jonny777

How come the GCR have ex-GWR lower quadrants in Leicestershire?

50030 has a varying assortment of coaching stock in tow passing Teignmouth circa 1984.

This class member is towing a couple of HST power cars back to Laira, seen along the sea wall near Teignmouth circa 1989/90.

Thanks Nidge. That is great info, as I think the semaphores appear on many of the photos.

Yet another with no loco identification, although the presence of what appears to be a naval crest on the bodyside may be a clue. Exeter Central, and the notes say 1987; but I trust nothing on these any more.

Thanks very much. A lot of good advice for me to ponder on. I was also a Lone Star addict in my early years, and had all of the items you describe including the station, signal box and level crossing. In fact, I may still have it all in a box up in the loft. My track was always as big a junction station as I could produce from the points and crossings I owned, and when a schoolmate offered to sell me his collection for about 2/6d (a lot of money in those days, but then he had a lot of track and had tried to model Sleaford West Junction) I ended up with enough to stretch half way around the living room. I had no realism in the ends of the track work - trains were just pushed off the end onto the carpet and were picked up and made ready to appear anywhere as a completely different service. Later I painted the US single ended diesel blue, with a full yellow end, and the US carriages became blue and 'grey' (actually white, as that was the only pale colour I had) once the newly painted Mk1s started appearing on the real railway. Sometimes, I would get bored with locomotives and just ran my highly sacrilegious SR third rail scenario, using the carriages as EMUs and guards vans as tram engines pulling occasional goods trains. East Croydon it was certainly not. I spent hours and hours with this, much to the annoyance of my mother who thought I should be outside playing cowboys and indians like other kids; but I was not at all enthusiastic about pretending to kill people.

Another uid member of the class; this time running l/e through Teignmouth circa 1989/90.

Wow. Thanks for this. It certainly does look like the same train. As I mention above, the slide was a purchase and not taken by me but the details on the slide mount appear to be almost 100% inaccurate.

Sorry, yes. I didn't take the photo, but bought it online. My laziness means I tend to believe what is written on the slide mount. It would appear that in this case just about everything about the transparency is incorrect.

Very good. Those who criticise, must give their opinion.

I know nothing about this, except it is not a Speedlink/Enterprise service through Teignmouth circa 1992/3 as written on the slide mount. Hopefully, some 50 enthusiasts might fill in the blanks.

50047 passing Teignmouth in 1985.

I have more....

1989 at Teignmouth, with 50036 on a passenger service of NSE Mk1s/2s

I wonder if they were thinking of a hot summer similar to 1976, and transport of water supplies by rail to fill emergency bowsers?

Thanks Jason. That is the kind of inspiration I need.

Yes, that is true Andy; but he likes locos with tenders due to him having a dvd with Gordon, Henry and James on it; and they seem to have impressed him with their speed and importance. I was going to get a 57xx and call it Duck, but thought he might benefit from a 'big engine policy' where subsequently I can utilise my old Lima Mk1s which have been in their boxes for decades.

My youngest grandson has been staying with us for a few days. He loves building tracks on the floor and pushing carriages around the routes he has made. He is in his own little world, and even the fact that SWMBO asked him where the engine was did not faze him. This set me thinking, if I could match a tender drive loco body/chassis with a loco drive tender, he would have a proper engine to pull his carriages. I was hoping someone with a more detailed knowledge of which locomotives might fit the bill (having been sold as both tender and loco drive during their history. I don't suppose he would care if the tender was not appropriate for the engine in real life (he is only four and a half) but my nerdy self would prefer an accurate pairing. I know I could just remove the motors from existing models, but that seems to be wasteful as far as I am concerned.

The dumb brained idea was that if they closed unrenumerative branch lines, then prospective passengers would simply drive to their nearest main line railhead and continue their journey by train. I'm sure that kind of thinking still pervades certain planning departments today.

Did you ever try driving to Bournemouth, or Torbay, or the Lake District in the 1960s during the summer? My Dad did for our annual holidays, and we sat for hours in traffic jams trying to get through Bath, Salisbury, Kendal, Ilminster, etc., etc. And that is leaving aside the nightmare known as the Exeter bypass.

Let's clear a few things up. The Beeching Report was nothing to do with the Wilson Government, although they broke their election promise to halt the closures. Beeching's report was published in March 1963, and Wilson did not come to power until October 1964. Harold Macmillan was PM when the report was published, although due to several scandals unconnected to this subject, plus a prostate problem, he resigned in the Autumn of 1963. It is pedantically true that Beeching didn't personally close any lines, but he did allow his report to be published in full - and that report recommended the closure of 6000 route miles, and over 2300 stations should close completely. He may have only been doing the job he was brought in to do, but that doesn't excuse the drastic, short-sighted, and (excuse the pun) tunnel vision measures he proposed. Why should the passage of time make any difference to the decisions? I think we enthusiasts are well aware that certain lines and stations had been closed prior to WW2, and many of us regard it as an insult to be told of this fact over and over again by the Beeching apologists. The big catalyst for Beeching came during the closure of the M&GN early in 1959. I think the government had expected a public outcry when the closure of an entire route was announced, but apart from a few localised objections, this outcry never materialised; which must have given the road lobby in government a great boost to their morale. If the M&GN could be closed with hardly a squeak out of local politicians, then a much more ambitious closure programme could be planned, and all it would need is a hard headed private industry leader to implement it under the guise of 'efficiency'.

Or, it could be that the Peak was capable of pulling far more tipplers than an 8F or 9F. As an example, the change to diesel traction on the GN&GE meant that the only limit on the length of loaded coal trains was the capacity of the sidings at Whitemoor yards.

Or possibly, the road was named years before the bridge was built?

I find this explanation difficult to believe, because in the 1960s and 70s many homes were newly fitted with electric storage heaters which ran on cheaper *white meter* electricity. One of the main principles of this was to even out electricity demand off peak, especially overnight when demand typically dropped by 50% or more compared with the daytime. I would have thought that consumers charging EVs overnight would have a similar result; and I am sure it is a subject that the power supply companies have under control. When I was working, we had regular formal and informal meetings with the chaps from grid control, and they would always inform us that it was the unpredictable 'spikes' which caused problems across the network. They would quote a summer afternoon (many years ago now) when a very large group of heavy thunderstorms drifted over Greater London. The net result of the sudden darkening skies caused most office and home workers to switch on lights, and many of the street lights came on for the same reason. These were the events they would worry about.

This kind of stuff is how the Daily Mail and its right wing associates try to panic the nation into a continued support for the fossil fuel industry. They also rubbish wind turbines on a regular basis.