TheSignalEngineer

Tram 26 heading into St Paul's en route to Wolverhampton passes 172 337 stabled in the sidings to the north of Snow Hill on 8th August 2016 Shall we see how many years we can get back by the end of Bank Holiday Monday? 2015 next. Edit. Drat, beaten to it. We go with Mick's call of something mostly white.

In the sidings at Wolverhampton station. Springfield Brewery in full flow in the background. Next lets have a photo taken in 2017

Looking again at the original sketches, my impression is that it would need a space about 4ft wide and 30ft long to make this concept work in 00. I think we need to know the available space to make any more judgements.

Just to bring down the curtain on the headlamps, Here's one with a Full House, but obviously not on a Royal Train, in 1973. And finally an oil tail lamp on a Western in 1967. (Sorry about the colour Jim) I will now rest for a while and see what comes up.

I think they probably lasted until the rationalisation of 1984-5, when the North Interlocking was renewed.

Topic Drift Warning. I was involved in the history of the decline and re-birth of Snow Hill from 1966 right through to testing of Midland Metro. I was on the gangs for the upgrading of the route from Bordesley Junction to Exchange Sidings for the diversion of services to New Street in 1966-7, then helped to produce some temporary drawings for the abortive attempt to close Moor St in 1969. Following that I had a bit of involvement in proposals for keeping the Snow Hill to Wolverhampton LL and Smethwick West as two independent single lines. One possible pro[posal was to work both of them from Handsworth & Smethwick box as that area still had regular freight traffic. I've still got the PWay line diagram marked up with the rationalisation proposals somwhere. I remember another job which got started in the Drawing Office for recovering all of the equipment from Snow Hill and using it to resignal Stourbridge Junction. In 1972 I did the Section C notice for the closure of the line with the exception of two sections from Smethwick West to Queens Head and Wednesbury to (IIRC) Bilston. It was for somewhere like Arnott Young scrapyard but the details escape me. Smethwick West to Handsworth was rationalised two years later by one of my workmates. In the early and mid-1980s I was involved in BR/WMPTE team which developed various projects, my bits including finalising the signalling arrangements, writing the technical part of the contract for design & supply of the signalling equipment and supervising the design of the interface with Saltley PSB. Finally from 1991 I was the Signalling Project Engineer for the restoration of the line beyond Snow Hill and the interfacing arrangements with Midland Metro.

I've already used the Blue Pullman, but have found a Western at Plymouth and several DMUs plus an 84 in the depot at Tyseley.

As no signalling alterations were done between 1967 and closure a lot of redundant stuff had to be maintained just to keep the sporadic service running as points out of route were called for protection. The junction at Moor St was still shown on Saltley Panel when we were testing it, but was out of use by commissioning. IIRC there were some recoveries done on the old Main lines to Handsworth and we took out one of the Hockley boxes around 1968 after the goods depot closed.

I've pictures of T9 No.120 or D200 with a full set of lamps/discs up but not on a Royal Train. After we find one perhaps we should finish with an oil tail lamp on a diesel or electric. I have several but I think i've already posted at least two in other threads.

More likely that the timbers would suffer from compression damage with the weight of standing power cars and splitting due to pressure on the baseplate fastenings.

Unidentified EE Type 4 hauling an Class H engineers train through Snow Hill on the last Saturday of through services in March 1967. Probably on its way to start dismantling the line.

Birmingham Snow Hill in its old form had bays in both of the main islands at the Wolverhampton end.

Thanks Phil. Scratchy shot of 7813 on Class F at Snow Hill in 1964

If I go through all of the scruffy stuff I think the only one I haven't got is Class E, that didn't seem to get used much in our area. If it didn't have enough fitted head to qualify for Class D then they usually ran as Class F. I can probably turn up at least one (Class H) on an early diesel.

When the scrap contractors were lifting the old Down Yard at Stechford in the late 1960s there were still some wagons at the stop blocks.

Echoing SM's post, at the first depot I worked at the Special Class Inspector started as an S&T labourer, his assistants were an Engineering Student (Premium Apprentice on some departments) and a signalman who transferred to the S&T. The Divisional Engineer and his No1 assistant were Engineering Students, the other senior assistants and section heads included two Engineering Students, the rest starting in the bottom grades of outdoor staff or as office juniors.

I found tea was also useful. On big weekends I would fill my bag with vending machine style cup packs of tea, coffee, hot chocolate and soup. There were also a couple of hotel-size hot water flasks in the car. Get to a team working at a remote spot and ask if they'd got a kettle. Ten minutes chat with a hot drink in the early hours usually seemed to boost performance. And I usually 'forgot' to pick up one or more of the packs, win-win situation for a pound or two.

What about going for a full set of lamp/disc headcodes from A to K followed by a Royal Train and a Station Pilot? Anyone for an Express Passenger headcode on an unusual loco?

I always found that being willing to get involved went down well with my staff when running a depot, provided that you could show that you knew what you were doing. Mess it up and you were straight down the pan. Sadly today there is no continuity or progression through the industry. When I started as a Signal Engineering Student the first thing you learnt after how to survive on track was how to dig a hole, lay a rodding run, put up signals, wire and set up electrical equipment, time in the Works etc etc. Two years of boots on the ballast with the men at the sharp end. Then it was the same again through all the technical, supervisory and management side.

Been in that situation on numerous occasions. One commissioning where I was the person in overall charge of the shift on a commissioning a pre-existing fault was found at a mechanical fringe box and it was holding up progress. At the time I was briefing the boss from the Project Office which had been responsible for the design as to how the job was going. I knew what the problem was but it was a two-man job to fix it so he ended up spending an hour crawling about under a mechanical signal box in the early hours of the morning helping me.

The pressures on staff being talked about were exactly what made me leave the industry as soon as I was in a position to be financially secure and before I had a nervous breakdown or heart attack. There had been been bad at times during the financially strapped days of the 1970s and into sectorisation, but from the early 1990s got many times worse. Under BR I was spending about 80% of my time on engineering decisions and making sure the job got done right, the other 20% on managing staff and doing the paperwork. Within a couple of years I was lucky to spend 20% of my week on engineering matters. Backside covering paperwork and contractual arguments had almost swamped us, not to mention the Magic Roundabout of escalating costs trying to retain competent staff after so many had been retired early.

Back in 1990 the track in my depot siding was kept in a better state than that.

My Dapol 6-wheel tanks kept falling off at random. Wheels weren't square on the axles and back-to-backs all over the place. A bit of 'adjustment' and they ran OK.

What is derailment damage and what pre-existed isn't clear from the pictures but the number of tie-bars and state of the baseplates/concrete trackbed should have been enough to close it.

196 Errol Lonsdale with vintage stock on the Longmoor Military Railway in July 1969 Not sure if the caption is correct, I think it may be near Longmoor rather than Liss. Any offers on location ID?