35A

There was a M-F service from the Parcelforce sorting centre at Peterborough (New England - roughly on the site of the current GBRf facility), from around 1973, down into deepest, darkest East Anglia. The 37 would run 0C15 from Peterborough stabling point to New England, just before 17:00, returning about 20 minutes later as 3C15. Occasionally, a 31/1 would substitute but it was almost always a Stratford 37. Annoyingly, despite seeing it many times, I don't think that I ever took a picture of it.

It was certainly an improvement on the 'original' original livery. As first painted, the power cars of 253 001 had the (subsequently blue) band painted gloss black. I have a picture that I took at the Crewe Works Open Day, in 1975, of either 43002 or 43003, during their brief time in that livery (I wonder if they even made it out into the open air - or, perhaps, that's when they realised that it didn't work?).

Just to echo everyone else's thoughts. Very best wishes to your mum for a speedy recovery. As mentioned, above, she is very much a part of this thread, through her occasional appearances on camera. Also, thoughts with you. It's not easy being a carer, as our own years pass by, too rapidly! It's the law of Sodde, of course, that everything goes wrong at the same time, to stress us out even further, at times of personal misfortune. This thread, whilst a much valued daily reference to us, is the least of your priorities at the moment. We all understand if you should have to miss a day or two because of family commitments. Best wishes to you both.

It's another open access operator (like Grand Central and First Hull Trains), rather than a management contract franchise/concession under DfT control. Again, it is a First Group operation, under the trading name of East Coast Trains (as Donington Road mentions, above). They will be using Class 803 Hitachi Inter-City Express Trains - fundamentally very similar to the Hull Trains Class 802s. They plan to run five (IIRC) return trips, per day, between the two capitals.

It (also) often used to work between a pair of Hastings line unit DEMU driving vehicles. It was amazing the variety of formations that it once appeared in. A modeller's dream!

J13659 - unusual to see a Class 90 on a service train that far north, AFAIR? Usually, they were restricted to the Leeds runs.

Just to echo Rob's thoughts. 43106, at the time, was named "Songs of Praise" - the power car in C15957 carries a nameplate (in the old, "tin plate" style). 43108 was unnamed throughout that period, as is the power car in C15406. Certainly, zooming in using a few tools leads me to think that the latter is, indeed, 43108.

I don't actually remember seeing that, either, Rob - although at that time I was no longer living on the Eastern Region. However, 43050 was an ER power-car, whereas 43090 was a Scottish one. Perhaps it was a Craigentinny affectation?

C20535 and C20600 representing that pre-privatisation period when the anonymisation of traction started to rear its head again. 86 239 looking splendid but no longer sporting its "L.S. Lowry" plates (and, incidentally, only another seven months until it was written off in the Rickerscote accident) whilst 47 079, the erstwhile "George Jackson Churchward" and later just "G. J. Churchward", has lost its Great Western 150 green livery and name, for a coat of Railfreight Distribution grey.

That last one, David, is a five-car set, so it will be a Class 221, rather than a 220.

I should add to that: not 1567 (still green) not 1577 (still green) In my addled, late-night, state I was thinking that the initial ER batch ended at 1562, instead of 1582!

I came to the same conclusion when I had a stab at this one a couple of days ago but didn't have time to look more closely into it. However, since then, I've had another go and I would, with caution, suggest that it's possibly 1107 - which had been repainted from green to blue in the middle of that year. Assuming that it's one of the Eastern Region stable and not an interloper, I drew the following conclusions: not 1507 (ETS jumpers in the wrong place for a 'Generator') not 1517 (ditto) not 1527 (still green) not 1537 (although standard blue, it never had ETS, becoming 47 010) not 1547 (although blue, it was in the earlier style with cabside numbers and emblems behind each cab door) not 1557 (still green) not 1767 (still green and not ETS fitted until the 1980s) not 1777 (still green and not ETS fitted until the 1980s) not 1997 (still green and never had ETS, becoming 47 295) That list can probably be narrowed down, significantly, by ETS fitment date - unfortunately, I don't have Railway Observer that far back and the websites don't show modification or repaint dates, so it's down to my notes from the time. Whilst not an absolute identification, given the condition of the loco, I'd have a fair amount of confidence that it might be 1107. Non-ER locos were very, very rare on main-line passenger services at that time. That was fun!

A lovely miscellany. C1366 brings some memories to mind. My first sighting of class 50s was on a visit to Crewe, in July 1971, when they were working, mainly in pairs, on Anglo-Scottish trains. I remember that we saw 27 of the 50 in one day. That Elvanfoot shot was taken in the very same month that I first passed that way, by road, en route to a holiday in the West Highlands (the next time would be in 1984, by bicycle!). Looking at my notes, I see that it was 2nd August, 1973 and, as we headed north past Elvanfoot, I noted class 50 no. 427, working solo, on a southbound train, plus class 20 no. 8119 - my notes don't record what that was doing and, 48 years on, I'm afraid that I can't remember it (although, strangely, the class 50 passing is imprinted in my brain!). Another of those lovely memories that your pictures always stir.

Another lovely set, Dave. 91 007, back in the days when it carried the name "Ian Allan", looking very powerful, and 60 074 - has this loco carried more liveries that any other class 60? Off the top of my head, it's carried at least four. Enjoy your Bank Holiday weekend.

That was exactly my first thought. Nice to see the T68s at work. I've only got a handful of shots of them - although that's more than I've taken of the M5000s so far!

C20982: interesting to see a 158 with no set number under the cab window.

Lovely shots of Druimuachdar, 1988. Brings back fond memories. Four years earlier I cycled over there (and Slochd before it), southbound, in the long, hot summer of 1984, heading for Land's End. Happy memories that flood back, every time I travel up the Highland main line, and which have been brought back to mind by this beautiful set.

Of course, quite apart from the obvious lack of electric stock available, one of the main reasons was the fact that the electrical supply was inadequate to power more than a handful of trains per hour, north of Newcastle. In fact, even today, many of the bi-modes are having to drop their pantographs and run on diesel over that section, until the new substation at Marshall Meadows can be commissioned, in order to bolster the power supply.

Yes. Interesting that 91 023 should pop up this week. Quite apart from being famous as the loco involved in both the Hatfield and Great Heck derailments, its latest claim to fame (as 91 132) is that it is the first class 91 to be despatched for dismantling and scrap - having been transported to the yard of Sims Metals, at Beeston, last week.

On a more prosaic note, J9625 won't be 31 234, as it has an ETS jumper - it looks like one of the later class 31/4 conversions, given the position of the kit.

Whittlesea is another English example, in which instance the railway prefers to use the archaic spelling that absolutely nobody in the area uses! Other than on the station platforms you'll be hard-pressed to find it anywhere, Whittlesey being the ubiquitous non-railway usage.

How strange. Ever since I stopped wearing contact lenses (once I stopped working I was spending more time in specs, at home, so it wasn't cost effective) I've always worn Multifocals/Varifocals and never needed a second pair. I'm -8.5 in both eyes, as well!

Many thanks for that detailed reply. It's very helpful. I scanned all of my 35mm negatives just after the turn of the century, once I had started archiving all of my digital stuff. The 1980s ones, where I was using a better camera and faster film speed were very acceptable but some of the 1970s ones are not great. These days I tend to use a mixture of Windows and Picasa software to edit my pictures - I do have Photoshop but I've tended not to use it (mainly just never having had the time to sit down and learn its intricacies properly!). Having changed my scanner a couple of years ago, I've been using some of our recent 'holiday' to rescan my 1970s negatives, taking advantage of the additional functionality that the Epson provides. As you say, a bit of judicious sharpening can make a world of difference to an average image. I've got a standalone 1Tb hard drive, so storage is not a major problem. I still periodically burn to CD-DVD, for security, and I always carry a memory stick with my back-up on (although my images have now blown that - I'm going to have to invest in a new one, imminently!). Again, thanks for the help. I may have a play with scanning at a very high density, just out of curiosity, to see what file size it gives me.

A quick techy question, David. Just out of interest, what density of dpi do you scan your negatives at? I'm currently rescanning all of my 35mm negatives from the early-1970s onwards (until I went digital in 2000). My old scanner had a fairly limited range but my Epson V600 gives me far more options and much improved scans. I did scan a few negatives at 600dpi - but that gave me a file size of anything from 1.2 - 2.0Mb per image, the higher end of which I wasn't overly keen on (fine for good quality images that you want to blow up but a bit of a waste for poorer quality shots, taken with lower film speeds). The majority of your images are beautifully sharp, with good colour depth, so I'm just curious as to what density you generally use. Thanks for any advice.

Another wonderful set of images. The Dalrymple viaduct is quite spectacular from below, the different colours of the stones look magnificent.