big jim

Just realised I’ve read the wrong diagram for the 805 it’s not doing lime st it’s going Stafford to Stoke and on to Warrington via alsager and crewe a few times, let’s hope it runs!

Only a few from tonight, bescot to Worcester shrub hill with a trian of auto hoppers colas 56 and DB 66 in Bescot my train with 66705 up front, the rear loco was ‘Severn Valley Railway’ could have done with that last night! into Worcester And at a different angle with the unusual Banjo signal 1/2 way along the platform and a vid of it departing got one little move to do in Sunday which I’m hoping will be cancelled, bescot to small heath light loco, I do however think I’m going to end up with some can you justs as there is an on going police incident/investigation which has shut the Sutton park line and it will be closed until at least Thursday by the sounds of it so various that are booked that way will have to go via new st and there aren’t many of us who sign it so I might end up having to conduct things through there! other than that I’m only in on Monday next week doing 805 testing to Liverpool lime street then a week of rest days

it was 3 ‘smart’ weedsprayer trains, I believe they have gone there for testing/comissioning ready for the new season which is about to start

wouldn’t fancy the climb from buildwas to lightmoor on the self propelled one though! tonight was a trip to the Severn valley to drop off some wagons intermodal passing through nuneaton My train, 66745 up front went via new st and Stourbridge to Kidderminster where once clear of the mainline the SVR signaller gave the slot back so I grabbed some pics while I was waiting for him to walk down to the loco as he was travelling to Bewdley with me 50049 had a single line token and the route had been pre set into platform 3 at Bewdley, no good for photos though! Edited version of the same pic to try and brighten it up a bit once uncoupled moved forward and the signaller set the route for me back through platform 2 where I had to stop while he went to the other box to reset the route for me to head back to Kidderminster straight back to the exchange line and belled myself out before heading back to Nuneaton decided to head home instead of back to the hotel as I know that if I went to the Abingdon show I’d spend too much money! bescot to Worcester later tonight

Had a day out today before work tonight, went over to Swindon to have a look at the steam museum got to say I was very impressed, a lot more in there than I imagined there would be and all very well presented, great to see the heritage of the site celebrated as opposed to crewe works which was just flattened and houses and fast food outlets built on the site! McArthur Glen designer outlet is in part of the works steam is off to the side some very impressive dioramas with mock ups of the old offices, foundry and stores etc Carpenters shop machine shop boiler shop Caerphilly castle Broad gauge ‘fire fly’ and brunel Dean goods loco 94xx Scammell Loco driving simulator, this was fun, it actually vibrated and rocked slightly as you went along the track, there were screens showing through the front windows signal box simulator, you had to recess a local train to allow the royal train to pass on a screen above the levers Shunters wagon from Worcester (where I’m going tonight!) King George V This is me in my mums arms aged 2 months seeing my first steam loco in Gobowen in 1975 and this is me with the same loco 49 years later! City of truro 28XX? Track maintenance vehicles I then went over to the designer outlet for a look, I wasn’t going to but glad I did as there was a manor parked up there They have done a fantastic job of keeping the heritage visible within the mall area, not that most normals would notice! Well worth a trip for a couple of hours I was there but god, Swindon so depressing to drive round, took as long to get from the edge of town to steam as it did to get from Oxford to the outskirts of the town! in later to Bewdley on the SVR, that should be interesting for the locals at 01:00! might head back to the hotel afterward rather than go home so I can visit the Abingdon model show tomorrow before work!

was that you on the DB train in EMG? in all fairness I did say hello from the ground but the warmth of the cab was beconing!

As I say change of job Thursday, didcot to east mids gateway and back didcot class 59 lurking 66722 for me Running round in the terminal DB train ready to depart And eventually back to didcot, single line working between Oxford and didcot delayed me by 30 mins DB 66 Fridays job is nuneaton to bewdley on the SVR and back, will have to see if it actually happens or if it’s just to Kidderminster as usual

if your saying everyone got their email yesterday then you can add me to the list of not getting one, checked my spam etc but nothing

I wasn’t sure whether the new batch would have the deck extension and buffer covers and seeing the pics it’s now obvious they don’t however I’m going to use the guide I’ve posted to further up the page to add them (the article has now disappeared behind a subscription paywall for some reason) but if anyone else fancies doing the same then the brass strip I bought for the side extensions was from Nairnshire modelling supplies on eBay and is exactly the right size as recommended in the article, one strip will do a single wagon and it comes in a pack of 8 (got my 3 Oxford warwells to do too) https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/114940337420?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=c3QB29bTQJW&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=TJORlFVXTTy&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Another last second click this evening has bagged me a pair of cavalex KBA barrier wagons for £71, missed them on release and they seem to be pretty much sold out, only TTC diecast seems to have a pair at the £90 rrp that eBay username looks familiar!! I’ll probably sell the 4 Bachmann TEAs that I’d decalled up as barriers now I’ve got the proper things

that was my first thought too, that and orange 156s in the north end bays! Being in north wales crewe was normally our go to place for spotting with my dad so from there heading south seeing the first red lamp posts south of rugby meant we were in NSE territory and seeing a then new at the time 321 was quite exciting! career wise though the first time I saw a class 165 turbo in Birmingham in 2005 while passing over the snow hill lines on a road learning loco seemed very strange as I didn’t know they came up to snow hill with chiltern, cue 5 years down the line and I’d be driving them there myself! Even today it quite exciting for me at times to be passing GWR or LNER or MML trains on various jobs as I’d have never imagined I’d be driving trains in those regions when I started driving

Back to it again today, coton hill stone from coleshill coleshill parkway coton hill and back to coleshill 805 job has been cancelled so I’m now in a hotel so I can do an intermodal from didcot to East Midlands gateway and back tomorrow afternoon

20v is brilliant, laughed far too hard!

Octopus have come back with £9599 with just 8 panels……. 8x JA Solar 435W panels A Giv-Energy 5.2kWh Battery A Giv-Energy Hybrid Inverter Installation on a Single Aspect roof Bird-Netting as standard All electrical components required to complete the install All scaffolding, delivery and labour costs or £11099 with the bigger 9.5kWh battery their buy back price is 30p

I’ve just had a quote from OVO energy for solar panels, not got all the info to hand yet but it’s an 11 panel system and a 5.2kw battery installed for £9800 they recon I should save about £825-875 a year on my current useage so it would pay for itself in just over 11 years their sell back to the grid price is 20p per whatever it’s the first quote I’ve had but it’s about the figure I thought it would be, the question is will we still be living here in 11 years to justify the outlay, I’ve not no plans on moving but my wife keeps hinting about wanting to a few years down the line

Finished the roof and painted it up, light grey with a black wash over the top, added the chimneys and lead flashing painted the curtains and nets I was going to get some plastic ridge tiles but decided to make some out of card instead Which I painted grey ready to weather done but they looked a bit flat and lack lustre So I added strips of plastistruct 2 tiles apart to make the bridges between individual tiles Which look so much better, only done one side so far, also painted the flashing, did it grey then added a touch of green before dry brushing grey I’ve the top again to soften down the colours Need to get some guttering when the model shop opens on Wednesday and find the missing window sill that pinged off somewhere!

See driverless trains are possible, sack all those workshy good for nothing drivers, they just sit there pushing buttons anyway, good riddance to em!!

clickbaiting more like!

first thing I thought….

Just booked a survey for solar panels, gonna have to try hard not to say ‘I don’t believe it’ if it’s a good price!!

Unsold and off the market https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/britains-loneliest-home-taken-market-32179965

And the pictures from my short trip out! drove to longport and caught the train from there, annoyingly the 08:10 derby train from crewe doesn’t stop at longport for some reason so I had to get there for 07:50 and catch a train to Stoke where I’ve got a 35 min wait! longport into Stoke, consecutive numbered voyagers Pendolino then noticed a crewe to derby RTC was on its way which was a pair of GB 73s And on video I then got the call to say it was cancelled so I went over to the other platform and got the train back to longport war memorial archway 170 back off til Wednesday now, coton hill stone job

69009 to longport move cancelled, was en route to toton when I found out, the sleeper conduct was also cancelled so (so far) I’ve had an easy day!

There was a scale model show on today in my lads school in Nantwich so we went along for a look, I wanted to get some fine brushes and possibly get some advice on figure painting, which I managed to get so I bought myself a small bust of my wife’s fave Henry Cavell to have a go at painting and detailing up, quite pleased with how it came out for a first go I then decided to build a laser cut building that’s been sat in my cupboard since a pre lockdown warley show! it’s from petite properties and is a nice simple low relief workers cottage, I was going to do it red brick but realised that the brick paper I have is 0 gauge so I finished it in rustic stone, I made a bit of a mess cutting round the door and window apertures and very nearly gave it up as a bad job but I managed to tidy it up a bit so it’s not too noticeable, I painted the edges black around the windows but changed it to white to look like pvc frames which made a big difference and gave me a bit more confidence to carry on the roof is time consuming as each strip of tiles is individual to be glued down one at a time, they are very thin laser cut card got one small end to do before giving it a coat of primer and top coat then a wash etc going to have to do some studying to see how to weather it effectively, really not got a clue! I’ve got to finish the chimney stacks and pots and I’m going to get hold of some guttering and downpipes, also looking at how to make the likes of electric meter boxes and EV chargers to bring the building up to date, also need to add curtains and door furniture etc quite pleased with it so far

Back to it with a short Langley green to bescot trip with the rail miller, 66716 and 66708 top and tail Langley green and into bescot Conducting the sleeper train in the morning then over to toton for 69009 to longport