ForestPines

The down slow line (I'm not sure of its exact designation) past the door of the building at Brocklesby was taken out at some point in the 1960s, I think. Just as the up slow round the back of the platform only connected to the up Ulceby, the down slow round the back of the building could only be used by trains coming from Habrough/Grimsby, which I assume explains why it was removed relatively early compared to the rest of the layout.

I do recall seeing the oil tank trip to Cleethorpes passing through Town station once - but with a 37, not an 08.

I know of the Zeppelin marker - it's on Pinfold Lane. 30 years ago it was next to a bookies and a fishmonger; I have no idea what's there now. For some reason the level crossing on Cartergate was always known to the railway as Friargate Crossing, even though the road has been called Cartergate since at least the 17th century.

Does anyone else recall the article in Railway Modeller in the mid-80s about building a model of Redland station in then-current condition, as an exemplar of a semi-derelict station building? From memory I think it was likely the Dec '85 issue, but I could be wrong there. Incidentally, St Marks Road is now closed to road traffic for the Filton 4-Track project, so that the currently-unused span of the railway bridge can be renovated ready for reuse. No sign of any work starting on the Stapleton Road viaduct yet though!

Pedantically, it was taken over by the NER as part of Grouping, not before it - the Railways Act had already specified which group the H&BR should end up in. Hull Corporation, as one of the major shareholders, had I understand lobbied for the H&B to be included in the LMS group to try to preserve the level of commercial competition on the Humber, but to no affect. The H&B had earlier had a good relationship with the Midland, and came close to being bought out by the Midland shortly after opening, as its level of construction debt was causing financial difficulties.

That was the Hull & Barnsley Railway, promoted by Hull to compete against the North Eastern. It was not, to be frank, a wonderful success, and its Hull terminus, Hull Cannon St, closed to passengers in 1924. Apart from the Drax line the main surviving chunk is the "High Level" line orbiting Hull, now the only route serving East Hull's docks; and of course the Alexandra and King George V docks themselves.

I would have thought GWML work this bank holiday would have been largely further west - there was a blockade covering Wootton Bassett to STJ plus Filton Bank all weekend.

And here is the gap where the old Easton Road bridge used to be... (viewed from the ex-Midland trackbed).

The road's been completely closed for almost four months now for the bridge reconstruction. It's not due to reopen until November.

My question of three weeks ago has been answered, I suspect. The reason the space between the main line platforms at Stapleton Road was filled in was to create an area to store some very large chunks of concrete, presumably parts of the structure of the new Easton Road bridge. The part that's newly filled in is the part on the far side of the access path - the part on the near side was filled in a few years ago and has been used as a work base several times since. I notice there's still a poster up for the open day at St Phillips Marsh at the start of this month!

That photo is no longer possible - in the past few weeks that bridge has been fitted with solid parapets ready for electrification. There's been lots of "but how will my children watch the trains?!" comments from local parents.

A quick phone snap of the area around Lawrence Hill ground frame, from the Easton Road overbridge - you can see how the Main trackbed has been built up with hardcore. This is from last weekend.

I'm a bit puzzled by the latest progress on the Filton Bank project. At Stapleton Road station a chunk of the space between the former Main Line platforms to the north of the pedestrian entrance , empty until recently, has been filled in up to platform level with truckloads of recycled aggregate, largely broken brick. I assumed the new track would be going through there! Is the new infill just temporary for access or similar? The area between the platforms south of the entrance was similarly infilled a few years ago before the footbridge was rebuilt. The Main trackbed next to Lawrence Hill ground frame has been built up with the same material, close to where the Easton Road overbridge has been rebuilt; and old ballast on the Mains span of the M32 bridge has been stripped back to reveal a layer of tile or brick.

As someone who lives alongside the line near Stapleton Road: train noise definitely doesn't wake me up, and I don't even notice Down trains most of the time (they're usually on very low power unless they've stopped). The noisiest at the moment are Class 70 locos, but the one noise that did sometimes wake me was the sound of a Class 66 starting away from Lawrence Hill ground frame.

As I started reading RM in '85 aged 7, my "classic articles" are all late 80s. One stand-out was the articles by one RMWeb regular on layout planning, particularly a three-part series on designing a fictional S&D branch, and producing a realistic timetable and operating sequence for it. The model's plan was loosely based on Hemyock, I believe. I particularly liked the author's draughtsmanship. I felt the magazine started to go downhill when certain aspects of production changes in 1990. I didn't like the new headline font introduced in Jan 90, and definitely didn't like the new body font brought in a few years later. There was also a bit of a trend for spot colour which made some articles very hard to read - there was one early-90s Plan Of The Month (a fictional Norfolk station I think) with the plan printed entirely in yellow ink!

According to Real Time Trains the Severnside train is timed to cross 2K00 at Avonmouth and 2K02 at Clifton Down.

A routine timetable day on the SVR, on the busiest timetable can require 5 locos in steam - yesterday did, in fact. If you allow a 50% availability margin, that gives you ten locos required. I have a bit of a soft spot for Austerity tanks because one of the first real locos I can recall knowing the name of was the ex-LMR "Brussels" on the KWVR. For me, even though not all steam locos are equal, I don't see any reason to turn my nose up at an ex-industrial loco.

Today is its last day rostered, I understand.

An issue with a set of points in the area, I understand.

I did see a picture once of Bewdley in 1970, shortly before closure to passengers and with "corporate image signage". I've seen pictures of Arley station in the same period, with the pre-preservation Up line (now the Up & Down Main) removed. I don't recall seeing any shots of coal trains in this period, but I'm sure there must be some out there!

When I was younger I had it in Betamax format...until my dad switched over to VHS! Taped off Channel 4 over Christmas 1984, I think.

My reaction to that was: it sounds like somewhere passengers are supposed to sneak into and snaffle leftovers from!

At the Bristol end there is a stack of mast pilings ready to go out to the lineside, but that seems to be all so far.

I notice the CIS systems at Temple Meads have all been changed over this morning ready for the launch - "Great Western Railway" on the announcements and "GWR" on the departure boards.

That applies to both lines though - Bewdley had BR services towards both Kidderminster and Hartlebury until 1970. I can understand why Kidderminster can be seen as more of a destination now; I'm just speculating if Stourport was ever seen as an attractive destination.