Chris Turnbull

Snap, so am I. Some are mine, some are my father's and some my wife's. These tend to be the easy ones. There are others taken by sundry relatives and friends and, whilst either my wife or I may know who, of the where and when we haven't a clue. Even the who isn't always easy. I started it because I felt it was important to have a digitised record of our family history. One day my wife and I will not be here and, although we both hope this won't be for many years, once we go our knowledge goes with us unless we keep a record. Our eldest daughter (and my brother) are the family archivists and she has several photographs of what we assume are our Victorian ancestors. Unfortunately we have no names. "I would love to know who they are," she has said to me. Chris Turnbull

I've been waiting for the weather to dry up and warm up. Well, its dry but hardly warm, at least not in the east, but nevertheless I thought it was about time I got my trusty camera out again. Yesterday, the 19th April 2024, my darling wife and I went to Woodbridge for an hour or so. Whilst she emptied all the charity shops I was allowed to visit the station. This is 755420 forming 2D83, the 13.06 from Lowestoft to Ipswich entering Woodbridge station. Fifteen minutes later 755416 came in with 2D82, the 13.16 Ipswich to Lowestoft.. I had waited in glorious sunshine for this shot but just before the train appeared, the sun went behind a cloud. Oh, the joys of photography! Today, the 20th, I wandered over to Trimley station whilst my wife was buying up a local car boot sale. Saturday is not as busy as a weekday but it has its moments. One of the footpaths from Felixstowe to Trimley takes you across Blofield track crossing and it was there that I caught 66778 Chambois Depot 25 Years on 4M29 Felixstowe North to Birch Coppice. This was running early and it caught me unawares such that I forgot to switch the automatic focus on. I did think it might be a bit blurred but it seems to be OK to my eye. Fifteen minutes later saw me on Trimley Station. I just missed 4L02 the Hams Hall to Felixstowe North freight - the level crossing lights were flashing as the crossing hove into view so I knew that there wasn't a snowflake's chance in Hell of me getting there in time to take a shot - but I did catch 755413 forming 2R10, the 9.58 Ipswich to Felixstowe. And this is the same unit on the return working, 2R11, the 10.28 Felixstowe to Ipswich. The last train of the morning was 66782 on 4E22, Felixstowe South to Peterborough North Yard. After that there was a fair wait for the next working and, as the weather was somewhat chilly (bloody cold, actually), I decided enough was enough! Chris Turnbull

Here is D6746 at March on 8th July 1968. Pretty conclusive I think! Chris Turnbull

Another more recent photo taken on 9th May 2007 Chris Turnbull

Yes, I think you are right. Here's a later photo of it on 8th December 2017 taken whilst my wife and I were on a Turkey and Tinsel holiday with Lochs and Glens at their Loch Awe Hotel, just above the station. Chris Turnbull

A lovely station, Embsay. A credit to all concerned. Here's a more recent photo, 14th September 2022, with Beatrice entering the platform. Chris Turnbull

Whilst not a dockside crane as such, this container offloading crane gives a good idea of its size compared to an 08. 08531 and crane at Felixstowe North on 7th October 2022. Chris Turnbull

It's been a while since I last posted anything on this topic and the reason is simple - I haven't had any railway adventures recently. That changed in this last week when my darling wife and I had a coach trip to Cornwall. The weather wasn't too good as you will see from the photos, nor did I have my Canon with me, but I did have my trusty mobile on which I managed to capture a few shots. On the morning of 13th February 800027 forms the 10.50 to Cardiff Central. Looking the other way towards London you can see how gloomy the weather was. After Penzance we headed to St Ives where I caught 150265 forming the 14.33 to St Erth. The original station was a much more central and grander affair and was situated behind me. It's now a car park and St Ives is spoilt by the traffic clogging up the streets. Here's a closer shot of 150265 awaiting departure. The next day we were at Padstow where only the station building remains. The station and the fish sidings have been turned into a car park giving rise to the same problem as St Ives. It is hard to imagine the Atlantic Coast Express starting here although there are plenty of photos elsewhere on the internet. The Disused Stations website is good. We were staying in Newquay so I thought I'd stroll down to the station to catch the 15.10 to Par only to find that it had been cancelled leaving a four-hour gap between trains. Newquay on 14th February. The next day we were in Falmouth where the trains were running although the ticket machine was out of order. This is Falmouth Town with 150232 forming the 14.06 to Falmouth Docks. I had a short ride to the Docks where 150232 formed the 14.15 to Truro. Chris Turnbull

Rich is quite entitled to have his money back or a new replacement tip - and Amazon are usually very good at this. I have returned quite a few of my Amazon purchases for various reasons and have never had any trouble, unlike some suppliers. However, if I understand Rich correctly, he is concerned that the same thing will happen again and, on reading through various reviews on Amazon, I find that he is not alone in his experience. Also, as I said in my earlier post, I have seen reports of similar problems on both this forum and on other ones so he is wise to be concerned. As it happens I have just this afternoon made myself another tip for my 25W iron (to a different profile) from the copper rod I bought the other year. If it lasts as long as my other copper tips it could well outlast me! Half-an-hour's work produced this. Chris Turnbull

Yes, good choice. Looking again at your iron, it is similar to my 25W the bit of which is a screw fit. Being an old iron, I had a job to get it out and had to soak it well with easing oil IIRC. Yours is newer so may not be a problem. Having done that I then threaded the copper rod 2BA. You may well find that yours is a metric thread, either way you will need a suitable die. Copper is very "sticky" so take it slowly, half a turn, back off a quarter, half a turn again and so on. I mucked up one piece of copper by being too eager! Chris Turnbull

This isn't the first time this problem has been aired. My suggestion then and now is to treat yourself to, say, six inches of copper rod of a suitable diameter to fit your iron. You can machine or file the tip to whatever profile you want and have several tips of various shapes if you desire which you can interchange. A couple of years ago the tip on my 120W iron was showing signs of distress after many years use so I replaced that and was so pleased with the results I did the same for my 25W iron which must be 55 to 60 years old. Copper rod is available from any model engineering supplier. It's not cheap but will give you many years of faithful service. Chris Turnbull

Yes, it is 42085 and that is Mayflower next to it except that it wasn't called Mayflower when I took the photo - it was just 61306. The name wasn't applied until after preservation and was originally carried by 61379. For more photos like this check out my Archives topic, link below. Regards Chris Turnbull

I've posted this photo before but here it is again as it gives a very good idea of what coal looks like. Carnforth on 8th July 1968. Chris Turnbull

Or Bedford, perhaps. I have the Sectional Appendix for 1947 and there's nothing in there. I would have thought the signal box diagram is the place to look. Chris Turnbull

I always wondered what the theatres on those signals displayed. B for Bletchley I assume. Does anyone know what the others were? Chris Turnbull