Wheatley

Starter (sorry) for ten: https://photos.signalling.org/picture?/24570

Yes, that too, and old telephone cable, and anything else with thin multistrand wires. I've never bought wire specifically for use in a loco.

David Cross "Heyday of the Scottish Deisels"- D5018 at Newtonmore in 1973. Same book has D5053 near Heads of Ayr in 1967 and D5009 at Closeburn on the G&SW in 1971. There are some photos on Derby Sulzers of Gateshead (?) 24s which worked through to Carlisle on the Newcastle - Stranraer boat trains, but they handed over to either steam or a ScR 27 depending on date. "BR Deisels in the Landscape" (Bradford Barton) has D5133 piloting Black 5 at Drumlanrigg on the G&SW in 1964. 24s of all types seem to have been common in southern Scotland from the 1970s onwards, not so much further north.

£600 for the Wingnut/Border version, although you have to paint it yourself. It also has the advantage that you get all of it all at once, so if the supplier goes bust halfway through half the bits don't vanish.

Am I the only person who uses stripped out offcuts of D-sub computer cable for this sort of thing ? (in OO). I haven't set anything alight yet.

Thanks, thought so. Far too far north then, its got no chance: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/dec/20/disbelief-at-plan-to-fix-london-potholes-as-part-of-network-north-project

Well blow me, I stand corrected and educated ! Thank you! That was just before my time, and two locos on a "End of loco-hauled services" commemoration would make sense. I'm going to have to find out the story behind that now, it has "A Kenny Harper production..." written all over it.

Really ? (genuine question). I was Operations Supervisor at Appleby from 1992-94 and still quite closely involved from 94 onwards - freight locos were used on charters but I'm pretty sure (certain fof the 92-94 bit) that the only loco hauled service trains were the 'Project Leodis' top and tail 37s in the early 2000s and some WCML diversions. The 2x26s were responsible for my Railman nearly giving me a bloody heart attack. Apart from anything else it would be pointless providing a freight loco for a service train and a 47 for hotel power, you'd just use the 47 and save the hire costs. If it's got a freight loco on the front and a RES or IC 47 on the back l'd bet money it's a charter. Edit - talking out of my hat, see below.

Is Peterborough far enough south to get Network North funding ? Its dangerously close to the Midlands.

People do care about comfy seats but that has nothing to do with the traction. Mk3s with Intercity70 (?) seats (traditionally the armchair by which lesser seats are measured in these sorts of arguments) are the same bodyshell design as a 319 with 2+3 cattle seats, the difference is in the seat spec not the traction spec. No argument on the first paragraph, hear hear. Does the second paragraph take into account the fact that Northern runs more trains between Leeds and Bradford in a day than TPE runs on its entire network ? They have got their act together though - cutting their driver training requirements from 4 types of traction to 3 has a lot to do with that.

Exactly this. This is no longer about whether Jacobite passengers can be trusted with something as complicated as a slam door, or how far common sense should apply, or whether there should be a more idiot-proof method of controlling doors. This (the JR) is purely about whether the body appointed in law to regulate safety on the railways and enforce operation and construction standards has the authority to regulate safety on the railways and enforce operation and construction standards, and whether a party operating under a Safety Certificate which says it will abide by the operation and construction standards can be made to abide by the operation and construction standards it said it would abide by, or whether it can get around them by throwing its toys out of the pram and stomping about like a bunch of whiney spoiled children. Exactly. If WCR submit a plan which complies with the Regs and published guidance then ORR are obliged to let them carry out that plan. But they'd better carry it out to the letter ...

Turns out not all Bachmann Mk1s have the NEM pockets in the same place - I have one with B4 bogies (just the one) and fitting the 17mm coupling it sits too far back compared to the BR1s and Commonwealths on the others. So following my earlier post I'd recommend buying a packet of each and experimenting.

Well they might be if they were actually applied.

153s were still setting them off well into the 2000s, when they were converted from 155s the exhaust pipes were re-routed leaving a particularly sharp bend which overheated. Heat sheilds were fitted but were vulnerable to damage and falling off. Oil bearings give plenty of warning by way of smoke and smell as the oil burns away, and as mentioned there were more people to notice and raise the alarm. Roller bearings tend to either work perfectly or go wrong very quickly but with no visual warning. The first indication is either the bearing disintegrating or the axle end toffee-twisting off. Incidently, the new 195s have a 'cardan shaft alarm' which essentially measures whether one end of the shaft is trying to go faster than the other. Until the monitoring equipment settled down they appeared in the Control log quite regularly, much to the excitement of those reading it and particularly the non-technical types (like me) responsible for ORR and RAIB reporting. Up til that point cardan shafts usually only made the log if they'd run amok and either pole-vaulted out from under the unit or flailed about removing underframe equipment. Took a while to get used to them being false alarms.

At LeAsT iT's NoT rMwEb.

The DJH kit (78016 on my layout) has them, the Hornby one will become 78026 which didn't have them. I can't claim that any thought went into that, I hadn't even noticed they were missing until it got mentioned on here! On the DJH kit they are exactly as Daddyman's method- flat brass with a nib soldered into a dent on the whitemetal footplate.

They're still on the website but you need to put an origin and destination in. If I remember I'll try to find out why after Christmas, I'm not in the office until January.

Yes, same. I know there's some gubbins going on in between the wheels but unless it's really prominent then it gets left off. I usually add the tie bars on the outer ends of clasp brakes as they're quite noticeable on a 17'6" wagon (and they make the brake shoes a bit more robust) but that's about it. It's the 80/20 rule - most of the effect for a lot less effort.

Northern and TPE both have RDWAs agreed during the current dispute, which is how TPE have cut their training backlog by 2/5 in the last 6 months. Which was my point. For anyone wondering why the TOCs don't just tell it like it is and bat it all back to the DfT, the answer probably lies in the small print of their management contracts. Public control, private blame.

It might not create drivers out of thin air (especially if the franchise bid relied on drivers working normal levels of overtime to keep headcount down) but a change of owners might just stop individual drivers being so pissed off that they turn down all overtime and make themselves unavailable for non-contracted Sundays. It would certainly clear the pitch to allow RDW Agreement negotiations with ASLEF to recommence. Cf TPE. Say what you like about ASLEF but drivers are now in the position that employers need them to work overtime, and drivers don't need to work overtime. ASLEF doesn't dictate TOC staffing levels, TOCs do.

Phffft. Lightweight. 300+ when I stopped counting, not including armour/targets. At current rates of progress I need to retire 25 years ago and live to about 200.

I remember the time someone in ER HQ (might have been RRNE HQ) over-reacted to some fuss involving lorry drivers taking the tractor units home (DHL ?) and decided that on-call vans were to be left at work and we could come and get them if we needed them. Being on call was on our JDs so we couldn't refuse to do it. The next few out of hours call outs were done by taxi until that was stopped, at which point the entire on-call roster suddenly didn't own a car or had only insured it for social domestic and pleasure. Response times thereafter (until someone was invited to read the HMRC rules again but carefully this time) depended on what time your first bus was.

There is a phenomenon is plastic scale modelling known as Advanced Modeller Syndrome (AMS), which manifests itself as the inability to build any kit, however accurate or recently tooled, without adding 5 times the kit price worth of aftermarket decals, resin and etched goodies. It can be seen at model shows and in the press as aircraft modelled with every panel open etc, albeit it is usually beautifully done. It causes issues because it greatly extends the time taken to build anything, and as the average modellers' stash of unbuilt kits will last several times the combined lifetimes of himself (because it's usually blokes) and any small relatives he was thinking of passing them on to, it causes domestic strife. There is a parallel with being unable to visit a model railway shop for a packet of track pins without coming out with a £200 sound fitted loco. The accepted cure is to build a Matchbox kit with only the tools and techniques available to you when you were 14. Kudos points are awarded if you can get it finished and painted by tea time, and the decals on before bed time.

Knaresborough, separated by the length of a 4 car Class 150. And immediately followed by a viaduct !

It depends on the shed. Large depots such as Darnall would justify a full train, a small sub-shed perhaps a couple of wagons dropped off the pick up goods a couple of times a week. A lot of Engineers' and other non-revenue traffic went by ordinary goods trains, especially if it was only penny numbers of wagons.