LMS2968

You also need to be aware that the there will be parts of the arc of the wheel, including the flanges, outside the wheelbase itself and these must also clear the rails leading up to the table.

So unless I'm missing something, the only direction available is back the way the train came?

No, they drove from the right. Many pre-grouping companies drove from the right but the LMS, LNER and SR standardised on the left. The GWR, as ever, went its own way.

That by definition would have to be a distant signal, otherwise it's a stop block, and the tern is Fixed Distant. There are some in preservation; there are or possibly were one or two on the Severn Valley Railway

As I said, I was a bit puzzled but the one I recall was a circular dummy, unusual in being yellow. I wish I could remember where it was and its purpose.

I don't think these dummies were exclusively WR. I'm sure I have seen one of these and remember being a bit puzzled by it. It might have been on the old Liverpool & Manchester line but after fifty years, who knows?

They should leave stones lying around for them to throw . . .

The usual way was to put some on the far side of the stop block!

Lime Street tunnel being opened out to series of cuttings linked by four-track tunnels. https://janfordsworld.blogspot.com/2015_03_19_archive.html  The photos seem to have disappeared! https://janfordsworld.blogspot.com/2015/03/edge-hill-cutting.html

I think we've been through the 8F and yellow stripe situation before, but the three ex-Middle East engines, 8773/74/75, were fitted with bigger top feeds containing shut-off valves to deal with the atrocious water in the desert. The valves were operated by a vertical spindle, one each side, and these spindles were above the loading gauge limit; no other 8Fs were involved. When the stripe appeared, 8773 was given it; 8775 had had its spindles cut off so was exempt, while 8774 still had the spindles but didn't get the stripe. In 1966, 8773 had a Heavy Intermediate overhaul at Crewe and was given a new boiler, the opportunity was taken at the same time to fit a standard top feed so she became within the loading gauge. Despite this, the stripe was reapplied and carried until withdrawal in August 1968.

J2102 - When the real thing, etc.? Even a bus on the bridge!

I can only assume that you did things differently in South Wales to us Northerners! If the WWT called for four wagons as the fitted head, that's what was bagged up, whatever was behind them. Getting carried away and piping up a whole lot of extras was likely to incur the wrath of the shunters when you arrived at your destination. It wasn't just a matter of their having to go between to unhook but they'd also have to pull the strings to allow any further shunting or remarshalling. They objected to being kept away from the teapot for so long.

I still have my notes from when I did my guards training way back in 1973, and even that late we covered livestock working as below. Note it states,". . . usually marshalled next to the loco."

It would most likely be that the train reverses en route and it saves the time of having to move the van from one end to the other. It wasn't uncommon for the engine to work one leg tender first. It would be headed to give the best direction chimney first depending on distance, gradients and possibly wind direction.

The tablet catchers allowed the tablets to be picked up and given up at a higher speed; their absence meant that the train had to run slower or even stop during the exchange. They also made the exchanges safer. Their lack made them inconvenient but still possible.

An example of this was Baby Scot 5509 which carried the name, The Derbyshire Yeomanry, but known locally as The Derby Yo-yo due to the number of times it entered and came out of those works. It was allocated to that shed from 20/10/51 to 30/08/58, presumably to be handy for the works, the Western Division, hosting all other class members, had obviously chosen to get rid of it. In 1958 it was again transferred, this time to Newton Heath where it stayed to the end, never darkening the door of the Western Division again.

. . . or the worst!

Nah! Definitely not.

Yes, rather like 'Train of Events' with Jack Warner!

While all that is true, except at sheds and possibly terminus stations, the columns would see long periods between use thereby allowing the supply tank plenty of time to replenish, but getting the water into tenders and tanks had a greater urgency. But note the word 'practicable' in my post above regarding the height of the supply tanks.

You made the supply tank as high above the columns as practicable to give a pressure head to the water. Having it only just above the level would give a very restricted flow rate, not ideal if you've put the bag in during a station stop. The higher the supply, the greater the pressure and the greater the flow.

The answers here on Page 127 of Michael R Bailey and John Glithero's The Engineering and History of Rocket (2000) National Railway Museum, York ISBN 1 900747 18 9. It suggests via Robert Stannard that the smokebox was fitted some time in November 1830 during repairs from an accident on Chat Moss. The reason was to ease the removal of smokebox char and also to allow a greater volume of it to be carried before this removal became imperative. It would also have smoothed out the pulses from the blastpipe giving a more constant vacuum. It's worth mentioning that both Novelty and San Pareil exceeded the Rainhill Trials requirements, but only for short periods. Their problems were more to do with reliability over a long distance, and in the latter case excess weight, a lack of springs and spark throwing.

The suggestion to use multiple tubes in Rocket's boiler came from Henry Booth, the L&MR Secretary and Treasurer, and not from either of the Stephensons although it was Robert who had to make it work in practice. It was on this basis that Booth claimed one third of of the £500 premium the engine won at Rainhill. Rocket's external firebox was also water jacketed around the sides and top, and was later fitted with a water jacketed backplate.

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