The Pilotman

That's a nice sprinkling of coal dust on the protruding bits on the front of the 56 in C6102! And is that a lumberjack at the controls?

I don't remember any of the staff but I do remember the Reading shop. A proper treasure trove where you could spend hours browsing.

C6295: a classic example of someone getting halfway through a weathering project, and then giving up. I doubt if many people (apart from the legendary Paul Bartlett of course) were taking pictures of wagons back then so many thanks indeed, Dave, for doing so. Lovely pictures!

Whichever one it is, it's got an easy job. Looks like just five coaches to me.

Thanks for that, gents. I don't remember ever seeing a Llandarcy to North Camp freight going through Reading but that's not to say it never did. As for the Ripple Lane/Thames Haven empties, it would have saved a fair bit of shunting if the train had gone straight out of the North Camp sidings to Reading to run round, then via Acton but I suppose there's a good reason why didn't.

I recently came across a video on YouTube of one of the last workings of the Ripple Lane to North Camp oil tanks. The clip shows the train of empties departing in the direction of Guildford. Does anyone know what routing it took to get back to Essex? Did it run round at Guildford or carry on over the North Downs line to Redhill and go north towards London from there? Thanks.

You can't have done Winnipeg to Churchill then, Mike. Over thirty hours of pine trees on that journey!

Using a very unscientific method, it looks to me like it could be number 12. What do the Deltic ID squad think?

If it's raining on the day in question, the pubs in Oxford are infinitely better than in Didcot.

Is that Wilfred Brambell, aka Albert Steptoe?

Lovely pictures of Gothenburg! I was there yesterday and the station and trains haven't changed that much. A few more EMU types running about now but there were a couple of those sturdy-looking locos there and the X2000 in the station. Thanks for posting!

I took my youngest to a theme park in Holland last year. At the entrance to a fairly tame rollercoaster called "Mine Train" was a metal Great Western Railway anti-trespass notice.

Make than 9, I've just ordered another one

I arrived in St. Pancras from Brussels a few months ago, the first time I'd been there since the rebuild and was mightily impressed. Head and shoulders above the dump of Brussels Midi.

Really looking forward to a couple of these to hook up to the Sealions and Seacows. Bring on the Turbots!

Two years ago I enquired whether it would be possible for them to produce some custom "Norsk Hydro Fertilizers" transfers to go on some Minitrix N Gauge curtain sided wagons that I was converting. I provided a suitable picture for them to use and they were ready to post three days later. Very impressed indeed!

That APT-E is in the old platform 7. Must have been a surprise for anyone expecting the stopper to Oxford...

C7135: love it! One of the most atmospheric photos to appear in this thread!

A look at Martin Loader's excellent site www.hondawanderer.com will show you lots of shots of WR passenger trains in the period you are interested in.

I recently came across this photo I took of 47220 at Truro which I think was taken in the summer of 1986 (it could be later but not earlier as 47220 was repainted into Railfreight livery in May of that year and still looks pretty clean). I seem to remember the train set back into the siding as per the topic title, leaving some of the rear wagons there. I can't remember what happened after that as I presumably didn't hang around long enough to find out. My 1990 Baker's Rail Atlas doesn't show any siding there so I suppose at some point in the late 80s it was lifted. What would the siding have been used for towards the end of its life? I've done a search on here and the Cornwall Railway Society site but couldn't find anything apart from a reference to loads being delivered for Farm Industries. Apologies for the photo quality; I was still finding my way around a fairly basic SLR camera.

C179. Are you sure that's not a painting by J.M.W. Turner?

Reminds me of the story I was once told by a relief signalman who used to work the boxes on the Berks & Hants line. He used to choose his picks for the pools coupon from the last two numbers of the Westerns that passed by during the last shift he did before a Saturday.

Lovely shots today, Dave. The load on the bolsters towards the rear of the train in J3698 is impressively long. But I reckon that's a 40 at the front.

You can't miss a Saturday night out in Newcastle!

It was. By you. On 7th January, 2015.