Billy Flathead

I thought I'd taken a picture but I can't find it. The paint had faded so It was hard to see what it said. I lived in Birdwell and can remember trains at Rockingham and Barrow. My nans garden backed onto the electric line near Worsbrough Bridge crossing but I didn't have a proper camera until after it closed. David

Hi Brian, don't know if it is my age or what but I am getting so clumsy, I spend most of my time repairing stuff or crawling around looking for it. I had seen that concrete wall in an old photo so I went down to junction street the other weekend to take some photos. Have you seen the advert painted on the house end facing the railway, best seen from the foot path on the other side of the line. In the second photo in post 131 I think the shed was in the trees on the left. On the right I think was a land fill site, I can remember turning off the road then under the bridge on the H&B line then up onto the tip to unload a truck. Cheers David

I've painted the body of the crab tender, but not before I knocked it off the bench to land on my bike frame. The rear corner was flattened and the front corner bent in, I think I have just about got away with it by bending it back and using filler. It looks a bit nose heavy with the motor in, so I will add some lead to the back. Also made this concrete wall from plastic, painted with acrylics. In place on the layout, the stone wall predates the railway and the concrete wall runs at a different angle where the railway has taken some of the yard behind the wall. There is still some of this concrete wall beside the line in Barnsley, its been there since at least the mid fifties. Don't know whether to start planting more hemp grass in this area or try some teddy bear fur. Cheers David

Not much progress in the last month, just a few details added to the crab tender, brake blocks from plastic card should see it done. I'll take it to work this week to clean off the last of the solder. Also made this wall which will form part of the railway boundary. Made from layers of mounting board with a skim of plaster pva mix. Lots of walls like this around Barnsley with triangular coping stones which would have been almost black in the 50s. Cheers David

Hi Ian Emptys heading south through Leeds could be for Barrow Colliery south of Barnsley, originally owned I think, by the Barrow Haemotite Co. As kids we lived about a mile away. There was a footpath through the pit yard and I can't believe how close we used to stand, looking over the low wall as the hot coke dropped into the coke car on the other side. Happy days. David

I think you are right there Mick, in a later photo there is what looks like a trolley top and some wheels in the same place. Brian, I looked on google earth and old maps and the little bridge is on the line of the original H&B branch into Monkton pit, just a few yards off the triangle, but on the old map it is on an embankment. It was because it was so low down that I was doubtful about it, maybe it was lowered when the area was landscaped? Cheers David

Hi Michael, I went from Shafton on the road up to the end of the bypass, there were some overgrown mounds right next to the roundabout but I just assumed it was from the road works. In the stonework blocking the tunnel there was a door which seemed to be open from where I was standing. Thanks Mick photos of this end are always appreciated. I think that is Frickley Bridge Lane in the background so it is looking towards Hull. That's an interesting object in the foreground withe the pair of handles at each end. Brian. I saw that bridge too but couldn't make up my mind about it . Last time I went up that way I found a fire shooting up from a hole in the ground and called the fire brigade. Cheers David

Thanks Mick. I hadn't heard of Hiendley Main, I will have a look on old maps when I get chance, my cab phone doesn't like it. Cheers David

Thanks Mick. The signalling layout has hiendley box on it, did this go when the new box at Monkton empty sidings opened. The track bed at Brierley Jn is a bit rough but in the sidings going round to the L&Y it is in good condition. The OS map shows an ventilation shaft over the tunnel, but I couldn't find it Cheers David

Had a nice ride out on my bike on Sunday morning, up to Lee Lane at Royston then left onto the track bed of the Barnsley Coal Railway. In the woods beyond Royston are these bridge piers where the coal railway passed over the Barnsley canal and the Midland main line. I followed the canal down into Royston past the site of the steam shed onto the H&B main line at Cudworth North The line curves up to the right to the end of the tree line where this old bridge is being overgrown Just off the H&B line at Shafton this bridge crossed over the L&Y Dearne valley line. I could have searched the internet to see if Brierley tunnel was still there but that would have spoilt the thrill of stumbling across it. I say stumble but I fell and slid twenty yards down the embankment. Its not the best picture but I didn't fancy falling any further. Cheers David

Did some soldering while listening to Barnsley win promotion. Fitted coal rails made from nickel silver strip and 1mm brass angle to the crab tender. The brake cross shaft catches the flanges of the front wheels so will need moving forward. Cheers David

The garrett is running for the first time in about thirty years after a clean and oil

With help from bri.s heres a short vid of the outside track, sorry about the shaky camera

https://youtu.be/jnDn0EfFxLQ

https://youtu.be/GByK1uFsZn4

http://youtu.be/jnDn0EfFxLQ

http://youtu.be/GEyK1uFsZn4

http://youtu.be/jnDn0EfFxLQ

Thanks Brian, I managed a link to the actual video in the post above but I was interrupted by Mrs F so I will try again later.

https://youtu.be/jnDn0EfFxLQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?V=jnDn0EfFxLQ

Thanks Brian, I will try signing up to YouTube when I get home later in the week. Will send you a pm when I have done it. Cheers David.