Jim’s “out and about with GBRf” thread

[big jim]

Just now, jamie92208 said:

Is there going to be another new track to allow running round.  It's good to see it being expanded so soon.

 

Jamie

i recon the current right hand road we use to run round will still be the run round for both sides of the site with a couple of new set of points at the neck end allowing unloading on 4 out of the 5 roads, I assume there will be a new crossing both ends for the unloading machines and wagons to cross the lines 

[big jim]

Can you just…..

 

but this one worked out nicely, tied in with heading to the caravan, started by driving to carnforth and catching the train to hellifield

 

such a depressing looking station! 

 

Even the clock has gone

 

Nice old building at the end of the plaform

 

Train to Manchester 

 

Old coaling tower 

 

Train to Lancaster 

 

Interestingly the points at the end of the platform are currently out of use (and have been for a while) so the passenger trains have to depart and arrive via the down goods line, one for the track bashers! 

 

My train to hellifield, today was actually the first time I’ve ever been on the line between carnforth and settle jn, the little north western, lovely scenery all the way. Could see the old junctions at wennington (for Lancaster) and Clapham (for ingleton and low gill) 

 

Had a bit of time in hellifield so had a look in the new museum and bookshop, it has the original lever frame and instruments from giggleswick signal box on display 

 

and the nose from 37704!

 

a good selection of books for sale at very reasonable prices, well worth a look, I got this lot for £15

 

My train to Wigan 

 

Unusual view of the box 

 

 

and into springs branch to run round and job done 

 

And that’s me done for 4 days, having a proper break at the caravan, back on Wednesday for trafford park, Thursday on the rail miller and Friday taking some trainees out if I don’t end up on a job! 

[BR traction instructor]

I have the top two books in your haul Jim…worth the money for those alone 👍

 

BeRTIe

[big jim]

5 minutes ago, BR traction instructor said:

I have the top two books in your haul Jim…worth the money for those alone 👍

 

BeRTIe

thought of you when I saw the cumbrian industrial books! Plenty of books of the same ilk in there and bargain prices too

 

 

[lmsforever]

The old building at Carnforth is the  very first signal cabin  and its very unusual style  ,is the visitor attraction still in place there?

[11B]

3 hours ago, lmsforever said:

The old building at Carnforth is the  very first signal cabin  and its very unusual style  ,is the visitor attraction still in place there?

Yes, it's still open but the opening hours have reduced

 

Ian

[big jim]

Back to it tonight but today I had to go and collect my car from the wirral so went over on the train

 

47593 arriving in with the statesman to Appleby 

 

 

not quite so elegant for me to chester

 

Arty shot 

 

Lots of 197s working around chester

 

2 car unit to Holyhead though! 

 

175 parked up in the sidings, most if not all are withdrawn due to fires!

 

More 197s 

 

My train to the wirral

 

And into spital

 

tonight should have been landor st to trafford park and back to nuneaton but due to a serious bridge defect between Oxford and didcot the line is closed, likely to be for a number of weeks too so the train is getting diverted via Wembley so I’m getting on in crewe later and working it back to stetchford which is a result for me!

 

 

[CovDriver]

What time are near Stechford on working 5K40 off International at 0631 once I've prepped it so I may get away a few minutes early. 

 

Cheers

Colin 

[big jim]

Should be there for 05:00, going to taxi back to new st from there for the train home, im booked to take it to rugby but my relief lives in stetchford so he said he’d get on there, tbh there’s not much difference in the time I get back if I stayed on to rugby! 

[lmsforever]

That was some journey for you  but at least you had some nice stock to travel in .

[big jim]

1 hour ago, lmsforever said:

That was some journey for you  but at least you had some nice stock to travel in .

not sure I’d call a 153 and 507 nice stock! 

[rogerzilla]

That Class 390 looks like something sold at Ann Summers!  Awful colour scheme.

[corneliuslundie]

Not sure about the Lumo blue either.

The only advantage of all these ghastly liveries is that it makes it easier to spot your train at somewhere like Crewe or Manchester.

Jonathan

[big jim]

The Pendolino is a one off ‘carbon zero’ livery done for the cop21 conference it looks quite good in my opinion 

 

some from last night, 66304 on the trafford park job, arriving into crewe

 

Sue to an issue in the terminal we had to arrive on the old MSC line and split the train into 2 parts, run round the first bit then draw it forward then set it back into the terminal 

 

loco uncoupled and out to the old man united platform 

 

Back onto the other half of the train, set it back into the MSC line, draw it forward then set it back into the terminal, a right ball ache! 

 

Over an hours shunting because the points at the top end of the yard are OOU, normally takes about 20 mins with a single split and move!

 

DB 66 

 

back via the midlands as far as stechford where my relief got on, should have worked it to rugby so got away early which was a bonus

 

rail miller tonight near Stafford 

 

 

[Nick C]

16 hours ago, big jim said:

due to a serious bridge defect between Oxford and didcot the line is closed, likely to be for a number of weeks too 

One of my colleagues has been caught out by that too - she was supposed to be going from Winchester to Oxford tomorrow, and has realised that with both that and engineering works, it's going to be a bus prettty much all the way...

[big jim]

Rail miller last night outside Stafford 

 

Freightliner in Bescot 

 

ran via nuneaton for some reason so changed ends there to head north 

 

 

once the job wa adobe it was back via Stafford where we changed ends again 

 

 

Travelling back via Wolverhampton and Perry Barr to make sure the unit was turned for later in the week

 

into bescot and job done 

 

 

 

[big jim]

On 06/04/2023 at 10:58, Nick C said:

One of my colleagues has been caught out by that too - she was supposed to be going from Winchester to Oxford tomorrow, and has realised that with both that and engineering works, it's going to be a bus prettty much all the way...

this isn’t going to be an overnight fix that’s for sure! 
 

I was kind of hoping to get allocated to a few chiltern diversions next week but I’ve got the milling machine  again and trafford park which is via Wembley again due to the above and a nice little Mountsorrel on Friday 

 

 

Edited April 7, 2023 by big jim

[big jim]

Back to the miller again after actually having Easter weekend off! 
 

last night was in atherstone, longer to get to and from there than to do the job!

 

bescot 

 

Into ‘Asda sidings’ in nuneaton to change ends 

 

Atherstone 

 

Machine split off and hauled to the end of the job, 200m round the corner! 

 

Once back together and ready to depart it was off to Stafford to change ends again 

 

 

 

and back to bescot, left site 2 hours early but due to possessions and being routed through Wolverhampton to turn the machine it took me 6 hours to get back to bescot! 
 

on it again tonight in Lichfield this time 

[Nick C]

On 07/04/2023 at 17:28, big jim said:

this isn’t going to be an overnight fix that’s for sure! 
 

I was kind of hoping to get allocated to a few chiltern diversions next week but I’ve got the milling machine  again and trafford park which is via Wembley again due to the above and a nice little Mountsorrel on Friday 

 

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-65238311

 

It's certainly a bit poorly! Photos of the abutment about halfway down that page...

[wagonbasher]

2 hours ago, big jim said:

Back to the miller again after actually having Easter weekend off! 
 

last night was in atherstone, longer to get to and from there than to do the job!

 

bescot 

 

Into ‘Asda sidings’ in nuneaton to change ends 

 

Atherstone 

 

Machine split off and hauled to the end of the job, 200m round the corner! 

 

Once back together and ready to depart it was off to Stafford to change ends again 

 

 

 

and back to bescot, left site 2 hours early but due to possessions and being routed through Wolverhampton to turn the machine it took me 6 hours to get back to bescot! 
 

on it again tonight in Lichfield this time 

Jim, I love your thread, your night time shots, the fact that you can and do stand where us enthusiast’s can’t.  I reckon there is a book there, if you can see yourself as an author?

 

Andy

[big jim]

8 hours ago, wagonbasher said:

Jim, I love your thread, your night time shots, the fact that you can and do stand where us enthusiast’s can’t.  I reckon there is a book there, if you can see yourself as an author?

 

Andy

this thread is my ‘book’! 
 

I do however have a short article to write for someone about my experiences which will be published in due course

 

miller again tonight but a much better job, it got retimed for a 18:45 departure instead of 21:45 but as I didn’t finish until 09:00 this morning I couldn’t book on until after 21:00 so it left bescot late (but on time going by the original timings!) and we still had to sit for an hour in nuneaton despite being 3 hours ‘late’ 

 

bescot, same engines as last night 

 

Back to nuneaton again 

 

Lichfield tonight, the job didn’t take long so I was ready to go early 

 

 

I’d asked control to speak to network rail to see if I could run straight back to bescot direct as the miller didn’t need turning and as there were possessions around Wolverhampton I’d have to wait for them to be lifted as I did last night, they agreed and I ran direct from bushbury jn back to the yard and ended up getting back in under 2 hours arriving 5 1/2 hours early compared to my 6 hour journey from Tamworth last night! 

 

 

trafford park job Thursday 

 

 

 

Edited April 13, 2023 by big jim

[big jim]

Being as I got back early and got a good nights sleep I decided to have a day out so went to the black country living museum in Dudley, what a fantastic day out! 
 

midland red bus 

 

Colliery, the queue to go down the drift mine was a bit too long so I never managed to get down there 

 

 

Another bus passing under the interesting set up between the tram and trolley bus lines 

 

Some beautiful old buildings 

 

Wonky house 

 

They are building a 60s street, behind hoardings with viewing windows 

 

Pub on the Main Street 

 

Queue for the chippy 

 

My Nan had a bathroom like this in Stoke except it didn’t have an upstairs toilet, just one downstairs behind the kitchen 

 

Canal cut 

 

Main Street 

 

Animal trap workshop!

 

Canal area

 

Garage originally from smethwick 

 

Looking down toward the canal

 

 

Just when you think you’ve seen everything you turn a corner and spot something new ,behind these shops was a bakery in an outhouse 

 

This fascinated me for some reason, a mobile gospel car!

 

These guys were making chains in the forge, fantastic to watch

 

Arty shot 

 

I then went for a ride on the Canal into Dudley tunnel, this cost more (£11) but well worth it

 

 

The first tunnel was fairly short 

 

Which opened out into a cutting which was originally and underground cavern with loading wharfs but they blew the roof of it in the 1800s to make it out in the open, this was an entrance to a mine, the flamingos were from the Easter activities they had yet to pack up!

 

The next bit had 3 tunnels, the right hand one, now oou went to a vast cavern  called the 7 sisters which is where the Victorians used to visit as a tourist attraction, The two tunnels on the left are where we went, the left on is a new tunnel built in 1982 to allow the boats to do a circular tour

 

At the far end of the tour the boat stopped in another cavern, all cut out by hand, absolutely massive, all for extracting limestone for use in various Black Country industries 

 

 

Monument to the workers 

 

 

Back out into the basin, via the middle 3 tunnels in the previous pictures

 

In the final they asked a couple of volunteers to ‘leg’ the boat through the tunnel, rude not to really! 

 

Had a final look around before heading back to the car just as the heavens opened 

 

Nice collection of Black Country cars 

 

 

the public transport depot, a bus, trolley bus and tram in there

 

Thoroughly recommend it as a day out, busy in places at times, shame I didn’t see the drift mine as that had the biggest queue, it cost £22 to get in but the ticket is valid for a year should I decide to go back which I probably will while I’m working and lodging in the midlands

 

Edited April 13, 2023 by big jim

[45156]

That museum has certainly been expanded a lot since we visited some years ago - £22 does not seem excessive for such an interesting place - a yearly pass to Ironbridge actually cost us a lot more than that - £35 - and it's gone up this year.  It seems that all the major open air museums are now offering a year's admission rather than a daily one.

[Chris116]

So as well as having a route card the length of three people's arms and a list of traction you can drive nearly as long you are also qualified to leggit around the Midlands!

[Budgie]

3 hours ago, 45156 said:

It seems that all the major open air museums are now offering a year's admission rather than a daily one.

 

I don't blame them. "Let's go to the xyz museum today. The ticket price covers admission for the whole year," so they go once and never go back again.