talisman56

With the closure of the nearby Royal Mail building (many years ago) and the recent removal of the associated bridges and buildings on the platforms, the 'Up' end of BTM is a lot less cluttered nowadays...

Apart from a late railtour operated by 3053 in early May, the Belle units were stripped of their electrics and other reusable items and sold off for reuse relatively quickly, compared with other units withdrawn about that time, which tended to lie about in various places (Gatwick South down sidings, Ford, Barnham, etc) accumulating dirt and damage before being towed to Selhurst for stripping and despatch to their final destination, so the picture is prior to the end of April 1972. Looking at other details on the end of the CIG, I notice a 'Class 421/?' sticker and a 'BTON' allocation sticker. As the latter was a very recent innovation (formal stock allocations were listed as 'new' in an appendix dated April 1972 in my 'revised editon' Mallaband 'Electrical Multiple Units of BR' 1972), I am minded to revise my remembrance of the event and redate it to the last Sunday of 'Belle' service, 30 April 1972. This was a celebration event and I wouldn't have been surprised to see the appearance in it of various 'period' features.

As Oldddudders said, the 'VEP' is a 'CIG'. IIRC there was an 'Open Day' at Brighton station sometime in 1971 at which various railway rolling stock and road transport were displayed. The 'BEL' would have had less than 12 months left in service - it was outshopped in Blue/Grey livery at the end of May 1969 and would be withdrawn with its two sister units after thir last day in service on Sunday 30 April 1972. The CIG would be approximately 7 years old.

I do recall from the early 70s when the recorded station announcements were not always reliable (or there was something amiss with the schedule, a more likely reason) that one of the station staff was known to announce ' Hay'ds Heaf, this is Hay'ds Heaf...'

Having not seen that acronym before, I Googled 'ECTS' and after trawling through all the references to the 'European Credit Transfer [and Accumulation] System', I realised the above reference should be 'ETCS' ('European Train Control System')...

Can't find a '3' to stick on the front of your loco? Cut an '8' in half...

A new way of enforcing 'social distancing'?

But then no issue with smoke obscuring the driver's view of the road ahead...

C15409 - an eminently modellable PW train...

Just the right width for a motorcycle or disability scooter...

Is the fact that most of the trucks hitting the beam in the 11' 8" videos are rental ones telling? "My usual vehicle passes under it..." The raising of the bridge by 8" hasn't stopped the carnage. There have been at least three videos released of vehicles having things trimmed off the top of them since the work was completed.

Getting into my latest game passion - making airports with Airport CEO and hoping they don't disappear under the weight of the PAX and my bad scheduling...

Similar to this one?

H&S nowadays would be having a fit and several litters of kittens over the positioning of that model...

Stay on the M4? A predecessor to the Magic Roundabout in the 'awkward junctions' category I encountered on a regular basis long before the MR was conceived is the 'S(c)illy Isles' A307/A309 junction at the western end of the Kingston bypass...

Not one which would have much end-to-end custom, I think...

The right wheels are obviously flangeless...

...and appropriate 'social distancing'...?

Looks like this tamper has been dumped in the corner of a field...

We used to get odd ones in the Bristol area that pulled the blind down behind the driver's seat so one couldn't see what they were doing (wrong...?), causing a rush for the seats on the second man's side of the front row...

I didn't recognise the narrator's voice as that of Chris Tarrant...!!

The low-window Maunsells that were built for the Newhaven services kept pretty much to those services until about 1954, when the seconds and second brakes were downgraded to thirds and seemed to be incorporated into general user pool, along with the associated firsts and thirds. After that, the Newhaven boat train seemed to attract a motley combination of stock, including 'Continental' brakes, high-window Maunsells and the occasional Bulleid third or composite, from the pictures I have seen over the years. However, I've come across this one from 1950... From flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/johnmightycat/36617146343

I have one, SWMBO has seen it, and said that it confirms her suspicions about what happens everytime she speaks to me...

Many thanks to all for (not) putting on this exhibition for the rest of us to (not) attend. I have only one complaint - as one for whom the pastry on all the aforementioned pies and pasties are a diet-killer, there were not any of the excellent sausage-based refreshments that were available a few years ago...

I wonder how long before bits start dropping off the bridge due to bow-shock and vibration...