ForestPines

I'm always amused that at Stapleton Road the new footbridge was given those huge ramps to maintain step-free access to the Down platform; when at some places along the platform it's a 2ft step up from the platform to the train

Ooh, I had a very similar set, I think with the same loco but with grey plastic track. I also had a couple of Lesney Matchbox push-along train sets, including one with a coal conveyor and tippler wagons. The coal was little lumps of shiny black plastic, I think probably 1mm round rod that had been chopped up, and it got absolutely everywhere. My first "proper train set" was Hornby R597, the "Super Sound Freight Set" with a sound generator which you wired up to the controller, so that its rate of chuff would match the track voltage.

I rather liked the way they CGI'd in some wild-looking hilly landscapes in the background of Kidderminster, to hide the car park and the diesel shed. It was pleasing to see that much of the on-train footage was actually shot from a moving train in the AY-HY section, going by the views out of the window. Overheard some random people in the street talking about how good the film was yesterday, so I was tempted to interject with "apparently, you can even go and ride on the train they used to film it!!!" and see if I could reel some potential passengers in...

Yes; sorry, I wasn't clear, I meant specifically the AD&R from Bassaleg to the docks

I assumed the AD&R would have been likely to use permissive block, given they operated a heavily-trafficked freight-only route. I did indeed find that photo collection, once I'd worked out that a lot of the good stuff on that site isn't geotagged very well! Indeed, a couple of the pictures are linked to in my first post. I'm slowly collating a list of B&M-related photos in the various online archives - Amgueddfa Cymru have some nice photos of B&M locos digitised but most of their relevant holdings seem to have an online catalogue entry but no digital version as yet.

My assumption from the SRS diagram of Bassaleg Jn was that they didn't double the whole of that single-line stretch - instead they put in a double junction between the AD&R line and the B&M line at Bassaleg Jn, and the former AD&R single line became a loop or refuge (the Bassaleg Jn diagram doesn't show a loop entry, and the SRS don't seem to have a diagram at all for Bassaleg South, the first ex-B&M box). There's also no connection between the AD&R and the Western Valley shown on the RCH diagram for the period - it implies that pre-grouping traffic from the Western Valley to Newport Docks would have to travel via Maesglas Jn. It makes sense that the GWR would want to maximise their own mileage, rather than letting traffic slip onto the AD&R at the earliest opportunity, obviously not an issue after 1922. Have to admit I didn't spot how Bassaleg Loop and Bassaleg Jn boxes were situated almost opposite each other until after I'd posted the thread. Did the AD&R have any other signalboxes? I've only been learning about the B&M for a few weeks, but it already seems apparent it's a very under-documented railway with little in the way of bibliography; unless I'm missing something, the best book on it still seems to be the Oakwood Press book first published in the 1950s. It sounds like the answer to this will need a trip to the archives! No need to apologise! It is fascinating to read accounts like that in any case, even if they're off-topic for the thread. And, speaking of which... I should have course have remembered that there were automatic signals on the NER and GCR which could probably be described as a form of TCB, although I haven't read the relevant regulations for them. I suppose I was being cavalier in using "TCB" as shorthand for a modern style of track layout that doesn't avoid using facing points, rather than choosing my terms carefully: the two are not necessarily connected

I'd always thought that the single-lead junction was a modern innovation, or at least, a post-1960 innovation along with TCB and suchlike. However, recently I was looking at some South Wales lines on old OS maps and came across an interesting layout at Bassaleg Jn. Firstly, if you don't know the area, here's the RCH diagram of the area from 1914. We have the Great Western (yellow), the Brecon & Merthyr (blue), and the Alexandra Docks & Railway (purple). Note that in 1914 there is no connection shown from the GWR to the AD&R. Now, here's that represented on the OS 25" map revised in 1916. Note how the junction between the B&M and the AD&R is with a facing crossover and single lead; the AD&R is single track until a point just past the GWR signalbox, where it becomes double track. Now, nowadays this wouldn't raise an eyebrow, but this is in pregrouping days. Here's a photo of Bassaleg B&M station platforms: the signal in the picture is the one shown on the map over on the left. Zooming in seems to show ringed arms for both the goods loop and the AD&R line. https://www.peoplescollection.wales/items/562399 Was this layout only possible because the AD&R was a goods-only line? How was it signalled, and how was the point where the AD&R goes from single line to double controlled? Plus, how long did it last? The SRS diagram of the GWR box at Bassaleg Jn is clearly from a later date and shows the AD&R joining the B&M with a double junction close to the eastern end of the B&M goods loop - see https://www.s-r-s.org.uk/html/gwj/S1313.htm. This change is also borne out from photos of the B&M station in latter days, such as https://www.peoplescollection.wales/items/562402 - you can see here that the signal has been replaced without the right-hand doll, the facing crossover has gone, and the former AD&R line appears to be some form of up loop or recess. Does anyone have any information on how this was signalled in pre-grouping days, and particularly how traffic on the AD&R was worked? Were single-lead junctions like this relatively common in that period, or is this an unusual oddity?

Network Rail are currently saying the bridge move will be in 5 to 7 weeks from now, from October 24th to November 7th. https://www.networkrail.co.uk/running-the-railway/our-routes/western/great-western-mainline/south-gloucestershire/

Bristol City Council has announced that the oldest buildings at Barton Hill shed will be added to its Local List of buildings that are not formally listed but whose heritage deserves recognition in the planning system. The press release is at https://news.bristol.gov.uk/news/historic-industrial-buildings-have-their-moment-in-the-spotlight-in-bristols-local-list You can see the entry for Barton Hill by going to https://maps.bristol.gov.uk/kyp/?edition=bristol&layer=Community layer&x=360468.4&y=172854.85&extent=167.18# and clicking on the arrow in the top-right of the "speech balloon"

I don't think it's possible on a regular basis although there might be a few oddities, like the morning Cardiff-Manchester that goes via Temple Meads, but that would be a very long way round anyway! It uses to be the case that one of the first TM-Cardiff slow trains of the day went via Parkway but that disappeared in the last timetable change.

The closure between Kidder and Highley has been advertised for about a month or so, I think, so hopefully not too many people who booked further ahead will have been affected.

The reason it was described as a local was because of the restricted amount of seating space, compared to a full-length set. It was belled as a Class A Express Passenger, however, as it didn't stop everywhere.

When I first saw it in reality, the bottom of the ramp looked so close to the platform end that I wondered how easy it would actually be to turn around a large pushchair or wheelchair in the space available

Didn't "Designing A Layout" by Barry Norman feature a Lyonesse-based design? Or am I thinking of something by Iain Rice?

I mentioned New Clee yard above. It had two main purposes - one was marshalling fish trains from Grimsby Fish Docks and the corresponding empty wagons, and the other was delivering coal to trawlers; the third, on summer Saturdays, was acting as overflow carriage sidings for Cleethorpes excursion trains. It's hard to find photos of it online - if you go to http://www.davesrailpics.bravehost.com/JohnWillerton/Cleethorpes2.htm and head down to the bottom, the penultimate picture, taken from Fuller St footbridge, is as good a shot as you are likely to find anywhere. The sidings to the right of the water column are for coal (with the three coal chutes visible in the distance); the fish sorting sidings are in the distance, but you can hopefully get an idea of their scale. Looking at an early-60s OS map: there were 23 sorting roads for fish traffic, all about 600yds long, and 18 much shorter roads for coal.

O Gauge sounds about right. I do remember it was one of the places at which Rail Riders members could claim a sticker to add to their wall frieze! I think the sticker showed a hand holding a model loco

I think there have been two permanent model railways in York. York Model Railway, which originally opened as Rail Riders World, and another which I only have vague memories of but which was located roughly somewhere around Parliament St or Coney St. It must have closed in the mid-80s. Further north there's a National Trust property on the outskirts of Middlesbrough that has several layouts: there's an EM gauge Corfe Castle and an OO model of a local stretch of the ECML

Of the photos in this thread, I suspect the one most likely to be definitely and unarguably fish traffic is the one taken at New Clee (two photos above the bottom one in the original post), as (I think) the wagons are standing on the roads that were used to trip fish traffic and/or empties from Grimsby Fish Docks, where they were loaded, to New Clee yard, where outbound fish trains were assembled; and those lines were pretty much only ever used for fish traffic. The road bridge in the background was (and is) the main road access to the Fish Docks.

There was still some support for blue rail after the introduction of grey. I think some blue rail stuff was still in the catalogue circa '82 or so; and I had a copy of the Trains Idea Book (catalogue no. 7777) which did have a reasonable amount of blue rail content.

You can get to Radyr and points beyond by leaving Cardiff Central in either direction, though.

When did Lego drop the 12V system with a central supply/return conductor rail?

The surviving ex-Great Central lines in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire generally have the Up direction being towards Cleethorpes; I suppose this would have meant that an Up train leaving Sheffield would stay an Up train whether it was heading towards London or Grimsby. One of the most confusing arrangements I have found in Quail is on the Great Central near Kirk Sandall. It's a four track section of line, and for about half a mile or so approaching Kirk Sandall Junction the lines are designated Up, Down, Up, Up - trains on the first Up line travelling in the same direction as ones on the Down. The reason behind it is that trains on that Up line have to diverge onto the South Yorkshire Joint line, on which Up and Down are the other way round.

Filton Bank reopened on Monday as scheduled - here are a couple of low-quality phone snaps of Stapleton Road station at 9am on Monday morning. I was interested to see an Up Main platform face has been built at Stapleton Road.

I wondered why there was a well tank heading down the M5 on Wednesday!

From a practicality point of view, the WHR only has two carriage sets. Therefore having more than three trains per day each way (the high season timetable in recent years) gets a bit tricky.