AberdeenBill

Aberdeen to Inverurie is now being re-doubled. Bill

(delete duplicate post)

Hi all, Assuming the link works, I refer you to this fine photo of Penistone in 1976 with class 76s galore, but please can somebody explain the signalling with a 'shunt forward' (?) arm below the home signal and just beyond it two miniature arms. Note also the home + distant combination at the start of the other platform, which might be criticised in a model... https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2003594579653455&set=gm.2044123555828910&type=3&theater Thanks, Bill

C711: how common was a Deltic running light engine (apart from depot to station)? Bill

Some light reading here... https://archive.org/details/sanitaryenginee00woodgoog There are dozens(!) of similar books on archive.org Bill

Hi all, NO idea if this has been posted before (sorry if it has...) but at the very end of this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ppIcD_8HSQ we see an interesting Indian Railways guard's/brake van obviously inspired by the LNER/British Railways design. Bill

Hi all, On a business trip from Aberdeen to Edinburgh on Thursday I saw two 'short' (5-car) HSTs, one in the new Scotrail livery just entering Aberdeen station as we were leaving and one (de-branded FGW colours) stabled in the high-level sidings at Dundee (sorry, didn't get numbers). What is the latest situation with short HSTs in Scotland? There's an interesting article here re various depot modifications needed: https://www.railengineer.uk/2018/04/05/changing-trains-in-scotland/ Thanks, Bill

Fascinating views. What exactly was the test car testing? Thanks, Bill

Fantastic. Interesting to see the dominance of diesels. Bill

I remember seeing some of the 3003-3019 FO batch in the 1970s with 'door not in use' branding on the centre doors. Any idea which service Sc3007 was allocated to initially? Thanks, Bill

Those are impressive flows, tonnage-wise. Any idea what the sand is used for (glass making?) Thanks, Bill

Hi all, I refer you to this accident report: http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/documents/BoT_BournemouthCentral1900.pdf A driver misread signals, which led to a low-speed collision but thankfully nobody was hurt. The interesting bit is fireman Horton's evident (page 2 of the PDF) where he refers to a green lamp on the left and white lamp on the right of his loco. Does anybody have further information re coloured head lamps? Thanks, Bill

The first 1951 batch of Mk 1 RKs were anthracite fired and several went very early, such as the token example (S 80009) allocated to the Southern Region for the Royal Wessex set. Conversely there were some new builds of essentially Mk 1 design for 4-Rep motor coaches in 1973-4. Bill

I think some builds were contaminated with asbestos. Cravens comes to mind? There was also a move away from compartment stock. It would be interesting to see the actual withdrawal numbers. Bill

Hi all, I fear that I'm becoming addicted to the live maps in OpenTrainTimes. My favourites include Hinton Admiral to Micheldever and the Stafford area, where (to my non-expert eyes) the signallers make the most of flexible signalling and reversible running to keep trains moving on very busy lines. As an example, below is a screenshot from tonight (27 Jan 2018) when Southampton Central was very congested and 2R62 (Salisbury to Romsey) and 2B62 (Southampton to Basingstoke) set off simultaneously into Southampton tunnel and ran parallel to Northam Junction, where 2R62 was put into the loop and 2B62 switched from down to the up main. A few moments later, 1E68 (Southampton to York) and 2E52 (Southampton to Portsmouth) departed, both on the up main. Any other screenshots of interesting operations? Thanks, Bill

Hi all, Apologies if I'm the last one to know about it, but here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xumonIs52Lk is an interesting film on electrical safety from London Transport. I like the "jiggle the wires together" technique for emergency tunnel communication with Control and the no-nonsense way to place a short-circuit bar between 4th and 3rd rails... Thanks, Bill

HI all, Hopefully not a stupid question. Let's say that rolling stock on a certain route is having a major update and the timetable is being 'transformed'. How are the required number of locomotives, multiple units and carriages worked out? Obviously enough to cover a certain number of 'daily diagrams' but also presumably some for maintenance, works overhaul and 'spare'... As an example, the 1967 Bournemouth electrification (+ diesel power to Weymouth)needed 11 4-Reps., 28 4-TCs. 3 3-TCs, 20 4-Veps and 19 multiple-unit Cromptons (class 33/1). The number of 33/1s seems significantly more than needed for the Bournemouth-Weymouth portion? Why 11 Reps and not 10 or 12... ? Or what about the nice round number of 50 ETH fitted 45/1s + an unknown numbers of air-conditioned Mk2s for the Midland main line upgrade. Thanks, Bill

Here is a picture of 25261, still in green livery... https://www.flickr.com/photos/geoffsimages/6859220761/in/pool-br_green_liveried_tops_locos/

So (presumably) the tablet exchange was carried out by the guard rather than the driver? Bill

Hi all, Aside from the High Dyke branch, which lines had tablet-exchange equipment? When did they go out of use? Thanks, Bill

Hi Alex, A small batch of 31s (somebody will know the numbers...) had tablet equipment for iron-ore trains on the High Dyke branch. There are pictures on Dave F's thread. Bill

Fascinating indeed to see individual vehicle numbers assigned to the Golden Arrow and Night Ferry sets [but two(!) RBs seems like overkill for the latter]. There is also a tantalising mention of SWD set numbers in the footnote to the Night Ferry page. Bill

Nice loco and signals... Did the 'T' head-code signify a test train? Bill

Nice. Rugged 1950s engineering at its best. What's the sign about the tank and the manual pump all about? Bill

Hi all, Today's loaded ballast from Elgin to Millerhill was double-headed (rather than top-and-tailed) by 60076 and 60087 and is seen here passing through Dyce. Thanks, Bill