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The human side of the railway...


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  • RMweb Gold

I used to get that on the way home from work. Every time I stopped at the lights some b****er would wash my screen and ask for £1.50.

 

I would 'accidentally' knock the wipers on and they'd retreat fairly quickly...

It was amazing how close I could get the wing mirror to the railings at the old North Circular lights by Stonebridge Park station. Scattered a couple of buckets of water there back in 1990.

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It was amazing how close I could get the wing mirror to the railings at the old North Circular lights by Stonebridge Park station. Scattered a couple of buckets of water there back in 1990.

But where did the water come from? :O

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  • RMweb Gold

I'd like to think the window-hanging commuter is savouring the sound of a Class 50 taking him home. A few years henceforth, the 50s would be gone from the Thames Valley and Class 165 and 166 units (from which window-hanging is impossible) would be employed on this sort of train instead. For the record, the train is the 1810 Paddington to Oxford stopper leaving Pangbourne on June 15th 1988. The loco is 50020 Revenge.

post-17370-0-11495200-1412333600_thumb.jpg

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This one's not about a human doing something in the picture but how the driver influenced the stock for the service: 

 

http://www.hondawanderer.com/43182_Moreton-in-Marsh_2008_2.htm

 

"The Cotswold Line was closed for engineering work south of Hanborough and because the driver of one of the Worcester to Hanborough shuttle diagrams didn't sign Class 166s, a special short HST was made up comprising 43182, 42277, 44059, & 43042."

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Portrait of the photographer, Berney Arms, Sept 2014:

 

post-6971-0-29926600-1412369859.jpg

 

thanks to my dedicated assistant* / significant other* / worthy adversary* who I thought was flagging down the driver at the request stop

(*delete as appropriate)

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I'd like to think the window-hanging commuter is savouring the sound of a Class 50 taking him home. A few years henceforth, the 50s would be gone from the Thames Valley.

Cracking photo - I loved those peak hour Thames Valley commuter services. Well maintained large logo Old Oak 50s on 7 coach VB Mk1 sets, with enthusiastic drivers like RMWeb's Brian Daniels - what's not to like? Fast from Paddington to Reading, often above the rated maximum for the stock with the BR1 bogies banging and hunting away over the points at Dolphin Junction and Ruscombe, before rolling into Reading in 27 mins for the 36 miles. Then crossing to the Down Relief for the main event - all stations to Didcot: flat out in notch 7 from each start until the last possible braking point, then hard in with the brake for a beautifully judged stop each time....Tilehurst, Pangbourne, Goring, Cholsey, Didcot....before a final sprint to Oxford. Deep joy! If I ever make enough money, one day I'd like to pay for a preserved 50 and Vintage Trains' VB set to do it all over again....

 

David

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  • RMweb Gold

Cracking photo - I loved those peak hour Thames Valley commuter services. Well maintained large logo Old Oak 50s on 7 coach VB Mk1 sets, with enthusiastic drivers like RMWeb's Brian Daniels - what's not to like? Fast from Paddington to Reading, often above the rated maximum for the stock with the BR1 bogies banging and hunting away over the points at Dolphin Junction and Ruscombe, before rolling into Reading in 27 mins for the 36 miles. Then crossing to the Down Relief for the main event - all stations to Didcot: flat out in notch 7 from each start until the last possible braking point, then hard in with the brake for a beautifully judged stop each time....Tilehurst, Pangbourne, Goring, Cholsey, Didcot....before a final sprint to Oxford. Deep joy! If I ever make enough money, one day I'd like to pay for a preserved 50 and Vintage Trains' VB set to do it all over again....

 

David

A number of the commuter sets were cleared for 100mph - so in theory were permitted higher speeds than the locos!

Edited by The Stationmaster
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Cracking photo - I loved those peak hour Thames Valley commuter services. Well maintained large logo Old Oak 50s on 7 coach VB Mk1 sets, with enthusiastic drivers like RMWeb's Brian Daniels - what's not to like? Fast from Paddington to Reading, often above the rated maximum for the stock with the BR1 bogies banging and hunting away over the points at Dolphin Junction and Ruscombe, before rolling into Reading in 27 mins for the 36 miles. Then crossing to the Down Relief for the main event - all stations to Didcot: flat out in notch 7 from each start until the last possible braking point, then hard in with the brake for a beautifully judged stop each time....Tilehurst, Pangbourne, Goring, Cholsey, Didcot....before a final sprint to Oxford. Deep joy! If I ever make enough money, one day I'd like to pay for a preserved 50 and Vintage Trains' VB set to do it all over again....

David

When I was a young basher in the Reading area I would sometimes get up early, cycle to Reading West and jump on the Newbury to Paddington loco-hauled train for the short run into Reading. Back round to Reading West on the Basingstoke thumper and into Reading again on the Westbury to Paddington train (praying it would be on time to avoid having to make a Mark Cavendish-style dash to school on the bike. In the evening there were four loco-hauled stoppers down the Thames Valley so you could go from Reading to Tilehurst on the first one, Tilehurst to Pangbourne on the second, back to Reading on a DMU and repeat the feat on the third and forth down trains. In all, six different locos in a day and all class 50s if you were lucky. Happy days. Edited by Western Aviator
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This one's not about a human doing something in the picture but how the driver influenced the stock for the service: 

 

http://www.hondawanderer.com/43182_Moreton-in-Marsh_2008_2.htm

 

"The Cotswold Line was closed for engineering work south of Hanborough and because the driver of one of the Worcester to Hanborough shuttle diagrams didn't sign Class 166s, a special short HST was made up comprising 43182, 42277, 44059, & 43042."

The problem being not the acceleration but stopping a short HST set. Most of the brake power was in the coaches, so they had to be restricted in speed.

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  • RMweb Gold

The lookout has sounded the alarm.

 

The driver has sounded the locomotive horn.

 

Stand well clear lads.

 

66003 passes a track maintenance gang at work around Bradley junction, Huddersfield on 14th October 2014.

 

 

 

 

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