuel 70801 as its a bit low, ive suggested going to chiltern wembley with it but i'll have to wait and see

few more from today.... west ruislip southall, i jumped off 801 and took 805 back out view from the overbridge, went off to find myself some dinner!!

Im back this afternoon if your about! http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/B20851/2014/04/18/advanced Going banbury to southall, work on site then back to banbury

a picture especially for roundhouse..... 70805 during the runround at banbury earlier this evening, i left hinksey and had to run round in banbury before heading back along the chiltern line to west ruislip with a possession train bound for southall i believe the first 70 on the chiltern line?

70 slu was actually over the limit for the route so we had to get autorisation for it to run even though it was still short enough for the loops it was booked into! the falcons came off at hinksey anyway, the salmons were all that went to westbury

some from today, a nice sunny day so lots of photographers about!! started in leamington where i picked up 6M50 to bescot, today we went via hatton instead of coventry park lane jn walsall, had to wait for this to cross my path, taken from the veranda again!! and into bescot where we picked up 70804 that i'd left there yesterday not the best shot coz of all the lineside equipment but just so you get an idea of how long the train is, 1500ft (409 metres) 97302 came down the goods to be dropped into the virtual quarry then a bit later 97303 came along to join it, so i got the full set as 304 was parked on the down side too!! thsi has been parked in bescot for a long time but i've only managed to photograph it for the first time today, the tank wagons were originally converted by my stepdads compamy (c.c.crump) in 1988 and the train was used for a short while before being laid up where it has just rusted away ever since!! couple more random shots... and on to saltney where i got off to wait for a taxi home so i got some more shots there the 70s head off to westbury 66568 passes the old saltney box and the new signalling centre xc 170 66591 day off tomorrow before heading down to hinksey in readyness to work a few engineers trains to southall via the chiltern mainline over the course of the weekend

Its 70803 on it, they did do a loco swap!!

Probably 70802 on 6M50, im just waiting to pick it up at leamington, if they did a loco swap last night i'll let you know!!

I think it puts the power back into the traction motors

The whole thing! Its the traction motors that whine, the dynamic brake end sounds good when you use it, its such a powerful brake its almost like driving a unit at times!! The scavenger fans make a good noise wheb they start up too, almost sounds like a chinook!! Just one pic from today, 70802 (again!) on 6v46