D1059

43 minutes ago, Siberian Snooper said:

 

 

that should keep a few tree huggers happy in years to come.

 

 

Tree huggers are NEVER happy unless you do what they want, and even then they'll still moan

16 hours ago, mdvle said:

 

So, do I have this correct then:

 

1) new road to reduce congestion on existing roads - Good!

2) new railway line to reduce congestion on existing rail line - Bad!

 

?

But

New Road - is of direct use by MP's local constituents

New Railway Line - is of no direct benefit to MP's local constituents

Bigger picture doesn't interest many local voters

Wow - SERIOUSLY impressed with the modelling skill here - the buildings are wonderful - can't wait to see them painted

3 hours ago, Reorte said:

 

We've had a constant pursuit of economic growth for decades that doesn't seem to have done much for most people, and a good chunk of the methods involved in getting it seem to involve trying to get rid of jobs - even where they don't look at what we've got now as a result of the pursuit of economic efficiency - job security is terrible for example. And when it brings a load of the sort of development that makes a place more unpleasant to actually be in, well, is it any wonder that I've completely lost faith in the mantra of economic growth? It all feels like a keeping up with the Jones's race rather than anything that's actually making life better these days.

Economies are all giant Ponsi schemes - they only work if you have an ever increasing population fuelling demand for 'stuff' - 

To keep the thread on topic - this bridge scheme will never get off the ground. A tunnel would be a better option, but it won't happen this century

22 hours ago, Tallpaul69 said:

 

 

You might be able to help me with some queries on the area around the Station:-

1) In the 80s what buildings occupied the space between the Station Approach and Grenfell road?

2) What was in the area further down Grenfell Road between it and the railway (opposite the park)?

I took pics of the older properties area further along Grenfell Road up to the bridge over the branch, so its just the area towards the station that I am struggling with! 

 

Thats going to stretch the memory cells !!

Just outside the station on the walk down to Grenfell Road, on the left (I think) was a row of nondescript low rise shops and business premises - can't remember properly, may have been single storey

The office block I was in went up sometime in the 80s I think, and had a small multistorey car park attached on the west side of it (or adjacent). Can't remember what was further up Grenfell Road

1990 - 92, I used to work on the ground floor of the green office building beside Maidenhead station. I could see the branch platform and trains a few yards from my desk, about 15ft above me

January - September 1990, I commuted to/from work by train from Didcot - I usually liked to take one of the Class 50 hauled stoppers, complete with Mk1 compartment stock - happy days 

On 26/01/2020 at 23:13, 4069 said:

For a really short life, look no further than the M40 bridge over the Maidenhead - High Wycombe line, which closed before the motorway opened:

 

Now that's a fascinating picture - I always assumed (wrongly, obviously) that the line was severed by the motorway construction, causing the closure

Not on a motorway, but how about the bridge over the A498 just outside Beddgelert - built for the original alignment of the Porthmadog, Beddgelert and South Snowdon Railway which was to have featured electrification. When the scheme was revived by the Welsh Highland after WW1, they bypassed the original bridge, which has now stood for over 100 years, and never used

2 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

What do you think HS2 in the north is meant to do?  Allow Surrey commuters to get to London more easily.  I really wish some people commenting on this thread would bother to read it (yes - I know there's a lot of it) before coming out with statements like that.

And here we go again!  Yet another load of total cobblers which sounds like some of the nonsense being posted by tuppeny ha'penny journos (even in 'The Daily Telegraph') who are too idle or biased to bother to even look at the facts let alone consider what they mean.  Where else on the rail network could this money be spent to solve the ever worsening capacity problems on the WCML ?

The original poster is either deliberately trolling this forum thread, or just has a very deep lack of understanding of how railways actually work and run. 

To the vast majority on this forum it is blindingly obvious that HS2 will bring huge benefits to the UK's railway system, the least of which will be quicker London - Birmingham journey times.

Yes, there will be disruption while its built and life will change for those living near it, but the same can be said for any new road, or housing estate. Think what the inhabitants of the original village of Milton Keynes must have felt when they saw what was being planned - and the effect of that must have turned out to be many times worse than a new railway line

Thanks guys

The camera certainly does pick up imperfections - and I spent a LOT of time carefully laying the track on City Basin Goods to ensure it was kink free

The tank unloading gear was a gift from a fellow club member who had it going spare and is scratchbuilt

Exhibitions for City Basin Goods this year are

• Cheltenham 4-5th April
• Fareham - 25th April
• Wing - which is either 26th September or 3rd October (I shall have to check as my diary still has both dates in it)
• Oxford - 11th October

1 hour ago, muddy water said:

 

Good question!

My reply was tongue in cheek, in the sense that the HST has many livery variations, train lengths and the buffet may have 3 or 4 large windows!

This photo is from 2018 of a train arriving at Newquay from up north via Par. The layout I believe is set in this time period. So a XC HST will also be needed. 

 

So how many HSTs?

At least:

Two blue 

Two mixed Blue and green ones. Power cars different to coaches.

Two green 

One XC

and finally one LNER as they were hired in and did get down south west! (Maybe not to Par, but at least to Plymouth!)

 

 

 

Not really relevant to your time period but I couldn't help offering this as a comparison shot to what that end of Par used to look like

Summer Evening at Par 1 by Stephen Dance, on Flickr

Hi Duncan

I checked my archive for photos of 37239 and came up with this one dated August 8th 1989 - still in blue

Moreton Cutting Coal Empties by Stephen Dance, on Flickr

An excuse for some more WHL freight porn

Glen Falloch Freight by Stephen Dance, on Flickr

County March Summit Freight - Explored by Stephen Dance, on Flickr

On 02/09/2019 at 15:50, SED Freightman said:

 

Whitlingham Jn used to receive occasional trainloads of cement from BCI Northfleet when demand was heavy, but I think it was normally served by wagonload (Speedlink) services.

Back in the 70s and very early 80s I lived only half a mile from Whitlingham Jn. 

I've seen photos of cement wagons being in the sidings as late as 76 and remember them there myself, but I don't think it lasted long after that. I certainly never saw a loco in there

Another view of Diss - from 1984

Diss Is Diss Station by Stephen Dance, on Flickr

41 minutes ago, Sir TophamHatt said:

There's already a website (public, but seemingly aimed at staff in the FAQ):

https://www.westcoastrail.co.uk/index.html

 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Strange that they've got something out so quick (I suspect the decision was made a few days or even a week ago), yet the East Midlands Railway website is up and down:

http://eastmidlandsrailway.co.uk - yesterday it displayed a fully functioning website, now it's just a holding page.

 

 

Branding for West Coast seems to be a very dark navy, possibly black (my monitor may not show the true colour) and orange.  Sort of makes me feel a bit nautical / shipping / boat theme.

Will there be a conflict with West Coast Railways over the name ? - Will WCRC object, or will the new franchisee try and force WCRC to relinquish its identity as other large companies have tried to do, even when the minnow existed first ?

Still, they could always paint their shiny new trains sludge brown

3 hours ago, Clive Mortimore said:

Another station announcement which sticks in my mind was a platform change at Waterloo....."The So and so train will now be departing from platform x so all passengers in the queue at platform y are requested to move to platform x."  short pause " That includes the bald man looking very lost". The mic had been left open.

My fave was from Oxenholme. While waiting for a northbound service while on an Area 2 runabout, summer 1978 - Typical Lake District 'summer' weather - it was absolutely p*ssing it down.

A southbound service is announced, followed by 'Second class accommodation on this service is at the EXTREME rear of the train...........beyond the station canopy' 

1 hour ago, The Stationmaster said:

I have had the impression from personal observation that the progress of work in South Wales has been considerably less haphazard than the way work was carried out east of Swindon (and east of Didcot in particular).  Things also appeared better organised between Wootton Bassett and Stoke Gifford although my sightings of works there was not frequent. 

 

The big question now - according to some sources - is the state of the overhead conductor in the Severn Tunnel which allegedly has again suffered corrosion problems to the extent that further remedial work is needed.

Maybe they should take a leaf out of the modellers handbook and only use nickel silver 

I exhibited my layout there a couple of years ago - the organisers were helpful and I could choose what hotel we stayed in, which was nice.

The shed is what it is - a loco shed. It's dark and the lights are poor. If you don't provide your own good lighting for your layout, you will struggle to see anything, and whatever you do, don't wear any clothes you care about. The floor is filthy, and layouts being layouts, you have to get up close and personal with it while working underneath the baseboards

That said, it was a nice couple of days, and quite novel to be operating with real locos in steam (or in diesel in the case of the smoky 03) outside the doors

One of the most memorable railtour sights I shot

May 8th 1982 - 40 084 and 40 057 pass through the centre road at Oxford with 1Z78 the York - London Paddington Cotswold Venturer railtour. I have never seen more immaculately prepared locos on a railtour before or since.

Bulled Up to the Max by Stephen Dance, on Flickr

Nicely captures that down at heel, late 60s/early 70s look, before nature was allowed to just run riot across our railway infrastructure

Absolutely shocked at this. I can’t imagine how I would feel if my own layout had been trashed like that, let alone the traders, who’s livelihood depends on their stands

What I find incomprehensible is that the parents of these 15 year olds let their offspring be out on the streets AT 3 o’CLOCK IN THE MORNING

19 hours ago, phil-b259 said:

 

*(several large new developments are underway / about to get going near me with zero infrastructure improvements to cope 

And the section in bold sums up the problem - either no extra infrastructure to cope with the extra population foisted on already overcrowded areas, or laughably inadequate provisions (a local example being the addition of one new set of pedestrian lights as a solution to (already existing) traffic congestion, plus the addition to hundreds of new homes being built in the Abingdon - Steventon corridor. Guess what - it hasn't worked, quelle surprise

13 hours ago, figworthy said:

 

Much longer than that, the plans were first floated in the early 90s

Interspersed over the years with at least 2 attempts to put an airport twice the size of Heathrow there. and also, the proposal to build the Oxford Garden Village (30000+ houses) on the same site - you get the feeling that TPTB won't give up until the whole area is concreted over, or flooded. 

Don't get tied up on the listing issue - it's only been relevant in that it has been a reason to try and get NR to consider alternatives to a full rebuild. The real issue is the length of time the rebuild will take (9 months to a year), the impact on local businesses, and the inevitable traffic chaos in an area plagued with congestion and adjacent to the notorious A34 which suffers frequent disruption, especially in winter 

On 10/02/2019 at 19:08, TomE said:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Is that a Bullion van I spy in the platform on the right ?

Very nice layout - ALMOST tempted to go for handbuilt track next time