OnTheBranchline

In Great Western Railway Journal No 46. Spring 2003, former fireman Bob Crump talks about being at Reading from 1948-1959 writes about an amusing incident: "Occasionally, when we had a rough engine, we'd stop at Moreton-in-Marsh for water and I would try to make a can of tea while the tank was being filled, but will fail to do so because the kettle didn't boil in time! One night I tried shouting at the bobby in Honeybourne box to ask the bobby at Moreton to have the kettle on for us. We thought no more about it until, when dropping down into Moreton station, we came to a sudden stop without applying the brake. I was pulling coal forward when his happened and ended up knee deep in lumps. What had happened was that the signalman at Honeybourne misunderstood what I had called out and had attached a banker to our train without our realizing. It was the banker that stopped us. Its crew didn't want to go any further and we never got the can of tea!" Did this ever happen in practice or was this story written possibly for the benefit of the reader?

In Great Western Railway Journal No. 45 Winter 2003, R.S. Potts writes about a working on the Snow Hill to Aberystwyth where the working pulled into Moat Lane and the stationmaster shouted to 'take the staff out of the magazine' and the Tyseley crew didn't know what he meant. The stationmaster then asked "haven't you done this before?" and from the silence knew what the answer was. R.S. Potts then wrote that the stationmaster was probably thinking (in Welsh, of course) how dense the Tyseley men were. Then later in the article on the return working, the driver then remarks that they are back "now we're on a proper railway" joining the Hereford line at Sutton Bridge Junction. I guess it would be no different than people at one company in a similar field thinking negatively of another company. Were there any two sheds that were notable for their bad relations? Edit: I've also read about sheds thinking of 'devious' ways to keep a "good 'un" on the shed and not returned to its actual shed.

I've noticed in a bunch of YouTube videos that double heading can be a bit difficult in model form. - In one video: two 45xx's haul a load of coaches - it's noticeable that the 2nd 45xx is going at a faster rate. - In another video: a 42xx and bigger engine (4-6-0 but not sure which one) are running together and the 42xx is dillydallying in front, probably due to the lower gearing, and the 4-6-0 is going like it's trying to break the speed record. It's unclear if these layouts are DC or DCC - I would think that DCC makes double heading a bit easier. Having two of the same engine class would probably be best because then the relative performance is the same.

i find whatever styling or QC issues Hornby has, they make up for it for being stellar runners.

F1 in talks to overhaul sprint format for 2024 why not just have fan voting - the driver whose fans vote for their driver the most, gets special boost - that’ll get them watching! 🤪

George is a good-very good driver but he’s not great (yet). He’s definitely been shaded by Hamilton this year.

It’s not like they would have gone faster with the rain anyway since the first runs in Q3 were in the dry.

Funny thing, everyone jumps on Max but George is just as bad - in his case wanting for the team to help him get past Hamilton.

I know that they never actually wore black - just thought it would have been an interesting ‘what if’ scenario.

Other than placing at a height that they can't easily reach and maybe having a border around it. I'm tempted to sacrifice operational creativity in order to have a smaller roundy-roundy layout in a lockable room so that they (3 and 1 year old) can't go to it. Or am I overthinking it?

Clearly you've never smelt the other pundits at the exhibition...

Black Class 08: "it's been 34 days and they seem to have adopted me into their clan"... 😆

My Wellington post war GW Castle has BR steam pipes… 😔

Is there anything majorly wrong time period or unprototypical about the Caldicot Castle release with the small tender?

Two countries actually removed when they invaded another country. And apartheid to get another one removed...

Were there any major changes for the Bogie Bolster wagons from service in GWR to BR service? Other can I just paint it GWR grey, slap some decals on it and call it a day? Or are there any big difference in the Ratio kit bogie bolster and the Bachmann RTR one?

I assume not that often but I thought I would ask since I came across a story from Great Western Railway Journal magazine no 43 (Summer 2007) p160 where former fireman Bob Crump tells a story about taking an inspection special from Reading to Fairford and were given a special request on the way back: "After attaching the saloon, we were asked if we could go to Reading as fast as was safe to do so in order to catch a certain train to Paddington. Tom said yes, I was told to put up A headlamps and we were off, dropping the pilotman off in Oxford. We made a dash for Reading and at Didcot they turned us out main line, and did the old Dean Goods fly! We came to a stop on the up platform road at Reading well in time for them to catch their train. Tom received 2/6d and I received 2/-d - this would buy me 12 cups of tea". [Applies to both Big 4 & BR]

Red Bull confirm Verstappen bodyguards over Mexico safety fears

in theory, could he have not just bought a better in shape Western and put Western Yeoman on it?

was this what you were thinking of? Exeter railway station for sale

Just remember to: Mind The Gap. I’ll get me coat. 😛

AP News Column: F1 bosses say Andretti snub isn’t personal even though it feels like and looks like a grudge "Andretti can make a case that keeping him out of F1 is indeed personal: Three different people with direct knowledge of the conversations confirmed to AP that F1 asked General Motors if it would partner with someone other than Andretti." Egg meet face 🤦‍♂️ FOM continues to embarrass itself.

Man, I didn’t expect a kind of Spanish Inquisition… 😆