RMweb Premium Popular Post great northern Posted November 29, 2020 Author RMweb Premium Popular Post Share Posted November 29, 2020 There's another WD on the way to London. I tried to get a different angle on it, but the low sun has had some fun with it, I'm afraid. 26 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium great northern Posted November 29, 2020 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted November 29, 2020 9 hours ago, trw1089 said: I’m not sure what you are doing differently Gilbert, but your recent pics are even more brilliant than previously. Perhaps the way you are cropping them, like that last one of Great Eastern, just looks sublime. As much idleness as anything else, if I'm honest. If I see something I don't fancy trying to photoshop, I just try to crop it out. That's what happened with the Great Eastern shot., and fortunately it worked quite well. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium great northern Posted November 29, 2020 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted November 29, 2020 9 hours ago, David Bell said: I love these shots of the non railway side of the street if I can call them that. It really serves to put the train shots in some context. It shows that PN is a whole slice of the 1950's. It is often said that you should be able to get the right atmosphere and the right timeframe without the trains and PN definitely has that. The atmosphere is greatly helped by Peter Leyland's wonderful buildings. Having said that, I now think that my decision to put in a baseboard extension so that the forecourt and hotel could be included was one of the best that I made at the planning stage. 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Popular Post great northern Posted November 29, 2020 Author RMweb Premium Popular Post Share Posted November 29, 2020 More WD tonight. Outside... and underneath the roof. 28 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted November 30, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 30, 2020 On 28/11/2020 at 23:07, great northern said: Tonight we see the Friday version of the 8.05 KX-Newcastle, which brings a very well turned out KX A1. I'm afraid these pics serve to remind me why I don't really like weathered locos or stock. Here we have a loco as her designer intended - green, clean and with a sheen. Suits me. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium great northern Posted November 30, 2020 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted November 30, 2020 1 hour ago, Oldddudders said: I'm afraid these pics serve to remind me why I don't really like weathered locos or stock. Here we have a loco as her designer intended - green, clean and with a sheen. Suits me. Good point, Ian, but I do wonder if we would appreciate sights like this as much if everything was cleaned to the same standard? To a degree I think it is the difference between grey and grim and clean and shiny that lifts the spirits. Very much like the weather at this time of year actually. A sunny day is a real boost, much more so than in summer. The other point of course is that dirty is what most things were, so PN will remain grimy and rather down at heel most of the time. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Popular Post great northern Posted November 30, 2020 Author RMweb Premium Popular Post Share Posted November 30, 2020 We come again to the last train of the sequence, a Grantham local of just four cars, an easy ride for Knight of Thistle. 87 days to go through the whole thing this time, nine days longer than the previous one, but still twice as quick as in pre Covid days. 31 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Popular Post great northern Posted November 30, 2020 Author RMweb Premium Popular Post Share Posted November 30, 2020 Lovely clean green A3. the camera will linger on that. 25 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manna Posted December 1, 2020 Share Posted December 1, 2020 G'Day Folks Last one eh!................time to run some 'Freightliners'.............!! Only jobs I ever seemed to get. manna 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Popular Post great northern Posted December 1, 2020 Author RMweb Premium Popular Post Share Posted December 1, 2020 One last look at 60065. and shifting the camera to the right, we see the N5 waiting for something to do. 27 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Popular Post great northern Posted December 1, 2020 Author RMweb Premium Popular Post Share Posted December 1, 2020 The pilots at the other end insisted that their photos should be taken too. Not the most flattering angle though, perhaps. Nottingham Forest has had a nice rest overnight, and now runs down the engine road, ready for the trip home. 30 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Popular Post great northern Posted December 2, 2020 Author RMweb Premium Popular Post Share Posted December 2, 2020 The stock for the 7.35 Parly to Doncaster is brought in by one of our local V2s, still in black livery under the grime. It will have quite a long wait at Platform 6 before departure, though. 27 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium New Haven Neil Posted December 2, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 2, 2020 That first shot of Knight of Thistle is lovely Gilbert, such a natural weathering job, presumably one of Tim's? just......lush! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium great northern Posted December 2, 2020 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted December 2, 2020 8 minutes ago, New Haven Neil said: That first shot of Knight of Thistle is lovely Gilbert, such a natural weathering job, presumably one of Tim's? just......lush! It is indeed Neil. Every one he does now seems to get better than the one before. As you say, they just look so natural. The problem then is that they show up earlier ones done by other people, so I start thinking about getting Tim to deal with them as well. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium New Haven Neil Posted December 2, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 2, 2020 Continuous professional development, Gilbert! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium great northern Posted December 2, 2020 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted December 2, 2020 8 minutes ago, New Haven Neil said: Continuous professional development, Gilbert! Continuous and expensive professional development Neil. Replacing hundreds of couplings with the excellent Hunt ones is quite enough for the time being. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwealleans Posted December 2, 2020 Share Posted December 2, 2020 Were BZs unusually narrow? I was thinking how bloated that Mk 1 looked behind the leading one, but the one further back down the train seems to have a distinctly pinched profile as well. I haven't ever noticed with mine, but then it only ever runs with parcels stock, never in a passenger set. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Market65 Posted December 2, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 2, 2020 I might be able to answer the question about the width of the BZ’s. I’ve looked their dimensions up in the Hugh Longworth book covering ex GWR and ex LNER carriage stock, and it gives a length of 32’ 0” with a width of 9’ 3”, so with the width of a Mk1 being also, over things like door handles, 9’ 3” then they should be identical in width. Perhaps one or both models are not quite spot on in width in some way. I hope this is of some help. Best regards, Rob. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium great northern Posted December 2, 2020 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted December 2, 2020 1 hour ago, jwealleans said: Were BZs unusually narrow? I was thinking how bloated that Mk 1 looked behind the leading one, but the one further back down the train seems to have a distinctly pinched profile as well. I haven't ever noticed with mine, but then it only ever runs with parcels stock, never in a passenger set. I happen to have a MK1 and a BZ down here, Jonathan, and I've lined them up. With the human eyeball, the BZ is very slightly narrower, but there isn't much in it. As usual, the camera has distorted and exaggerated. After all, it can even make Ian Willets lovely Gresleys look banana shaped. The BZs are Marc Models, and must be getting on for 25 years old, bu they were the only available kits at the time. I do remember that they were assassinated by an "expert" at the time as being wrong in multiple aspects, mainly the underframe, as I recall. However, I need them, as they were rostered in some of the local formations, so that's that. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwealleans Posted December 2, 2020 Share Posted December 2, 2020 Mine is also a MARC Models and i recall that the underframe instructions and parts were vague enough that I rang Mike Radford to ask him for guidance. He hasn't forgotten that review either - he was still angry about it at Nottingham show three or four years ago. I have one of Ian MacDonald's BZ kits to make up, it will be interesting to see how they compare. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Popular Post great northern Posted December 2, 2020 Author RMweb Premium Popular Post Share Posted December 2, 2020 In comes the Glasgow-Colchester, and Golden Eagle is back on duty today. The trip to Doncaster for overhaul and double chimney draws closer, but may never happen in PN time. 27 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
69843 Posted December 3, 2020 Share Posted December 3, 2020 Something looks a little off with the visible tender handrail, as it looks to be at an angle. Or trick of the camera? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium great northern Posted December 3, 2020 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted December 3, 2020 6 hours ago, 69843 said: Something looks a little off with the visible tender handrail, as it looks to be at an angle. Or trick of the camera? Could be either, but it is a Gateshead engine three weeks from general overhaul, so it might be entirely prototypical. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Popular Post great northern Posted December 3, 2020 Author RMweb Premium Popular Post Share Posted December 3, 2020 The weather forecast. Heavy rain, now until 2.00am tomorrow. I'm rather glad I decided not to resume golf until next week. The engine change is now taking taking place. 27 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Popular Post great northern Posted December 3, 2020 Author RMweb Premium Popular Post Share Posted December 3, 2020 Here's another spot of reminiscing on a dull day. A day trip to Retford 1958/59. The train to Retford left Lincoln Central at 9.15am, and in 1958 took 40 minutes to cover the 20 miles to destination. In 1958 it called at Saxilby, Torksey Cottam and Leverton, but by 1959 the route over the Trent at Torksey had been closed, and the journey was via Gainsborough Central and Clarborough junction. Either way, the first small excitement was passing Thrumpton shed on the approach to Retford station, though it housed only grimy black engines. No DMUs on this route yet, so no view ahead unless one hung one's head out of the window, which we did as we approached the flat crossing, hoping something more exciting would be seen on the main line. Our train would then lurch around the chord onto the ECML, and deposit us on the far side of the island platform. Retford differed from Grantham in that there were loops off the main line both on the Up and Down, so the Up main ran between the Up platform road and that on the Down. Thus, London bound trains going through non stop could be seen from a distance, making them even more impressive. On arrival, we were always directed through the subway to the Up side, where we were almost always allowed through onto the platform, which was a relatively long one, extending onto the curve back onto the GC route, which until 1965 crossed the ECML on the flat. We were firmly told to spend the majority of our time well down that end of the platform, though if it was raining we would be allowed to creep up under the awning. Down there a train aproaching on the main from the South could be seen from quite a long way off, and both the sound of the bells from the signal box and a conveniently placed signal announced anything coming on the Up. We also had a grandstand view of the traffic on the GC, nearly all of which was goods, and mainly coal, and which crept across at the regulation 10mph very regularly. To complete the scene, behind the Down island platform was Retford GN shed, but unlike Grantham, it always seemed to house just dirty black locos. At the North end, the main line ran straight for a long way, and our train for Sheffield would leave via another very sharply curved chord to regain the GC. Also to be found at that end on the Up was the station pilot, always a Retford B1, usually 61208/11/12 or 13. On the ECML the trains which stopped at Retford were almost exclusively the West Riding services, those to Tyneside and Scotland hurrying straight through. That meant that we got close up views of exactly the same locos that we were already used to at Grantham, locos from Kings Cross, Doncaster and Copley Hill. Most of them were in the hands of A1s, including Great Northern which, like the W1, was a very regular sight. A stopping train behind an A4 was a rarity. In addition to the intensive main line service there were also the GC trains, some just Lincoln to Sheffield locals, but also quite a number of Manchester to Cleethorpes trains. My 1957 public timetable shows 11 in total in one direction between the arrival of our train, and one back to Lincoln departing at 4.41pm. They were B1 K2 or K3 turns mainly, but in spring of 1957 the five D11s which had been at Lincoln for some years were transferred to Sheffield Darnall, and started turning up regularly on these turns, so we renewed acqaintance with Butler Henderson, Zeebrugge, Somme and Marne. I recall our trains to and from Lincoln as being B1 hauled almost exclusively, but occasionally we got a D11 on those too. So when the first D11 came into view on our visit in late spring of 58, we prepared to sigh and boo yet again. But hang on, what's this. 62662! Prince of Wales, and that was followed during the day by 62661/5,8 and 9. They had just been transferred from the Cheshire lines, where most of them had been stored in the open for years. Now they joined the rest at Darnall, and in the summers of 58, 59, and even 60 out they came again. Each winter they went into store again, but somehow always they re-emerged, though they looked as though they were about to fall apart. What about 62664, you might ask? It was usually station pilot at Sheffield Victoria, where I saw it occasionally. And that one passenger service that came over the flat crossing and ignored Retford? That was the Harwich to Liverpool boat train, always B17 hauled, but of course we saw that every day at Lincoln, so that probably got booed too. Main line memories? 60126 Sir Vincent Raven, a Heaton engine and a cop, flying through on the Up main. I remember seeing Tyne Commission Quay on the coach destination boards, and wondering what that was about. The most powerful memory though is of a lovely afternoon in early August 1958, during the afternoon dead hour. Single peg on the Up main didn't interest us much, until 60090 Grand Parade ran slowly by, a Haymarket engine ex works on a trial run, and with a double chimney, one of the first we had seen. It was a glorious sight, one I have never forgotten, and that is why the loco appears on PN now. Otherwise, the same engines we always saw, with the occasional cop from Gateshead or Heaton. But how vividly I remember how many trains there were, on the main, or appearing round those two chords, and when they weren't to be seen, long goods trains on the crossing, or sometimes three light engines coupled together. Mainly 04s of various sub classes, but also plenty of 02s, and of course WDs. J6 and J11 as well. Numbers? The only ones I remember are 63637 and 63736, both Retford O4s, and only because of the numerical coincidence. One of those appears on PN too. And finally, very well remembered, the day we turned up during the Christmas holidays, a very cold day. when we were summarily thrown out! We went down to the Up platform end, where the platform was on stilts, and we could creep underneath and still see trains. It was now snowing hard. Soon we got out our sandwiches, and I put one down briefly beside me, only to see it snaffled by a large rat. That did it, and blue with cold we went back to the station to catch the next train home. Fortunately, Jobsworth had gone off duty, and his replacement said " you poor kids" took us to a waiting room with a roaring fire, and told us to stay there for the day, and just come out when we heard trains approaching. One doesn't forget things like that. Time to catch the train home. My timetable tells me there were none between 4.42pm and 7.23pm, and I don't think we were allowed to stay out that late. But there is a last memory, which is of asking a railwayman if he knew what Lincoln City's score was. This was a Saturday, and the match would have been due to end at 4.40pm, but he was able to tell me, gleefully I'm afraid, that we had lost 7-0 at Stoke. So perhaps we did stay later. It was dark, I remember that. So, time to bring this ramble to an end. Lincoln now sit proudly second in League One. Could we go back to the Championship, the old second division, for the first time in 60 years? Who knows, but when I typed that 60, I couldn't believe it. I hope this may have brightened up a dull day a little, and I again invite you to share with us your memories of local trips in your past. I'd certainly like to read of events at places I have never visited, even if they are as largely inconsequential as those related above. 21 2 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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