EddieB

Such rail motors weren't unknown in the UK, but usually in the form of self-propelled inspection saloons. The most famous was probably Drummond's "Bug" on the London & South Western Railway. As you can imagine, the nickname "Coffee Pot" has been applied to a wide variety of small locomotives, especially vertical boiler types and to the Neilson-built inverted saddle tanks of the Great Eastern Railway (LNER class Y5). Neilson supplied a similar locomotive to FC Andaluces in Spain, where it was given the alternative nickname translating as "Chocolate Box".

Paul, sorry to rain on your parade, but RENFE 230-2033 started life as Norte 1903 and was built by Hanomag (3454/1900) in Germany. There were twenty eight such locomotives, eighteen built by Hanomag and ten by Borsig. (Takes nothing away from the photos, of course!) The only 4-6-0s built by North British for Spain were to the order of the Oeste company, built in 1907 (Oeste 760-762) and 1909 (763-765). They became RENFE 230.2059-64, of which 230.2059 (NBL 17647/1907) survives at Madrid Delicias museum. Did you see Garratts at Tarragona? (Which were built in Spain, so slightly off-topic here). Edit: I see from your photo stream that you did!

Some great memories here. I think the last time I visited 14 York Way was in 1980 (by which time I had all but packed up railway modelling), when they were selling off some Liliput stuff and I came away with a Br.38/P8 which I intended (still do) to convert into a Polish Ok1. Otherwise it was a great source of kits, bits and pieces and to look at the display cabinet (well beyond my affordability). It was there also (1974) that I first discovered Continental Railway Journal, which became something of a life-changer as holidays were to become devoted to tracking down surviving steam. My local model shop was Lea Models in Leyton. Long gone, it was run by a friendly couple who had time and patience for a youngster and his pocket money. Chuffs has been mentioned, but not that they also had a branch at Bucklersbury in the City. Ok, their adverts were amusing, but I found them a bit pretentious and, being more used to dealing with affluent city folk, had little time for the less well off.

Well, I suppose we should be thankful that Thirlmere isn't Chamdor. Sadly the other ex-Mersey Railway 0-6-4T saved for posterity has been in long-term storage in Bootle and is not on public display.

There is some information on the steam locomotives at Livingstone on this site: http://www.internationalsteam.co.uk/trains/zambia04.htm The museum is recovering from a fire a few years ago (one of the carriages in your photos looks as though it bears scorch marks), and does seem to be doing a good job on a small budget.

Apart from BBC components and Sulzer engines built under licence, locomotive engineering connections between the UK and Switzerland are actually quite sparse. While British built steam locomotives were exported in large numbers to mainland Europe, Switzerland sticks out as something of an exception. Of course this doesn't detract from the aesthetics of (some) Swiss locomotives.

Not just that, the Swiss set standards for longevity and mileages returned by their locomotives, because their maintence standards are second to none. Every servicing depot I've visited has been immaculate (as Mike's photo illustrates).

That shunter does indeed represent an important piece of British history, and I'd be disappointed if there is no interest from the UK. It was an LMS design, built at Derby in 1941, becoming WD 70055 and one of a batch sold to the Italian State Railways in 1946. Happily one of its classmates is preserved in the railway museum at Torino.

Yes, Beyer Peacock supplied a seven locomotives new to the Cernavoda-Constanta section of the Danube and Black Sea Railway. BP 120/1859 "OVIDIU" and 121/1859 were the first of a batch of six ordered, but were the only two sent (b/ns 122-125 went to the LNWR). These locomotives were joined by two second-hand Manning Wardle 0-6-0STs (originally named "CHRISTOPHER" and "CHESHIRE"), which the railway renumbered 8 and 9. This section of railway passed into ownership of the Roumanian Tate Railways (CFR) in 1882, with the Beyer Peacocks renumbered consecutively 681-687 and the Manning Wardles 04 and 05. The Danube and Black Sea also opened another section from Ruse to Varna (modern Bulgaria) and it is to this section that the second-hand locomotives from British main line railways went (putatively). The North London Railway 0-6-0 no. 11 apparently sold to the Danube and Black Sea Railway was built by Sharp Stewart (although the builder's details given as 843/1854) don't tally to the builder's lists). There is also a record of a North London 0-4-0ST no. 12 (again a Sharp Stewart product, "856"/185) being sold there too - whether either or both these locomotives actually went is still a mystery, A third rumour concerns the erstwhile LNWR 1106, also reputedly sold to the Danube and Black Sea Railway. Concerning new locomotives, the position is clearer. BP built three 0-6-0s: 330/1862, 834/1868 and 925/1869 as nos. 11-13. (Some sources add a fourth, claiming that BP 329/1862 went here instead of Cernavoda-Constanta, becoming Oriental Railways no. 289). Sharp Stewart supplied eight 0-6-0s (b/ns 1865-8, 1871-4 of 1868), which took number 14-21. The Ruse-Varna line was sold to the Ottoman Government in 1869, who later passed operating rights to the Oriental Railways. In 1888 the line was bought by the Bulgarian government. Famously one of the Sharp Stewart batch survives in the railway museum at Ruse, Bulgarian. Originally no. 20 (SS 1873/1868), it carries the number allocated in the Bulgarian renumbering of 1908.

So why are the BTP looking for this suspect? Surely the driver should allow the idiot to board then radio the BTP for a reception party at the next station.

Aside from all her personal distinctives and achievements, Flying Scotsman was an early example of the first successful class of British Pacifics - which in this country were the cream of express passenger locomotives. Would the BRB really have allowed the whole of such a landmark design to have gone for scrap had it not been for the personal intervention of Alan Pegler? If so, would Tornado have been an A3 instead?

Sorry, but I have no sympathy with those who drive without insurance - and that's not because I pay extra on my premiums because of them. Likewise I think there are certain motoring offences that should result in an instant 12-month driving ban, these include jumping the lights on a level crossing or texting while driving. I'd also like to see cameras installed at all level crossings on public highways.

Maybe the case with gates, but not always with barriers. There are many examples of barriers that extend the full width of the road.

Well, Mr Crow is a local, and as I understand his above-ground railway experience only extended to the surface sections of the Central Line where the many level crossings were replaced by subways, footbridges over/under bridges at electrification (i.e. well before Mr Crow had hatched). That might explain his comments. (I wonder if he ever takes the 275 bus past the fully gated level crossing at Highams Park?) Maybe there's a level crossing in need of a flagman, or a village simply in need (erm), that we could arrange a transfer?

HAMPTON COURT A branch terminus opened by the London and South Western Railway in 1849, the station was built in mock-Jacobean style in keeping with the historic location. The listed buildings are under currently threat due to a propsed re-development.

AUDLEY END Colour images from December 2010, black & whites from October 1976. Another Sancton Wood design (but this time in collaboration with Francis Thompson), the station was originally named "Wenden" after the village of Wenden's Ambo (an "ambo" is a pulpit), where the station is situated. It was later renamed to honour the nearby Audley End House, the stately home of Lord Braybooke (and where there is, of course, an extensive miniature railway open to the public). North of the station the line to Cambridge passes through the estate of Audley End House and the elaborate portals that mark Audley End tunnel. Local objections meant that the main line bypassed the important market town of Saffron Walden. In 1865 a branch line was opened from Audley End, eventually joining with the Cambridge - Colchester secondary cross-country line at Bartlow. The branch line succumbed early to the Beeching closures, and while most of the route remauins traceable, the Saffron Walden town council wasted no time in erecting a housing development to the South of the former station, thereby precluding any possibility of a re-opening. As a result, Audley End receives considerable commuter traffic from Saffron Walden and the area between and around the former branch line platform forms an extensive car park. A shuttle bus connects the station to the town. The main station building is a simple, yet attractive design. The porte-cochere was built to receive their lordships carriages. A new station canopy, footbridge and set of lifts have been added recently, together with a modern waiting room on the Up platform (looking slightly inconguous to the rest of the station architecture). The existing footbridge has been retained. Waiting arrangements on the Down platform are less salubrious. Looking South, the main change has been the removal of the signal box. The loading bay platform is still visible. The branch line platform was separate from the main station and is still discernable, although the former trackbed has been filled in to enlarge the car park. The waiting room is still there, now used it seems for parking motor cycles. The building has lost the two tall chimneys at either end.

Is there any encouragement to use the Underground to Acton Town to reach this event? With characteristic co-ordination skills, TFL have engineering work closing the District between Turnham Green and Ealing Broadway and the Piccadilly northwards from Acton Town all weekend.

A question. As in Bredgar and Wormshill, is "Bredgar" pronounced like "Edgar" (the reprehensible butler in the "Aristocats", or Mr Allan Poe), or to rhyme with "dredger". (Or some othervway?)

So nothing from the Great Eastern yet? Remedial action required. Here are some pictures of Bury St Edmunds taken during the glorious summer weather of last August (well, it was a little warmer than it is now), with a few black and white shots from 1976 (now, that was a summer) for comparison. The station architecture is distinctive, being one of the Sancton Wood designs for major stations serving important towns in East Anglia. Proximity to the Port of Felixstowe generates much through freight. "Bury St Edmunds Yard" signal box appears something of a misnomer nowadays, but note the addition of a trailing crossover. The yard itself has been lifted and is now wasteland and only the warehouse remains. In 1976 the yard still handled freight and could boast a resident shunter. The tall semaphore starter has been replaced by a three-aspect colour-light signal.

Might be worth adding a short introduction as to what the thread is about and what the index entries refer to? Starting at the first post, it wasn't clear what was going on until I read further down.

Shouldn't the signalman have called for assistance from the traffic police? After all, jumping the barriers is still a dangerous and criminal act. They would attend a similar incident, where the safety of the public is at ris, elsewhere on the highway. Just thankful that there were no accidents.

Timetables were (and I guess still are) broken up into a number of blocks to show connecting services. Connecting stations are shown offset on the timetable and are usually detailed on a separate timetable page. Therefore the second example covers Hartlebury-Shrewsbury with timings for connections at other stations. It would appear that the 7:29 ex-Hartlebury started as the 7:02 ex-Worcester (the Worcester-Droitwich section covered in more detail elsewhere). There is a train from Cutnall Green which forms a connection at Hartlebury. Likewise a train from Wolverhampton LL makes a connection at Bewdley. Much Wenlock is reached via a connecting train from Builwas. However another train is shown as departing earlier from Much Wenlock, this being the connecting service for passengers wishing to catch the onward service from Buildwas to Shrewsbury. Study thos indents and it all makes sense. Modern timeables use bold and italics to distinguish between the through and connecting trains, often with a letter in the column heading referencing a note as to the origin or destinatination.

Yes. Inter alia, Avonside, Yorkshire Engine and Sharp Stewart supplied Fairlie locomotives to the Poti-Tiflis and Tambov-Saratov railways (both later Trans Caucausus Railway) in Russia, RW Hawthorns built a couple that went to the 750mm gauge lines of the Saxon State Railways. Others went to Sweden, Norway, France, Australia and Burma (and South Africa, if you count "modified Fairlies" built by North British*). I'd recommend the book by Donald Binns, "Fairlie Articluated Locomotives, Vol 1 - On the American Continent" for coverage of the many North and South American countries that received and ran Fairlies (a second volume, covering the rest of the world, was planned but AFAIK never published). (See also "Fairlie Locomotives" by RAS Abbot, although alleged to contain some errors, including some perpetuated from Robert Fairlie's own records). I did enjoy finding a picture recently of a double Sentinel, built for South Africa, that seemed similar to the Fairlie principle. *Better not get started on the other articulated locomotives these resembled - the Beyer Garratts.

We had the ability to create enough openings to be leading 3-0 by half-time and the game already won (as the Germans would do). Instead we sat back on a one-goal lead and got what we deserved. Same old, same old.

Probably because - despite BR numbering - I tend to regard them as multiple units rather than locomotives! But given that multiple units appear within the scope of this thread, well yes, they shouldn't be overlooked!