JeffP

9 hours ago, melmerby said:

I have a 15v AC Bus around my layout as I still have several things that run off that supply, I originally had many more as the RS-8 block detectors also used 15v AC but they have been replaced by the Loconet ones that use power from the Loconet bus.

However the MP-1s I have are driven by 12v DC from an Arduino based DCC decoder, which itself is powered from the 15v AC supply.

I thought DCC was just two wires? lol

🤫

Is your tax return for France?

French forms baffle me, and, unlike the UK, and DESPITE their much vaunted acceptance of other cultures, just TRY getting anything in any language other than French-legalese.

😡

Would you mind explaining what the brass beams do, please Michael?

I thought beams linked two pairs of wheels?

Found your screws on a well known auction site.

Available in brass or stainless steel, post free.

From a site I've used for stainless fasteners for a 25 year old car.

The Sybics seemed to spread from Dijon Perrigny.

I remember visiting in around 1995/6 and there were quite a few brand new ones awaiting acceptance.

12 hours ago, 62613 said:

Ilkeston!

Ah, sorry, you're right.

I must have a blind spot towards Ilkeston after the last nine month's goings on at my football club...

Recently drove across Spain, twice, doing Col du Somport- Jaca- Huesca-Zaragoza-Teruel-Murcia-Mazarron, and return via Albacete, Madrid, Burgos, San Sebastian, Irun.

Despite our hotel at Teruel being opposite the station, the only loco I saw eas at Jaca, heading away from the town eastwards, on a container train. It was modern looking, and carried a large number 70, the logo began with "Med..."

Anyone identify it for me?

Our routes often paralleled railways for quite long distances, both classic and high speed lines, but we didn't see another train.

Sad photos of Weekday Cross and Ilkeley.

21 hours ago, AMJ said:

Knowing a few who work for them and numerous similar bodies they are full of folks who like to do studies, surveys and reports about what could happen.  Then a while later they do more studies and conclude that the first idea is not feasible and come up with something else.

 

Just wish I could get onto the payroll of one of these bodies as they seem to have employees travelling here there and everywhere.

Not railways, but those sorts got everywhere.

Bloke with a smart suit, shiney shoes and a flash car arrives.

He's titled "advisor".

He takes home around 50% more than you do.

He sits and watches you doing your job, occasionally making notes on a clipboard.

Later, he tells you you're not doing it right, could do better.

Him being an "advisor" you naively ask for advice on how to improve.

His response?

"Ah, that's not for me to say, that's for you to find out".

True story.

I loved the set taken near the Trent at Gainsborough, Gunness and Burringham.

J2168, Keadby Bridge is now a very fetching dark green.

It's actual name is "The King George V Bridge", but locals all just call it Keadby bridge.

It used to open, but once refused to shut due to expansion, so no more.

It still carries the A18 as well as the main Doncaster-Scunthorpe-Immingham/Grimsby railway line, and has a fearsome bend on the road at the eastern end, where articulated lorries need the entire road width.

And with five nearby working wharves, sadly all just road connected, Still quite a bit of traffic.

And Burringham?

Your dad would have been standing in that parish to take the photo of the bridge.

How on earth did you take J6809?

It looks like you were standing in the middle of the murky Trent.

And the currents look dangerous.

A wooden "drilling table" from mdf, ply etc is useful.

Glue and screw a piece of 25 mm square timber with planed and square edges across the centre of one side.

This can then be the bit held in the drilling vice.

Depending on where the holes are in the sheet metal, using a couple of self tapping screws into the ply/mdf, with large, (repair) washers, works well.

Was it called "The Crow's Nest Tramway"?

I've recently bought Roy's book and it shows the evolution of said layout through several scales. Fascinating.

Beware: a good friend's hobby was his "red rocket", a Vauxhall Ventora he had lovingly restored.

His wife started out bemused at the amount of time spent on it.

Bemusement became questioning.

Questioning became complaining...

And in the end, he sold it....😒

C9191 of the class 81 at Carlisle with the leaping salmon reminded me of a pic I've got somewhere of a class 85, similarly adorned, but also (un)officially?? named Fell Runner, circa late 70's.

Then the photo of the trackbed at Stratford on Avon: we camped there around 1982 at the Racecourse, and I was fascinated to find I could walk two trackbeds, one, double track south to the River Avon, the other, as shown.

10 hours ago, ruggedpeak said:

Sad to say I think 90's and indeed electric only locos are probably becoming redundant for freight in the UK with the advent of bi-mode and tri-mode plus the failure to electrify the network. NR's electricity is also too expensive for freight operators right now.

 

With the likes of East/West rail not being electrified from new along with plenty of non-electric freight routes (or diversion routes) like the S&C, electric only is not a good solution when the key to logistics is  getting the product from A to B reliably. And the harsh reality is that 66's do the job well, are reliable and cost effective to operate.

But what a mad world we live in when car drivers are almost being forced into electric vehicles which in many cases are unsuitable, the charging system is underfunded and pretty useless, yet most uk freight is in the hands of polluting diesels, railway, or road.

Crazy.

You'd almost suspect that politicians were involved...oh... wait...😄

Looks nice.

But for the base, are you sure the pits stretched the full length of the building?

In sheds I've visited, there was a walkway inside the building at both ends, to give staff easy access without having to go outside.

Did each  Castle set power car carry a different name or was the single name applied to a set?

I've also found Wickes paintbrush cleaner, the blue stuff, to be excellent.

Once it has done it's job it can be washed off with water as it is miscible.

Would that it were so.

Do some reading and you'll find that the demise of wagon load freight is directly attributable to the beginning of private operators, who are only interested in profitable mostly long haul stuff.

SNCF were able to subsidise wagon loads with the profits from the long haul stuff.

They can no longer do so, and wagon loads are on the roads.😒 

Meanwhile, rural back roads are being destroyed by 44+tonne trucks, and the right hand lanes of previously fluid motorways are an endless stream of trucks....while freight yards lie idle.

On 01/09/2023 at 20:14, Grovenor said:

From what has been said the unreliability has more to do with the drivers, and given how long they have had these sets a lack of trained drivers would seem to indicate a management failure.

Equally given how long they have been in service there should surely be a liability on the manufacturers and lessors which TPE should be managing.

They've been mucking about driver training for nearly 18 months, both with, and without coaches.

No excuse now.

And now the Cleethorpes Liverpools are back to three coaches, at leat to Doncaster, maybe Sheffield, maybe all the way.

😖

56 minutes ago, Joseph_Pestell said:

It would not take long, with the right kit, to clear the debris that is on the track. What concerns me, from the photos, is the amount of extremely unstable ground left further up the hillside.

One video showed a few relatively small rocks coming down from above, brining ever larger ones as they struck.

One thought:

Has anyone managed to link this to climate change yet?🤫

23 hours ago, Joseph_Pestell said:

French transport minister says that there will be disruption for a few days. That seems a tad optimistic!

 

But then Macron thought that Notre Dame would be rebuilt in a couple of years.

How do you know a politician is lying?

His lips are moving.

For some odd reason J2816 reminds me strongly of a photo on the Railway Modeller article about Roy Link's Crow's Nest Tramway.

My be the light, might be the air of oncoming dereliction, but it's there.