TheSignalEngineer

Very good advice John. My Dad hung on for four days at the end. Fortunately my Son, Sister and her family were around. I organised shifts so that there were always at two available on site, two were away having a rest and the others were doing anything needed like looking after Mom, keeping us fed and watered, contacting friends etc.

Had a similar experience a long while ago with a window company. They had messed me about for 18 months then made a payment into court two days before the hearing was due. They were about to put in a bid to the local authority for doing new windows on 500 council houses so obviously didn't want the local paper picking up on it. The offer didn't pay for the hassle but it covered more than the amount I was out of pocket so it was metaphorical handshakes all round and the cash was transferred.

That's why BR started the first West Coast Electrification scheme at Manchester and Liverpool. No politician would stop it reaching London, although it had severe budget cuts between Stafford and Bletchley mid-project c1962. Strangely these cuts had little effect on the 50 miles north of Euston. In 60 years they still haven't completed the original scope in the West Midlands.

No, I left Harborne when I got married, although still had relatives living around there until recently. I moved away from the Birmingham area about 20 years ago.

I think the manufacturers will come up with a wild card or two, Only high poller I've built recently is a Dance Hall Brake Van.

From the position of the 4th rail tracks I would think probably taken from Platform 3

My Dad was in the Birmingham Fire Brigade. His first station from 1947 to 1961 was Albion Street which covered the Icknield Port Road bit of the line and the main line from Monument Lane to Winson Green. In 1961 he moved to Harborne which was in Rose Road next to the Chad Valley factory. You could see the track from the top floor windows. It was converted to residential use after the brigade moved to the new station at Woodgate Valley. Up to 1961 our school had a sports ground in Portland Road. After hours on games afternoon we used to go Station Avenue to watch the Johnson 2F on the afternoon trip shunt Hagley Road coal wharf then depart for Harborne. Locos used were 58123/135/185/220/271, and sometimes Stanier 2--6-2T 40108 or 40129 . Later the 204hp shunters took over but they couldn't make it up the bank in the 1963 winter.

I've just had a sample for some glass vents which Guy Rixon is trying out for me on Shapways. They arrive milky white but when scrubbed up and polished/varnished they are fairly clear.

The old Selwyn Road bridge would be a good scenic break. It was at the main line end of the Rotton Park Road loop. You could have a bit of rusty overgrown track under it waiting for the extension through Summerfield Park.

Thread Drift Warning The LMS Type 13 ARP signal box was designed to be resistant to blast but not to a direct hit, like this one by a train at Portobello Junction, Willenhall, in 1974. http://www.willenhallhistory.co.uk/society/portobellocrash2.htm http://www.willenhallhistory.co.uk/society/portobellocrash.htm Incidentally the number of the ICI tank which was at the centre of the action was 666. If you ever go over Noose Lane Crossing you will see a bit of a mound just off the north west corner. There used to be an old pond there. How do you get rid of the debris? The mound hides the remains of the box, including the REC lever frame and gate wheel. It's just behind that chain link fence.

There were a lot of variations available in the original concept design. IIRC they came in four heights, 8', 10', 12' and 14' above rail to the operating floor. The only external difference was the staircase and the number of brick courses. The two decorative rows of Staffordshire Blue bricks were normally in the same place relative to the windows but some bricklayers put the outer layer as a soldier course. Can anyone confirm my memory that the red bricks were Accringtons? The window frames came in two different widths, and I have seen various combinations from three to six along the front. The typical GA I have showed Narrow, 3xwide, narrow, which was enough length for a 50 lever frame. Crewe Coal Yard had six windows including a bay window for better visibility. It had a 65 lever frame. A three window box like the Peco/Ratio sample would be for 25 levers. For those interested in the prototype this is the inside of Town Green in 1990. Town Green Signal Box 1990 by Noted HSG, on Flickr

Pop-up water feature in the garden today. Can't get to the greenhouse or garden shed due to flooded path. Wet trip to do school run for grandsons this afternoon. Resorted to using car road was like a river. After snacks and clothes changed dropped them off at badminton club, then as daughter was picking up came home back way to avoid roadworks and flooding on norrmal route. Water across road near Thornsett, judged from bike ride round there last week that it was only about 3" deep at the crown of the road. Slow driving and intense concentration nessessary all the way as mostly unlit country roads.

Harborne statiion building did last until the preservation era as a woodstore and sawmill for the Chad Valley Company. A picture I took in 1971. © C E Steele Regarding the short length pf the line, It was originally supposed to connect with the GWR north of Hockley and continue past Harborne to meet the proposed Halesowen & Bromsgrove Railway near Lapal. There would probably have had to be a tunnel passing under the village from what is now Wentworth Road to somewhere beyond Lordswood Road. A bricked up tunnel mouth would make an ideal end to a preserved railway. Unfortunately the cutting makes it impossible to have a run-round north of Rotton Park Road.

Misread the last word first time round.

Nothing like that in the Dark Peak. Just crossed several uncharted fords and navigated two hitherto undiscovered rivers driving to Grandad duty. Just hope I can get home tonight.

From a previous topic Cold Meece, Staffordshire, during site clearance in 2017. Upstairs closet as Broom West, but two string staircase. Also note no blue bricks on this, probably as it was built for the Government inside the ROF site rather than on an LMS main line

My layout scenario, Staffordshire Joint Committee linking the South Staffs, Cannock, North Staffs and OWW. Set in late 1950s operated by the LMR but some WR secondary passenger through workings from Gloucester/Hereford/Worcester via Walsall and the NSR to Stoke-on-Trent and Burton.

By virtue of its position and history and with the area being well served by canals (which the NSR bought up) at the beginning of the railway age it had a virtual monopoly of originating traffic from the Potteries up to Grouping. Its neighbours needed it to get their incoming traffic to its destinations so it was in a win-win situation.

I've had the same problem a few times. Here's one I saved a while ago. It stepped back about 3 months at an Exhibition Calendar entry, not the first time this has happened to me. What I had after refreshing the screen was Last week it happened when I think someone had added a picture to an old album and it stepped back to 2014. When I tried to refresh it said there was no more content to show. I logged out and restarted the browser and it worked fine. There is no pattern to it, sometimes hours, sometimes days, months or years. As you say it is likely a software problem with the host as I have had the problem on Chrome, IE and an Android phone

That frame isn't original. It looks like a wooden replacement

Possible expansion plans beg the question of what about the NSR's ambitions for the rest of Staffordshire, which after all was a large county in those days. Even one end of the Victoria Bridge on the Severn Valley was just in the extreme south-west corner. The Lines on Cannock Chase were ripe for picking in the 1850s. The Cannock Mineral Railway was being eyed up by the South Staffordshire Railway with a view to extension north of Walsall and a possible direct link with the NSR rather than joining the LNWR at Rugeley to form a link from the Black Country to the edge of Lancashire. Other suitors of the CMR had ambitions to build a branch linking with the OWW at Wolverhampton. One possibility would have been to link the OWW at Cannock Road via the Cannock network to the NSR thus giving a through route to the Manchester area via the Macclesfield, Bollington & Marple and the MSL/Mid joint line through Romiley.

No, just for ventilation. Broom West had a wooden platform in front of the steps for token exchange. https://www.warwickshirerailways.com/lms/smj_brm396.htm Although the line closed in 1962 the box was still standing this year, visible from the A46 north of Evesham, picture from Google Earth. More pictures are available here http://www.smj.me/photo/photo/search?q=broom+west

A lot of information here http://www.pillbox-study-group.org.uk/other-wwii-defensive-structures/arp-sgnal-box/

They were either new build where a box needed to be replaced or where alterations to the layout took place or were done as a permanent replacement when a box was demolished by enemy action. An example of a new box was Bordesley Junction when the connection from the LMS to GWR was doubled in 1941. According to my grandfather they had a lot of Italian POWs labouring on the job with them.

The sample shown is for the operating floor 10' above rail level with 10 treads. For higher boxes there was a second string of 4 treads or 7 treads against the end wall and the landing was shorter. This picture of Watery Lane which was a 12' elevation. The marks on the wall show where the 4 treads were removed and the white brickwork shows where the closet has been demolished. Watery Lane 1998 by Simon Barnes, on Flickr The box had additional windows in the plain end and rear for visibility of the level crossing. https://flic.kr/p/a6jZVX