Rugd1022

Photo by Peter Wolfe : not sure if I've already posted this one without trawling through the entire thread - 08 221 in green at Rugby in 1974....

Photo by Bob Faulkner : D5374 on Wellingborough Shed on 7th August 1966....

Photo by Nigel Kidd : 47 146 at Northfleet Silos on 7th December 1978.... Photo by Rob Newman : 47 107 at New Street on 30th May 1980....

Photo by Phil Cotterill : 46 026 at Daw Mill on 1st April 1982....

Photographer unknown, but what a corker....

One day last year I was struck by what a clean and simple design the concourse area is, a mate and I had worked a couple of ballast trains down to Wembley during the first lockdown and making our way home via Euston we walked up the slope to a completely empty concourse, we were the only two people there, it was quite surreal in a way! My mate too ka few photos of the vast open space on his phone, we'll probably never see that again in out lifetime.

Photographer unknown : Kingsbury in the late '70s or early '80s.... Photo by Craig Dunn : Durham in 1982.... Photo by Richard Glenister : Reading in 1987....

The correct answer of course is Paddington, but other lesser mortals are allowed . Fairford, Tetbury, Cirencester, Kingswear, Bodmin General, Abingdon and Uxbridge Vine Street all get my vote, all of which have (or had) a certain atmosphere about them.

Voila....!

On the Rugby - Market Harborough line again.... Newton Road SB, just south of Bescot where the M6 - M5 flyover passes over the line....

I wonder how many of us on here have built the old Airfix Oakham signalbox kit....? Westbourne Bridge SB, adjacent to Ranelagh Bridge depot....

It actually shut down on me while I was faffing about shunting the Paddington portion onto the back of mine wit he 66, I pushed the button and the timer went to 30 mins, but it took nearly 40 mins to finish shunting, so I had to fire the 70 up again, typical! Not used the plug mode yet. Another thing I was warned about by other drivers is the roughness of the ride, especially over pointwork, it felt as though there was no suspension on the loco at all even at relatively low speeds. They do make a lovely sound though when working hard.

Only a couple of times Jim, honest! Actually, by far the most annoying thing was having to press that stupid, pointless black 'timer overide' button on the left of the desk every time I stopped moving and put it into neutral. Grrrrr!!! I'm on the Battersea job again on Thursday, relieving the northbound empties at Rugby and taking it to Crewe, if it's got a 70 on it again at least I can get some experience of a longer run. Last week it took forever to get it up to 60mph after leaving Wembley as I was following a stopper on the Down Slow all the way to Bletchley.

Photo by Robert Ellis : Reading, May 1981.... almost forty years ago!

Probably all of them!! Luckily I had greens all the way, even at the Bedford end which is very unusual. Definitely one of the more interesting days at work