Arpster

That's a very rude signal...

Apologies if this has been posted elsewhere, but this is a nice clip from the BBC Archive of John Stapleton on Nationwide interviewing spotty 'erberts at the end of platform 8 at Paddington in 1975. There's a good array of Duffs, Westerns, and other assorted loco-hauled trains in amongst their musings about spotting life.

They're fascinating, huh? I wonder what the comment "ER Steel Carriers - may be rough" means under the 8E05 Toton to Tees Yard service means!

I popped down to see Heaton Lodge yesterday with two pals, one of whom is into model railways and one who isn't. All three of us were blown-away by the sheer scale and spectacle of it. It was great to just stand and watch trains passing and take in all of the little details. To me it didn't matter that there wasn't a café or traders - we were all there to see Heaton Lodge and we knew it wasn't going to be a normal model railway show. Thanks to Simon for going to the effort of putting it together and putting it on display. It was great to see!

It seems a bit odd that the burnt-out brakevan still has its tail lamp on!

Well, yes, I realise that it isn't a colourised photo. It's just that the background and surroundings are so washed-out in comparison to the coaches and the buffer beam that it looks like they've been added later! I guess it shows how monochrome the 1960s railway scene was before the advent of Rail Blue...

This looks like a colourised black and white photo where only the coaches and the buffer beam have been done!

It's not something to do with WW1 is it? Carriages for soldiers, cattle trucks for horses, open wagons for equipment?

As someone who has worked in climate change research for almost 15 years, I'd love to know what aspects of climate change you think are "stupid hysteria". If you look at the reports by the IPCC, which synthesise the world's scientific knowledge on climate change, you'll see that they are pretty alarming. And us scientists tend to be quite conservative in our language, trying to avoid over-stating things. The scientific community has been trying to raise public awareness about the seriousness of the situation for many years now. The IPCC's 1.5 Degrees special report made it pretty clear that about that level of global warming things start to get pretty scary. What has happened recently is that others in 'civic society' have started to shout about the urgency of change too, not just the world's scientists. People like Extinction Rebellion, love them or loathe them, have done a service in making this something that is at least being talked about. Many well-respected scientists and engineers have written and published on the need to radpidly decarbonise society. Some argue that developed nations like ours need to be cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 10-15% per year, every year, starting last year. The 'net zero' date of 2050 isn't as important as the rate of decarbonisation achieved over the next 10 years. If we're to follow a science- and evidence-led approach to tackling climate change, then these are the cuts we need to acheive, regardless of whether we think it's doable or not. It's the job of politicians, shareholders, business owners, engineers, economists, and planners to find ways to achieve that without destroying people's livelihoods. That's what I think is failing to happen.

I was thinking more for these kinds of activities, Mark: https://tanfield-railway.blogspot.com/2020/04/where-is-it.html

Sounds like you might be needing to borrow Duncan's J72 as well (or my dad's J71!).

Did it run ok at the weekend, John?

It's made it to the end now!

Correction - that seems to be the Project ORION Class 319/769! https://www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk/news/passenger-trains-converted-to-deliver-parcels-to-city-centre-stations

Getting back on topic slightly, it seems the Class 321 was at Euston yesterday demonstrating their use at terminus stations, and offloading (it seems to suggest into a cargo bike!) of freight onto the platform. It really shows the problem of platform height differences! https://twitter.com/NetworkRailEUS/status/1412793616746024963