Didcot Railway Centre Tour 2022

[Neal Ball]

As per Mike and David…. Thanks Drew @Castle, Lee and the rest of the staff at Didcot today…. Did we buy up all the ice cream? 😎

 

Thanks also for my cab ride on the Saint @Castle, please pass my thanks onto the crew.

 

It was a great day, good to meet everyone.

Neal.

[Nick Gough]

Agreed.

Many thanks to Drew and all those involved for an excellent afternoon under trying conditions.

[Harlequin]

Thanks Drew and all the staff for giving us a great day. The weather made it one that I think we'll all remember and talk about for a long time to come! And it was wonderful to meet many fellow RMwebbers for the first time. 

 

@The Stationmaster Sorry we didn't manage to make contact again before the end of the day. I'll PM you when I've recovered from the drive home and gathered my thoughts.

 

@Neal Ball Great to meet you! (2hours 25mins Didcot to North Tawton non-stop. I could almost commute!)

 

[Neal Ball]

6 minutes ago, Harlequin said:

Thanks Drew and all the staff for giving us a great day. The weather made it one that I think we'll all remember and talk about for a long time to come! And it was wonderful to meet many fellow RMwebbers for the first time. 

 

@The Stationmaster Sorry we didn't manage to make contact again before the end of the day. I'll PM you when I've recovered from the drive home and gathered my thoughts.

 

@Neal Ball Great to meet you! (2hours 25mins Didcot to North Tawton non-stop. I could almost commute!)

 

Then there are all the photos to sort through….. on the back of the camera, I have a few nice ones of the Saint and the Castle….tbc 😎

 

Re: commute….. that’s how Drew aka @Castle started 😎 my commute precludes it 🤣🤣

[figworthy]

Another vote of thanks to @Castle and @The Stationmaster and the others involved for a very interesting afternoon out.

 

Adrian

[Castle]

Hi All,

 

As always, it is the greatest of pleasure to share the contents of the ‘toy box’ with like minded individuals. I’m glad people seem to have enjoyed themselves and it was great to say hello to everyone face to face.

 

Also big thanks to Stationmaster Mike for his annual command performance in the signal box!

 

I hope to see you all again sometime!

 

All the best,

 

Castle and the GWS volunteers.

 

PS: Picture uploads please!

Edited August 14, 2022 by Castle

[Harlequin]

Here's the man himself, explaining the big crane in the lifting shop:

 

 

Edited August 14, 2022 by Harlequin

[Harlequin]

Here's Mike doing his famous, "When is a lever collar not a lever collar?" joke: 😉

 

(I hope someone remembered to close all the windows!)

 

Edited August 15, 2022 by Harlequin

[Trainshed Terry]

21 minutes ago, Harlequin said:

Here's Mike doing his famous, "When is a lever collar not a lever collar?" joke:

 

When it is an egg cup !

Terry

Edited August 15, 2022 by Trainshed Terry
Deleting 2nd quote

[Michael Hodgson]

• 1 hour ago, Harlequin said:

Here's Mike doing his famous, "When is a lever collar not a lever collar?" joke: 😉

 

(I hope someone remembered to close all the windows!)

 

 

Pity the box didn't have a Welwyn release .... used by some signalmen as an egg timer!

 

Mike explained the (GWR rather than current) lever colours including the one with black & white stripes but it was only later that I remembered to photograph of the detonator placer, a piece of equipment once fairly common but now rarely seen in the surviving mechanical boxes, and of course, rarely modelled.

 

Although I photographed quite a few wagons, I didn't get round to taking close-ups of the Rotank, just a couple of telephoto snaps frome the train window, so that's on the to do list next time!

 

 

Good to meet people and put faces to some names.

 

[Rivercider]

I would also like to thank Drew for arranging another interesting entertaining and informative tour.

Also to the two Mikes, and the others who looked after us around Didcot. I took quite a lot

of photos during the day, here are a few of the better results.

First a few from around the loco shed.

 

5322, 4079  Pendennis Castle, and DL26 14/8/2022.

1340 Trojan 14/8/2022

3738 and 6998 Burton Agnes Hall, 14/8/2022

 

2999 Lady of Legend had just finished the morning steam working, 14/8/2022

 

cheers

 

[Rivercider]

A few of the other photos I took during the tour at Didcot,

 

Various signalling gear 14/8/2022

 

Rectank tar wagon dating from 1898, 14/8/2022

 

Inside the Transfer Shed with replica Iron Duke. 14/8/2022

 

Frome Mineral Junction box 14/8/2022

 

cheers

[Rivercider]

A few more photos from behind the scenes.

 

In the carriage workshop 14/8/2022

Edit - I have just realised that this photo makes the real thing look a bit like a model, (to me anyway).

 

Carriage restoration 14/8/2022

At the rear of the locomotive repair shop. 14/8/2022

 

In the loco repair shop, 1361 class no.1363 undergoing major overhaul. 14/8/2022

 

cheers

Edited August 15, 2022 by Rivercider
Additional info

[KGV]

And a couple of Pendennis Castle from me. Many thanks for all the crew at Didcot for taking the time to show us around.

[Harlequin]

This photo is barely related to the tour but it was part of my weekend up from Devon and this is probably the best place to post it:

 

It's a panorama taken from the top of Wittenham Clumps - a bit of high ground dividing the Thames valley proper from the Vale of the White Horse. We are looking southeast (left) to southwest (right).

 

Brunel's Great Western main line traverses this picture somewhere in the middle distance but it's not obviously visible.

 

Wallingford is somewhere on the left. Didcot is near the chimneys.

 

On the horizon are the Berkshire Downs, where the old DN&SR toiled up and over on it's way to Newbury.

 

Beyond the horizon on the far right lies Swindon.

 

And in complete contrast to the vast scale of the image, the white dot in the middle is a feathery seed, blowing past in the breeze.

 

[Davexoc]

A few of my images in an around the locomotive works, there are a load more of various rolling stock if anyone wants them?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dave

[Davexoc]

And some views from the drivers perspective of the branch....

 

 

 

 

 

Dave

[kada33]

Hi Castle

Thanks for a good day out at DRC on Sunday and for getting me access to a Toad for some interior photos.

Dave

[KeithMacdonald]

6 hours ago, Michael Hodgson said:

 

Oooh - that looks dangerous! Didn't they read the manual? Never mix beer and gunpowder.

 

[The Stationmaster]

For those who might be interested here are some photos I took (a lot) earlier.  First the  GWR designed double twist locking underneath the floor of Radstock North 'box; it is the original locking that came with the frame but had to be considerably altered by the GWS S&T folk to suit the layout etc which it now controls.    The pointing hand belonged to a signal engineer who was trying to understand/explain how the locking worked.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the one we didn't visit - Frome Mineral Jcn.  Note the differences - different kind of floor plates, mainly numbers only on the levers apart from some short lead information on some; description and leads on a board behind the frame.

The frame was not original but came from another 'box and I suspect the locking might well have been incorporated into a more modern design of basic framework below the 'box floor (I also wonder if the floor plates are correct for a stud frame?).  However it is genuine GWR stud locking recovered from another 'box and re-locked to suit the GWS layout.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Nick Gough]

Radstock North from trackside:

 

Mike, The Stationmaster, hiding behind the instrument shelf:

 

Part of the locking apparatus, as seen through the front windows:

 

 

A couple of shots of the rodding runs:

 

[Nick Gough]

4079:

 

Compared with 51 years ago:

 

Sitting roughly where the newer part of the workshop now is:

The original lifting shop can be seen on the right.

 

The engine record cards:

 

And the GWR modellers of the future:

I haven't identified one of these lads so if the parent/relative isn't happy let me know and I will remove the photo.

[Michael Hodgson]

2 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

 

This is the one we didn't visit - Frome Mineral Jcn.  Note the differences - different kind of floor plates, mainly numbers only on the levers apart from some short lead information on some; description and leads on a board behind the frame.

 

 

 

 

The most striking aspect of the interior of this box is how sparsely equipped it seems by comparison - it has a much clearer view out of the window unubstructed by a block shelf above the frame with its load of block instruments and repeaters 

[melmerby]

1 hour ago, Nick Gough said:

 

A couple of shots of the rodding runs:

 

 

What would that splitter be operating, dividing the throw into push & pull at the same time?

[Michael Hodgson]

1 hour ago, Nick Gough said:

A couple of shots of the rodding runs:

 

 

That rather complex looking tangle of rodding and cranks is part of the mechanism by which operation of winding the gate wheel gets converted to move the gate stops and four gates in their required directions. Whilst point rodding usually uses the square (inverted U-shape) section rods, most gate mechanisms tended to stick with this older standard of round rodding.