Lambton58

Guilty m'lud, I'm an habitual offender!! That said, there's a lot of nice stuff in there though I particularly like the look of the Ashover carriages. Likewise the Thompson full brakes. Ralph

Or St Albans Cathedral - it has the longest nave in England

I planned to go today and arrived just before 10am only to find the car parks full! The stewards were directing people to other areas but as I drove around to the other parking areas I saw lots of people coming in ahead of me. I reckoned then that the hall may be pretty crowded. I live not far from Bletchley so I took the decision to go back home rather than spend ages trying to find a space and then spend the day in a venue potentially more crowded than I might be comfortable with. I accept I may well have missed out on a good show, but that was my choice and I don't have too many regrets. It was a nice day and I spent some time in the garden and then on the allotments before watching the rugby. Parking seems to have been a bit of an issue in Milton Keynes this weekend. We went into town yesterday afternoon to the theatre only to find the main multistory full! We ended up parking at the canal end of Campbell Park (locals will know where I mean) so a nice walk before and after the play! Ralph Lambton58

Yes, it is crew training - our local rail user group posted this the other day on Facebook. Cheers Ralph

A couple of snaps from 25 July - things are progressing at Bletchley Station :-) Ralph

Happened to be in Wells this weekend and had some time to spare this afternoon so popped in to have a look. A very enjoyable show with some nice layouts and modelling and a very helpful chat with Roger Sawyer about soldering. Ralph

Thanks for sharing this. A fascinating insight. My Grandad and great-grandfather also worked for Lambton Collieries, but not on the railways. Both were miners at Harraton Colliery (Cotia Pit as it was known locally) and Grandad eventually became Overman Underground. The vague relevance of this is that the Lambton (and later NCB) trains used running powers over mainline to get the coal from Harraton to the Lambton Staiths at Sunderland.

Indeed, at least 5 Lambton 0-6-2Ts were from the Valleys; according to Colin Mountford (The Private Railways of County Durham) Nos 52, 53 & 54 were ex Taff Vale Railway and Nos 55 & 56 were ex Cardiff Railway and were bought around 1930/31. As you say, they were bought by the LH&JC not the NCB - vesting day was 1 Jan 1947!

Sorry to hear this news. Canada Street along with Canada Road before it, are two of my all time favourite layouts. Excellent modelling enhanced by the approachability and friendliness of Peter and his team at exhibitions.

Not just the UK - she's believed to be the only flying Vampire in the Northern Hemisphere according to the Vampire Preservation people's website .

That's a good point. It does have a tendency to flood around there and pretty well most of the way to Newport Pagnall. During periods of prolonged wet weather we'd often have the ring road and some of the car parks under water at the OU.

Thanks for that. I've long thought they'd need to put a bridge in for Brickhill Street. Given that it's a main route into Milton Keynes retaining the crossing will lead to a lot of delays and congestion. Of course it remains to be seen what will actually happen and when. I guess we might find out a bit more when the results of the consultation are released. I think that's supposed to be this May, though I've given up holding my breath as it tends to make one go an unpleasant shade of purple and look worse than a Porterbrook Deltic!! Ralph

Technically a little off topic as this relates to the Bletchley to Bedford bit of the EWR, but here's a couple of snaps taken yesterday at Caldecotte Lake, Milton Keynes which is between Fenny Stratford and Bow Brickhill. I'm not sure if this is work starting on upgrades for this section, general maintenance/repairs or something to do with the massive warehouse development on the other side of the line. Ralph

I like the look of that. Cheers Ralph

Oh, very nice!! Looks like an impressive amount of detail there too. Seriously though, that's a great choice. Well done! Ralph

Just seen this on the Book of Face

A few years back, we had some trips planned to Scotland (Montrose and Glasgow) from Milton Keynes. All my colleagues suggested flying as Easyjet from Luton were cheap and indeed we used them for business trips to Scotland. Fortunately we had time to book well ahead so the cost of train tickets for a family of 4 was sensible. On the face of it, more than the plane tickets though, but by the time we took into account the additional costs of getting to Luton Airport and /or parking for the duration, plus costs for hold luggage, the costs of getting from the Scottish airports to our destinations and then the same costs for the journey home the train worked out cheaper. "Ah, but what about the time it will take ?" my colleagues asked. Again taking into account the time to get to & from the airports, check in times, baggage retrieval etc etc the train was quicker! And that's the point, I think, a functioning rational rail system should be providing services from one end of this country to the other that are timely and cheaper than air travel. Ralph

Mrs Lambton58 and I maintain that 'justa' is an old Bedfordshire name for woodpigeons. And yes, their ability to suggest other species is darned irritating. On the otherhand, I'm told they make good pies...

Well done! I'm sure it will be a very popular model and you'll sell, err, shed loads! 😉 We get a lot of them passing through here on the Marston Vale Line. This 66723 Chinook passing Woburn Sands on 26 April 2022 with the 6H10 Bletchley Cemex Gbrfto Peak Forest Cemex Gbrf stone train. Ralph Lambton58

Now there's a thought!

Agreed - especially if you can get a seat at the front end and the driver's left the curtain up!

The line has been operated with Class 230s since 2018. Given that, the disruption caused by the pandemic and other staffing issues/policies, it's quite possible that there aren't that many suitably qualified crew left. But I'm guessing really. So here's a question or three about driver training; mention was made in the Councillor's report of drivers needing to do a Traction Conversion Course. Once passed, how long does this remain valid? Is there something similar for route knowledge and how long does that last before it needs refreshing?

There was some discussion on the East West rail, Bletchley to Oxford Line thread a couple or three months back about what type of stock might be used for passenger services on the line. Well, it won't be the current Class 230s! Quite apart from the collapse of Vivarail last year, which resulted in buses replacing passenger trains on the Marston Vale line, it seems that the 230s were not reliable enough*. Annoyingly, the situation isn't going to improve anytime soon and it looks like we may be getting Class 150s back**, but not until late Autumn!! 🙁🤬. Anyway, I share below some information posted a couple of weeks by a local councillor on our local Facebook group. Frustrating is not the word. You may hear the sound of teeth grinding and heads being banged against walls here in Woburn Sands Ralph Lambton58 * Like many Marston Vale passengers, we've experienced that! A 4-5 hour delay when trying to get to Bedford, several missed connections to London and misinformation from LNW. The resulting compensation pretty well paid for our Two Together Railcard! ** I've nothing against class 150s - frankly anything reliable, that can take bikes is welcome. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Marston Vale Line report by David Hopkins. I was on a conference call this afternoon, hosted by London North Western (LNW), updating us on the issues regarding the lack of a rail service on the Marston Vale Line. The brief history is that the class 230 trains that have been in use are (as you will recall) reused underground trains. They were originally built in 1978 but were upgraded for use on our line, on the Isle of Wight line and on a branch line in Wales. The maintenance company Vivarail which maintained the trains has gone into Administration (last November to be precise). It would appear very unlikely that these trains will return to service as they were proving unreliable, expensive to maintain and spare parts were becoming difficult to source. Instead, LNW intends sourcing old Class 150 trains (see below) in May. This class to train operated on the line in the period up to 2018. The replacement bus service (which has experienced accessibility issues and was unable to take cycles) is being ‘refreshed’ by LNW. They are aware of the other issues relating to that service and are addressing them as well. LNW is frequently updating its series of blogs on the Marston Vale web pages and will be holding update meetings with stakeholders every six week moving forward. Issues The 230’s experienced frequent generator unit failure The 150’s are more than twice as reliable and are cheaper to operate The revenue from the line is far less than the costs but this is manageable if there is certainty about costs (which has not proven to be the case) Could the maintenance staff have been taken on by LNW direct? This was considered (TUPE) by LNW but this still would not have overcome the basic maintenance issues and costs. The trains (230’s) are owned by Lombard and leased to LNW till 2026 (when the franchise ends) but with break clauses It seemed this was a failure waiting to happen – did LNW have any risk assessment/management plans in place? Yes but these proved not to be adequate. Kimberley College is concerned they could lose up to 50-100 students due to this failure (lost income to that trust would be up to £500K) LNW will be circulating a FAQ sheet today (6th February) How long will the driver training take? The trains should be running with trained staff by the late autumn 2023. The drivers need to attend a Traction Conversion Course that lasts 3 months but they are already doing other training for the mainline trains hence the delay. It could be a phased return (limited service) for a few weeks initially. Trains have to be less than 40 metres in length to meet the platform length and not obstruct level crossings – very few trains meet this criteria hence the limited choice of replacement engines. Can replacement buses run on days of industrial action? Not sure! What will happen to the 230’s? – could be broken down for spare parts for the Welsh Service. What will happen to artwork on the trains? – LNW will look at that issue. -----------------------------------------------------------------------

I would have thought they'd come in tins? Ralph

Caught up with this thread after seeing the Railway Modeller article - outstanding and beautiful modelling. Ralph