TheSignalEngineer

I thought they were far more akin to the Hughes L&Y Class 31 with Walschaerts valve gear and rubbish Derby bearings. After all, Fowler was a Horwich apprentice and worked under Hughes there for a few years in the Testing Department. Even worse when they added tanks and a bunker but no trailing wheels.

The amount of PPE dramatically increased in the 1990s. In 1990 when I went on a site visit I had a bag about the size of two footballs which held shoes, hard hat, goggles, gloves, dust masks, disposable overalls and high vis vest. In 1996 I had a large holdall full of stuff. I still have it (the bag, not the PPE) and it holds enough clothes for a two week holiday but unfortunately is too big to qualify as cabin baggage.

Hey Johnster, the GWR was still building 2251s in 1948 and Swindon was still turning out replacement pannier tanks to old designs into the 1950s, some of which were scrapped after 5 years service.

The LMS had in excess of 2000 0-6-0 tender locos of 2F, 3F and 4F classifications. After the initial build finished in 1928, 15 were added in 1937. When the last 30 of the 4F locos were ordered (late 1938?) some of the earlier classes were approaching 70 years old, so building a few replacements to an existing design with which most of the workshop and shed staff were familiar and a good stock of spares available would seem logical rather than starting out on a new design when war preparations were being ramped up.

I've just looked back at some of the old stuff and the full length top with two reflective bands became the required standard in July 1995.

Checking back through some of my photos the small high viz 'Crop Top' was universal on track in the late 1970s to mid 1980s. They could even still be found in use as late as 1988/9 although by then there were also the longer version with reflective stripes. We didn't seem to wear all-over hizgh viz except in bad weather. I can't remember the date but the big change came with some workwear regs, possibly early 1990s, which applied to more than the railway.

I've also seen mention of Pendragon at Oxley for a week around that time. It was not unknown for Standards to work through on dated trains and not go back until the balancing working the following Saturday, although they usually changed somewhere like Oxford or Banbury.

Nechells Power Station continued to have steam locos upto about 1972. This was from 1970. https://www.warwickshirerailways.com/misc/nechells167.htm

Although almost everyone tells us that the Van C was jealously guarded by the SR and they didn't like them to stray. I found a picture of one being shunted by an LNW Coal Tank at New Street c1953.

When I was researching my coaching stock I was surprised at the number of P1 and P2 coaches turning up in photos up to the early 1960s. Mostly all-steel types but up to about 1961 the occasional all-door coach.

Some previous discussion here.

Don't know what happened to the S160 as I saw it parked up at Grosmont on Sunday. I was hoping to ride behind it on the first train northbound but all was not lost as we had 62005 and I had never previously managed to get a ride behind that. Also nice to get my first ride behind a King for 57 years.

The 9F on the front in the last picture upset some of the masses gathered at Moorgates. There were about 100 there hoping to get a nice shot of the King working hard in the sunshine. Apparently it went to Pickering to turn and it was a convenient way to get it there. Other double headers I saw were more logical with K1 piloting A4, K1 and B1, J27 and Q6, Schools and S15. Pity about the weather on Sunday. We made the best of it with rides behing several locos but not good for pictures. First train from Pickering was full and there were plenty on the others by the look of it. 6023 and 6990 made light work of the bank to Goathland on one leg of our trip. A minor annoyance on Sunday afternoon was that I was going to call in at the art exhibition by John Austin advertised at Pickering Station as open from 10am to 4pm. At 3.30 the door was locked and the artist was packing up all of his stuff. Several more people tried the door whilst we were on the platform, so he probably lost a bit of goodwill there. If you advertise as being open until 4pm it can also give negative vibes towards what people thought of their visit. By comparison Christopher Vine, author of the Peter's Railway books was still on the platform chatting to visitors at 4.30.

My first thought was GWR but the boxes mentioned had 3 over 2 windows upstairs and the staircase inside. I know of at least two boxes in the West Midlands that BR(W) built in the wartime style in the 1950s before the late women type took over.

The one at Broom Junction was different to this. It was the WW2 standard LMS box. My Grandad worked on the job of fitting it out when the junction was altered. I'm not quite sure what this model represents, it has features from several types but doesn't seem to fit any particular company.

Saw this and I thought of Mike.

When I converted the plastic wheeled stock I wanted to keep I was buying these at about £5 per pack of 10. The are advertised at about 3 times that now. Bachmann couplings have done a similar jump. At a swapmeet last month I picked up an old Mainline 57' LMS coach fitted with Hornby metal wheels and Bachmann narrow couplings for £6. If I don't need the body and chassis parts for cut'n'shut donors Mainline originals will be fitted and listed for sale. Always worth a look in the oddments boxes at shows and toy fairs.

Possibly a D1905 BTK converted to a Staff and Tool Van. Several were done in the 1960s. Plenty of LMS departmentals listed here. http://lmsca.org.uk/lms-coaches/br-departmental-coach-list/

Box openers can generate enough arguments as to whether Hornby got the shape of the Bulleid window glass right without introducing politics into the mix.

Good suggestion, a small hump backed bridge with the old diamond weight restriction sign would make a nice scenic break at one side. https://images.app.goo.gl/JfkJzG2CQAbm8YpR9

The 15' gate would be the one on many minor country roads in the 1940s, the clearance available on the road would be 14'. The Reading drawing was probably just an updated redraw of old GWR ones to reflect some changes in materials and manufacturing over the years. The picture about half way down this page http://www.cornwallrailwaysociety.org.uk/kingsbridge-branch.html shows that the gates at Topsham Bridge in 1961 were of a similar pattern to the drawing of the small gates. The drawings show planted timber posts for the small gates and iron post on concrete foundation for the medium size, although I have seen both sizes on iron posts. At Cradley Heath and Cradley East which was double track we had a crossing worked from the signal box which because of the shape of the crossing had two small gated on one side of the railway and a small and medium on the other side. In your case for a narrow country road crossing a single line branch I would use one small gate on each side. Coming back to the wicket gates or not, in the early days the gates were normally kept closed across the road. In what became the BR Rule Book in 1950 this was covered by Rule 99 (IIRC), the person wishing to cross the railway where the crossing was manned had to get the crossing keeper to open the gates. As road traffic increased many places had the gates normally closed across the railway, in which case the crossing was termed 'Rule 99 Exempt'. For crossings where Rule 99 was in force it would be customary for wicket gates to be provided so that pedestrians could cross without needing the crossing keeper to open the main gates. In the case of Topsham Bridge I would expect that there wasn't a signal box but the crossing keeper may have lived in the small building behind the first coach in the 1961 photo.

Monty was C-in-C, Allied Ground Forces for the invasion.

Apparently Montgomery travelled on the Kingsbridge branch a couple of times to view the exercises taking place in Start Bay which means he would have travelled over Topsham Bridge Crossing.

Not many public road crossings in the area but the best example of a rural road would be Topsham Bridge Crossing on the Kingsbridge branch. Looks to have had hand operated gates and wickets.

The South Hams area used for landing craft training was GWR country, with lines from Newton Abbot to Kingswear, Brent to Kingsbridge and Plymouth th Yealampton.