jmh67

In a contribution to a German model railway newsgroup a few years ago it was suggested to print photos of the loco numbers in the correct size, cut them out, blacken the edges with felt pen, and if needed, varnish them. With one of the popular graphics programs, it should not be too difficult to compose locomotive numbers as needed and print the resulting image. Jan-Martin

Well, it would be a fairly cheap layout, if nothing else. Rather minimalistic, the whole setup. I thought of this station as rather depressing, too, when I chanced upon it one evening in summer 2004. Even though the weather was all right, I took a bus back to Bristol, if only because it left earlier than the train, and I didn't feel like waiting for longer than I had to. St Albans Abbey must have been similarly grim, if https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:S_Albans_Abbey_6_77479_1.jpg is any indication. -jmh

You're welcome. Another contribution in the "Drehscheibe online" forum cited the 1933 operating rules, which confirmed that vehicles should only be moved across weighbridges if these were locked in place, and that weighbridges with non-continuous tracks should only be crossed slowly by locomotives, if the latter were permitted at all. A bit vague, but it implies that local or type-specific rules applied as well. -jmh

There was an answer in the German forum, but it only referred to the 1972 operational rules of DB: The maximum speed when crossing a weighbridge was restricted to 25 km/h or a lower value if indicated on the weighbridge. No wheel chocks to be used on or near a weighbridge. Wagon brakes must be off when moving over the weighbridge, locomotives should not brake on it. -jmh

I haven't found any online references to the historical operating procedures, but at the very least you can assume that a weighbridge should only be crossed at slow speed, and when it was locked in place. There may also have been restrictions as to the weight per length, which could have exclude the more compact locomotives. Axle weight would not have been that important, as this is similar between locomotives and fully loaded freight cars, and may actually have been higher for the latter. Usually, a signal ("Gleissperrsignal") showed whether vehicles could be moved across the weighbridge. I'll ask in the "Historische Bahn" forum of drehscheibe-online.de, maybe this will result in a better answer. -jmh

Wasn't there a layout called "Much Hammering in the Night"? Jan-Martin

Nice idea. Have you taken pictures of the garden railway and added background scenes? Some of your pictures look very realistic, in particular Pen Druid Jct. and the green C.V.T. train. Thanks for sharing! Jan-Martin

That could be a "Harzkamel", DR class 199.8 - in the 1980s ten locomotives were put on three-axled metre-gauge bogies, mainly to help with freight movements on the narrow-gauge lines in the Harz mountains, but they were / are seen with passenger trains, too. Lack of demand has caused some of them to be retired, four have been converted back into standard-gauge locomotives. Martin

I've only joined recently, and just stumbled across this thread ... I can confirm that pacer-sprinter combinations were running in West Yorkshire at least between 2006 and 2012, in particular on peak-hour services between Leeds and Bradford Interchange (and onwards). Also, the 9:17 (or thereabouts) Manchester Piccadilly - Chester train via Knutsford used to consist of a two-car pacer (142) and a two-car sprinter (usually a 150), although the latter ran empty, and only the pacer in front was open to passengers. At least that's how it was on Mondays. They must have needed that sprinter desperately somewhere, or else this train would not have left half an hour late one snowy day, only after a railway worker had been busy with a stiff brush and two cans of de-icing spray to clean the couplers, so that the two units could hook up ... Martin