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West Kirby Town: Parcels traffic has increased.


Dmudriver
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  • 2 weeks later...

Rod - spotted this on a local FB page, and thought it might be of interest here - pleasant little film, right from my era. West Kirby makes an appearance at about 11:11, but the closed joint line station is also there a few seconds earlier. WK itself only makes a fleeting appearance but is good as it shows the Class 503's to the fore! Worth a watch anyway.

 

I think anyone can view, so visit: https://www.facebook.com/merseysideinfocus/videos/1086233605516296/

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi all.

 

It's been a while!!  Basically, I've lost my mojo again.

 

I felt good after doing the points in the sidings and the frog juicers and I wrote above, on 30th July, that Mike was about to start cutting the bases and making up the packs.  Well, I'm still waiting!!  His last message was early last week saying they should be done by the end of the week.  Still waiting!!  He's working on a big project - a complete layout (track-wise, anyway) - so I assume that's the reason.  I'll reserve any further comments until I know what is happening/has happened.

 

In preparation for the work, I wanted to remove the Down Inner Home signal as it is very likely to get knocked whilst taking up and relaying the crossover.   It's already been knocked and the main arm got bent: one more knock and I fear it's a goner!!

 

So I contacted Jon Fitness - who built all my signals for me - to see if he would repair it for me.  He's happy to and, apart from building signals, he also is restoring a bus that he owns.  And, as it happens, that bus is kept not more than 3 or 4 miles from where I live.  He's having to move it so he's coming up in the next week or two, so tonight I've taken the signal up so that it's ready to hand over when he does come up.

 

Here's a pic of the hole in the board where it's come from:

 

IMG_20210907_194705.jpg.8bf9c8966a30ebe64655d1ea5fba79a1.jpg

 

I'll have to put some safety fencing round it and I'll erect a "STOP. Obtain Instructions Before Proceeding" board where the signal stood.  I'll also put the phone back!!   It'll make a nice operating variation, every train having to stop before entering the station - even into an empty platform.

 

The damage to the signal arm is not obvious from side on (the normal position it's viewed from), but the next pic shows what's happened:

 

IMG_20210907_194741.jpg.491d263c1ab634c406458f80d96d55d2.jpg

 

The paint has flaked off where the arm got bent and was straightened.  In fact, there seems to be a break just above the spectacle plate.

 

So, I've 2 questions for you, dear readers:   1)   Where can I obtain a 7mm stop board from?     and 2) What sort of safety fencing (I'm assuming there would be some!!!!) would be used in the late 70s/early 80s?

 

More soon (hopefully!!) and I look forward to any answers/suggestions to my questions.

 

 

Rod

 

 

 

 

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2 minutes ago, Dmudriver said:

I've lost my mojo again.

 

Have you tried looking under the baseboards?

 

4 minutes ago, Dmudriver said:

What sort of safety fencing (I'm assuming there would be some!!!!) would be used in the late 70s/early 80s?

 

Were they using the orange plastic things panels with black feet by then?  You probably can't go wrong with the steel ones set in breezeblocks.  How about some coils of barbed wire? That'd teach the idiots to try to jump into a hole leading to Terror Incognita!

 

Just board it over with some sheets of 8x4 or surplus wriggly tin...  :whistle:

 

 

 

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9 hours ago, Dmudriver said:

What sort of safety fencing (I'm assuming there would be some!!!!) would be used in the late 70s/early 80s?

Hmmm. I thought the current vogue that everything is someone elses fault is a fairly recent thing and back then people just looked where they were going?

 

Rant over! :)

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I remember being at Barnstaple station in the mid 80s and there were 2 holes on or close to the approach. Someone had created 2 unofficial signs, one of which read "This hole belongs to the Gas Board" and on the other hole one which read "And this one belongs to the Electricity Board".  

 

I  remember the gist of the wording on the signs but no way can I remember what the protective structures round the holes looked like!

 

Somewhere I have a photo but whether I'll ever find it is another matter!  My impression from that time was that the approach was very much "There's a big hole here: it's your fault if you fall in"!!  Personally, I've no problem with that approach!!

 

 

Rod

 

 

 

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The Indian approach to “road works” was to secure a reasonably large fern with a couple of rocks, a yard or so either side of the hole.  
 

Environmentally very high marks, I’d say.  Not high on the visibility stakes, particularly in the dark, however.

 

I do recall a story about some blokes clearing a house.  The foreman says, “right you two, there’s an old door on the front room floor, put it on the bonfire”. They picked it up stretcher-fashion, and the one at the back went down the hole it was covering…

 

more relevantly, did they have those red and white concertina things by then?


93FA5086-2203-4CA6-A43B-DB8081A08186.jpeg.7cc132cbc0aab06d22a5eb5c4a49f321.jpeg

 

and lots of these

 

image.jpeg.046387e9841a2595d45979c5a77b0849.jpeg
 

and NO CONES!

 

:)

 

image.jpeg

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And seeing the old square lamp again this morning, I recall they had poles, perhaps like a lighter version of those used for horse jumping, alternate bands of red & white.  the hooks were that big to hang on them.
 

found these, road works of course, but you get the flavour…

 

4F718507-60C1-4EB1-AA4D-4485191BF61E.jpeg.33758a1ee3407490ef5d8304321e9ebf.jpeg

 

FCA1B358-5B40-4B09-BEAD-1C35CDA464E4.jpeg.56a73f56b49436db22872fcda0d84869.jpeg

 

I remember having one of those yellow compressor trucks, and telling my mum about it as there was a real one in our road.  I was young, under 5, as we moved house then.

 

Atb

Simon

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26 minutes ago, leopardml2341 said:

When I were a lad, oil drums (partially?) filled with concrete and painted with red/white horizontal bands, sometimes with a pole in the centre, were also used.

 

Still a lad?

 

29th April 2020:

 

red_oil_drums.png.49eb113b90f521cb5c1086a31eee9d2f.png

 

 

 

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19 hours ago, Simond said:

The Indian approach to “road works” was to secure a reasonably large fern with a couple of rocks, a yard or so either side of the hole.  
 

Environmentally very high marks, I’d say.  Not high on the visibility stakes, particularly in the dark, however.

 

I do recall a story about some blokes clearing a house.  The foreman says, “right you two, there’s an old door on the front room floor, put it on the bonfire”. They picked it up stretcher-fashion, and the one at the back went down the hole it was covering…

 

more relevantly, did they have those red and white concertina things by then?


 

 

and lots of these

 

image.jpeg.046387e9841a2595d45979c5a77b0849.jpeg
 

and NO CONES!

 

:)

 

image.jpeg

 

 

You can get these lamps from Intentio I think

 

Paul R

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On 07/09/2021 at 21:00, Dmudriver said:

Hi all.

 

It's been a while!!  Basically, I've lost my mojo again.

 

I felt good after doing the points in the sidings and the frog juicers and I wrote above, on 30th July, that Mike was about to start cutting the bases and making up the packs.  Well, I'm still waiting!!  His last message was early last week saying they should be done by the end of the week.  Still waiting!!  He's working on a big project - a complete layout (track-wise, anyway) - so I assume that's the reason.  I'll reserve any further comments until I know what is happening/has happened.

 

In preparation for the work, I wanted to remove the Down Inner Home signal as it is very likely to get knocked whilst taking up and relaying the crossover.   It's already been knocked and the main arm got bent: one more knock and I fear it's a goner!!

 

So I contacted Jon Fitness - who built all my signals for me - to see if he would repair it for me.  He's happy to and, apart from building signals, he also is restoring a bus that he owns.  And, as it happens, that bus is kept not more than 3 or 4 miles from where I live.  He's having to move it so he's coming up in the next week or two, so tonight I've taken the signal up so that it's ready to hand over when he does come up.

 

Here's a pic of the hole in the board where it's come from:

 

IMG_20210907_194705.jpg.8bf9c8966a30ebe64655d1ea5fba79a1.jpg

 

I'll have to put some safety fencing round it and I'll erect a "STOP. Obtain Instructions Before Proceeding" board where the signal stood.  I'll also put the phone back!!   It'll make a nice operating variation, every train having to stop before entering the station - even into an empty platform.

 

The damage to the signal arm is not obvious from side on (the normal position it's viewed from), but the next pic shows what's happened:

 

IMG_20210907_194741.jpg.491d263c1ab634c406458f80d96d55d2.jpg

 

The paint has flaked off where the arm got bent and was straightened.  In fact, there seems to be a break just above the spectacle plate.

 

So, I've 2 questions for you, dear readers:   1)   Where can I obtain a 7mm stop board from?     and 2) What sort of safety fencing (I'm assuming there would be some!!!!) would be used in the late 70s/early 80s?

 

More soon (hopefully!!) and I look forward to any answers/suggestions to my questions.

 

 

Rod

 

 

 

 

Ah, the old cast whitemetal arms. Since superseded by new etched nickel silver ones. I'll change them both I think....

JF

IMG_20210710_121324801.jpg

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Some progress at last!!   The points arrived today from Mike Green.

 

I've unpacked the bases and laid them on top of the existing track and they look good.  Here's a couple of pics from both ends.

 

IMG_20210916_183246.jpg.0d3a81a1c95d2e7ce343ab7023d2cca0.jpg

 

IMG_20210916_181903.jpg.07529a11edf5b9c0cb38b307aed82f07.jpg

 

They fit into the existing track very well so I won't have to take up too much other track and the tie bar placings are spot on so I don't have to get under the board to move the Tortoise motors (which was a pretty important part of the whole exercise!!).  The track alongside the point blades is flexible, which really helps in aligning it to the existing track.  I laid the common crossings on top:

 

IMG_20210916_181935.jpg.1c8aaa944e21f8ff8f186bc4ff4c5477.jpg

 

and in that pic you can see the join in the kit - it was obviously too big to send in one piece - but it works well.  In that pic and the next one you can see how Martin Wynne has smoothed out the curves - particularly at the left end of the crossover.

 

IMG_20210916_182135.jpg.bf8f08390fbfed665340cf39c8a422ea.jpg

 

The kit includes rail, chairs, tiebars and pins, etc so I'm really looking forward now to getting going on this but unfortunately, with one thing and another, I can't start for at least a week.   Even then, the first job is getting the old crossing out - which will take a while, no doubt.  Nevertheless, I've now got something to look forward to and to get my teeth into (so to speak!!)

 

More soon.

 

 

Rod

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  • Dmudriver changed the title to West Kirby Town: Replacement trailing crossover to be fitted.

Hello Rod, hope you are well ? good to see those trailing point bases have arrived :locomotive:.

 

I take it there will be a rail replacement bus service provided for the People of WKT ? Please make sure you liaise with whichever Bus Company is tendered to provide the service, Stagecoach didn't fair too well the last time they did it on the Wirral !!! :o ..... best regards Craig.

 

"Rail replacement bus causes Wirral services to be suspended - after ripping its roof off on a rail bridge - No one thought to be hurt in crash" 

60138047_RailReplacement.jpg.d53350e6e1a17a4f014831d7582b49cc.jpg

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7 hours ago, muddys-blues said:

Hello Rod, hope you are well ? good to see those trailing point bases have arrived :locomotive:.

 

I take it there will be a rail replacement bus service provided for the People of WKT ? Please make sure you liaise with whichever Bus Company is tendered to provide the service, Stagecoach didn't fair too well the last time they did it on the Wirral !!! :o ..... best regards Craig.

 

"Rail replacement bus causes Wirral services to be suspended - after ripping its roof off on a rail bridge - No one thought to be hurt in crash" 

60138047_RailReplacement.jpg.d53350e6e1a17a4f014831d7582b49cc.jpg

 

Hi Craig.

 

Yes, there will be a Rail Replacement Bus service, though I've no room on the layout to model it - even if I had any modern(ish) buses!!   [I know there's a Crosville single decker available but it's not cheap!!]

 

The service will run from Hoylake where trains will terminate - it's been done before, most recently (well, past 15 years or so) for 3 Open Golf Championships.  There's a crossover on the Liverpool side of the station and there used to be one on the WK side of the station.  I've seen pics from the late 60s where it's in place but it certainly isn't there in a 2018 video I've seen, so maybe it was taken out when the line was resignalled,  - late 80s/early 90s?  If so, it's in my time period but even then, I'm pretty sure the Liverpool side one has always been there as there were sidings at that end of the station at one time.

 

AFAIK there are no road underbridges between Hoylake and WK so passengers should be safe - from getting the roof sliced off, anyway!!  What happens to the bus to/from the depot is another matter!!

 

Simon - that's a good point!!!

 

More soon.

 

 

Rod

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2 hours ago, Simond said:

I wonder why it needed towing.  they couldn’t drive it?  

Could be there's been other unseen damage, a lot of transmissions on buses have air/electrical gear changes (I know my last truck had)and maybe the electric have gone haywire - no electrics or air, no go!

 

atb

Phil

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1 hour ago, Dmudriver said:

What happens to the bus to/from the depot is another matter!!

 

A pity the Crosville depot on the other side of Bridge Road on the corner with Orrysdale Road is no more. Like the Joint, it's long gone and now a housing development.

 

Otherwise, the buses wouldn't have to go far, and there could be a bus on the bridge over the railway...

 

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1 hour ago, Hroth said:

 

Otherwise, the buses wouldn't have to go far, and there could be a bus on the bridge over the railway...

In this case, that particular modelling cliché has been reversed…

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