E3109

You can still get to WNW via VT and/or TPE, depending on where you're coming from. Hope the Northern strike doesn't affect attendance too much. Just getting ready to go up there shortly, looking forward to it (as ever).

Think so. I reckon the pragmatic approach is to see any fictitious paint schemes as undercoat, but undercoat that will probably bring a bit of revenue in pending repaint into authentic livery. I believe that the Loadhaul and Intercity class 50 liveries have been good in that respect. I wouldn't get too precious about paint, as it can easily be corrected. Though I suppose there are exceptions, for instance the Duchess 'City of Birmingham' carries a genuine 1960s BR paint job and I could understand why people would object to any repaint in that engine's case. Personally I'd like to see the class 76 26020 in another livery for a while, but I can't see that ever happening. The black she wears is a cracking job, done by Doncaster Works in 1978-ish. A water-based, washable temporary topcoat could theoretically be an option: but in practice it might not be so easy to remove, they used similar paint on 37093 when it was performing tv 'police car' duties and it wouldn't wash off!

I too prefer genuine liveries, but many would point out that "it's only paint", and unlike physical mods can easily be rectified. Also it's up to the owner what they do with their loco, the only issue I sometimes have with that is if something goes for scrap without being offered to the wider preservation circle first and even that can be justified depending on the circumstances (eg exchanging one loco for another in a scrapyard because the 'scrap' engine is in better nick). I recall when 40145 was first painted in Revised Blue (large logo) for a Bury diesel day in 1991. A few purists spat their dummies out when they saw it, and went home. Many more stayed, and enjoyed the day.

This was mentioned in one of the railway mags many moons ago, in fact I think there was a photo of a Peak with its light blazing? I've definitely seen a photo of this somewhere. It was in 'Traction' magazine I think, possibly late 1990s? Edit: now I come to think about it, the photo(s) I saw was at March rather than Tinsley.

Grammar is important in itself, but I don't see the point of learning its rules by rote. If English is your mother tongue, the 'rules' such as they are come naturally anyway, although it must be said that English grammar presents difficulties with foreign speakers. I'm sure this is true for most languages, but our mother tongue seems especially complex in this regard, what with all the irregular verbs and suchlike. When I lived in Asia I always found the lack of tense endearing, for instance "I go shop" could mean I've been or I'm going and that isn't a criticism at all, some languages don't really have a sense of tense as it's usually clear from the context. In any case, the Cambodians I know and knew speak far better English than I speak Khmer!

Also, do you recall that I mentioned the cabside window sections taper in slightly? Just measured and photographed this, the window section is recessed by 45mm in relation to the lower cabside at the door end of the droplight, this increases to 70mm at the corner pillar. It isn't much, but maybe you can discern it from the photo. Sorry, unable to photograph the roof rivets due to poor light and proximity to OLE.

Ok windscreen dimensions: Centre screen, 510mm wide x 680 height Driver's and Secondman's screen, 660 wide x 680 height next to the centre screen, the height reduces to 650mm at the outer edges. The dividing bars (frames either side of the centre window) are 115mm wide. The corner radii are 50mm ie 2". All dimensions taken internally, ie the sizes are of the visible glass. Taken with a 300mm rule, measurements should be accurate to within 2-3mm. HTH.

I'll get a photo later, close up. IIRC, those further down the curve are indeed convex rather than flush, pretty certain they're small dome-headed blind rivets. I won't be able to photograph above the cantrail/orange line for obvious reasons! Photo should show this though, and if so there's always Archers decals...

I'd like to know what these are, I should really know but I don't. Guessing something to do with track circuits? (It'll probably be upside down, sorry)

I hope they reuse the remaining DC portals on the viaduct between Guide Bridge and Staly... (Dukinfield?) Can't see them using the cantilevers (Y-hangers) but the retention of some genuine bulletproof furniture would be nice.

If you look at the photo linked below, you can see that the marker light plates are "top hat" in shape, that is there is a flange running all the way around the box, and the horizontal flanges are gently curved to match the cab front. https://www.flickr.com/photos/barang_shkoot/8167038634/in/album-72157629690211192/ May also be useful to look at pics of the scrappers in that album, the ones with the headcode/marker light panels removed.

Hi Brian Sorry, didn't get chance to measure the windows this morning, as the locos were whipped for another service as soon as I landed at the yard. On an 86 job later in the week though, with some booked layover time so I'll do it then. Cheers.

Some 306s ran in that form after conversion but prior to the wires being energised at 25kV, maybe these were the same? Edit: whoops, I was thinking of the pan relocation to the centre car on the 306 of course.

That looks superb so far Gazza, and your OLE gantries look great too.

Because if you read my last sentence, I said that I have occasional access to one. I realise this is taking us further OT (apologies) but what drew me to the thread were the words 'TV licence' and 'scam', a fair assessment IMHO. Trying to steer it back here, but while most people would probably spot a scam email a mile off, there will always be those who don't and I'll wager that it's generally elderly people who are more likely to fall for these. Generally speaking, I'd assume that older folk aren't as web-wise as the youngsters and if the scammers manage to con 1 in 25 then they've hit the jackpot, sadly. I've mentioned 419 scammers on here before, sadly they appear to becoming more sophisticated over time.

I'm pretty anal about my own spelling, barring the occasional typo, and I do try to disable any spell checker on any devices I use. However, to criticise others over poor spelling is, at best, impolite. It's often also an indicator of a lost argument. Grammar is an interesting subject, personally I don't study grammatical rules but if it looks all right on a page, then I'm happy with that. I'll bet I've made at least a couple of grammatical errors within this post, does it really matter? No.

If the BBC is as good as the BBC claims to be, then it would have absolutely no problem standing on its own two feet in the free market. For those who say "ah, but it would be full of adverts", my reply would be that it already is. Adverts for the BBC. Haven't had a telly in 12 years, and nor do I want one! I acknowledge that it often makes some good stuff, but I don't buy into the mantra that it's good "because of the unique way in which the BBC is funded". I do catch telly occasionally at work or when visiting family, but I'm usually happier when it's switched off.

Many thanks.

Second ones are SPTs (signal post telephones), there has been a move to relocate them approx 10yds back from the signal in recent years to mitigate SPADs, thus they're often no longer on the post. The associated walkways tended to be done at the same time, as per your pics.

Haha, I'll probably pester you for Gresley bogie frames and a couple of 304 cabs, if you happen to bring some along. Do you have any decent MSW type pans Charlie, if so I'll pester you even more if you bring some

Thanks for the updates Charlie. I expect you'll be at the Wigan show next weekend? If so I'll come over and pester you! Cheers E3109

David The above has reminded me to ask about the preserved 46 Class, does that still work any tours? (I do apologise that it was talk of the disaster that reminded me to ask about this). Also, I visited Newport Workshops in Melbourne a few years ago, there were three L Class locos there, L1160 and L1162 are operational I think, although neither were panned up. The guys on site were saying that if anything, it would be loss of traction knowledge that would kill off any potential trips over the VR suburban network, I wonder if that's still the case. If there were a 46 tour in NSW and an L tour in Vic within a few days of each other, I'd be strapped in.

Hi Jamie, much obliged for your info. A couple of former workmates have told me in the past that bullion vans (mk1s?) were used to store removed OHLE copper from the Woodhead Route, apparently stabled at Guide Bridge and under guard no less, so there must've been a lot of it. Obviously this would've been at some point after July 1981 and probably later, as the wires were kept energised for some time after closure (at least on the LM side) to deter theft. Any insight on this most appreciated and apologies for minor thread diversion!

They're cobbles here in Wigan too, and we have a lot of them (mostly hidden under tarmacadam these days) sod them NHY. Trainspotters are such a pedantic bunch...

It was mentioned on here a while back that several AM3s visited Reddish in the 1960s, for what reason I don't know but some/all of the visitors received depot repaints and the shade of 'Caledonian Blue' was whatever they were able to mix on site! Think it was Charlie P who was on about that, gawd knows what thread though. Prototype For Everything springs to mind.