Jim’s “out and about with GBRf” thread

[Ben B]

22 hours ago, big jim said:

 

 

I love your photographs in general, but I think that one may be my favourite of all your recent night shots!  There's something just so atmospheric about it, the slightly spooky white loco, the light shining out from the crew door, it's brilliant

[big jim]

40 minutes ago, Ben B said:

 

I love your photographs in general, but I think that one may be my favourite of all your recent night shots!  There's something just so atmospheric about it, the slightly spooky white loco, the light shining out from the crew door, it's brilliant

Its funny, I wasn’t happy with that one and almost deleted it!

 

been a good couple of nights for photography with the bright moon, some from last night under it again 

 

small heath 

 

 

 

first run round completed

 

 

And after the 2nd run round in Tyseley 

 

 

And as if 2 run rounds isn’t a pain enough I then discovered we were going via cannock so had to run around again in Bescot!

 

 

Same again tonight 

 

 

[Gremlin99]

That second to last photo of 66732 head on in the fog is gorgeous. So atmospheric! 

[GWRPhil]

2 hours ago, Gremlin99 said:

That second to last photo of 66732 head on in the fog is gorgeous. So atmospheric! 

Totally agree a really good shot. 

[leavesontheline]

12 hours ago, Ben B said:

 

I love your photographs in general, but I think that one may be my favourite of all your recent night shots!  There's something just so atmospheric about it, the slightly spooky white loco, the light shining out from the crew door, it's brilliant

 

The two trees on the right do it for me! Imagine modelling those, complete with purple glow! 

[big jim]

Some more from tonight, same job

 

did a different run round tonight, via tame bridge parkway

 

Waiting at Rugeley for a freightliner to pass 

 

 

 

and into crewe, different platform tonight just to spice things up a bit!

 

same job tomorrow but only the bescot to crewe bit as I’m doing a favour for a driver at the weekend and he’s repaying it tomorrow by doing most of my job, unfortunately he doesn’t sign cannock or he would have done the lot! 

[big jim]

Same again, only did it from bescot to crew last night though as another driver did me a favour (that I’m repaying on Saturday!) 

Bescot

 

Crewe

 

 

same again tonight but from small heath again 

 

[big jim]

Some from last night, caught the train from crewe where a 197 came through 

 

and one from small heath 

 

that was it, Leicester to nuneaton with  an intermodal today then over to small heath to work that stone train back to bescot and done

 

bit if variety next week, Birmingham tk peak forest via derby and the hope valley on Monday evening amongst other things which is a nice change  

[big jim]

And Saturdays jobs, Leicester to nuneaton first 

 

stone train passing through 

 

66727 from Leicester 

 

nuneaton again

 

hotfooted over to small heath for the stone train back to bescot, didn’t bother with any pics until I got to bescot 

 

 

[big jim]

This doesn’t happen to me very often, an early finish! 
 

caught the train from crewe, anglia 720 on test 

 

 

 

LSL 90s

 

Pride Pendolino 

 

 

Supposed to relieve it at landor st but the driver on it lives in derby so he said he’d work it to Tamworth so we could get on there, we were then booked to yak it to peak forest from there 

 

tamworth high level, fuel train passing through 

 

 

voyager

 

then our train came in

 

so the other driver took it to derby and when we got there a relief driver was waiting on the platform to take it to peak forest, accidentally been double manned, he took it to peak and you couldn’t see us for dust, straight back home on the next train! 
 

Leamington to crewe tomorrow 

[big jim]

Leamington to crewe last night with 21 VGA wagons bound for Carlisle 

 

leamington

 

 

 

 

this train pulled in and security was called to an unruly passenger who refused to get off, it left 20 late which then made us late 

 

My train

 

we were then put in at kenilworth as booked and 2 now late running cross countries passed by, the 2nd of them passed by one minute before we were due to depart right time, however the signal then pulled off for the mainline, a quick look on the schedules showed he’d pulled off for a freightliner that was running 58 minutes late so we had to wait for that and follow it all the way to colwich, however at Lichfield we’re we’re bought down on restrictive aspects and informed by the box that the freightliner was having issues and then subsequently failed, thankfully just north of Lichfield north jn which meant we could head out onto the fast to get past it which we did, I then noticed there was an avanti a few signals behind also heading the same way as us toward Stoke on Trent so he would have had to have followed us at 60mph all the way! I rang the box and suggested we run via Stafford straight to Crewe which is what we did, eventually got to crewe 30 mins early which was a bonus! 

 

looking again on RTT the freightliner was rescued and got to Stafford over 2 hours late, had we not been at the right side of junction at litchfield then we would have been stuck behind it! 

 

Got to go to wembley tonight to be shown how to assess drivers using an app on the iPad, meeting up with @Marcus 37 to do it  

Edited January 27, 2022 by big jim

[big jim]

Had to go to london last night to do an assessment on a driver and be shown how to work the iPad assessment app

 

euston

 

Wembley, 66731 on the train 

 

and into rugby where I got off

 

And away it went 

 

86259 and 57304

 

 

 

 

Conducting a Couple of trains tonight, walsall to Stoke then stockport to Rugeley and off until Monday 

 

 

 

Edited January 27, 2022 by big jim

[WessexEclectic]

On 26/01/2022 at 12:43, big jim said:

 

Assume that this was this ECS that was shunting? - driver changing ends in the photo?

[big jim]

3 hours ago, WessexEclectic said:

 

Assume that this was this ECS that was shunting? - driver changing ends in the photo?

no it’s an ECS from warwick to banbury that waits in the centre road while a passenger service to Marylebone stops in the platform 

[big jim]

Some from last night, conducting via Stoke on Trent, met the first train at walsall having left my car at Rugeley 

 

Rugeley trent valley

 

 

walsall

 

 

carried in through to stockport after picking the other driver up at Stoke 

 

Then waited there for the trafford park service to conduct it back to colwich 

 

where I got off at rugeley 

 

that’s me until Sunday now then it’s a week of the rail grinder down the chilterns 

 

[big jim]

Some from last night, very dramatic skies over bescot!

 

worked one from bescot to toton, where my taxi took ages to turn up so I wandered round getting some steps in (and taking sneaky piccies) 
 

bescot, unusually a few freightliner 66s sat there 

 

 

My train 

 

And into toton 

 

 

 

 

 

And very unusually….

 

a week of rhe rail milking machine coming up working in princes risborough, Saunderton and high Wycombe 

[Phil Mc]

3 minutes ago, big jim said:

 

 

 

a week of rhe rail milking machine coming up working in princes risborough, Saunderton and high Wycombe 

That’s a hell of a machine….

 

cheers,

Phil.

[big jim]

Bloody autocorrect!

 

i can’t even begin to think how a rail milking machine would work 

[Chris116]

2 minutes ago, big jim said:

Bloody autocorrect!

 

i can’t even begin to think how a rail milking machine would work 

Please remember to refer to it as "autocorrupt" because that is its real speciality.

[Phil Mc]

9 minutes ago, big jim said:

Bloody autocorrect!

 

i can’t even begin to think how a rail milking machine would work 

I assumed it was an autocorrect/corrupt issue, but it just proper tickled me….

 

cheers,Phil.

[newbryford]

25 minutes ago, Phil Mc said:

I assumed it was an autocorrect/corrupt issue, but it just proper tickled me….

 

cheers,Phil.

 

You were quite mooooved by it then?

[adb968008]

1 hour ago, big jim said:

 

i can’t even begin to think how a rail milking machine would work 

It has two modes to clean the track… skimmed and semi-skimmed.

one leaves a red top, the other blue.

Edited January 31, 2022 by adb968008

[big jim]

Pull the udder one your enjoying milking it now! 
 

anyway some from last night on the MILLING machine sown the chilterns 

 

set off from bescot

 

66303 Rail Riders alongside a Colas 66 and my train with ‘Evening Star’ on the rear (before I changed the headlights over to reds)

 

 

 

66779 

 

Away to princes risborough with 66765 leading 

 

 

Preserved signal box

 

 

 

And once the work was completed it was into the station, behind the signal to wait for the possession to be lifted before heading back to bescot

 

 

 

and into Bescot 

 

same again tonight but a bit further along the line toward Saunderton

 

 

[KeithHC]

Dam could have seen you on railcam. The camera is located on the signal box. As always great photos.

 

Keith

 

 

 

[corneliuslundie]

After the sighting of the Bulleid Pacific I was assuming that Evening Star would be the real one, well perhaps not the broad gauge one. That might have done a bit of rail milling.

Jonathan