TheSignalEngineer

Definitely wrong move. 12 months later I was running the project design office and so strapped for staff you could have picked your grade and been on at least 12 hours o/t every week. If you hadn't made a week's pay by Tuesday lunch time it was a slack week.

If you stay in Manchester or get there by train you can ride to Bury town centre by tram as well. Eric

Looks like you did well to avoid the weather in Birmingham. We did a short trip to Bury for the 1940s weekend and it was Hot (if also a bit windy at times). Have you ever been to the Bury Transport Museum? They have a few old buses in there. Eric

The one I was thinking of was a dated summer train rather than upcoming possession related. There are a few strange workings around South Yorkshire for route knowledge purposes but none currently are XC as far as i can remember. TPE has a 23.30 Manchester Airport - Piccadilly - Huddersfield - Sheffield and back via Wakefield Kirkgate and Moorthorpe. VTEC has a strangely-routed Kings Cross to Newcastle going from Doncaster to York via Knottingly, Ferrybridge and Milford Junction.

Hope XC get their house in order soon. They have Sunday diversions correction, dated Saturday workings via the Pontefract area in the WTT in the July to October period. Sadly in the privatised railway route knowledge has diminished in terms of what particular drivers work over compared with 'pool' arrangements which existed at large centres like Birmingham in BR days.

According to Pat Hammomd the Mainline versions were LMS 57' Period 1 Composite LMS Maroon 3621 Cat 37109 Crimson/Cream M3621M Cat 37111 BR Maroon M3542M Cat 37115 LMS 57' Period 1 Brake 3rd LMS Maroon 5327 Cat 37110 Crimson/Cream M5321M Cat 37112 Crimson/Cream M5371M Cat 37112 BR Maroon M5335M Cat 37116 Hammond lists a few strange variations in roof colours, lining and matt finishes but I am not sure how common those were judging by the prices he gives for them.

He had to find somewhere now Honest Ed's is no longer with us.

The second colleague I mentioned having exhibited at Warley had his layout mentioned in a couple of Carl Arendt blogs and has written several magazine articles about narrow gauge modelling.

I came from a mix of families with railway members back into the mists of time. The house I was born in was occupied by my Grandfather who was Signal lineman at Proof House. I believe his father worked at a goods depot at one time and his Grandfather I think worked on the Goods, possibly at Hockley. He had a brother on the goods at Pitsford Street, Hockley. That would take us back about 150 years. His Father-in-Law was a Signal Fitter at New Street. His Sister-in-Law worked at Central Goods and Brother-in-Law at Aston Goods. On my mother's side her Grandfather worked on the Goods at Curzon Street and she had an Uncle who started his working life at Bromsgrove Wagon Works and others who worked on the PWay there. I cabbed my first loco at New Street at the age of one and threequarters, the driver being my Grandfather's Brother-in-Law. I pulled my first signal lever at New Street No.2 box just before I started school, and the same day rode the S&D from end to end and travelled the Swanage Branch in stock still wearing Southern livery despite being five years after Nationalisation. In 1966 I joined the CS&TE, LMR as an Engineering Student, getting the opportunity to learn how the railway was put together from the ground up at the hands of men who started as far back as the LNWR and Midland as well as virtually anywhere on the Big Four. 30 years of BR and over 7 of privatisation saw me take early retirement. Some consultancy jobs over the next few years saw me finally put my pen away 49 years from when I started having worked on most things from lever frames installed in the 1870s to a new ROC. Regarding modelling, I started from Hornby O gauge clockwork through 3-rail but gave up after I started work and a house move meant the layout had to be dismantled. After our son was born I built a small Hornby roundy for him, then took over most of the garage for a 12' x 8' of my own. That lasted until a house move and didn't get rebuilt due to increasing family and work responsibilities. A few of the things from those days still survive in use now such as kit-built wagons and modified RTR stuff. The Airfix 0-4-2T which worked the branch is running again on a Dapol chassis following a recent conversion to a no top feed version. I didn't really start up againg until I cut down on work. I had a lot of catching up to do and spent several years collecting and modifying stock as layout plans changed and developed. I'm at the state now where all of the track is in operation and there is just scenic stuff left to do. On the train spotting front I was mainly active from about 1957 to 1966. After that I didn't really take much interest, whether because I spent a lot of the time keeping out of the way of them or the end of steam on our area i don't know. I still did some trips around and photography at times but just sort of kept up with what was going on train-wise. Modelling didn't really feature at work until I was in the Drawing Office. We were looking for suggestions for additions to the Magazine Club. The Assistant DS&TE suggested Railway Modeller or MRC. It was then we found out he was heavily into GWR steam in Somerset as a modelling focus. My next boss was into signalling history and line-bagging. I then worked for a great boss later the top man in Signalling Works at BRB who was into model engineering. In later times at least two of my former colleagues have exhibited at Warley, one winning Best Layout.

What a load of oblate spheroid objects

I looked at cut'n'shut for my excursion stock but have bought Comet sides ready to use on the donor vehicles. Plastic RTR ones can look O.K. with them but need re-painting to match. In addition painting the inside edges of the windows black helps to disguise the thickness of plastic sides.One vehicle I intend to do is a representation of one of the full brakes converted from the returned Ambulance train stock. IIRC about 60 of these were done during 1946-49 from the BTK and CK of the type done by Bachmann.

Not easily. It would probably be easier to use a compo with etched sides.

From Pat Hammond's book the BR livery LMS Period 1 stock was as follows:- LMS 57' Period 1 Composite BR Maroon M3541M Replica Railways 12202 BR Maroon M3565M Bachmann 34-250 Crimson/Cream M3672M Bachmann 34-300 LMS 57' Period 1 Brake 3rd BR Maroon M5334M Replica Railways 12212 BR Maroon M5315M Bachmann 34-225 Crimson/Cream M5267M Bachmann 34-275 These models were based on the Mainline version but Godfrey Hayes at Replica had the roof modified with separately added vents and the hard integral corridor connections were replaced by a separate flexible one. The Replica version was made in 1989 and the Bachmann ones in 1990. The lack of an all 3rd is an inconvenience rather than a total disaster for BR modellers as in later years they were often mixed with Period 2 and early period 3 stock and regularly appeared in short trains which had Brake/Compo/Brake formations. As far as I can work out the totals of all-door corridor stock built in the early days of the LMS were Model versions Brake 3rd 5-compartment 125 Composite 4x3rd 3x1st 201 Other versions Brake 3rd 14 Composite 30 Third 250 it should be noted that a large number of these coaches were used overseas in WW2, some having been converted to Ambulance Train vehicles. Some never returned and a lot of those which did were converted to Full Brakes in 1946-49. Among these were about 60 of the modelled versions including numbers 3672 and 5315 used by Bachmann. 3672 was still running as BG No. M31175M in 1965. The last BG conversions were scrapped around 1967. All of the ones which had remained in passenger use were withdrawn c1957-62 although some lasted in departmental use. 3565 became DM395776 allocated to the CS&TE Signal Box Construction depot at Crewe. It was at British Railways Staff Association at Aylesbury in the early 1980s, and is now in a semi-derelict condition at Peak Rail.

And in many other places since computers got small enough to fit on a single 19 inch rack. If i'd held my breath when I first heard it discussed I wouldn't have been around for the last 40 years.

I am always a bit suspicious of graphs like that. A far better measure would be passenger miles travelled.Looking at the graph shown however, there are several 'events' which show step changes, wars, financial crashes and even Grouping, Nationalisation and Privatization. It would also be interesting to know if the measurements are vomparing eggs with eggs. Do you know of the method of compiling the figures in 1830 is the same as it is now?

Last day of the Kings at Snow Hill

Called in at the market when I was in Pickering recently. Besides the loss of the railway stall it was nowhere near as good as a few years ago.

There was one of the big ones on each side at Hall Green until at least the late 1990s. I'm not sure when they were replaced.

My standard test for fixing things to walls was 'Will it take my weight?'

Yes, it was the 1A Acocks Green via Moseley in my days of catching it from Five Ways to the County Ground for the cricket. In those days it didn't go to the City centre, coming up the Hagley Road and turning into Calthopre Road to return out to Acocks Green, crossing the West Suburban line at Church Road Tunnel, the Camp Hill line at Moseley Tunnel and the North Warwickshire line south of Spring Road station at Shaftmoor Lane. I think it was extended to the Town Hall around 1970 and the 'A' was dropped at that time.

I was working at Crewe when the 71s were being rebuilt into 74s. Late 1967 / early 1968. For a short while I was in the Signal Shop next to Goddard St. New locos on test were parked outside our window including the last five Class 20s and about the first 12 Class 50s.

Mainline locos built at Crewe after they finished steam were Class 24, Peaks, Westerns and Class 47 in that order. New build deliveries in 1961 was all Peaks IIRC.

That one is a stealth closure. Still a station but one train calling in one direction at a time when nobody wants it.

More likely to have been overhaul or modification work. Build details were Class 81 AEI(BTH)/BRCW Class 82 AEI(MV)/Beyer Peacock Class 83 English Electric Vulcan Foundary Class 84 GEC/NBL Class 85 AEI/BR Doncaster. Source:- The AC Locomotive Group.

I travelled several times from Ilfracombe to Taunton behind 43xx Class locos in the late 1950s and early 1960s, with an N Class pilot as far as Barnstaple Junction. I think it may have been 1956 when I did it calling at all three Barnstaple stations with a reversal and engine change at Victoria Road.