mcowgill

Gravity slate trains on the FR continued until passenger trains were suspended in WW2.  

Up until that point the empties went back up on the rear of passenger trains and the loaded slates then worked back under gravity.   Once the passenger trains were suspended the empties had to be hauled up on their own so to avoid a wasted light engine run back down they were hauled both ways.

Martin

Anyone seen my wallet?   I last saw it scuttling off into a dark corner making a whimpering sound...

Perhaps my BR(GE) branch can manage without one.... 

Reading has such an arrangement (platforms 5, 6, 7, 8, at least that's what they used to be when I knew it, on the 'middle aisle'). Numbering of platforms tends to be inherited, and it's only in modern-ish times that some stations have found it convenient to resort to platforms '1a', '1b', etc. Leeds, I think is an example. Places that used to have scissors crossovers in the middle of long platforms, Cambridge, Oxford etc, need legitimate ways of distinguishing where passengers need to go. Horses for courses, I guess.

 

Modern corporate thinking can be very silly though - the original proposals for the redevelopment of Stratford was to number the new platforms as 10a, 10b, 10c, 10d and 10e or something like that. A couple of well-timed comments to the Department of Transport soon put a stop to such absurd thinking.

Being brought up travelling when platforms had proper numbers I missed a train at Stratford a few weeks ago, assuming that 10a was one end of 10, so running I headed up the steps to 10a just as my train ran into 10...  :-(

Due to the lower speed, it will normally be used only on Kings X - Newark or Leeds services, though is cleared for all EC routes as the 91s

(except, apparently they're prohibited from Hitchin Flyover, and in event of any Cambridge diversion must use the flat junction).

 

I suspect the lack of wires between Ely and Peterborough will be more of an issue for electric locos used on VEC Cambridge diversions

The Holographic Principle -  Epica

from what ive read theres some disputes going on there

 

WHHR helped F&WHR build some of the line under an agreement of running rights, then after it was finished, F&WHR apparently ignored them and started running the line. though things have been slowly getting better between them since then

The WHHR wasn't able raise sufficient funds to construct the section that they had agreed which would have taken them all the way to Pont Croesor, in the end only about half of the section was built up to a temporary loop, as a result the F&WHR had a section to build which wasn't budgeted for in the grand scheme.

There are unlikely to be any nuclear waste trains, although there's the possibility of constructions materials being brought in if anything ever happened at Trawsfynydd.

Waste trains have stopped running to Sizewell now that the A station has been largely decommissioned, nothing runs in relation to the newer B station - it has never sent a single flask of waste in 20 years of use, it is all stored on site and a new store was recently opened that will hold a further 20 years spent fuel.

Martin

F.E.A.R. by Marillion

There aren't two standard guage platform faces at Blaenau, the other platforms are both 2' gauge

Martin

Reported to be 660 vehicles from Bombardier Derby and around 400 Swiss built Stadler bi-modes.

I met Christopher Trace while he still was a Blue Peter presenter at (I think) an Easter (?) Harrogate model railway exhibition, must have been fairly shortly before he left the show as I was only 5 at that time.  Somewhere I've still got a signed Blue Peter annual that Dad bought for me that day.

Martin

That gives me more time to save up  

Have a look at this old topic, some interesting photos and details, I knew I had posted a couple of photos somewhere

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/28869-a-bullion-van-other-storage-facilities/

Martin

Maybe I am being dense but why? it isn't like we are coupling them to HO stock? The NEM Kadees fit into the pocket, my issue is that I now have NEM pockets at different heights depending on age of model and manufacturer. 

There are two critical dimensions with a Kadee coupler, the height of the knuckle so it can couple to other vehicles and the height of the trip pin above the rails to allow the magnets to open the knuckle.  If the NEM pocket was at a different height to the existing standard Kadee would have to tool up a duplicate range for 00 with different length trip pins.

Martin

Shunting the Ffestiniog Railway Victorian train early in the morning after it was stabled outside overnight.

Martin

Finally gave in to temptation and have ordered D5000 with sound, perhaps if I wrap it up and put it under the christmas tree nobody will ask any questions when it appears?

Martin

An issue with the timescale and plans announced yesterday is that we need to build new gas power stations which will then be at risk of early closure before they have paid for themselves to meet future carbon emissions targets.

I would have thought it better to push for more biomass and renewables power generation while winding down coal rather than switching to short term imported fossil fuels.

Martin 

Essence by Panic Room (then off to see them in Cambridge tonight)

Martin

When I got home yesterday there was a loco shaped box waiting for me.  As I had a prior appointment at the Royal Albert Hall to see David Gilmour I resisted the temptation to open it until this morning - looks wonderful.

However - I've just received an email from that well known Liverpool emporium to say my D16/3 has been shipped, but yesterday's box came from points South-West.   Looks like I forgot about my pre-order and ordered another one at some point.   Oh well, the only thing better than a D16/3 is two D16/3s!

Looks like one will need renumbering.

Martin

Secrets of Angels by Karnataka seems to be on repeat after seeing them last night in Islington!

Martin

The brake hangers/blocks aren't right for the Ivatt pacifics - the only things I can think of that had anything like that were Bulleid pacifics.

Martin

No 700s AFAIK. My credit card is back in its holster.     

I've just found mine whimpering quietly in a corner, hiding behind one of my GER branch books...

My K1 has turned up from Sheffield (probably via the GN&GE line then cross-country to Ipswich!) and while there's a bit of a viennese waltz gentle rise and fall going on with the footplate it's only really noticeable when it meets a straight-edge.   I'm happy to leave it alone for the moment.

While trying not to get into the banned area of politics, I believe that with East Anglia being mostly made up of safe/large majority parliamentary constituencies has meant that the line has been starved of investment for many years as there's little political incentive to improve things.

As a reasonably regular leisure user of Abellio's services the general impression of both the Mk3 and 321 stock is that they are grubby and uncared for.  When you see the standards that other operators are able to maintain their Mk3 stock you realise how poor the Norwich sets are in comparison.

The area is desperate for investment, my office backs on to the Felixstowe branch with it's constant flow of intermodal trains to and from the docks.  There is a huge amount of freight that needs to run either along the GEML or cross-country via Ely, the GEML can't cope with the inevitable delays that mixing 70mph freights, stopping passenger services and the 100mph Norwich trains is going to cause on a double track line.  The Ely/Cambridge line doesn't have enough capacity to take much more freight and without the Hitchin - Bedford link doesn't provide an alternative route for many Felixstowe services.

The DfT needs to wake up to the fact that GEML and access to from Felixstowe is critical to the national economy and needs investment.   Now don't get me started on the road alternative, the A14...

Martin

My Aug/Sept 'Hornby Collector' (yes, I'll apologize now!) arrived yesterday. Pages 12 & 13 carry an article on the Hornby models of some preserved Kings, Castles and a Star.  Their latest King is R3102, 6023 King Ed II, released in 2012.  There is no mention in the mag of any imminent planned release of another King.

 

However, the larger-than-life front cover picture is of the blue 6023 with a very visible 32A shedplate  . Do I correctly recall a fairly recent release of an Eastern Region loco with an 81A plate - if so, it seems that finely detailed models can produce their own sets of problems on the production line!  Someone should have gone to S------vers! ​ .

 

I suppose we'll just have to wait and see! Long live the King!

 

Richard

Hornby just need to be careful when looking at photos, 6023 carried a 32A shedplate for some of it's time on the Mid Norfolk Railway, it's prototypically correct for a very short period but someone ought to pick up on things like that before they go to production and use a more appropriate plate.

Martin