jamesg

Now that could work... http://www.hondawanderer.com/43042_Moreton-in-Marsh_2008.htm

Two termini? Blaenau Ffestiniog. The service on the narrow gauge railway is more frequent than the standard gauge, so two trains didn't meet on this occasion. Perhaps a narrow gauge station next? Bonus points for a narrow gauge terminus.

There's a good write up of the day's filming at the railway in July 2016 on the GWSR Steam Loco Department blog.

Just a little rust at Toddington, Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway, 2004. This is one of the earliest photographs I took with a digital camera; technology has moved on a bit since then. The locomotive is No. 47376 'Freightliner 1995', which was fully restored and repainted by the middle of 2005. I don't have any photographs of 47376 from soon after the restoration, so how about a photograph of any locomotive that has been recently restored at the time the photograph was taken?

Thanks; I'm surprised not to have seen anything in my Flickr feed from the local photographers, as this was the first working on the Cotswold line in good(ish) light.

An update from the Cotswold line today. The morning class 800 (1W14 06:52 London Paddington to Great Malvern) ran without issue, just one or two minutes late at some stops. The return (1P25 09:54 Great Malvern to London Paddington) was slightly late leaving Malvern, which turned into 15 minutes late at Worcester, 25 minutes late at Evesham (the northbound HST took the single line first) and 35 minutes late at Oxford. There were lots of delays and cancellations on the route today, not helped by delays on the Westbury route into Worcester, so the return journey can't be considered normal. I wonder if anyone has the number of the class 800 that operated 1W14 and 1P25 today? It was 800011 on Tuesday.

I've been checking Real Time Trains to follow the 800s on the Cotswold line. Unfortunately, yesterday and today, 1W14 London Paddington to Great Malvern was terminated at Oxford. 1P25 Great Malvern to Paddington, which is formed from 1W14 at Great Malvern, started from Oxford. The evening trains, 1W33 London Paddington to Great Malvern and 1P47 Great Malvern to London Paddington, were cancelled throughout. I don't know anything about the cause of these cancellations, or even if they were planned in advance and not being shown on Real Time Trains. Neat video on the GWR Twitter feed of a 10 coach train arriving at Swansea: https://twitter.com/GWRHelp/status/948641675307638785 The caption is "Today we ran the first Carmarthen to London Paddington Intercity Express Train and added more IETs for Swansea and Cardiff. These are providing 1,800 more seats a day between South Wales and London as we continue to introduce our #GWRNewTrains"

The first passenger carrying Class 800 ran over the Cotswold line today as the 12:42 departure from Paddington. Edit: at least, I'm assuming it was the first - unless one sneaked past the photographers.

I remember them being there about eight years ago. That must have been just before the bay platforms were rebuilt. There's still a lot of work going on at the North end of Oxford station, with what looks like a new direct route from the line towards London into the bays. Here's 180104 on 25th November, wrapped in a special livery for the Old Oak Common open day held in September. It was my train home from the Warley Exhibition. The five Class 180s have now been withdrawn from the Cotswold Line and are being reassigned to other operators, so this livery was short lived. More darkness please, or perhaps twilight.

The Northbound run lost time at Oxford North Jn., Evesham, Worcester and Shelwick Jn., which except for Oxford, could have been due to entering single line sections. The return was better, but it ran to the timings of one of the cancelled passenger services. There must have been a few passengers annoyed that their trains was cancelled, and they couldn't board a perfectly good Class 800.

There was another test run on the Cotswold line today. From what I've read, it was to test the selective door opening. Unfortunately I didn't get to see it, but Realtime Trains shows that it ran slightly ahead of time for most of the route, which must be a good sign.

I've seen a Voyager almost stop for the signal on the steep bank just behind me (towards Leamington); it must be difficult to get going again from a complete stop, especially with a heavy freight.

The scene on Thursday, still a lot of snow about from Sunday. Conditions on the roads and in places footpaths were treacherous, as we had rain overnight that froze over the compacted snow on the ground, creating something like an ice rink in places!

Thanks a lot for the write up and pictures Simon, very informative. Especially interesting how the selective door opening is controlled by balises, is this completely new for the Class 800? There's a test run from Stoke Gifford to Hereford via the Cotswold Line today, for anyone not snowed in.

I don't have any photographs of Rotton Park Road (it closed in 1934), but it is an interesting station with an island platform in the middle of a passing loop for the single line. The loop was added after the station had been built on the single line. There are some good photographs on the Warwickshire Railways website.

From the tour website: There has been a history of steam railtours struggling to reach Blaenau due to the severe gradients. I look forward to photographing the train when it passes near me. An itinerary is on the tour website.

The Leamington show last year had screens near the entrance showing videos of Overlord, a very large layout that had been at the show the previous year. It gave people a chance to see the layout who hadn't visited the show last year. It's not the same as viewing Youtube videos at home; the footage was well curated and created at talking point amongst people at the show.

One bridge in England. Next topic - continuing with the theme - a bridge in Wales.

Borth station, on the Cambrian line just North of Aberystwyth, houses a small railway museum ( http://www.borthstationmuseum.co.uk/ ).

They look fantastic. I can't justify a set for my 1950s/60s layout, but thanks to Hattons for the diagrams - even I can understand the difference between a water and a combined water & sandite train now.

There's an item on the Hornby website indicating that they're aware of some problems ( https://www.Hornby.com/uk-en/news/Hornby-tts-decoders/ ). The common problem seems to be the locomotive working when it is railed in one direction but not the other, it sounds like you've encountered another problem. Do you mean that it is swapping forward and reverse directions?

Thanks Mick. I don't know exactly what they're applying to the track (except water), but as the Gloucester set has three tank modules and one module with miscellaneous equipment, it must be water jet only.

The Gloucester train (66846 and 66848) took a different route today; rather than going to Hereford, it went to Washwood Heath and stopped for four hours. No idea why, perhaps we'll see some clean locomotives tomorrow? Edit: Just seen a photograph posted today, the train returning from Washwood Heath appears unchanged. It's made me wonder if some work was required on the RHTT wagons? How often do they need refilling with water and sandite?

Lucky to get this photograph as I had just photographed a train going the other way. Already about 20 minutes early, another 30 seconds and this photograph would be in the 'Passing Trains' thread. The Gloucester Horton Road based RHTT set with Colas locomotives 66848 and 66846 ad Tredington, Gloucestershire.

Are the numbers bigger in the new livery (or lack of)?