Not Captain Kernow

The Class 488 Isle of Wight stock certainly had some main line running during testing and driver training as some of these from Haslemere show...

Tragically I believe the child in the car died of injuries sustained unless I misread the report.

Class 47 Diesel number 47 981 at Cricklewood on 20th July 1997. What are all those guys in the background doing? Oops... This may take a while to sort out... Good job I brought my grab bag with some sandwiches as this may go on a while! With two lines already blocked with a relaying job having this in the dirt blocking the remaining open lines was no fun. How many buses does it take to carry everyone from London to St Albans on a Sunday...

I haven't seen Peter for many years but we still exchange Christmas cards and have a chat from time to time. I was privileged to have worked for Jim as Thameslink MD, then Cliff Perry who was our next MD, then Euan Cameron, then Keith Ludeman and finally Mark Causebrook. I last bumped into Cliff at the NRM at York a few years back. We once shared a taxi from our office to West Hampstead when there was some shambles in progress with the OHLE but instead of planning out possible train services we spent the time talking about potential improvements to his OO layout! I see Jim fairly regularly and also Mark, but haven't seen Euan or Keith for a long time. You are certainly right about the loss of talent Ian, although quite a lot of them would reappear as consultants in due course!

"You want one of these? Gonna cost you then Guv innit!" Peter Foot and Amira El Kheir from Thameslink meet with some Merseyrail staff to inspect some stored Class 508s to see if they could be adapted for Thameslink use on the Wimbledon loop. Peter was Area Freight Manager at St Blazey when I first tried to join the railway and he directed me to London Waterloo where they were awash with vacancies. Five years later I was sat in front of him and Jim Collins at Friars Bridge Court being interviewed for my first management job with Thameslink. I seem to remember telling them I was busted before I started because they had already turned me down in Cornwall, and then spending the entire interview talking about railways in Cornwall! Must have made an impression as I got the job and Peter went on to teach me all about capacity planning. He did a pretty good job with that as well as I ended up getting his job a few years later! The only thing I am not sure about here is the location. I think we were at Kineton but all these visits to secure sites have merged into one in my memory. I remember it was a job to sneak a few pictures and it was only because our escort vanished for a few minutes that I managed to take three or four on this day. I think Peter and the Merseyrail chap are looking out for his return!

08 644 shunting a rake of Mk1s into what is now the Morrisons store at Long Rock but in 1985 was carriage sidings The same 08 644 at Penzance in 1984. The naming ceremony for "Debbie" involved a bottle of milk being smashed over the buffers! The modern incarnation of an 08 at Penzance - 08 410 in June 2012 Some 08s at Laira - 08 953 and 08 645 in 1989 At Kings Cross - 08 724 in 1989 An 09 on the linkspan at Dover - 09 020 in 1993 Another 08 shunting at Woking - 08 847 in 1993 and every minute it is out of the yard adds to Les Hayden's overtime! One at Cleethorpes. I never saw it move for the whole two weeks we were there - 08 743 in 1985 with the Barton Class 105 passing. An 08 coming off the old Louth route at Grimsby about to pass Garden Street - 08 508 in 1981 An 08 returning from Par Harbour crossing the level crossing outside St Blazey 08 792 in December 1993. Later the same day it heads back into Par Harbour A Freightliner 08 at Southampton Maritime - 08 624 in 2010.

Some Network Rail chap at Looe ordering Ambrosia custard...

The Ghost of Christmas Possessions Present at Roskear yesterday. A lonnnnnng exposure needed as it was dark and a Network Rail dude walked in and out of shot during this creating the "ghost" effect!

He also has what looks like a Hornby OO model of a Mallard on his desk! An episode of Wycliffe was filmed at Wendford Clay Dries, with several shots in various locations within the works and around the road entrance. I forget if the Class 08 and clay wagons that was on site was actually in the show or if I just remember them being there when it was filmed. The earlier mentioned Yes Minister featuring the Deltic and Mk1 sleepers is visual only, the sound effects of the Deltic departing seem to be from a Class 101 DMU! 101 Dalmations with Glenn Close presumably features some sort of train at St Pancras, as they filmed extensively one weekend. Unfortunately for London & Continental they chose to allow them access on a weekend when Thameslink was shut and everything was in and out of St Pancras with buses onwards. Trying to guide train loads of passengers through a concourse with thousands of cables and fake snow everywhere was something of a challenge, but I never saw the film to see what they did with the footage.

At Bedford Carriage Sidings, Neville Ankers with his 40 year long service certificate. Richard Dean can just be made out in the cab having wound the headcode to an appropriate number! Neville must have passed on so much knowledge to so many over the years, his favourite being "if you assume everybody out there is a f***witt you will never go far wrong". He also retiled my kitchen so a man of many talents!

Technicians from AEA Technology fitting SmartSanders to a Thameslink Class 319 unit at Selhurst Depot, one of the last projects I was responsible for before leaving the railway.

Ivor Outtram trudges into my shot at Penzance in 1985. What HV vest??

Crossing keeper at Exeter St Davids. Cannot remember his name now, but spent 2 hours work experience here after my first interview with Roy Slack at Exeter Central about a job at Par.

Not old enough to know any railway staff when this was taken at Camborne in 1984, but sure some of our Cornish members may recognise the driver?

I think you should be prepared for the list of things to be checked to be very large! For example the Class 319 fleet the maintenance document (DM319) which detailed everything to be checked at every stage ran to in excess of 1000 pages and an electric unit is relatively simple compared to a diesel loco.