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8 and 9 car DMUs from Birmingham to North Wales still ran in 86 I think. Luckily for today’s passengers I only have 2 x 2 car, so they get the luxury of roarers and duffs!

The start of a bank holiday weekend brings a period of frantic activity to Christleton, with scores of additional trains being dispatched to the Coast. A pair of DMUs get the action going, a strengthened set on a timetabled service to Manchester, ready to return with the hordes. Two 47s wait patiently for their turn on long rakes of mk1s, nearly all second class with just a brake and a single composite for the handful of 1st class passengers. Large logo 47 is in platform 3 with an early extra from Yorkshire to Llandudno, whilst banger blue 47402 has just taken over a West Midlands to Bangor extra from an 85. Platform end talk is full of rumour about the pair of 25s waiting patiently in the middle road, with a couple of regulars certain that they’ll be filling in for a failed 47. It’s certainly unusual to have the middle road blocked with such an intensive service ahead. Meanwhile in control, the operators still have everything in hand. The regular Bangor to Red Bank empties is in platform 1, being diverted via Crewe where they’ll be attached to a Northbound set. Running them straight through means they don’t get in the way of the additional services required to change directions. It promises to be a busy day ahead for the red pens, the bacon from the Travellers Fare smells unusually tempting and there’s promise of sunshine even if the Rats don’t make it on to a passenger service!

I was absolutely flattered by your previous post, but to be mentioned in the same sentence as Llanbourne is like when the non-league side get drawn against Premiership opposition in the cup! In tonight’s team news, we can confirm the plumber has been able to finish work early and plays in goal...

Here’s the originals. Freight blue and Passenger red. Interesting to see that they are different. Looking at the two maps suggests the designer only had a rudimentary knowledge of Wrexham!

I was happy with the track diagram - it's the names that don't seem right. Surely it wasn't referred to as General Central? It sounds like a cartoon character!

The first part of my re-draft of the 1986 working timetables is to correct the map at the front, so that we all know what we're talking about. The section around Chester was incorrect, so that's been updated. I'm not sure if the names of General Central and General Wrexham are correct, but I've let them stand. I spent a long time choosing this location, to allow the potential of an electrified West Coast diversionary route to meet with a Trans-Pennine to North Wales route. It took quite a while to get my head around the geography and I'm still not sure I have it correct! The line from Christleton to Crewe is clear (and is real, Christleton is a small village on the East of Chester, right where my fictitious junction is); that line becomes electrified in my world. The line going to Frodsham has been altered so that it is a East to North connection instead of a West to North connection; this means trains have to reverse at Christleton and also provides the West Coast loop. So the line up to Frodsham and on to Warrington is also electrified. This is the route of the North East bound Trans-Pennine services via Warrington, Newton Le Willows and Manchester Victoria. The divergence East at Mickle Trafford junction (to section CM) takes a route up to Altrincham and I assume in 1986 into Manchester Oxford Road and the through platforms at Piccadilly. I say assume because my Quail Map shows the Altrincham to Oxford Road section as now being Metrolink. I'm sure someone will be able to correct me on this. Class 304s used to run from Manchester as far as Altrincham, so in my fictional world the wires could be extended through Northwich allowing an EMU commuter service into Christleton. I assume in the late 80's when the TP services switched to Piccadilly, that they took the right hand turn to continue using the Newton Le Willows and Warrington route to Chester, rather than Altrincham and Northwich. I only did the route once loco hauled and I was 13 at the time!

That’s easier on the eyes - and doesn’t stay upside down when I rotate my tablet!

That’s great - although somewhat disappointing to find out that they are all units! I’m now going to scour the WTTs for any trailing loads.

I’ve been looking through the working timetables, and I’ve made some interesting observations: 1. Most turns are clearly loco hauled (e.g. D335, meaning class 47 with 335 tonnes) or DMU, but a number are just D1-4, which are references to a sectional appendix that I don’t (yet) have. There are class 1,2 and 3 trains in that category, so some more research to get stuck in to. 2. The freightliner workings are clearly based on ships docking at Holyhead. You get 4 northbound and then 4 southbound. I need to think how to work this, as my Holyhead fiddle yard doesn’t have a through road. (I have neither space nor budget for 4 freightliner sets!). 3. The Stanlow tanks are nearly all southbound only; it appears the northbound workings all went via Shrewsbury. 4. The Speedlink services are unbalanced. There only appears to be a southbound to Severn Tunnel for example, with nothing in reverse. 5. There are a lot more loco hauled Euston services than I’d expected (although I haven’t filtered the exceptions yet).

The light in the morning always seems to be a bit better for taking photos, so with the commute still being measured in seconds, I managed a quick look in before facing the traffic on the stairs. This being a proper BR office, there should be a handful of staff in the top floor canteen enjoying a cooked breakfast.

It would be more accurate to say I don’t sit down a lot.

Also over the weekend, these 1986 working timetables have arrived. They are an absolutely fascinating read. I think I’ll try to combine the freight and passenger into a timetable for Christleton, adding the services I’ve imagined in as the station is a loop off the West Coast mainline. There are more loco hauled passenger services than I expected, a lot more parcels and a staggering number of light engine moves (although they may not all have happened). I’m looking forward to having a good look at the freight timetable and working out what should be passing through and what should be reversing.

In the first of tonight’s updates, I’ve finally stopped putting off making the next side of the BR office block. I’m quite pleased with it as my first real attempt at scratch building something. It needs some fettling to get it to fit in, but I’m pleased to have completed the 132 window uprights. I can now turn my attention to the retaining wall that will be in front of it, running along the back of platform 4. This wall will angle back alongside the office block and include the staff entrance to the depot. I’ve also fitted another floodlight in the depot and wired it up. I only have the DMUs with coach lights, but nevertheless managed a little night shot. The lights are very atmospheric for just a couple of yard lamps. It’ll be quite a while before there are any more though!

That’s proper 1980’s. I really like the whiteboard loco roster - obviously a blackboard would be great, but a bit dusty. 6 peak turns and 10 47s makes me feel a lot better about my desire for more locos! I have the North & Mid Wales book, but not the Freight only (yet). I’ve recently been gifted a copy of Sulzers in North Wales, which is really excellent and highly recommended.

That's an epic piece of work. I'm guessing it was quite time consuming!

A nice blue haze generator would be a great thing. There was a proposal a couple of years back to try starting about 10 class 50s at the same time on the Severn Valley for the 50 gala. I seem to recall it didn't go ahead when someone pointed out that the diesel depot is adjacent to a housing estate.

Good point, although not all Sulzer! 03 - Gardner 08 - EE 2 x 25 - Sulzer 31 - EE 2 x 45 - Sulzer 2 x 47 - Sulzer Locos 'missing' 33 - Sulzer - unlikely to spend time on shed except as a failure 40 - EE - will be a rare visitor Different locos types likely to be added to the fleet: 20 - EE (steel / coal / tanks) 37/0 - EE (steel) 56 - Ruston Paxman (coal/tanks) 97/4 - EE (civil engineering)

I was sure I’d seen a photo of a 33/1 working, but having had a good look I can’t find it, so I suspect it must have been the aforementioned railtour I’d seen. I did find a couple of 33/2s, which seemed a little odd. My 1987 Platform 5 shows 26 class 25s and 94 class 33s still in use. You have plenty of scope for a couple more!

What happens when you start 9 sound fitted locos? All it’s missing is a lot of smoke!

Whilst musing on my timetable, I was considering that one of the consequences of not having enough motive power (!) is that the depot is always nearly empty. It struck me that I’ve never really seen it full. This teed up a most enjoyable evening of light engine moves on to shed, to give an impression of what a busy Christleton Bluebeck should look like. Tomorrow I may start them all up to hear what a busy Bluebeck sounds like. Probably white noise...

Chances of me getting anything done this week are rapidly receeding!

Now there’s a source of information. How long would those have been produced for? By 1986 I would assume most trip working would have disappeared, but I guess the duties must have been planned somewhere. Really interesting to see one working as class 8/11 - the only two classes of loco that I’m passed to drive. I don’t sign that route though, so I’ll need a conductor!

I did a few practice planks and then just went for it. What’s the worst that can happen? (Treat that as a rhetorical question). I found the Chadwick Parkway videos about the most useful / attainable.

That’s brilliant. I’d not considered having different days, but it’s a blindingly obvious possibility. It really opens up the options for different running sessions. I’d like mine to show which stock and booked traction. I’m also debating showing which fiddle yard roads so that I can try to avoid sending a train to siding 7 of 6!

I’m looking out for a paper copy so that visitors know when trains are due!