Jim’s “out and about with GBRf” thread

[big jim]

Derby blockade this morning and first celeb loco

 

66721 “harry beck”

 

Supposed to run round at burton west yard but it was occupied so I had to run to the curve round to Leicester, uncouple, light engine to drakelow and back onto the train via the station, luckily I sign as far as drakelow or we would have been knackered (used to use it to turn IM trains going into derby if they were facing the wrong way)

 

And away to derby, sat in sunnyhill loop for 1 1/2 hours as they couldn’t accept me into the possession at the booked time

 

Same again tomorrow but later in the day

[big jim]

same loco again today, pretty much the same job but starting at the back of toton and running round in burton west yard

 

thankfully it wasnt the loco on the left, 66709 as that would have meant id have to get the kernow model!

 

burton, having run round

 

and a pic i wont be able to recreate in a few weeks, the train is sat on the old St marys loop and the fresh ballast in front where i took the pic will be the new passenger lines when they are installed

 

tank train tomorrow, landor st to birmingham

[Covkid]

tank train tomorrow, landor st to birmingham

 

Hope it is a little further than that Jim  !!! hahaha 

[big jim]

Hope it is a little further than that Jim  !!! hahaha 

 

i wish!

 

it actually should say doncaster

[big jim]

Just 2 from today, Landor st to doncaster down decoy with a tanker train

 

Colas 37116 passing by heading to Tyseley

 

And my train with 66760 leading

[jamesg]

Thank you for continuing to post updates and photographs following your move to GBRf.

 

Here's a picture of your train before Abbotswood.

 

 

(I was on the right side of the fence).

[big jim]

supposed to learn/refresh hams hall but got asked to help out with a leicester to peak forest service

 

66788 leading ex EWS hopper wagons

 

as i dont sign peak forest we had to swap over at edale

 

northern unit stopping en route to manchester

 

and that was that

[big jim]

Road learning today into doncaster iport, a new service starts next week to Southampton but today was the official opening by princess Anne, I was booked to stay with the loco all day and return to Roberts road with it but we weren’t needed so left before royalty arrived which was a shame as I had all my nice new clean uniform on just in case!

 

Had permission to take these pics inside the site and post them on line

 

 

 

So back to the station and train home, didn’t bother with more pics other than a GBRf coal train headed north

 

Supposedly driving a road learning loco tomorrow but that may be cancelled yet due to an issue at Whitacre jn

[bruced2]

A couple of pics of you leaving Doncaster I port on Wnxx Jim. Just seen them today.

 

Bruce

[big jim]

I was ushered out before royalty arrived so never got to leave there!

 

Will do next week though, got it for 5 days

 

Couple from yesterday, driving a road learning loco from Toton to chesterfield and back a few times, should have been hams hall but obviously that wasn’t going to happen

 

Annoying it was 66711 so I’m gonna have to buy the Bachmann model now

 

 

International rescue today at hams hall

[big jim]

Hams hall rescue mission today, obviously no pics of the site itself but our job was to man the locos to ferry containers and wagons back and forth between the derailment site and hams hall

 

The line was under possession so all moves required the ES (engineering supervisor) to speak to the box and set the routes to and from the various lines

 

66751 and 66726 doing the honours top and tail 3 wagons to load the containers on

 

Meaty looking 66 this one!

 

Kirow crane passing by to cross over and head back to the site

 

Once we got the first 2 containers out of the way I had to go and fire up an ews 66 to use it to recover one of the wagons

 

Waiting the next move

 

And once on the wagon it was walking pace back to hams hall and into the cripple siding

 

At that point I went home having spent the best part of 11 hours on site, in all an interesting day

Edited September 14, 2018 by big jim

[jamie92208]

Thanks for the very interesting pictures Jim.   As an outside observer it's interesting to me that the recovery appears to be being done in what could be called the old fashioned way of recovering wagons and loads as they are lifted by rail mounted cranes or is there a road crane at the actual site as well.   Also do you have to get special permission from DB to fire up and use their loco.

 

Jamie

[leavesontheline]

 

 

In this shot the sky background is very convincing, as is the puddle effect on the concrete but the concrete needs more weathering, oily patches etc and that big slab side of the building needs blending/weathering in a bit. If I was to be very critical the Fellowes HGV tractor/trailer at a jaunty angle looks a bit too staged (also, is it actually 2mm scale to give a bit of forced perspective?) and the container handlers would never be lined up like that but otherwise this model looks like one to watch ............

[big jim]

It’s a work in progress, weathering to add over time!

[WessexEclectic]

Hams hall rescue mission today, obviously no pics of the site itself but our job was to man the locos to ferry containers and wagons back and forth between the derailment site and hams hall

 

The line was under possession so all moves required the ES (engineering supervisor) to speak to the box and set the routes to and from the various lines

 

Is the point work (& track) still there to connect to the site of the old Power Station? It looks like there was some thought to providing a siding or two for the current Wincanton warehouse?

[45156]

Jim  - I think it's time for a new avatar.

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/137688-another-rebranding/

Edited September 19, 2018 by 45156

[big jim]

Yep, spotted that earlier on Twitter, to me it looks remarkably similar to the new freightliner logo!

 

Anyway back to this weeks job, same job, same loco, same picture locations, different weather!

 

This week wa stage first train out of doncaster iport to Southampton and return, a job I have been doing between coleshill and Doncaster and back, a few teething issues regards timings which meant I didn’t get home for 2 days and had to stay in a hotel in Birmingham but it settled down today and ran as planned

 

Monday: 66752 “the Hoosier state” Running round in iport

 

After fuelling, back on the wagons

 

 

 

 

66789 passing by

 

Waiting in swinton

 

 

 

 

Saltney

 

 

And off to a hotel, back in the next day for the same job, stopped at my fave photographic stop of Masborough station, I like to get shots of what ever I’m working under the arch here!

 

 

After dropping the train in iport it was off to Roberts road for fuel and return to the iport

 

Onto today and again a wait at swinton, didn’t bother to photograph the freightliner last night only to discover it was 66413 ‘the wasp’ on it, went out tonight and it was a plain boring 66

 

 

Hst again!

 

 

And into coleshill

 

Same again tomorrow!

[corneliuslundie]

66752 is a long way from Indiana! What is the reason for the name on a British loco?

It should be in Monon Railway colours.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monon_Railroad

Jonathan

[jamie92208]

66752 is a long way from Indiana! What is the reason for the name on a British loco?

It should be in Monon Railway colours.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monon_Railroad

Jonathan

I believe that it was the first 66 to be built at the new facility that Caterpillar opened in Muncie Indiana in place of the London Ontario plant.

 

Jamie

[njee20]

Long time lurker on this thread, but it’s fascinating to see what you get up to, and awesome pics.

[Revolution Ben]

And my train with 66760 leading

 

Nice tanks on that train!

 

cheers

 

Ben A.

[big jim]

Not bothered with pics the last few days as it’s been far too wet to go outside and get any!

 

Only one from today, an issue with a wagon meant I had to go and collect a 2nd loco and take it to iport to pull the train back to release the train loco which was trapped in the head shunt!

 

First time 2 locos have been there together

 

Crewe to Doncaster tomorrow with some empty intermodal flats then a couple of engineers trains into and out of donny on Sunday

[big jim]

Flat wagons for maintenance crewe to Doncaster

 

Picked it up in Basford hall, first stop nuneaton

 

 

An hour in barrow hill while nothing passed then over to Masborough for the usual photo stop

 

 

 

2 ballasts tomorrow, toton to donny and back

[big jim]

Couple of engineers trains today, first up Toton to Doncaster Belmont with 66770

 

And as soon as I got there straight onto 66752 to head back to Toton with some auto ballasters

 

And that was that for today

[dvdlcs]

Where was the picture with 66770 taken in post #5174?

 

The track on the right seems to meet the line with the train at a fairly sharp angle. Is it part of a Y, or triangle, for turning stock or is it something else?