TheSignalEngineer

Regarding the Distant and Home signals in Absolute Block areas, Distant Off means all signals at that box are Off so you can get a move on to the Distant for the next box unless you are booked to stop at a station in between. Distant On, prepare to stop at Home signal. If the Home signal is still On when it comes into view then draw up to it. When it clears draw up to the next signal (the old Rule 39A) until you can see the Starter Off. If the first Home is Off when it comes into view then all signals will be Off so keep going, unless the signal is Rule 39A Exempt when you should be prepared to stop at the next signal. Rule 39A exemption is listed in the Sectional Appendix (used to be Table O on the LM region) so the Driver's action is down to route knowledge.It was allowed in situations where it is undesirable to stop a train if it can be drawn up to the next signal e.g. on a steep rising incline. I remember going to a nice big pile of wagons just outside the Rowley Regis end of Old Hill Tunnel where the train loco stopped but the banker couldn't see the signal was On so kept pushing.

About 1min 26sec, it's either an Ivatt 2MT or 78xxx. Crew standing on the tender probably got the best view of the whole incident. Aintree still had one Ivatt at the time so may be that.

At the coal merchant where one of my relatives was manageress everything to do with the coal took place in the open. That building looks more suitable for keeping timber needing to be stored under cover but with a good air flow.

To add to the traffic and parking woes of going to Wigan, I gave up driving to the town years ago, there are rail engineering works around Manchester over the weekend. No trains in that direction from Piccadilly and Oxford Road, only service is from Victoria. My chosen route will be bus to Stalybridge and train from there.

I think that the storage tanks mentioned across the road at Langley Green were originally served by the Titford Canal, possibly as a petrol depot. 'Black Oil' traffic moved to Rowley Regis when Shell built a new terminal on the old goods yard, (sometime around 1960?).

Shell BP traffic had a mixture of cradle and anchor mount mainly 14t and 20t. Can't do a link at the moment but there are a couple of good pictures on Warwickshire Railway at Queens Head and Handsworth. Also see this thread for some at Langley Green http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/117748-tanker-wagons-at-oil-depot/

Table H1 of the Sectional Appendix was the authorising document on the NER in 1960. This is an extract showing some moves at West Hartlepool. The full document is available here http://files.limitofshunt.org.uk/sectional-appendices/br-ner/northern-section-1960.pdf

There were several moves around Hartlepool listed in the Sectional Appendix where freight vehicles could be worked without a brake van.

Stretching the options here's one I took in 1964. RH&DR 'Northern Chief' at Hythe Recovered from an old degraded colour slide.

Now that is going back a bit. 'Official' street trading at the top of the Bull Ring finished in September 1959 for the start of the redevelopment and building of the Inner Ring Road.

Regarding Western signal posts. Many of our boxes had a mixture of types and painting styles. Most peculiar I think would be the bracket south of Lapworth which had the flitches and dolls replaced in modern tubular form on top of an old wooden post. The dolls were silver but the main post was still white in the early 1960s.

Seemed much the same when I visited Halifax, Nova Scotia. Newspapers and TV news hardly mentioned anything outside the town, let alone the Province.

Another of the pocket camera shots. I like the different state of the buffers. 73101 passing Clapham Junction with a ballast train in August 1982. Photo C E Steele

I remember the number of signals at ex-GWR boxes in the 1960s. I worked on Aynho to Moor Street when it was all mechanical, also Stourbridge, Kidderminster, Wellington and more. Locking through to points beyond the next signal was also the norm on most of the LMS boxes I worked on.

There are plenty of pictures of SR Pillboxes in the West Midlands, and even a Dance Hall in the yard at Water Orton.

They also have plenty of fake goods.

A lot of retailers have ebay stores. How will ebay enforce it on them? I have had supplies of electrical and electronic bits from someone I first found on eBay. I get a monthly email from him, he now sells direct and also supplies model shops wholesale. Will he still want to bother with eBay I wonder?

If someone is listed as being a member in China or has a business address in funny writing I just look elsewhere.

That is looking rather GW-ish. I'm not convinced that O and Q really serve any purpose unless a train or light engine could stand at them and not block the junction/single line points so something can pass behind. The other consideration is how the single line is worked. If Token, Tablet or Train Staff this will be picked up and dropped off at the box so there I don't see any benefit of them being there. The token needs to be out to clear O, so if a train stopped at Q the Fireman would have to walk forward to give up the token to free up the single line or an auxiliary token instrument provided on site. If worked by Track Circuit with Direction/Acceptance levers then there may be a benefit. Would it be an advantage to put the single line points as close to the bridge/tunnel as possible and signal P to be off-scene? It may give a bit more standage at O and Q if they are provided.

Think i may have used these at Wigan in the past as a wind-up for Mr Franks. Photo C E Steele 2015

Not much of a shot but a record of a historic event. The last two trains of the normal service stand at the blocks at Birmingham Moor Street on the last day before the new through platforms were commissioned. Following the departure of these two trains the last train was hauled out by Clun Castle.

Summary of the Code of Practice on Noise from Ice-Cream Van Chimes Etc. in England 2013 It is an offence to sound your chimes before 12.00 noon or after 7.00 pm. It is also an offence to sound your chimes at any time in such a way as to give reasonable cause for annoyance. A code of practice approved by the Government gives guidance on methods of minimising annoyance caused by your chimes. The main points of the code of practice are: Do not sound chimes 1. for longer than 12 seconds at a time; 2. more often than once every 2 minutes; 3. more than once when the vehicle is stationary at a selling point; 4. except on approach to or at a selling point; 5. when in sight of another vehicle which is trading; 6. when within 50 metres of schools (during school hours), hospitals, and places of worship (on Sundays and other recognised day of worship); 7. more often than once every 2 hours in the same length of street; 8. louder than LAmax 80dB at 7.5 metres; 9. as loudly in areas of low background noise or narrow streets as elsewhere. REMEMBER: It is an offence to sound your chimes before 12.00 noon or after 7.00 pm. It is an offence to sound your chimes at any time in a way which gives reasonable cause for annoyance. Unfortunately I can't find a Tongue-in-Cheek Smiley

The Hornby version of 1450 is on their Engine Shed articles at the same time as the new lot of Pecketts. https://www.Hornby.com/uk-en/news/the-engine-shed/the-engine-shed-is-60/ The artwork shot looks exactly the same as the Railroad version due out this year. It is limited to 250 and only available at the Warley Show. Eric

There's a version due out in the Railroad range soon. Don't know how revamped it will be. http://www.hattons.co.uk/250953/Hornby_R3589_Class_48xx_0_4_2T_4837_in_GWR_green_Railroad_Range/StockDetail.aspx Eric

Possibly October 1966 for the USA tank http://www.bropendays.co.uk/bristol1966oct.html