TheSignalEngineer

Warships had a regular run into Crewe in the 1960s on a Plymouth - Manchester train IIRC. The loco used to return to the WR on the same day. The Duchess is of course no later than Summer 1964

DHP1 ran on trials from July 1963 to March 1964. It was then stored in the factory yard. After a short period as a works shunter at another site it was scrapped in 1966.

It did have that ambition when the NEC was built. At the time, pre-Heathrow Express, it advertised that the train journey from Euston to Birmingham International was quicker than getting out of London to Heathrow.

Last month I had all my HD stock out for its periodic run. All the locos still going strong after a quick clean and oil. Considering I had my first Montrose S/H in 1958 that's pretty good. Whats more my youngest grandson had a great time helping with the tracklaying and running even though the newest item is about 50 years older than him.

A good job the show was not a week later. Had a news item from BP Fairs over the last weekend to say that Doncaster Racecourse event was called off on February 20th as the venue had no power.

BedPan had a lot of wire problems in the early days to the extent that intermediate structures were put in on some exposed areas. One of the worst on the WCML four track was actually on the old structures at Cheddington where there were serious wind problems, to the extent that there is a wind monitoring station on the embankment there. That was set to give an alarm under certain wind conditions and a temporary speed restriction was then imposed by stopping and cautioning all trains on the approach to advise the driver. Not surprisingly the bit of land alongside was earmarked for many years as London's Third Airport. The wind causing the worst problem to trains was ideal for an east-west takeoff.

Yes, I've seen a few straight posts go, but not a gantry. It was usually due to inadequate inspection for corrosion especially on coastal likes or by industrial sites like gasworks or chemical plants. In the 1970s we started using a grade of pipe meant for underwater parts of North Sea oil rigs. I think a lot of those are still standing. An interesting failure I did have on a gantry was corrosion of a foundation fixing bolt at the base plate of one leg. Our method of installation was to apply pitch to the top of the concrete and up the bolt thread to just above the base plate. When the gantry was being put up the bolts would be greased before putting the nuts on then after everything was tight the nuts and protruding part of the bolts wrapped with Denso tape for protection. In this particular case none of this had been done. The gantry was being taken down due to some layout alterations so the gang were sent to loosen and retighten each nut in turn a few days before so they would come out easily on the weekend. One nut was found to be badly corroded and when the fitter tried to shift it the bolt sheared off at the top of the concrete. Panic "What the **** do we do now?" call to me.

I think the gantries on Woodhead must have been designed to withstand a direct hit from a 50-wagon coal train. I understand that many of the same team worked on the design for the original Manchester/Liverpool to Euston electrification. Signal gantries have gone through a similar cycle. The ones from the 1950s were generally quite large. by the late 1960s we were putting up much simpler ones containing about half as much metal. Along came the oilmen imported into Railtrack by the Government to show us how a railway should be run. Their specification for signal gantries called for a minimum service life of 50 years and the capability of withstanding a mid-winter North Sea storm without distortion. All very nice, even though our old designs were perfectly adequate. I don't recall any from that era falling over in service and many still standing after 60 years. Meanwhile, the cost and build time quadrupled overnight and we put up structures that were strong enough for mooring a supertanker.

Headspan wires for holding the arms on four-track lines were an absolute disaster in my opinion. They were a cheap and nasty solution which stored up future problems. OK for hanging tram wires from buildings along city streets but no good for high speed running in open country.

All are listed under Diagram 1/109 in Don Rowland's 'British Railways Wagons, the first half million'. Lot No. 2221, B69600 - B70099, 1950 programme, built Hurst Nelson. Lot No. 2517, B147494 - B147960, 1953 programme, built Hurst Nelson. Lot 2567 was ordered under the 1954 programme but with large number of wagons being built at the time deliveries would be likely to span more than one year. In all BR built or bought about a quarter of a million 16T End-door Minerals between 1950 and 1960. Diagram 1/108 accounted for over 80% of the total, outnumbering Diagram 1/109 by about 13 to 1

I don't know if they went past Chester as that is as far as I worked. When I was in the Training School the diesel running of the Class 74s was tested along the Chester line. I also saw early Class 20s running light on test turning back at Stafford.

Royal Trains were IIRC 1X00 empty stock / positioning move 1X01 Queen or Foreign Head of State 1X02, 1X03 Other Royal / VIP trains The LMR booklet explaining the system is available here :- http://www.barrowmoremrg.co.uk/BRBDocuments/BRB_4_Position_Train_indicators2.pdf

Used to see that sight every day when I spent a spell working just to the right of the shot. That was followed by seeing them running on 1T60 when I was working on the Chester line.

Various train describer displays were used on panels in the 1960s. Coventry had edge lit engraved polystyrene displays installed in 1962. Later boxes on LMR has miniature CRT tubes which were approx 4" x 1". The HT drivers were in the back of the panel and consequently it used to get very hot inside. I remember New Street running with the back doors off sometimes just to get the temperature down. These were later replaced by LED matrix displays of similar size. The front window of the Vaughn LED display was slightly larger than the Westinghouse CRT display, as I found out when carefully filing the apertures on a whole big panel during a replacement. Many of the track and signal indications on panels used a BPO No.2 24V telephone lamp which was also a NATO standard part.

I've tried shortening some of my couplings so that the coaches (4mm scale) are about 1mm apart on the tightest fiddle yard curves then fitting corridor connectors at one end with and a plain rubbing plate at the other. On coaches with buckeyes don't forget that the side buffers should be retracted except on the outer ends of the train or next to a screw coupled vehicle.

My wagons would need to do about 1300 laps for that.

I remember on old plans of New Street there was a room marked 'Footwarmers'.

There were always a few wagons at the dock on the end of No.6 at the old New Street. Besides 7-plank, 16t minerals and LNER steel opens I came across this photo of a converted 3-plank in the siding between the dock and No.1 box https://www.warwickshirerailways.com/lms/lnwrbns_br1830.htm

I remember an oil train getting stuck on there some years ago after a signal stop. The driver had trouble holding the train and getting started on the curves from Soho Road through Handsworth Park. He put the power on, the front end started moving but the brakes at the back hadn't released properly. A couple of tanks in the middle of the train fell over. Up out of the tunnel at Park Street to Proof House is a bit steep (1 in 51?) but at least the train is on the downhill before you hit it. I bet it squealed a bit round the corner at Exchange Sidings. Is that still 10mph? Before it was completely reballasted and relaid in 1966 it was only 5mph.

16T Mineral in the excursion platforms at Blackpool North in 1961. Photo C E Steele

Got rid of a lot of telegraph poles that way. Quite easy to get them through a post and wire fence with a tractor and chain.

Fortunately I live within travelling distance so can have breakfast at home and get back for evening meal even if I chose to go by public transport. That didn't stop me from going over budget on kits, parts and materials even though I didn't buy any locos. Still, the saving in postage costs was more than the cost of fuel.

A little strange yesterday to be in such a big crowd, although I have done a couple of smaller shows over the winter. It seemed a bit uncomfortable at first but less crowded in the afternoon. Sleeting and 30mph crosswind on Woodhead added to the fun but the M18 closure didn't happen so dropped off at Lakeside on the way over and walked back to the bridge at Potteric Carr for 6233 on the special. Good to see a few old faces and meet @Clive Mortimoreto see his DMU cut'n'shut stuff close up.

60066 was on the Ashburys stone again this week when I did the school run on Thursday.