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Not that I am an expert on these but I would guess this is the remains of 4 Sub 4308 (motor coaches 8143/8144) which had been stored in 'as-withdrawn' condition for preservation in York until 1977. In 1977 it was taken for restoration - well 8143 was, 8144 was cannibalised to provide parts and then scrapped. Rob

Again sticking to Fleetwood Mac but the old stuff - it could be Albatross or "oh well" Rob

You should take a look at the thread about this line http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/56808-the-clc-through-stockport/ if you haven't already done so, Rob

One possibility is Skelton Junction near Manchester looking east. As per normal when I need to find a photo I can't but here is the a picture of the signal box diagram https://www.flickr.com/photos/panarail/7540010628 Hopefully someone will be along who has better luck finding a picture! Rob

Take a look at the RCTS site for some some examples (including a Peak) https://www.rcts.org.uk/features/mysteryphotos/index.htm?location=Bennerley+Viaduct&srch=&page= Rob

With those hills I would say that it may be the Woodhead electrification - most likely somewhere on the Penistone to Wath section . Rob

My 'guess' is that the 08 is on a different line with the last wagon on the left being on the same line so part of the 08's train and not part of the 31's train. Having no clue when these wagons started to be used in departmental service - is it possible that these are two works trains waiting to go somewhere? Rob

Not sure if the Pullmans included in this set would be considered U type Pullmans. From the Web I see that Hornby is including cars 34, 36 and Minerva. These were wooden K type Pullmans (built in the 20's) modified in 1951 to look the like the new U type Pullmans with the new square windows etc. Note - I would like to be wrong here and find out that Hornby is doing the U type Pullmans! Edit - I see I am too slow typing! Rob

I heard two excited old ladies yesterday outside a shop talking about the Leicester win - "first time for them" etc. Nothing unusual about that you might say - except I live in a rural area of California! They were American - and unlike what the BBC has been saying they could pronounce Leicester. Rob

Sorry - I got the wrong photo!

Here is the companion shot of Penyghent and Snowdon's plates being returned for the farewell tour - and Tigger the cat! Rob

The layout seems to match Halton on the Chester to Warrington line - the box in the distance being Frodsham Jn. Rob

I couldn't see an answer to this old question so - these sidings are marked on early diagrams of new Euston as Restaurant Car docks. Don't know if they ever go used to restock restaurant cars or if they did when did they stop doing that. In the days of intensive use of coach sets it would seem an unusual thing to split the restaurant car out. Rob

Maybe not a good explanation but the line with the trap isn't a siding but the exit from Tuxford sidings so is a signaled running line - the siding on the left was, I believe, the head shunt for the sidings and the line on the right is a siding. You can see a photo of the other direction here http://signalboxes.com/tuxford-signalboxes.php (scroll down the page fro the shot of Tuxford Dukeries Junction) Rob

So the Swift diagram is correct - you could not run directly into what is called the 'Carriage Siding' here. So I think I would be safe to guess that that line was for shunting carriages between the station and the carriage sidings - plus any milk tanks. Rob

The milk tanks were unloaded at the 'Milk Dock'. Rob

Don't know if you are aware of this but there is a chapter in "The Great Central in LNER days volume 2" called Milk for Marylebone - this goes into some details of the working of the milk trains pre-war. It does state that "the procedure for deal with milk arrivals at Marylebone was always the same" - as soon as the train came to rest in the platform the pilot came onto the rear to shunt the wagons onto the dock. However this bit of text is after talking about all milk wagons were received at the end of passenger trains. It then talks about the dedicated milk train that started in 1937 so I don't know if the bit about how they were handled still applies. It is interesting to read that the dedicated train from Marylebone to Banbury ran via Woodford (reversing there) and not direct - just so the LNER could get more money from the train. This was one of the first things that got changed after BR was formed. On the topic of the up loop - according to the diagram for Marylebone Goods Yard in the Swift books you could not run directly into the up loop from the North, you had to shunt to get in to it. It should be noted that this isn't one of the best of the diagrams in the Swift books and could be wrong - but from what few pictures I can find the bits I could see seems to match. Rob

I would say that this is a train returning from Ruddington. Normally trains to and from Ruddington were propelled backwards between Trent Lane Jct and Weekday Cross. An example can be seen on the rcts mystery photo's site under G-241 - sorry embedding links doesn't seem to work for me! Of course - this could be an exception to the rule! Rob

Could it (or part of it) be a special working from Eastleigh works? Would explain the clean GUVs! Rob

The last few GC York Bournemouth trains had a blue/white MK1's in them. I would post a link but I don't see to be able to do that for some technical reason! So search for RCTS MYSTERY PHOTOS 67-66-19. The book 'Diesels in the Midlands' by Derek Huntriss has a colour picture of the train with two blue/white coaches arriving in Victoria station. These were all diesel hauled - I haven't seen a picture of a blue/white coach hauled by steam on the GC on a service train- yet. The MK2 looking coaches on the railtour were actually XP64 - search for 66-02-04 on the RCTS site for a discussion. Rob Edited to correct spelling issue I noticed as pressing save.....

I am not sure why it was retained but as both tracks were retained for a short distance with a cross over at the end it could have been to allow trains from/to Gedling to run around if they wanted to go east as well as the siding headshunt. As for the siding - I have no clue what that was for! I also don't know when these tracks were finally removed. I do remember seeing them in the 70's but I never saw anything on them. Rob

I found the reference on the RCTS site - look at picture B-70-04 http://www.rcts.org.uk/features/mysteryphotos/show.htm?srch=basford&page=5&serial=94&img=B-70-04 Mark Higginson says that the decision to close north of Weekday Cross was taken in Feb 68. Mark is the author of the excellent book "The Friargate Line" - so he does know a lot about those lines. On seeing that it made me recall that I had seen that bit of info. a long time ago - I just don't know where. The only thing I can think of is that I believe there was an article about the GN in Nottingham in the mid 70's in the Railway Magazine - perhaps it was in there. On the subject of these freight lines under Victoria Center - I wonder if they planned to vent them, if so how, if not then it would not have been pleasant down there (especially as Victoria Street isn't vented). Rob

The original plan was to keep the lines through Victoria open until around 1970 and close them after Trent Power box was complete. However the traffic was falling off rapidly and I am sure the Victoria Centre developers made is worthwhile to BR to close the line early before they had got too far in the building process. Even though most of the traffic went in May 68 the GN line between Netherfield and Trent Lane remained in use until Jan 1970 when it was closed along with the remaining signal boxes on the GC and the remaining lines singled. Somewhere on the RCTS site there is a reference to this by someone much more knowledgeable than me - I will try to search it out later today. Rob

The first two are on the GCR at Loughbourgh Central. Edited to add - D4067 is a Class 10 shunter. Rob

T.R. Gourvish British Railways - A Business History (1948 - 1973) lists the following closures by minister after the Beeching report up to the end of 1973. Marples (Con) - 1,436 miles closed. Fraser (Lab) - 819 miles closed Castle (Lab) - 606 miles closed Marsh (Lab) - 419 miles closed Mulley (Lab) - 227 miles closed Peyton (Con) - 90 miles closed Note - Marples would have closed a lot before the Beeching report. But all the big ones S&D, GC, Waverley etc., were done under Labour. It is interesting to read how Barbara Castle tried to stop the rate of closures but struggled - she was too new at the job to fight the Ministry and the BRB! Rob