Rivercider

A couple of weeks ago I bumped into a former colleague (a driver with a FOC) we had a lengthy catch up. He said there has been a decrease in infrastructure work, and expected it to contract even more in the near future, cheers

If you are thinking of the photos of DW150392 at Radyr, then it was a civil engineers vehicle, and B C definitely refers to 'ballast cleaner', cheers

Now I am fully retired I hope to get to a few more exhibitions next year. Ilfracombe is not a show I have previously been to, but should now be in range, so I will look out for that. cheers

I would imagine that there might have been a loco shed if the line was built privately. If the SDJR built or financed the line they would want to save money, so the branch loco is shedded at Radstock. Does the branch passenger service terminate at Binegar, with perhaps the first and last services of the day starting and terminating at Radstock? If you don't want hassle shunting, then the second version makes sense. If you enjoy the challenge of shunting then was there some building or obstruction that meant the only way to connect the private siding was via the bay? Good luck either way cheers

Welcome to RMweb - those models look good. A lot of domestic clay traffic from Cornwall went by coastal shipping and inland waterway, including much of the clay for the Potteries. In 1964 BR made a determined effort to capture more of the clay traffic, and the Stoke-on-Trent Clayliner started running in November 1965. As mentioned above wooden bodied High-fits were used for traffic to the Potteries, Scotland, Kent, and elsewhere. They were later joined by surplus of the end tipping fleet which did not receive the distinctive hoods. The book Freight Train Formations by David Ratcliffe lists wagonload services in 1980 that include wagons to/from Corpach. 7M86 St Blazey-Carlisle 23/9/80 conveyed 2 blocks of 10 for Corpach, 15 were BR High-fits, 4 were end tipper UCVs, one was S38644. 7V30 Carlisle-STJ 23/9/80 conveyed 10 etys ex Corpach. 8 were BR highfits, the other 2 were end tippers. cheers

As has been mentioned before it was commonplace for one depot (or department) to disparage another. It is a human trait, and also occurs within many organisations, where each department thinks itself better than others. My last place of work, the night shift and the day shift each thought they were better than the other. For example the rivalry between the LSWR/SR depot at Exmouth Junction, and the GWR/WR depot at Exeter St Davids was legendary. In my time as a traincrew roster clerk I heard plenty of comments made about 'other' depots. My dad as WR civil engineers wagon supervisor spent many years chasing lost and delayed wagons. He visited all the WR carriage and wagon depots, and in turn had Cathays point out to him poor repairs by Reading, Reading point out poor repairs by Exmouth Junction, Exmouth Junction point out poor repairs by Barton Hill, etc etc. When I worked in Bristol I several times heard mention that the Southern was just a tram system, whereas the Southern prided themselves that their timekeeping was better than the WR who could not possibly run such an intense service, cheers

A couple of years ago I was in my late mums seafront flat at Weston and watched a car that had got stuck in the mud become submerged by the tide. Once the tide was high enough the car floated for almost half an hour before gradually sinking. To my surprise the hazard lights started flashing some time after the car became partially submerged - like the car was asking to be saved! cheers

I like the look of this layout a lot. My own layout of a fictional location has a small depot where one would probably never have existed, but like most of us on here I have many more locos than would be required. In many railway towns where two (or more) companies once existed there was duplication of facilities, with consequently more than one loco shed in town. I can think of a few examples where once the smaller shed was closed some basic facilities remained. As well as the yard pilot loco another couple of locos could be outbased here to carry out local freight transfer and trip work to the sorting sidings at the main line. The signal box may exist because at one time the place was busier, perhaps there was a local passenger service here, the station later closed and the site used by the expanded goods depot. Meanwhile the shunt neck is the truncated remains of another short goods only branch that formerly served a couple of private sidings at that end of town. And then there is rule 1! cheers

I like what you have done there, I always enjoy urban goods layouts. I won't propose how to signal it as I am no expert, but it might help to know a bit more about the layout. It would help to know which company originally built the line and how it was originally signalled, I am assuming it is set in Crewe, would that make it former LNWR/LMS? Also how do you operate the layout, I assume arrivals and departures are from the uppermost two lines? The signalling would need to prevent conflicting moves, principally for movements arriving and departing. For example you would need a ground signal to prevent a move from the uppermost shunt neck when a train is arriving or departing the yard. I would assume the lower half of the yard would be all hand points, with no signalling required, cheers

We have been house hunting in Dawlish and Teignmouth. One property we really liked (near Bridge House the Railway Convalescent Home) would have been at the top of a cutting if that route was chosen! cheers

Quite often that would be the case, though sometimes there could be a lot of transferrable skills. Someone I know moved from one company to another, his early induction period was somewhat shambolic. He had to go through the full induction process, even though he already signed almost all of the routes, and some of the traction. He later returned to the original company... cheers

That looks useful. I do not have children - or a cat, I do have a problem with dust as no doubt many of us do. As Ivor Cutler observed ' dust holds no grudges and once removed will always return...' cheers

D1058 was one of the Westerns I saw at Swindon in November 1978. D1058 Western Nobleman in Swindon scrap yard, with diesel brake tender B96409? on the next road, 12/11/78 cheers

Was there not a plan for Foster Yeoman to take about five Westerns? There was a row of Westerns at Swindon Works, some of them were sheeted over, I took a few instamatic snaps of them. I am just off to work, so cannot remember exact details. cheers

This an interesting idea. In a parallel universe a Brixham solicitor was able to commence the Brixham Railway a little earlier. The promotors also had the foresight to ensure a facing connection onto the branch at Churston, rather than a trailing connection. Thus the time wasting connection at Churston was done away with and a regular service operated to and from a west facing bay platform at Torquay. This provided a useful commuter service connecting Torquay, Paignton, Goodrington, and Brixham. To this day Brixham is served hourly, one of the two hourly services from Exmouth terminates there, cheers

As already mentioned it was great to see this at Taunton at the weekend (overall an excellent show I thought). The scenery is lovely, and the harbour area will complement it nicely. I liked the gorse. As I mentioned on Sunday my Gran reckoned it is time for kissing when the gorse is in bloom, (she was a Devon lass, born on Dartmoor), cheers

Hi Wayne. It was good to see Poynton Sneer again yesterday in Cardiff, I enjoyed the chat - and it was a good day out cheers

Are you aware of the Railway Studies collection at Newton Abbot Library? Members of the Friends of the Railway Studies Collection have been archiving railway pictures, they might be interested. I have recently joined the Friends group, and have attended several very interesting railway talks at Newton Abbot Library, cheers

I would agree that the working at Powderham has cement empties (from either Barnstaple, Exeter, or also Chippenham which also received cement from Plymstock in the late 1970s) . I think the slate powder traffic had ceased by then. The 6V53 Clayliner from Stoke on Trent to St Blazey was booked to detach and attach other traffic at Exeter Riverside, so it may be this train. cheers

Yes I think that is most likely, I have the Local Trip Booklet from May 1975. Trip No.9 was a Bath Road class 31 diagram and worked to Newcourt SX. 7B78 12.45 Exeter Riverside to Newcourt cheers

Great work there Rob. Your ears must be burning! This afternoon I was over in Cardiff at a show, and talking to one of the exhibitors. We were both in appreciation of your layouts set in a run-down urban location, cheers

The number 87603 relates to the TOPS location number for New Cross Gate. I have a copy of the Southern Region CCE Wagon Guide issued in October 1983, it lists all the dual piped traffic brake vans in TOPS wagon pool 9218 and mentions they may be used on Departmental trains when specially authorised by the Chief Operating Manager. There were 26 brake vans listed, all allocated to a specific yard and stencilled with the TOPS location number of the 'home' location to which they were to be returned after use. There were 3 vans held at New Cross Gate (87603) for contingency purposes:- B954661, B954750, B954759. cheers

Of course it is not just inundation from the sea that is the problem along the sea wall. As has been mentioned many times in this thread there is also the ongoing problem of rock falls from the cliffs on the inland side of the track. I have made several trips along the coastal route in recent months and see that the rock fall shelter at the east end of Parsons Tunnel is well progressed. (Note that the 'original' Parsons Rock has long since succumbed, and fallen into the sea.) I also notice extensive work taking place above Kennaway Tunnel to stabilise the cliff face on Lea Mount, none of that is cheap either. I suspect that calls for another inland route will not go away, cheers

I don't know how often there is a problem at Dawlish, but there was also single line working on Tuesday (17th). I went down to Newton Abbot for the day (for an excellent evening talk organised by Friends of the Railway Studies Collection in Newton Abbot Library). The GWR website had warned of possible disruption from 19.30 and although my return train departed Newton Abbot on time at 21,25 we were held outside Teignmouth as single line working had been introduced over the up line along the sea wall. After some 20 minutes delay we proceeded on and at Dawlish there was a failed 5-car 800/802 set lights out in the down platform, cheers

I have a copy of the WR Freight Train Loads Book dated April 1964. The northern part of the S&D is shown under the Bristol Division. Page 30 shows steam-hauled main line freight load limits for Bath to Templecombe Upper, but page 38 diesel-hauled main line freight trains has no entry for the S&D. The southern part of the S&D is shown under the Plymouth Division. Page 89 show steam-hauled loads for Bath to Evercreech, and Templecombe to Broadstone, but page 99 for diesel-hauled freight trains has no entry for the S&D. Edit - from my later BR career in the Bristol Area Freight Centre we knew that if there was a published load for a particular loco class over a route then that was authorisation for the loco working. cheers.