johnofwessex

Rame Head, takes me back to my CCF days The big problem as with so many things of course is asbestos, and she had plenty of it

Every so often one of the single car units would lose the top side vacuum and go piling into the buffers at Severn Beach. There was also a mystery train to St Andrews Rd mid afternoon that then disappeared from the timetable ie no return working. It actually ran to Filton North Platform for BaE workers and I went on it one day, the guard was a little suprised and suspicious at first (Make sure the signalman doesnt see you) but then made me welcome and I enjoyed my trip

Funnily enough back in (1984?) I did just that only from Liverpool - although in those days you could have done it from Fleetwood, although it involved a change at Douglas. In my case it was the Ben My Chree (The proper 1966 turbine steamer) overnight to Douglas then the afternoon run to Ardrossan & back before the Sunday Morning sail back to Liverpool. The proceedings were enlivened by a 'Man Overboard' off the Galloway Coast when we were in the engine room - the casualty was safely recovered

Birds Eye 'Cod Pieces' anyone?

Stand on Dunster Station, which had its own goods yard, goods shed etc & you can just about see Minehead station that was similarly equipped. Even in the Victorian Era when it as built surely handling the 'less than wagonload' traffic at both stations never made sense, let alone by the 1920's. Similarly in Midsomer Norton/Radstock where if you include Chilcompton there were five stations, all with full goods facilities within a few miles of each other. The interesting 'What if' is what might the network have looked like if we had had the sort of planning that The Europeans had.

In effect it was the way that the UK decided to develop its network that lay the foundations for Beeching, not helped of course by the absence of capital for modernisation and rationalisation in the post WW1 period.

The discussion on National Preservation is heading towards A10 Warthogs (Not for traffic enforcement)

A lot of the Vic Roads stuff looks excellent & should IMHO be adopted in the UK

Lets hope they dont let the driver out before they crush it..................... I suggest that exceeding the speed limit by more than a certain amount (say 100mph) and drink/drug driving should result in an automatic on the spot licence cancellation -ie you have to be retested before you can drive again

Just arived on this thread I saw the van in my home town - Frome before lockdown.......................

I seem to remember an internal temprature in those units that made Hell seem chilly

See From P8 Gathurst cheshire - there are other images

Its worth pointing out that crews were sometimes instructed not to use certain supplies unless strictly necessary because of the payment arrangements, for example while there is a water tower at Minehead it was fed from the town supply which had to be paid for while the supply at Williton came from the river by the station so was free. I understand that in 1922 instructions were issued to S&D crews about not using the supply at Wimbourne if possible for this reason. I believe that some supplies also had quality/reliability issues which - for example why the VofR now normally waters at Nantyronen not Abberfrwd

When the wall came down I was living in Bristol. One evening I was walking home over the A4 bridge at the West end of Temple Meads when I heard an apalling noise like a lawnmower. I turned round just in time to see a Trabant heading towards Bath. A few weeks later I nearly wrecked one as it pulled out of the Safeway - now Morrisons car park in Clevedon (On the site of Clevedon Station) without looking.

An ex of mine is a nurse. Had she qualified few years before, she would have been a 'Registered Nurse for the Feeble Minded' Possibly an excellent qualification for a career in the British Transport Police