TheSignalEngineer

Hunslet Diesel passing Distillery Side Crossing, Elsecar, today. (Mrs SE assuming role of trainspotter purely for photographic purposes).

Barrier Machines at Tingle Bridge Crossing, Elsecar, this afternoonternoon.

Current limit of operations near Tingle Bridge Lane Crossing on the Elsecar Heritage Railway today

To move my fiddle yard by 40ft I would have to buy the next two houses.

People can get thrown out of some sites for using the F word.

I need a 104 DMU but doubt I will be lucky. Suppose I should start building one. Then they will be on the boat next week if my record on the Pillbox, Van C and coke wagons is anything to go by.

Perhaps like the IC125 nobody has bought anything significantly better since they were introduced.

If you're modelling in my era you can even have three coach liveries on different types of vehicle on one train https://www.warwickshirerailways.com/gwr/gwrms1718.htm

Around the time of the Class 116 DMU introduction many of the trains had been reduced from the traditional Birmingham 'B' set (BT/C/C/BT) to three-coach sets which mirrored the DMU capacity consisting of C/BS/S, the first two usually being taken from a four-coach set and the latter sometimes being a BR Mk1 W46xxx vehicle. A common form of marshalling seems to have been with the First class section of the Composite coupled to the Brake end of the BS. Here's one at Winson Green in 1961 https://www.warwickshirerailways.com/gwr/gwrswg1936.htm

I wonder how much of it was crew preference as to whether the loco was turned. There were a couple of instances where reversal could take place i normal work such as Birmingham - Dudley - Wolverhampton - Birmingham or Birmingham - Stratford - Leamington - Birmingham which happened on some of the parcels workings. Otherwise gradients could play a part as the Birmingham area is higher than most of the surroundings. Prolonged climbs included Warwick Avon Bridge to Olton on the Leamington line, Stratford to Earlswood and Tyseley to Earlswood on the North Warwicks, and Stourbridge to Rowley Regis or Dudley,

Climbed a few of those signals 1966-69.

Looking through the North Warwickshire Line pages on the site there are at least 8 other examples of large Prairies running bunker first on passenger trains, and for good measure a Bulldog arriving tender first at Stratford upon Avon. There was quite a bit of that on the Snow Hill locals even into the 1960s when I managed to get a tender first run behind a Grange on a Stourbridge line local. At least the crew were in front of the chimney up through Old Hill Tunnel and it was a fine day.

I don't know if you've seen this site. The Freight WTTs include a train loading table usually on the last few pages. http://www.michaelclemensrailways.co.uk/article/working-timetables/553

How do you make your Stones Ventilators? I'm in the middle of making an ex-LMS set for my Dudley Zoo Excursion trains and it includes three P1/P2 coaches fitted with these. I haven't decided yet on the best way to represent them considering that they are layout coaches, not museum glass case specimens or competition entries.

According to the Police report it took place on a railway crossing. Think their map may be a bit out of date. The Stagecoach press release was a bit of an understatement. "There is significant damage to both vehicles involved." Photo from Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue.

At the risk of starting a conspiracy theory, that looks like an off-road driving track next to the Crofton North Curve. When you zoom in on the original there's an access to the track from there.

There's a connection at Crofton East Junction to get onto the old Midland line at the site of Oakenshaw Junction then it runs to the old Cudworth North Curve ending up roughly the site of Monk Bretton Junction which is where the discharge facility for the glass works is situated. https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by-side/#zoom=17&lat=53.5735&lon=-1.4366&layers=168&right=BingHyb

There is a sand train which runs about 2 or 3 times a week from Middleton Towers near King's Lynn to Redfearns (now Ardagh) Glass at Monk Bretton. There's also a path in the WTT for a Pacer from Holbeck Depot to Monks Bretton loop and back which occasionally runs according to Realtimetrains.

Is this the old Midland line from Sheffield to Leeds via Normanton. I think there is still a bit in situ to Monk Bretton

Now I know what he looks like I will try to get him on a picture when I'm there later in the year.

I don't recall any details. It was a long time ago, but I certainly got under the influence of the scrumpy at the cider house in Holloway Head at the age of 16. It was a different world back then, at 17 I was working trackside on an area which included some 100mph electrified lines and at 18 helping to untangle the wreckage from a major train crash.

I wasn't a fan of hot desking, only using it when visiting project site offices. Over 20 years ago I had a fully functioning connection from my home to the company network to send and receive messages, circulate minutes and reports typed up on the train home etc. As far as my base location was concerned I maintained a personal desk, plan table, bookcase and locked cupboard right up to the day I retired.

Thanks for posting, I will read with interest as my son lives about 7 miles north of Lough Allen. He has a barn which is framed with a light section flat bottom rail thought to have come from coal or iron mines in the area.

Besides financial contributions, I'm sure a lot of us have surplus bits and pieces that could provide either materials for modelling or sale to raise funds. My personal "Kit and Donor Stash" seems to have grown at a rate in excess of my available building time and contains some things from long-forgotten project ideas so a few items from there wouldn't be missed (and Mrs SE would be pleased to see some areas of the house freed from my clutter.)

I bought an 08 which was old shop display stock. It was a bit of a sluggish runner so I got it for a good price. When I took the body off to see if I could find the problem there was a coating of the white grease dried on the gears. A careful clean-up and lubrication turned it into a reliable runner.