great central

According to Yeadon 67717 had it's first general repair completed in August 1950, when the boiler was renumbered. It had had two non-clssified and a light casual before that, which probably wouldn't have involved repainting. It's next general repair was completed in march 1952, when it received the boiler formerly on 67749 which was delivered in black, so March '52 would be the latest repainting date.

Morning Don, Doubt there'll be many about this morning, it's still bank holiday. I'm only here 'cos I'm at work, somebodies got to keep the trains running, doubt I'll be very busy though. Out of Worksop at 05.50 most people will be clinging to the holiday until tomorrow when the sh1t really hits the fan with ticket price rises, although generally not that bad in my area.

I seem to remember reading somewhere and by observation that 37429 never had ploughs fitted, watch somebody come up with a photo now Spent a good many miles behind 37429 on the North Wales coast in that last summer, as well as the last day, both official and actual

Any of the Colwick ones could turn up on the GC as Colwick was still responsible for many of the passenger locos. A quick scan of Yeadon comes up with no less than 40 of them allocated to Colwick at some time in BR days, I may have missed one ot two though.

Colwick received 67727 from 21/2/60, so that gives me an full-framer, all looking close enough!! Colwick also had 67710 for a while, the subject of my ABS kit on page 3 of the thread

Not Grantham I'm afraid, GE & M&GN both south of there, only place that comes to my mind is Spalding where all three could be seen, don't think the GE actually got there either except as a joint line partner, although I have seen photos of GE freight locos working through there, maybe from Whitemoor yard. Incidentally that line is still known as 'the joint' There were definitely lots of them to be seen at Grantham though, some were shedded there and Colwick at one time or another had, I think, about 30% of the class total, mostly the contractor built ones with the split frames

This one mucky enough? An ABS kit I built about 15 years ago, and fully lined, just about finished my third one, ah well, looks like a fourth one beckons. Not the best picture, sorry.

Had Mike Wild from Hornby mag taking some pictures today for a future article, took a few myself as well. I rather like this one in particular, unedited, I did think about cropping the road way a bit but then decided to leave it to give a better impression of depth.

Gordon H on here has built cross-arms in the past, he may be your best bet.

Not a joke as such but I found this very funny (to me anyway) way of describing 'the modern DMU experience' From the WNXX forum: davidinyork wrote: , ........................but that shouldn't present a problem as long as the bogie isn't powered by a 750hp diesel engine with all the refinement of a colonic irrigation performed by the local fire brigade. ..............

Early Sunday morning at Deepcar, loco parked up with pans down, due to a possesion?

It shot through Loughborough behind TWO 37s about 11.45 today!

If it's the one regularly attached to 37423 it was in Grantham last week, set off just after we rolled in

At the Manchester end I'm sure that the actual wire on the masts is the same, remember that 1500vDC needs thicker conductors than 25kvAC, so what may have been below size for 1500v may be good for 25kv for years. There was also apparently an investigation into converting the class 76s to 25kvAC! The intention was that they were being looked at as possible freight locos for the northern west coast main line when that was electrified. Now there's an excuse for running some of my 76s on Carstairs

Sorry but I have to disagree, this was a main line right to the end, yes it had been rationalised, but the lines in use were maintained right up to the last day. There were several incidents in the last few weeks, even a power failure on the last full day of operation was repaired and the service ran. looking at 'Main Line across the Pennines' I can't see any evidence of weeds or neglect around the running lines. Most of the Trans pennine track is CWR on concrete sleepers, many mainlines still don't have that luxury even now 30 years later! The down line I think was left intact all the way from Hadfield to Deepcar, just being blocked with a padlocked sleeper for 5 years after closure, to appease the trades unions I understand. When we first went out scouting for locations before settling on Deepcar, the line was still in good order and apart from odd weeds a train could have passed quite easily, this being in 1984, three years after closure. When we went back, suitably equipped, to walk Woodhead tunnel a few months later it was difficult to believe the line had really been shut for 3 years. I was told, although I can't verify the facts, that Netherlands railways, who had been impressed with their purchase of the EM2s, enqired whether the EM1s would be available after the line closed. Although many of the locos were in prefectly good order having merely been switched off, it was deemed politically unacceptable to resell them for further use, since the locos being 'life expired' was given as one of the reasons for closure. Regarding the last locos to work up to Woodhead, the rails were cut up into sections and dragged out by a class 37, possibly the one in the photos, I have a book somewhere with the details in, but can't put my hand on it at the moment. The same book also shows a class 20 and Brakevan heading to Dunford Bridge from Penistone, apparently carrying staff and scrapmen to assess what was to be recovered and presumably by whom, and for how much.

Hi DD, I would suggest giving the existing bogies a try out first. If the motors are in good order, the biggest problem you will have is lack of adhesion. These bogies are designed to work with 'magnadhesion' on steel track, so losing that effect has a big impact on haulage capability. It can be overcome though simply by adding weight to the loco, several years ago I did a test on a 37 with the same motor configuration, weighted up to over a pound it would pull another 37 wired the opposite way and around 8 coaches! Try to get the weight as much in the motor bogie end as possible and ALWAYS have the motor bogie at the rear, if any weight transfer takes place it adds to the adhehsive weight. I have found erratic running problems can occur if the power bogie is at the front, as the load being hauled will tend to lift the wheels slightly causing intermittent pickup. Depending on the age of your locos the flanges may be a little too deep for code 75, so try it out and see. Regarding replacements and DCC chips, not something I have experience of, perhaps others can advise?

I have seen several pictures of black EM2s, typically I can't find any of them now! This is supposed to link to the EM2 Society, but I can't get it to work, get carried away watching thetrains go by http://www.thewoodheadsite.org.uk/ You could try getting in touch through the MRC at Butterley. The lining is an absolute pig to do, I've done a couple of EM1s and a fellow club member has an EM2.