mjkerr

From other sources the class 91fleet is rotated to have  26 in daily service, 5 off-service and mileage aggregates to  approximately 27,000 miles per day which is approaching 10 million miles per year for the fleet of 31 locos

My first calculation was just over 11 million miles

My final calculation then included cancellations, that alone in 30 years deducts about 0.5 million miles!

Whats the mileage of the class 91`s.

i know the Deltics all did around 3 million miles in there 20 years.

That takes into account 4 weeks out of service each year

The advantage with the Class 91 is no need to refuel, so very intensive weekly use

The fleet total is about 9 millions miles (based on availability)

Did the P/P sets ever have coach lettering e.g A B C D E and if so which way round?

From memory it was as follows, but it might be the other way round (Coach B First Class)

A B C would be standard (64 seats)

D would be First Class (42 seats)

E would be standard (32 seats)

Therefore it did not matter whether the rake included Mark 2 or Mark 3 TSO / standard

Not sure what period you are wanting

Most inspections and repairs would take place at either a station, passing loop or yard (depending on if freight or passenger train)

Most stations where a loco change was likely would be selected

The driver and shunter could then make a visual assessment and request a fitter if required

In the 1980s and early 1990s, at the majority of major stations in Scotland such an inspection would take place almost daily

Examples

Aberdeen, a Class 47 arrived having struck an object and noises had been reported from the second coach behind the loco, resulting in the train proceeding at 15mph

Carlisle, a Class 86 arrived having been reported by a passing train, a shock absorber on the front bogie was found detached

Carstairs, driver reported striking an object damaging two coaches, on arrival three windows on coaches were found broken

That's great, thanks. Were HEA hoppers a feature at the time?

37410 is Large Logo Blue gives you the period 1985 to 1990 (depending on if you renumber to a different 37/4)

https://www.class37.co.uk/fleet.aspx?strnumber=37410

As you can see this loco mainly operated the area

Mossend - Glasgow - Fort William / Mallaig / Oban

A small number of other observations though, including Perth and Aberdeen

Then the loco was repainted and travelled further (as did most 37/4 by late 1990)

As above, some freight you would only see on some routes

The Alcan PCA would be seen between Mossend and Oban, and pretty much matches the name Aluminium 100

Soe freight you could see on any of the Scottish western routes

Such as mixed OAA and OCA, timber on OTA, oils and liquids on TTA, palletised on VAA/VBA/VGA

If you renumber the Class 37/4 to an Inverness based example

You would lose the Alcan traffic, but gain the nuclear flask

Obviously as a 37/4 it is primary role is passenger use

This allows a mix of Mark 1 and Mark 2, just watch as later rakes swapped to air brakes

If the 37/4 is Eastfield and route Glasgow - Fort William, you can include a sleeper

Equally, as an Inverness based 37/4 you could push the boundaries and include a single sleeper (before this was ditched)

I'd like to know about freight in the Scottish highlands/far north from 1985, until about 1990.

 

I have a model of 37410 in large logo blue and I'm looking wagons to match.

Do you have a layout already? (which gauge)

If so, is it based on a real location or quite flexible?

Do you plan on renumbering your 37410 model? (for example to match an Inverness based 37/4)

Only Scotrails mk3’s seemed loyal to their territory, but their 47’s certainly were not.

As an example I never saw any of the Polmadie (Glasgow South West) coaches on any other routes

This would be a bit earlier - I remember 45s at Gloucester c. 1980; they gave way to HSTs on the SW - NE route quite soon after. If you thought HSTs were foul-smelling diesels, 45s stank.

Equally, Class 50 were quite rare to Birmingham

On a technical note, why are railway diesel engines not filled with anti freeze? I thought it not only acts as antifreeze but as a more effective coolant, and inhibits corrosion and the build up of scale?

And regarding starting-reliable starting ought to be part of good design.

However it did not use anti-freeze due to disposal issues, instead using Borax Sodium Metasilicate water treatment

The driver manual states that leaks should be reported for immediate repair and the loco taken out of service

The maintenance manual states that all the seals should be removed and replaced and the entire coolant system drained and then pressure tested, and only then should the system be filled with water treatment

Equally, the manual states that repeated cold starts will drain the batteries, and where possible the loco should be left idling

If the loco will not be required within the next 24 hours it should be switched off, otherwise it should be left idling

Very broadbased enquiry unfortunately because so much evolved so quickly. I joined XC in Summer 2001

However, forgot about the Class 158 that operated Edinburgh - Manchester, but again outside of the original geographic request so did not mention it

That gives BG/BFK/3xTSO/RB/3xTSO/BFK for the Sussex Scot

As the Edinburgh set has the RB, the Glasgow portion requires an additional coach to be added

The only exception was the Manchester service, which was permitted to run with 3/4 coaches between Glasgow / Edinburgh and Carstairs

This was a great service to take to Carstairs!

On a Saturday morning it was also used to move a Class 47/4 from Manchester to Glasgow, instead of a Class 86, but it did run about 20 minutes late by the time it arrived at Carstairs

Could a loco be fuelled with the engine running?

However, best practice is to switch the engine off

At Aberdeen (1989 to 1996) I can only remember two occasions where the engine was not switched off

Assuming 1989

Anglo-Scottish services were mostly Mark 2E TSO, Mark 2D BFK, and Mark 1 RBR or RMB, most allocated to Polmadie

In most cases formed TSO-TSO-BFK-TSO-TSO-RBR-TSO-TSO-BFK-TSO-TSO

In most cases the portion with the RBR would be included in the split to Edinburgh (but usually one exception Mon to Sat)

Not included the Scotland - Manchester service, which used Mark 2C

The shorter services, most allocated to Longsight used Mark 2D TSO

Class 86/2 or 86/4 between Scotland and Birmingham, again the occasional exception being Coventry (services to East Anglia)

Class 47/8 had just been introduced, so south of Birmingham there was a mix of 47/4 (both standard and long range) and 47/8

Services between the south west and north east, via the East Coast Main Line (Doncaster to Newcastle) were predominantly 7 coach HST

Into 1990 and 1991 reliability of the 47/8 was an issue and 47/4 continued in use

With the introduction of the Mark 2 RFO, dedicated Scotland - Birmingham services were introduced

The remaining Anglo-Scottish services swapped over to HST

The shorter services were also simplified, ideally using one 47/8 throughout the day, but all too often swapping at Bristol

A small number of TSO(T) were converted to RMBT, as the RFO had been completed

This is just simply a TSO version of the FO conversion, but without the ability to serve passengers within the coach (at counter service only)

regarding the HSTs that used GQS -with the leading power car beyond the signal how did the drivers know he had the road into the tunnel?   was it via a series of guard communications via phone or buzzer?

Once the route signal was received, closed the door and then departure as normal

Did you see the extended animation from 2005/2006?

I have been following the development of this latest version since first announced in 2016 
I was expecting it to have its first airing at Easter this year after the press release in late 2017 that filming had been completed and signed to Netflix 

When announced that BBC would be showing the four episodes over two nights I was a little surprised 

Quoted from my personal facebook page : 
The camera movements are very flat and whilst bring the story into the 21st Century sadly lack depth and sheen
For example, in one scene alone all five rabbits are moving in exactly the same plane, at the same time, but sadly none of the fur moves as you would expect and they look as if they are floating rather than running
The voice acting is very close to the original animation
However, Kehaar (the bird) German accent is replaced by Peter Capaldi and that just does not work
Thankfully General Woundwort is voiced by Ben Kingsley who brings the expected boom and grunt for this character
Best of all is John Boyega, who clearly got into character!
Most surprising of all was Strawberry, voiced by Olivia Colman

Watership Down can now be seen on Netflix (release 25 December 2018) 
DVD release expected March 2019

I had a similar problem with some Dapol Class 66 models (the later DCC type) 
This was found to be due to the back to back gauge being incorrect, and after adjustment solved the issue 

Submit a report to ICO for breach of regulations

This project has now ended 

It commenced in 2012, put on hold when Farish announced the Class 47/7 and Mark 2 DBSO 
Due to ongoing delays the sound conversion models are still not completed, and still awaiting the Farish DBSO 

Throughout 2017 I was at home just 9 days 
I have decided to retain the Class 37/4 models, as these selected models are completed, and revise the scenic area 

The remaining models will be disposed of

Prices up for the Mk2f on the website. We had better start saving!

May 2013, £22.95 (bulk £20.00)

May 2016, £29.95 (bulk £27.50)

February 2018, £42.95 (bulk £35.00)

Hopefully early 2019, expecting £49.95 (bulk £45.00)

Will it be worth it...

All I need to do is replace my existing fleet of DBSO, so effectively only adding one FO

Thumbs up to the licence renewal dept, went online last Wednesday and the licence arrived on Monday. Also online today to retax the car simples!

I know they can b***s up big time as I've seen evidence from other forums but credit where it's due, 2 simple jobs which have not been over complicated by technology.

Sometimes the services are briefly offline, but it is usually not more than two hours

The main issue is when one-off events occur

As an example my Driving Licence number was entered by a court in error, and although the DVLA were following the request correctly it took nearly two years to correct

When the letter arrived from the DVLA I contacted the court and they advised I could ignore it and they would correct the error

A second letter arrived from the DVLA, but again advised to ignore it

A third letter arrived (on a Saturday morning) from the DVLA that my Driving Licence was suspended

To make it worse I was using my car at the time, so was stranded over that weekend

On Monday morning it took two hours for both the court and DVLA to confirm the error had been corrected

However, the error still shows on my DVLA file; Licence Endorsed - 0 points, £0, 2 days revoked

With being unable to travel, back to the layout

The original two DCC Sound Conversion and Mercig Studios models have now returned with LokSound decoders

These two originally had Zimo decoders, and all models thereafter had LokSound decoders

Now all models have LokSound decoders

This does mean I have lost some sound functions, but they were specific to these two models due to the Zimo decoders

However, they are all now the same

I had noted some Class 37 and Class 47 models were not running properly on the layout

Some of the obvious ones were erratic all the time, so two Class 47/7 were sent for inspection and that has been traced to excessive weathering on completion by Mercig Studios

These two models were tested and were found to work on all but one section of the layout

I then removed all the models from this section of the layout, disconnected the DCC, connected the DC, and then tested one of my remaining DC models

It too stalled on this section, so clearly the issue was with the track or wiring

The ultimate school boy error has been discovered!

When I constructed each section of the layout I was testing on DC

This section was completed and fully tested

It was then moved into position and once the next section was moved into position the isolating section was completed

This isolating section, whilst not essential, was in place for future zone detection (or whatever you would like to call it in DCC)

The Insulating Rail Joiners are at one end of the main crossing, the other end is partially isolated which electrofrog points require

As a result one rail is partially isolated, depending on the direction this crossing is set

It is also exactly the same length as a Class 37 or Class 47 model!

As a consequence during testing if the crossing was set in one direction it was isolated, in the other it was not

Equally, if the model was approaching at speed, whilst isolated, it could pass over but momentarily lose DCC connection

This made it look like the model itself was erratic!

I therefore removed the two Insulated Rail Joiners, replaced with metal ones, retested and ALL models run across this entire section now!

Edit-

The basic history of E-G push pull-

T&T 27s with the coaching stock blue star through wired, basically any blue star (air braked) loco could be used. 

Then

47/7 with DBSO, the only locos that could work PP had to be fitted with FDM equipment which was only the 47/7s, anything else had to haul the train conventionally.

The earlier Top and Tail is easier to recognise as the sets were Mark 2 non-air conditioning coaches with a BSO, no DBSO

If one Class 27 was not available then one Class 37/0 could be used

Two Class 37/0 could have been used, but then the set would not have any ETH

At that time there were no Class 37/4

Also when we're the 47/7s "officially" allowed to run at 100 mph?

The Class 47/7 were never allowed to run at 100mph, they were still maximum speed 95mph

However, they were permitted to operate at maximum speed 100mph on specific routes (HST speed limit board)

Initially it was Haymarket to Bishopbriggs (47701 to 47712)

This was then extended to Aberdeen to Bishopbriggs, when push-pull operations commenced

Then finally Haymarket to Dundee, when 47713 to 47716 were converted

If a Class 47/7 missed its exam (as the interval was shorter, which later caused some issues when the locomotives were transferred from HA to ED) it would be removed from this pool of locomotives until the exam had been completed

In most cases if required the locomotive would be treated as a Class 47/4 to keep it off the 100mph permitted routes, in most cases GQS or EDB station pilot duties or Edinburgh - Carstairs, it could then receive the exam before the next day 

Equally, I remember 47713 suffered an ETH fault and was used on EDB station duties for a few days until the fault could be rectified 

A few days later it went pop...

It could probably only be argued by the XC Crosscountry services as duplicating their route to York since its doubtful how many folk would go Glasgow-London via the East Coast

Glasgow QS - Edinburgh - Newcastle - Kings Cross

This would raise objections from :

ScotRail

East Coast

Cross Country

TransPennine Express

This does not add anything new, and pretty duplicates the above operators

However this route would reduce the objections, but bring new ones :

Glasgow QS - Edinburgh - Leeds - Leicester - St Pancras

Personally, any new operator is cursed before they start...