Fat Controller

Looking at the many views of both dock, and on-street , tracks in 'The Nevill's Dock and Railway Company', no checkrails are evident. The most recent photos date from the mid-1960s.

We used to live near the line, in a village called Clara Vale, for ten years until 1991. In those days, there were lots of freights running day and night; sadly, I don't think there are many these days, though the passenger service is fairly busy, at least as far as Hexham. I'd recommend looking for locations centred on Wylam; at least you can nip in the Boathouse, next to the station, if it turns inclement (which it can do..) I look forward to seeing some photos on here.

From the late 1940s until the end of the 1960s, my father managed a building and civil engineering firm. One of his clients had worries about their main sewer backing up and aske dad if he could come up with a way of clearing the blockage without any disruption. One of the 'boys' suggested pushing a stick of Gelignite, and associated fuse, as far as it would go into the drain. The charge was lashed to the end of a piece of pipe, and inserted. Dad sent someone to the river end of the outfall, with instructions to keep out of the way, but to shout once there was some movement visible.. Regrettably, the person stood just in front; it took a lot of scrubbing to get the muck off him...

From observation, the various Gunpowder Vans were replaced by VDAs on commercial flows, such as that to Black Callerton. VEAs were dedicated to MoD traffic, and not solely explosives; I have been told of loads comprising Dexion shelving and cans of paint. There is one flow that hasn't been mentioned; that of detonators for railway use. I've no idea where, and by whom, they were manufactured, but they were sent to yards and railway centres around the country.

I saw it on 'Tomorrow's World' back in the days when Raymond Baxter was the lead presenter. I didn't watch the Royal Society Lectures until fairly recently, though I can imagine them doing something like this.

C190 is hauled by a Class 44, not a Class 45.

Given the typical slopes, it's astonishing they make any saleable quantity. Tracked tractors, rather than wheeled ones, are the norm, whilst many farms have either funiculars or cable-cars to the cavé. The only other place I've seen like it is the Ligurian coast, east of Genoa.

The factory was in the ZI Marcel Doret, Calais, between Central Calais and Marck; I don't know if there's a factory shop. However, it won't be there much longer:- https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/feb/23/last-dedicated-meccano-factory-to-close-in-france

'Bring me a shrubbery...'

Thanks for posting that; I don't know why the BBC didn't mention it

BBC News had the attached on their Welsh news site today. I thought it might be of interest:- https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cxr0eg9drepo

I've seen it on some GWR passenger stock; presumably something to do with the lubrication to be used? Might the vehicle with the blue tops have received bogies from one of these?

There was often 'lairage' facilities within even the Modernisation period yards, such as Margam.

Alongside his folk-singing, Fred was a lecturer in Social Work at Bristol Poly, as it then was.

Quite a few of the vans seem to have vertical white stripes on the side, suggesting they might be another South Waliam staple, the Shocvan.

Weren't his family Quakers? In which case might he be excused firearms training, if he possessed other skills the military might be desperate for?

https://www.google.com/search?q=banbury+custard+explosion&rlz=1C1VDKB_en-GBGB1001GB1001&oq=Custard+explosion&aqs=chrome.2.0i512j0i15i22i30j0i22i30l3j0i390l2.14113j0j15&sour

If it were an open for merchandise traffic, wouldn't it normally have the 'sack-truck door', which was angled outwards at the bottom?

If using passenger-rated stock, please make sure the van has a stove. This might be an ex-SR Van B or BY, or an ex-LMS 6-wheel Stove R. There would be no way of using the steam-heating from the loco, even if it worked..

I spent a day up there around this time of year, back in the late 1980s, measuring wagons. It must be one of the coldest places on God's earth! Those ALCAN wagons next to the crane were the last unfitted wagons built to run on the national network; I believe they were built in the 1970s.

The Millstone Grit is to be found under the Carboniferous Coal Measures throughout the UK; Apart from road surfacing, it was used to make refractory linings for blast furnaces etc. (and Millstones, of course)

The reference to 'Cable St' also refers to his old boss, Sam Vimes, a direct nod to Terry Pratchett. He mentions it when offering the WPC a cigarette, following the shooting at the bank siege. I had a Polaroid in 1972; two of my A-level subjects involved a lot of fieldwork and attendant photography, and dad reckoned it would save having to go back to sites when I'd found out that shots hadn't worked.

Until the 1940s, lime mortar was used in brickwork; it was normally made of a mixture of burnt lime and ash. Post WW2, it was largely replaced by Portland Cement. It's still used in agriculture; Until the 1990s, Ferryhill (Co Durham) was sending trainloads of magnesium limestone to various locations in Scotland. Here in Kent, burnt chalk is spread after ploughing. My grandfather used to tell me this was to break down the clay.

I believe it was Alnmouth station that boasted two 21t hopper bodies on RSJs as the 'bagging plant'; they lasted until after the ECML electrification was completed.