TheSignalEngineer

We didn't really have many single track dead end branches on GWR lines in the West Midlands. Most seemed to be links between other through routes like the Bumble Hole between the Stourbridge line and the OWW

On one occasion when I drove to the showground it was raining on top of snow which was on top of mud. A lot of people were having difficulty but I found a place where I could reverse parked with the nose end right up to the hard surface and got away in one. The worst chaos was was caused by people who had driven onto the grass with powered wheels furthest from the road then got stuck partly blocking the roadway trying to get off. Aiming to get down round opening on Sunday morning. If the weather is OK I find that Buxton - Leek is a nice route to take. Depends on how many manic motorbikes I can hear when I get up.

What's the state of the car park this year after all of the rain? I used to come in February and it could be bad then.

Are you going to put the blue brick courses in? They were quite a distinctive feature on those boxes. Exact style depended a bit as to where, when and by whom they were built. For Town Green on which that box is modelled, working down from the operating floor window the courses would be 3 red, 3 blue, 3 red, 3 blue then the red to the bottom. Some had two blue soldier courses instead of the blue stretchers and headers while others had blue around the wall boxes where the rods and wires came out.

Although the layout has changed a bit you are not even allowed to walk along the track there without a line blockage now. Proof House signal box is the dark area on the left so right under the eye of the signalman then. Just go up to the box, agree with the signalman what you were going to do. Put a reminder collar on the lever of the protecting signal, countersign the entry in the train register and get on with the job.

My Grandad Charlie making a slight adjustment to facing points detection at Proof House 1950s style. I was using that very hammer yesterday, well at least the head. It's had at least one new handle since then.

Try searching Youtube for Measured Shovel Packing*. You will find a film produced by the LMS I think c1946/7. There are also some films on everyday track maintenance, one including moving a sleeper across about 6" and refixing the chairs after the screw holes had become enlarged. Another clip shows renewing the chair bolts on GWR track without fully removing the sleeper from under the rails.

I can;t remember what the rules actually said nearly 60 years ago but I did S&T cover for rebonding track circuits during changing of rails between train on main lines. No possession, only lookout to watch for trains on adjacent open lines. In 1966 following a run-through which damaged a set of facing points we actually changed a pair of switches in the Down Main at Castle Bromwich between trains. Both Up lines remained open throughout and Down Passenger trains were sent along the Down Goods at 20mph. Two lookouts covered trains approaching from either direction. Signals relating to the points were booked out of use for the duration of the work and reminder collars placed on the levers affected. Three detonaters were put on the rail at the Home signal and a red flag stuck in the ballast in the four-foot. If trains were being passed at caution over the worksite during work the signalman would stop the train at the protecting signal and verbally instruct the driver. A handsignalman would display a yellow flag to indicate to the driver where the work was located and that it was safe to proceed past the site.

Was at cricket at Old Trafford recently. Prices like those for machine dispensed chemical imitation beer. Hate to think what they charge at an International match now.

Bindweed in flower, that's usually June to September.

Went there for lunch when we had signalling project meetings at the depot by Litchurch Lane. My colleague on the north of the MML had a boat moored at Shardlow

Never based at Derby but I used to go to quite a few meetings there when doing jobs on the Midland lines. And then there were courses at the school. The Bursar in my days kept 30 different single malts behind the bar. We had snooker tournaments to 3 or 4am and who remembers the Pink Coconut?

They missed me a few times in Birmingham. One night we had been visiting relatives and got off the bus on Navigation Street and walked past New Street PSB to get the one out to our house. The IRA had put a bomb in the rubbish bin outside and a few hours later it blew the street level doors off the signal box. Next morning I was due to be working in the office and we were diverted on the way in as another unexploded device had been found near where we had waited for the second bus. On another occasion Wakefields shop on New Street was fired during the night when I had been in there earlier. None were as close as my sister however. She used to meet up with friends in the Tavern in the Town on a Thursday night. That particular evening they were a bit early so went into a pub on Hill Street on the way. They were still in there when the bombs went off in the Tavern and the Grapes. It seems we have a bit of family history in that direction. Mom escaped two bombs in one night in 1940. First their house took a direct hit just after they had left for the shelter rather than sit in the Morrison cage under the table. On finding all that remained was a pile of rubble they walked down to her gran's house only to meet gran coming in the other direction as there was an unexploded parachute mine hooked on the fence in the yard. It had stopped a foot above the ground. They were directed to a local hall but when they got there it was chaos so they set off to her other grandparents a couple of miles away. During the walk there was a second raid and the hall took a direct hit. She went past it on the way to work the next morning and saw bodies being carried out. She joined the ATS in the same week as the late Queen. She told us that HRH turned up to collect here uniform and papers then quickly disappeared, allocated to a transport job as she could already drive. The following day the camp was strafed by a German fighter. Fortunately it had been spotted and everyone got out of the way into the safety of trenches in time.

They also lasted into privvytised days. These three pictures from my collection were taken when I was running our part of a bid for a contract in August 1999. Apologies for being small but the vehicle was't the main object of the pictures and our prehistoric digi camera only did little pictures at 75dpi. The first one shows a Leyland Roadrunner at Bedford in Balfour Beatty livery. H plate I think so 1990/1 build This shows the door configuration at the entry side of another vehicle with a central front window in the crew part . This is another vehicle showing a different door arrangement.