Arun Sharma

Tony - Regrettably can't make Missenden this time but am seriously impressed by the L12 progress. Regarding cab cut out - the cut outs come from the supplied drawings so if there is photographic evidence of variation within the class, that may influence which numbers can be put on the engine.

Yesterday's episode regarding the LSWR route between Bere Alston and Okehampton was somewhat weird. Mr Bell seems to have a problem navigating - perhaps if he used a selection of old and new 1inch/1:50000 OS maps rather than an ancient 2miles:1inch Bartholomew's cycling map he would get a better idea of how to get to wherever he needed to be. Secondly, he completely overlooked the elephant in the room when he considered the reopening of the line - Whilst there are undoubtedly local reasons for reopening [parts of] the route, its role as a diversionary route when inevitably the Dawlish route gets washed away sometime in the future was completely overlooked. I would suggest that that was a more important point that needed to be brought out in the program. I find it surprising in the extreme that the local expert [from the Dartmoor Railway] on the train in the final part of the film at Okehampton either didn't mention the diversionary element or got that bit edited out if he did mention it.

I suspect that there was a 600v jumper running through the length of the train - not just between the first carriage and the loco. Piers Connor tells of the ex-District railway locos L8/9 and the ESLs being gapped on occasion and these were significantly longer than the Met Bo-Bos. I suspect that the length of one Met loco + half a Dreadnought would still not be long enough to prevent gapping. However, being surplus to requirements, I suspect that the inter-car jumper connections would have been removed on entering preservation.

My point exactly - Not the fault of the TOCs. Thus why not say to the public that it is down to NR that the trains are being delayed

I was travelling back from Birmingham International to Oxford late afternoon today. A journey which involved three changes so I had plenty of opportunity to hear station announcers at BHI, Coventry and Leamington Spa report that due to earlier signalling problems Virgin and West Midlands were apologising for delays to their services Northbound through these stations. I am aware that "signalling faults/problems" on LUL are occasionally a euphemism for SPADs but assuming that wasn't the case today, why are these companies not announcing that they are apologising on behalf of Network Rail [who are presumably responsible for the signalling system] rather than seemingly taking the blame themselves?

Yes, I am - I think they are very comfortable. The seat lordosis is in exactly the right position for persons of my stature [or possibly lack of] whereas I find 387s rather less comfortable because the seat lordosis has been designed for taller folk.

As a local resident and regular user of this accursed bridge, I have to ask, "What would IKB have done?" - if he was still around. Does anyone seriously think that this bridge would still be standing?

Shellac in solution can also be used to stick fag paper to the inside & outside of a metal chassis where there is any risk of a short circuit occurring - examples being say, around pony trucks and guard irons. Works a treat as an insulating device of almost zero thickness. It makes a brilliant liquid insulating paint.

I fear the Theosophical Society lost a certain amount of credibility with me when they produced a supposedly serious/definitive 150 page book on Society and Life in pre-flood Atlantis.

Right at the end of her life, City of London was photographed at Paddington - pic in the ?Sep '64 Railway Magazine. The same engine had also worked a ?1963 special on the ECML out of Kings Cross. Informal/informed comments were made in the railway press of the time regarding her speed down Stoke Bank.......

This form of "privatisation" is about removing the rail workers pension bill from the govt and transferring it to the last person/company standing when the music stops - as well as giving Sec Trans a firewall to hide behind as reqd.

see post #11 for more information from "Banger blue"

Thank you Dougie - That all makes more sense now.

Fascinating film

There are normally no stops for FGW services between Wokingham and Reading so the question of other passengers not getting on the train doesn't arise. These trains tend to run a shuttle service between Reading and either Guildford or Gatwick so these 2-3 car units use 10-12 car length terminal platforms at Reading so I would maintain that there is no additional impact on follow on services.

As stated in the original posting, it would have had no effect at all as the return journey wouldn't have been possible anyway because of the 458 unable to proceed from Winnersh and blocking the single up line through Winnersh. So the question becomes, "Could/Should TVSC have been asked by FGW or SWR to stop a Reading-bound train train to pick up stranded passengers at Winnersh"?

Last Saturday I was travelling from Reading to Weybridge on the 1142 Reading-Waterloo changing [hopefully] at Virginia Water for Weybridge. About 10minutes into the journey, the class 458 stopped at Winnersh as expected and them remained there for hours owing to a broken down [FGW cl165] ahead of us at Wokingham. I say, hours because I was on the train for two hours until I got a local bus back to Reading and abandoned my journey [for a full refund]. I understand that the 458 may have remained at Winnersh for a another couple of hours. The 458's onboard staff at [what appeared to be an unmanned station] had suggested crossing to the opposite platform and catching a train returning to Reading and then going Reading-Basingstoke-Weybridge. No SWR 458s passed on the opposite line - I am guessing that the Wokingham disruption had affected Waterloo - Reading services in some way ?current turned off whilst working on the FGW casualty? but two FGW 165s passed though Winnersh at speed on their way to presumably Reading. I am guessing that this sorry state of affairs arose in part due to the removal of crossovers at, or near, stations allowing wrong-line running to get around broken down trains. Given the seeming lack of a crossover between Reading and Wokingham, I am guessing that this meant that neither one of the two class 57 Thunderbrirds parked in the depot at Reading that morning could reach the afflicted train and move it off the running lines. What really intrigues me though is why that much vaunted star of television documentaries, the TVSC could not arrange for either of the two FGW 165s en route Guildford to Reading to be signalled to stop at Winnersh to pick up stranded passengers. They must have been aware that trains were unable to leave Reading as they couldn't get past Winnersh owing to our 458 blocking the line - Thus stopping at Winnersh to pick up stranded passengers would have had zero impact on the [already compromised] timetable down the line. There again is this a simple function of SWR not thinking about speaking to FGW? From a passenger viewpoint, I have to say that the fragmentation of the railway into TOCs who then don't seem to have the flexibility of mindset to think of passengers and/or speak to other TOCs when things don't run according to plan or timetable is worrying. Equally worrying is the long term simplification of line diagrams presumably to allow higher running speeds and cut maintenance costs but at the expense of a total loss of flexibility when something out of the ordinary happens. I also find it hard to believe that if Winnersh had been staffed last Saturday afternoon that any railway man worth his salt would not have flagged down a passing Reading-bound train to clear his station of stranded passengers. Perhaps some of RMWEB's contributors who know this stretch of line might care to comment.

Chris - If it wasn't in Beeching's report, how can you blame him? The fault if anyone's should be laid at the feet of the arch-criminal Marples - who just happened to own a company that built motorways. Though I understand that he may have passed his shares to his wife when he became Minister of Transport.

Apart from the early Underground stock circa 1905, which were steel framed and bodied, there were also L&Y 1200vDC EMUs operating between Manchester-Bury that were built around 1905 and were steel framed and bodied. They lasted in service until replaced by the class 504 in the ?late 50s.

I would strongly suggest that you might find one of Alan Buttler's two day 2D CAD courses using DraftSight at Missenden Abbey very worthwhile. I went on one knowing little about 2D CAD and had produced the artwork for my first etches by the end of the course. He explains setting measurements, layers and how to set up the layers for etchers. No connection other than a very satisfied customer.

And the class 309s as well!

What you're describing Jim is almost a parallel with "likes" and "unlikes" in the social media world - In its most basic form, it suggests that if you are not in someone else's thoughts [specifically those you have selected to be or want to believe are your peers] then you don't exist - Another form of the 21st century western pandemic viz., "chronic lack of self-esteem".

A variable but significant proportion of these folk with religious mania are folk with psychotic illnesses who have been released from hospital "into the community". I would very much doubt that they have sufficient insight to realise that they are upsetting people. Perhaps better to suggest that they might find a more receptive audience on a platform rather than on a train?

It's just as likely that the reason bins are appearing again is that the almost universal presence of CCTV means that the likelihood of getting away with putting an IED in a public place [unless you're a committed suicide bomber] is pretty small.

I suspect that one of the very few locos still extant that still carries its BR-applied Brunswick/Bronze Green is 46235 City of Birmingham. Given that it is out of direct sunlight, its green looks to be pretty much as Crewe painted it - It was repainted just prior to entering preservation as it had its yellow cab stripe painted out.