TheSignalEngineer

There was a signal with one doll for each of the Up Main and Up Platform lines, albeit in LMR days, with a diamond on the doll for each line.

Without knowing what is either end of the area to put the layout of the junction into context and what moves are required it's difficult to say about what GPL signals would be provided. Separating the two L - R lines in that way doesn't look logical from an operation point of view unless there is a good reason for it off the bit shown. As ikcdab says the provision of feathers shown is not correct in any instance.

After Weaver to Glasgow went electric they were quite common on freight up to the transfer to the WR. Even before that I was at the commissioning of the loading bunker at Silverdale where one hauled the MGRs.

One of my first jobs on BR was connecting up the points and installing signals for the new shed with my grandad who had been lineman there since 1947 and stayed on after retiring age as his district was being taken over by New St. I remember a problem with one of the platforms in there on the first day. They had the edges reinforced with a steel beam. The previous week we had pushed a Mk1 BG around the place with an 08. Everything went OK. On the Sunday afternoon before opening the place was being filled with vans ready for the Christmas post. There was a horrible noise and the shunt stopped with a jolt. A Thompson BG was firmly wedged with its solebar on the platform and another van also partly derailed. It was a yard and a half longer than a Mk1 BG and the outside road was curved right up to the shed entrance. Saltley Breakdown train came up to help get things out of the way. It was propelled through a connection at Grand Junction where the crane promptly derailed blocking the Derby lines. Plenty of overtime was had by all just in time for Pudding Week. The platform corner was attacked next morning with a gas axe and pneumatic drill before being properly reprofiled after the holiday.

I remember parcels trains to Ventral. Also fish and market traffic. Underneath there was a bonded warehouse for special traffic. Monument Lane also dealt with parcels at the goods depot. All parcels traffic except for the Red Star type moved to the new depot at Curzon Street from Christmas 1966.

Bright sun two mornings running. Another tomorrow would probably set a Dark Peak record for 2019. Upside is we didn't have a wildfire season this year. Clean the kitchen floor and do the bins while Mrs SE is out for two good behaviour points. Then the sun will be on the drive so I can clean the bikes after yesterday's trip. Too cold and getting dark last night. Need to check chain and front chain ring as I think a problem is developing. These 1x11 drive trains may have less fiddly bits but are a mechanically compromised design IMHO.

When I order from a well-known Yorkshire box shifter, which is located 22 miles east of me by road, the parcel goes to Warrington which is 32 miles west of me by the shortest route or 36 miles by motorway. It passes 500 yards from my house. Next day it comes back to the local delivery office. Into the local van it then passes twice before the postie parks to deliver to our row of houses, passing again as he/she does the opposite side before doing ours. As for letters, before the present system came in local ones were filtered out at the office in the town. Now they go to Warrington to be mechanically sorted overnight then come back next day. When we lived in Birmingham it was possible to get same day delivery in postcodes B1-B5 by posting in the office at Victoria Square at 0830. The box had a hole in the bottom which let the post drop straight through into a tub in the sorting office. It was sorted in time to go out on the 1130 delivery.

Requirement for brake vans on Class 3,4,5 and 6 trains ceased on 5th May 1969. A van was still needed if the loco was single cab such as a Class 20, as the Guard couldn't ride with the driver except as required under certain conditions laid down in the Rule Book. Modifications to Class 20s (some to do with fire alarms IIRC) allowed them to be used in multiple with the Guard travelling in the rear loco. Some discussions in this thread Regarding the Eastleigh picture, there were certain places where wagons or empty passenger vehicles could be moved, usually between two signal boxes in a station area, without the use of a brake van. These were specified in the Sectional Appendix

Reading the blog is bringing back some memories from when my parents died a few years ago. Dad had sorted out and disposed of a lot of stuff amongst family and friends but there was still a lot in their flat. When we came to Mom's sewing box my niece found a part done embroidery of a peacock complete with a load of unused silks. I said that I thought it was one of a pair, she was doing them when your mother was born in 1954, but they never got finished. A few days later I found a completed one so my niece restarted the job 61 years after it was put aside. Mom had done a similar job a few years earlier. When my paternal grandfather was wounded in the shoulder during 1915 he was brought back to recover at Winnick Asylum or Lord Derby Military Hospital as it was known for the duration. To help get the use back he drew a Rifle Brigade cap badge on a piece of cloth and started to embroider it. Before it was completed he was sent back to France. After his wife died in the mid 1980s Mom found it and finally completed it nearly 75 years after it was started. It is now framed and lives in the Railway Room with an oil painting of 46146 The Rifle Brigade painted for Dad, another rifleman, by one of his friends as a retirement gift. Eric

Posted a parcel from the Dark Peak to Liqourice Land with a well-known courier yesterday. Google Maps gives a route of 45 miles. Checked the tracking and since it left it has so far visited Crewe, Rugby and Bradford. By the time it is delivered it will have covered at least 289 miles. No wonder our roads are clogged.

Not content with offering me live-in domestic support yesterday the junk mail fairies have today been giving me details of services on offer at a local Hospice. For their information I'm not thinking of slowing down yet, what's more I've got a big kit stash to build, half a dozen cut'n'shuts waiting to be finished and donors for another six in to drawer. Meanwhile as the sun was shining I've just been out with my bike to do the Anglezarke hillclimb near Chorley then after lunch the climb from Rivington Lower Reservoir to the top of Rivington Pike. Total climbing for the day about 1750 feet.

I used to be involved in sports clubs and organising competitions but with all of the regulations nowadays and the pressures from sources of funding to keep improving participation numbers, tick this and that box to justify yourself, flack from players who complain about the way you've done something but won't take up the job themselves, etc, etc, etc, I got out of all committee and volunteer work about five years ago. I didn't do railways because I was often in pressure jobs on the big railway and needed to get away, even stopped modelling them for 20 years. As the gambling ads say 'When the fun stops, STOP'

Must be getting old. Junk mail this morning from a company offering me live-in domestic help. It said that in addition to cooking and cleaning they would remind me to take my medication and help with washing, dressing and getting me into bed. I did think of asking if they had any attractive young Russian blondes on the books but Mrs SE wouldn't be amused.

Ah Calverley. Better not say too much about Lance the Lamp Man, the Purity Police will block it. Was up there with the lineman 'Coddy' Turner in the summer of 1968. We had a big thunderstorm the day I was back off holiday. Got stuck with floods trying to get to Crewe and missed him at the depot. Got the bus to Nantwich to catch up with him on a barrier fault at Shrewbridge and had to wade to the station. There was a lightning strike at Beeston Castle so went to fix that. We headed back to Calverley to restore Block Working . Got stuck in a flood and towed out by the farmer. Drove round to Worleston. Control had sent a Class 24 to check the line because of reports of flooding. PWay gang were rescuing fish from the cess with a bucket. We set off on the 24 to look for a possible line wire problem but soon found water over the rails. Climbed down and the water in the cess was up to the top of my waders so we changed ends via the six-foot and returned gingerly wrong line to Worleston. Happy days on the old railway!!

Having been a visitor to the NYMR since 1987 and regularly for most of the last 15 seasons I have noticed a subtle shift in the style. On my early visits it was still very much a preservation volunteer hobby feel but lately has seemed to be a more professional tourist orientated business, especially with the Whitby through service. I see this as having been a logical progression as this is where income comes from rather than selling old mags from a leaking van in a bay platform. Evolution is essential for survival in any enterprise. High profile incidents such as those at theme parks in recent years damage the image and are bad for the bottom line. The state of WCRC in 2015/6 put the whole Heritage Railway sector under the microscope.

Don't know if you've got this one. Not sure on copyright so just a clip of the stock from a bigger picture purely for research purposes. This was taken at Prospect Hill heading for Scarborough. 1947 or 1948 by the number on the A8 hauling. Perhaps someone can offer ID, especially the first coach which looks quite old.

Re-checking the article in Steam Days from October 2014, the six-wheelers had 'Forced Ventilation' according to the LMS Traffic Committee Minutes of 26 May 1936. Don't know what the difference to the bogie vans with electric fans. The estimated cost of the eight non-gangwayed LMS vans was reported as £6910, with Palethorpes paying a total of £650 p.a. on top of normal carriage charges for the lettering, increased weight and exclusive use of the vehicles, including return empty to Dudley Port.

In the early days an LNWR van was used. From an engraving used in an advert it looks similar to a four-compartment six wheeler. It had roofboards showing the Palethorpes name. Most of the traffic went in passenger brake vans but the quality suffered particularly in summer. The 1936 built bogie vans had electric fans to circulate the cold air from the ice boxes. the others just had forced ventilation round the ice tanks IIRC the small 4-wheelers were for the Heysham circuit (traffic ceased 1954), the bogie vans were used on the Euston and Perth runs whilst the LMS six-wheelers went to Manchester and Newcastle.

GWR built two Palethorpes vans for the Cardiff traffic. I did post details of the circuit but can't remember at the moment which topic. It went out via Dudley and Worcester then back the following day via Shrewsbury and Wolverhampton IIRC.

Have a day out and the topic seems to have gone up by six pages. Must read a few later. Big mistake on the day out was to go by train to York. Would take about 90 minutes plus delays by car and booked train times are about 2hr 15 or so. Fine into Man Picc but then the fun started. Going over the bridge to 14 I noticed that train from Airport to Middlesboro was cancelled. Apparently so late incoming it was turned back at ManVic. No worries, back to Plat 1 for train to Huddersfield, to catch Liverpool - Scarborough. No, that's late as well but arriving at Huddersfield I see that Liverpool-Newcastle is running 30 late and not yet arrived. Partial win on this, it's a shiny new 802. Nice in the Galley Slave coach but it must have been a bit stuffed in Steerage. The ride was OK up to a point but the suspension seemed a bit stiff over 60mph. Down side was that a local had been put out in front of us, passed it a Dewsbury, but then it happened again at Leeds and we caught up at Garforth. These two delays managed to turn 32 late at Huddersfield to 44 late at York. Incidentally after starting 17 late the train lost a total of 37 minutes between Liverpool and Newcastle. Coming back didn't seem to be going much better. Got to York station thinking will change at Huddersfiled and drop off short to get bus for the last leg home. Think again, Liverpool train cancelled at York, but continued DOO ECS due to no guard. Newcastle - Manchester Airport was a 3-car 185, with the addition of the passengers who should have been on the cancelled train. Notwork Rail managed to convert a RT departure from Leeds to 4 late at Huddersfield and 14 late at ManVic. Fortunately our 15 minute connection at Picc was 5 late getting in so we caught it. Some smart work on the turnround snappy running and station stops picked up 4 minutes. Altogether a frustrating day on the trains which marred an otherwise interesting trip. No wonder Joe Public complains about the situation.

Certainly in use at Leamington by 1935.

I didn't do the plan for those, although I assisted testing a few during the commissioning. Later I also got called for evidence at an inquiry or six. At least one was a local who had too much brown liquid at the Olive Branch on payday. Drivers did seem to get confused quite easily there on a snaking layout with seven running lines, two running junctions, Lawley Street yard and the loco shed in the space of a few hundred yards.

I was involved in projects where overall thousands of signals were put in. It was more usual to put the signal in the conventional position and provide a co-acting signal in the six-foot. This would have the red at the top. As mentioned by others Banner signals were also used. There were a few signals placed on the 'wrong' side but mainly in special circumstances. These included some platforms where trains regularly stopped to enable the guard to see the signal. If the building would affect the driver's normal running the signal would be conventionally placed and an OFF indicator provided on the platform. Similarly I put some exit signals from yards joining the main line from the right on the outside of the tracks. I also used wrong side signals on a line of which one outside track of 4 which was used bidirectionally to make them more easily identifiable as the wrong direction signal.

Good morning Chris, still plenty of screw fit bulbs around but mainly modern versions now. I still have a stash of spare of filament lamps.

When I dismantle something or start a kit build I do the same. Fridge boxes where the lid has broken, Flora boxes, ice cream boxes all get used. Tools and paints live in trays in a set of shallow drawers on castors from Ikea which lives under the layout and can be pulled out if necessary.