RANGERS

Much going on but no certainty as to what it will all mean at the end of it. Corby has had regular nighttime, Weekend and Sunday blockades to allow work on the existing line to continue. Hard to say when you're riding on top of it but I gather there's been much relaying of the current single line (destined to be the up line for most of the way) and piling to stabilise the embankments has continued at a rate of knots. There's a new access from the road to the trackside between Geddington Station and Storefield which has necessitated excavating the cutting walls and a trackway laid to the trackside. Theres another compound at the top of the cutting here in addition to the large one at Geddington. The new down road is now almost complete from the junction North of Corby station to the viaduct at Little Oakley, about two miles in total. There's a couple of lengths missing where signals are to be moved and there are numerous piles of new sleepers along the route ready to be laid. Any signs of electrification progressing have all but disappeared. The newly piled mast bases around Clapham and Oakley are abandoned with no activity in the compounds. The compound at Bedford has some activity but little to suggest it relates to the electrification. There's been a suggestion that there will be a blockade over Christmas and a second one in May next year to see the work largely completed but there's no indication of when the second line will be open for business. EMT have been given a franchise extension to Dec 2018, which is a about a year beyond when electric services should have been possible, but any hopes of a half hourly service to Corby look to have been scuppered before the franchise is re-tendered. Signal and track improvements South of Kettering, which would allow further paths to and from St Pancras, are tied in with the electrification so it would seem that the best Corby can hope for is an hourly service to London with the half hour providing a shuttle to Corby, connecting with services on the mainline.

The sleeper did run to Euston for a while but via the Market Harborough -Northampton line, the last passenger service to use that route. I'm not sure it ever returned to St Pancras, the reason for the diversion was to concentrate sleeper servicing at Stonebridge Park I guess it would have been. I'd need to do some digging to confirm but I think it was 1968 or 69 that took place. The sleeper was curtailed to Nottingham before 1976, I'm pretty certain I was on it that year and the coaches were coupled to the rear of the train after the train engine from Leicester had been removed. The train had originated at St Pancras, we'd joined at Kettering and I'm certain we didn't change.

Nice looking Karmann Ghia there. The type 1 was much the better looming of the two types. Coincidentally visited a VW dealer with my son today and in the showroom were two air-cooled Beetles and a type 3 Karmann Ghia

Good to hear things at progressing. Was getting worried the lack of updates was as a result of things slowing down! We're waiting with baited breath...

The Vulcan would have been overhead yesterday afternoon, if you didn't see it you would have heard it.

BBMF Dakota. I think it's Rhyl air show this weekend, probably heading there.

Kind of appropriate that the Eastern outposts of the Empire get them first I suppose....

I would have to agree, it is a distraction and certainly impedes concentration. France has recently banned any hands free kits which aren't integral with the car - blue tooth headsets and the like - many see this as the first step towards a total ban on mobiles when driving. It never ceases to amaze me the number of drivers I see using hand held mobiles whilst driving. In the last few weeks I've witnessed a coach driver texting whilst driving through central London; minicab drivers, white van drivers, an ice cream van driver, a refuse lorry driver, cyclists and numerous car drivers on the phone.

I had a 2012 Insignia and had numerous problems with th Bluetooth setup which was never that clear when it was working. Dealer blamed it on the phone (Blackberry), phone supplier couldn't find anything wrong with that and it was the same with my son's IPhone but they would never accept that. Car now gone!

A total closure of the Corby line last weekend has yielded a new facing crossover in position just South of Corby Station, a stretch of the single line (destined to be the up line) has been relayed over the weekend and there is around 50 - 60 yards of the new down line now in place and ballasted either side of the crossover. Piling to stabilise the embankments and cuttings around the former Geddington Station has progressed also but the second platform at Corby, part of the electrification programme, doesn't figure in the current plans. Services will continue to use the single platform, even if a half hourly service starts before electrification.

Given the missing guard irons etc, there's every chance they pictured the side that was finished...

Nice shots of Brinklow. Was Agfa CT18 really 50 ASA? I'd remembered it as 100 with CT21 as 200.

In fairness to HE, that is the whole idea of the smart motorway, to regulate speed in order to keep traffic moving. The alternative is remove the restriction and the traffic at 70 mph hits the hold up ahead sooner, making matters worse. Hold it at 60 and it regulates the flow into the pinch point allowing it to keep moving.

We have smart motorways, not sure if they're that intelligent though...

Claud looks pretty hansom to me. I take the point that the pics don't do them too many favours but they capture the look of a very distinctive outline.

Maybe they'll carry out some refurbishment to bring the interiors up to the same level of as the Meridians, especially the lighting which is akin to being at Wembley for a night game!

That looks like them as I remember them, a mix of NSE and Inter-City. Whatever happened to the 47? More intriguingly, why were they there in the first place and why did they end up where they are?

Was it Sinderby that was home to some Mk2 coaches and a 47 for a while? Whatever happened to them?

Passed an immaculate Mk1 Astra GL near Melton Mowbray heading towards Oakham this morning, presumably heading for Billing. Oddly for a car which wasn't regarded as being particularly stylish at the time, it looked very much at home, distinguished even, among the more modern cars in the line up. My recent experience of Vauxhalls suggests the marque has lost the style and drive which characterised it in the 80s and 90s. I owned examples of Mk1, 2 and 3 Astras as well as Mk 2 and 3 Cavaliers and all were good to drive and exceptionally reliable, only my Mk2 16v GTE proved a bit temperamental at times but it never let us down, although nursing it home from Bruge with a leaking water pump did come pretty close, and was excused its foibles on account of it being a fantastic car to drive. All covered hefty mileages and were as well built as any of the VW Group cars I've owned since. Sadly my only experience of recent model Vauxhalls was a disastrous spell with an Insignia, despite being a stylish car with an interior which looked better than the tacky plastic of the final series Vectras, it proved to be unreliable, less than economical, lacking interior space and dreadfully uncomfortable on long hauls. It put my son off buying an Astra GTC and he followed me down the VW Group route with an Audi A3. It's hard to see what Vauxhall's brand values are, the pricing structure seems to want to pitch it as a premium brand but the build quality and materials used are a long way short of the premium competitors, even Ford and Toyota are well ahead of them.

If memory serves me rightly, these were originally among those fitted with the Leyland 510 engines. Most were swapped for Leyland 680 or Gardner LXBs but there may have been some survived with the 510. If this was one, there will be smoke....and noise!

All signs of progress with electrification have evaporated, the yards around Bedford which up until a couple of weeks ago were full of plant and equipment now appear desolate with just the steel pilings and deserted Portacabins. The site at Wellingborough is still being prepared and work on the second track to Corby is continuing at a rate of knots. Removal of S&T trunking, drainage and ballast works continue at the Corby end; track laying North from Kettering has reached the A43 bridge and works on clearing the former down sidings site is underway. Sadly that will remove the last remaining LMS yard lamps which have stood sentinel above the encroaching undergrowth since the sidings were removed in the late 70s. No news on what's happening or predicted on the electrification but there's growing speculation that 2020-21 will be the most likely target for Corby which could tie it with the next phase of the Thameslink franchise.

Roy Jackson's lecture at Expo EM was a trip down memory lane for me. I don't remember anything before High Dyke and it was interesting to see what came before, but from there onwards was a great reminder of how inspirational those layouts were.

Am I right in thinking that's none of the high bridge body versions?

I believe so, they were attending toy fairs fairly recently, but I can't say whether the shop is still there.

I bet the performance was sparkling....