TheSignalEngineer

I would disagree that a 317 or 321 was quieter than a DVT leading at low speed. The noisy bit of a 321 lay between 20 and 60 metres from the front depending on which way round it was whereas with a 90 pushing an express it was about 230 - 250metres. Again the 321 was far less conspicuous at distance that a 317 to my mind. As Gwiwer said it was a different railway then. I often carried out inspections alone on lines up to 110mph. You didn't just rely on hearing, one eye for your life and the other for the job was the rule even when you had a lookout. My point about sounds is that I always ensured I had enough visibility for the approaching speeds to be safe before going near the line but there were numerous places where I could tell there was a train coming without actually seeing it.

I had my first Dublo 3-rail stuff over 60 years ago and collected a bit more up to 10 years ago. From a quick look through I can't see anything particularly rare. As we old Dublo people die off prices seem to have become depressed in the last couple of years. Even some of the later rarities in excellent boxed condition look to have dropped by 20-30%. BTW the NE 7Plank (2nd photo) I think is Trix rather than HD

Would the LNER 10' WB Fish Van remain in bauxite in BR days as the Bachmann model or would it have received crimson the maroon livery?

But not updated for a long time. Still showing last year's show dates.

I don't have the workings for the late 1950s, only those for 1962 when the Class 128s had taken over the local parcels workings in Birmingham, but I would guess that a typical day for No.17 was duty D70 which was the old Leamington D10. Of course there would be no tail traffic in the days of No.17. Two other DPU workings in Birmingham area introduced after No.17 left and the Class 128s took over the other parcels work were D71, (formerly Stafford Road D6) which was mainly Wolverhampton - Dudley - Stourbridge, and D72 (formerly Tyseley D20) which was Bewdley - Brimingham - Stratford - Leamington.

This post shows a snapshot of the allocations for cars 8-17 at various points in time. Followed by a sample of the workings of No,34 in the mid 1950s. No 17 worked parcels shuttles in the Leamington - Birmingham - Wolverhampton - Stourbridge area after it was transferred to Leamington in the 1950s.

We are talking a different time and culture to now. In those days a lot of our outdoor work was done what would now be called Red Zone. Very few areas were prohibited when open. Many of our worksites you are not even allowed to access now without a possession let alone actually work at them. For my part I was on track about three or four days a week then. Every type of loco has a signature in terms of visual impact, noise and even electrical interference. Put a scope on an unscreened lineside cable and in those days I would tell you what class was on the approaching train without being able to see it. Even some control systems used on diesels can cause an electrical 'noise' when you are close up. My own first impression with the DVT was that the front end tended to merge with the background much more than an 86 or 317. I don't know what it was, maybe the lack of contrast between the yellow panel which was quite small against the white at the sides. The most striking thing at short range was actually the black band where the headlights are mounted. My perception when it came to noise the problem with the DVT was not so much at high speed but low speed starting away or crossing through a 20mph connection. The first thing you heard in the latter case was flange squeal from the leading bogie as it hit the curve of the point blade. When you are on track every day you become tuned to the background and the slightest changes can tell you what is going on. Some types of train will make the rails start to give off distinct noises when they are perhaps up to a mile away. A lot of this will depend on the mounting of different components and their physical condition, e.g amount of wear. A new DVT with its small amount of unsprung weight was a totally different animal to an 86/0. People have written learned papers and whole books on the subject of wheel generated vibration, including how it can be monitored to check the structural integrity of locomotives or rolling stock. A cousin of mine spent 20 years or more researching noise and vibration propogation in railway vehicles and infrastructure including mitigating its effect on neighbouring properties.

A quick look through my photo index shows that I took a picture of the 'Buffered HST' at Euston stop blocks in March 1988. My first picture of a Class 82 DVT was ex-works 82102 at Derby station in November 1988. The livery was InterCity Swallow. Later on the same film either late November or first week of December 82102 was doing a crossing move from the Up HL Arrival to the Down Slow at Wembley Central. Unusually for a DVT it is pointing north. Immediately behind the DVT is a Mk2 coach then a very shiny Class 90, followed by some more passenger stock. It looks as if this was either a test run or driver training. I believe that testing and training continued throughout 1989, sometimes with a DVT at each end, then coaches and an 86 or 90 in the middle of the coaching stock. There are also pictures around with blue and grey stock in the test trains. .

I don't know what they had when they arrived. The quiet approach was raised by my H&S Reps at a depot meeting about a week after test running started. That got passed up the chain to my boss to be raised at a high level meeting.

The first ones came out around the time we were doing the DC Lines resignalling at the end of 1988. I remember photographing one ex-works at Watford. My staff used to call them 'Wispering Death' as they were quite difficult to pick out when working on-track on busy areas.

Wouldn't want to have them working on a 'Fly By Wire' job.

Be interesting to see what turns up. The Peco website is as helpful as ever and doesn't even seem to admit its existance yet.

Not the type of box they were showing samples of on their stand recently. (See page 1). The picture you show is the wartime version of the ARP box as in their original publicity, their sample was of Town Green near Ormskirk which was a post-war adaptation built in 1949. I believe that was the last variation of the type and may have been unique.

Models usually have a complete set of tooling even though the prototype may share a common element. This is necessary to combat issues of worn tool components. In addition if production is being outsourced to different factories they need a complete set of tooling. The only saving in this direction is that if after research a component is found to be identical the CAD file could be copied and renamed thus saving a few hours of Keyboard Jockey time.

Seven more random appearances in the past hour on my new contents feed.

Snitzl's Main Blog was also the source of the stray entries on my list this morning.

With GM Police you were lucky to get them to answer the phone call let alone any follow up. I had a parking charge notice from a private clamping and removal 'parking enforcer' some years ago. I was supposed to be parked at an apartment site in Birkenhead. The DVLA had given out my details in error so I told the company that I would be quite happy to pay their charge if they still had the car as the rather nice black BMW looked much better than my old Citroen. I got a copy of the original request to the DVLA for details and the company also had a photo of the offending car so proving my innocence was easy. Following a complaint to the Information Commissioner the DVLA offered me a paltry £25 compensation for my inconvenience. I told them to put it in a place where there isn't any daylight.

Speed of repainting varied with region or previous company's workshop maintaining the stock. The LMS worked on a six to seven year cycle of overhauls between full repaints so it would just about be be possible for a coach painted LMS Maroon just before the introduction of blood and custard to get to BR Maroon without an intermediate repaint. The Southern Railway worked on a ten-year paint and touch up/re-varnish cycle so some stock built in 1947-8 went straight from Malachite to BR(S) Green. The Southern Region were quite quick on the uptake when they had the opportunity to revert to green livery. Following on from the repaint cycle it could be deduced that the amount of blood and custard would reduce in 1949-56 built stock by about 15-20% per year and older stock by the scrappage rate and about 15% repaint of retained stock. Using these figures blood and custard would be expected to die out progressively up to about 1963, being the minority after about 1959 and fairly rare in regular service by 1961. A rake of mainly blood and custard in its later days would be more likely on a Summer Saturday than at any other time.

The chairs?

No, but I'll take two of the forthcoming Johnson 2F and a Stanier 3P tank.

OC was fond of dropping one onto the first Down Birmingham or subbing the 47 off a Poole - Liverpool at Reading. Birmingham would retaliate by sending it back in place of the 47 on a heavy Poole train which would then proceed to lose 30+ to Oxford even if it did manage to get out of the dip at Leamington without being rescued.

To me Worcester always seemed to be the last bastion of Great Westernism. Even so today with the remaining signalling equipment.

Reminds me of a girl being interviewed on TV some years ago on an item about the state of the High Street. She said "what we need is a decent shop like Primark" If that's the state of her High Street I'm not surprised it was dying. I understand that she has since had her wish fulfilled but I don't know if it has actually improved Barnsley.

More erratic behaviour this morning with blog entries between 4 and 7 years old popping up in the first few entries.

The Albert Edward bridge was subject to a 5mph PSR in recent years. I believe there was also a restriction on double heading with large diesels due to the concentration of weight in a short length. I suspect that they didn't want several hundred tonnes of coal dust in the Severn.