TheSignalEngineer

Pity about the problems. I did fancy 58900 as it was a Monument Lane engine for a while but for what I was planning it needs to be reliable on points. Back to waiting for the Midland 2F which took over the job when the Coal Tank left.

I can remember when King's Sutton was a proper station with a large building, proper footbridge and a signal box controlling the junction towards Adderbury and Kingham.. We also had an S&T Lineman based there.

I'll raise you some GWR signs and a coat of paint less at Coombe Junction in 1971. Looks like there has been a bit of building work round the back in the intervening five years. In terms of 'Honourable Mentions' where I don't have a suitable picture, one of my favourites was The Lakes, near Earlswood on the North Warwickshire line. http://www.warwickshirerailways.com/gwr/gwrtl2862.htm

When they were first introduced I did some clearance work for the signalling systems off the electrified lines in the Manchester area for these units to be loco-hauled during engineering work. IIRC there was a worry about track circuit interference due to the way the on-board electrical equipment was wired between coaches.

Halifax, Nova Scotia. Not only a name share but also a BR coach. Next, could we please have a level crossing with box worked gates on the main line, not preservation

Camping Coaches, the basis for the livery on the LMS 57' Composite that Bachmann produced for Frizinghall Models some time ago. LMS P1 or LNWR?

Evening Star on display at the back of the Diesel Shed at Tyseley, June 1973. Combined BR and Railway Museum Open Day, not many people in view because Green Arrow and Sir Nigel Gresley were running the shuttles on the Through Sidings at the other side of the site. © C E Steele Next will show an old steam loco 'plinthed' in a public place, not a railway site

There are similar supports under some of the bridges on the Middlewood Way, formerly the Macclesfield, Bollington and Marple Railway. I assume they were put there after the line closed to avoid having to rebuild the bridge to take heavier traffic.

Looking at the diagram, without anything specific about the signals or points, the first thing that strikes me is that the numbering is not logical and certainly not how it would be arranged in real life. The most common convention would be to have points grouped mainly in the middle of the frame with the shunt moves to each side of them and running moves at the outer ends, Up direction at one end and Down direction at the other. Regarding the locking table, Stationmaster's headings are those most often used. Don't forget that there would be a fairly small amount of signal-to-signal locking as when a signal is released by points then anything which locks those points normal will inherently lock something requiring them reverse.

The insulators on the Glossop line were renewed over a period of about 9 months prior to the changeover in December 1984. Preparations would also have been made for changes to the feeding arrangements, together with any return conductors or earth wires needed. The actual switch from DC to AC only took about 3 days. The old 33KV Feeder Cables that linked the DC substations were then recovered. We joked at the time that BR would probably make a profit on the job if they managed to get out the old stuff before the copper fairies struck.

The original proposals for the Mottram, Hollingworth and Tintwistle Bypass included an option for continuing from the end of the M67 to Woolley Bridge then taking the line of the old Waterside Branch from Pear Tree Crossing at Hadfield through to the site of Bridge Mill at Tintwistle. This would have put the road in an easy position to use the Woodhead trackbed as the basis for an extension towards Sheffield. The Stocksbridge Bypass which links to the M1 at J35A on the other side of the hill was designed so that it could be fairly easily converted to a motorway and extended to meet the Woodhead line at Hazelhead Station then turning towards Dunford Bridge. This . The Men from the Ministry were also very keen at the time to build an all-weather route across the Pennines and one option for this was to take one lane through the tunnel to Dunford Bridge and use it in each direction alternately if the road across the top via Salters Brook and the Woodhead summit was closed due to bad weather. I'm not sure that the 158s would give any timing advantage. Being geared for a higher top speed is usually not good for the acceleration. On a project i was involved with many years ago, when we used the performance graphs to help in checking capacity and optimum speeds on a line we found that unless stops were approaching 20 miles apart a 156 could do better times on the line than a 158. We worked out that from a standing start the 158 would take about 15 miles to catch the 156, and the braking distance was longer.

Kings Norton c1976. The semaphores were controlled by the Shunt Frame, the colour lights from Saltley PSB Next up, taken through the cab window of a DMU, from the passenger compartment

I needed a bit of squared tracing paper recently. Found a roll end in my den which came from the skip when we cleared out our office in Stanier House during the upgrade for the Regional HQ move in 1985. I've still got a clutch pencil in use that a rep gave me in the 1970s. German-made, none of this Poundland rubbish.

See about half way down this page http://www.derbysulzers.com/24083.html

Article about the chapel at Crowden and the Woodhead navvies in this week's local paper. https://glossopchronicle.co.uk/2017/05/local-history-woodheads-forgotten-tragedy/

Photo © C E Steele Perhaps a BOGOF. Although there hadn't been a train along the line south of Stratford-upon-Avon for a year following the Winchcombe derailment I'm not sure if it was technically closed by then, so for good measure the picture is taken from the eastern abutment of the SMJR bridge which had been closed several years before. Next up lets have a picture of a closed line being rebuilt for reopening as part of the National Network, not preservation..

John McKenzie and Walter Holland were employees of the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway who in 1862 formed a partnership with Thomas Clunes who owned the Vulcan Iron Works in Worcester to manufacture an interlocking frame. They introduced their first power signalling in the UK in conjunction with Westinghouse Brake on the Great Eastern Railway in 1899. In 1901 they were involved with Saxby & Farmer, Evans O,Donnell, and Dutton in the Consolidated Signalling group. 1907 they formed McKenzie, Holland and Westinghouse Power Signal Company which provided signalling for the London Underground network. In 1920 Westinghouse Brake acquired the interests of Consolidated Signalling and McKenzie & Holland became part of Westinghouse Brake and Saxby Signalling, although the McK & H name was used in Australia until the 1970s

Brit on the SVR 1973 And at Willesden c1990, can't find the exact date. Now for something McKenzie & Holland, in active service, could be on a preserved line.

There's a brief mention of the Dublo Co-Bo in Meccano Magazine December 1961. Go to page 456 http://www.nzmeccano.com/MMviewer.php In the same issue there is an item about the new Co-Co based on the Deltic hauling a 51-wagon train for an actual 100 miles. Perhaps James May should have used one.

I think there at least 11 locos in this shot at Bridgnorth in 1973. Next up, let's have one taken in the under portion of a mechanical signal box, showing locking or cranks etc

57308 Tin Tin and 47786 at Glossop, 10th May 2009. Next up, let's have one taken in the under portion of a mechanical signal box, showing locking or cranks etc Edit, Beaten to it.

There is a 1:1250 plan on old-maps.co.uk which shows the positions of capstans and bollards in the canal part of the yard as they were in 1955. Incidentally, my great-great-grandfather worked there when he moved to Birmingham.

Don't forget that it also had a yard and canal transfer basin on the other side of All Saints Street, accessed from the level of the main depot by wagon hoists. I went to fix a phone there c1968 in the Plant & Machinery depot, which was housed in what was formerly the Wheelwrights and Farriers workshop. There was also a borehole at the back of that building which supplied a water main linking all of the GWR sites from Winson Green to Tyseley Shed. When steam finished at Tyseley many of the cellars in buildings around Hockley became flooded by rising ground water due to the borehole not being used.

They are probably ones meant for mounting at ground level. This picture gives an idea of the height they should be when on the platform. http://www.warwickshirerailways.com/gwr/gwrsa1510.htm

A lot of through freights stopped at Hockley for traffic purposes. Some of the traffic was also tripped in from Bordesley Yard using mainly 57xx, sometimes 56xx, 74xx or occasionally Large Prairies. there are a few pictures on the Warwickshire Railways site linked above of these passing Snow Hill. A good place to get some times and indications of the shunt trips etc is http://www.michaelclemensrailways.co.uk/?atk=572. That site has the Birmingham Freight Working Timetable for various periods from Summer 1959 to Winter 1962/3. The yard had three shunt trips in 1959. One was 24 hours, the others arrived in the morning off incoming trains and returned to shed later. by 1962 these were booked for diesel locos.