LMS2968

Dent, complete as nature intended! Nice, Dave! I like it!

I can see that in the UK that being adopted as yet another job creation scheme!

Alas, not always. I live about half a mile from the long-gone Bickershaw and Abram station on the GCR Wigan Junction Line. Photos showed different gates at the east and west sids of the level crossing there, and it was by accident that I discovered the reason. The owner of the garage I worked for (mid-1980s, so about 30 years after the event) had one night been going along Bickershaw Lane in his Austin A30 and approached the crossing. He was on sidelights only and saw nothing ahead, until he just made out the target on the left-hand nearer gate swinging towards him. Realising that he had no chance of stopping he tried to accelerate (in an A30!). He got through the first gate but took the far one with him, stopping, fortunately, beyond the crossing. So BR had to provide a new gate, but fair enough, he had to get a new car!

You're right, mate, and Sentinel is what I meant to type. God knows where Scammel came from! One of those moments... And the ones I rmember were definitely green!

I well remember the Scammell steam wagons, although not in LMS livery. Some belonging to Criddles (animal feeds) in Liverpool regularly parked in front of our house in the 1950s. I spent hours watching them!

I have to say, Dave, that your idea of "...the quality is not so good" and mine differ widely!

That was common - and timetabled - back in the early 1970s prior to the electrification of the WCML north of Weaver Junction. I think it was the 9.0 Lime Street - Glasgow, which left LS with two coached double headed by two Class 50s. At Preston, the portion from Manchester was coupled on behind to make a worthwhile load, but the LS - Preston part was always two coaches headed by two 50s!

It wouldn't be an 8F without that clank!

I was there that weekend, too. The SVR had sent a convoy of three locos: 8F 8233, Collett 0-6-0 3205 and Pannier 5786. A friend and I had lit up the 8F the evening before the movement, the engine having been the subject of a massive effort to get the paintwork finished in time, although only the LH side was lettered and numbered. We followed them to Tyseley by car, where we spent the weekened looking after the 8F. I recall 6201 being there, also. The steam ban was in force at the time and the three steam locos were - theoretically - in light steam and diesel hauled with a 25mph speed limit. The driver in charge of 8233 was a BR driver from Saltley and knew the road. He got bored at 25mph and decided to give the diesel a helping hand, and a speed of 60mph was reported before the diesel's driver resorted to the brakes. This didn't prove particularly effective as the 8F's large ejector was brought into use, so the diesel (a Class 25 from memory) had only the straight air brake to rely on. They eventually reached Tyseley, the diesel hooked off and departed with flats on all its wheels. Happy days!

I hate to mention this, Dave, but I think 5428 was given the name, 'Eric Treacy'; 'George Stephenson' was bestowed on the Stephenson geared 4767. Like the photos, though!

A device for cleaning the third (live) rail?

Works fine for me.

It was the early 1970s, a guard at Arply was surprised to find a Class 40 rolling serenely and quietly past him, its engine shut down and no-one aboard. He climbed into the trailing cab and realised that there was no air. His attempt at screwing down the handbrake showed him that it was already fully applied, and a quick dash througfh the engine compartment proved that the handbrake at this end was also fully screwed down. Climbing down again, he looked for something to place under the leading wheels, and found an old track chair, which he wedged on top of the rail. The leading (pony) wheel climbed the chair and dropped off the other side, on the wrong side of the rail. The second wheel also climbed the chair, but the whole thing then came to a stand with that wheel still at the top of the chair. He wasn't at all popular when he entered the office and announced, "I've just put a 40 on the floor!" The mood soon changed once the circumstances were explained.

Spekeland Road, R.I.P

They were certainly provided at Edge Hill - on a recurring basis! See Post 17.

I have posted this before, but I well remember the stabling point at Edge Hill being littered with the splintered remains when drivers forgot to remove them before moving off with a Class 40. And yes, you had to use them everytime; we just got through a lot of them!

That last one, David, has a very interesting line up of road vehicles, the most interesting one (for me) being the Ford E93A (a genuine E93A rather than the catch-all by those who don't know!) Prefect soft top, while the next but one along is another - still fairly rare - E93A Prefect, but this time a saloon. I've been a long standing member of the Ford Sidevalve Owners Club (www.fsoc.co.uk) and I think they would be interested in it. would you object if I forwarded it to them for possible inclusion in their in-house magazine? Usual acknowledgements, etc.

That was my thought, too. But why there?

Anyone know what that is in cabside lookout? I don't remember seeing anything like that before.

It was a parcels depot, the tracks were arranged parallel with conveyers and roadways for road traffic - the ubiquitous Scammel Scarab - in between. It came up on here within the last year in a topic on, I think, BRS depots, but I couldn't find it. Perhaps Michael Delamar could help on this one? Last time I went past, which was August last year, the 'skeleton' was still standing but the panels between had gone.

Perhaps these might help> http.doc

Sounds reasonable. Edge Hill was a huge and complex area, and very difficult to get your head around. I worked there in the early 1970s and still struggle!

Sounds reasonable if its all part of the Edge Hill complex, where different topic will interlink. Go ahead from me!

Dave, you are a life saver, mate! I've been looking for photos of Edge Hill showing the footbridge, and there it is. Thank you so much.

I remember the work we put into bringing 8233 to that standard: months and months of rubbing down. We went so far through the layers of paint that we found Arabic writing on the cab sides, a memory of her war service in the middle east.