keefer

fantastic video mike, thanks for posting. a real goldmine of stuff, particularly the 40 using water troughs and a clip of a met-camm at kirkcaldy showing the lino factories(@13.25) funny thing is, i've gto his videos favourited, but had only watch the blue-era ones!

the earliest WTT i have is '75/'76 and pretty much all inv-edin/glas are down as 2 x 24/26, with timing loads from 290-450t (not including motorails/sleepers) other line services of similar loads are only assigned 1 loco, so it would seem the terrain is the main factor, followed by, as you say, improved timing e.g. some trains reach perth in 2.5 hrs, others up to 4 hrs in the time of triple-headers, was the HBS only required to/from perth? certainly glasQS had limited platform lengths so 3 locos would mean shorter trains, mind you edin waverley would not have that problem anyway enough ignorance from me, just found another pic, albeit unidentified http://www.flickr.com/photos/deadmans_handle/4612825360/in/set-72157624288321587

maybe a double-header with a failure? given the amount of clag going on there doesn't seem to be much/any coming from the loco nearest the coaches. if double-heading was necessary for the train and one failed, the 24 was perhaps commandeered from a local working to help out?

another new one on RAILSCOT. no number given, but maybe able to deduce from details: http://www.railbrit....e2.php?id=36611 (also, very OT, a nice phot of a clayton on LGW wagons http://www.railbrit.co.uk/imageenlarge/imagecomplete2.php?id=36594 )

i think the the original idea was that blue/grey was for mainline loco-hauled stock and multiple-units would be given plain blue? which quite soon became blue/grey for any mainline/express stock of whatever form, with plain blue for the humdrum 'secondary' stock - REP/TC/VEP/CIG/BIG etc got blue/grey early 70s of course, much later in the 70s, blue/grey became the general livery for all stock, inc. EPBs although not all MU stock received it

a pic of 129 at haymarket 7/76 http://www.flickr.com/photos/deltic_baggie/6146306253/in/set-72157627561415426

a shot posted already of 125 at carstairs 4/76 shows no lamps and normal boxes: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pics-by-john/5553832327/ (also shows 099, which must've went south at the same time as it is apparently in the line-up linked to above) 126 at donny 3/77, again no lamps and normal boxes http://www.flickr.com/photos/pics-by-john/6047982463/ apols if this has been linked to before, 127 at IS in 6/69 shows normal boxes http://www.flickr.com/photos/curly42/6008052541/ but this shot at st. rollox in 10/74 seems to show it had gained a fairing box at least at no.2 end http://www.flickr.com/photos/deltic_baggie/6146306127/

from the same flickr set as above, down and out and a long way from home.... http://www.flickr.com/photos/dmc1947/5759631148/in/set-72157626805445858/

looking very good, just the thing to allow you short trains for mallard, 80s blue/grey also meant SR headcode box and high level pipes/jumpers http://www.departmentals.com/photo/975025 http://www.departmentals.com/photo/975025395280

oakwood press has a few. don't know about other areas, but fife-wise there's one each for st. andrews railway, anstruther& st. andrews railway, burntisland and the wemyss private railway. still no sign of the leven & east of fife volume yet though (apols for the brief post, will edit when i get the chance!)

not sure if these are 24s or 25s, perhaps someone here can tell. looks like the leading loco has actually the tablet catcher in use! http://www.railbrit.co.uk/imageenlarge/imagecomplete.php?id=28489

another pic of a BFO: http://80srail.zenfolio.com/p520092474/e6ae915e i suppose a TGS would be the best way of getting the 'door and a third' at the guard's end. you'd have to watch with the windows though - note, from the far end, you have 6 normal saloon windows, then a slightly bigger gap before the 7th window (which is in the guard's office, i think). i'm trying to find a similar pic of the other side, which is the same except there is an 8th window at normal spacing from the 7th window - if you see what i mean the other main things to check might be the ventilation pods at the roof ends and you would need to have buffers and built-in tail lights EDIT: found this page http://www.marstonparkway.org.uk/adapting_stock_20.html the roof vents look the same type as on the HST, i.e. the square cover on the roof centreline EDIT 2: didn't notice the first photo has already been mentioned - sorry!

i might be wrong, as i'd have to find the DVD in question, but i think these are on the 'rail freight today' series (i have the 5 DVD box set from 2006, which i got cheap from 'the works'.) was this the one where it was palletised, bagged fertiliser, offloaded by fork-lift from VGAs or similar.(i.e. one half of the side swings out and is slid along to access the load)

backscenes are wonderful, dave. you seem to have got the angle of capture just right, as opposed to just sticking a photie on! meant to say, the hugh longworth 1st. gen DMUs book has lots of sets listed at various times, inc. the 108s. e.g. 1988 - 101 3xx, 104 4xx, 107 4xx, 108 3xx, 120 5xx (either HA or ED, AY being a long shot?) incidentally, i think it was waverley - glasgow central via shotts, one of those services where i doubt anyone travelled end-to-end, when there was always a much quicker option! (unless of course, you really like 1st. gen DMUs! )

sorry about that! i remember seeing it in one of my photos and where it is is very near to railway line (line passes just behind the mast). i looked up the site linked to, the results are shown below. the yellow cross is roughly where it actually is. EDIT: the second one is UMTS (incidentally, spamcan's picture is of kirkcaldy station - sinclairtown station was a bit further north, but closed in 1969)

this one on the site of the former sinclairtown goods yard in kirkcaldy - a similar mast, but smaller boxes and fenced in. couldn't get any closer, but i've left the image big, so click for bigger version. notice the 'old fashioned' equivalent on the left (the light brown one) - there are several of these telegraph poles here, albeit without wires!

some shots at the NRM here: http://www.traintesting.com/HST_prototype.htm specifically this photo http://www.traintesting.com/images/HST-PC__rear_panel.jpg shows that it has 415v 3-phase jumpers if it's capable of supplying the ETH to an HST set, the only thing to work round would be mods to the control system to make it compatible with a production set (the orange socket above the tail light is the control jumper socket, the cable bieng mounted on the other side of the gangway). also note RCH jumpers are provided, presumably for lighting/PA edit: the production HST has a single 36-way control jumper mounted below the buckeye

i loved this pic on the other thread it was on (which i can't remember!) as opposed to a shot of a real scene, to me this looks like a slide taken at the time and has since been scanned into flickr or similar. i think it's the contrasts/colours, where either might have went slightly 'off' in translation. (btw this is no slight on your modelling or photography, both are wonderful - it's just the combination that makes me think of other pics i've seen, esp. on flickr)

good to see it coming together paul. however long something takes, it's always nice to see it on the rails and (nearly) finished! as often happens, i was raking about t'internet and stumbled upon this: http://www.railbrit.co.uk/imageenlarge/imagecomplete2.php?id=34016 your colours look to be a pretty good match! other pics here: http://www.railbrit.co.uk/location.php?loc=Fintown (the link to the donegal railway history doesn't seem to work) cheers

could be bob, i'm sure i've seen pics of a 25 so fitted, albeit with a round blanking plate i think there was a 'standard' royal train comms line, reminds me of a pic i've seen of 2 warships with a cable that was draped along the roof/sides. at some point there must've been the instruction to have the cable go through the locos? edit: had a look here http://www.derbysulzers.com/royaltrain.html perhaps different locos had the wire come through in different positions, then plated over with round/square plates

re: the assortment of cab roof/headcode boxes - a couple of good pages with pics at derbysulzers: cab roofs, grille covers etc.: http://www.derbysulzers.com/changes.html cabs in general: http://www.derbysulzers.com/cabs.html

fantastic stuff as ever dave! apologies if this has been covered before, but i'd always thought that 2-car 108s didn't really 'fit' much but the use of 108s would do until someone makes a 3-car 107 (no criticism intended dave) well, looking through a flickr set recently discovered, what do i find? shows how much i know! some other good pics of waverley in the 80s in there too hopefully the house move means to somewhere with bigger rooms and you can start on the east end!

the lion sleeps tonight - tight fit

brilliant SC - 'a romany bint in a field with her paints, suggesting we faint at her beauty, but she's got dickie daaaaaaaaaaaaavies eyes' i only have eyes for you - art garfunkel

children of the damned - iron maiden