w124bob

Here is my effort at the alternative letter box exhaust and panelling. A very easy conversion of 25252. I spotted whilst doing this conversion that 25102(TMC limited edition) should have the larger panel as seen in two tone green, however there is a seam running across the roof panel. So this only needs an additional pain plasticard piece adding.

Naked pushpull pump, still need to add buffer beam pipes.

44102 passes through Dewsbury Midland, this loco will be renumbered, 44102 being an S&D engine! The jinty is pushpull fitted and spent some time at Newton Heath in the 60's.

Waiting with the empty stock at Rochdale, I'd already been round the loop this way once to drop the fans off. It was unusual for me to have a camera, but this day it proved worth while.

I wondered if it was some sort of film prop, it's it's made out of the usual film prop materials, plywood and gaffer tape!

Thanks, this makes the most sense to me, the difference between a special within the LM and one going inter region. It's funny I drove trains for 40 years and never really took much notice other than was what on the drivers diagramme , STN or TOPS list. Trips or targets were an everyday part of railway working and to this day I still recall a few, T85 was the Mantle lane Bardon Hill trip working. T46 was the Manchester Victoria bank engine. On the LM G was the Birmingham area, 6G21, being a Mantle lane Rugeley back in my early railway career. My experience was Z being used for anything odd, I worked from Picc down to Birmingham one Saturday it was chaos so we were completely out of the time table, 220x2 running as 1Z**. Earlier in my career I came in after a day of RMT strikes once. The Cawoods, Ellesmere port Immingham was dumped at Stanlow so I ran light engine (cl56) picked up the train and we ran as a 6Z**. Just a normal working on the wrong day . It's worth noting that in very short notice running the signaller doesn't always know what exactly the train is, he's relying on the TOC control for some information. My experience was that XC were not always best at passing on info to NR. It was always worth giving the panel manager a ring direct if units were doubled up at short notice, saved a lot of hassle when a pair of 221's are running vice a 4car!

I've been frustrated by renumbering the fleet and finding the chosen loco has the alternative larger exhaust hatch, so here is my effort at reproducing it. I partially drilled out the spigots on the underside of the square panel and eased it of, putting to one side. The mesh under the panel came from here https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/143293106320?hash=item215cef4890:g:ssMAAOSwjjddAiSi I used the circular one from the smaller etch, trimming the side to fit just inside the recessed square you will under the removed panel. Note if you look on the other items from A1 they do an etch with rectangular exhausts, look a bit small for class 25's. The etch is glued at an angle to follow the roof curve and sits within the recess. The new panel is 27mmx27mm with the one corner 18mmx10mm removed, measure the old exhaust hatch to get the position of the actual exhaust opening. I marked this out drilled the corner and cut out the letterbox slot. Add the beading around the edge from micro strip, I slightly scored the under side to aid getting the roof curve. Finally i trimmed away the part of the roof beading which disappears under the new enlarged hatch.

Teaser, the shape eyed amongst you may spot an identity crisis going on here.

I worked numerous specials in my railway career and remember very short notice passenger trains being given 1Z**(or 2Z**). However it has puzzled me for some time why other specials that appeared in the weekly Special Train Notices carried either of the above. For example I worked a football special taking Chelsea fans to Oldham forward from Stockport, the train was 1T11. But then a charter (Northern Belle) was flagged as 1Z** a few nmonths later. So what was the difference. Oh, for the record Oldham beat Chelsea 3-0! (August 21st '91)

I recall one of those Saltley van drivers, straight lining roundabouts seemed to be the norm! We didn't need a bus at Coalville, the wheeltappers Bedford HA van was used, It had a wooden bench rear seat with about half an inch of padding, no health and safety then. Me and the guard in the back on the plank, every one smoking(except me) a couple of pints of paraffin in the guards bag, three cans of scalding tea/water, loose coupling and brake blocks behind us. The carnage in a crash would have been horrendous , the alternative was the local minicab firms clapped out Ford Consul, driven by someone not very familiar with soap. Slightly OT but every depot seemed to have someone with a three wheeler, a must for any 60's or 70's depot carpark.

Popped into the clubrooms for a quick visit to do jobs in the library, couldn't resist the temptation to get the camera out. I took some different locations, no trains. However two or three have potential to see stock from a different view point. Nine more images here https://www.flickr.com/photos/28630680@N06/albums/72177720296619701/with/51875876136/

Hornsey Broadway, I don't model in EM but everything else related to the layout and era always rekindles the modelling urge.

As promised despite internet issues, 5150 was a resident Holbeck loco for about 6 years along with a few other Derby type 2's before heading to the ScR in the early 70's. It's a straight renumber of 24137 from Barwell, it's a great runner and now in my favourite livery variation although plain green with FYE is a close second!

Back to a bit of BR blue tonight and a bit of a different picture. Standing in the stair well (DM is on the upper floor of the club room) to get a bit of a different angle. We find Holbeck type 2 5150 departing the station. Just a teaser tonight, more to come.

Currently listening to a cheap Ebay purchase of a double CD of the 1938 Benny Goodman Carnegie Hall Concert. Here's the best track "Sing Sing Sing" composed by the coolest trumpet player on the planet at the time Louis Prima(composer and performer with his band of I'm the King of the Swingers). It was a revolution at the time when Sing Sing Sing was performed, it was a first for a drummer to lead and marked the rise to fame of Gene Krupa.

Have you considered joining a model railway club, obviously this could depend on your location. You can at least judge some models close up and talk to owners, if you actually want to build a layout, start small, don't weather or tinker with stock. That way it can still be sold off if you decided UK OO is not for you.

I don't normally post pictures of something I haven't finished, but as a few commented at the club last night were favourable I thought I'd share a couple of images here. Firstly I made a bit of a error with this loco, I didn't test it before weathering and so forgot it came "DCC fitted". By the time I tested it yesterday I realised the decoder needed to come out(Dewsbury is DC)but I'd secured the pipe work and couldn't get the body off! I finished up cutting some of the pipe work from the top of the firebox to the injectors below the cab. This actually worked in my favour as I got a much better finish using insulated wire as a replacement. Anyway glazing, coal, crew and a front coupling just to finish. The real 43132 was an ScR loco before transfer to Wakefield in '63, where it spent about 11 months.

Cheers, Phil. Only another 6 to do, D1, D165 both green SYE and 4 blue Gateshead Derby type4's! D186 is the base model for 3 whilst the current headcode class 46 will get a backdate. I should really make a jig for the wire bending.

The remaining 3876 pictures are here https://www.flickr.com/photos/28630680@N06/albums/72177720296261727

Now we find Holbeck Peak 30 on a parcels.

After prompting from Phil I've now modified the nose end hand grabs, non of the buffer beam pipe work is Baccy. Main res pipes are just thin single core wire, vac pipe is good old guitar steel wire (flea bay £2.95 for a set) steam pipe is from the Dapol Western and airbrake pipe is from that famous box of left overs we've all got! There is glazing in front of the 3E. See Dewsbury Midland for more piccies soon.

See the other Baccy class 45 thread for my detailed front end (D)30 with dual brakes. Picture taken this afternoon.

The Bachmann 08 has had some minor work, mainly under the front end. The vac pipes were made up from guitar strings plus the twin air tanks were repostioned, closing in the centre gap, moving back and adding the pipe across the front face connecting the two. Also the brace has been added across the front steps, there's a driver in there too.

Time for quick update, 3876 arrives at Dewsbury Midland on a trip working from Healey Mills. The loco spent most of 1971 based at HM, here we see it trundle through the station and towards Huddesfield, before returning to the yard. A total of 15 images will be on Flickr shortly. Coming up, D30 on a parcels and a return to steam with 43132 from Mirfield.

I was informed before retirement 5 years ago that ERTMS had little to do with real capacity increases (a bonus) but was really all about cost savings. I came into contact a few times a year with someone who was directly responsible for writing the new rules, although they worked for a major TOC this was a sideline as a consultant to NR. It was clear back then that the costs in training for TOCS was going to be considerable, only a portion was going to be subsidised by NR. Their prime motivation was the ultimate removal of expensive to maintain lineside signalling equipment and the creation of what was termed "a sterile trackside" environment. The first part was the roll out and reliability of GSMR (cost savings to TOCS, increased DOO full passenger operation)with full onboard train to signaller communication. I remember being told that, as a depot, we would encounter this within five years on the Reading/Didcot corridor. One of the reasons the new signalling remained 3 aspect in places? The sterile trackside environment was talked about both in terms of risk reduction but also an acknowledgement that drivers would be concentrated on a screen and the observation and control of matching actual speed to required speed. Particularly with regard to signal markers requiring a stop or major speed reduction, a complete change of in the way we drove. The capacity increase was deemed to come from the ability for the computers to squeeze up rolling blocks by speed matching of trains, easy to do on TGV style routes, but on mixed traffic routes, who knows?