TheSignalEngineer

I remember standing on the platform at Snow Hill just before the commissioning of the Jewellery line. To finish off the northern section we had started running the Handsworth scrap train out to the south under some special instructions. I was talking to a member of the HSE staff who fortunately was facing away from the train as the driver was in the process of making a call on a mobile phone as he approached the Red at the end of the platform. Not an advisable thing to do past a crowded platform although the only thing he would have hit was the ground because the Inspectorate had previously made us install self-normalising trap points ahead of all of the platform starters.

The early 1990s was a period of change with regard to safety of on-track work. The deaths of three S&T men at Edge Hill and Brian Ward being hit by an HST at Southall whilst speaking to the PSB on a mobile phone along with others in a very short period led to a complete review of how we did things. For background it's well worth anybody watching Peter Wing's film "Dead Serious About Safety". Around this time I was managing 100plus on-track staff mainly working between Euston and Rugby, also Moorgate to Bedford and the North London Line, so plenty of complex areas. With BRB HQ S&T we had been developing concepts such as protective temporary speed limits on open lines adjacent to possessions and 'Fenced Green Zones' around trackside locations where staff could be taken in under a short blockage then work safely behind a barrier next to an open line. Also being developed in the area was a set of briefing sheets for all trackside access points giving line directions, speeds, places of sefety and prohibited areas and a Project Safety Card which gave outline details of safety requirements, telephone numbers of signal panels, Electrification Control Room and on-call S&T manager, provision of on-site First Aid and directions to nearest A&E. Around the time of the film I moved into the overall Engineering Management of projects so had the task of transferring these into new projects. Around this time we wrote a series of handbooks on how to develop, design and commission projects to try to prevent many years of accumulated knowledge from disappearing when the 'external expertise' was drafted on by Railtrack. I suppose some of that was successful as the current investment rules are quite close to what we wrote. About 10 years ago on a consultancy job I was given one Network Rail document to work to which was almost a straight copy of an instruction I wrote in 1985 just updated to cover changes in technology.

For those who like have a random mixture of stock and want to run big trains, take a look at the first picture in this article taken in the summer of 1963. First a Choc and Cream Mk1 BCK, a Blood & Custard SK or SO followed by a maroon one, then I think the fourth coach is a Gresley. https://www.therailwayhub.co.uk/4347/sentry-at-the-gate-how-the-north-warwickshire-line-avoided-closure/

The Baker that doesn't sell loaves. As far as I am concerned they are now just another takeaway and well down my food chain in ranking preference.

I'm just preparing two donors for some conversions. They are the modern Hornby scale length ones. I noticed when I started doing the tops that the Sleeping Car has external pipes to the roof tank filler whereas the FK and others I have looked at have the pipes entering the end just below roof level. From photos I have and around the web there doesn't seem to be any pattern except that late pictures including preserved examples seem to have internal pipes. Around 1960 I have found both types in the same train. Any LNER experts able to give a steer on this question? Thanks for reading.

Do their movements correlate with any recent thefts from exhibitions.

I wonder if the movements of these correlated with exhibitions.

Just watched again and spotted Mrs SE on the platform ar Grosmont during the 9F sequence.

Pre-WW2 the specification of the body framing on Gresley vestibule stock, except for a few special sets, was Rangoon teak for the main frame with oak cross-members. Smaller parts used pitch-pine or deal.

Clearing semaphore Home signal with the train at or nearly at a stand had the same meaning as a delayed yellow on a colour light. On a through line the track is clear to the next signal but not necessarily beyond it so proceed with caution, being prepared to stop at the next signal or stop at the platform as appropriate. Various local rules applied, such as one I was involved where a through station with a signal on a steep gradient on the approach had a free yellow as it was difficult to restart a heavy train there. On another line trains were banked through a tunnel with the Home signal just outside the exit. I altered the controls so it could be cleared as soon as the train had passed the distant following an incident when the driver braked for the Home and the banker driver still out of sight in the tunnel kept pushing. Big pile of wagons in the cutting at the tunnel mouth. These local conditions were listed in the Sectional Appendix as locations exempt from Rule 39A.

Some early colour light schemes used Green for clear platforms and a Delayed Yellow for occupied platforms

This reminds me of when I used to drive the southern end of the M1 regularly about 30 years ago. There was a DJ on a local radio station somewhere in the south east who always played Chris Rea's 'Road to Hell' as a link to the traffic news.

An added complication with the Spanish Flu epidemic was that a significant proportion of the population of Europe plus those combatants from elsewhere were in a lower than normal state of health after WW1

Don't forget amongst all of this is that you don't have a green to a red when signals are only two aspect.

I get my slant on the news from my 9 year old grandson. His opinion is that the situation in the UK is being over-hyped by people running the country to distract us from other problems of their own creation. We should act sensibly, wash our hands and get on with life.

Aargh!!. Think I got caught on camera but fortunately I was facing the other way at the time.

There's been quite a bit of discussion about this in previous threads. This is the method I followed.

By the time of the transfer of the West of England lines to the WR, the Southern had a peak allocation of 54 Ivatts if I'm counting correctly. That was half of the locos still in service.

Looking through Trains Illustrated for info about the short stay of Standard 2MTt tanks at 72A i found a report of a landslip on the GWR line which resulted in five trains being diverted via Basingstoke and Exeter Central on Saturday 26th August 1961. The workings concerned in the report were 8.25am Paddington - Penzance behind Modified Hall 6973 9.30am Paddington - Newquay D818 8.15am Perranporth - Paddington D826 9.20am St. Ives - Paddington D852 Up Cornish Riviera Express D867 Apparently similar workings took place on the following Saturday. Railway Magazine had a picture of D810 at Crewkerne on the Perranporth - Paddington train.

A few brief reports appeared in Trains Illustrated that summer. It reported that 84020-3 had gone to Exmouth Junction, 84021 working on the Exmouth branch from 15th June. The following month it reported that the SR was anxious to replace its ageing 0-4-4 tanks with more modern locos and had received 8 redundant Ivatts from the LMR. However the 84xxx locos were to be moved to the LMR as the SR didn't consider it had enough of them to justify the expense of boiler spares. A direct swap of 10 Ivatts (41320-29) for the ten 84xxx took place in September. 41320-23 replaced 84020-23 at 72A. 41324-27 went to Brighton for 84024-27 and 41328-29 replaced 84028-29 at Eastleigh.

In 1961 Trains Illustrated reported them as regularly working over the Redhill line with trains from the West Midlands to Margate

On the LMS the Harborne branch was worked by propelling from the main line for the last few years of the goods service. I think this was following a breakaway which resulted in a few wagons of coal blocking the canal near Harborne Junction. It was still possible to run round at the terminus as it was the only way to access the Corporation depot.

I still have some black Hornby Dublo ones. The red ones are no use because they are a "passing contact"

Just done a Dapol lowmac complete with apology in the instructions about it being from old Airfix tooling. Went together first time in less than an hour. Ian Kirk wagons done at similar speed as well.

Firstly a few questions. What date is it supposed to be? That could make a big difference. What type of trains are intended? How are you going to get wagons into the siding without a run-round loop? If only one train is present on the branch at a time it may have no signalling other than the fixed distant plus a ground frame released by the token to allow access to the sidings, but you will still need somewhere to run round.