RMweb Gold Popular Post big jim Posted July 30, 2015 Author RMweb Gold Popular Post Share Posted July 30, 2015 (edited) a few from today, pass back to crewe ready to work to hereford in the morning drove from the caravan to carlisle and noticed the loco hauled set was knocking about so i pulled off at Dalston and had a reccie of a few lineside locations before plumping on a field just outside Dalston itself where i caught the loco hauled set coming in from the coast 37402 leading damn bush! 37401 bringing up the rear i then hung about to wait for it to return from carlisle departing dalston, the oil terminal is to the right a quick dash over the bridge to see it head off into the distance captured a video on the iphone too https://youtu.be/MvcoARMx-rU then into carlisle to get the train south a scotrail 156 waits time while a 325 heads through the station cant be that many barbie stripe 156s left now replaced by scotrail blue and that was it, home now, off to sleep then chirk to hereford in the morning Edited July 30, 2015 by big jim 29 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold big jim Posted July 31, 2015 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted July 31, 2015 just a couple from today, 66846 in hereford 17 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trisonic Posted July 31, 2015 Share Posted July 31, 2015 Jim, Like the Mediterranean sky in Hereford! Cheers, Pete. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold big jim Posted July 31, 2015 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted July 31, 2015 (edited) Jim, Like the Mediterranean sky in Hereford! Cheers, Pete. I know it was a lovely morning, shame i had my jumper and big rain coat on, its hard to judge what the day is going to be like when you get up at 03:00! Hopefully it will be nice tomorrow too, got a bit of road refreshing to do to the seaside Edited July 31, 2015 by big jim 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold TheSignalEngineer Posted August 1, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted August 1, 2015 Sorry for hijacking Jim, but one of 60002 from my old friend Stephen taken a couple of days ago. Tugging through Bradford on Avon by Invader1009, on Flickr 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted August 1, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted August 1, 2015 Sorry for hijacking Jim, but one of 60002 from my old friend Stephen taken a couple of days ago. Tugging through Bradford on Avon by Invader1009, on Flickr Nice pic but not quite up to the title tho' as the Class 60 is not only exhibiting tail lights but (unless SLW is in operation) is obviously on the back of the train 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trisonic Posted August 1, 2015 Share Posted August 1, 2015 I know it was a lovely morning, shame i had my jumper and big rain coat on, its hard to judge what the day is going to be like when you get up at 03:00! Hopefully it will be nice tomorrow too, got a bit of road refreshing to do to the seaside I don’t believe that I’ve ever been in Hereford where it’s not been “overcast” or at least partly cloudy. Look forward to more pics of your travels, Jim. Best, Pete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold TheSignalEngineer Posted August 1, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted August 1, 2015 Nice pic but not quite up to the title tho' as the Class 60 is not only exhibiting tail lights but (unless SLW is in operation) is obviously on the back of the train The posting on Flickr gives a few more details, it was actually running T&T with a 70. Stephen retired some years ago and spends most of his time these days travelling around by train. His photostream at https://www.flickr.com/photos/invader1009 is always worth a look for modern stuff. He posts every few days. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold big jim Posted August 1, 2015 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted August 1, 2015 Oh i do like to be beside the seaside 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium newbryford Posted August 1, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 1, 2015 (edited) Oh i do like to be beside the seaside Phew - I thought you were going to have to suffer going to Blackpool........... Cheers, Mick Edited August 1, 2015 by newbryford 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold big jim Posted August 2, 2015 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted August 2, 2015 (edited) did a route refresh to llandudno today for a job next week conducting some OTP, not many pics as i was in the cab of various units but a few from llandudno to start with the line between crewe and chester was shut so i decided to catch a train to manchester piccadilly and get the llandudno service from there, as it happened i pulled in at 11:48 and the next train was 11:50 so i thought i'd end up having an hour in manchester as i wouldnt make it from plat 7 to 14 in that time, thankfully the arriva unit was still in mayfield loop when i passed and by a pure stroke of luck the door i was stood at on the pendolino stopped rght by the steps so i ran up and got onto the platform as the unit pulled in! quite useful going via manchester as it gave me a chance to refresh chat moss as ive not seen it since electrification, speeds have been increased along the route apart from a short section around astley boy so that was that, stayed on to llandudno where it was raining when i got there the newly refurbished station certainly looks the part now, the metalwork all finished in maroon and cream signal gantry i then went to the box and had a chat with the signaller, even though i know the moves around llandudno i thought i'd go up and have a look as i never did it when i worked for arriva the view from the box back to the station the old "taxi rank" in the middle of the platform is now shut to traffic and there is a new car park to the left of the platforms, they have knocked down a couple of derelict buildings on the station front too 175101 departing for llandudno Jn ended up having a good chat to the signalman, was there at least 3 hours, watching him do all the bell codes, pulling off various signals, tightening the wires as it got warmer, of course i had lots of questions for him about the box which he duly answered, i think he quite enjoyed the company (well i hope he did anyway!) as i was genuinely interested in seeing the box operating, its surprising how busy it is on the sly, there may not be a train in the platfrom but there was always something going on, getting train clear from deganwy, accepting trains from there etc, he even had a scenario where one train was departing as another arrived so he had to pull off the "W" warning subsiduary signal on the outer home to warn the incoming unit to drop down to the inner home as the outgoing unit was on the single track lead couple from the box with permission not too many white levers, note the 3 different types of cable tensioners behind the first lever 175 arriving into the station after that i then made my way out to "the junction" i can't believe how overgrown the station area is, in fact the whole coast route from chester is ttally different to the last time i did it, i really cant believe how the trees have taken over the whole line, some places such as shotton its almost like a tunnel, in fact prestatyn box is almost obscured by a tree, how the signaller can see anything from ther i don't know, to be honest i also cant believe how run down the whole line looks, a lot of the stations look really neglected apart from llandudno and prestatyn (which also has its new shopping centre dominating the skyline) but on the plus side it was nice to see the trains really busy with hoilday makers/day trippers, although i dont miss working the trains! in that lot of trees there are actually sidings it just looks so run down though and yes there are sidings in there too, (and behind them a cinema, kfc and pizza hut) then my train came in from holyhead again i knew the driver si had a good chat on the way back to chester got off at chester for 1/2 hour and caught another 175 to warrington where i changed for a train back to crewe warrington crossed all the running lines with no hi-viz! and thats me til monday, layout day tomorrow edit: question for you all... the signalman (stephen) was told that llandudno had the last remaining signal gantry with semaphores still in use, can anyone think of any more? i can think of one (that i'll not reveal yet to see if anyone comes up with it) that when i mentioned it to him he agreed that it was another example, however is this the last LMS semaphore gantry? Edited August 2, 2015 by big jim 17 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
railsquid Posted August 2, 2015 Share Posted August 2, 2015 did a route refresh to llandudno today for a job next week conducting some OTP, not many pics as i was in the cab of various units but a few from llandudno to start with the line between crewe and chester was shut so i decided to catch a train to manchester piccadilly and get the llandudno service from there, as it happened i pulled in at 11:48 and the next train was 11:50 so i thought i'd end up having an hour in manchester as i wouldnt make it from plat 7 to 14 in that time, thankfully the arriva unit was still in mayfield loop when i passed and by a pure stroke of luck the door i was stood at on the pendolino stopped rght by the steps so i ran up and got onto the platform as the unit pulled in! Question - when doing route refreshes, do you just roll up to the train you want and hop in the cab, or do you have to make some kind of arrangement in advance? PS still enjoying this thread, fascinating to see what railway operations are like from the "inside". 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold big jim Posted August 2, 2015 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted August 2, 2015 you have to have a cab pass for each individual company you want to travel with, they aren't free either each company has to buy them from each other, and they aint cheap! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
11B Posted August 2, 2015 Share Posted August 2, 2015 Is the answer to your questen above (post 2461) Shrewsbury? Kind regards Ian 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold TheSignalEngineer Posted August 2, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted August 2, 2015 Llandudno has changed a bit since this, taken about 10 feet west of your third shot, but the gantry and box are still there. Don't think you could get round the lamp posts to park there any longer. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold big jim Posted August 2, 2015 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted August 2, 2015 Is the answer to your questen above (post 2461) Shrewsbury? Kind regards Ian It wasn't the one i wss thinking of but that is another example, the one at the north end of the station, although it does have colour lights and semaphores on it now 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold big jim Posted August 2, 2015 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted August 2, 2015 Llandudno has changed a bit since this, taken about 10 feet west of your third shot, but the gantry and box are still there. 102_1963 Llandudno 002 p.jpg where are the right hand set of signals on the gantry for? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted August 2, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted August 2, 2015 Nice pics Jim - glad to see the Pratt truss gantry still survives at Llandudno, it's now 23 years since I went there specifically to take pics of it and I suspect there probably isn't another one still in use on the national network although SE might know of one. The gantry at Salop is an interesting one as well - it's to the final standard Reading 'large gantry' design and I think it was the only one of its type to ever have semaphore signals on it. I'm not sure if there are any others left on former WR territory but if there are they have a very limited future with electrification coming up fast and they were quite uncommon anyway (the one in Sonning Cutting went at Easter). And yes - your firm will pay for Footplate Passes, I can recall back in the '90s negotiating contracts for them for the operator I worked for and I think I was probably one of the first people to do so - so I got a good price . I just had a look at my final Footplate Pass, quite something as it reads 'All stations Railtrack, Paris and Brussels', so it outshines one from an earlier job which was 'All Stations Western Region Penetrating Routes ER SR MR AR' - which basically meant I could go anywhere accompanying a WR Driver, even on to the Anglia Region (which had a fairly short life). All my yesterdays where are the right hand set of signals on the gantry for? The platform line on the other side - i.e. to the right of the photograher. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold big jim Posted August 2, 2015 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted August 2, 2015 The platform line on the other side - i.e. to the right of the photograher. thanks, replaced by the 2 stand alone signals on that side that you can see in my pics, the reason i asked is you would have thought they would have angled those 2 signals toward platform 3 as in that picture they certainly don't look like they are for that line Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Gary H Posted August 2, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 2, 2015 (edited) Hi Jim, in the picture of the box interior and the panel itself, any idea what the "hands off" picture of the lever frame is all about?? Edited August 2, 2015 by Gary H Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pitbull1845 Posted August 2, 2015 Share Posted August 2, 2015 It says "You must not place a stop signal to danger until the last vehicle has passed clear unless during an emergency" If that helps.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fat Controller Posted August 2, 2015 Share Posted August 2, 2015 Hi Jim, in the picture of the box interior and the panel itself, any idea what the "hands off" picture of the lever frame is all about?? I wonder if it's to remind certain signallers to wrap a piece of cloth around the lever before taking hold of it? This seems to be universal practice amongst signallers who've 'come up though the grades', but new recruits might be unaware. I don't know why this practice is so widespread; on the one occasion I pulled off a lever without one (on the Great Cockrow), I got an electric shock, but I'm sure all signal-boxes don't have this feature. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Gary H Posted August 2, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 2, 2015 I wonder if it's to remind certain signallers to wrap a piece of cloth around the lever before taking hold of it? This seems to be universal practice amongst signallers who've 'come up though the grades', but new recruits might be unaware. I don't know why this practice is so widespread; on the one occasion I pulled off a lever without one (on the Great Cockrow), I got an electric shock, but I'm sure all signal-boxes don't have this feature. I did think of that, Brian and I suspect you are right!! Nothing worse than rusty looking levers. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Gary H Posted August 2, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 2, 2015 It says "You must not place a stop signal to danger until the last vehicle has passed clear unless during an emergency" If that helps.... Can you read that?? My eyes arnt that good! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pitbull1845 Posted August 2, 2015 Share Posted August 2, 2015 I can when I zoom in on the image.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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