Titan

Would that make you one of the Elite?

It is not often you see a British loco that looks bigger than a continental one...

They were used for carrying tail lamps when the locos worked light engine or was being towed. For some reason it was several years before the electric tail lamps were permitted to be used instead, and even then only one electric lamp out of the pair was used. If the loco was being towed dead it would still require a tail lamp as it was undesirable to drain the loco battery.

"No returns" means that you do not accept returns if the customer has simply changed their mind and wants to return an item. You are still obliged to make good if there is any fault, or it is not as described, including the customer returning the item and getting his money back if that is what is required. That is why Ebay will freeze your payment if there is a dispute.

Are you using a single transformer with two controllers? It is possible on some controllers that are connected to the same transformer that the circuits will be common where they are connected to the transformer, and thus providing the connecting path. Duette controllers have one transformer, but a separate winding for each controller so they are not common and don't have this problem. I am not so familiar with Dublo, but I have a suspicion that it might be worth trying to reverse one or both connections to the rails. However be careful as it might also cause a short circuit. Best bet is to try and use two separate transformers if you have them, or you could also insulate the outer rails and base at the joint if possible so there is no electrical connection between the two circuits on feed or return.

Chasing the mouse?

Who told you that? BR did not make its own contact wires so it would make no sense for BR to be a middle man between the scrapyards and the manufacturers. Far better that the scrap men buy the locos complete and sell the copper direct if it was in any way suitable for contact wire - which it probably would not be as it would most likely be a different alloy of copper suitable for making fireboxes rather than the usual cadmium copper or similar used for contact wires at the time.

I presume the trailing wheel is not in any way attached to the drawbar and is therefore not a pivot point for it.

Yes. many a time I have wished I could take control of the car radio in front and set it to the William Tell Overture...

It is definitely not a "Classic SMIDSY", it is about as far away from a classic SMIDSY a it is possible to be. A classic SMIDSY is where a motorcyclist is riding appropriately and a driver does not see him because he did not look properly, neither of which are true in this case. I see nothing to suggest that the car driver did not look properly - the motorcycle would only have become clearly visible in the drivers mirrors just over a second before the collision. As the car is already indicating and commencing its manoeuvre having checked the road was clear prior to the motorcycle appearing it is not unreasonable for the diver to be looking where he is going rather than glued to his mirrors, especially bearing in mind the nature of the manoeuvre he is carrying out and the oncoming traffic. The poor driver has absolutely nothing to be sorry for.

This one?

Both Pantographs were identical and both could pick up 6,25kV or 25kV. Practice was to normally use the trailing pantograph so each pantograph was used in turn, meaning that use was about 50/50. It was thought that the pantographs would work best in the trailing position with knuckle leading. With operating experience it was discovered that it did not make much difference, and the rate of wear was such that one pantograph was perfectly adequate. The only trains to ever use 6,25kV on a regular basis were the blue trains in the Glasgow Area and EMU's working out of Liverpool Street, which only had one pantograph per unit anyway.

Since when did the twelve days of Christmas have 6 sponge bob square pants?

Did have some minor and unusual 'damage' - or at least a rather important bit fall off which could not possibly have happened in other circumstances. Meccano snowplow fitted to mamod flat wagon with a brick on it to keep it on the track. Apologies for the aspect ratio being wrong - was alright until I uploaded it... https://youtu.be/kKHpEKV6XFY?list=UUxm2edymrxeAyS9JAcFa3SQ

Well if you want a joke that gets better every time go to #633

Could be, although sometimes the distance to the mast is dictated by trying to avoid existing drainage, troughing routes, services, buried cables, and a whole load of other infrastructure either existing or proposed.

Unlikely, the usual reason is to avoid placing masts in signal sight lines, although sometimes it is due to some obstruction on the other side where the foundation needs to go.

Maybe the CPS did want to prosecute, but could not because the driver could not be satisfactorily identified?

That was generally only an option if the steam heat boiler was no longer required and could be removed to make space. I think Westerns, like the Deltics, would have needed steam heat capability for the rest of their service life, or at least the next ten years or so if they lasted longer than that.

There is in fact a plan along those lines (pun only slightly intended!), known as 'Portalisation', the idea being to fit a boom between the existing head span masts, remove the span wires and then fit mechanically independent registrations. There are some trial sites including some on the Heathrow Express areas.

It does need to be specifically mentioned to emphasise your primary role, i.e. this is what you will normally do, plus anything else we might reasonably ask from time to time. It is standard, and understood as such in contracts and is not going to be changed to satisfy those blinded by pedantry.

It was not the gearing that limited top speed, Duffs were geared for a 100mph top speed but limited to 95 due to track forces - an exception was made later for the push/pull services from Edinburgh to Glasgow where they were allowed to run at 100mph. Similarly Deltics are geared for 105mph top speed (as the prototype was) but restricted to 100mph for the same reason.

I think it is worth quoting a bit more than that: "Whosoever, by any unlawful act, or by any wilful omission or neglect, shall endanger or cause to be endangered the safety of any person conveyed or being in or upon a railway" In other words unless the prosecution had evidence the guard did it on purpose, then the CPS should not have allowed the prosecution to proceed. I think in these circumstances the Judge would have been able to throw the case out on the grounds of no case to answer, as no evidence of this was presented. This act was intended to be used against those sabotaging or vandalising the railway, or perhaps could not be bothered to repair a broken fence so livestock got on the line etc. It was a totally inappropriate application of the law. It seems that someone in the BTP was desperate to prosecute the guard for some reason and the CPS did not bother to look at what was presented to it carefully enough. In this case it was it was not in the public interest to prosecute - the complete opposite of the criteria upon which the CPS are supposed to judge whether or not to proceed, and of top of that there was little chance of the case being won either. There really ought to be an inquiry in to why this was allowed to get as far as a trial.

From what i understand he has been doing his job since the incident - I think he was supervised for three days to assess his competency, and then continued as normal, because no one apart from the CPS/British Transport Police thought there was any problem. Presumably he was given additional leave on full pay so he could attend court, but I expect it will be back to work for him on Monday as usual.

What amuses me is I often used to drive hire cars in connection with my job, which would tell you the predicted range on the fuel you had left. This range was based on the average fuel consumption that the computer had recorded since last zeroed - often the last time being when it had left the factory, as the cars were fairly new and people had not messed with such things. Now of course the cars were supplied with a full tank. The funny thing was because I was driving so economically, for the first 50 miles or so the predicted range kept going up based on the mpg I was achieving compared to the average! I had usually driven 100 miles + before I had used enough fuel for the predicted range to fall to that which was displayed when I first drove off!