big jim

Medical passed, just need to get written conformation then hand my notice in asap

Today is my only day off this week and ive got to be in birmingham for 9am for my medical for colas so im currently sat on a 350 heading towards brum, much rather be in bed!!

here is the location from google maps, the crossing to nowhere i mentioned previously is actually futher south than i remember but it is where the ground frame is located, look how straight the line of trees is on google compared to the twitter pic! https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Hatfield+Colliery,+Stainforth,+Doncaster+District,+United+Kingdom&hl=en&ll=53.594122,-1.009111&spn=0.001601,0.005284&sll=51.050975,-4.214429&sspn=0.054279,0.169086&oq=hatfield+c&t=h&hq=Hatfield+Colliery,+Stainforth,+Doncaster+District,+United+Kingdom&z=18

that ariel picture really shows how bad it is, the fact the track has raised and the trees are still standing suggests to me the main slip has happened below the surface as such, pushing the whole bank towards the lines rather than loose spoil rolling down the hill flattening anything in its path (a'la gbrf 66 incident) its just north of the ground frame that takes you out onto the goods (to run round)

^ is that rotherham masborough looking north towards ardwick?

all i remember about hatfield from going there with fastline was the colliery area was like a moonscape, very desolate, no trees and very "sinky" when you had to walk to the train on the loading road looking at the NR twitter pic the slip is north of the loading bunker, as other have pointed out in a spoil tipping area, basically beyond the signal gantry roughly where the trees are above the wagon in this picture (of the first fastline coal train from hatfield), there is a public footpath by the landslip which actually seemed to go no where, it went under a bridge parapet and straight into the slagheap, probably at one time it was busy with workers heading to the colliery as you can see in this pic there is quite a steep bank down to the track, which as i say was very soft underfoot may as well put this up as well, the last fastline train from hatfield, i worked both the first and last train from there!

I spy.......

windy in crewe this morning but dry, heading to work now, just looked out of the window passing through wolverhampton and it looks like its been raining here on standby today (rdw) so hopefully nothing will come up, got to be in rugby just after midday to meet someone at colas then rush home to pick the little un up from school with any luck

gethin was on the cbeebies website this morning playing a "baby jake" game which involved playing hide and seek and finding "nibbles" the rabbit one he found it he proudly proclaimed to us that he had been looking for and had "found nipples on the computer" even our 8 year old laughed!

last weeks Miranda had a bit fimed on marylebone station with her getting on a class 172 heading for wick!

EWS 08 on a low loader after leaving crewe ETD

gethin then aged about 1 enjoying a trip on adrian shooters private railway

i think the key word there is "rumour"

something a bit different

the blue chiltern bubblecar is running up and down between birmingham and crewe for the next couple of weeks road learning, a good excuse to model it out of its normal geographic area managed to grab a shot of it in stafford this morning after getting updates from control as to where it was!

amazed me that the line is going right under the runway/terminal for east midlands airport but there is not going to be a station there. as for "toton" station i would have thought something nearer to, or an interchange at east midlands parkway would be a better option regards motorway links etc over to the west, crewe should be interesting, not much room to squeeze the line through the station area without totally rebuilding the station surely? tankfully it comes no where near my house either

i have announced kings sutton as "kings sutton on sea" in the past! will have a look later but it will be dark by the time i pass there

good pics of the 2 rail cranes in operation recovering 47500 on wnxx http://www.wnxx.com/content/250113/47500recovery.htm

its more noticable as the rear loco isn't running, it tends to be drowned out a fair bit by engine noise normally

nope definatly the spirex, a wheelflat would be a thud thud thud sound rather than a clicking

spirex valve

i think its a lot do with water getting where it shouldn't and causing shorts, i had 2 different 67s last week with problems caused by water ingress including a traction motor flashover on one of them

The diamond crossing on the entrance to tyseley had a worn out piece last year and the lead time from the foundry in the former eastern block was 5 months, there was an ESR in place there for 26 weeks, only got lifted a few weeks back