Rivercider

Here is a photo taken at Chipppenham by Kevin Weston of a plate wagon being converted by members of Frome S&T. Wagon conversion at Chippenham September 1981, taken by Kevin Weston. cheers

Here is another view of the plate wagons used in the concrete train, taken by CS&TE New Works Supervisor Nic Cross. Another view of the Nitrovit Siding at Westbury taken from the road bridge. Taken by Nic Cross New Works Supervisor. cheers

Here are a couple of pictures of the concrete train taken by CS&TE New Works Supervisor Nic Cross. The wagon being loaded with concrete at Somerton. Photo by Nic Cross. Note the Toad mess van has been replaced by the BSK. Concret being poured somewhere near Somerton. Photo by Nic Cross date unknown.

I will ask on the Facebook page if they are happy to share, cheers

I have asked a question about this train on the Facebook Group 'Westbury Railway, Old past and Present'. Some photos have been posted, it looks like the cement covered plate wagon had been modified in some way, possibly with a section of side door removed or replaced, such that concrete could be poured over the side in a chute as required, there was a picture of the mod being carried out at Chippenham in September 1981. There is also a photo taken at Somerton of a concrete mixer lorry discharging concrete onto the plate wagon somehow from the lineside at Somerton. I think Wheatley's colleagues might have heart failure at this. Another photo, taken from the road bridge at Westbury (similar to my photo of 31171) shows that at a later date the Toad mess van was replaced by the BSK shown in the other photo. cheers

I noticed the Chippenham S&T branding on the wagons, and the 8287 pool number, and also saw that Paul Bartlett had captured a couple more wagons with the same pool number and branding. I wonder if the train ran in exactly the same formation each time? More likely it was the same for a few outings, then varied slightly over the weeks and months with wagons drawn from pool 8287, cheers

I used Flickr search terms such as 'Westbury re-signalling', Westbury MAS', then 'Westbury 1982' and 'Westbury 1983'. I also now realise I may have taken a photo of the wagons myself. A returning ballast drop from Woodboro departs Westbury for East Depot behind 31171. The train of plough plus 10 dogfish was a regular formation for a midweek ballast drop back then, often worked by a class 31. On the left can be seen wagons in the Nitrovit Siding which was used by the S&T dept. 23/8/83. I also found this photo on Flickr by grahamwalker007 which shows another train that was used in the Westbury MAS project. 50011 approaching Hawkeridge Junction, note the mess coach in the train in the siding, 21/5/83, cheers

Looking at Flickr I may have found some of the wagons, in pictures taken by Jamerail (Swindon123 on RMweb), if you click on the photo it will link to Flickr with the wagon numbers. . As an aside when I worked in Westbury TOPS some years later two of the TOPS clerks told me they earned a lot of Sunday overtime unloading concrete troughing at the lineside, cheers

Sure there will have to be compromises in that space, but I have seen plenty of interesting layouts in a space of around 8' x 2', Do you have an idea of what form the future large layout might take? If the 8' x 2' layout is not going to be incorporated into the larger scheme it would still make sense if some of the buildings scenery, locos and stock would be used on the large layout. Do you have a favourite railway company or region, or is there a part of the country you might want to set the layout? It might help give pointers of some real locations from which you could draw inspiration, cheers

Mentioned on another thread some time back was the regional variations of referring to the control office. On the Western Region we always spoke of the conTROL office (my emphasis). Later when I worked with former Southern men they referred to the CONtrol. cheers

Yesterday I travelled up from Exeter to Salisbury. In one of the stations I noticed the down line was laid with flat bottom cwr on concrete sleepers, but for some distance there was a pair of wooden sleepers about every 60'. I assume this must have been laid in 60' sections (with a wooden sleeper at each end) and subsequently the rails replaced by cwr. Might the sleepers date from SR days before the transfer to WR in 1963? cheers

I had always thought (perhaps wrongly) that the 2251 class locos that were allocated to Exmouth Junction late in the day were for use as snow plough locos to replace a couple of former LSWR 700 class 0-6-0s, Edit - 700 class Nos 30689 and 30697 got stuck in deep snow drifts west of Okehampton in February 1963, 30689 suffered damage at the time and was withdrawn. Q class 0-6-0 No. 30530 was the replacement at the time. There are photos of 2251 class at Exmouth Junction fitted with ploughs on Flickr possibly a bit later. cheers

Swindon Newburn Sidings were just south of the Works located across the main lines on the down side. I first knew Swindon Newburn Sidings in the 1970s, they were in use by the Civil Engineer by that date and my dad sometimes visited to check up or chase engineers wagons. The term 'Burn' for a watercourse is not commonly used in Wiltshire, though I never thought much about it at the time. Recently when reading 'Locomotive Engineers of the GWR' by Denis Griffiths I learnt that when Joseph Armstrong became Locomotive, Carriage, and Wagon Superintendent the GWR built a dwelling for him west of St Marks Church, which Armstrong named 'Newburn' after the town on the Tyne where he had previously lived and worked. The sidings which are located just west of the house must therefore be named after Newburn House, or Newburn the town on the Tyne, or am I adding 2 + 2 to make 5? cheers

I went to York a few times back in the 1980s, and spent a few hours at Holgate Junction. I remember taking photos from down near track level, so I was probably on the old cattle dock then? The photos of mine I have found so far do not show either of the signs but I reckon I must have seen them back then. I have had a quick look through Flickr, there are loads of photos taken in the area, but I have not found any with the signs, cheers

I imagine my overgrown shunting plank to be the truncated remains of a short branch line serving the eastern suburbs of Exeter, mid 1960s to late 1970s. I have no WTT written down but in my head the branch passenger is formed by the residual Okehampton passenger service (normally a single power car) extended through Exeter to terminate there and return to Okehampton about half a dozen times a day. The class 08 yard pilot arrives early each morning from Exeter Riverside with a couple of wagons, to shunt the yard as required. This is followed by the main morning trip working from Riverside which brings most of the priority freight traffic, this tripper then returns to Riverside with any available traffic. The freight trip loco makes a second visit as required around mid day, then after a break again returning to Riverside with the bulk of the outgoing traffic. Around 17.00 the 08 pilot finishes the shunt and returns to Riverside engine and brake, or possibly with a wagon or two. My small fiddle yard can hold two short trains on one road (the 08 pilot plus 3 or 4 wagons, and the single car DMU), while the other road holds a loco plus 6 or 7 wagons for the freight trip. I select the wagons for the trips as the mood takes, a mix of 16t mins, vanfits, presflos, are the regular traffic. A van of explosives, or engineers traffic adds variety. In practice the train service is something like:- 08 & BV arr. DMU arr and dep. Freight trip arr and dep. DMU arr and dep. Freight trip arr, DMU arr and dep. Freight trip dep. DMU arr and dep. 08 & BV dep. DMU arr and dep. cheers.