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Hills of the North - The Last Great Project


LNER4479
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1 hour ago, LNER4479 said:

Thanks Al - but the article is actually by Tom Dewdney's (LMS29 on here). A couple of the photos are mine.

 

 

Oops, apologies to both, I saw your name under one of the photos I think and thought it was your article.

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7 hours ago, BoD said:

A while ago I was on Carlisle Station, probably for one of the steam excursions, and there was a modeller complete with tape measure and note pad taking a whole series of measurements.    He was last seen being escorted away from the platforms by an officer of the Transport Police.  I hope he managed to convince them of his honourable intentions.

 

Now that sounds like a vignette for LNER4479 to model.

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That was me but I wasn't being escorted away since I left by train back to Langwathby. When I enquired as to exactly what I was doing wrong, being on the station with a valid ticket they mumbled something about "should have asked us first". 

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1 hour ago, Michael Edge said:

That was me but I wasn't being escorted away since I left by train back to Langwathby. When I enquired as to exactly what I was doing wrong, being on the station with a valid ticket they mumbled something about "should have asked us first". 


I can’t say when it actually was but it would possible have been a few years ago now. Memory plays tricks and it is always surprising how things you remember as recent are further back than you imagine. We did have an interesting chat about what you were doing.  
 

I’m glad to hear that you suffered no further ‘inconvenience’ because of your efforts.
 

 

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3 hours ago, Michael Edge said:

That was me but I wasn't being escorted away since I left by train back to Langwathby. When I enquired as to exactly what I was doing wrong, being on the station with a valid ticket they mumbled something about "should have asked us first". 

Have the railway officials become more-officious in recent times, Mike?

 

About 15 years ago, I was on a photographic assignment in Slough (motor homes and caravans can you believe? Ugh!!!).

 

I was staying in an hotel in central Slough, and had an evening to kill, so went down to the station (which, as is well-known, is a beautiful GWR structure). Now, although I'd travelled several times on the main line, I'd never been on the Windsor & Eton branch. A pleasant evening in Windsor? I bought a day-return, and, as usual, had my camera with me. 

 

Whilst waiting for the train, I began taking pictures. Immediately, some bloke in a high-vis vest rushed up and informed me that what I was doing was illegal. I (respectfully) asked him 'Since when?' and told him I'd taken thousands of pictures of our home railways down the years' 'You need written permission'. 'From where?'. He didn't seem to know. 'If you carry on, the BTP will be called and you might lose your camera'. 'Or worse', I thought.

 

Having no wish to be arrested, I expressed my 'disgust' and shoved my ticket in a waste bin. I've never been back to any part of Slough since, nor ever want to! Didn't John Betjeman want it bombed? 

 

Graham, you might know; is this still the case across the national network? I was in a public place (I assume stations are public places?), had a valid ticket to travel and was posing no risk to myself or anyone else. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

P.S. I've recently taken pictures at York, Newark and Grantham, without any problems. 

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35 minutes ago, Tony Wright said:

Graham, you might know; is this still the case across the national network? I was in a public place (I assume stations are public places?), had a valid ticket to travel and was posing no risk to myself or anyone else. 

You are - technically speaking - supposed to ask first (although I don't see any reference to 'written permission' ...):

https://www.networkrail.co.uk/communities/railway-enthusiasts/guidelines-for-taking-photos-at-stations/

 

The majority of stations (including Slough) are leased to train operators, who may have their own 'rules' on top of those outlined in the above. Rules are of course forever 'for the guidance of wise men and the observance of fools'.

 

Re the BT Police, whilst there's rarely any excuse for rudeness, they are an independent organisation and will always have security uppermost in their minds and will be 'locked into' whatever level of security alert the country is supposed to be under at any one time and probably briefed about all manner of things that an innocent (model) railway enthusiast has little or no comprehension of (terrorists have occasionally targeted railway stations in the past - not that I'm implying Mike is any sort of unsavoury character like that, I hasten to add).

 

Well, you did ask!

 

 

Perhaps we should beat a hasty retreat back to the modelling ...

Edited by LNER4479
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The policy is that all of Britain’s station operators welcome enthusiasts and photographers and have gone as far as publishing advice in a number of places.  I am not sure if this applies in this year’s constrained situation.  I have printed out a copy and keep it in the depths of the camera bag.


 

https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations_destinations/51952.aspx

https://www.btp.police.uk/advice_and_information/safety_on_and_near_the_railway/rail_enthusiasts.aspx

 

https://www.networkrail.co.uk/communities/railway-enthusiasts/guidelines-for-taking-photos-at-stations/

 

edit:  post composed as previous posted.  Apologies for diverting things away from the model.

Edited by BoD
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I was photographing the OLE on Cambridge station. One of the station staff came over and talked to me, she was slightly bemused I wasn't photographing trains but we got chatting and she said it was a pity one of her colleagues wasn't working that day as he too was interested in OLE and would have explained some of the unusual bits and bobs at Cambridge. Very nice lady.

 

I walked up the platform just before catching the train to Norwich. Oh dear the chap at the other end started the threats of getting the police and such like. I did say I had a valid ticket and was soon to be getting on that train waiting over there. He carried on ranting, to which I said your colleague at the other end of the platform was very nice and helpful why couldn't you be like that? He gave me the goldfish look with that I got on the train. I had a good day taking more photos at Norwich, Yarmouth, Lowestoft , and Ipswich.

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On 12/08/2020 at 12:32, LNER4479 said:

That is indeed the name (spelling) of the current boat on the Heysham route, wot we sailed on last year. However, I'm led to understand that the former vessel modelled did have the anglicised name 'Ben Machree'. I think it (the model) still survives and I might have seen it at MOSI but not 100% sure on that.

 

If so, may I politely suggest the model is in error?  As far as I am aware all six Ben-my-Chree's were named as so.

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1 hour ago, New Haven Neil said:

 

If so, may I politely suggest the model is in error?  As far as I am aware all six Ben-my-Chree's were named as so.

Not at all - you may well be right. But if we build a model of the model, then it would be 'correct' to perpetuate whatever name the model was actually adorned with - even if it's incorrect? Oh dear! Mind you, it'll be so damn small you won't be able to see the name anyway ...

 

You may be interested to note this reference to one of the former vessels and its 'incorrect' name reference ...

https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/1908-07-28/debates/e00b1674-984d-420f-bcdd-82dca5d96691/IsleOfManExcursionSteamers

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And we all know that Parliament has a good record of ensuring railway names in non English spellings are correctly recorded.

One F or two Ffestiniog.

Paul.

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Photography - provided you aren't photographing the CCTV cameras or the cash office fire door you should be ok but expect to be challenged. TOC staff should challenge you unless it's blindingly obvious you are spotting, especially after Manchester Arena. Although it is a public place a railway station is private land so you have the right to do whatever the occupier (TOC) invites you or permits you to do. 

 

Ben Macree - if the model was wrong then the model of the model should be wrong too, otherwise it would be wrong even though it's right :-) 

Edited by Wheatley
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  • 3 weeks later...

Great to see another update, I’m checking every day at the moment for the latest instalment! One question on your restoration, are you doing anything specifically to clean the rails in order to get good electrical continuity and reliable running for the future? If so, what method are you using?

 

Thanks.  

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Thanks.

 

For now, I'm just giving the rails a good clean up with the good 'ol Peco track rubber. They've not been cleaned for 15 years so they're just generally 'mucky'. Plus the spraying of the rails n sleepers needs cleaning off any way. Once we get into regular running again then I might try some of the other methods championed on here, including the graphite treatment Mike Edge swears by.

 

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Throw the Peco rubber away and use some a bit less aggressive - you will be making deep grooves in your railhead with it. Pre-graphite I only used 1200 grade wet and dry to clean the railhead (with many complaints from the rest of the team) but the result was that it gradually got polished rather than scratched and improved over the years.

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