Claude_Dreyfus

67024 and 67007 were on Orient Express duties on Monday 26th June. Here they both are at Victoria having arrived with a service from Folkestone West.

A blast from the past, given we have just passed the 25(!!) anniversary of the class's introduction. Yes, we have had class 66s for a quarter of a century, which will no doubt make a few of us feel pretty ancient...

My first encounter with the class was at the Toton open day, during the August of that year. The first 4 of the class in the UK were all on display (missing was 66002, then at a test facility in Colorado) - 66003, 004 and 005 were pretty much directly off the boat at this point.

A couple of years later the first and last of the class were on display at the Old Oak Common open day.

I was held up at London Bridge one morning by a train occupying the platform we were scheduled to arrive at. That train was delayed due to the driver not being available. The driver was not available as they were the driver of our train. The paradox was sorted after about 10 minutes when another suitable platform was freed up...we were kept appraised of the developing situation by the guard (we had one of those at the time...). Not 100% sure Southern would have been too thrilled at that cock-up being publicised to the morning commuters.

73962 heads the 1Q76 11:31 Tonbridge West Yard - Seaford through Pulborough station - 29 June 

377203 heads the 1C38 14:35 Victoria - Bognor/Portsmouth service past the site of the old Hardham Junction - 28 May 2023.

Engineering trains on the Arun valley line - 28thMay 2023. These were returning to Eastleigh from a possession near Oxted.

66546 runs the 6Y85 12:39 Oxted - Eastleigh East Yard through Pulborough station.

A mile or so south, 66544 heads the 6N01 13:39 Oxted - Eastleigh East Yard towards Hardham.

Another thing of course is that English dominates popular culture. Internationally popular music is usually in English (check out how many Eurovision songs are sung in English) as are many of the most popular films.

We do, of course, have the Americans to thank for that, but...

1 hour ago, Siberian Snooper said:

My late friend was an aide to one of our admirals at a NATO bash, when a French admiral asked why all those parties to be conducted in English, an American general turned around, because if we hadn't turned up in the wars you'd be speaking German. End of conversation.

 

 

I have heard that after American independence there were serious discussions about which language should be used. There were arguments against English as it was the language of the 'oppressors', and independence gave them a chance for a new beginning and a break from the past.

English won out for a number of reasons (helped no doubt by the fact everyone already spoke the language!) but there was significant support for German being the new language. Things would have been very different if that had been the case.

37254 has been kicking around Sussex over the last few days. Here she is approaching Pulborough forming the 0Z25 11:06 Three Bridges - Tonbridge run. The return north resulted in some pretty decent thrash!

A few years ago our club built a large N gauge layout. Station, carriage sidings, branch line, fright yard and loco shed; basically everything in one place?

Over the years we settled down to operating the layout and found it was too much. Following a conversation to Japanese, the layout was rationalised much like the real thing, to simplify operations and to get rid of unused sidings.

The loco shed became a couple of stabling sidings, the freight sidings were modified to handle palletised goods and finally the carriage sidings were removed. One siding was retained but shortened to stable track machines, the others disappeared under an office building! 

13 hours ago, Northmoor said:

I don't know whether the OP wants to expand the remit of the thread, but while I find the historic photos equally interesting, it isn't what he originally proposed/requested (see above).

Whilst I did start up this thread, I do appreciate these things take on a life of their own and I cannot be too prescriptive in which course it takes, I wanted to try to keep the scope as up-to-date as possible (ideally reflecting what is around and about now, but in reality anything this century). 

Older pictures are interesting, and certainly have their place here in terms of providing comparison or context, but I personally would rather the thread did not become overrun with them as it dilutes what I feel the thread is trying to achieve...i.e. showing those interesting survivors, various quirkiness as well as the 'bread and butter' we all take for granted.

Yes, I realised the end of the 313s would also mean the end of guard duties on Southern. I heard an OBS talking about that on our Arun valley train the other day. He was in training in readiness for his conversion. Perhaps that is the forgotten aspect of these units being retired.

In terms of people missing the 313s, judging by the state of 313211 I travelled on the other day, I very much doubt it. The unit was tatty, both inside and out, and looked thoroughly neglected. That is a shame, because in the past Southern had some pride about them. Their trains were clean inside and out, but that seems less now. 313211 looked very much what it was, a unit on its last legs...

Seeing double...

156458 arrives at Arisaig with a Mallaig service - 14 July 2022

I think we need a photo thread on present-day (or in use over the last 10 years or so) signals.

In part this is inspired by a comment on the EMU thread, mentioning the likely demise of the semaphore signals at Bognor and Littlehampton, but there are plenty of others on borrowed time throughout the network (I am hearing Cornwall may also be losing some or all their semaphores over the near or so). The thread is not just limited to semaphores either - the world's your oyster!

P.S. Not wishing to offend anyone, but can this not be filled with other people's images culled from Flickr (I don't have an issue with own pictures being linked from there)?

I'll kick off with a few snaps from the other day...

Bognor - 1st May 2023

Littlehampton

I did have a look, but could not find anything resembling a photo thread on signals.

On 01/11/2010 at 22:36, Mikkel said:

 

 

 

 

I wonder if the yellow NRZ 10A class is the same locomotive I photographed in March 2019? It is certainly a lot tattier... That said, the very faded number on the front looks like 1027.

2 hours ago, StuAllen said:

From Ford today

 

Judging by the damp road, I suspect you were an hour or so after me.

I am not sure of the operating diagrams, but it looks like units on the Bognor - Littlehampton shuttles also operate the Littlehampton - Portsmouth trips.

Now they are very much in their twilight days, I am sure class 313s are going to feature even more heavily than usual on here!

These are my offerings from a brief visit to the south coast today...

313211 looking rather worse for wear at Bognor. Sadly the inside was just as tatty, with opaque windows and grubby seats...they really are showing their age now.

313212 pulls away from Barnham with 2P22 10:09 Littlehampton - Bognor shuttle. Sadly the unit looks to be in better shape than the canopy!

313215 pulls into Ford with the 2S09 09:57 Portsmouth - Littlehampton service.

313211 and 377127 at Littlehampton - 313211 was about to leave with the 2S16 10:55 Littlehampton - Portsmouth & Southsea.

313215 about to leave with the 2P26 11:09 Littlehampton - Bognor shuttle.

313215 and 313212 pass at Ford.

313204 arrives at Ford with the 2S11 10:57 Portsmouth & Southsea - Littlehampton. Sadly another example of the fleet which has definitely seen better days!

313212 at Ford with the 2S18 11:55 Littlehampton - Portsmouth & Southsea. This may well be the last 313 I get to see...

There is a thread here about the 69s, which also acts as a photo thread...

https://www.rmweb.co.uk/topic/143572-class-69-return-of-the-body-snatchers/page/18/#comment-5087159

How about a nice Shay? Stuffed and mounted at Williams AZ - picture taken in July 2016.

172343 ( I think!) leads the 1V21 16:50 Birmingham - Hereford service as it curves into Droitwich Spa station.

I have long had a liking for these carriages, ever since I first saw these on a holiday back in 1984.

Being used to blue and grey carriages, seeing the various carriages in Austria was definitely a change of scene - particularly when we had a day out to Innsbruck and I first saw the Eurofima carriages...quite an impression on a young child (I was six at the time).

A couple of these carriages can be seen in this picture upon arrival at Innsbruck (on a train from Seefeld) ironically aboard a DB 'ivory and ocean blue' carriage. My father had a rake of N gauge Roco Eurofima at about this time and they were my favourite carriages of his, obtaining them at about the same time as this holiday - I suspect inspired by the trip!

I too have been inspired, but had to wait a further 39 years until I could scratch that itch!

 Not complete by any means, but a decent rake to start with; a restaurant car and probably another 2 class will be added in due course...

Crikey, it has been over three years since the last post on here.

So, what has been happening on the layout since February 2020? Well, needless to say the show it was due to attend was cancelled, and nothing happened to the layout for a good 18 months plus. Once we returned to regular club meetings the conversation came up about the fiddle yard and the fact it was only 6 tracks...needless to say far too small, especially given the volume of trains operating!

I suppose it was a combination of a lack of forethought, as well as the total H0 stock in the club members possession at the time could barely fill the sidings. Inevitably we needed something a little more substantial.

This is now under construction, a new fiddle yard with 14 tracks - certainly enough to provide a good variety of trains. In addition the old approach of narrowing the four track at the front to two in order to enter the fiddle yard has now been changed. The layout will now have four independent circuits for the mainline, plus two for the suburban line. That, combined with the tram lines, should make for plenty of activity... 

The boards have been covered by a thin layer of lino underlay, with the track marked out using a template. 

On the return boards, the underlay is more or less track width to allow for the ballast shoulder.

Here the track is being laid, with particular care being taken on the board joint! The track laying will continue at a member's house, followed by the ballasting. The boards will then be wired up and then handed over to the scenery team to get cracking. Inspiration is currently being sought for this corner...

An advantage of the layout being worked on means there are often views afforded that are not ordinarily available. 

Adding to this unusual view - which highlights the work which needs to done (everything is a bit too clean in this corner) - is some unusual stock as well. Unusual inasmuch as you won't see either of these carriages on the layout when it is operating, as these are both in the Maerklin 3-rail collection of a member - the nearest carriage easily being 60 years old. Perfectly acceptable for testing the track across the baseboard joins.

In terms of future appearances, the layout is scheduled to appear at the Fareham show in October. Plenty to do in the intervening five months!  

Colas 66848 passes Hardham with the 6C03 10:36 Windmill Bridge Jc - Eastleigh East Yard engineers working - 16April 2023.

Away from the excitement along the south coast, more mundane activities are taking place inland...

An unidentified trio of 377s head towards Pulborough with the 1C29 Bognor/Portsmouth Harbour - London Bridge.

I don't know how many times this proposal has reared its head. In hindsight closing the link was a mistake, given the increase in housing in the area and it's very obvious benefit as a diversion route. That said I am not sure there is a strong business case for reinstatement (or else it would have been done sooner!) in today's climate, so as much as I would love to see it happening, I suspect (like you) that it won't.