Prototype for everything corner.

[royaloak]

On 12/10/2019 at 11:27, Fat Controller said:

'All (Down or Up) .........must stop here and pin down...' I've left out the idiosyncratic capitals, which always made me think that the originals had been designed by a German emigré. The actual number of brakes that were pinned down were decided by driver and guard, following principles, laid down in writing, about weight of train, weather conditions etc. There was a fine line between a minimum (so the driver could still stop the train at the bottom of the bank) and the maximum ( so the driver could restart 'against the brakes'). I used to watch them unpinning the brakes, just down from my primary school at the bottom of the Llanelly and Mynydd Mawr. Sometimes, someone miscalculated, and there'd be a runaway. Johnster, on here, will be able to enlarge on this matter.

That sign is actually at the bottom of the bank after descending from Dainton Tunnel so its probably an instruction to stop and pick up the brakes, it is roughly where E9 and E109 signals are now just before Newton Abbot West Jn.

Edited October 14, 2019 by royaloak

[royaloak]

6 hours ago, PatB said:

Maybe the Western just wanted it off their turf ASAP . 

As its heading from Newton Abbot towards Plymouth I dont think that is going to work.

[Wickham Green]

18 minutes ago, royaloak said:

As its heading from Newton Abbot towards Plymouth I dont think that is going to work.

Ah - maybe the Crompton came on at Exeter - that makes sense ............ and if it's on the Paignton Line it'll not have too much hill climbing to worry about !

[The Johnster]

On 09/10/2019 at 19:33, montyburns56 said:

Own too many brake vans?

 

Bo'ness Junction 20xxx coal from Kinneil Colliery 1975

 

 

Brake vans were often unbalanced in their working and tended to accumulate at various points as a result of not having back workings.  They would then be sent wherever they were needed either on booked empty brake van workings, usually once a week, or next available despatch in a freight train.  The empty brake van working would of course require a brake van, with a guard riding in it, at the rear as despite the bauxite livery brake vans were (except in a very few specific cases) 'piped only' and did not have working vacuum brakes.

Edited October 14, 2019 by The Johnster

[caradoc]

3 hours ago, jonny777 said:

I have never seen that combination before, in over 40 years of HST viewing.  Thanks for your quick reactions, given that it was taken from a passing train. 

 

Is that not stabled on Haymarket Depot, rather than actually working ?

 

Edited October 14, 2019 by caradoc
Spelling mistake

[The Johnster]

On 12/10/2019 at 11:27, Fat Controller said:

'All (Down or Up) .........must stop here and pin down...' I've left out the idiosyncratic capitals, which always made me think that the originals had been designed by a German emigré. The actual number of brakes that were pinned down were decided by driver and guard, following principles, laid down in writing, about weight of train, weather conditions etc. There was a fine line between a minimum (so the driver could still stop the train at the bottom of the bank) and the maximum ( so the driver could restart 'against the brakes'). I used to watch them unpinning the brakes, just down from my primary school at the bottom of the Llanelly and Mynydd Mawr. Sometimes, someone miscalculated, and there'd be a runaway. Johnster, on here, will be able to enlarge on this matter.

As has Stationmaster, with more authority and experience than me.  It was an occult art as not only did each train behave slightly differently, so did each guard and so did each driver.  The driver had to make the judgement call on when he had sufficient brakes to control the train, and some places had brakemen to assist the guard.  A cabin at the top of Penrhos incline between Aber Jc and Walnut Tree Jc was a good place to get a cup of tea and possibly a brake van ride and a cab ride back up the bank on the banker for a 13 year old Johnster in 1965, the last year of steam in the area, and I once rode down to the Dolomite works on a brake van with a 37, over the Walnut Tree viaduct.

 

The 40mph run Mike refers to is probably in reference to fully fitted MGR traffic with disc air brakes that were not really up to the rigours of South Wales, from Cwmbargoed, where if you were 'only' doing 40 at Nelson (not the one in Lancashire, the Glamorgan one) you were 'probably' going to be able to stop at Ystrad Mynach before being let out on to the Rhymney main line.  Nerves of steel...

 

The known black spots had sand drags at the bottom which gave you a fighting chance, but the pile of shattered wagonry usually found at the ends of them showed that they were not completely effective.  The coal had a habit of disappearing as soon as the local heard the bang!  Of course, once things got beyond a certain point the brakes you have applied and the loco's brakes have worn down to useless anyway, and the brake van won't be far behind.  Once this situation had been reached, you had to make a call as to whether to bail out or stay with the ship and cross your fingers.  We used to reckon that you could survive a jump at 40mph if you tucked and rolled but after that the best thing for the loco crew on a diesel was to hide in the engine room and hang on; the guard just hoped that the crash absorbed enough of the energy of the crash before the van got to it, or at least slowed enough to make jumping viable. 

 

Part and parcel of daily life at depots like Radyr, Aberbeeg, Tondu Llanelli, or Margam, which provided the hapless D95xx in the photo; this incident was, as Mike correctly suggests, a trap point error with the loco being pushed by the train while shunting at North Rhondda (actually not in the Rhondda Valley, it's named after the coal seam it worked and accessed from the Afan valley).  A similar incident in the 70s at Cwm in the Ebbw Valley left a 37 abandoned in the river for some time while the very awkward recovery operation was worked out (the crew had bailed, fortunately).  The wrecked loco was at Canton after the recovery for a while and actually had dead fishes in one of the cabs along with a good bit of river silt.

 

We were not immune at Canton, despite the main line nature of the work, and I had more than one fright coming down Llanfigangel and some nail biting stops coming off the Hereford road and being stopped at Maindee.  I set fire to a brake van on one occasion with 'enthusiastic' braking.  Lickey was always a bit of a worry of course, but you had a good run of fairly level track to recover on at the bottom.

[Fat Controller]

See! I said he'd know..

My bedroom, with the desk I did my homework on, overlooked the L&MMR. More than once, I heard the single tone on the horn that indicated that a loaded train from Cynheidre had overpowered the loco, and was running away. The train'd go past my bedroom window, rather faster than normal, and disappear. The next day, I'd be on my bike to see where it had ended up; on most occasions it would have stopped just after the 'Old Castle' pub, where the crossing gates would only be fit for firewood. On one occasion, however, the loco had gone through the sand-drag next to the main-line junction, and finally stopped with its nose embedded in the embankment.

[royaloak]

2 hours ago, Wickham Green said:

Ah - maybe the Crompton came on at Exeter - that makes sense ............ and if it's on the Paignton Line it'll not have too much hill climbing to worry about !

Thats on the Plymouth line, they were arranged from left to right-

Up Plymouth, Up Paignton, Down Plymouth and Down Paignton,

 

its different today with the abolition of Aller jn and simplification of Newton Abbot station, now from Newton Abbot West Jn its-

Up Plymouth, Down Plymouth, Up Paignton, Down Paignton.

 

The Paignton Lines are known as the Torbay lines but for simplification I have called them the Paignton lines.

 

I agree about the 33 being added at Exeter.

Edited October 14, 2019 by royaloak

[ColinK]

How about this for an unusual platform configuration - look at the ramps. The photo was taken last week.

 

[Colin_McLeod]

There is another thread asking which stations are the closest together. Would this be a contender? 

[DY444]

9 hours ago, ColinK said:

How about this for an unusual platform configuration - look at the ramps. The photo was taken last week.

 

 

Culham I presume

[ColinK]

Yes, Culham.  What seems to have happened is that the nearest platform has been taken out of use (it is fenced off) and a new platform built just beyond it, hence the ramps facing each other. Still looks odd though.

[melmerby]

11 hours ago, ColinK said:

How about this for an unusual platform configuration - look at the ramps. The photo was taken last week.

 

I assume the original platform is out of use and there is no reason to remove it.

https://goo.gl/maps/4eDF8LFm7hgPP5u89

Edited October 15, 2019 by melmerby

[caradoc]

3 hours ago, melmerby said:

I assume the original platform is out of use and there is no reason to remove it.

https://goo.gl/maps/4eDF8LFm7hgPP5u89

 

Yes; The 'double platform' is on the Up side at Culham and only the newer part is used. 

[woodenhead]

But why build that new platform?

[caradoc]

Possibly the old platform was too low for modern standards and could not be raised without adversely affecting the station building ?

[melmerby]

35 minutes ago, caradoc said:

Possibly the old platform was too low for modern standards and could not be raised without adversely affecting the station building ?

The building is Grade 2* listed, so would limit what alterations can be done.

[Boris]

When you get sick of the "bus on the bridge" cliche and fancy something a bit different:

 

 

[flapland]

That Van Sandwich is just missing the ham and pickle. :-)

[eastglosmog]

4 hours ago, woodenhead said:

But why build that new platform?

Possibly because the station building is leased to a third party (Entikera Ltd) since 2014 and they don't want folk looking through the windows?

[melmerby]

28 minutes ago, eastglosmog said:

Possibly because the station building is leased to a third party (Entikera Ltd) since 2014 and they don't want folk looking through the windows?

More likely the listing as the windows seem to be boarded over anyway.

[Porkscratching]

High speed train..?

[Porkscratching]

You can get an 0 gauge model of the Yank version, with jet engine sound apparently...

[Porcy Mane]

10 minutes ago, Porkscratching said:

High speed train..?

 

Budd clone. Great idea till it peppered everyone in a station with high speed flying ballast.

 

 

[rab]

2 hours ago, flapland said:

That Van Sandwich is just missing the ham and pickle. :-)

Oh I don't know.

I'd say its well hammed up

and in a right pickle.