pH

Val Doonican was post-1922 😛.

Try Irish records before 1922 - though things are apparently getting better.

There are two different services being discussed here: - the London-Thurso via Rosyth passenger service for naval personnel - the South Wales to Rosyth, Invergordon and Thurso (for Scapa) coal trains I think the OP was asking about the coal trains. Welsh coal naval specials went elsewhere in Scotland too. Some, at least, went to Greenock via the G&SWR.

Not required so much nowadays: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-14789036

Does that require an EA?

We are very tolerant people here in (British) Columbia. Colombia, now - that’s quite a different place!

Shades of Major Major Major Major 🤨!

Five cars carrying scrap ties on fire in CPKC train passing through London, Ontario: https://x.com/jmccall54/status/1782261594501554619

Mine were cheaper from the local antique/junk store of fond memory. It was great for those “I’ll only need it for this one job so no way am I buying a new one” tools.

Sorry - I can’t think of any way of doing that. It’s a pity that “rrpicturearchives” doesn’t trace the movement of rolling stock the way it traces locomotives, though I know that would need a massive effort. And how many people would need that ability (present company excepted? 😐).

Despite the fact that the conductor was legally responsible for the correct destination being displayed, it was always our drivers that ‘changed the board’.

I’m inclined to think it’s a “foobie”. Looking on “fallen flags” and “rrpicturearchives” for Union Pacific XM boxcars with numbers round about the number on that model, I can’t see any with door arrangements like the model.

David L. Smith writes a bit about drivers dealing with lubrication while the engine was in motion in “Tales of the Glasgow and South Western Railway”. He says it was common for drivers to leave the cab to oil slidebars as engines were climbing long hills. They could still be out of the cab as the train topped the hill and accelerated down the other side. And drivers would take the syphons out of the oil boxes to avoid wastage if the engine was going to stand for any length of time. One crew were caught out when the Midland brought an express into Carlisle, having made up much of the lateness reported at Hellifield. The fireman had to take the train out of Citadel, in control as far as Kingmoor, because the driver was out on the footplating, putting the syphons back into the oil boxes.

Moose are a real danger on the mountain roads in BC. If you could design an animal to be lethal to occupants of a car, you would come up with something very like a moose. Males can weigh over half a ton, they are supported on four spindly legs, at a height about the same as the hood of a compact car. If hit sideways, the body heads straight for the windshield. If it’s possible to avoid doing so, I won’t drive on mountain roads in the dark. Apparently, rutting males can mistake diesel horns for the call of another male and challenge a locomotive! Definitely a Darwin Award moment for the moose, but half a ton of moose going underneath can cause significant damage to the loco.