big jim

its been doing instructor training this week so that sounds plausable, its being dragged by 66850 anyway so still not under its own power!! anyway today i worked the sinfin tanks from crewe to derby and back, 56078, first time i've driven it, indeed, first time i've seen it in colas colours! a few piccies Running round in derby down the sinfin line, i can see why they call it a branch line! luckily it was pretty rotten so the shunter and i managed to pretty much break it up by hand to get past after dropping the wagons off i went onto etches park for fuel, meanwhile the s-stock move came in from litchurch lane and headed back out towards burton, a harry needle orange pair one end and this pair the other, passing another pair in the sidings!! and away under the remains of London Rd bridge this was the other pair waiting to leave etches park and into the station sidings to await time then a GBRf driver showed up and started up the 20s in the neck which had been stood there for a week i gave up on that side and moved over the other for a few more pics!! the 20s then headed off to barrow hill i then went off and picked up the wagons and headed back to crewe where unusually i came into platform 5 and that was that!!

a few pics from this week, first week of days for 3 weeks! been doing didcot to bescot infrastructure trains for 2 days, first was light engine north and a rake of 10 auto ballasters south as far as landor st some from didcot and onto bescot to pick up the wagons and onto today, had a rake of 22 falcons to take north, they also used our train to check the track into hinksey

i like what you've done there regards the dates of all those pictures!!

I know, very inconsidorate!

Class 70 training has started this week so hopefully they wont be far off coming off the docks or indeed 70801 being released into traffic, at least we now have a few more people who can drive them now If they come off the docks soon it wont be me doing it as i'm annual leave next week!!

the weather in the southwest has put the kybosh on my job tonight, its too rough to load the coal in portbury so the train is not running!

oh right, it threw me a bit as its a few posts down from my comment the biggest yawn however is waiting for the 70s to finally come off the docks, the excitment of going to collect them has long worn off now, and i'm annual leave soon so i probably wont get them anyway! the canton-gloucester move is merely a loco swap on the coal train tomorrow (66846)

you have just won the prize for the most elaborate, far fetched, way off the mark rumour yet! the cardiff-gloucester move tomorrow isn't the 70 (no need for a sarky yawn btw, im not building suspense its just i have other things to do too!)

i'll find out for you later, and only because i'm lodging in gloucester at the min so will go and have a look if its about!! EDIT: I do know what happening tomorrow now but i should keep the froth going for a bit!!

not been many updates for a while as i've been on nights pretty much for 2 weeks so far, same again this week with the added fun of lodging away in gloucester from tonight, still a good excuse to pop up the road to cheltenham model centre at some point! not bothered with my proper camera as i've had a trainee with me getting his hours in so i've only taken a couple of iphone pics didcot last week, 60, 66 and 67 and wating at water orton for the road towards nuneaton, i'd got down to speak to the signaller as he was running me signal to signal with nothing else around, turned out that as i was early leicester wouldnt accept me so he was trying to keep me moving slowly until they did, i ended up going into whitacre loop for 1/2 hour anyway!

one from toton a few weeks back a couple of 59s after maintainance heading back south in train

noticed this week that the points leading from the new loop at wolvcote jn have been installed and track is laid back as far as the A34 overbridge so far

its the railway, things aren't meant to make sense!

speaking to someone in basford hall the other day, the freightliner 70s will be getting the extra cooling fan mod too

just looking though photobucket i found a few more pics i'd forgotten it uploaded caledonia sidings in birmingham, various car transporters Guinness sidings, park royal

the last time i stood on that bridge was when they were building the 158's for some foreign country. when i started working in derby back in 2007 (with fastline) i was looking on google maps to find the bridge only to discover it was no longer there, the road leading up to it is called "longbridge lane", derby wasn't somewhere i visted very often as a kid but looking at the pictures of the old works i dont remember any of it! looking at the area now its hard to imagine there was even a works there (other than the remaining part of the roundhouse) and i bet a lot of students in the uni are unaware of the history of the place! my "derby memory" is of 08's sat in the sidings next to the power 'box and seeing exotic creatures such as the 151 unit on the matlock service and 30odd years later i can still be seen sat in a cab in derby!!

i got a dcc fitted Hornby class 153 from my local cash generator last year, it was on the shelf with a sticker on it "Hornby coach" for the princlely sum of £10, sold it on for about £50 a couple of days later! the same shop seems to have an endless supply of 'original omnibus', 'EFE', 'britbus' etc that they knock out for anything between £3 and £15

still there, then next one is due to arrive into the docks this coming week too

i wouldn't have minded the nectar points on 4000 litres of diesel! this was in the bay at warrington when i got there, nice to get a shot of it from the other side of the fence

no, only got the one picture of the 37 just heading back from carlisle after a run up there with the logs, the previous driver had a problem in chirk with the fueller so i had to take it onto basford hall instead, bet its been a while since a 56 has been on that fuel point!! finally left crewe at 03:45ish, 160 mins late but had a non stop run up to carlisle which was good

i've driven worse 47s!!

not a shark, but here it is back in about 2006, they used it when they had to propel the paper train over shotwick crossing

the 2 down the bank, aka "badgers lunchbox", were finally removed when sutton park was resignalled a few years back

I dont doubt its probably not an ex BR van but either way there can't be many left now and it does look quite authentic (i just know im about to be proved wrong!)