big jim

today was my first trip over the S+C, what can i say, WOW, its one heck of a line, none of it has sunk in as ive only done one trip one way but i should pick it up quite quick with any luck the day started with a bit of road refreshing crewe to carlisle via the wcml, surprising how much i remembered even though it has been 6 years since i last went over it, some odd looking new signals round lancaster though! so into carlisle to wait for the LE to come in from kingmoor, this came through while i was waiting, i'd passed it in carnforth on the way to carlisle too and in came my chariot for the day, 66850 obviously no pics en route as the phone is off in the cab, a nice run over to ribblehead, following a passenger service so it was block to block which was a bonus as i was learning it so got to see it on restrictive aspects, to get into ribblehead you have to run down to settle jn and back north and into the sidings via a groundframe, here is the loco inside the frame with ribblehead station in the background, by this point it was raining sideways! almost ready to go once loaded and brake tested its out of the frame on over ribblehead viaduct to run round in blea moor loop behind the signal during the run round and away to warrington, again no pics en route but gave newbryford a toot on the horn as i passed his house (even though i think he wasnt in) finally got stopped at farrington jn waiting to head onto the wcml so got a couple of pics there and on to warrington for relief while i was waiting for the train home this came through, got a video of it but accidently deleted it!!

As far as i know its l/e from carlisle to ribblehead then onwards to warrington

had a good day in the shed today, got loads done..... first up was to finish the 2nd wide board i was building, and after taking out the items in the shed placing it on the floor to see how much room i'd have between the boards, ok if i breathe in!! the board on the right had additional lengthways bracing which i will add to the other one before the boards go on then i went onto the skirting......... set to it using a new toy i got from an ex catalog shop last week, a nice mitre saw thingy loosely in place and screwed to the walls, it is screwed into the batoning at the bottom and into the lining ply at the top so once that was in place, apart from the rear wall as i need one more length for that i went onto deciding how high i should have the baseboards, i decided on having the top of the frames 900mm from the top of the skirt (1000mm from the floor), i worked from the top of the skirting as that is a constant where as the floor is slightly flexible, so i marked up the height on the wall..... i then clamped 2 temporary legs to the framing and screwed it to the wall with a single screw in the centre once it was secure to the wall i then made some angular legs that fit between the top of the skirting and the boards, 2 on each frame and the same on the other side..... which left me with this as i was on a roll i then went on to the smaller thinner boards, basically done the same method as the first board i built, slotted into place between the big board and doorway and screwed to the wall on 2 sides and big board framing on the 3rd side so very secure even without legs so i'm not going to bother fitting any to it as yet but may re-evaluate once the top boards are in place same again on the other side and looking out from the rear of the shed again i need to add the cross members to the boards before the tops go on but i need to see where i need to cut holes to reach the hidden track section i have planned for the left hand side before i secure anything in all a very productive day indeed, not shown is the piece of wood i've added between the big boards at the rear wall end, i've yet to decide how to do the baseboard accross the doorway, i'm thinking it will be removable as it should just be a simple 2 height track setup at that point as the inclines i have planned should be at their required heights before the doorway!

turns out i'm on the ribblehead job tomorrow, 66850 on it, looking forward to that

Didn't realise they had modified KSA wagons, used to work those with DRS on the malcom train hopefully the 56 will be on it tomorrow, be nice if it is, first run over the S+C driving a 56 would be nice, i'll be getting tomorrows roster larer today by email so may find out

i've got a rake of 7 of the green 100t tanks thanks to kintbury jon via the classifieds, just need the last one to complete my sinfin rake (9 max) i think the log train may be harder to model though!

Nice video bob, didn't see the camera when we passed by! Off over there again today but on the EMT service this time

i'll be on the 12:44 ex carlisle monday to thursday

if your about tomorrow im planning on road refreshing on the 10.07 off crewe to derby!

it may have been the shunter in the back, if it was early we were heading onto etches park for fuel

well here we go again, another new employer for me.... as people may kowi left chiltern the other week and have started with colas as a lead driver, had a couple of days PTS and rules refresh before going out today and doing a bit of route refreshing from crewe to derby on the sinfin tanks, got to do a 66 conversion so i couldn't drive today but i got the route to derby refreshed (doing it again tomorrow with an EMT cab pass) started at 05:30 in crewe departing to derby st andrews to run round, 66847 at the helm the train run round in St Andrews, here we are ready to head down the sinfin branch after dropping the tanks off in sinfin it was off to Etches Park for fuel and a service then back to sinfin and onto the train, here it is waiting at sinfin jn to head back out onto the mainline, the 3/4 mile trip down the branch involves working 3 ground frames, a propelling move and a run round then another run round at St Andrews on the way back!! and finally back into crewe in all a good day, inducted into the sinfin plant, route refreshed and ready to re-sign, gave 250BOB a wave passing through uttoxeter next week im route refreshing the WCML to carlisle for 4 days and working a log train back via the S+C to get my handling hours in and to start learning the route, the week after its refresh warrington to chirk and down to shrewsbury and wolves and back to warrington, thankfully i know it all anyway so again its just a refresh i'll use this thread to keep anyone who's interested about my exploits with colas

A bit of fun with photoshop express on the iphone

The new PG tips advert has begun airing, features marylebone station and a class 165 that turns into a 172 when monkey gets his nose trapped in the door

Finally got round to listening to the new wonderstuff album today and its brilliant, well worth the long wait for new material, recommended by me

i cant sleep either! lots on my mind, my wife has a hospital appointment tomorrow following the unfortunate events of the weekend. i'm starting the new job next week, so have lots to sort out direct debit wise like enginmans fund, benevolant fund, things that are currently paybill deductions that colas dont do, then theres all the swapping over of pensions and sorting out ones i have that have been dormant for a few years my "new" car, a chrysler PT cruiser is more knackered than i thought so is going up on ebay as spares or repair over the weekend, only gave £400 for it and spent another £300 getting it roadworthy which is not too bad but it wont pass its MOT in june without a new windscreen, brakes and brake pipes at a minimum so i'm going to get shut, thing is its such a good car otherwise im already looking out for another to replace it! on the plus side ive been informed that my new job has had a pay review and instead of worrying about taking a pay cut moving companies im now going to be on more than i was on at chiltern so thats a huge worry lifted, i'd previously worked out we could get by with the paycut without cutting back too much so the raise should mean i can put something away every month or possibly overpay on the mortgage to pay it off quicker

i've just downloaded the new wonderstuff album, not listened to it yet but it has good reviews so am looking forward to it

Thanks for the advice, im not going to relay the floor, for the use im going to get out of it i'll leave it as it is The router does have a direcion arrow on it so i make sure i cut the right way, it is a lethal machine however the good thing is you cant operate it without both hands on the handles so there is no worries about getting fingers in the way! I did wonder if the grooves were a bit deep to be honest, probably could take a few mil off the depth on rest of the boards as i do them

got the rest of the wood for the baseboards, was hoping to get the frames finished today but i lost the keys to the garage and hed so i had to spend while hunting for them and eventually cutting the lock off the shed so i only got a little bit done being as i didnt chronicle the first baseboard construction i thought id take some pictures this time round....... first up i clamped up the long pieces of wood on the workbench, i put them along side each other to get the cuts perfectly in line i then used the original board to mark out where i was going to rout out then i used a piece of wood laminate as a guide for the router the wood is 18mm thick, i routed to a depth of 10MM, here is the router cutting tool before i started cutting i then cut the groove into the wood and the same futher along and thats as far as i got before i had to go back in the house, got 2 more cuts to do on the sides, then cut the cross members and finally the end pieces which i'll photograph as i go along, hopefully early next week, then onto the smaller boards i've also bought the skirting board to fit to the shed too

i was hoping to get a few shot of the FGW diversions this evening while i was sat in gerrards cross turnback but unfortunatly thanks to me nearly hitting a couple of teenagers walking in the 4ft with their backs to me i got relieved of my duties and ended up going home instead of continuing with my job saw a few HSTs between banbury and ruislip which made a nice change from the usual chiltern units (and the GBRf and harry needle 20s on ruislip depot)

not far from lickey end either!! DIRTY BOY! edit: (just realised its already been pointed out on the previous page)

sorry are there backpacks in those pictures, can't say i'd noticed for some reason bet you no one would complain about backpacks at exhibitions if thats who was carrying it!

it was in stobart livery when it was with DRS

another train to model also saw a freightliner service earlier today with a drs 66 piloting a class 70

A heads up for another train to model for you, this coming sunday wrexham are playing in wembley apparently, ATW are running a special service from wrexham to wembley stadium and return with the arriva 67 MK3 and DVT set, Arriva are running it as far as new st then a chiltern driver taking over from there for the run south Im cover so hopefully i can get to photograph it departing new st or i may run out to tyseley for some pics if i dont get a job