TheSignalEngineer

I like all the various shades of wagons.

It leaves me wondering if the pony truck is a bit light or the spring needs to be a bit stronger.

As do High Church Anglicans. I gave my Dad's to the old friend who performed his funeral and Mom's.

The Health Secretary is MP for a constituency covering Newmarket I believe. A board member of the Jockey Club is the head of Test and Trace and was at Oxford at the same time and studying the same subjects as a former PM. Cheltenham Festival anyone? The Lawn Tennis Association had a strict set of protocols for outdoor play during restrictions including the clubhouse being closed, only playing singles if players weren't in the same household or support bubble, no inter club matches, etc, I suppose tennis had to be banned because a certain party raises a lot of funds by the leader auctioning his playing time to wealthy supporters.

A group of numpties from Manchester came to the area last weekend. They parked in the town and went up Bleaklow in search of the B29 wreck. First mistake, it had about 18" of snow over it at the time. They walked around through snow for about five hours and were at the furthest point they got from their car when they realised they were lost and it was getting towards sunset. Fortunately they were able to get enough signal for an emergency call and the Mountain Rescue managed to locate the position of their phone fairly quickly. They found them and marched them back off the hill. I don't see how we are ever going to enforce anything when BoJo keeps on about 'advice' when these people come out equipped for a walk in the park and go up a 2000ft hill when the temperature at 500ft was around freezing. They do not have the brain power to understand their visible surrounding let alone the concept of an invisible entity capable of causing fatal results. (Rant over)

We had a similar situation in our locality during previous restrictions. Not permitted to go out in a group of more than six people from different households by walking across open countryside but can accompany 29 Hooray Henrys whilst carrying firearms to the same countryside and blast the hell out of a few grouse.

Thanks for the link, one of the buildings on the site is just what I am looking for.

The line into Ilfracombe was also double track from Barnstaple Town so definitely not at Slade Reservoirs

I used some similar ones on my Gresley/Thompson set. They do make a real difference to the look of the train and a nice little job you can do in a warm room in the winter. Trouble is after seeing them I keep wanting to do all my other old corridor coaches. Another thing I have tried on old RTR stock is to re-mount the couplings a bit further back when they are not the Bachmann one-size-suits-nothing moulded into the bogie frame types. The first time I did it I worked out the length by propelling through a Hornby Dublo 3-rail crossover which equates to about 1st radius. I now have a set track point with 2nd radius curve off it on my test plank. If they propel round that they will take anything on the layout without buffer lockin or derailing.

The train appears to be corridor stock in a one-colour livery so will be 1956 onwards. Allocations derived from BR Database and SLS info on that site 83B Taunton 4w/e19/05/1956 85A Worcester 4w/e 05/10/1960 84B Oxley 4w/e 24/03/1962 89B Croes Newydd 4w/e 14/07/1962 (BR Database) 89A Shrewsbury 4w/e 03/11/1962 TO STORE 4w/e 09/02/1963 (SLS quoted on BR Database) To Western Region 4w/e 02/03/1963 (SLS quoted on BR Database) 87G Carmarthen 4w/e 29/06/1963 WDN 4w/e 29/09/1963 Except where noted the dates roughly tally. Given the state of the stock it looks a while past 1956. Ilfracombe was one of my thoughts as I rode in and out of there behind GWR moguls, but IIRC that didn't have check rails. The pole route was on the outside of the wooded curve and I couldn't resolve it with having milk tanks on the train

Also sharply curved. Not often you see a check rail one side immediately followed by the other so probably alternating sub-10 chain curves.

Investigatio completed. I checked the BtoB but that was OK. The closed switch of the point for the straight road was slightly curved so the toe was standing slightly off causing the wheel flange to ride up and then fall outside the rail. Slight bending and job cured so not loco fault, although it is the only one of my stud which did it.

I've had a look at another place I had some dealings with years ago. On the line to Rugby just outside Leamington the line went under the Southam road. The whole of the trackbed westwards towards Leamington has been olbliterated by a housing estate and factories to the site of the GWR loco shed, several road bridges and the canal bridge have already gone. To the east the line of route is almost intact almost to Rugby, a section being used as part of the National Cycle Network.

As a replacement for Bertha a tank loco converted from a 9F could have been attractive if there had been a longer future for steam as it would have used the same boiler, wheels and motion thus simplifying maintenance. Bromsgrove South Loco siding to Blackwell and back was only about 5 miles, 40% of which was rolling down a steep hill. Bertha only had a coal capacity of about 4 tons and used about 7cwt per round trip. Tank locos used were Jinty 2.6 tons and 94xx 3.6 tons. The 80000 bunker holds about 3.5 tons I believe. Bertha had approximately the same 2000 gallon water capacity as a Standard 4MT Tank. They managed quite happily for coal and water when the 52xx which held 4 tons and 1800 gallons was tried there, the only problem being it was neither one thing nor the other. In banking power terms the Jinty or 94xx counted as 1, Bertha or the 9F as 2 but the 52xx was only 1.5. The only consideration for wider use would probably be the axle loading with Bertha only being about 15 tons, although a 9F tender is about 17 - 18.5 tons loaded. A 2-10-2T with the same coal and water capacity as a 2-6-4T would be maybe around 100 tons in working order but the adhesion weight woud be better that a 2-10-0 with the weight of the tanks over the driving wheels

There are some pre-1955 pictures about half way down this page. http://www.cornwallrailwaysociety.org.uk/looe-branch-including-moorswater.html

Beat me to it, my first thought when I saw it.

The signalling was altered in the mid 1950s. Prior to that there was a junction signal by the signal box reading to Liskeard or Looe, straight post signals on the platform line and opposite to this on the Moorswater line and a home signal coming from Moorswater approaching the bridge to the north of the station foollowed by d double disc opposite the platform starter. The arrangements before and after are available on the Signalling Record Society website. https://www.s-r-s.org.uk/html/gwf/S1141.htm The locking tables are also available.

Up to the early/mid 1970s it was common to use the same code for all class 2 trains having the same origin, destination and routing. In the mid 1970s this was mostly changed to a line having odd numbers in one direction and even in the other, 2B71 would be followed by 2B73 etc. On a busy line when the numbers got to 99 they started again. IIRC it was an accounting driven move roughly coinciding with changes to financial support after the Local Government upheaval in 1974 and money for local services being allocated by councils and PTEs under a 'Contract' agreement with BR.

I would agree that any attempt at another cross Pennine route should be a new line and be to Channel Tunnel sizes to permit a lorry shuttle across the country. The original tunnels are now sealed up. The supergrid cables are now in the 1954 tunnel. That tunnel is said not to be compliant with current regulations for a new line. the alignment from Hadfield through Deepcar to Sheffield is quite good, the curves and gradients were worse in the Worsborough area of the Wath line IIRC. Going from Penistone to Sheffield on the remaining line via Barnsley is a flask and sandwiches job, 12 miles as the crow flies, 24 miles at about 30mph by train. Besides the old tunnel works problems east of Hadfield include Torside Crossing and Woodhead Dam, the level of which was raised after line closure. West of Hadfield the Dinting and Broadbottom viaducts would need replacing. The track and signalling at Dinting is arranged so that you can't even get two Class 323 units on the viaduct at the same time. There were a lot of people holding their breath a few years ago when somebody approved running a football special from Glossop with top & tail 47s. One was giving trouble and a Thunderbird was attached to one end in addition. It went over the viaduct at walking pace.

I'm glad you posted as it prompted the discussion and drew attention to the present ownership of these assets, which is an organisation with no interest in promoting future railway use. At face value the list seems harsh, but in reality many of the lines should never have been built and especially after the amount of spare road transport available at knock down prices after WW1 rarely if ever made a significant contribution to the railway profits. The line I was commenting on above closed in WW1 so the rails could be used elsewhere, was relaid in 1922, closed again in 1939 and was only reopened in 1941 because a shadow factory was built near to the terminus following the Coventry blitz. By 1947 traffic was slightly above zero.

Your post got me looking again at Google Earth for the bridge I was referring to in my first post. It is on the Bearley to Alcester line near to Great Alne. The line is visible for much of its length on the aerial photos but completely obliterated at the Alcester end. The only other structure I know of is Great Alne station which has been a private house for many years. This is looking towards the location of the bridge in question, the only evidence I can find in favour of its existence is a weak bridge sign on the approach from the other side. The railway was somewhere just beyond the trees in the field to the left.

I'm a bit of a hack at painting but will do a post later as I don't use anything special or not easily available. Lining on the vestibules was done with an assortment of transfers from Replica Railways and Modelmaster. It's a bit fiddly on panelled coaches so I tried a bow pen on a cut'n'shut which is better when you have practiced a bit. Back when my eyes and hands were a lot younger I could line a coach with a fine paintbrush but i'd struggle with that now. Last time I did it I put the lining on the undercoat then top coated up to it. They're never going to be up to, for example, the Larry Goddard standard of finish but they look fine running on the layout

Likewise the bridge bash on the Cromford and High Peak recently. A listed structure about 150 years old it had cast parts which shattered and it collapsed. Fortunately there was no other traffic close enough to hit or trail users crossing at the time.