big jim

now which way will that 56 be coming from?

another through the door shot

No not me guv!!

Tomorrow is going to be a blitz day on the layout, i was hoping to get a full week tinkering next week as the family are away on hols and i was hoping to be on my regular late turn but i've been put on days instead so i will only get a couple of hours in the evening to play, i suppose driving a 56 through the lune gorge every day makes up for it a bit!! Anyway this mornin i couldn't resist temptation and the blue boxes on the shelf where shouting "open me, open me, open me" so i got my BP tankers and colas 66 out to see if they would fit in what i hope will be the longest siding in the yard They should just about go in once the points are in situ But not with a loco on..... Then for a bit of fun i moved the lot over to the double curve to see how it looks climbing the incline, im going to cant the track up there by 1mm which should look good but this is it as it stands (obviously its going to be double track) Got some more supplies from trident including the Bachmann shunters cabin which is going to be integral to how i lay the tracks in the yard

simple question so i can think about retaining walls, what does a 2% incline equate to in 1: in something, looking at merkur walls and they do incline as well as straight walls which are approx 1:25

Short formed tonight but don't put me in anywhere!!

I did wonder if you were on john! I was watching the live train times from chester on my phone before before i left warrington and could see it was late coming in from the coast so hoped i would get over the single line, i was more surprised that wrexham let me go to chirk. We have new radios at chirk now which are the same as the ones in carlisle so i dont have to stop or slow at the ground frame to pick it up as there is one in the cab at all times, i can sail past and stop in the station then set back when told, doing that cN save a good 3 or 4 mins

yeah, it was me who failed it hence why 302 is on it now after the late running i got into chirk 20 mins late thanks to some superb regulating by warrington, chester and wrexham boxes

yeah, its looking like im going to run it into chirk and leave it 'til tomorrow as there is also a possession at gobowen at 22:30!

don't know where the 66s are at the moment, 847 is knackered though, been taken to eastleigh for repair turns out its only got 17 on tonight for whatever reason and its coming via the wcml so hopefully right time into warrington for me

yes that was me dave, can you get your lad to send me the pics please? feeling fine today, i was ok yesterday too, the problem with the night before mike was i was over 3/4 of the way through the job when i just suddenly went ill, so i just had to carry on and get the job done as i couldn't leave the train in shrewsbury and my relief was in crewe. got 302 again tonight with 21

The risers are very good, takes all the guesswork out of the job Will have to see how the track secures to it when i get to that part, i think long track pins should help secure it nicely and once its ballasted it should be bery secure

here are a few pics, as i say i wasn't feeling well and was running late so not many pics i think i've sweat the fever out and am feeling a lot better now but not 100% croes newydd loop waiting forthe shrewsbury train to pass

warrington yesteday

Just got through the door after this job, lots of fotters about, shame about the weather! Despite there being good parts of the job tonight i got to a point earlier where phycically i hit a brick wall, i got to a point where i just felt like jacking the job in for the night as i could barely lift the shackle, i think i may have man flu Because we arrived late into chirk and needing to get out before a possession the outward working only had 8 wagons on it due to engineering work i was running round in shrewsbury and coming back via whitchurch, decided to leave 302 on the rear of the train and top and tail it from shrewsbury as 087 had more fuel After a right palava at shrewsbury running round i finally got on my way and back to crewe where i headed back to my van, i don't know whats up with me but it took me about 15 minutes to walk the 300 metres back to the van and every step on the footbridge felt like i was wearing diving boots Anyway in bed now, hopefully sleep it off or sweat it out for work tomorrow, same job but i dont know what loco it will be A few pics to follow but i wasn't even in the mood to get any as climbing up and down the loco steps was a real effort

The original problem with putting the points before the bridge was that the points would be in the hidden section and the track is curved, however now im going to put crossovers in the hidden bit anyway i may well look at doing that using the curved point i bought

It should have been ok on fuel as it was fuelled in chirk on friday (i hope) and has only done one run north since

i've downloaded the new daft punk album too, it's very good, found other daft punk albums heavy going but this one is pretty mellow in places also awaiting the new PSB album on download

a few days worth of work in this reply.... first job was securing the wooden block on the edge of the base board, used a couple of kitchen cabinet corner brackets in place, i have managed to reduce the gap a bit too filled the gaps with foamboard pieces, this has reduced the gap then i plastered the inclines also plastered the foamboard i'd put in place on the sunken section this morning i got some supplies from the local car boot, a brand new sander and plane for £6!! which i used to get the wood on the edge of the removable section level with the piece on the baseboard next up i cut a bit of the plastered foam board out to fit a bridge deck the "fun bit" of this part of the layout is going to be the fact i need to fit the point to get into the yard partly on the bridge but to complicate things it will have a point motor on it, a seep type so not too deep but i'll have to work out the wiring so it can be unplugged when the section is removed also need to trim the edge off the wooden bit, simple enough as its on the edge of the board so i can reach it with the jigsaw the yard side of the layout is about as far as i can get now without actually starting to lay track which i don't want to do until i've got the other side of the layout secured with any luck i should be able to crack on with the layout over the next couple of weeks while the family are having a half term holiday, i think the next job is to do the bracing/legs for the shed area, relay the hidden section track with the crossover points then i can secure the high level and start thinking about that area and what i want to do

a few pics for you from last night and this morning, did a tamper conduct in a possession just north of the station a bit blurry, no tripod and this morning, thought i'd pop into the box before i headed home

You are probably right about the number! It should be coming back via the WCML and one of the 56s is being left in kingmoor for crew training, im not even sure if the 56 will work it back tuesday but lookin at it it may well do

only a few from last night, 56302 on the logs again, traction conducted it to carlisle... crewe (iphone pic) warrington BQ kingmoor during the run round checked my train time home only to find that after the 05:45 departure direct to crewe all other trains were only running to oxenholme with a bus to preston and then a train to manchester and another to crewe with a journey time of 4 hours 15 mins so i ended up taking the van and driving home instead, tonight i start work in banbury, thats a fair few miles today!!

I quite enjoyed it to be honest, had to think on my feet a bit

Its Not 105 its 302, i should have been driving it but couln't make the job due to the late running last night, will be picking it up later though from crewe May i suggest getting out monday for J37 too, you wait for a 56 to come along and 2 come along at once!!