TheSignalEngineer

Channel rodding comes in 18' lengths. Rollers are at 9' intervals in the middle of the run but may be slightly different to fit in at the ends or turns. The norm would be crank - 4'6" - roller - 9' - roller - 4'6" - fishplate - 4'6" - roller - 9' - roller- 4'6" - fishplate ....etc Edit:- The reason for 8' spacing on the GWR was that their round rodding came in 16' lengths.

Blue SYP class 101 DMBS at Leamington Spa, 3rd March 1967. The trailer coach is in lined DMU green, being overtaken by two-tone Brush Type 4 with Maroon Mk1 stock. Let's have another one with four or more different colour schemes in view. Edit, beaten to it. Mick's call

My 121 was also sluggish from the box, particularly in one direction. I also use a Gaugemaster D. After about 30 minutes in each direction on the rollers it got much better.

I had another look at some archive stuff and the GWR style of signs for the Refreshment Rooms etc were still on view in te summer of 1954 but had gone by 1957. Now to find a picture in between. Also beware of the Brockhouse sign. It was renewed at some time but i'm not sure if the style changed.

I just hopr they can get the numbers in the right place unlike my Blood & Custard Railcar and Speed Whisker 121. Still, as they won't be doing the numbers or liveries that I want it wouldn't really be a problem for me but great fodder for the froth generators.

Western in typical WR Carriage Washer livery. Lets have another Analogue Clock, a Pre-Nationalisation one?

What era is the model set in? I thought those were only introduced at the same time as the GWR poster boards were changed to British Railways.

In the West Mids in the early 1960s we had at least unlined black early, unlined black late and lined green late. 4176, one of the last few built in 1949 was still in early crest in 1963, possibly never got repainted. As usual we will be doing unlined grot with no crest ourselves.

At the time the lorry speed was still 40mph for the type of road. When we tried it using a concealed camera in the 30mph zone through the village the highest we got for a lorry was 48mph. SPADS on the pedestrian crossing were an almost daily occurrence. Were the police interested? Answers on a postage stamp please using less than 3 letters.

The leading pony of my Ivatt 2-6-2T caused problems on several points until I reset the B2B. I also found problems with a Dapol milk tank which had all 3 wheelsets at different measurements

I have two double slips used for low-speed moves and haven't had any problems with derailments except for trying to take a 9F through them.

Looks post-1970 and no Fyffes or Geest labels in sight so possiblt a fitted head on a coal train.

That isn't practical on the roads in question as there aren't any bridges and nowhere suitably concealed to catch the drivers out. My son has all of the speed recording gear for his business We sat in a layby on the A628 Woodhead Pass one afternoon in a plain car but wearing hi-vis and with a speed camera visible on the dashboard. First two lorries passed at over 50mph then all the rest crept through at about 35mph. The wonders of instant mobile communications.

Thanks for the link Phil. It looks as if mine could have been built with a through pipe then removed afterwards. Those in the picture are the 1/246, built 1959/60. They were based on the 10-ft wheelbase Fruit Van without the side and end ventilators Eric

Like the Bananas. Nicholls, a local market wholesaler, had a ripening warehouse next to Moor Street accessed from the lower shed.

No need for that, we just go and watch a few of idiots driving HGVs round the Peak District. 60mph+ downhill on narrow single carriageway roads is common, as are holes in the walls. Some years ago I asked the police why they didn't get booked the reply from the Inspector was that it was too dangerous for his men to go on to the road to do speed checks.

If the idiots who turn up moorland tracks round here is anything to go by the answer is 'Yes'

Most of the freight paths on the Clitheroe line are pure fiction. I did a census on traffic around the area a couple of years ago and finding trains actually running other than the passenger service was difficult. If you sat in the four-foot past Horrocksford you would probably die of exposure before being run over. The routing of trains these days is more to do with where crews are based for each company and making paths common for as far as possible when a quarry or such like serves several different terminals. Arcow usually loads to Hunslet, Bredbury and Pendleton on a regular basis. IIRC these trains are operated by GBRF Doncaster. The empties often go back to Down Decoy then to whichever quarry they have a load from.

On the OWW near Dudley the copper fairies even put down tarmac they had 'left over' from a road job to make a haul road for pulling the cable. Obviously a better return than doing half a dozen drives. My reference to Bulwell earlier was related to a series of thefts about 25 years ago. Thieves were using the cut and pull method every time the cable was replaced. The Works Engineer on the job we were doing then put in a new cable and covered it in readymix where it came out of the ground. He also put the offcuts from terminating in the ground and left the ends coiled up in the bottom of the location cases at each end. Sure enough they turned up again and got to work on the seemingly new unterminated cables. The look on their faces must have been priceless when the driver put his foot down and the truck shot off with only about 20 feet of cable trailing behind.

16' 6" available clearance according to the sign at the junction, so the wire is at standard height which is about 2' above that.

I have often wondered why triangular signs are still used on many low bridges as these were always regarded as advisory e.g.the one at Woodhead with a horse on it where the Trans Pennine Trail crosses. A red circle denotes a compulsory sign thus one with a height limit shown would signify a prohibition. I'm surprised that the insurance industry doesn't lobby for conversion to circular signs on all low bridges in the light of the court cases above as they could then get out of paying when drivers ignore them. It would also bankrupt those drivers and companies who think signs and regulations don't apply to them. There are plenty if inconsistent applications like these at Chinley

Good evening Clive, Back in the railway room tonight I have had another look at Paul's pictures and using the dimensions from the 1/246 diagram on the Barrowmore website gives me about 14.5" allowing for the angles of the shots and my eyesight. Given that figure and the previous comments it looks like my original feeling of it being 15" was OK. Eric

I thought 15" but the only reference I could find was 18". I tried marking that size on but it looked all wrong.

It may be a WR van. I don't remember seeing a branded BR one in the area myself. We did get quite a few Toads on the Midland line.

For about four months in 1970 I was in an office next to that bridge. Bashes or late brake squeal on realising they wouldn't make it were a daily occurrence.