Pandora

The original order bears the signature of A H Peppercorn, the reduction of the quantity to 7, is it signed by J F Harrison or Peppercorn?

Such was the lure of the final work of steam, one member of our school railway society, Dave Taylor, took off an unplanned whim, cycling to Weymouth from Doncaster, for the final Summer of Steam on the Southern, the round trip must be 500 miles, no-one knew where he had gone, parents were frantic. Missing for a week , slept anywhere he could find, one night in an air-raid shelter, 14 years of age at the time

I could not find an Edgar Clayton, there is a Wikipedia entry for Edgar Claxton, an Electrification Engineer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Claxton

A weblink to more vintage 1500 V DC electrics: https://www.irfca.org/gallery/Locos/Electric/wcpx/ In my humble opinion there is a some "look and feel" of Woodhead traction. https://www.irfca.org/gallery/Locos/Electric/wcpx/umax49b.jpg.html?g2_imageViewsIndex=1

Not too different: I think the Raven loco was Quill drive, a lot of developments in transmission going on. Here is a SLM Universal Drive loco from SLM Winterthur constructed in 1930 Indian electric locomotive 4006 of 1930, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winterthur_Universal_Drive#/media/File:Electric_loco_4006.jpg

SLM and MetroVick built a batch of electric locos Winterthur-Universal-Drive locos for India, 1928 to 1930, (from Wikipaedia) They may be the type of locomotive Gresley had in mind https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winterthur_Universal_Drive#/media/File:Electric_loco_4006.jpg

I followed the link in your post and read of a requirement of nine passenger locos. " The original 1936 plan for the electrification of the Manchester, Sheffield and Wath line included nine express passenger locomotives, in addition to the mixed traffic EM1 Bo-Bo locomotives. The EM1s were designed first, and the only pre-war express passenger design known to have existed was submitted by the Swiss Locomotive and Machine Works, Winterthur in 1939. This was a 4-6-4 with a universal drive, 13ft wheelbase, and a total length of 55ft. Development work was interrupted by World War 2, and the final EM2 design that was built in 1953 bore no resemblance to the Swiss proposal. In fact, there was very little LNER influence in the final EM2 design.". Do we have any drawings of the Swiss 4-6-4 passenger locomotive?

The design of Tommy was revised for the fleet of the EM1 locos, the change to the driving cabs is the first one we see, were the revisions by Cox and Cock, and do we have a date for the work?

A question as to the history of the EM2. The EM1 is a project of Sir Nigel Gresley CME of the LNER. The EM2. Under which CME was the EM2 proposed? Was it Gresley, Edward Thompson, or Arthur Peppercorn? Was the EM2 a British Railways project in entirety ? Or Is the EM2 a design passed from the LNER to British Railways? Under the LNER Woodhead scheme, how did Gresley envisage the working of express passenger trains, Steam or Electric?

A meeting was held yesterday, seemingly "make or break"., between Minister Shapps and Major Khan over the short-term funding needs of TFL. Reports are TFL have accepted the package on the table, a package said to be £600 million short of the Mayor Khan budget. I cannot find the details of the package but reports are anticipating cuts to TFL services and rises in fares. TFL continue to hold the keys, they have not taken the road of a S114 notice, preferring to be in control over handing over the reins to the Minister.

Rose Grove, a Colliery line with a steep gradient, ran past the shed into the station sidings, rakes of heavily loaded 16T mineral wagons, worked by pairs of 8Fs , one as the train engine, the other as the banker, delivered as fine a soundtrack as any enthusiast could wish to hear, mid-July 1968.

The order for the EM2 fleet was 30 (cannot remember the exact figure) , the order was cut back to 7, the paperwork for the amended order has the signature of Freddie Harrison, a Gresley bright young man, to become CME of BR. Does anyone have any knowledge of the why 30 EM2 locos were required, what was in their mind? I do not believe they were for the ECML,as we can see the LNER thinking was dieselisation. In any case the route mileage KX to Scotland would be quite costly. A shorter route would fit the bill, London Liverpool Street to Norwich express services, extending the Great Eastern 1500 VDC suburban scheme to Norfolk. Does anyone have any papers which show light on the reason for the prosal of a large fleet of the EM2 loco, whee were they intended to operate?

The BTC had an inheritance of three projects from the LNER, 1) Woodhead, 2) electrification out of London Liverpool Street, 3) the Kings Cross to Newcastle express passenger diesel project, new diesel depots at London and Newcastle to service the fleet, two projects resumed as you state but with revision, the order for the fleet of 30 or so EM2 Woodhead locos trimmed to 7, an abdication of an intention to further the cause of Woodhead . The diesel project was quietly dropped, replaced with order for a third batch of the Peppercorn A1 locos to make good the lost diesels, , had the LNER diesel project gone ahead, BR Eastern Region would have pioneered mainline electric and mainline diesel operation, years in advance of the BR Pilot scheme of the late 1950s

I have a recollection that Sheffield Victoria had a train service by DMUs to and from the direction of Doncaster, does anyone have any details of the timetable, such as number of trains per day, and when the direct service was withdrawn? The withdrawal year may have been the early 1960s. it was a trek to walk from Sheffield Midland to Sheffield Victoria, I believe the plans included a line to link the two stations, but was never constructed, the land for the link may have been of protected status for many years, does anyone have a map showing the route of the Midland to Victoria link?

Noting the Tommy in the background, around 1970, a number of diesel shunter 08 locos in Manchester Longsight/Reddish area had some unusual shades of Rail Blue, we spotters gave it the name of Manchester Blue, there were comments about the colour in the Railway Magazine Traffic & Traction notes, the colour could not be down to too many trips through the carriage washing plant, the locos were fresh and shiny. The Tommy in the background triggered memories of sightings of "Manchester Blue" Were 08 diesels repainted at depots, or was it a Works task?

From Flickr E26056 FYE, check the colour and post your opinion:

Speculation in the press suggests TFL will not agree to the recent Grant Shapps funding package and TFL will give soon declare a S114 Notice placing TFL under strict control of spending A sample article: https://www.railtech.com/policy/2022/08/16/transport-for-london-could-be-nationalised/?gdpr=accept

My studies of PO Wagon Works, I I know of wagon works having a gate across the track leading from the goods sidings

Operationally needs to be a Controlled Signal, the signaller replaces the controlled signal to red when a train is to held or delayed at the platform, with the train safely at a stand behind the red, the signaller can open the crossing to road traffic, otherwise long unnecessary delays and traffic jams for motorists

The LC would be operated by track circuits and by treadles positioned a considerable distance in advance of the LC, treadles are rail mounted and the wheel flanges depress the treadle as the train passes, known as "Strike-in" if before and corresponding "Strike-out" treadles after the crossing. The signaller will also have controls for the LC, imagine the train is delayed in the platform for 15 minutes, signal at danger, the signaller can raise the barriers to road traffic to avoid traffic jams

The Adventures of Twizzle, production of 1957, early Gerry Anderson (later Thunderbirds) / Roberta Leigh (later Space Patrol), the shop has an early TriAng set in operation, probaby the Jinty, episode 1: https://youtu.be/3E5sU_wl-bk?t=142. I was not aware the puppets for such shows were so big, from the video probably half-size relative to humans

Pandemic, or, No Pandemic: TFL: Future Passenger Revenue as predicted by TFL in their 2019 Business Plan Passenger revenue (figures from TFL BP of 2019): 2020/21 £5.1bn, 2021/22 £5.4bn, 2022/23 £5.8bn, 2023/24 £6.5bn. Predictions for 2023/24 of £6.5bn from 2020/21 of £5.1bn (also a prediction) represents 27% growth in revenue in just 3 years. Growth of 27% sounds optimistic to me, even if the pandemic had never happened. Even without the pandemic, would TFL have achieved 27% growth in revenue, and if not, would TFL have requested extraordinary Govt funding?

The Freedom Pass is issued at State Pension age (66 for me, I have my pass) My speculation is the TFL Over-60s Oyster Card is at risk, the card is valid from the recipients 60th birthday and expires at state pension age, therefore Oystercard current for 6 years until the issue of a Freedom Pass, the Freedom Pass extends the free travel utility over and above an over-60s Oystercard by offering ECNTS bus travel in England. The Pensioner's Freedom Pass I believe is safe, but I am anticipating significant changes to the Over-60s Oystercard. Both Passes have a journey history log which is readable by the card holder from most TFL station ticket machines, could the journey history log be used by the system as a tally count and to set a maximum figure for free travel journeys made with the Oystercard in say a year or a month of usage?

I have received an e-mail from KR,: "We have finished processing your order". Does this infer the model is being shipped to my address? Has anyone received their Fell locomotive?

The adjacent Rotherhithe road tunnel of 1908 is noteworthy, noteworthy for the reason that when assessed by modern safety standards, it is number 7 in the league table of dangerous tunnels in Europe. Portal to portal is 1700 yards, there is no provision for an emergency evacuation on foot, a vehicular evacuation would require reversal, the road being so narrow, the two vertical shafts housing spiral staircases leading to exits at each riverbank have been locked out of use for at least 30 years. The Tunnel and entry/exit ramps were not for designed motorised traffic, but for horsedrawn traffic, the gradients of those ramps to the capability of a horse and unladen cart. Laden carts not permitted, they used Tower Bridge. The riverbed above the tunnel is shallow in depth, the lining is said to have a distortion from when a passing river vessel fouled the riverbed.