The Pilotman

It was three years later; Monday December 12th 1988. I remember it well.

Thanks for providing that extra detail. Based on what you’ve written, it does sound like some sort of issue with the signalling equipment somewhere. Perhaps something was being worked on at the time and the signalman was trying to cover for an error that he knew someone else had made (that certainly used to happen). Whilst I’ve never heard of an incident quite like this (a signal aspect completely at odds with the actual route set), extremely unlikely events can occur as the Clapham Junction crash demonstrated.

Another very interesting instalment, and one which, I’m sure, most railwaymen of that era can relate to. The STJ incident had me scratching my head a bit, though. You say that the panel “misrouted” you but if the signal was off for the down main and yet the points were actually set for a different route, that’s not the fault of the signalman; that’s a serious wrong-side signalling failure. The fact that an S&T team were seen there later lends a bit of weight to that being the case. Alternatively, both you and your driver may have been mistaken and the signal you thought was green was actually showing correctly for the route you took (whatever aspect and junction indicator that should have been). I’m not familiar with the signalling arrangements there so whether you should have been routed onto that line or not is not something I can comment on. So, whatever the true cause was, something extremely unlikely happened that day but, having been in the signalling grade myself, I have seen very unlikely things happen.

Today’s picture at Normanton, David (C12073) is really something. What struck me was how modern and out of place the train looks compared to the rest of the scene. Somehow, an all-blue first generation DMU from twenty years earlier would look more at home there. A quite brilliant image; thanks for posting it. And those Danish IC3 units (C17013/26) must be one of the ugliest trains around. I still see them occasionally at Hamburg.

So that’s how you get green fingers.

Brunswick Green?

In light of the recent BRM awards, wouldn’t “Silver Leader” be more appropriate now? 🤔

And here’s another, by Robert Catterson on Flickr. Given that all three types have coexisted for over 30 years, there must have been many times that this happened, with many different classes of locomotive.

Here’s one. By 37001 on Flickr

This recently posted picture by @Rivercider shows all three types at Exeter Central so it seems reasonable to assume they arrived or departed in the same train. I have also seen quite recently at least one video clip of a train featuring all three types. It was in one of the Modern Traction Archive videos on YouTube but there are 35 of them, and I can’t remember which one it was. It’ll take you about two whole days if you want to watch all of them…

You’re not mistaken, that’s the Swiss way.

I thought those pictures from Epesses looked familiar; I went through there just a couple of weeks ago on the train from Geneva to Montreux. I didn’t associate vineyards with Switzerland so was quite surprised to see so many. The scenery there is spectacular. This is the view from the station at Glion on the mountainside above Montreux.

The S+T or PWay have parked that Sherpa a bit close to the track. 🤔

I’m not @Revolution Ben but does this answer your question?

C9238 isn’t 37428; the 37/4s were all in large logo blue from refurbishment. 37248 perhaps? The right numbers but not necessarily in the right order? (with apologies to Eric Morecambe).

Did you see the post by @Revolution Ben on February 28th? Little response to expressions of interest for a second run in N. All your post shows is that at least two people are prepared to pay £33 each (that may, of course go higher) for a rake of 12 wagons. Hardly compelling evidence I’d say, and I speak as an N gauge modeller myself.

The picture of all five looks like five individual pictures stitched together but in the other pictures showing the coaches separately they don’t look warped to me. I think if I was in your position I’d drop Rails a line and ask them if the coaches were indeed banana-shaped (as one image suggests) or not. I’m sure they’d give you an honest answer.

Also, that Western is on the up relief line in Sonning Cutting, so going in the opposite direction from the train you worked.

Or is it simply a case of them being photographed with a wide angle lens from a short distance? That’s what it looks like to me.

I met my first girlfriend when we worked at opposite ends of a large laboratory. There was a lot of chemistry between us.

Indeed. I travelled on a Hamburg to Munich ICE today. Like many other long distance trains in Germany, it stopped at the airport station in Frankfurt but gave the city station (Frankfurt Hbf) a miss…

Lahore, Pakistan or Loch Eil Outward Bound? 😁 I don’t know what time you were there Mike but Saturday afternoons/evenings are generally the quietest time of the week at Heathrow.

Well, to be honest with you, where Dapol is concerned my answer is yes. Exactly half of the Class 50s that I ordered went back for replacement because of various manufacturing issues (broken bogie frames and loose windscreen units mainly) and while the model was streets ahead of the old Farish version, I still think they didn’t quite capture the look of the real thing. And I cancelled my order of twenty of the Yeoman JHA wagons having read about the various issues they had. So yes, any announcement from Dapol gets a lukewarm response from me until I know what it’s really like. And that’s a shame because some of their stuff is rather good. I do like their Grampus, Dogfish and “silver bullet” tank wagons, the HST sets and the Class 33 and 58 locos too. When they get it right they can produce some very nice models.

The three manufacturers you mention are, to varying degrees, much better at publicity than Dapol seem to be, so maybe this just hasn’t reached a big enough audience yet. I would certainly have commented on this project but it’s not my era.

You posted this response less than an hour after the OP. Maybe it’s not so much a case of tumbleweed, more like people were doing other things with their Saturday morning and didn’t know anything about it yet.