Wheatley

If they were built especially for the traffic then I imagine it saved costs. Two sets of cupboard doors plus fittings not required, to offset the extra costs of the non-standard end door. They only worked to a couple of destimations as far as I can tell (any advance on Dumfries and Milnthorpe anyone ?) so presumably they either all arrived the right way round or all arrived the wrong way round. There's a triangle south of Carlisle to turn them if that happened. There's a caption in Booklaw's "Steam Memories 34 - SW Scotland" of some new ones south of Dumfries which only mentions Milnthorpe and suggests they are "going for a trip round the G&SW triangle to turn them" which is nonsense (although understandable given how much trouble I've had pinning down the traffic flows!). They're going to/from the Carnation plant. I didn't bookmark the NRM links, sorry, and now I can't find them ! Thanks for sorting the film link though.

End loading dock at Metalbox (3 abreast), straight off the production line conveyor into the vans (boxed). Check out the 25" map of the factory and NRM archive photos of tins being loaded (loose) into A-type containers at/for Bachelors in Sheffield in the same way. Handballed off at the Carnation plant by a bloke standing in the 4' onto a side loading dock, presumably the same at Milnthorpe (their other usual destination). Freeze-frame this http://movingimage.nls.uk/film/3696?search_term=port line&search_join_type=AND&search_fuzzy=yes at about 25m 48s. Abbatoir I think.

Three units (not including the one on training duties) is not enough to cover all the diagrams, even the basic service without the peak extras thrown in. Also it depends where they go off that route, the first one off Leeds (for example) forms a through service to Hull so cannot be a 170 as Hull crews don't sign them. At the moment it's usually a 155. The 17:11 off York has been a 170 more often than not over the last couple of weeks but the 17:41 invariably isn't because it's split off a 2+2 set earlier in the day to fill a gap in the basic XX:11 departures. There are plenty of routes they could be used on and no doubt will be once depots other than Leeds York and Harrogate learn them, but that's not a quick process. The last thing you want is for one to rock up at Preston on a 1BXX only for a Blackpool driver on a swapped diagram to go "Don't sign that" and walk back to the messroom. The Great Lancashire OHLE Famine might have been more accurate, the lack of wires for the 319s to run under is causing the unit shortages elsewhere. There are currently two ex-GWR 153s and a 150 putting in appearances too. Yes it is. There are 16 coming in total which is way more than LDS-HGT-YRK needs so there must be a wider plan somewhere.

First four are in use on the Harrogate branch at the moment, they'll get further afield once other depots learn them. Trundling around the Vale of York in second gear is not doing their oil and fuel consumption figures much good, but the a/c has been welcome recently. The original intention was to refurbish/relivery first but the Great Lancashire DMU Famine put paid to that temporarily. The four units have released half a dozen 150 and 153s for Calder Valley / Bolton Corridor work.

Anything by David Larkin, there was a Bradford Barton series in the 80s (?) and a more recent Kestrel Books one. Geoff Gamble - "Railways in Profile" series published by Cheona. Geoff Kent - "The 4mm Wagon" (vols 1 to 3) published by Wild Swan. They're modellers' books but there are loads of prototype pics. Larkin, Mann and some gent callet Bartlett - "An Illustrated History of BR Goods Wagons Vol 1" :-) Nearly all are out of print so try Abe Books first for all but the later Larkin ones.

Just because you can, doesn't mean you should. Especially in public.

Agreed. Also, a lot of the "but what about XXX location " arguments miss this point from the original discussion on Don Rowland's (not David Jenkinson's) ratio theory: If you are modelling Carlisle on a 1960s summer Saturday you will need a lot of Pacifics, a lot of LMS and BR coaches, not many wagons (because they're all behind you on the avoiding lines) and a Jinty. If you are modelling Wetherall, a few miles up the road, you will not. What the ratio does do is point out (to those of us who were not there at the time) that the historical railway consisted of more than sunlit three-quarter views of expresses. If you like sunlit expresses fill you boots - we model what inspires us after all - but if you want it to be authentic you might need to throw in a few coal trains in inbetween them. Two quotes vaguely remembered from books: "Everyone knows the LMS had red engines (even if most of them were actually black)" - LMS Miscelleny by HN Twells I think. "Cardean might have been the darling of the Caledonian's publicity department but it was a black 0-6-0 moving coal which paid the bills"

Vey sad, lovely bloke. When I was first starting out in 'proper' modelling he took the time at a York show (in the De Grey Rooms no less) to explain how I could dry soil in the family oven by spreading it thinly on a couple of baking trays to burn off all the organic bits before using it as scenic scatter. He beautifully completely avoided eye contact with my mother who was standing behind me going white.

Our flue goes up the party wall of our semi adjacent to next door's flue, and both twist slightly to exit the ridge line about a foot apart just inside our respective boundaries, where the chimney stack would be if it were a proper house. Perfectly legal when built (1960s). A couple of years ago we had a new gas fire fitted (not by BG), no issues. Last year we had a new combi-boiler fitted, and they had to get the supplier (Northern Gas Networks) out to do something or other with the gas pressure from the main as it was a bit low. While he was there the NGN bloke condemned the 3 yr old fire as the flue was less than the 1500mm (?) from the boundary now required by the current Regs and gave us a bit of paper saying we had to get it rectified. Apparently because he's seen it he has to do something about it which is fair enough. Once the boiler fitters had finished boiler fitting they tested it all again and gave us another bit of paper stating there was still nothing wrong with it and cancelling the first one. Happens all the time apparently. My only contact with BG is our drains and plumbing call out, which they were brilliant at on the two occasions I've needed them. Largely because it's DynoRod who actually turn out.I wouldn't touch them again as a gas supplier if they were the only one in existance, I'd go all electric first.

That. Headlights only work if you can see them. Something yellow moving, even if partly obscured by vegitation, catches your eye.

Particularly if the only reason they are not yellow is because some corporate branding wonk has decided that it doesn't suit whichever GCSE Graphic Design / Art failure livery they've designed. Just because you can doesn't mean you should.

Agreed. When the heirarchical BR structure (escalate any inter-departmental dispute to man with sufficiently large hat) was replaced by contractual arrangements which no-one who hadn't written them could understand. The other thing that happened was a lot of empire building, firstly by organisations who firstly suddenly found they had power, or sometimes who thought they had (yes, Railtrack Safety and Stands Board, you) and secondly by everyone else who simply replied "Shan't. Make us". For the first ten years of privitisation half of it only worked because someone in one org knew someone else in the other who could sort it on the QT.

It might be fitted to wagons but it isn't actually required. GM/RT211 "Rolling Stock Subsystem and Interfaces to AC Energy Subsystem" (snappy title or what ?), my bold: "2.3.1 - A continuous warning line 25-30 mm wide, at least 600 mm from exposed live parts of the OCL, shall be shown on all rail vehicles, except steam locomotives and wagons, operating over the 25 kV AC electrified railway." https://www.rssb.co.uk/rgs/standards/GMRT2111%20Iss%201.pdf "OCL" = "Overhead contact line". Thinking about it, even if it applied to wagons a container still wouldn't require one because it's not a wagon, it's the load.

Yes. That.

Because it's a diesel (doesn't matter which specific deisel) and diesels have no exemption from cantrail stripes. If one of the owning groups wanted to argue the toss with RSSB they might get a derogation but it's quicker and cheaper to paint the stripe. Only traction units got stripes, drivers don't habitually climb on and off containers.

I remember that, they lasted until someone asked what happened when the bulb failed. In those days the pway and livery designers all worked for the same firm and opposition to stupid ideas could be escalated until someone with a sufficiently large hat got involved.

Because orange cantrail stripes were never mandated for steam so don't need to be fitted. OLE flashes were (in steam days) so continued to be required in preservation, and if they are fitted they need to comply with the current Regs. A bit like seat belts on a pre-seat belt car - you don' need to fit them but if you do they ecome a testable item. The only post-preservation kit I can think of which is mandatory and permanently fitted is TPWS because of the greater risks involved. Headlights and NRN/GSMR can be plugged in as and when required.

The difference between Sarah Siddons and a steam loco is that the latter has considerably more prescence, makes more noise, and is easier to see and hear coming. Yellow ends were a response to the fatality rates caused by new D&E traction sneaking up on PWay men used to listening for approaching steam trains. As a result steam charters were exempt and remained exempt once "we've always done it like that" gave way to risk assessment, ALARP and Group Standards, but even so were eventually required to carry hi-vi headlights.

There's a good 500m between the end of the existing loop and the A65 bridge if the will is there to extend it. Widening an embankment (and demolishing that grotty shed) must be cheaper than re-opening a whole route. Academic of course, as if they're seriously considering re-opening Colne-Skipton they've presumably already ruled this out.

There'S no reason at all why it couldn't be extended to Hellifield or even Settle/Ribblehead if the political will was there. However, I doubt the numbers add up. The number of potential regular passengers north of Clitheroe must be vanishingly small. There is, however, plenty of room for a loop on the down side at Hellifield for a biomass train to reverse.

Was still the case until 1996 (?) when the Railway Safety Miscellaneous Provisions Regs (or something like that) reversed the position and required the fencing to keep people out. The degree of deterrence provided by the fence now depends on the trespass risk rather than just indicating the boundary.

And 'railway terminology' isn't standard nationwide, even the standard terminology. 'Backboard' anyone ?

Not in my 30 years experience, derailed is derailed, or possibly 'off the road' or 'on the dirt/ballast'. 'Failed' might be understood by a railwaymen but to a standard passenger 'broken down' tells them exactly what they need to know. The wrong description would be announcing that 'the up service is caped' which i've also heard. And yes, i'm aware they are/were 'breakdown cranes' but i've still never heard the term used for the actual derailment.

Always 'bags' on the ER when I learnt them in 1988, and my instructor managed to find two wagons with brand new bags adjacent to each other for me to practice on. "If you can couple and uncouple these you'll be able to manage anything." Cross the legs ...

Very common, although not quite so much in urban areas for the reasons mentioned. There aren't many tunes you can play on just two notes, it can be a friendly greeting, a signal to one's lineside dwelling spouse to get tea on, or on one occasion appreciation of a particularly shapely pair of legs as we sped through a platform on a semi-fast. "We're just like lorry drivers, but with a bigger lorry". A driver I was with once played it as we trundled past a housing estate one lunchtime, when I looked quizically at him he replied "D---- B---- lives there. He's been on nights, it's about time the lazy git was up." It's counterpart is "A***eholes", rapid high-low-high-low-high-low tones, generally used to express displeasure at whichever signalbox you are passing at the time.